Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
A young pastor just out of the theological seminary came for a visit. He was sincere and earnest, and interested in preaching the gospel as Good News to his congregation. But he had a concern: is there a danger in preaching too much about the cross, and the grace of Christ, and His love, and not balance that by preaching about the law, and obedience, and duty? He doesn't want to be pastor of a lazy congregation who take advantage of "cheap grace" and clothe their religion with a thin veneer of love and grace which covers hypocrisy.
I encouraged him to believe what the Bible says:
(1) "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20). "Cheap grace" is a counterfeit message, a detour around the atonement of Christ; you can't preach too much about the genuine grace that "abounds much more" than all the sin the devil can heap upon a congregation.
(2) If what Paul says is "the preaching of the cross" (1 Cor. 1:18) is clearly presented to a congregation, sin and hypocrisy cannot flourish among them because that grace conquers sin and eradicates it. The "power" is in the gospel itself, not in the law (see Rom. 1:16). And Paul says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?" Says Paul: "That's impossible!" (See Rom. 6:14, 15.) Being "under grace" is different than many superficial people imagine: it means you are under a new motivation imposed upon you by a deep heart-appreciation of what it cost the Son of God to save you from hell itself. There is where you see the length, breadth, depth, and height of the love of Christ at His cross (Eph. 3:18). That motivation is far stronger than all the fear-motivation you can use to assail your congregation.
(3) The pure, true gospel is not a perfect so-called "balance" between faith AND works; it is a message of faith WHICH works. How many "good works"? Infinitely more than legalism can ever produce! Don't be afraid to preach salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 21, 1998.
Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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