Many people who have already come to believe in Christ – who Himself in reality has set them free from the bondage of sin and death – are yet unfortunately living in a type of bondage. It’s a needless, unwarranted bondage that is based upon not knowing the fullness of the reality of all that was accomplished for them through God’s grace. Their daily lives consist of a struggle of wondering if they’re truly forgiven by God for all their sins, and wondering where they stand with God, when He has already done everything to provide full redemption through Jesus’ blood – the forgiveness of sins – according to the riches of His grace.
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus, and in Him we have access, by faith, into this grace in which we stand. The grace of God truly is something we can stand in, and Paul encourages us to do so – to stand firmly in the grace and freedom of Christ. God has set us free to live free lives, so let’s not submit ourselves to the bondage of trying to relate to God through our works.
When we started back in the year 2005, it wasn't exactly the long-term plan to have our 20th anniversary land on our 1000th podcast. In fact, when someone invited us to participate in a new launch of an "Internet Radio" channel, we had no idea if we would do a few programs or if it would go a while longer. But here we are. We just couldn't stop yapping about the good news of grace that has been vastly overlooked in so many popular corners of corporate Christianity and the religious educational institutions who have influenced them.
We hope you'll take a listen as we reflect on the unlikely partnership between two regular guys whose paths crossed in a radio station studio in 1994 and grew into a what would become a seemingly supernatural like-mindedness when it comes to the gospel of grace ... while attracting many thousands of listeners from around the world who have desired to hear such a message of love, assurance, forgiveness, and peace.
The takeaway from this week's program will hopefully bring confidence that God is orchestrating so many things through you—things that you may come to realize at times ... but often will never know in this life. Trust Him to live through you in both the biggest and smallest of ways that will have a significant impact on many you will never meet.
Thank you for your encouragement through the years and for sharing the podcast with someone you know. Your "word of mouth" has resulted in bringing something very special to many hurting people.
We like to tell people salvation is free, but then somewhere along the way—maybe right away—we feel the need to begin rolling out the rules to help make sure the new converts don't wander from what we believe to be the truth. This approach may actually hinder believers in Christ from experiencing the fullness of God in their lives.
It becomes a gospel of "doing" in order to become something that children of God think they need to work at in order to reach a higher level of spirituality or to make themselves more acceptable to God. Not to mention, the "rules" vary significantly from one corner church to the next. Maybe we should begin to trust Christ (who abides in us) to complete the work He began in each of us by His grace.
It was recorded once in the book of Acts that Paul used the phrase "the whole counsel of God." It's a quote that religious people like to use as a weapon of sorts to stress there is more to the gospel than grace. In other words, when people get hyper about grace, legalists will think it results in an unhealthy obsession that should include a balance of other things such as a measure of law and works, resulting in guilt and then trying to do things to make ourselves more acceptable to God.
Of course, those on the works treadmill can never really spell out exactly what the whole counsel of God is or how it should be defined apart from grace. Those who do will only be able to give you an opinion and guesswork based on a very limited perspective and likely an inaccurate one.
Right before Paul mentioned this phrase, he described what it was that the whole counsel of God revolves around, and the ministry he received from which he was called to testify about. Spoiler alert: It was the gospel of the grace of God.
Our narrow and limited view of eternal things can lead to a ripple effect on some of the foundational basics regarding the message of gospel. For example, grace may often be viewed as something we seek or fall back on only when we sin or fail. Surely people are saved and justified by God’s grace, but it so much more.
Consider Jesus … the Bible states the grace of God was upon Him. Jesus the man—who was also the son of God—if He didn’t sin and had no need to be saved, why did He need God’s grace to be upon Him? Why do legalistic religious advocates try to warn people about too much grace? Why do they put forth a faulty message that it gives a license to sin and that it is grace that leads to an increase in sin? How does that contrast with the many things the Apostle Paul wrote about the abundance of grace we have freely received? Let’s encourage each other in grace as we grow in our understanding of it and begin to realize that it is an integral part of our lives in Christ on an hourly and daily basis.
During this episode, Joel mentioned an article he'd written several years ago on the sufficiency of grace, and how it's not merely a subject to be talked about now and then. You can find the article here, and as a bonus, in that article you will also find a link to a much earlier podcast episode we did on grace being the essence of life in Christ.
On the celebration of the 600th Growing in Grace weekly podcast, Mike & Joel reflect back on how they transferred from various forms of religious legalism found in much of Christianity, to the grace of God and unconditional love found in Jesus Christ. This is their story, but it’s not their song… It’s just blessed assurance.
