We begin our service for the Lord with great energy and enthusiasm. We are so grateful for all that He has done in our life. How could we not serve Him with all of our energies. However, in time, we often become tired and disappointed. We lose our joy and become frustrated with our Christian experience. Usually a pessimistic attitude sets in and we begin to be legalistic with ourselves and with those we are ministering to. We become negative and discouraged. We lost our motivation and just feel worn out. We have trouble studying the Scriptures or being with other Christians. Typically we get "weary" of Christian people.
Service and ministry based on gratitude for what God has done for me in the past has lost its ability to motivate me when I get tired and worn out. Then I develop what John Piper calls the "debtors ethic." I feel like I owe service to God like I owe my house payment. I am not moved by grace anymore, but by legalistic fear that I have to pay God back.
So I push myself. I redouble my efforts. I try harder all the time, feeling guiltier and guiltier because I have lost my early passion.
This is a mistake many Christians make. The key for breaking this cycle is to transform our gratitude into hope. Since God has been faithful with His grace in the past, I can trust that He will give me the grace in the future that will empower me to serve Him. I am grateful for what He has done, but there is nothing to repay. All God wants from me is to have faith that He will be as full of grace for me in the future as He has been in the past.
When I exercise my faith in His future grace, like I have His past grace, then the Holy Spirit is liberated in me to empower the gifts I have been given and accomplishes the work God desires to accomplish through me. My faith in past grace (i.e. the Cross and redemption) is wonderful and effective for my salvation. God's future grace, His power and wisdom and energy through the Holy Spirit, is just as wonderful and effective. My faith for service is not in past grace, but in future grace...the confident assurance that the grace that saved me will also empower me. God will be faithful to all of his promises for grace in the days to come.
Faith in past grace leads to salvation and gratitude. Faith in future grace leads to sanctification, hope and service. Our faith is primarily a future oriented "assurance of things hoped for" (Hebrews 11:1). The grace that saved me in the past is sufficient to sustain me in the future.
This concept of "Future Grace" is something many Christians in the Church have missed. Hope in future grace encouraged me, empowers me and gives me wisdom. It is trusting that the same loving Father who redeemed me through Jesus death will empower me through the Holy Spirit. Satan wants to distract us with the "debtor's ethic." "You ought to..." "You have to..." "How could you do that after all God has done for you?" These are expressions of Satan's lies. "You call yourself a Christian and have those thoughts?" On and on the lies persist. Many Christians recognize the lies, but don't understand the motivational differences between "gratitude for past grace" and "hope in future grace."
The solution for burnout is to focus on the promises of God's future grace. His grace never changes. It is the same today as it was yesterday and it will remain consistent in the future. Focus your hope on the future grace of God and trust Him to be faithful to all of His promises.
If you want to read more on this topic, John Piper wrote a book several years ago entitled FUTURE GRACE. It is an excellent, but big (almost 500 pages) and sometimes too deep for the average guy. But I know that you are above average!
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Grace Defined
Grace is the nature and resources of God available to us 24/7.
Grace is the overflowing favor of God, the expression of His nature. God expresses His grace through love and mercy.
Grace is unconditional love expressed through unconditional acceptance made available to us through the unlimited resources of God because of Christ death on the Cross. Because of the Cross, the wrath of God toward sinners is removed. "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:17
Grace is like oxygen we breathe. We cannot store up oxygen today for tomorrow. It must be appropriated moment by moment. God's grace is appropriated in a similar manner...daily! Remember the story of "manna." The grace you had yesterday will not do for today.
Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God.
"I have chosen you" (John 15:16) is the way the grace of God begins in our lives.
"Living under the law is the tendency to desire a list of preset boundaries and not a relationship (For example: a young male asking how far he and his date can go sexually.) While law and grace both have commandments, Grace comes with an inbuilt ability to obey what was commanded. Under grace, I don't get a road map...I get a tour guide, the Holy Spirit. He directs, reveals and empowers me to be and do what the Word says." Bill Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, page 93
PLUGGING INTO FUTURE GRACE
My faith in past grace (i.e. the Cross and redemption) is wonderful and effective for my initial salvation. God's future grace, His power and wisdom and energy through the Holy Spirit, is just as wonderful and effective. My faith for living the Christian life and for Christian service is not in past grace, but in future grace...the confident assurance that the grace that saved me will also empower me to live today and to serve Him in all of my tomorrows.
Future grace is faith in the character and nature of God, that He will fulfill all of His promises. I live today by future grace. I serve today by future grace. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ." (II Corinthians 1:20)
Grace is the nature and character of God and by faith I plug into an intimate relationship with Him. I receive His grace right now and I have confidence that His grace will be there in the future. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." (II Corinthians 9:8)
Whatever ministry I have is His ministry and it is empowered by His grace.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I but the grace of God that was with me." (I Corinthians 15:10)
Grace is the overflowing favor of God, the expression of His nature. God expresses His grace through love and mercy.
Grace is unconditional love expressed through unconditional acceptance made available to us through the unlimited resources of God because of Christ death on the Cross. Because of the Cross, the wrath of God toward sinners is removed. "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:17
Grace is like oxygen we breathe. We cannot store up oxygen today for tomorrow. It must be appropriated moment by moment. God's grace is appropriated in a similar manner...daily! Remember the story of "manna." The grace you had yesterday will not do for today.
Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God.
"I have chosen you" (John 15:16) is the way the grace of God begins in our lives.
"Living under the law is the tendency to desire a list of preset boundaries and not a relationship (For example: a young male asking how far he and his date can go sexually.) While law and grace both have commandments, Grace comes with an inbuilt ability to obey what was commanded. Under grace, I don't get a road map...I get a tour guide, the Holy Spirit. He directs, reveals and empowers me to be and do what the Word says." Bill Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, page 93
PLUGGING INTO FUTURE GRACE
My faith in past grace (i.e. the Cross and redemption) is wonderful and effective for my initial salvation. God's future grace, His power and wisdom and energy through the Holy Spirit, is just as wonderful and effective. My faith for living the Christian life and for Christian service is not in past grace, but in future grace...the confident assurance that the grace that saved me will also empower me to live today and to serve Him in all of my tomorrows.
Future grace is faith in the character and nature of God, that He will fulfill all of His promises. I live today by future grace. I serve today by future grace. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ." (II Corinthians 1:20)
Grace is the nature and character of God and by faith I plug into an intimate relationship with Him. I receive His grace right now and I have confidence that His grace will be there in the future. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." (II Corinthians 9:8)
Whatever ministry I have is His ministry and it is empowered by His grace.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I but the grace of God that was with me." (I Corinthians 15:10)
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