Inflamed Church

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is absolutely nothing you can do to make God love you less.

If you consider yourself a religious person, you might back up a step. While you may agree in principle, you'll start praying very, very quickly that I add a "but" to that statement.

Example 1: There is absolutely nothing you can do to make God love you less, but he requires obedience and service.

Example 2: There is absolutely nothing you can to do make God love you less, but you need to take up your cross daily. (side note: a lot of Christians don't even know what that means; they just know it just sounds spiritual).

Example 3: There is absolutely nothing you can to do make God love you less, but if you don't get that sinful habit taken care of... if you don't read the Bible more... if you don't grow closer to him, he may just remove his blessing on you. Heck, he may even say he's finished with you and kill you off. (side note 2: I'm not sure if anyone's ever said this one verbatim, but I sure have heard it preached and taught).

Feel free to insert your own examples; they are all the same. Jesus saves you, but you need to do more, try harder, and do your very best to be better.

In his new book, One Way Love, author Tullian Tchividjian has this to say about grace:

Even those of us who have tasted the radical saving grace of God find it intuitively difficult not to put conditions on it when we try to communicate it to others—“Don’t take it too far; keep it balanced.” As understandable as this hedging tendency may be, a “grace, but” posture perpetuates slavery in our lives and in the church. Grace is radically unbalanced. It contains no but: it is unconditional, uncontrollable, unpredictable, and undomesticated—or else it is not grace. (pp. 179-180)

What if Jesus really does love you unconditionally, with no strings attached? What if he loves you more than you can possibly imagine, regardless of how you respond to him?

This is the message of the Gospel. This is grace. This is nothing new; this is the "faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3 KJV).

Why does it seem hard to accept? Why is it not preached more? Why is the tendency of preachers, teachers, and believers in general to focus on "do more, try harder"? Because it is unnatural.

God's unconditional love is unnatural. We are a conditional people living in a conditional world. There are very few people I love unconditionally. For the majority of relationships in my life, they are hinged on condition. Every person on the planet is similar in this regard.

It's unnatural, and your tendency (and mine, when writing this blog) is to add some balance, to add a "but," to any message that says, "You can't do anything to diminish God's love for you."

Paul preached this; he was accused of giving "license to sin" (Romans 3:8). He was. His message of grace and God's unconditional love made people mad. Especially religious people. You can't preach radical, no-strings-attached grace. You just can't.

So we respond by saying, "Do more, try harder." We promote and read bestsellers by well-meaning believers that say, "If you love Jesus, you'll do this. You may not even be saved if you don't." (Not making that up, either; just paraphrased it a little). We respond by adding works to the relationship we achieved by grace.

Yes, no-strings-attached grace is unnatural, but it's not new. Paul himself dealt with this issue in Galatians. Look at his words to this dear group of believers who were trapped in the bondage of performance-driven faith:

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified? I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? Did you suffer so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? (Galatians 2:21-3:5 HCSB) 

The key verse is Galatians 3:3 - "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh?" I ask you, believer, the very same question. You were saved by grace , so are you now going to live by works? Paul is clear: the same grace that saves you is the same grace that grows you.

Believer, he loves you. He really, really loves you. And nothing you can ever, ever do will change that. He died for you. He transferred the righteousness of his son to you. If you can get that, something strange is gonna happen. You just might surprise yourself with faithfulness to him. You just might surprise yourself with what happens in your life. Not a license to sin. Something greater. Something liberating.

Next time, we'll be looking at this equally-jarring statement (you really won't like it!): Nothing you can do can make God love you more. 

By His Grace,

Adam