Why We Want Grace to Be a Package

There is no doubt the New Testament delivers a robust message of grace. There is also no doubt the New Testament warns against packaging grace in a message of entitlement. This mistake begins with a misunderstanding of the angelic message to the shepherds – “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” It reaches its most aberrant distortion in the twin questions, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” and “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” Thus, many churches promote grace as a harbor for imagined carnal spirituality. After all, that is what the customer wants; and he wants it so he can feel shrewd in getting a good deal or offended when the contents of the package do not fulfill his expectations.

Many Christians have forgotten or do not want to remember, in our consumer culture, the foundation on which the truth of grace is built. Grace is neither a product nor a package. It has nothing to do with the entitlement one claims when he has bought a commodity. It is, instead, the result of one of the most scorned of God's offered gifts. When that gift is presented, grace will predictably be rejected or distorted; or it will become an atmosphere of exuberant praise and an incentive to purity in those who receive it.

That most scorned of God's gifts is – mercy.

In his allegory, The Holy War, John Bunyan described the counsel of Diabolus to citizens of the fallen city of Mansoul.

My shield is unbelief, or calling into question…all the sayings that speak of the judgment that Shaddai has appointed for wicked men…. If he speaks of mercy, care not for it….

Another part…of my…armor is a… prayerless spirit that scorns to cry for mercy, let the danger be ever so great.

Note: This quote from The Holy War is found near the end of Chapter Three. If you find Bunyan's seventeenth century English difficult you might especially enjoy Ethel Barrett's paraphrase in text or recorded narrative. 

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We Were Warned

Photo can be found on Justina Babcock's Site

As we draw nearer to 2017 there should be a celebration for the sixtieth anniversary of Vance Packard’s book, “The Hidden Persuaders.” For at least a year it should be included as required reading for every high school American History course and every Seminary course on ministry. It is still in print, and in the lengthy fiftieth-anniversary introduction by Mark Crispin Miller we find this recommendation:  

The book is frightening in its prescience. Studying the national bazaar, and some of its chief planners, half a century ago, Packard saw the start of trends and practices that have by now wrought terrible destruction on our lives, our minds, our politics, our culture and our planet…. a nation built for shopping cannot possibly endure as a democracy.  

We cannot say we were not warned. 

Among several for-instances, Miller includes the use of marketing research to fill churches and sharpen sermons.

I have no quarrel with courses designed to help churches evaluate themselves biblically in hope of church growth; and I have ideas for biblically enhancing sermons; but the key word is “biblically." There is, however, the subtle nuance of a problem in the expression “in hope of church growth.”

God has no problem growing his church. First century Jerusalem and twenty-first century China attest to the fact that He is very capable. The issue for any local church is whether it is walking with Him in such a way as to be available for Him to use in their community as He sees fit. That availability has to do with being a light (doctrinal truth) and doing good (which the Bible identifies).  This is important to understand in the throes of a "christian" culture driven by the idea that church growth and good preaching have to do with satisfying the demands of a “consumer base.”

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