Latest / Reformed Thinking / Grace Gone Wild?
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Reformed Thinking, your deep dive into vital ideas
- 0:04shaping our faith and understanding.
- 0:07Today we're taking a look at a collection of sources centered
- 0:10around David Mathis's book Habits of Grace.
- 0:13This deep dive is really designed to bring you the core
- 0:15insights, maybe some surprising connections, and the, well, the
- 0:20very practical takeaways from this important work.
- 0:23We're aiming to give you a shortcut, sort of to being well
- 0:26informed about a book that could really shape how you view your
- 0:28Christian walk. That's right, right.
- 0:30And our goal with this deep dive is, you know, to distill the
- 0:33core principles from Mathis's book, maybe challenge some
- 0:36common misunderstandings about what Christian living truly
- 0:40involves, and shed light on some very practical pathways for you
- 0:43to grow in knowing and importantly, finding joy in
- 0:46Christ. Joy.
- 0:47It's about moving beyond just seeing spiritual practices as
- 0:50mere Dewey and instead embracing the full free favor of God that
- 0:55makes all of Christian life possible and actually joyful.
- 0:59We want you to see the grace isn't just the starting point of
- 1:02your faith. It's like the very air you
- 1:04breathe throughout your whole life in Christ.
- 1:07OK, let's jump right in. Then let's unpack a really
- 1:09striking phrase from the book's introduction.
- 1:12Grace gone wild. It's quite a vivid image, isn't?
- 1:16It it really is. What does Mathis mean by this,
- 1:19this powerful phrase, and what does it tell us about the, well,
- 1:23the sheer scope of God's favor toward us?
- 1:25It definitely sets a tone right from the start.
- 1:27Grace gone wild. Yeah.
- 1:29It truly captures God's boundless sovereign and actively
- 1:34shaping favor. This grace, you know, which is
- 1:37freely poured out on undeserving sinners, it's a force that just
- 1:41dismantles any sense of self-sufficiency we might try to
- 1:43hold onto. Mathis wants us to see it not as
- 1:46some controlled canal, you know, where you expect precise
- 1:48measurements and predictable flows, maybe even something we
- 1:50can manage or divert. No, he wants us to see it as a
- 1:53wild, free flowing river, unrestrained, overwhelming in
- 1:57its nature. This grace isn't something we
- 1:59contain or direct. It operates according to God's
- 2:02own will and abundance. It really challenges our
- 2:05tendency to try and bring God's grace under our control or to
- 2:09think we can somehow earn it or, you know, manipulate it.
- 2:11It's just too big for that. Right, it escapes our attempts
- 2:14to manage it. Exactly.
- 2:16And what's particularly striking is how Mathis traces this
- 2:20unrestrained scope of God's grace throughout salvation
- 2:23history, starting even before creation itself.
- 2:25Before creation. Yeah, think about that.
- 2:27God's untamed grace chose a people in Christ even before the
- 2:31world began. Ephesians 1 verses four and five
- 2:34tell us He chose us in Him before the creation of the world
- 2:37and love. He predestined us, and this
- 2:40choice was solely by His purpose, not based on anything
- 2:43we might do. Romans 11 and Second Timothy one
- 2:45really hammer this home. Salvation is by grace, not by
- 2:48works. So it wasn't about anything God
- 2:50saw in us beforehand? Nope.
- 2:52Not our foreseen goodness, not any potential actions, just his
- 2:55sheer unmerited favor and sovereign choosing.
- 2:58It's grace that starts in eternity past, then this wild
- 3:03grace. It takes on a very visible,
- 3:06tangible form in the appearance of Christ.
- 3:10Grace literally got a face in the person of Jesus Christ
- 3:13described as full of grace and truth in John 1 and Titus 2.
- 3:18Full of grace and truth. Yeah, and from his fullness,
- 3:21John 1216 says we receive grace upon grace.
- 3:25So it's not just a concept or some abstract idea.
- 3:27It's embodied in the living, breathing person of Jesus.
- 3:29So grace is relational then? Absolutely.
- 3:32It's a relational reality. Jesus didn't just bring grace.
- 3:35He is grace walking among us, full of both kindness and divine
- 3:38truth. And this boundless grace
- 3:40continues to work in our lives through the new birth and
- 3:43belief. It's sheer grace that unites
- 3:46individuals to Jesus by faith, gives new birth in their soul,
- 3:49and actually enables them to believe and receive repentance.
