Moral Decline, Grace, And The Nature Of Change

Watch the news, surf the internet, or browse social media and it doesn’t take long to be concerned about our sense of morality as a nation. Honestly, it doesn’t take long to be concerned about our sense of morality as the church. I think it raises an interesting question, “What should be the churches central message in our current culture?”

Our church has been studying the book of Galatians in the New Testament and they were asking this question 2000 years ago. It seemed that some were advocating setting aside grace in favor of the law. In a culture that is experiencing moral decline, it is very tempting to preach law over grace believing that law will result in righteousness, obedience, new life, and a changed culture. It might in the short term but it doesn’t in the long term.

Paul, however, took a different approach. He doubled down on grace, saying, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” Galatians 2:21. One of the biggest misconceptions about grace is that it results in sinfulness. It does not. Grace results in righteousness, grace changes everything it touches.

The engine of change is grace centered love:

Love will always be a driving and dominating force to live righteous and holy lives. Imagine for a moment that your state removed all speed limit restrictions. Our knee jerk response is to think that we would speed everywhere, but that’s not true. You know where you wouldn’t speed? In front of your kids school. On the road where your wife jogs every morning. Near your house where your kids and their friends play. Why? Love is a dominating force that drives your behavior.

The doctrine of grace should create in us an appreciation, love, and respect for what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. This love, when cultivated, drives us to live different, holy, and righteous lives.

The engine of change is grace centered relationship:

The Apostle Paul wrote, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3: 18

The message of grace is that we are invited into a relationship with Jesus. Relationship with Jesus is a gift. It is in this relationship that we see, contemplate, and think about His glory, in other words, who He is. It is in the context of this relationship and contemplation that the Spirit does His work and transforms us and changes us. We become more like Jesus, which is very good news, because Jesus was and is and will always be….Awesome!

The engine of change is grace centered power:

We are powerless to change ourselves. It is the Spirit’s power that changes us. We contemplate. He changes. We tend to think of grace as the forgiveness of sins and that’s true, but the power to change is grace as well.

The temptation is to have the dominant message be change! The temptation is to lead with righteousness. The temptation is to lead with law. No, we lead with grace. We lead with Jesus. We lead with His power not ours. Grace will do it’s work….it always does.