200 Proof Grace

In his book, Between Noon and Three, Robert Capon provides a metaphor for the rediscovery of grace during the time of the Protestant Reformation.  He says:

"The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellarsul of fifteen-hundred year old, two hundred proof grace... one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly.... Grace is to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter the case."

Capon is simply echoing the apostle Paul, who said in Ephesians 2, "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." In other words, the gospel is 200 proof, pure grace.  

Are you as thirsty as I am?

Sola Gratia

Charles Spurgeon was a preacher of grace in 19th century England. I don't know where I found this Spurgeon quote, but I've had it on my desk for several years, hoping that one day, after repeated exposure, the nickel will drop and I will get it. :0) 

"If there be one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost."

As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  The key words are "in him"—in Jesus. Self-righteousness will never do. My righteousness before God must be received as a gift of grace. In Latin, we say sola gratia. 

True Sanity

This just in from Dave McCarty, a friend who, like me, is learning little by little what it means to live as a grace-dependent child of the Father.

"I know I'm sane when I don't know, and I don't care: when I have a healthy indifference to all the things that charm me most, that cause me to obsess, be intense, hurried. And instead, find Jesus enough for me, find His salvation and His priceless unconditional love for the likes of me, sufficient for my day. DependentDave doesn't know what's best for him, and those he loves, and doesn't even mind not knowing, because he wasn't created for independence."

Like Dave McCarty, as well as the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:7-10), I was created to live by faith as a dependent child of a strong, wise, sovereign, love-filled Father. It is when I try to be strong in myself that I get crushed by fear and stress. So today, at least for a little while, I hope to experience some sanity by living as DependentMcKay, knowing that God knows best and has shown his wisdom, power and love perfectly in the cross of Jesus.

Transforming Grace

I love the title of Jerry Bridges book, Transforming Grace. He has captured the biblical reality of Titus 2:11-12, which says, "For the grace of God... teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age." That is another way of saying what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14, "For Christ's love compels us..." In other words, when it comes to ungodliness, grace is not the problem, it is the answer. It is only when I understand the grace and love of God deeply and personally that I will be changed from within at the heart and motive level. The bible does not commend mere external moral reformation. Rather, through the gospel, it provides an experience of interal spiritual transformation—a transformation that takes place the deeper and more personal the grace of God in Jesus through the cross becomes in my life. Tim Keller, in The Prodigal God, says that the German martyr-pastor Bonhoeffer insisted that "people whose lives remained unchanged by God's  grace didn't really understand its costliness, and therefore didn't really understand the gospel." So when my life is stained with sin (whether irreligious immorality or religious hypocrisy), the solution is not to grab the law by the horns and try harder to obey. The solution is to bring my sin afresh to Jesus, and grab hold of the cross, asking for faith to believe that I really am forgiven and accepted through his blood on my behalf. When that kind of faith becomes real, I am filled with the Spirit, and I experience "transforming grace" from the inside out. 

Augustine on the Cross & the Love of God

I'm pretty sure that it was Augustine who said (in the 5th century), "The cross of Christ did not secure the love of God. The love of God secured the cross of Christ." Wow. If that will sink into my heart, I will be a changed man.

Rejecting Moralism

After reading Keller's The Prodigal God, one of the ideas that really has gripped me is that many people who consider themselves Christians actually have not embraced the true Christian message at all, but rather have embraced a form of religious moralism. On the other hand, many people who think that they have rejected the true Christian message have not rejected it at all. They have rejected religious moralism. I identify so well with the former, and am recognizing the need to repent of all kinds of self-righteousness. In light of this fresh gospel discovery, I find myself wanting to help religious moralists (like me) discover and experience the glory of God's grace in Jesus. And at the same time, I find myself wanting to help folks who think that they have rejected the gospel to see that what they really have rejected is religious moralism—and I want to reject that, too!  So, I pray that doors will open for opportunities to share with both the "religious" and "irreligious" what I am learning about the gospel in my own life... the gospel that (according to my good friend, Tim Keller) tells me that I am more flawed and sinful than I would ever dare to admit, but at the same time, because Jesus lived and died in my place, I am more forgiven, loved, and accepted than I could ever dare to dream.  The gospel is not religion (what I do for God). It is grace (what God has done for me/and others like me). O, how I want to live like God's grace is really true!