- 3:51Acts 18 and Timothy 2 talk about this.
- 3:54Even our ability to believe, to turn from sin, our spiritual
- 3:57awakening, it's a gift of grace. So we don't even start the
- 4:00process ourselves. We don't conjure up faith, no.
- 4:03It's given by God's Spirit, drawing us to Christ.
- 4:06It's an active internal work of God that makes spiritual life
- 4:09possible in the first place. And then it keeps going.
- 4:12Oh yeah, this grace keeps breaking barriers.
- 4:15It provides forgiveness of trespasses and declares
- 4:18believers righteous as a gift not based on any works we do.
- 4:22Exactly. Ephesians 1.7.
- 4:24In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
- 4:26forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of
- 4:29God's grace. Romans 3.24 justified freely by
- 4:33His grace. Titus 3.7 says we're justified
- 4:36by His grace to become heirs. Romans 5.17 talks about
- 4:40receiving the abundance of grace and the free gift of
- 4:43righteousness, and Galatians 2.21 really underscores it.
- 4:46If righteousness came through the law, Christ died for
- 4:49nothing. It's all gift, not earned, not
- 4:51deserved. Just freely given to those who
- 4:53receive it by faith. But grace gone wild doesn't just
- 4:55stop there at forgiveness and justification, right?
- 4:58At all. It actively sanctifies
- 5:00believers. Now, sanctification, Yeah,
- 5:02that's just the ongoing process where God, through his Spirit,
- 5:05makes us more and more like Jesus.
- 5:07The growing part. The growing part.
- 5:09Exactly. It's not about being perfect
- 5:10overnight, but being progressively set apart, growing
- 5:14in holiness, Mathis argues. This grace is too wild to let us
- 5:17stay comfortable in sin. It's too free to leave us
- 5:20enslaved to unrighteousness. It progressively produces holy
- 5:23desires and actively conforms us to Christ's image.
- 5:27Like Tekken Peter 3.18 says we grow in the grace and knowledge
- 5:31of our Lord. Grow in grace.
- 5:33And Philippians 1.6 promises he who started the work will finish
- 5:37it. Romans 6.14 says we're under
- 5:39grace, not law, meaning grace empowers us to fight sin, not
- 5:42just excuse it. Mathis says it's too uninhibited
- 5:46to not unleash us for the happiness of true holiness.
- 5:49It doesn't just pardon our failures, it empowers our
- 5:51successes, pushes us towards real growth.
- 5:54OK, that's powerful. And it goes even further.
- 5:56It extends right into eternity, glorifying believers with Jesus.
- 6:00First, Peter 5 point Finn talks about the God of all grace
- 6:03calling us to His eternal glory in Christ.
- 6:05Eternal Theta Thessalonians 1.12 speaks of God's grace leading to
- 6:09our glorification, and Ephesians 2.7 looks forward to God showing
- 6:13the incomparable riches of His grace in the ages to come.
- 6:17So from eternity past to eternity future.
- 6:20It's a complete work of God beginning to end all grace.
- 6:25So what does this all mean for you, listening right now,
- 6:27whether you're reflecting on your faith or maybe just
- 6:29curious? This isn't just like abstract
- 6:31theology, is it? Not at all.
- 6:33It sounds like the very atmosphere our spiritual lives
- 6:35happen in, the air we breathe, the ground we stand on.
- 6:38It sounds really liberating, actually.
- 6:40Absolutely. That's a great way to put it.
- 6:42This deep, broad grace is the environment in which what math
- 6:46is called the means of grace operate.
- 6:48OK. It's the flood of God's favor
- 6:51that makes all Christian growth and practice make sense.
- 6:54Without understanding this wild free flowing grace is the source
- 6:57and sustenance, Well, any talk of habits or disciplines risks
- 7:01becoming legalistic or self focused or just feeling like a
- 7:04heavy burden. Right, it could just feel like
- 7:05rules. Exactly.
- 7:07This understanding of grace is the wellspring.
- 7:10It takes away the pressure to earn God's approval and invites
- 7:13us into a life of, well, joyful receiving.
- 7:16That brings us perfectly to Mathis's preferred terminology.
- 7:19Then he chooses means of grace over spiritual disciplines.
