Faith in the grace of God must be the comfort of the Christian. Joy abounds as you understand more and more the depth of your sin and more and more how perfect and loved you are in God's eyes. Despairing for our sin is stupid. We are grieved that we grieve God, but we realize that we are under the law of grace- set free from the law of sin and death.
We are made to enjoy the grace that frees us from guilt. To believe that "Yes, our sin is big" but to realize that it is but a speck of plankton in the endless ocean of God's love, mercy, and forgiveness. We also remember that this mercy and grace is only made possible because a good man died for a guilty man. We find that even as we sin, God uses it for our good as we are ever more grateful to the man on the cross that gives us our perfection. His work on the cross is reason that God smiles on us without a bit of anger or disappointment.
The truth for the Christian is that fear is not our motivator. Of course, reverence for God is called for and leads to joy, but there is no fear of losing God's favor. There is no fear of ever ever ever being punished for our sins (only loving discipline). We now smile to know that Jesus sends us grace upon grace, not only to forgive us but to trust him and sanctify us.
New Heart, meet crazy grace
This grace is the great gamble- when all is lawful, what will one do? The born-again heart simply aims for happiness and this is a formula that anyone who's been to Sunday school knows: Love, Give, Worship, Tell, Meditate on the Word, Get to know Him, Talk to Him. The exhortations you thought boring and pointless to do before remain hard but they give us what we all want- the peace of living life in harmony with what God intended.
We will sin, yes, but take every drop of joy in believing and meditating on the fact that "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Rm 5:20)" And always always always remember the words of the great Surgeon- remember his preferred patient:
"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.(Matt. 9:12-13)"
Theology in balance
And there you have it. I have significantly weighted the new birth mostly because it takes longer to explain than grace and more because if most Americans wanted to stay consistent with their theology they would only read this last post avoiding the reality of the need for new birth.
For the Christian, though, who wants a biblical framework for how to view themselves, sin, and the people around them (including the people sitting in church) a balance must be had. We must realize that the new birth is huge, but we must also realize that after the new birth, sin will still happen. However it's wage is no more- its power is gone and we are playing a whole new ballgame (Rom. 8:2). We must balance the need for true conversion with the realization that striving before God is a stupid, joy-stealing thing to do before and after the new birth. Too much emphasis on false converts and hell and overestimating the power of the new birth leads to despair and lack of assurance. Too much emphasis on God's grace (without the reality of the need for being born-again) and underestimating the power of the new birth leads to the church we have today where many sit in pews every week waiting for heaven, realizing only too late that "they never knew Him"!
Balance is called for but both of these truths are sorely needed today as false Christians remain comfortable and true Christians merely preach grace without living in the joy and comfort of it.
Recommended resources
On the New Birth
-Finally Alive by John Piper - New birth, New birth, New birth (far more in depth than I)
-1 John - Why did the disciple write this? "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.(5:13)"
On grace after conversion
-The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning - Read a review of this on my blog (it's right before this New Creation series. This book's a life-changer.)
-True Faced (an .mp3 message) by John Lynch - Let's be honest. The Christian life is tough and anyone with a permasmile needs to get honest or be punched in the face.
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