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Our God is a God "full of grace and truth" Jn 1:14.
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What are grace and truth? What happens when they are divided?
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Grace is the unmerited favor of God towards people. It is unconditional love and acceptance. Relationship with God. Relational aspect to God's character.
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Grace is the first ingredient necessary for growing up in the image of God.
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Truth is the second ingredient necessary for growing up in the image of God.
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Truth is what is real, how things really are. Structural aspect of God's character. It is the form that our soul and spirit should take.
Our experiences with others typically fall into either Grace or Truth. At the Fall, for mankind, Grace and Truth were ripped apart.
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Truth without grace is judgement. After the Fall, Adam and Eve experienced shame. God gave them direction through the truth, His law. Direction, guidance, limits.
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The law (truth without grace): ** silences us ** increases sin ** arouses sinful passions ** brings death ** puts us under a curse ** holds us prisoner ** alienates us from Christ ** judges us harshly
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Truth without grace is conditional, contractual. 'I will love only if you do what is true or right.'
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Truth without grace sees behavior and consequences of behavior and demands change in that behavior. e.g. wayward MK Ruth
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directionless, license - can lead to devastating results in our lives. e.g. drug addicted Sam
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With grace alone, or total freedom of action without direction, we find ourselves falling into situations with greater and greater consequences. The truth about how to live still applies and we bump up painfully to the barriers of this truth when we have full license.
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Grace when combined with Truth invites the true self, the "me" that I really am, with all my imperfections into relationship. Complete safety and being really known and accepted in one relationship...
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With Grace alone we are safe from condemnation. When the one offering Grace also offers truth (about Him, about us, about the world) and we respond in our true self, real intimacy is the result. e.g. woman caught in adultery Jn 8
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Grace and Truth == relationship and honesty
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When our real self comes into relationship with God and others an amazing thing occurs -- we grow as God intended us to grow.
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We need to be connected to the Head (Christ) and the Body (other believers) to experience God growing us.
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For example, Jack the alcoholic.... his church 'friends' told him it was destructive and to quit. His AA buddies were accepting, so that Jack could be honest with himself, with them, and with God.
** Summary
- Acceptance without direction won't work.
- Direction without relationship stings.
- We need grace and truth combined and that is the real Jesus Christ.
- We need the real Jesus present in order to grow into the likeness of our Creator