Real Grace
Have you ever been the victim of a bait and switch? You were told you were buying a reliable vehicle, only to end up at the mechanic shop every other week. You saw a Coach purse that was on sale, used your hard-earned money to purchase it, and then learned it was a knock off. You were promised a relaxing, enjoyable getaway vacation rental, and when you arrived the place was a dump.
No one likes being the victim of a bait and switch tactic. We feel deceived, robbed, and taken advantage of. It leaves us with less than what we were promised.
BAIT & SWITCH CHRISTIANITY?
Why do we sometimes feel like we were victims of a bait and switch when it comes to the Christian life?
We were told in the beginning about God’s grace, but now it feels like it’s up to us. It’s about performance, following rules, checking the boxes, and trying to be more like Jesus. It’s about seeking after God, climbing to the mountain top, and doing everything we can to feel His pleasure through our actions and our passion for Him.
It feels like a bait and switch. We were told one thing about the Christian life only to find out that it was something different. Something way different.
REAL GRACE
What if I told you that it wasn’t something different? What if you were saved by grace, and you live the Christian life by grace?
It’s true. In Colossians 2:6, the apostle Paul writes,
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him
How did the Colossians receive Jesus? By grace through faith. Paul tells them then to continue to live their lives by grace through faith.
You are not just saved by grace; you live the Christian life by God’s grace.
As a matter of fact, Paul had some strong words for a church who had turned to living the Christian life through rules, performance, and check lists. He writes this in Galatians…
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Gal. 3:1-3)
Paul says, “You entered the Christian life by God’s grace, but you are trying to live the Christian life by effort.”
He even says in Galatians 1 that they had turned to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all, and that they were deserting the one who called them to live in the grace of Christ.
Did you catch that? They were called to LIVE in the grace of Christ.
The Christian life isn’t just started by grace, it is lived by grace, and finished by grace. It’s all God’s grace.
THE DECEIVER
The bait and switch Christianity comes from Satan, the world, and our flesh. Satan is a deceiver and the father of lies. He knows the Christian life is a life of grace lived by faith, so he has set out to convince the church that it’s about living for Jesus. The focus is on the activity we do rather than on Jesus and what He has already done for us and to us.
It’s a system based on the way the world works (since Satan is the ruler of this world). Perform and achieve, and you will be justified. You will earn an identity. You will be validated.
It works because our flesh eats this kind of mentality up. Our flesh craves achievement, earning something, and making ourselves into somebody through hard work and discipline.
Take all of that and stamp the Christian label on it, and people in the church clap and cheer. We celebrate the activity of Christians who are winning and achieving for Jesus, and we get inspired to go out and try to live for Jesus too.
All the while, Satan is smiling. He has turned our attention away from what Jesus has done for us and is doing through us, and He has our focus on ourselves and our flesh. He has deceived us into seeing the plastic fruit we manufacture as real fruit.
We think we are honoring God. We think we are not taking His grace for granted. We think we are the real Christians and not like those “fakes” who promote cheap grace.
THE TRUTH
The truth is that we are dishonoring God because we have taken matters back into our own hands and made it about ourselves.
The truth is that God is honored when we live by grace through faith in Jesus’ finished work for us.
Through His finished work, He has given you His very life (1 John 5: 11-12), made you whole (Col. 2:10), given you a new identity (2 Cor. 5:17), and is expressing His life through you (Eph. 3:20).
Jesus offers you real grace, not a bait and switch kind of grace. No, He gives you grace on the front end, grace in the middle, and grace on the back end.
Grace is enough. Will you live in His grace today? I hope and pray that you will.
