Let’s go right to the heart of the matter. Grace leads me to Christ it is not keeping me there.
Below we build on that statement. But to throw a hand grenade right at the start I will say this. If we continue living for Jesus via grace we have never seen God. Grace leads us to Christ and when we least deserved anything He found us and loved us. Now many Christians today have a warped understanding of grace bought to them via a focus of sin and failure. They cannot or refuse to grasp the fact a Holy Sspirit filled person according to Romans no longer has the existence of sin in their lives. The apostle Paul said “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me” If we live by grace we live form the knowledge of sin and reveal we have never seen a Holy Spirit lifestyle of koinonia revealed and spoken about after Acts in the bible. Grace covers sin and if sin no longer exists why is grace needed.
Yes I know the religious flags and automated responses. This email will no doubt inflame some and excite others. Which are you?
Culture is a crazy thing. Being Australian living in the USA let me give you an example. In Australia after having guests at our house for dinner we always walk them to their car. To open the front door of the house and say good bye and close the door is the height of rudeness and unacceptable. Funny thing is in the USA they open the door and say goodbye then close the door. If you follow them to the car they look at you strangely like something is wrong. To them you are stalking them or something after all you said goodbye at the door. Truly culture is a weird thing and can get us into a lot of trouble.
So you have to give some thought to the culture of heaven. One great example of such is grace. Te more I live a spiritual life I realize the kingdom of God culture is opposite to what my brain creates. There is no better example than the presence of God, miracles and wow moments. Inside religious life called church we sing a song and the presence of God is felt in a great way. So we sing it again and to add we jazz it up or have dim lights or flashing lights or mood effects. Of course we seem to get an even better experience of the presence of God doing that so now we do more of it and ultimately if honest we stop and realize, with all this God chasing why do I struggle to overcome the world? This is mans religious culture, we see it in life with almost everything we do in religious circles. We give money and see a blessing so we give more money. The actions we do or don’t do inside religious life, man uses to validate his standing before God. You know I stopped sinning in an area and Gods presence was felt so I will work to stop sinning in other areas. So I can get more of God.
Let’s look at this via a different grace perspective. We have a romantic God wooing us constantly to Himself. God touches us with His presence and it is for the reason He is wooing us out, NOT FURTHER INTO actions religious and other. We take this wooing as validation of the actions and do more of them thinking they please God. So with sin, we stopped and felt heaven smile on us so we work to stop other sins and become frustrated we win 9 out of 10 times. Failing to see it’s not what we do that pleases God it’s who we are. We live a romance less life and can’t see it. Our culture stops us as in mans culture romance often is about acts like sex not true romantic intimacy and any who have experienced true romance know it is just as wonderful as sexual union. Sex is not romance it is the union of romantic hearts. In Gods culture romance is about revealing His love culture in on and around us. He is not is a hurry nor interested in validating anything.
So we do well to stop and allow His wooing to overwhelm us. Instead of using a God moment to make us replicate the action and do more of it maybe we can see He is saying stop turn around and respond to who I am. But we say the more I do it the more I sense God or see him and this is where grace is revealed. Grace is not a validation of who we are what we do or any part of life. Grace is a romantic God invalidating our religious acts of worship. Our songs don’t validate God in or around us. The more we see manifestation of God we take it as approval and do more of the action. More church, more mood lights, more skillful musicians and God would say it like this. “Where there is lots of sin grace abounds.”
Our acts of worship to sense or please God are nothing more than carnality. They stink to God but in His grace he touches us. That is not to have us do more church actions it is inviting us to stop our songs and our sermons and our concerts and BE romantic. Problem is when we have never experienced true romance we think it is about sex and can’t grasp intimacy. We want the pleasure from God thinking we are pleasing him with our bodies and in reality God is repulsed and giving us more grace inviting us to cease striving and know that I am God as the bible says.
We use grace to drive us further into being a “God chaser” doing more to please Him of the acts that bought the presence. The presence and manifestations we became aware of are only romantic wooing to stop what we are doing and BE spirit. The more we do, the more grace is needed and we mistaken the grace again as validation that God likes our worship acts. God is saying I am invalidating your acts with my romantic grace. So culture is evident. Mans is doing his best with a desire to get God but God is just wooing and saying stop it and “be still and know that I am God”.
If I am sensing the presence of God then all it suggests is I am carnal. As after Pentecost I am complete, the presence of God does not come anymore to a Pentecost koinonia saint. The presence is revealed in identity of who a Pentecost koinonia saint now is in Christ. We are producing and feeding a harlot church system in our lives devoid of true romance. We are scared of romance as how do you respond and tats just it. Any who have had romance truly know you cannot respond you have to BE.
So grace is not a teaching nor is it God not seeing our sin. To suggest such only reveals I have no idea about Pentecost I have become religious. As far as our acts of worship. We see grace helping us to stay in those acts or a life of worship. In Gods eyes grace invalidates us and our actions. Any wonder we work so hard for the unattainable. We strive against the very thing we chase intimacy with God.
Answer #1
I find it intriguing that the perspective you "spewed" as being vile religious grace can too be accepted as just that with a religious mindset too! many 'denominations' would spurn that grace message. The rejection of that 'false doctrine' comes from the same spirit that spews it. There truly is only a small intersection (if at all) that modern day christianity has with Spirit.
As the westernized culture drifts toward humanism so does the religious culture. It is like the Amish ( I lived with for a time on the community )who separated themselves in the late 1400's from modern technology to remain pure. They still pride themselves that they are separate from the world but they would be considered techno genius by the 1500 standards and continue to embrace technology, just at a slower pace than the world system.
What is our conviction based on? If it is Spirit it will never change, only be revealed yet if there is any hint of carnality it will always progress and leave waves of issues in it's wake that are utilized to validate those in the same flow. If conviction is based on knowledge or understanding, can there truly be an abiding peace in our lives?
Answer #2
Yes good with that Scott. I think my Sspirit yearns for balance - the Lion and the Lamb - and so in the Spirit it is so with grace. So religious folks teach grace as the opposite of legalism but it is not. In fact legalism taught as grace below (just substituting the words) is equally wrong. I have always believed and still do that Kingdom Culture is something that is above all earthly culture and is very different and is characterised by
(1) In the Spirit We recognise it, in spite of our often embedded earthly culture - I have some great stories of 'earthly offence in this area
(2) In the Spirit such culture becomes our norm and we celebrate it
(3) In the Spirit, Heaven also joins in and multiplies it
(4) It stems from our correct identity where Kingdom Identity and Kingdom Culture are joined at the spiritual hip so to speak (with my Spirit mouth)
Within carnal preaching, Liberalism is the opposite of legalism - liberalism teaches we can do anything because we are predestined and sin is hence not relevant - but why then do we still look when we cross the road and legalism binds everything in laws and procedures.
In the Spirit, neither concept exists, as We just are to be and neither concept affects our Spirit - only our mind and was probably made up by theologians after their Doctorate!!!!
This is good stuff
