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Naked Grace

By Jeremy Myers
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Naked Grace
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/p/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/775113715-redeeminggod-naked-grace-an-interview-with-lucas-kitchen.mp3

I interviewed Lucas Kitchen today about his book  Naked Grace. In this book, he tells the story of how he discovered the truth about grace, and why it is so important for you and I to learn these truths as well. If you have questions about eternal life, the message of the gospel, what it means to follow Jesus as a disciple, or how grace helps us defeat sin in our lives, listen to this interview.

Also, make sure you get a copy of Lucas’ new book, Naked Grace. And while you’re at it, get his other books on gospel-related issues, such as:

  • Salvation and Discipleship: Is There a Difference?
  • Eternal Rewards: It Will Pay to Obey
  • Eternal Life: Believe to be Alive
  • Thomas: Hero of the Faith

In this interview with Lucas Kitchen, we discuss questions like this:

  • When did you first come to start asking questions of eternal significance?
  • How did you first come to understand the truth about Grace?
  • How does a proper understanding of how to receive eternal life help you in life and ministry?
  • Is free grace a license to sin, or does it actually help us get rid of sin?

As you listen to this podcast, you will discover that there are many similarities between your own story and that of Lucas. Make sure you listen to the end where he tells you how to reach out to him and find more answers to your questions.

Also, go visit his websites to connect with Lucas:

  • SimplyBelief.com
  • LucasAnswers.com

God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming God, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, eternal life, free grace, gospel, grace

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Legalism: The Biggest Threat to Church Unity

By Jeremy Myers
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Legalism: The Biggest Threat to Church Unity

There is no greater threat to the unity of the church than legalism.

These are strong words, but history, tradition, experience, and Scripture reveal that where legalism spreads, disunity prospers.

Thankfully, God has provided an antidote to legalism through the free gift of eternal life which is received by grace along through faith alone in Christ alone.

legalism threat to unityJust as legalism breeds disunity, love and unity flourish where grace and faith multiply. The more we emphasize grace and faith, the greater our unity will be. For this reason—and simply for the sake of the truth—a strong stance on the simplicity and freeness of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone is essential.

To see this, it is important first of all to know what legalism is.

Legalism Defined

Lots of people have heard about legalism, but few know what it is. Here is a basic definition of legalism:

Legalism is when people use the law of God in an attempt to gain favor with God.

legalism definedAt it’s core, legalism believes that God is angry with humanity, and that the way to make God like us again is to obey His laws. And if everybody could just obey God’s laws all at the same time, then God might love us and be happy with us again, and blessings from heaven will flow down upon us once more.

So at it’s core, legalism has some seriously faulty views about God, about sin, about the law, and about how people can get into a good relationship with God. All of these faulty views are what makes legalism so dangerous and divisive.

Legalism is Dangerous

Legalism is dangerous because it begins with the premise that God is mad at us and He gave us His law so that we could get back into His good favor.

But if Jesus tells us anything about God, it is that He is NOT angry with us. To the contrary, He loves us deeply and longs for nothing more than to reconcile us to Himself (2 Cor 5:19). It is not He who needs to be reconciled to us, but we to Him. In other words, He is not the one who has abandoned us; we have abandoned Him. It is not He who left us, but we who left Him.

By sending Jesus to this earth, God bridged the divide that we placed between Him and us. Out of His great love for us, He has come to where we are, because He knew that we would never (and could never) come to Him.

But the basic premise of legalism contradicts all this. Legalism teaches that we have offended God so deeply that He is angry with us… He even hates us… and so we must try to please and appease God by doing things He likes so that maybe, somehow, hopefully, God will love us once more.

Not only is such legalistic theology terribly wrong, it becomes terribly divisive.

Legalism is Divisive

Legalism is divisive because as soon as one person thinks that they are starting to obey God’s law and make God happy with us again, that person begins to think that the reason God is still angry with the world is not because of his or her sin, but because of everyone else’s. So if everyone else would just clean up their life and start obeying God, then God will start to love us again. As soon as legalists begin to make some headway in their own life in the “Obedience to the Law” department, they set themselves up as a manager in the department, and try to get everybody else to follow the rules as well.

But this isn’t the most dangerous or divisive element to legalism. What makes legalism so divisive is that nobody actually thinks they are legalistic.

