Full of Grace and Truth

Andre Pelser (Based on notes taken from Charles Swindoll's book, ‘Grace Awakening', Word Inc, Dallas, Texas, 1990)

Introduction

Thomas Jefferson was leading his men across a flooded river when a stranger appeared and asked the president if he would ferry him across on his horse.  When they got to the other side one of the soldiers asked the stranger why he asked the president to give him a ride.  ‘I didn't know it was the president!  When I looked at everyone he had a ‘Yes' face and the others had ‘No' faces!' the stranger replied.  Grace is God's ‘Yes' face shining towards us because of His Son Jesus Christ. Man made religion gives God a ‘No' face. Outward religion concentrates on outward performance instead of inward authenticity.

How grace affected the disciples

We beheld His glory…we received of his fullness…full of grace and truth!' (John 1:14-17) The grace of God rubbed off onto the disciples simply by being with Jesus. His style became their style. His tolerance, acceptance, love, warmth and compassion transformed their lives.The law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Religion versus grace

Religious demands include rules, requirements, duties, regulations and galling expectations intensifying guilt and shame. An obsession with duty always focuses on right and wrong, cause and effect (especially in other people's lives.) Legalist systems become so stifling there is no room for joy.Legalism leads to harsh, judgmental prejudice. All that matters to a legalist is the external performance and the outward show.  Galatians 6:12 tells us those who want to make a show in the flesh compel others to do things.When I pastored a church for the AFM in Pretoria, the President of the Denomination would phone me on a Monday morning to hear how many people were there and how big the offering was. He never asked me how I was.When I asked a pastor who was into the G12 church growth system how he was, he answered: ‘we now have 170 home cells.' ‘That's not what I asked you!' I said, but he did not hear me.‘In our church we eat, drink and sleep home cells!' It is almost like talking to a brainwashed person. Ambition can blind you to reality.Obedience to a system becomes grim compulsion. It is a form of oppression. When people become slaves to a church growth system or to a denomination there is no room for error. Punishment is dished out if the system is not obeyed. The system has become god – with a small letter ‘g'.

Free the captives

Jesus came to set the captives free. He was anointed to do that. We tend to think of captives as slaves to sin, but there are slaves to religious systems that need to be set free as well. People are suffering under religious orders and systems that exasperate them and make them hate God and despise the church.I had a dream about a prison in which the people all wore the same clothes and ate the same food and did the same exercises in the quad. I noticed that the gates had no locks on them and the cell doors were not barred. I also saw that the guards had no bullets in their rifles.‘You are free to go!' I shouted at the inmates.‘Don't you see? The gates are not locked – you can leave any time you want to!'But they looked at me like somnambulists and simply carried on with their routines.When I woke up I realised I had seen the hypnotic effect that religion can have on people. They do what everyone else does. It is safer to be in a religious prison than to enjoy the liberty of a son of God! They fear freedom.Jesus never came to give us a long list of requirements. He simply said, ‘believe!' even if faith was just the size of a mustard seed.

Truth and grace revealed

‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free!' (John 8:32) Oh, the liberation grace brings! Jesus' disciples loved him for the grace that he brought into their lives. But the Pharisees hated him for it. They are grace killers because they cannot bind people with their religious laws.Jesus never used the word ‘grace'. He simply lived it. His life was full of grace and truth. Sometimes people's lives are only full of truth – but there is no grace. That makes them harsh. They cut other people – because truth is a sharp two-edged sword. Unless it is sheathed in love there is no grace. It hurts people around them.Jesus was THE TRUTH but he was full of GRACE. That is the difference.The Hebrew word for grace means to ‘stoop, bend down or to condescend.' It includes the idea of favour from above. Picture a father picking up his little boy into his arms and carrying him. That is a picture of grace.Hilton was born with a cricket bat in his cradle. He used to walk around with the milk bottle in one hand and the cricket bat in the other. He had many balls everywhere that he would hit around. One day he hit a priceless vase that we brought all the way from Australia and it broke. I was about to react when Aje stepped in between us and reminded me: ‘Hilton is worth more than that vase!' That is a picture of how Jesus has stepped in between us and God and allowed God to reconsider that we are more important to him than inanimate objects and more important than laws and regulations.

Moments of grace

The woman caught in adultery – Jesus said, ‘I hold nothing against you – go and sin no more!'Jesus raising Lazarus. The prodigal son. The thief on the crossChrist forgiving the Roman soldiers for crucifying him because they did not know what they were doing. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!

Expectations from grace