The Gospel as My Functional Operating System

Just as a computer runs on a certain "operating system," so too my heart has a functional operating system. And just like there is a battle in the computer world between the PC OS and the Mac OS, so too there is a battle within my heart (Galatians 5). Will I allow idols to drive me, or will I live in line with, or under the influence of the gospel? In The Prodigal God, Tim Keller says, "Even after you are converted by the gospel your heart will go back to operating on other principles [than grace] unless you deliberately, repeatedly set it to gospel-mode." Then he quotes the earthy Martin Luther, who said, "The truth of the gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine.... Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually."

I don't know about you, but I need it beat into my head continually.  And what a hard head it is! And so as I press on to live in the fullness of God's amazing grace to me in the cross of Jesus, I pray that I will be given grace to effectively "reboot" the gospel daily, hourly, minute by minute—for God's glory, my joy, and the good of those around me.

Experiential Orthodoxy

In The Prodigal God, Tim Keller asks the question: "Why would Jesus, to convey what he had come to do, choose to turn 150 gallons of water into superb wine in order to keep a party going?" He response is that "salvation is not only objective and legal but also [is] subjective and experiential." As Jonathan Edwards says, "The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness."

This Christmas, for the glory of God, I actually want to taste of the gospel, savoring the beauty, wonder and power of God's love that has been expressed in the cross of Jesus. Yes, the legal dimension of God's grace (justification) is profoundly amazing, and the experiential (adoption) is incomparably sweet.  

God as Tyrant vs. God as Father

This quote by Charles Spurgeon is so helpful: "While I regarded God as a tyrant I thought my sin a trifle; But when I knew Him to be my Father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against Him. When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good."

HT: Tom Wood

Longing for Home

After being away most of last week to see family and friends in Mississippi, I am back, and thinking about what it means to long for home. In Keller's The Prodigal God, he says, "Home... is a powerful but elusive concept.... In the beginning of the book of Genesis we learn the reason why all people feel like exiles, like we aren't really home.... It is no coincidence that story after story contains patterns of exile. The message of the Bible is that the human race is a band of exiles trying to get home. The parable of the prodigal son is about every one of us." It is a story that creates in us a longing for a merciful Father who will embrace us and welcome us. In the gospel, Jesus is the one who is sent from home (heaven) in order to bring us home. He is the good elder brother who seeks and saves the lost, giving his own life to secure the way home for those who are willing to live by grace.

The True Elder Brother

In The Prodigal God, Tim Keller shows how the Pharisee-like elder brother makes us long for a true elder brother who will go after his younger brother in order to bring him home. The problem in the story is that the elder brother is unwilling to pay the cost to bring the younger brother back into the family. Listen to what Keller says, "Forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting forgiveness... The younger brother's restoration was free to him, but it came at an enormous cost to the elder brother." After all, the elder brother now owned everything of the father, since the younger brother had already received his portion of the inheritance. The robe, ring, sandals and fattened calf were all part of the elder brother's inheritance. To bring the younger son back would have cost the elder brother dearly. Keller says, "By putting a flawed elder brother in the story, he is inviting us to imagine and yearn for a true one." That true, ultimate elder brother is Jesus, who "was stripped of his robe and dignity so that we could be clothed with a dignity and standing that we don't deserve. On the cross Jesus was treated as an outcast so that we could be brought into God's family freely by grace."

Elder Brother Repentance

It is common to say that as a Christian, Jesus "died for my sins." But what does that mean? Which sins? The younger brother's sins were obvious. What was the sin of the elder brother?  Keller helps us here, "The elder brother's problem is his self-righteousness.... the main barrier between Pharisees [ie, elder brothers] and God is not their sins, but their damnable good works." 

Did he just say what I think he said? Yeah. And he goes on, "To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother. To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right.... It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord [through having an earned moral record, rather than an "honorary" record] that you are on the verge of understanding the gospel and becoming a Christian.... Pride in his good deeds, rather than remorse over his bad deeds, was keeping the older son out of the feast of salvation.... Pharisees are being good but out of fear... They don't really trust [God] or love him. To them, God is an exacting boss, not a loving Father."  

This is a remarkable revelation. The younger brother was lost because of his badness, but the elder brother was lost because of his goodness—or at least for wanting to be good for the wrong reasons (to control the father and receive a reward for an "earned" record... SELF-righteousness).  When we read Luke 15, we think it is the younger brother who is the bigger sinner, only now to learn that it was the elder brother who actually was in a far worse spiritual condition. 

Wow, how I need to hear this so that I might put my religious flesh to death today at the cross, and find hope and joy in the sheer grace of Jesus.  