- 7:24For someone trying to understand Christian living, what's the big
- 7:27deal about this choice of words? Why is it so important?
- 7:29It seems subtle maybe? It might seem subtle, but the
- 7:33shift is really intentional and has, I think, several
- 7:36significant reasons. First, it just aligns better
- 7:39biblically. Means of grace fits more
- 7:42naturally with how the Bible talks about God's activity in
- 7:44their lives. It keeps the core truths in
- 7:47their proper places, centering the conversation on God's
- 7:50giving, not primarily our doing. So it avoids making it sound
- 7:53like we're contributing equally. Precisely, it helps avoid any
- 7:56hint of synergism. Second, it leads to clearer
- 7:59understanding. DA Carson, he calls it.
- 8:02A lovely expression, less susceptible to misinterpretation
- 8:06than spiritual disciplines. Less likely to be misunderstood?
- 8:09How so? Well, spiritual disciplines can
- 8:12easily slide into a focus on self, effort or technique, or
- 8:16even a kind of legalism, right where you start thinking you're
- 8:19earning something from God through your effort.
- 8:21Yeah, like a checklist. Exactly like a checklist of
- 8:24obligations rather than a joyful connection to a generous God
- 8:29means of grace. Help steer clear of that by
- 8:32pointing us back to God's gracious giving.
- 8:35OK, that makes sense. And this connects to a third
- 8:37really crucial point. It keeps the gospel and God's
- 8:40activity right at the center. These practices are presented as
- 8:44gracious gifts, signs of God's ongoing work in us, not just
- 8:48heavy duties or hoops to jump through.
- 8:50Gifts, not duties. Right.
- 8:51He calls them pipelines for receiving God's grace, not
- 8:55payments for pleasure. You aren't earning anything,
- 8:57you're just positioning yourself to receive what He freely gives.
- 9:01That changes everything about your motivation and joy.
- 9:03Pipelines, not payments. I like that, yeah.
- 9:06And that leads to the fourth reason.
- 9:08They are about receiving, not earning.
- 9:11These practices aren't about earning God's favor or twisting
- 9:14His arm to get Him to bless us, or trying to control His
- 9:17blessing. Instead, they're about readying
- 9:19ourselves for consistent saturation in His grace.
- 9:23We're actively positioning ourselves to receive what He
- 9:27freely gives. Like like opening your hands
- 9:29under a waterfall of blessing. So it's active reception, not
- 9:33passive waiting, but also not earning.
- 9:35Exactly. Reframes the whole thing from
- 9:38effort based achievement to faith filled reception.
- 9:41Got it. Any other reasons for this term?
- 9:44Yeah, also Means of Grace naturally draws in the essential
- 9:48corporate, the church aspect of Christian life.
- 9:50The community aspect. Right.
- 9:52Mathis thinks this is often overlooked in other books that
- 9:55might focus only on individual practices.
- 9:57The Christian life is meant to be lived in community, where
- 9:59parts of one body and God dispenses grace within that
- 10:03communal context, too. It's vital.
- 10:05That's a really good point. Easy to forget sometimes.
- 10:07It is. And finally, it's really
- 10:09important to clarify these means don't work automatically.
- 10:12This isn't like the idea of ex Opera operato.
- 10:15OK, what's that? It's a term often associated
- 10:18with Roman Catholic tradition, meaning the ritual itself
- 10:20conveys grace just by being performed, regardless of the
- 10:23person's attitude. Oh OK.
- 10:25Mathis, coming from a Reformed view is clear.
- 10:28These are God's promised paths of blessing, received with
- 10:32conscious, active faith in God as the giver through Jesus.
- 10:37Your active engagement, your genuine faith, are essential.
- 10:39They aren't magic formulas. They're relational pathways.
- 10:42Conscious act of faith. OK, but that does raise a
- 10:46question many might have If grace is so wild, so freely
- 10:51given, why do we need means at all?
- 10:53Why not just, you know, passively soak it up?
- 10:56Why the structure? That's really natural and
- 10:59important question. It helps us avoid falling into,
- 11:01like antinomianism, the idea that grace means no rules or
- 11:04practices matter. Right?
- 11:06But Mathis's point is that God, in his wisdom, has chosen to
- 11:09dispense his grace through certain channels.
