This Sunday I’m preaching
on the first half on John chapter 1, focusing in on verse 14. The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one
and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. I am so captivated by this idea of Jesus being
full of grace and truth. It’s
practically all I’ve been thinking about for the past week, and that’s not just
because I’m preparing a sermon on it. I
keep asking myself “what does it mean for me to be full of grace and truth?” I figure if I’m a Christian that means I am a
follower of Jesus and I desire to learn from and emulate his exemplary life. Therefore I think I need to be doing all I
can to live a life full of grace and truth.
I think depending on our
personalities we all tend to lean one direction or the other. I’m a bit more of a truth guy myself. Whatever the issue is I tend to hone in on
what I think the truth of the matter is, often times without a lot of
understanding or compassion. I’ll never
forget when I was getting my Masters many years back; I was in a class that was
discussing crime in our society and I made the mistake of using the term “dirt
bags” when referring to a lot of those people who contribute to our societal
ills. I got in a little trouble with the
professor that day. Thankfully I think I’ve
grown a little since then. A more
graceful person would have wanted to understand more what has contributed to
said “dirt bags” actions and how can we better help them. Although a grace leaning person can sometimes
go too far as well; often looking to excuse behaviors that are plain and simply
wrong.
Here’s something that’s
probably a safe generalization. When
looking at the faults of others we tend to lean more towards truth, and when
looking at the faults of ourselves we tend to lean more towards grace. Back to Jesus; He was full of both. He called people out for their sin and didn’t
back down from that. At the same time He
was full of grace, offering forgiveness and a new way of life. Perhaps we see His fullness of both truth and
grace at its best in the account of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus identified her sin as sin and told her
to go and sin no more, but he also said he did not condemn her.
So how do we let the
fullness of grace and truth play out in our own lives? For those of us who profess the Christian
faith I have at least one suggestion. I think
the Church would be far better off if we could learn to focus more on the core
truths of our faith and show grace in all the rest. By core truths I mean belief in the one true
Triune God, that we are sinners and belief in Jesus Christ as the sole way to
salvation, and belief in the bible as God’s word to mankind. And that’s about it. Everything else is secondary. We can have great discussions about such
things as inerrancy, end times, creation, Calvinism, fundamentalism, worship
styles, miraculous gifts, faith in politics, sexuality, baptism, how we should
share our faith, and more. I also
believe we should have well-formed opinions on such things based in our study
of the scriptures. But to be full of
grace in these areas means that we accept that there are those who have studied
the scriptures just as much if not more and have come to different conclusions
than we have. And when that happens we
resist those judgments that come to mind, dismissing the other as a wacky
fundamentalist or a liberal social gospel nut (to name just a couple). We also seek to keep things civil and
respectful in our conversations and especially in our social media dialogue. I
say that preaching to myself. It’s so
easy sometimes to take a “tone” in the written language we use on Facebook. Let’s remember the rest of the world is
watching us. We all need to ask
ourselves “how am I coming across to others?”
The Church is a big tent with room for all types and we need to lead the
way as Christians; holding consistently to our core truths and being full of
grace in all the rest.
