When we talk about a Christianity which calls us to sacrifice, we are always in danger of falling into the legalistic trap. We begin to believe that “If I don’t do certain things then I can’t possibly have received grace.” So our faith descends into a set of rules. The only antidote to this is to make our whole lives a matter of making Christ our treasure.
We don’t pursue holiness in order that we may gain God’s approval. We already have it when we believed, because we are “in Christ”. This is one of the most difficult things for us to grasp, because when we get closer to the light of Christ we see more and more of our own darkness. We sense more of our own unworthiness, and we often feel that there must be something we must do. Otherwise God will change his mind and reject us after all.
But grace really is grace. The God who knew us before we were, and who knew in eternity every single sin that we would commit during our lives, is the One who chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
We cannot be loved more than we are now, and we cannot be more acceptable than we are at this present moment. He did not choose us because of our worthiness, but because of Christ’s worthiness. Because Christ is the Beloved (Matthew 3:17), then in him we are beloved. We are certainly more evil than we ever thought possible, but we are more loved than we can ever imagine.
When we talk of free grace we really do mean free. We did not have to do anything to catch God’s eye so that he would choose us. And having been chosen, we did not have to do anything to make ourselves acceptable. He did everything in sending his Son to save us. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) Christ did everything – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV) So trying to make ourselves acceptable is a vain pursuit.
We do however pursue Christ, and when we do that something happens. Because we find that the Holy Spirit is at work in us so that we, “beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV)
In other words God makes a difference in our lives. He begins to bring us to the place where we reflect the glory of Christ. That means he will change the desires of our hearts so that we desire the things which Jesus desires:
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work”. (John 4:34) Is this legalism? No, because we are told what his motivation was: “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.” (John 14:31) This was not duty but love, not legalism, but glorious self-abandonment to his Father’s perfect will.
So when we receive grace, we also find that we must abandon all our self-preservation to follow Him. He has captured our hearts and grace becomes costly in the effect it has upon us.
So, for example, under the law Israel were to give a tithe (one tenth) of their income to God. Under Grace we are not our own – we are bought with a price and so God owns everything. He is gracious and we use what He gives us for our needs, but the likelihood is that we will “give” much more than one tenth because we want His work to prosper. It’s not “Take one tenth” but “Take my life, and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee.” And we do this joyfully because of His free grace.
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