Can grace be overstated?

splash

The majority does not understand

I think, it is no coincidence at all that the proclamation of God's grace has become real popular nowadays. Popularityalso means: beloved by the crowd.
For most believers, including myself in the past, have not understood the Gospel at all, have not understood justification, have not understood regeneration, have not understood what Jesus did on the Cross, It was not understood that we have an abundant heritage, attached to our adopted status. Granted, given things for the believer's. Gifts, support, assets, continued sanctification for work with Christ according to our new ID: who we, believers have become in Christ.
From this perspective, grace cannot be overstated /overloaded. From the Heavenly perspective everything is abundant and lavish! Mercy grace are lavishly given to us!
Masses of believers to this day do not understand these things, their beliefs and thinking are opposed to the true reality (aletheia). While they claim to have become righteous by free grace, they think that they must focus primarily on their actions to win God's approval. ... They imagine that if they commit even one sin, it proves that they are not righteous people, but sinners who are doomed. In practice, they think of Judaism as the basis of their religion, which was then extended by Christ.
Many do not know, or more precisely, do not understand, or much more precisely, do not live out what it means: not to be under the Mosaic Law. Many believe that the Mosaic Law is a template that all Christians must fit into by their actions. They do not understand that the "law of Christ", the law of love, is so much above the requirements of the Mosaic Law.

Paul's foundation

If we read carefully Paul's letters to the churches, we will notice that he always begins his letters by building identity.
He addresses questions such as: what has Jesus done for us, what is our calling, who have we become in Jesus, what difference has the cross made in our personal lives? He then goes on to say that if we have received such a great gift from God, we should live or we can live and behave accordingly. He starts with the ID. then teaches the effects.
The order is not a coincidence at all. The two are not interchangeable. If they are interchanged, believers are returned to an Old Testament-like state where they struggle to behave in a way that is acceptable to God and the church, and thereby to assert or maintain their righteousness.
Let's look at an example!
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.
For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.
In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.
We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Eph 1:3-8
Paul seems to have overstepped the mark here (too).
He did it for a reason. It seems clear to him that the most important thing is for believers to understand the gospel, God's love and grace, and to be grounded in it. That is why he was not ashamed to preach the same, that is why he was not ashamed of the Cross of Christ.
In addition to holiness and integrity, it is part of our vocation that we are to be the exaltation: to the praise of His glorious grace (Eph 1:6). But it's not simply about music and singing...
Now let's look at a part of the second chapter!
God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:4-10
It seems that Paul was not ashamed to proclaim God's grace to the extreme. He wanted the believers to be assured that God's grace was not only present at the time of conversion, but that he was also showing the majestic riches of his grace. And he did not hide the purpose. He knew that without faith in God's grace, the Ephesian brethren would not act righteously.
Only after he had told them what God had done for them, who they had become by God's grace in Christ, would he then turn to how they should behave.
I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.
Eph 4:1-3
Even if Paul had begun with this part, without a proper identity, he would only have penetrated the audience by once again placing unattainable demands on us.
Unfortunately, the first two or three chapters of the letter are very rarely preached, but chapters four to five are preached all the more often. No wonder that in the churches humility, meekness, bearing with one another in love are "as rare as white ravens" - Not to mention the attitude to marriage described in chapter five.
As for the marriage. Christians who see the Law "as a template" are still stuck on the idea that "marriage should not be broken."
The Law did not say a word about the spouses loving each other, but Paul, speaking of the will of Christ, says that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, by giving himself for her, and wives are to be obedient as the church is obedient to Christ. (Eph 5:25)
Natural /carnal people are incapable of this. For this to happen, rebirth has to be real. The mindset has to change completely. For this to happen, spouses must see themselves as purified, sanctified, Christlike people whom God has made alive together with Christ, who sit on the heavenly throne with Jesus (Eph 2:5-6), who have the enemy under their feet, who praise God's grace every day, who live out in every part of their being how much God loves them, who can love one another with this love, by this position in the midst of all difficulties and troubles.

Identity VS. Technique

The heart of the problem is that the church has become totally disillusioned with preaching the grace of God. Neo-Protestant movements have put too much emphasis on avoiding sin. Or at least explaining the importance of avoiding sin. But the result is: If they are pro active they are filled with to do lists. God's grace and love have been replaced by techniques based on scripture that claim to help achieve Christian goals of blessing, prayer, freedom from sin. But these movements and guilds are focused on the ego. On the self satisfaction. In churches that rely on such techniques, or on exhortations and rebukes, believers are far from being free from sin... The one never been free from sin by Self-actualisation, human efforts!

Graceful life

By mere ideas we did not understand graceful life - and unfortunately most of us still do not understand the life - we don't understand that only born-again believers with a strong identity can live holy and pure lives.
But thanks Gd! By the Grace of God by the Mercy of God we got new, thriving life and ID!
Did you receive Holy Spirit? - was asked by the apostles. (Act 19:3) Why? Because the Newborn Christian lives-out a life like a blessed Tree: rooted into the soil of the river bank. The bank of the River of Life! (Psalm 1:3; Ezek 47:1-6) And this, well nurtured life brings fruits.
Believers aren't rooted in preaching simply but oriented by teachings, mentored by models from Jesus and from proved, matured lifes of believers and being disciplined by Gd, as sons. (Hebrews 12:7-10)
We have now arrived at the position, at the point where we can fix a problematic interpretation.

Milk or solid food?

I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it.
1Cor 3:1
Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it for your salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1Pt 2:2-3
There's a common question on the preaching of grace: "is it good to feed believers only with the drink of milk? When will we give them hard food?"
This is a very good question because it exposes a very common misunderstanding.
The last three verses of the Hebrews 5 are misunderstood by most Christians because they have heard some wrong explanation. Meanwhile the apostle is crystal clear here:
5:12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature — for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
The writer of the letter is clearly implying that the Jews addressed were going back to the Law, to the underage - this is very clear from Galatians 3. too → Minors need milk. They are not familiar with the discourse of justification: (dikaiosyne), which is the hard food.
This hard food is for those of age, that is, those who believe in Jesus and His ultimate work. Their judgment is skilled in discerning right from wrong. So the talk of justification by grace is not exactly a drink of milk, but very hard food.
Despite all the opposition and abuse We should not be afraid of overstating /overloading grace, but rather rejoice that in spite of all the opposition and vilification, there are people who take the courage to proclaim the grace and love of the Father, the new identity of believers, the impact of the Cross on our lives, the scandal that causes religious people to feel the same anger that Cain felt when he saw God looking upon Abel's sacrifice.
Fortunately, there are more and more people who are boldly proclaiming God's grace, goodness and the things that Jesus has obtained on the cross, and there are more and more people who understand the Gospel and experience the love, goodness and mercy of Jesus.

Associated articles:
· Two different eras
· Transferred to the reign of Grace
· Grace is not a license to sin
· After the Law
· Two women

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