What is Grace? By Tullian Tchividjian

What Is Grace?

By Tullian Tchividjian

What is grace?

The definition I give for grace in my forthcoming book, One-Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, comes from Paul Zahl:

Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable…. The cliché definition of grace is “unconditional love.” It is a true cliché, for it is a good description of the thing. Let’s go a little further, though. Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. It has everything and only to do with the lover. Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do with weights and measures. It has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so-called “gifts” (whatever they may be). It reflects a decision on the part of the giver, the one who loves, in relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold…. Grace is one-way love.

Grace doesn’t make demands. It just gives. And from our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person. We see this over and over again in the Gospels: Jesus is always giving to the wrong people—prostitutes, tax collectors, half-breeds. The most extravagant sinners of Jesus’s day receive his most compassionate welcome. Grace is a divine vulgarity that stands caution on its head. It refuses to play it safe and lay it up. Grace is recklessly generous, uncomfortably promiscuous. It doesn’t use sticks, carrots, or time cards. It doesn’t keep score. As Robert Capon puts it, “Grace works without requiring anything on our part. It’s not expensive. It’s not even cheap. It’s free.” It refuses to be controlled by our innate sense of fairness, reciprocity, and evenhandedness. It defies logic. It has nothing to do with earning, merit, or deservedness. It is opposed to what is owed. It doesn’t expect a return on investments. It is a liberating contradiction between what we deserve and what we get. Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.

It is one-way love.

Christ as the Communication Key

“[Jesus] is the medium of all communication between God and us.  In him we meet; in him we walk.  All influences of love, kindness, mercy, from God to us, are through him; all our returns of love, delight, faith, obedience unto God, are all through him – he being that “one way” God so often promises his people.”
-John Owen (Communion with the Triune God, p. 218)

Still The Way, The Truth, and The Life

I was reading the latest Christianity Today (December 2009) and came across some stunning statistics that made me think, “How stupid can a person be?”

The article “Still the Way, the Truth, and the Life” by John Franke was an ok read (3.5 out of 5 stars), but I was stunned at some professing Christians’ stupidity due to lack of logic, determination to be “politically correct”, or whatever other reason they think they can say they are an Evangelical Christian yet hold a pluralistic worldview.  The author of the article was describing the results of compromising on Jesus being the Truth and related a story of a pastor who believed that many religions can lead to eternal life:

A pastor who wanted to demonstrate the strength of his conviction said that if Jesus himself were to appear and affirm the opposing view, he would look him straight in the eye and say, “No, Jesus, you are wrong.  I know this based on my experience, and nothing you can say will lead me to believe otherwise.” (p 30)

Just think about that for a moment.  God shows up and states the facts and you tell God – your Creator – that He is wrong based upon your feelings and experiences which are not facts.  That is beyond stupidity!

I could rant more, but I suggest that if you are interested in this topic you listen to the One Way series currently being produced by John Myer (it will be over 20 messages total).  You can also listen to podcasts and read books by Ravi Zacharias for great insight into logic and the exclusivity of Christ.

Pontius Pilate Revisited

“What is truth?”  In the world today the response to Pontius Pilate’s question is often, “Well, it’s relative”.  What does the Bible say?  What is God’s view on truth?  The second installment of “One Way Jesus: A Call to Confidence in the Exclusivity of Christ” is a great message on truth and its absoluteness.  Check it out in UA Christian Assembly’s audio website entitled Pontius Pilate Revisited.

One Way Jesus – Dazed & Confused

A new sermon series, One Way Jesus: A Call to Confidence in the Exclusivity of Christ, done in class form is being produced.  I believe that the series is going to be around twenty sessions of 45 minutes to 1 hour long each.  The series is dealing with the exclusive claims of Christ and Christianity.

This first message, with cool intro music and everything, is posted at the media section of UA Christian Assembly’s website.  This first session is titled: One Way Jesus: Dazed and Confused in the 21st Century.

This first message is a great introduction to the topic.  The website describes this first message as “a diagnosis of the current confused state of Christianity concerning the uniqueness of Christ.”  It lays out three of the major views regarding the exclusive claims of Christ, helps debunk the thought that Christianity is the only “exclusive” worldview, and some strong cases for Christians holding to the exclusivity of Christ.