Grace Party: Escape to Reality Greatest Hits, Volume 3 (7 page)

Grace attracts sinners. Since I am
someone who preaches grace, I get a lot of correspondence from sinning
Christians. Few are looking for help in overcoming sin; many of them are
fishing for an assurance that God will continue to love them despite their bad
behavior. More often than not, these messages come from young men who are
living as though they were married, even though they are not.

Since I
grow weary of being an agony aunt for men who should know better, this article
is addressed to those of you who are wrestling with sin, but particularly to
hot-blooded young males. Here are my responses to five commonly asked
questions:

1. Will God love me if I keep sinning?

Yes, absolutely! I know this is
not what religion has told you, but you need to know that God’s love for you is
unrelated to your behavior, good or bad. There are many variables in life but
God’s love is the one constant you can bank on. You can be certain that he
loves you.

A better
question to ask is, do you know and enjoy his love? The prodigal’s father loved
him constantly but the prodigal did not experience his love for as long as his
attention was elsewhere.

Every
one of us has needs and these needs are designed to lead us to Jesus (see Philippians
4:19). If you’re not getting your needs met in Christ, you will make inferior
choices — and this is where the trouble starts.

2. Does God’s grace mean I can
continue to live in sin?

No. Grace brings freedom and that
includes the freedom to make poor choices, but if you use your freedom to
enslave yourself to sin, then you have missed the point of grace.

A
Christian who runs after sin is like a prisoner who has been released into the
custody of a gracious king, who then uses his freedom to re-offend and do all
the things that got him imprisoned in the first place. Now our King is
extremely gracious; he won’t send you back to prison, but you may send yourself
there.

The King
of kings didn’t give his life as your ransom so you could run back to Egypt.
That’s the wrong direction. Egypt is history. We’ve got places to go and grace
is going to take us there. Move on to the Promised Land of his love for that is
where life really begins.

3. Will I lose my salvation if
I choose to keep sinning?

No. Jesus is your salvation and
the Holy Spirit is your eternal guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22). If sinning
caused us to lose our salvation, then heaven would be empty.

But the
question troubles me. Religion has got us so obsessed with making heaven and
avoiding hell that we’ve put life on hold. The earth isn’t a waiting room for
eternity. This is the place where real life happens (see John 17:3).

Don’t
put life on hold by living captive to the flesh. God’s will is for you to
experience heaven-on-earth today. But choose the way of sin and you’ll
experience hell-on-earth instead.

Religion
would have us frame the questions of life in terms of good and evil. “Shouldn’t
we do good and avoid evil?” This is fruit off the forbidden tree. It is not the
way of grace. It’s not that the question is inherently bad, it just won’t lead
you to the life-giving Answer.

We don’t
earn grace by doing good, neither do we forfeit grace by doing bad. If
anything, his grace shines all the more when we sin (Romans 5:20). This happens
because his grace is the only antidote to the poison of sin. But if you have
been saved from sin and death, stop drinking the poison. Drink from the well of
his life.

4. If God loves me and my
salvation is secure, then why can’t I keep doing what I’m doing?

Because sin is stupid. It’s like
texting on the freeway. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.
The world will tell you that “if it feels good, do it” and “as long as it’s
harming no one, what’s the problem?” But these are flawed mantras. Live from
your feelings and you’ll end up enslaved to your appetites. You will be a
shadow of your real self.

The true
message of the cross is this: When we seek to save ourselves by doing what
seems right in our own sight, we lose ourselves, but when we trust him then we
really live.

Following
Jesus is not about starving the flesh — that’s asceticism and it’s as much a
flesh-trip as any indulgence. Following Jesus is about reckoning yourself dead
to the world and allowing him to live his life through you. Trust me, his life
is way more fun than yours!

“But as
long as it’s harming no one…” How do you know it’s not harming no one? Do you
have perfect knowledge? Can you see all things? How do you know that the lady
you’re keeping house with is not going to the wife of some other man? What if
she becomes the mother of someone else’s children?

If you
are certain that she will be your wife, then man up and marry her. But if
you’re uncertain, then man up and stop playing games. Either way, be a man.
People are far too precious to fool around with.

5. I can’t help myself. I’m not
sure that I could stop even if I wanted to.

That’s not a question; that’s a
declaration of unbelief in the grace of God that empowers us to say no to sin.

In the
natural it may be true that you are enslaved to addiction. You may be so deep
in a rut that you can’t see the sun. But that doesn’t mean you are without help
and without options. Your helper is God and no one is beyond the reach of his
transforming love and grace.