Though there are countless Christians who are legalistic, you will never meet anyone who claims to be a legalist. This is what makes legalism so sinister. It sucks the life out of Christians who believe they stand for the truth of Scripture and the Gospel. Legalism run madly toward death, all the while thinking they are pursuing life.

legalism and obedienceSince nobody believes that they are legalistic, everybody believes they have a healthy balance between law and grace, between faith and good works. A legalist then, is anyone who places a greater emphasis on law and good works than you do. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we criticize those who take grace too far. Those people are licentious, we think. They place too much emphasis on grace and in so doing, give people license to sin.

In this way, since only “other” people are legalists, and each of us is only trying to get people to obey God and live within the principles of the Kingdom of God, the hidden legalist in each of us (myself included!) becomes judgmental, critical, and divisive in our treatment of others. Legalism tears Christians apart because it sets up laws and rules as the means by which we maintain relationships between one another and between ourselves and God. And part of the divisive nature of legalism is that nobody can agree on the rules that must be observed. Everybody has different rules and regulations that must be maintained in order to fellowship with someone else.

Legalism’s Antidote

So what is the cure? What is the fix? What is the antidote to legalism?

Since legalism is so sinister, and since it is so hard to define, one might think that combating legalism is not worth the effort. Some might be tempted to think that it is not legalism that divides Christians, but the struggle against legalism that causes the problems. If some people are legalistic and others are licentious, wouldn’t it be better, for the sake of unity, to just throw up our hands, shrug our shoulders, and say “Live and let live”?

No, I don’t think so. Why not? Because Scripture seems intent on combating legalism wherever it is found. If legalism is one of the greatest threats to Christian unity, and legalism is found in every one of us, and Christian unity is something we should strive for, then legalism is worth fighting against.

In fact, it could be argued that much of the New Testament was written to combat legalism. Jesus fought against the legalism of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The apostles fought against legalism in Acts (e.g., Acts 15), and the Apostle Paul fought against legalism in most of his letters. So if they fought against legalism, we should to.

breaking the bonds of legalismHow? Most people try to combat legalism with a different form of legalism. I have seen arguments break out between a behavioral legalist and a doctrinal legalist. The first person thinks we make God happy by what we do, while the second person argues that we make God happy by what we believe.

I think it is time to back away from all of these rules and regulations, and look at how the Bible seems to combat legalism. And how is that? By emphasizing grace as much as possible.

One reason legalism is so divisive is that Christians seem so intent on putting limits and restrictions on grace. The moment we set limits to God’s boundless grace is the moment we wrap ourselves in the dark bonds of legalism, but the moment grace is unleashed and unchained, legalism shrivels up and dies.

So what is the antidote to legalism? Grace. Radical grace.

Do your best to never limit or restrict grace in any way. Let grace be extended to point of shamefulness. Let us live indiscriminate, shocking, outrageous, scandalous, senseless, irrational, unfair, irreligious, ridiculous, absurd, offensive, infinite, free grace.

Let us live life as a contest to see who can be the most gracious, loving, kind, and forgiving, and teach others to do the same. If we are going to follow the example of Jesus (and of God), we must extend grace to the point that people accuse us being friends to tax-collectors and sinners, to the point that they complain of how we allow people to get away with anything, of how we liberally shower blessings upon friends and enemies alike, and how we even show love and mercy upon those who wish to do us harm.

Such outrageous grace is what God shows us, and how we can live toward others. This kind of grace is the antidote to the legalism in all of us.

This post was part of the November 2018 Synchroblog.

Here is the list of other writers and authors who contributed to this month’s Synchroblog. Go read them all to see what others think about church unity.

  • Heathens and Heretics – Glenn Hager
  • What have we Become? – Rocky Glenn
  • Unified Through Life – Jordan Hathcock
  • How Can Churches Exemplify Unity in a Divided Country? – Mike Edwards
  • Practicing Unity – Tim Nichols
  • Christian Unity – Joseph A.

God is Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: church unity, Discipleship, eternal life, free gift, free grace, grace, law, legalism, synchroblog, Theology of Salvation

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Jonah 4:8 – God is a Divine Enabler

By Jeremy Myers
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Jonah 4:8 – God is a Divine Enabler
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/p/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/359587427-redeeminggod-jonah-48-god-is-a-divine-enabler.mp3

At a conference I attended a while back, I mentioned in passing to someone that I do not believe that God punished people for their sin. The person I was talking to looked at me like I had lost my mind.

“If God doesn’t punish people for their sin,” he said, “then God is just an enabler, letting people get away with their sin.” The man thought I was going to back peddle from my position, but I didn’t. The truth is that I do believe God is a divine enabler. He is the biggest enabler the universe has ever seen.

