Does the message of grace give licence to sin? (Part 1)

Obituaries
It is not coincidental that this column is called grace tidings.

It is not coincidental that this column is called grace tidings.

gracetidings with dr doug mamvura

I am so obsessed about the message of grace because in it I have found the power of God unto salvation. It is a message I am prepared to defend and unashamedly preach and proclaim regardless of whatever people may say or think.

We are saved by grace through faith, not works, lest any man boasts (Ephesians 2:8). However, surprisingly we find some of us giving prominence to our works or performance as opposed to the grace of God. This is why Christian life is a struggle for some because it is depended on personal efforts. God has already extended an invitation to us who are “weary and heavy laden” and has promised to give us rest (Matthew 11:28). That is the grace of God which has appeared to all men.

It is very unfortunate that the majority of believers have rejected the very thing that is meant to give them true victory in their daily walk and have opted to go it alone. The message of grace acknowledges that without Him “we can do nothing”. He is our Salvation, our Redeemer, our Righteousness, our Deliverer, our Strength, our Prosperity, our Healer and all we need in this life. That is why we cry “Worthy is the Lamb.”

Grace is not just a message. Grace is a Person and His name is Jesus. He has already given us all these things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. (2 Peter 1:3). However, some of us instead of preaching the good news about the love of God, would rather focus on sin and how people have to either “repent or burn”.

Any preaching that emphasises sin and de-emphasises the love of God is devoid of the true meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word gospel means good news and that is what we ought to share instead of condemning people.

Unfortunately, this good news is being contaminated or replaced by another type of gospel based on religion and tradition of man:

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God…” (Jude 1: 3-4).

Paul pronounced a curse on anyone who preached any other gospel besides the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:8). There are some believers who are highly critical of the message of grace and I believe it is mainly through ignorance because the majority of them are very sincere, but unfortunately, sincerely wrong.

Jesus had the same challenge with scribes and Pharisees who accused Him of compromising with sinners. I have seen some elders, pastors and evangelists behave in the same way as these religious folks and scribes when they hear about the message of grace.

“When the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mark 2:16).

There is a mistaken perception that the preaching of the message of grace, creates an atmosphere of apathy and laziness in the life of believers. Furthermore, some believe that the message of grace is “very soft” on sin and it gives people “licence to sin”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Who needs a licence to sin anyway?

The gospel is being compromised and replaced with lewdness or lasciviousness (Jude1:3-4) The key word in the two verses is “turned” the grace of God into lewdness. Some people have interpreted this to mean that the grace of God has degenerated into lasciviousness. They argue that grace preachers are “turning” the grace of God into licence to sin.

The word “turn” according to the original Greek translation is metatithemi, which means to transpose two things, one being put in place of another, to change place, to desert grace, to transfer grace into another thing, to pass over from grace (Thayer’s Lexicon).

Moving back to verse 3 of Jude “…contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”.

We are being encouraged not to replace the true gospel based on faith with anything else that could have “been smuggled” in exchange for the real gospel like we see in some of the churches today. In some of our preaching, you hardly hear anything about Jesus. It is all about sin, or motivational talk laced with human philosophy and wisdom. That is not the gospel. Let us preach Jesus, not human philosophy.

There are people who “creep in through subtly” and replace this true gospel telling you that “This gospel of grace encourages people to sin. It is heresy. You will never see heaven”.

Such words definitely cause people to lose faith in this true gospel and they end up believing that it is all about their performance and strict adherence to law that will earn them the love of God. They don’t realise that God loved them while they were still sinners and so their performance doesn’t change God’s love for them.

Jude:11, says “…Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah”.

The way of Cain is belief in self efforts. Cain brought his own offering to God and so did Abel. Both brothers came to God, but one came by his own efforts while the other brought a blood offering symbolising Christ’s atonement.

Today many have gone by the way of Cain in their Christian walk. They have focused on their our own performance instead of having faith in what Christ did for them through the cross.

Once you are engrossed in the way of Cain, you fall in the error of Balaam who prophesied for profit. He used his gifts for profit (2 Peter 2:15). We have so many Balaams in the church today.

Religious traditions and widely accepted teachings have replaced the true Gospel of Christ anchored in the grace of God. “If I fast so many times, pay my tithes, pray and read my bible every day, I will become holy and righteous and God will answer my prayers”. This is what some of us believe. We believe the more we do good works, the holier we become.

The devil is very subtle. While there is nothing wrong in doing all these things, it is not through them that we are saved. It is by His grace through faith that we are saved.

When we become born again, we automatically become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). We don’t become righteous by fasting for 40 days and praying 10 times a day.

That righteousness is like filthy rags, which is obtained through our own efforts. Surely, if our efforts were good enough, why did Jesus come?

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). How does such a scripture on grace encourage people to sin?

It is very important that we use our minds to think. The bible says we have the mind of Christ.

We can learn from Apostle Paul — “how shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1-2).

Sin will not stop the grace of God, but the grace of God will stop sin because sin no longer has dominion over us because we are not under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14).

I really can’t see how grace promotes sin. Please help!

Dr Doug Mamvura is a graduate of Charis Bible School. Feedback: [email protected] or Twitter @dougmamvura