There are two equal and opposite dangers when it comes to the way Christians can deal with grace. The first is grace-ditching and the second is grace-hoarding. The two heresies affect different types of Christians and different tribes of the church. But both of them are equally dangerous as they misrepresent true grace.
Grace-ditching Christianity is easy to spot. It appears in the cold judgmentalism of the morally superior. It rears its head when Christians care more about performance than people. It crops up when churches boast of being cleverer, better or kinder than Muslims, atheists, or even Christians from other churches. Grace-ditching Christianity can be busy, committed, hardworking and productive. But it mistakes pursuing the justice of God for justification, it confuses working out our salvation with working for our salvation, it substitutes being right for doing right.
Grace-ditching Christianity is what Paul is trying to combat in the second chapter of Ephesians, and he offers three antidotes:
1. The first is the memory of our past. We have a common rescue story from the sorry situation we found ourselves in, spiritually dead and captive to the three enemies of our soul – the world, our desires and the devil.
2. The second antidote is the mindfulness of our undeserved present blessings and privileges. We have a common generous life-giver through Jesus' death and resurrection and because we have freely received, therefore we freely give.
3. Paul's third antidote to grace-ditching Christianity is the mystery that is in the future. We have a common inheritance to look forward to seated in glory with Jesus.
None of these antidotes can be bought, earned or compared. Everything we have has been freely given to us through the love and grace of God. Paul couldn't be clearer – we cannot afford to dump, forget or ignore the grace we have been given. Grace-ditching Christianity is not Christianity at all.
But the equal and opposite danger for Christians is grace-hoarding, and again, it's easy to spot. It appears when Christians care more about feeling good about themselves than doing good. It crops up when churches structure their activities around pleasing Christians rather than reaching the lost or serving the needy. Grace-hoarding Christianity can be joyful, passionate, and celebratory, but it substitutes justification for seeking the justice of God, and neglects working out our faith in favour of only enjoying our faith. It confuses receiving salvation for sharing salvation. But Paul has grace-hoarding Christianity in his sights when he pens the second half of Ephesians 2.
Paul explains that "we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Again, he couldn't be clearer – we can't afford to hoard, stockpile or selfishly squirrel away our grace. The antidote for grace-hoarding Christianity is to understand the rationale behind grace, the relational aspect of grace, and the responsibility of grace.
1. Firstly the rationale. We are not saved by doing good deeds, but we are saved for good works.
2. Secondly the relationship. We are made not just to receive grace but to pass it on to others.
3. Thirdly the responsibility of grace. There is a transformative aspect that has always been part of God's plan.
It was grace-hoarding Christianity that Dietrich Bonhoeffer railed against in his book The Cost of Discipleship, in which he wrote: "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
For Bonhoeffer, the antidote to cheap grace is costly grace: "Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ." Paul, too, brings us back to Jesus to keep us focussed on true grace: "the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).
There is tightrope to walk between a grace-ditching, self-justifying Christianity and a grace-hoarding, self-satisfied Christianity. Why not spend some time slowly meditating on the perfect balance Paul strikes in Ephesians 2, and pray that grace-rich and graceful Christianity captivates your heart and mind.
Rev Dr Krish Kandiah a contributing editor to Christian Today, the founding director of Home for Good and an author and speaker. Follow him on Twitter @krishk