- 11:11Think about a simple analogy, maybe flipping a light switch or
- 11:14turning on a faucet. You don't create the electricity
- 11:16or the water, right? That comes from a huge external
- 11:18grid, independent of your effort.
- 11:20But you do connect to that supply by taking a simple
- 11:23action, flipping the switch, turning the knob.
- 11:26You're not earning the electricity or water.
- 11:28You're just positioning yourself to receive what's already freely
- 11:31available. Connecting to the supply.
- 11:33Exactly in the same way, God's grace is the infinite supply,
- 11:37but He's given us circuits to connect and pipes to open
- 11:40expectantly, along which He has promised his favor.
- 11:44Circuits and pipes. We can routinely avail ourselves
- 11:47of these revealed paths of blessing.
- 11:50There are the pathways He's chosen to give us His ongoing
- 11:52favor in spiritual nourishment. We can't control the supply,
- 11:56can't force God's hand, but we can position ourselves to
- 11:59receive. It's humble reception, not proud
- 12:02achievement. It honors God's sovereignty
- 12:04while embracing our role in His design.
- 12:06So they're invitations, not burdens.
- 12:09Exactly invitations to experience more of him.
- 12:12OK, that analogy really helps. Now let's look at a core feature
- 12:15of Mathis's book, his threefold organizational scheme.
- 12:19For these means of grace, he doesn't give a huge list.
- 12:22What are these three pathways and why this simplification?
- 12:25Right. He really condenses what can
- 12:27often feel like a long to be overwhelming list of practices
- 12:31into just three core principles. He keeps it very approachable.
- 12:34OK, what are they? First, hearing God's voice.
- 12:38This is mainly through His Word. Reading and studying the Bible
- 12:41and hearing it faithfully. Preached the Word, got it.
- 12:43Second, having his ear. This is prayer, communicating
- 12:47with God both personally and together with others.
- 12:49Prayer makes sense. And 3rd belonging to his body.
- 12:54This highlights the absolutely vital part of participating in
- 12:57the local church and communal Christian practices.
- 12:59Fellowship, OK. So Simply put, word, prayer and
- 13:03fellowship. He believes these three really
- 13:05capture the main ways God has promised to meet us with His
- 13:08grace. Word prayer fellowship that is
- 13:11simple. And this is where it gets really
- 13:13interesting, especially for anyone feeling maybe buried
- 13:15under lists of spiritual disciplines from other books.
- 13:18You know 10/12/15 things. Why is the simplification so
- 13:22helpful? And why is fellowship given such
- 13:24a central place that seems quite distinct?
- 13:27The simplification is super helpful, I think for a few
- 13:30reasons. Mathis deliberately made the
- 13:33book pretty brief, about half the size of most others on this
- 13:36topic. Oh really?
- 13:37Half the size. Yeah, roughly his goal was an
- 13:40introduction or orientation so that you could actually pick up,
- 13:43finish and then apply Practical, very practical, actionable,
- 13:47accessible. Especially for new believers or
- 13:51maybe those who just feel overwhelmed by bigger books
- 13:54listing like you said, 10 or 12 or more distinct practices.
- 13:58Yeah, that can definitely lead to guilt.
- 14:00He mentions that that feeling of being overwhelmed or having a
- 14:03low grade sense of guilt for not doing enough or not doing it all
- 14:06perfectly. His simple approach helps you
- 14:09downshift and refocus on the things that matter most.
- 14:12It makes pursuing grace feel achievable, not like some
- 14:15impossible spiracle to do. List.
- 14:17Focus on the big rocks, you know?
- 14:20That's very helpful and the fellowship piece?
- 14:22Right. The fellowship part is a really
- 14:23distinguishing feature. It sets Mathis apart from many
- 14:26other great books, Piper, Keller, Whitney, which tend
- 14:29generally to focus more on individual practices.
- 14:32Mathis gives a whole section a full part of his book to
- 14:34Fellowship really elevates it. He stresses that sanctification
- 14:39is a community project. A community project.
- 14:41Yeah, and the Christian life isn't meant to be done in
- 14:44isolation. This really echoes the early
- 14:47church in Acts 2.42, right? Devoted to the Apostles,
- 14:51teaching in the Fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
- 14:53prayers. Teaching fellowship.
- 14:55Breaking bread. Prayers.
- 14:57Yeah, it's a vital piece we often miss if we only think
- 15:00about our solitary walk. God uses his people to grow His
- 15:04people. That's so.