It’s a challenging idea, I know, but it is what we are seeing here in Jonah, which somewhat explains Jonah’s frustration with God. Stick around and we’ll see more as we study Jonah 4:8 today.

Jonah 4:8

The Text of Jonah 4:8

When the sun rose, God prepared a harsh, east wind and the sun attacked Jonah’s head and he became faint and begged with all his life to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”

In this discussion of Jonah 4:8 we look at:

  • Why that harsh east wind was probably strong rather than hot
  • What it means for the sun to beat down on Jonah’s head
  • Why Jonah wanted justice
  • Why God did not want justice
  • How this reveals that God is a divine enabler

Resources:

  • Redeeming God Discipleship Area
  • The Re-Justification of God Paperback book
  • The Mystery of Christ, & Why We Don’t Get It – Capon
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

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Do you like learning about the Bible online?

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God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: divine enablement, forgiveness, grace, Jonah 4:8, mercy, One Verse Podcast, violence

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Jonah 4:7 – Is God a God of Love AND Justice?

By Jeremy Myers
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Jonah 4:7 – Is God a God of Love AND Justice?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/p/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/356796503-redeeminggod-96-jonah-47-is-god-a-god-of-love-and-justice.mp3

Jonah 4:7Have you ever heard someone say, “God is a God of love, but He is also a God of justice?” Usually this is said in the context of a discussion on hell. You might object to the idea of torturing people forever in hell as being not very loving, and the other person might say, “Well, you know, God is a God of love, but He is also a God of justice.”

In other words, God wants to forgive, but He must be just. He must punish sin. It this true? Must God punish people for their sin? Does God punish people for sin? While it is true that God is both merciful and just, both forgiving and just, the question is “How?”

This is what we discuss in this study of Jonah 4:7.

The Text of Jonah 4:7

But God prepared a worm at the rising of the dawn the next day to attack the vine so that it withered.

In this discussion of Jonah 4:7 we look at:

  • The worm that God sent to attack the plant
  • Why the rising of the sun hints at justice
  • Why Jonah wants justice
  • Why God does not want justice
  • Why God cannot both forgive AND give justice

Resources:

  • Buy The Atonement of God on Amazon
  • Redeeming God Discipleship Area
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: forgiveness, grace, Jonah 4:7, justice, love, mercy, One Verse Podcast, restorative justice

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Romans 6:1 is the Litmus Test for Grace

By Jeremy Myers
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Romans 6:1 is the Litmus Test for Grace

In two previous posts (Grace 1 and Grace 2) I have tried to emphasize that grace is absolutely free.

The objection that is always raised when I write about grace this way is this: Won’t people take advantage of this kind of grace?

The answer to that is “Of course they will!”

But grace that comes with restrictions to avoid being abused is no longer grace.

Romans 6:1 and Grace

Romans 6:1Inevitably, whenever I speak or write about grace this way, someone objects that I am contradicting Paul who said in Romans 6:1 that we should not continue in sin so that grace may abound.

Whenever someone asks this question, I am always pleased, because it shows that they are finally beginning to understand grace.

In Romans 4–5, Paul has been writing about the radical, scandalous, outrageous grace that I have been presenting here as well. Note that Romans 6:1 is an objection to Paul’s teaching about grace. It is only because of what Paul has written that someone raises the objection that if what Paul is saying is true, why can’t people sin all they want?

Paul goes on to explain why people should not, but he never says they cannot. And nowhere does Paul say that if people continue to live in sin, they will come to the end of God’s grace, or will prove that they were never truly justified in the first place. No, Paul argues that if a person truly understands the love and grace of God, and what God has done for them in Jesus Christ, this knowledge will lead them to live free from sin, not to live in sin even more.

This is why I like to say that Romans 6:1 is actually the litmus test for anybody’s teaching on grace.

The Romans 6:1 Objection is the Natural Objection to Grace

If someone is teaching about the grace of God, and after they are done, nobody raises the objection that is raised in Romans 6:1, then the teaching on grace was not truly teaching grace.

A biblical explanation of grace will always lead people who have been paying attention to say, “But wait! If what you are saying is true, then why can’t I just go out and sin all I want?”

If you are teaching or writing about grace and you get this question, rejoice, for you have helped someone see the shocking, scandalous, and outrageous nature of God’s grace.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, grace, Romans 6:1, sin, Theology of Salvation

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