And you know what else? It makes me think that apparently "churched" areas are in desperate need for this kind of gospel understanding. I know that I am.

Recognizing the Elder Brother Within

As Keller has been saying in The Prodigal God, both the younger brother and the elder brother are lost and alienated from the father in the parable. The younger brother's lostness is obvious, but not the elder brother's lostness. One way an elder brother spirit can be identified is to note the statement of the elder brohter in response to the grace expressed by the father to the younger brother. The elder says, "All these years I've been slaving for you." Keller says, "His obedience to his father is nothing but duty all the way down. There is no joy or love, no reward in just seeing his father pleased.... Elder brothers live good lives out of fear, not out of joy and love.... There is no wonder, awe, intimacy, or delight in their conversations with God." 

As I reflect on this, I am deeply convicted of my own elder brotherness. So what can change me? According the Keller, it is "the initiating love of God." In the parable, the father runs out to meet the younger brother, embrace him, and throw a party. As the festivities gear up, the father also goes out to invite the elder brother to join the celebratory feast—even though he refuses. It is the amazing, undeserved, unilateral love of God expressed in the gospel that takes my conviction and turns it into repentance and faith... and cultivates the joy, love, intimacy and wonder of a slave who has become a son. 

Two Kinds of People

Keller says that there are two kinds of people, but not the kinds we typically think of. Normally, we divide the world into good and bad. But according to the gospel, the world is not full of either good people or bad people— it is full of humble people and proud people. It is not that the good are in and the bad are out. Rather, the humble are in and the proud are out. Keller says, "The people who confess they aren't particularly good or open-minded are moving toward God, because the prerequisite for receiving the grace of God is to know you need it... Though the older son stayed at home, he was actually more distant and alienated from the father than his brother, because he was blind to his true condition... being an elder-brother Pharisee is a more spiritually desperate condition." Whoa. 

As an elder-brother plagued sinner, I am praying for eyes to see my true condition, and for eyes to see the wonder of the gospel expressed in the cross of Jesus.  

The Third Way

In The Prodigal God, Tim Keller says that "Jesus uses the younger and elder brothers to portray the two basic ways people try to find happiness and fulfillment: the way of moral conformity (the conservative, religious elder brother) andthe way of self-discovery (the liberal, irreligious, younger brother). Each acts as a lens coloring how you see all of life.... The religious moral conformist says: 'The immoral people... are the problem and moral people are the solution.' The irreligious advocates of self-discovery say: 'the bigoted people... are the problem with the world, and progressive people are the solution.'"

"[But] the gospel of Jesus is not religion or irreligion, morality or immorality, moralism or relativism, conservatism or liberalism. Nor is it something halfway along a spectrum between two poles—it is something else altogether." In an eye opening revelation, Keller says that both religion and irreligion are different forms of self-righteousness.

But the gospel is the third way. It is the way of sheer grace. 

Defining Prodigal

I have always thought that the word "prodigal" meant "wayward." This is not the case. According to the dictionary, a prodigal is someone who spends extravagantly, lavishly and abundantly. This spending can be wasteful, or bounteous, depending on whom the prodigal is. In the context of the gospel, God is a prodigal God because he is bountifully extravagant, lavish and abundant with his grace. If you will read Keller's The Prodigal God with me, we are going to discover that in Jesus' parable in Luke 15, "there are two brothers, each of whom represents a different way to be alienated from God, and a different way to seek acceptance into the kingdom of heaven." I'm all ears. 

The Prodigal God

I am reading Tim Keller's new book, The Prodigal God. Yeah, it is quite an intriguing title! Rather than give away the significance of the title yet, I want to encourage you to get the book and read it slowly.  It is a quick read, but deserves lots of attention and meditation.  As far as the purpose of the book, Keller says that it is "meant to lay out the essentials of the Christian message, the gospel." In the introduction, he provides a warning and an encouragement to those of us who may be "familiar" with the message: "One of the signs that you might not grasp the unique, radical nature of gospel is that you are certain you do. Sometimes longtime church members find themselves so struck and turned around be a fresh apprehension of the Christian message that they feel themselves to have been essentially 're-converted." Is that bait enough? :0)

The Adventure

In one of C.S. Lewis' Narnia stories, Repicheep encourages his friends, saying, "Shall we not take the adventure that Aslan has set before us?" That is a theme quote for our family, who sense that we are on a very real adventure as we prepare to launch a new, gospel-centered, grace-driven church in Dahlonega, GA. For more information about the church, click here.