Grace of God (Part 4)
Obstacles To Grace

We have seen that grace is undeserved......grace is unearnable....grace
is unrepayable....grace is God’s love in action.

Many of us grew up under a ‘performance-based’ idea of grace: God will
love me when, or if...this way of thinking reveals a conditional love
showing God’s acceptance. That kind of idea comes from the sinful pride
of man—man thinking that somehow he can save himself.

This prideful self pride is the very opposite of grace, is an enemy of
grace, and can be a barrier to God’s grace.

Is it possible to have a theological definition of grace that does not
become relational? Think of the person who can quote and knows the
definition of grace but still believes that it is given only to the
worthy person...they have trouble bestowing grace on others because they
view them as unworthy of it.

If I truly understand what grace is as it relates to my relationship with
God, I will be much more open to extend the characteristics God has given
me to others!

Why is it hard to us to live out grace in the different areas of our
life? Why do we live under grace according to a performance-based system?

Best place to begin: the entrance of sin in the world
Easiest answer found in statement that when "sin entered into the world,
death also entered..."

Man’s pride in the fall also part of the answer, as well. But there are
other answers to the question and they serve as obstacles or barriers to
us:

CULTURAL BARRIERS: Brought on by the world view
Mental map and "a way of looking at life" to determine how we feel about
God and about each other. Depends largely upon parents, way we were
raised, our country, educational processes and our environment...they
help us form our value system. Our assumptions, beliefs, and opin-ions
are based upon this world view.

· North American world view? What does the Bible and grace look like
through this world view?
· Self-reliance: not a trait widely accepted around the world but is very
dominant in America. Has only been here some 150 years, the
anthropologist would say...not that way in probably 90% of the world.
i.e.—a Christian in India, for instance, cannot own land and will likely
not ever be able to own land...their standard is probably 2% of our
standard of living. In China or Japan, no problem for older parents to
brag and speak openly of the help and support they receive from children
(also $$) yet in America (and most other cultures in the world) it’s
looked upon very differently. Most Christians would rather borrow money
from a bank then go to family for assistance! Most Christians have a
problem asking for help from brothers and sisters even though scripture
encourages us to "lean upon one another." We’re disobeying scripture
because we’re following America culture!

· Grace is God-reliant! Extreme self-reliance moves us closer to the
effort of being "our own Savior."
· Americans have trouble believing that any good can come out of being in
a dependent relationship...though we’re in that kind of relationship
with God! 1 Cor. 12 teaches us that we are interdependent upon each
other! We might be using the language but our life is quite different.

· Individualism: "do your own thing" the way it was presented in the
1970’s. It’s called humanism today, which is part of the New Age
movement and part of so many aspects of our life, without us realizing
it.
· The Bible gives attention to the individual....it is always balanced
with an emphasis on God’s actions of love and judgment toward families,
communities, nations! In the O.T., when God passed judgment upon nations,
it was conclusive...whole families and whole nations were judged by
God...though this is difficult for us to completely understand.
· Saving grace is always relational. Always found in the fellowship of
Christ and His people. There are NO "Lone Ranger" Christians in the
Bible. Salvation is a matter of being dependently related to Christ and
to His people. (1 John 4:19-21) "We love because he first loved us. {20}
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For
anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God,
whom he has not seen. {21} And he has given us this command: Whoever
loves God must also love his brother."

· Activism: the rest of the world can’t figure us out – "you can do
anything you want" or you "can be if you work hard enough at it." That is
a message which is just not found in most parts of the world! Because we
find this in the church, it fuels the idea of "works" in order to be
found righteous in God’s sight and it not healthy—though our thanksgiving
to God for our salvation should move us to action rather than apathy!
· Romans 5:6-8: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still
powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. {7} Very rarely will anyone die
for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to
die. {8} But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us."
· Christ died for us while we were powerless and there was nothing we
could do to achieve our salvation!
· Good works are the fruit, not the cause of our being accepted by God!
Good works are our response...they do not cause God to love us any better
or any more! Popular cartoon of a self-righteous Pharisee today: "we get
our righteousness the old fashioned way—we earn it."

CHURCH BARRIERS
Some are surprised to think that the church could present barriers:
· the church is a divine institution of God
· it’s headed by Christ
· agency of grace; preaches the message of grace

The universal and invisible body of Christ is a divine institution and is
an organism of God---BUT the visible church as we see it around us is
human and continues to exhibit human flaws and human sins...those who
make up the visible church are also a product of a particular cul-ture.

Just go outside of this country and you will see slight changes that
reflect the culture of the people in their worship.

1. Gospel of success: the size of the budget, the number of the staff,
the beauty of the building, the number of ministry programs...

....we know this isn’t correct for a lot of good reasons:
· if size is the issue then a religious group in China is the ‘true
church.’
· the 7 churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3 (which was the successful
church? Laodicea
· which one was not criticized in any way of the seven: the one with the
least success and the most persecution: Philadelphia
· I’d rather have 125 members who truly love and Lord and seek Him first
than 250 who are apathetic and don’t have a relationship with God.
· Size matters because each person represents a single soul...but size is
NOT the criteria to determine if we are successful as a church!

Rich man? No room for his grains and goods and wanted to build bigger
barns...but "this night your very life will be required of you" and he
had forgotten God!

This mentality puts great burden, great guilt, extreme shame into a
person’s life. If we’re not successful in every single area of life,
we’re "no good." A person may have experienced failure in one area of
their life and they are made to feel unworthy.

2. Gospel of self-reliant, individualism. Grace allows us to open up to
each other and be transparent. This way of thinking would cause us to
hide our weaknesses.

The New Testament always presumes that because we receive grace from God,
we will turn around and offer that grace to those around us. But is that
true:
· are we forgiving when there is sin in the life of a person among us?
· do we allow them ‘to live it down?’
· are we quick to discuss our spiritual problems with the shepherds of
this congregation?
· is it possible that we’re are spiritually ‘dying on the vine’ and will
not talk about it with other Christians so our soul’s condition can ‘be
healthy again’
Paul had too profound a sense of human sin to believe that a person could
ever earn God's acceptance (Rom. 3:23). As a Pharisee, he had sought to
do that by fulfilling the divine law.

Now he had come to see that it was not a matter of earning God's
acceptance but rather of coming to accept God's acceptance of him through
Jesus Christ:
· Grace is God's way of salvation, totally unearned (Rom. 3:24; 4:4;
11:6; Eph. 2:8).
· Grace is appropriated by faith in what God has done in Christ (Rom.
4:16).
· God's grace comes to sinners, not to those who merit God's acceptance
(Rom. 5:20-21). It is through Christ's atoning work on the cross that
God's grace comes to us
· Christ is the Representative who breaks the reign of sin and brings
life and acceptance with God through divine grace (Rom. 5:15, 17).

Some of the 155 verses in Scripture that tell us something about grace
1. To always speak with grace
(Col 4:6) "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with
salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

2. To be strong in grace that is in Christ
(2 Tim 2:1) "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus."

3. To call upon God for grace in time of need
(Heb 4:15-16) "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. {16} Let us then approach
the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help us in our time of need."

4. To come boldly to throne of grace
(Heb 4:16) "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need."

Last modified: April 18, 2006