I have
met countless people who have been completely changed from one kind of person
into another by God’s supernatural grace. In the kingdom this happens all the
time. But transformation rarely happens among those who don’t believe. Stop seeing
yourself as a victim and stop speaking lies over your life. Look instead to
your mighty redeemer and confess your true identity in Christ.

When you
get up in the morning and another day of sin beckons, look at yourself in the
mirror and say, “I am my Father’s Son and he loves me! I am the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. As he is in heaven, so am I in this world!” I’m not
preaching faith plus self-effort. I’m preaching faith in his mighty grace!

Beliefs
need to be spoken and acted upon for them to become real in our experience. The
world would have you believe that you are the product of your choices and
behaviors, but God says you are his dearly beloved son. So choose who you would
listen to and be who you really are.

A word after

Whatever happened to the woman
caught in adultery? We all know that Jesus intervened and saved her from the
hard stones of condemnation, but what happened next? Did she “go and sin no
more” as Jesus said? Did she receive his gift of no condemnation and was she
changed by it? The Bible doesn’t tell us.

I
mention this because I have stopped hearing from hot-blooded young men seeking
validation for their sinful choices. I used to get messages almost daily, but
since the article above came out, I hardly get any at all.

I’d like
to think that the grace shown to them has empowered them to leave their lives
of sin, but I don’t actually know. Maybe I just scared them off like an
old-time prophet. If this message helped you to overcome sin, do drop me a line
and let me know.

Or maybe
I’m not supposed to know just as we don’t know what happened to the woman in
the Bible. The value of God’s grace stands independent of our ability to walk
in it. After all, the star of the story is not the receiver of grace but the
Giver. It’s Jesus. The spotlight stays on him, and rightly so.

“I am
the light of the world” (John 8:12). These are the very next words uttered by
Jesus, and they are significant. The woman formerly known as an adulterer is
exiting stage left, and some of those watching can’t believe what they are seeing.
“Jesus let her live! I’ll bet that sinner crawls right back into the gutter
from whence she came.” They are watching to see if she stumbles again.

“I am
the light of the world,” thunders Jesus. In other words, “Stop looking at her and
behold me! If this woman gets her life sorted out it will be because of the
grace I have given her, and if she doesn’t, then I’ll give more, because my
grace is greater than her sin and yours.”

I love
that Jesus draws our attention away from the sinner and onto himself. He does
this not just for her sake, but for ours as well. When we look at how others
are performing, we set ourselves up for pride (“Look at that loser!) or envy
(“Look at that star!”). No matter how well they do, we fail. Play the judgment
game and you lose every time.

The only
way we can win our battle against sin is by fixing our eyes on Jesus who loves
us no matter what we do. So if you’re in a dark place, rejoice that Jesus is
still the light of the world!

Many years ago I heard an
Australian pastor say that mental illness was a big issue in his city. At the
time I was young and strong so the picture that came into my mind was that he
lived in a town of crazy people. Now I know better. Mental illness is one of
the giants of our day.

I’ve
heard it said that one in five people suffers from some form of mental
affliction. If you have 60 friends, chances are that twelve of them suffer from
mental illness. Do you know who they are?

For many
people mental illness is taboo. It’s the sickness no one talks about until it’s
too late. Mental illness is bad enough, but keeping it wrapped up in secrecy
and misunderstanding only makes it worse. Mental illness is something we need
to be comfortable talking about.

Jesus
came to bring freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:18). Surely that includes those
oppressed by bipolar disorder, depression, agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress
disorder, OCD, and so forth.

There is
a huge opportunity for followers of Christ to make a difference in this area.
How do we do it? By building ramps. Just as we have access ramps for
wheelchairs and the physically infirm, we need ramps for the mentally ill. And
by ramps I mean we need to make it as easy as possible for the hurting to come
and find comfort and friendship and healing
and grace
in their hour of
need.

Here are
five ramp-building ideas.

1. Send the message, “come as
you are”

People who struggle should not be
told they are welcome only when they’re feeling up. If blind people are allowed
to bring their seeing-eye dogs to church, then those who suffer from depression
should be allowed to bring their black dogs. Of course we want to get rid of
the dogs and see people healed, but read the Bible and you will see those who
came to Jesus were more likely to get healed than those who stayed away.

Whether
you subscribe to the institutional church or the organic church or the
I-am-church model, here’s a question to ask: Are we making it easy for people
with mental illness to come as they are? Or are we sending the signal that you
must be walking in victory every single day? We need to get real.

