A Mediocre Christian?

A friend recently said to me, “I’m beginning to understand this grace thing that they preach about here at Grace Church. But what does it mean to really accept grace? If I literally take God at His word, if I believe it’s really all about Him, and that Jesus has already done what I can never do for myself, then it seems to me I have no motivation to do well in my life. If I take grace seriously, it seems that I’m just going to be a mediocre, goof-off of a Christian.”

My friend isn’t the only one with questions about the implications of God’s grace. His question is important – are those who live by and in God’s grace spiritual slackers? Does grace mean that we will be content to sit in the grandstand watching God do all the work? Does grace mean that we will lack motivation to succeed and thus settle for less than our spiritual potential? Did Jesus die on His cross, paying a debt He did not owe, a debt we could not pay, so that we might live like so many spoiled spiritual brats – God’s rich kids who have no incentive to do anything? Is that the implication of grace for our lives?

I suggest that we base the implications of God’s grace on the Bible – specifically the book of 1 Corinthians. Let’s consider passages in three well-known chapters of this book:
1) chapter 12, which teaches us about spiritual gifts that God gives to each of us and how each of us fulfills a role in the body of Christ,
2) chapter 13, the love chapter, where Paul grounds our faith in the practical and visible outworking of God, His love that He produces in our lives, and
3) chapter 15, the resurrection chapter, a chapter of hope that gives us a glimpse into the eternity that God give us.

The last few verses of chapter 12 are the bridge to chapter 13, and there Paul reiterates that while each of us has an important role in the body of Christ, we may not see that assignment as exciting or rewarding as that of others. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Paul reminds us that whatever God calls us to, we should “eagerly desire the greater gifts” (12:31). Then just before the powerful and beautiful description of the greatest gift of all, the love of God given to us by His grace, Paul writes ten critically important words.

“And now I will show you THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY” (12:31, my emphasis). This is the all important set up to what we so often call the love chapter. This love chapter is “THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY.” Then Paul says this:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Let’s really think about what Paul said. Thought I study my Bible, though I pray without ceasing, though I volunteer to host a study and prayer group in my home, though I go out of my way to help those in need, though I give generously to God’s work, though I read and maybe even write Christian books and articles, though I serve and work and volunteer… I’ve accomplished nothing if love is not the foundation of my life.

Paul is calling us to THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY, but he insists that the only excellence that counts is excellence in love. Paul is grounding his call for Christian excellence in the love of God through the indwelling Son, Jesus Christ. He certainly is not telling us that Christian life is filled with hum-drum mediocrity, but neither is he calling us to excel simply in order to excel. Paul is not teaching some positive thinking, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps seminar. This teaching is not the excellence defined by material, corporate, social or political success, or the excellence of riches, fame and/or beauty.

Let’s combine this insight with the message we see in 1 Corinthians 15. At the end of this magnificent resurrection chapter Paul explains the victorious resurrection of Jesus and what it means for us:
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (15:57-58).

We are in the flesh, and therefore incapable of achieving lasting victory in this life. We are incapable to achieving the lofty heights of perfection. If our flesh represents our best resource for success, then we will only go so far, but no farther. God’s love – the most excellent way – is the only way of eternal excellence. Everything you and I accomplish, apart from the power of Jesus Christ the risen Lord who lives His life in those who believe in and trust in Him, will one day be “left behind”. You may be in excellent health. You may exercise and you may eat a careful, balanced and healthy diet. I hope you do. But one day, your earthly body (and mine), will decay and die. You may have worked your way up the corporate ladder. You may have worked hard in your chosen profession. That’s great – but one day you will leave all of that behind.

The good news is that the love God gives to us by placing His Son, Jesus into us by a new birth is eternal. We will not leave God’s love behind. According to 1 Corinthians 13, love never fails. It never passes away. Spiritual perfection – the excellence of love that God gives us because of Jesus is eternal. Not only is it impossible for humans to attain perfection, as Christians we don’t have to. Perfection has been attained for us. Through the indwelling Christ, we are given the victory. We do not need to earn salvation or attempt to make God love us. We are given salvation, we are given God’s love, by His grace and because we are in union with Christ living in us.

What then? Christians don’t live slip-shod mediocre lives. IN and THROUGH and BECAUSE OF Christ joined to us we achieve our best. We don’t settle for second best. We don’t just sit back and watch God “do it all.” As Paul also says in Philippians, “…if anything is EXCELLENT or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8, my emphasis).

Because the risen, victorious Lord lives His life in us we don’t just do enough to get by, but we boldly face our challenges and trials in faith – for we know that God, in some way, always gives us the victory. As Christ lives in us and fills us with His love, we live the most excellent way.

By God’s grace we know that there are only two things that really count in our lives: 1) our relationship with God through the indwelling Christ (our love for Him and His for us) and 2) the spreading of God’s love through our relationship with others. This is true, lasting, eternal excellence. And there is nothing mediocre about it.

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