Somewhere in the midst of all that I heard two sermons (parts 5 & 6 of Andy Stanley's "Christian" series) that I truly believe will be life-changing. I confess I have not heard any of the other installations of this series, but the premise is getting behind the cultural connotations/biases with what it means to be "Christian" and to instead look at Jesus and be followers of Him.
The two sermons I heard today focused on the tension caused by loving messy people like Jesus did. The primary point Andy made was that Jesus was FULL of grace and FULL of truth. He was not either/or, but a complete embodiment of both. (John 1:16)
Andy challenged that if we want to truly love like Jesus, we have to live in that tension--even when it will make us sometimes seem inconsistent. Even if people wonder what we are really about. When he said, "the Son of God came to seek and to save the lost, not to guard His reputation," I winced uncomfortably. Ouch.
And when Andy described Jesus' example of grace and truth, I rewound the sermon and played it over three times: (This is part paraphrase, part quote from the sermons...hard to tell which was which from my notes...)
Jesus called sin sin,
then He paid for it and declared that He did not condemn it.
then He paid for it and declared that He did not condemn it.
He told us to all leave our lives of sin.
If we don't, He loves us.
If we can't, He loves us.
Sin has its own 'gotchas' that godly wisdom and obedience will enable us to avoid.
Sin has its own 'gotchas' that godly wisdom and obedience will enable us to avoid.
The TRUTH is that we are sinners and the GRACE is that He doesn't condemn us.
God
could not love you more and there is nothing you can do to cause Him to
love you less.
He feels the
same way about every person we come into contact with.
We are at our best when we embrace truth AND grace and don't let go of either.
It is a humbling gift to be reminded of His great love for me and deeply convicting to remember that He feels exactly the same way about even the most difficult people in our lives. I stumble and fumble through my attempts at this when they are based on my circumstances, my feelings and my fears as opposed to HIS example.
"Your love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on me. Your love goes on and on and on..." -lyrics from One Thing Remains by Jesus Culture
Consider me challenged.
3 comments:
I attend NorthPoint and have loved the last 2 weeks! This truth girl has had a hard time with the balance of grace AND truth. I am way to much like the prodigal son. 3 years ago after I found out my husband was having an affair the holy spirit pressed those two words from John grace AND truth deeply into me. Those very hard days that all I really wanted was the justice side to be displayed I could remember the whisper GRACE AND TURTH. So thankful that God is both and by his grace he can teach me to be both as well even while I am kicking and screaming!
Lori, What a testimony. I am humbled just hearing it. It is one thing to profess Grace and truth--another thing entirely to have to live it out. May God bless your obedience!
I needed to hear this words more than you can ever imagine. I have a friend that is in a terrible sticky situation. I want to be there for her and I want to run far far away b/c it is so difficult for me to comprehend how she got here. Thank you for sharing.
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