2. Cultivate transparency and
reality

Think about the sicknesses that
you pray for. If the majority of these are physical ailments and you don’t live
in a nation that lacks good healthcare, what does that tell you? Chances are
that those struggling with mental disorders are keeping quiet out of
embarrassment or fear.

People
outside the church will pay thousands to have a counselor listen to their
struggles. Christians listen for free. So create a safe environment where
hidden weaknesses can be talked about. We don’t gather around our problems — we
gather around Jesus — but bringing problems into the light is the first step towards
healing and deliverance. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and eager to pray.

3. Become dealers in hope

Hope is often the first casualty
of mental illness. When the battle is in the mind, perspective is easily lost. What
hope can we give to sick people? Isaiah 53:5 tells us that Jesus identified
with us in our weaknesses so that we might identify with him in glory.

When I
meet someone who is suffering, I’ll say, “Don’t identify with your illness;
identify with Jesus. When the doctor speaks a negative diagnosis over you,
remind yourself that Jesus is not depressed, anxious, or stressed. Make Jesus
your hope.” I’m not saying, “Pretend all is well when it’s not.” I’m saying,
“Make a choice to see Jesus exalted above every problem and need. Choose to walk
by faith.”

Incidentally,
never tell a sick person that God made them sick to teach them something. He
didn’t. Healing is not a privilege bestowed only on those who have their act
together. Healing is a gift to be received.

4. The strong need to help the
weak

Some folk in the Bible were so
helpless that they needed determined friends to rip open roofs to break through
to Jesus. We need to cultivate a similar attitude when we come alongside those
who are struggling. Have faith for their healing and don’t give up. Celebrate
victories but don’t throw in the towel if there are set-backs.

The
Amplified Bible says the prayer “of a righteous man makes tremendous power
available” (James 5:16). This is an awesome promise to stand on, but take care
not to impart guilt or condemnation if the person you’re praying for doesn’t
feel as passionate or chirpy as you do. And don’t tell them to throw away their
medication if they don’t have a conviction about it. Encourage them in the Lord,
but put no pressure on them. Be the ramp that lifts them up in prayer to Jesus.

5. Encourage them to step out
of their comfort zone

Some people aren’t going to get
healed the first time you pray for them or the second time. Does this mean
they’re to sit on the sidelines of life waiting for their healing? Absolutely
not. God can reveal himself through us regardless of how strong or weak we
feel. He surely did so with Paul:

We were
under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of
life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this
happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On
him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by
your prayers. (2 Corinthians 1:8b–11a)

A whispered prayer of praise in
the midst of suffering is an act of faith that defies circumstances. It’s
saying, “no matter what happens, I will praise him and I will trust him.” This
kind of faith is powerful. It changes things. When those who are in bonds,
praise him, prisons tumble, graves open, the dead rise, and the depressed
rejoice.

A word after

This was one of the first articles
I wrote for E2R, and it remains a subject I feel passionately about. Mental
illness doesn’t attract a lot of attention in the Christian media or
blogosphere, but that is slowly changing.

A couple
of years ago, Joseph Prince released a book called
The Power of Right
Believing
. I read it and was delighted to find that it tackles the
predominant illnesses of our day, namely, mental illness and personality
disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and insomnia.
It’s a book full of stories about people who have been radically set free by
grace.

My
favorite story in the book is the one about the minister from Oregon who was
assigned to provide counseling in a state mental institution. He entered a room
full of severely broken, moaning people. These patients were so far gone that the
minister couldn’t engage with them. So he sat on the floor and started to sing,
“Jesus loves me this I know.” He did this for weeks on end. Eventually, the patients
began to sing with him, and within a year all but two had been restored and
were discharged from the hospital. These broken people weren’t healed by a
song. They were healed by a revelation of their Father’s great love.

One of
the problems with mental illness is that it can turn you inward and away from
love. You become introspective and sensitive to your triggers. Perversely, a
heightened self-awareness can actually make symptoms worse because it leads you
to rely on your own understanding instead of relying on Jesus. Cognitive
behavioral therapy succeeds when it breaks destructive thought patterns, but it
fails when it promotes self-examination ahead of Jesus-examination. He is the
Healer, not you. Transformation comes when we behold Christ and allow his love
and grace to break down our fears, addictions and afflictions.

What
leprosy was to the first-century church, mental illness is to the modern
church. By that I mean it is our number one battlefield in our struggle against
all forms of sickness and oppression. This is not a battle we should fear. By
the grace of God it is a battle we can win!