MY LIFE: #45 Self-Effort Grace

To be or not to be? This ridiculous lie became a lifelong compulsive habit of gaining the favor of others to eradicate my “feelings” of self-hatred - including gaining the favor of God.

GRACE PRODUCED BY THE SELF-LIFE

Anything other than recognition of God's power of grace in the "finished work" of Jesus Christ will inevitably be some self-effort that makes void the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 1:17). Paul continues in his correspondence with the Corinthians to declare that "we preach Christ crucified" (1 Cor. 1:23) and are "determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). Later, to the Galatians, he explains that he will boast in nothing "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14).

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)

UNMERITED GRACE | TO BE OR NOT TO BE

The unmerited grace of Christ is the undeserved, free, and loving gift of God to sinners who choose to believe in Him. It is the expression of God’s passion to love, restore, and reunite humanity unto Himself - through kindness and mercy that saves us from the judgment we deserve. It is the grace of Christ that enables us to live a new, indwelling Life with Christ, filled with authentic faith, hope, and love. As the Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

My brother once told me to go and make Mom, Dad, and me proud. So, what did I do? I went forth to conquer every weakness I had in self-effort.

The self-indulged admonition came shortly before Jane and I set out to move to Denver to begin an internship for Christian counselors. I was “unedumacated” (LOL) and barely knew how to read. In spite of my inferiority complex, I had a passion for assisting others with the demise I suffered - the rejection syndrome. Ignorant, nieve, but ambitious, off we went, with the agenda of making Mom and Dad proud.

To my discouragement, I never reached that goal. After attaining multiple degrees, becoming friends with some of the church’s eminent leaders, associating with several Presidents, authoring books, and even developing a reputation of being a leader among leaders - I remained a disappointment to family members. To this day, I am kept at arm’s length by my sibling.

The worst part of this deplorable striving is my stinky thinking spilled over into my nasty habit of producing self-effort Grace.

Self-effort grace and the real GRACE of God are two different ideologies that battle for the dominance of spiritual fulfillment and ultimate freedom. Self-effort grace is the nasty habit that one can attain unmerited favor by one’s own will, discipline, and practice. A gig I became an expert at.

The real GRACE of God is an immovable TRUTH that one can only receive the favor of God as a gift from Him through Jesus Christ, who loves and saves sinners by His mercy. I, on the other hand, believed self-effort grace was a part of applying the unmerited GRACE of God through my own efforts, not realizing it squelched out authentic Grace. I bought into the lie that both self-effort and authentic GRACE were necessary and complementary in my spiritual quest. I argued that self-effort prepares the mind and heart to receive and appreciate the Grace of God, which flowed through my constant striving - believing the lie that self-effort grace and real grace of God are not mutually exclusive but rather interdependent and harmonious.

This ridiculous lie became a lifelong compulsive habit of gaining the favor of others to eradicate my “feelings” of self-hatred - including gaining the favor of God - a habit Satan uses within my flesh to plague me to this hour. So, why do I do the things I hate?

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Galatians 5:17)

Ouch! My nasty habit of people-pleasing was yielding my actions as instruments of unrighteousness, and it made me more carnal. Even being an indwelt believer, I was amiss to my habit of contributing to the war of the Spirit warring against my flesh. I was in need of the knowledge that I was the author of this demise. I became compelled to learn that His GRACE was all about His efforts, not mine, in the continuation of my journey as a weak believer. In this, the Lord put me on a quest to discover the authentic unmerited favor of the Living God. It became my mission to learn how to brag in Christ and not attempt to make others proud.

BECOMING A ‘BRAGGER’ IN CHRIST

Boast in this - proclaim only that Jesus Christ had performed everything necessary for our redemption on the cross and continues to perform everything necessary in the indwelt Christian life by His grace. Whenever we read of the "cross" or "Christ crucified," we should always think of the "finished work" of Christ, the completion of which He exclaimed during that historical event on that material cross. That is the good news of the Gospel.

The proclamation of the "finished work" of God in Christ eliminates the need to make others proud, whereby God has done and is doing everything necessary for acceptance in Christ, including sanctification. Pleasing God over that of others will always remain a mystery and battlefield for believers. It is contrary to all the conventional wisdom of the world, which believes that we must be the cause of our own effects (existentialism) and what is worthy of having the acceptance of others through our self-efforts. Lies, lies, and more lies. Proclaiming the "finished work" of God in Christ deals a "deathblow" to the human pride of personal performance. That "deathblow" was dealt with when Jesus died on the cross and exclaimed just prior to His imminent death, "It is finished!" (John 19:30).

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; (1 Corinthians 2:1-8)

In fact, only authentic indwelt believers can experientially appropriate the “who” He says we are in Christ, which is the truest thing about who we are created to please. Jesus lives in us. He desires to please His Father, and we are along for the ride while pleasing Jesus with the denial of self-effort. However, the individual who is NOT indwelt by Him will not only fall short in understanding this mystery but will compulsively work to make others proud.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)

I recently fronted a leading Bible teacher who refuted my views of making others proud. He said, I’m sorry, but I cannot agree with you. I respect your beliefs and opinions, but I do not share them. I do not think that making people proud is an offense to Jesus Christ. Pride is not always a negative emotion; it can also be a positive feeling of self-esteem, dignity, and accomplishment1. Jesus Christ taught us to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. He also encouraged us to use our talents and gifts for God’s glory and the good of others. Therefore, I do not see any reason to be ashamed or guilty of making people proud of us or of them, as long as we do not become arrogant, boastful, or selfish.

While I understand the overall message he expelled, the real issue is that proud people DO tend to be arrogant, boastful, and selfish. Secondly, if we are going to boast, it needs to be in our weaknesses and in the power of the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17).

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Coming up next is #46, “Christ’s Efforts Through Me.”

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