- 15:06True, and he even builds on this idea.
- 15:07Joe Rigny distinguishes between direct godwardness, like
- 15:11personal Bible reading and prayer, and indirect
- 15:14godwardness, seeing God through creation.
- 15:17Mathis suggests adding a third category, corporate godwardness.
- 15:20Corporate. Godwardness.
- 15:21Yeah. Recognizing that intentional
- 15:23communion with other believers about spiritual realities is
- 15:26unique. It's not just personal, not just
- 15:28indirect. Appreciation of creation is
- 15:31worshipping together, serving together, speaking truth,
- 15:33confessing sin together. This specific interaction within
- 15:37the gathered body is itself a means of grace.
- 15:40So it's not just vertical with God, but horizontal with his
- 15:42people. Exactly a distinct way God meets
- 15:45us. So for you, our listener, maybe
- 15:48you're just starting out looking for clarity, or maybe you've
- 15:51been a Christian for years and need a refresh.
- 15:54What does this simple framework Word prayer fellowship really
- 15:58offer? Well, it offers a clear,
- 15:59manageable framework. It stops that feeling of
- 16:02overwhelm from a huge list of shoulds.
- 16:05It encourages consistent engagement with these primary
- 16:08channels, knowing you're focusing on what matters most.
- 16:11Mathis calls these habits the stuff of everyday basic
- 16:15Christianity, unimpressively mundane but spectacularly potent
- 16:19by the Spirit. Mundane but potent.
- 16:21I like that. Right.
- 16:22They aren't exotic or complex things for spiritual elites.
- 16:25They're simple daily ways God uses powerfully to meet you with
- 16:29His light and life channels open to everyone who will just
- 16:32receive. OK, let's turn now to what
- 16:34Mathis and John Piper in the Foreword identify as the
- 16:37ultimate aim of all these habits.
- 16:39Enjoying Jesus. Piper calls this the Hinge of
- 16:41the book. That sounds so much better than
- 16:43just discipline or duty, doesn't it?
- 16:45Oh, absolutely enjoying Jesus, Piper says.
- 16:49It's the central hinge in the ultimate goal.
- 16:52He actually analyzes the title as a chiasm A.
- 16:55Chiasm like a literary structure.
- 16:56Exactly a structure where elements mirror each other.
- 16:59He sees it as habits of grace, enjoying Jesus through the
- 17:03spiritual disciplines. The middle part, enjoying Jesus,
- 17:06isn't just structural, it's the purpose of everything.
- 17:09Else the bullseye the. Bullseye, the ultimate point.
- 17:12Everything moves towards that. And what does that aim enjoying
- 17:16Jesus look like? Well, Mathis describes it as
- 17:18explosive. It leads to a radical abandoned
- 17:22for Jesus that will make the world wonder.
- 17:23Wow, Explosive. Abandoned.
- 17:25Yeah, when someone truly finds their deepest joy and
- 17:27satisfaction in Christ, it creates this magnetism, this
- 17:30compelling witness. This enjoyment is essential for
- 17:33making Jesus look great because the Spirit's main mission is to
- 17:35glorify. Him so our joy makes him look
- 17:37good. In a sense, yes.
- 17:39The ultimate aim of everything, Mathis argues, hangs on the
- 17:42people of God enjoying the Son of God.
- 17:45If we find other things more enjoyable than Jesus, we
- 17:48inadvertently make those things look great, not him.
- 17:51So our joy in him isn't just a nice feeling, it's central to
- 17:54God's purpose. Our joy becomes His glory.
- 17:58OK, that's a big thought. Is this enjoyment optional?
- 18:00No, it's presented as both a duty and a gift.
- 18:04Psalm 37.4 says delight yourself in the Lord.
- 18:08That's a command, a duty. Delight yourself.
- 18:10Yet this enjoyment is also a gift.
- 18:12It's spiritual and gracious, actively enabled by God's grace
- 18:16and spirit. We don't just drum up delight by
- 18:18willpower. God promises in Ezekiel 36.27.
- 18:22I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my
- 18:24statutes. He causes it.
- 18:25He causes what He commands. So even our ability to delight
- 18:28in Him is His grace at work in US.
- 18:30It's a wonderful paradox, a command we're unable to fulfill
- 18:33by grace. The.
