Radical Grace

This post will not make me popular. Too bad.
The time has come to declare myself.
One year ago, after a lifetime of searching, I received the grace of God.
Huh? Haven't you been a Christian a longer time than that I hear you ask?
Yes.
I was born in law, I grew up in law, I received a law salvation (lukewarm), law brings death, I ran away before it killed me, I went into a far country, I spent all, I came back, my Father received me and spoke to me, and day by day until today I am receiving the robe, the ring, the shoes and the party. And it never ends...for all eternity.

One year ago Grace came to me and it was like an oasis in my desert...without any degree of hesitation I went and jumped in, boots and all. And at the risk of censure the grace of God to me is getting more and more...radical...everyday.

Now I could talk for so long...but my battery is declining and I have no powerpoint.
I am not in the business of trying convince you and if you want to depart now, no hard feeling.

So with declining battery I will say this...from one of the most momentous chapters of the Bible, the Word of God.

'He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him freely give us all things?'  Romans 8: 32
 

This speaks of God. Who? The One who spoke and the stars where in the heavens...that 'word' continues unabated the stargazers tell us. How a stargazer could not believe in God just astounds me!
To describe God is difficult, limited by our finity against His matchless glory! I could choose many declarations of our God but this one will have to do...'...He made the stars also.' A throw-away line from Genesis 1, declaring the absolute immense awesomeness of God!

He declared what He thought of us.
How? He gave us His Son. Why?
Grace. Unexplainable, unmerited, ridiculous!
Why? To save us from our sin? Yes.
Is that all? Is the gift of God just salvation? Many think so. They receive Jesus as Saviour and say it is by grace and then beetle off and insist on doing everything else as if we are required to 'merit' the rest in some way.

Sorry I don't buy it. Dear, dear people...I can't walk that anymore. Jesus came to restore to us what our first father gave away in pride and disobedience. Consider what those things were.
As I consider God (matchless in all things) and the scale of His gift (His own Son) I cannot believe anymore that having given everything He now holds back on His grace and requires us to strive and toil for the rest. It is an offence to His matchlessness and the priceless, infinitely valuable scale and worth of His Gift!

So I believe in radical grace. An outrageous God, outrageous in creation, outrageous in love which made Him outrageous in giving which resulted in an outrageous Saviour which when received results in outrageous grace...radical grace.
When the cross was done did He cease to be outrageous? I don't think so.
Or did He then suspend His outrageousness for our lifetimes until we pass over, or the Lord comes, to then kick-start His outrageousness again? Sorry, I can't buy that anymore.
To receive that offends the nature of God.
He just isn't that, well, changeable.
He is the same, yesterday, today and forever...outrageous.

So my declaration?
I receive with my whole heart and being an outrageous God, who created outrageously, loved me outrageously, gave me personally His outrageous gift, and who pours His outrageous Grace upon me day by day. My future is in Him, my everything is in Him, my Life, my Truth, my Way. He is my future and I will trust Him. No more begging, no my foolish strategy, no more half measure Christianity...we want to be real? Ask this question...is He real or not because that is the only question that is valid. Squabbling, hypothesising over words and meanings get me nowhere...from here on I will trust the Lord.

Mission

Mission is a big word at the moment and, recently, significant time has been devoted to considering it. I am personally aware of two churches who have been making this the subject of the moment...and as we have been encouraged to all have an opinion by the study we have undertaken I guess you may as well hear mine...or alternatively you can close this page and go and do something else!

I have to say that, for me, making 'mission' a subject is somewhat akin to making grace a subject, it cannot be because grace, and mission, is a person and His name is Jesus.

Mission is Jesus and Jesus is mission.

You know there is one thing that confuses me about the human race and that is our penchant for taking something that is immensely simple and complicating it almost out of existence. That is what I feel we are doing with the subject of mission. We are intellectualising it almost to the point of extinction when embraced as Jesus intended I believe it is the most liberating and purposeful of life's pursuits.

For me it is the only one that really matters. Now please don't misunderstand what I just said for I did not say that 'mission' was the only thing that mattered because that would be glorifying the mission - Christ is the Exalted. The great purpose for my life is to exalt, to glorify, to lift up Jesus...that, for me, is 'mission'. I don't really care for your cleverly crafted interpretations, or your wonderfully designed strategies because the only point is to share the love of Christ.
Now I run the risk, I guess, of being accused of being simple, or something, but frankly I don't care. You can make mission a subject of as many sermons, the theme of as many conferences, the purpose of as many programs and strategies as you like but the bottom line remains. Mission is as simple as receiving Christ. It requires only to believe. It doesn't rely on you to any degree, it is just a response to Him.

If you want to be 'missional' then you must receive Jesus. That is the only strategy you need. If you want scripture then this one will do... 'We love because He first loved us.' Unless you receive His love then your mission sits with you, depends on you and will be frustration, fear and failure. I'm sorry but Jesus is Grace and grace is unmerited favour, favour that is not dependant upon us (Praise the Lord) born out of righteousness which is not ours but His freely given (unmerited favour).

This is the strategy for mission.
Exalt Christ, receive Christ, receive His love, relish His grace, bathe in His grace...He gives more than we can ever contain and so we become an overflow of grace to those we touch,  you can't help it if you receive Him, you can't contain Him, He will spill out of you like a mountain stream in spring-time, a living fountain bubbling up to everlasting life.

Mission accomplished.