PLAIN, VANILLA, GRACE

In his book, “By Grace Alone”, Sinclair Ferguson states the following; “A chief reason for the weakness of the Christian church in the West, for the poverty of our witness and any lack of vitality in our worship, probably lies here: we sing about ‘amazing grace’ and speak of ‘amazing grace,’ but far too often it has ceased to amaze us. Sadly, we might more truthfully sing of ‘accustomed grace.’ We have lost the joy and energy that are experienced when grace seems truly amazing.”[i]

Somewhere between the sweet sound of amazing grace and ten thousand years of singing God’s praise it would seem that the Church as a whole has lost something. Having tasted the goodness of God and the surreal experience of divine forgiveness she has grown accustomed to God’s grace…how could it be? With no intrinsic worth of salvific value, dirty hands, dirty hearts, and filthy rags, He came to us; for our reach was far too short and misdirected to seek a Holy God for the answers to life. With no ability to earn, impress, or bargain with the God who spoke the world into existence He offered Himself to us in an expression of divine condescension.

The thought is almost preposterous; how is it that one who wears light as a cloak, stretches heaven as a curtain, makes the clouds His chariot and rides upon the wings of the wind make Himself known to frail humanity? (Psalm 104 Paraphrase) Moreover, how could one grow accustomed to such an expression of auspicious love?

Undeniably is the fact that God has revealed Himself in such a way and it is this story of redemptive love that is unwrapped in the Gospel of Christ crucified. For it is in the Gospel that we find grace articulated and in Christ crucified that we find grace expressed; one need look no further for an appropriate reason for amazement.

Nevertheless, with hearts of Corinth, we are a people more interested in self-promotion and personal prerogatives and the result is inevitably an old shoe Gospel and a less than astonishing Christ. The fear that waits at the doorstep of all who engage in sincere and searching evaluation is that our stammering tongues of song-singing worship will someday be revealed as the instruments of thousands upon thousands of melodic lies. To sing of the amazing and ceaseless grace of God by the power of a disenchanted heart is to speak lies only suitable for the offspring of Judas.

How then will the church recapture the wonder and amazement that has been lost? What will it take to stir the heart of man, woman, and child to a renewed place of passion and zeal regarding the Gospel of Christ crucified? A good first step might be your own recognition of the problem. Is His grace still amazing to you? Be careful not to answer too quickly, for our secret behavior has a rather effective way of betraying our supposed beliefs.

[i] Sinclair Ferguson’s, By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me (Reformation Trust, 2010), page xiv