- 18:34Command and a gift. OK.
- 18:35And this is so critical. The means of grace are just that
- 18:38means to this end. They're not ends in themselves.
- 18:40Not the goal itself. Right, that was the mistake of
- 18:43the Pharisees, and maybe modern legalist too.
- 18:46They were meticulous about practices but miss the
- 18:48relationship, the person. The final joy in any real
- 18:51Christian practice is the surpassing worth of knowing
- 18:54Christ Jesus my Lord, like Paul says in Philippians 3.8.
- 18:58Knowing Christ. John 17.3 says eternal life is
- 19:01knowing God and Jesus. So these habits aren't about
- 19:03collecting points or checking boxes.
- 19:06They're pathways to knowing and delighting in the person of
- 19:08Jesus. Channels for relationship.
- 19:11So what about spiritual growth? Isn't that the goal, becoming
- 19:15more like Christ? That's a marvelous effect,
- 19:17Mathis says, But he considers it a side effect.
- 19:20A side effect. Really the heart is knowing and
- 19:23enjoying Jesus. It's in beholding the glory of
- 19:25the Lord that we are being conformed into.
- 19:27The same image is Second Corinthians 3.18 says.
- 19:30Beholding leads to becoming. Exactly.
- 19:33The focus isn't mainly on our self improvement as the goal,
- 19:36but on the person we're beholding, the one we're
- 19:38savoring. Our growth then flows naturally
- 19:41from our increasing delight in Christ.
- 19:43That really does sound freeing, shifting focus from just doing
- 19:46things out of duty to truly savoring Christ himself as the
- 19:50ultimate delight. It changes the whole motivation.
- 19:53Absolutely. The book really aims to make the
- 19:56pursuit of joy more central, explicit and pronounced.
- 20:00They might find another text on disciplines.
- 20:03These means are presented as means of joy in God, and thus
- 20:06means of His glory. It's a fundamental shift from a
- 20:09checklist to a relationship, from duty to delight.
- 20:13It unlocks so much vitality. OK, but this raises that
- 20:16recurring question, doesn't it? If grace is so sovereign and God
- 20:19does so much, and the goal is enjoying him, what about our
- 20:24effort? Where does that fit?
- 20:25It feels like a tension. It does feel like attention, and
- 20:28it's when A Mathis addresses directly this dynamic of grace
- 20:31enabled effort. He clarifies that God's work
- 20:34doesn't make our effort unnecessary, it actually makes
- 20:36it possible. Makes it possible.
- 20:37Yeah, think of Paul again. First Corinthians 15.10.
- 20:40I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but
- 20:42the grace of God that is with me.
- 20:43Ah, Grace was with him in the work.
- 20:45Exactly. Paul's huge effort was real, but
- 20:49it was entirely empowered by God's favor.
- 20:51Not his strength, but grace working through him.
- 20:54So our effort isn't instead of grace, but a response to an
- 20:58outflow of grace. OK, so we are still called to
- 21:01make an effort. Oh yes, Paul tells Timothy.
- 21:04Train yourself for godliness. First Timothy 4.7 we're to
- 21:07discipline yourself for growth. That involves taking regular
- 21:10action to get more of God in your mind and your heart, which
- 21:14then shapes you to be more like Him.
- 21:15Taking regular. Action.
- 21:17But even that effort, that training, is itself a gift of
- 21:19grace. The desire and ability to strive
- 21:22for godliness come from Him. He doesn't just say run, He
- 21:25gives the strength to run. You know Philippians 2.1213 puts
- 21:29it so well. Work out your own salvation with
- 21:32fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to
- 21:34will and to work for His good pleasure.
- 21:36Work out for God works in. Work out.
- 21:38That's our action, our diligence driving, but right away, for it
- 21:42is God who works in you, both to will and to work.
- 21:44He gives the desire and the ability.
- 21:46Our working is His working in US.
- 21:48It cuts off pride and passivity. OK, desire and ability come from
- 21:52him. And here's another key insight.
- 21:55The way we receive the gift of God's empowering actions is by
- 22:00doing those actions. How does that work?
- 22:02When God gives the grace of growing in holiness, we receive
- 22:06that gift by becoming more holy. It's not passive, it's active.
- 22:11Our effort becomes the channel through which grace is
- 22:14experienced and realized. You don't just think about
- 22:16growing, you actively engage in the means.
