Scandalous Grace, Message Three: Understanding God's Free Gift of Righteousness

Sometime back I posted on "How the Gospel Applies to Christian's Refusal to Take Communion." In that post I made the fight-picking statement,

"I submit that it is possible one may actually be committing a sin that was just as heinous as the Corinthian matter, when one does not partake of communion because of guilt and sin."

My point was that refusing to take communion on the grounds that you have some sin undealt with in your life is actually an afront to the Lord's table, and is not at all what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 11:27 by eating or partaking "unworthily." That passage really has nothing at all to do with the common misconception we so often present to people at the Lord's table, that if they have sin in their lives that has not been repented of, dealt with, etc. then they are partaking of the Lord's Supper unworthily. That is a different context in a different culture.

It was in my current reading journey that I came across this lengthy yet affirming statement about the Lord's table. I wanted to quote it here in its entirety because this issue is so important. Failing to understand this issue rightly is failing to offer a means of grace to God's people who need it...despite their sin and failure and shortcomings. Jesus died to remove even the sin that most people think makes one unworthy to partake of it. That's the whole point behind the Lord's Supper in the first place!

From A Passion for Christ: The Vision that Ignites Ministry by the Torrance brothers, comes this quote from "Chapter Two: Preaching Jesus Christ."

"It is not easy to preach the truth that we are saved by the Grace of Christ alone, and that is through the vicarious humanity of Jesus and in its substitutionary bearing upon faith that we can properly believe, but this is what may be proclaimed at the Holy Communion as nowhere else....

"I have found in my own ministry that it is easiest to preach the unconditional nature of grace, and the vicarious humanity and substitutionary role of Christ in faith, at the celebration of the Eucharist, where the call for repentance and faith is followed by Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ in which we stretch out empty hands to receive the bread and wine: 'Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the Cross I cling.'
"There at the Holy Table I know that I cannot rely on my own faith but only on the vicarious faith of the Lord Jesus in the total substitution of his atoning sacrifice on the Cross. Salvation and justification are by the grace of God alone. Faith, as John Calvin taught, is an empty vessel, so that when you approach the Table of the Lord, it is not upon your faith that you rely, but upon Christ and his Cross alone. That is what the Covenant in his body and blood which the Saviour has forged for us actually, practically, and really means. It is of the very essence of the Gospel that salvation and justification are by the grace of Christ alone, in which he takes your place, that you may have his place.

"I believe this emphasis in the mission of the Church may well be more important than anything else today. There is a kind of subtle Pelagianism in preaching and teaching that has the effect of throwing people back in the last resort on their own act of faith, so that in the last analysis responsibility is taken off the shoulders of the Lamb of God and put upon the shoulders of the poor sinners, and we know well in our hearts that we cannot cope with it. Is that not one of the things that keeps pushing people away from the Church? I think here the reluctance of many people to approach the Holy Table, which happens on Communion Sundays when people fail to understand the absolutely free and unconditional nature of the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Through the miracle of his Cross, he turns our sins and failings into the very means he uses in order to save us and bind us to himself. That is precisely what he pledges to us in the Communion of his Body and Blood." (Emphasis mine)

These thoughts are so key as we seek to apply the purpose of the Lord's Supper and answer questions in 1 Corinthians 11. And in this passage it seems that eating and drinking unworthily is about how you act at the table, and not what you've done before you come to the table.

When we tell people they shouldn't partake because of a sin that must be confessed or repented of first, we make the table moment something it is not about: me. The purpose of the table is to point me to who Jesus is and what He has done...not what I have done or must do. Making the table about the latter unwittingly turns the table into a moment fertile for cross-destroying evils:

• Works-righteousness - ever thought to yourself anything like this? "I need to do [such and such] to get back right with God."


• ...Or self-righteousness - ever had this thought? "Thank you God that I've been obedient enough to partake of Communion this time."

In conclusion then, when a pastor tells people to refuse the elements or just pass them along or pass them by when the bread and cup are offered is to refuse the very thing God offers as a means of repenting from the sin we're saying should keep them from the table! Oh, how I've ignored the true meaning and purpose of the elements when I've said such things. What tragic irony for the people of God when these things are communciated.

May the Lord abundantly pour out His grace on us for this grave error and turn our hearts into the richness of His mercy...even for this grave error I've committed against His cross. What joy there is in eating and drinking because of what He's done for me and not what I've done for Him.

If we try to obey God and be like Jesus without the knowledge and faith that Jesus has already obeyed God for us, we will strive to obey God with a lingering burden that we never measure up.

This knowledge and faith of the vicarious humanity and death of Christ becomes a well-spring of joy that produces an obedience that is both effectual and magnifying the work of Jesus for us.

