I have come to believe that it is impossible to comprehend the depth of Abba’s grace and His goodness when chained to the rules of a church and religion.
Church is tied to rules and opinions. Those opinions are regularly perpetuated as gospel, as pure and holy as Jesus himself.
Don’t believe it? Try to question the teachings of any church. Mention a different opinion. You’ll be shut down quicker than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking competition.
You’ll be labeled confused, a troublemaker, or a heretic. Each church thinks they have the corner on the full gospel, the whole counsel of God, the Gospel without compromise, or whatever other cute saying they have to make you think they know it all.
Unfortunately, finding two church groups with the same opinions is challenging, if not impossible.
I am always amazed when I attend a sermonar, how the speaker speaks authoritatively as if they have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Unfortunately, they don’t. Paul himself even said we don’t know it all because he said we only see through a glass darkly and can only see in part (1 Corinthians 13:12).
I believe the majority of Western, American-sized churches don’t want you to know the absolute truth about God’s goodness and grace because if you ever found out, they would be out of a job.
I don’t mean that the gatherings or organizations would stop, but the leadership would lose the control that they exert over their church, their followers, their congregation, their… you name it.
The church system is based on control and guilt, not grace. Most churches need to keep you in a position of being a sinner saved by grace so they can keep you towing the church line. If you are constantly guilty, you won’t venture too far away from the church building for fear of losing out.
It’s only when you begin to realize God’s grace and goodness toward you that you start to understand that you don’t have to check the church check boxes each week. You may find you don’t want to check those boxes, but you find that you are more interested in spending time with Jesus.
I have attended probably tens of thousands of church services in my life. Jesus may have been at one percent of them. Is that a stretch? Maybe, but I don’t think so.
I recently saw a sign in front of a church building that said, “Come worship with us.” I realized that was code for coming to our building, singing along with our singers, and listening to our preacher give you his definitive opinions without opportunity for discussion or disagreement.
That’s NOT worship
Jesus didn’t come to the earth so we could become worshippers. We do worship, but He didn’t come to make worshippers. He came to restore our position of sonship. Authentic worship is when we find our place as true sons and daughters of the Most High and live our lives in a manner that edifies Him. That is worship–not singing songs and listening to sermonar every week.
I believe God is more interested in how we worship with our lives during the 166 hours of our week, not the two hours we sit watching the professionals do ministry and put on a programmed performance.
I thought I knew grace
I thought I understood God’s grace, but now I had no clue. I certainly don’t think I’m any closer to fully knowing the depth of His grace, but at least I am moving forward.
I’ve heard it said that we are saved through grace by faith, and then the entire sermon would be focused on our faith and how we earned our salvation by believing. Nothing is further from the truth.
I can do nothing. Everything is His grace. I don’t deserve or earn it. Even our faith is a gift of God.
And His grace doesn’t stop because I prayed a prayer. (Where is that even in the scriptures?)
His grace is always working in me. The church system doesn’t want us to understand that because it may give us a license to sin, but if that is the case, it is only because we have a distorted view of grace.
Distorted Grace
Church and religion distort grace to keep us in line. If you don’t attend church every week, God’s not happy. If you don’t read your Bible daily, God is not pleased. Or, God will not bless you if you don’t give 10 percent of your income. Rules, rules, and more rules. All were designed to keep men in charge of the church.
Yet, I have discovered that God doesn’t love me more if I attend a weekly gathering than if I miss a few weeks. He doesn’t accept me more if I read twenty chapters of the scriptures daily than if I go twenty days without reading a single verse. He’s not willing to bless me more because I gave the entire ten percent to the local church than he would if I gave $50 to a homeless person to buy food.
God loves me, and His grace is toward me regardless of whether I check the church boxes or perform the accepted rules.
I am not saying that doing those things is wrong, but doing them does not increase His grace, love, goodness, and kindness toward me.
I can do NOTHING to make Him love me more, and I can do NOTHING that will make Him love me less.
That’s real grace–knowing that He loves me no matter what. He doesn’t love me more when I keep the rules or when I miss one, two, or more. That doesn’t mean I want to sin, and it doesn’t permit me to sin, but if I do, He doesn’t forget me, and He will NEVER leave me nor forsake me. That’s even when I fall short.
Legalism
The good news is that He will still love you if you fall into the legalistic churchianty camp. He loved the Pharisees just as much as he loved the tax collector, whore, and criminal. His grace is for everyone, and I’m so glad I’m learning that — even as I approach sixty years. It’s never too late to know who I am in Christ.