- 22:19And in that engagement, grace flows.
- 22:21So doing is receiving. In this sense, yes, Mathis uses
- 22:25examples like Zacchaeus. Climbing the tree.
- 22:28Right and blind Bartimaeus shouting at they couldn't force
- 22:30Jesus hand, couldn't make grace happen automatically, but they
- 22:33positioned themselves where grace was coming, expecting
- 22:36blessing. They put themselves in the path.
- 22:37Exactly. Jonathan Edwards called it,
- 22:39laying yourself in the way of allurement to stir up spiritual
- 22:42appetite. You put yourself where God has
- 22:43promised to bless, not to earn, but to receive His ongoing
- 22:47favor. It's an expected posture of
- 22:49faith. What really stands out to you
- 22:51about this balance? Then?
- 22:52It feels like it resolves that tension nicely.
- 22:55It really does. This dynamic stops us from being
- 22:58passive. Thinking grace means doing
- 23:00nothing while still firmly rooting all our activity and
- 23:03grace. It's about readying ourselves
- 23:05for consistent saturation in God's favor.
- 23:09Our effort is a faith filled response to the grace already
- 23:12given and still flowing. We're active receivers, not
- 23:15passive bystanders of a grace that truly empowers us.
- 23:19Active receivers. OK, finally, let's talk about
- 23:22the practical side of Mathis's book.
- 23:24Again, he deliberately made it brief, accessible.
- 23:27Why was that so important? And what hope does that offer
- 23:30you know, to all believers, wherever they are?
- 23:32That brevity was definitely intentional.
- 23:35Being relatively brief, about half the size of most others,
- 23:38was aiming for it to be an introduction or orientation, not
- 23:41some exhaustive encyclopedia. This makes it practical,
- 23:44actionable, and accessible, especially for new believers or
- 23:47maybe just busy people or those intimidated by huge books.
- 23:50He wanted something inviting, not daunting.
- 23:53And encouraging, not guilt inducing.
- 23:55Exactly. It's designed to counteract that
- 23:57low grade sense of guilt from impossible lists.
- 24:00The voice isn't scolding or overwhelming.
- 24:02It's encouraging, offering clear, practical, realistic ways
- 24:06to engage with these means of grace.
- 24:08It's not about doing more, but about receiving more from God in
- 24:12the ways He's appointed. Realistic is key there, I think.
- 24:15Absolutely. And and remember how he
- 24:17describes these habits, the stuff of everyday basic
- 24:20Christianity, unimpressively mundane but spectacularly potent
- 24:24by the Spirit. Mundane but potent.
- 24:26Yeah, he wants you to see these aren't weird or complex
- 24:29practices for spiritual superstars.
- 24:31They're simple, accessible, daily things that God uses in
- 24:34extraordinary ways to meet you with light and life.
- 24:37No secret formulas, just consistent engagement, trusting
- 24:41God to work. That's hopeful.
- 24:43And you see his heart in his prayer for readers.
- 24:45Mathis hopes readers would find the means of grace to be
- 24:47practical, realistic, and desirable in your pursuit of joy
- 24:50in Christ. He wants to bring simplicity,
- 24:53stability, confidence, and joy through these channels.
- 24:56It's an open invitation to a life of joyful receiving,
- 24:58pursuing holiness not as a burden but as a delight in Jesus
- 25:01himself. So what does all of this mean
- 25:03for you, our listener? As you think about what we've
- 25:06discussed, we've covered God's astounding wild grace, the
- 25:09channels He gives us to receive it, Word, prayer, fellowship,
- 25:14and the ultimate aim, delighting in Jesus.
- 25:17As we wrap up, what's one final thought for people to consider?
- 25:20I think it's this The greatest grace along these paths is Jesus
- 25:24himself. He's not just the destination,
- 25:27He's the way, the truth, the life, the very substance of the
- 25:30grace we receive. Jesus is the grace.
- 25:33These means of grace fill our tank for the pursuit of joy, for
- 25:36the good of others, and for the glory of God.
- 25:39God stands ready right now to pour out His wonderfully wild
- 25:42and lavish grace through these simple channels.
- 25:45The question for you isn't really about how much you can do
- 25:47or how perfectly you do it. It's simpler.
- 25:49Are you ready? Are you ready to step into that
- 25:51wild river of grace?