How is this manifested? New theologies claiming to be old or simply fresh perspectives arise each generation claiming to refocus our vision on the biblical understanding of justification by faith, substitionary atonement, propitiation, etc...all elements essential to the message of the cross. By subtracting any part of these gospel-doctrines, they consequently subtract from the very gospel itself.

What is more, the devil has utilized these threats and partnered with Hollywood to continue attack the gospel with movies and television shows that remould a biblical understanding of our Savior and His work. Twenty years ago it was the Jesus Seminar. Last year it was The DaVinci Code. This year it's the discovery of the tomb of Jesus. Next year it will be something new, something different, something fresh.

The way to guard the gospel from these threats is also two-fold.

First, it is to be held closely. This means we are to know the gospel and all its parts. If we are unaware of any part of it, we will likewise be unaware when someone comes along and subtracts or adds to that part which we are not familiar with. This is such an overlooked feature in churches today which reject the notion of doctrine altogether, fancying it to be nothing more than old-school, irrelevant opinions of dusty books and long-ago stuffy preachers. Yet the refusal to know it explains the welcoming of the internal and external threats which seem to enter into the church so casually. Therefore, we must know all of it if we are to guard all of it from anything which threatens a part of it.

Second, and quite paradoxically, we are to release it. The gospel is a message which God has invested with the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. It is an unfortunate trend to see those who know the gospel so well hold it so closely that they treat it as an invalid. They write books about it, discuss it on forums, talk about it in discussion groups, have Bible studies about it, and preach sermons about it. But they seem to have no concept of living it by releasing it to do its work.

To release the gospel is to envision people for it, empowering them for it, and equipping them to do it. Far too many pastors seem to act as if they are the gatekeepers for the gospel. Ministry must come to them first rather than through them. Pastors are equippers for the gospel (Eph. 4:13 ff.), outfitting the saints to take the gospel to the streets, to the workplace, to the home, to the gas station, etc. When we hold it closely and do not also release it, we hoard it. And if we hoard it, we can't say we believe it, for it is a message intended to be released into the world to change lives and advance God's kingdom here on earth.

Further, releasing the gospel means pastors and ministers releasing their people to go with the gospel. The gospel changes lives, and it changes lives as it goes with lives to change lives. In other words, the saints must march out into the world with the gospel in hand, and pastors expecting that the gospel will change them as they go. This necessarily means that they will not be changed completely either before they go, as they go, or as they come back. And this means we have to trust a sovereign God.

Ministers must relinquish their supposed rights to control the ministry of the gospel and how the saints go out with it and in it. Though they are saints, they'll never be perfect. Their families will never be perfect. They'll always struggle with sin. But the gospel changes them as they take it to the world. This is especially difficult for pastors who are reformed and do hold the gospel so dearly. But their love for it cannot and should not quench its flames in the hearts of others who may not know it as well as their pastor, but desperately desire to see it burn the fields that are white to harvest. For these pastors, the danger is adding to it by creating an atmosphere where the saints feel they must measure up to a-b-c-1-2-3 in order to be able to minister with it effectively to whomever or wherever God envisions them. And when they add to it in this way, they actually subtract from it the power that has been invested in it by the commission of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit.

May we all, saints and pastors alike, be envisioned and empowered for guarding it from internal and external threats by holding it closely and releasing it willingly.

This past New Year's Day hosted Passion 07. This year John Piper was invited to speak on the application of Colossians 1-3 and his topic was, "How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause." Follow the link to the sermon manuscript or to listen to the sermon. This is the most cross-centered, gospel-saturated sermon I have yet to hear on this subject which has plagued almost every Christian male in particular (including myself) I know of. I have yet to meet a man who has not struggled here, although I'm sure there is the occasional fellow here and there.

There are two sides to this issue, and Christian men know the one side well. It is the mortification side. We can count on probably both hands the number of sermons we've heard on the fact that we must put to death the sin of lust. Included in this count are sermons on the consequences of perpetual lust which results in hell.

This sin in particular is so difficult to defeat that it has run many a good Christian brother (and sister) off course from the passionate sense of calling they have for God's kingdom. The guilt which is incurred from this sin can heap up on a man so high that he becomes buried beneath a load of condemnation which virtually drowns any passion for ministry with a sense of unworthiness. His sin is great, the devil knows it, and the devil reminds him often through accusations which are, quite honestly, completely true.

Along with the many sermons on mortification of this sin comes a much-needed sermon on how to handle this sin when it has been chosen over above the pleasures of God. When it comes to the subject of masturbation in particular, there are two sides to this coin: mortification AND justification. What we do when we've sinned in this area is just as important as what we do to kill it. Piper's sermon here is a must-hear when it comes to being completely gospel-centered in this area (and in any other area of besetting sin).