Has "Grace" Been Neglected?
Subjective Evidence Suggests "Yes"
I’ve been reading an article today from a brotherhood publication on whether preaching on grace has been neglected over the last few decades. This goes together with the observations by another preacher that I recently read on his popular email blog. Both authors argue the subject of grace hasn’t been neglected in the non-institutional churches of Christ. And I guess it depends on where a person is and the congregation where they're from. And certainly, it's not like there has "never" been any preaching on this topic. I don't think anyone would claim that ... but...
My own experience suggests otherwise. Looking back to my growing-up years in Central Arkansas, I don’t remember hearing anything about grace except how the Baptists got it all wrong. Over the first ten years or so of my preaching, I had one or two sermons I preached about it … but from the perspective I always heard throughout my younger years,… God saves by grace, but you better work hard to maintain it. In other words, I taught a form of Galatianism, i.e., salvation is by faith + works.
As my perspective began to change, largely influenced initially by Robert F. Turner’s Sermons on Grace, I started preaching on the subject more and more. And what I heard as I spoke at places all over was the same. We need more preaching on this. While I haven't traveled everywhere in the last 15 years, I can certainly attest to the statements of many brethren I've interacted with in every region of the US since 2010 or so who tell me they rarely hear any preaching/teaching on this matter. My experience is subjective, but these good brethren aren't making this up. While the author I read today defends his position by citing five books and articles that have been published over the last 40 years, let's be honest. The average member in the pew does not read lecture books or subscribe to the brotherhood magazines. They mostly know and learn what they hear in the pulpit. And, traditionally, a lot of "our" teaching on grace has actually explained it away or watered it down ... so it is not surprising that when grace is taught the way Scripture ACTUALLY teaches it, we hear statements like “we've never heard that before.” And from talking with many other preachers over the last decade & a half, they have told me about their own similar experiences. It is unfair to try to shut down or downplay the experiences of brethren nationwide who attest they’ve not heard much about grace. I can guarantee you we’ve all heard about works and obedience. (It’s certainly been more than five articles posted over 40 years.) Hardly anyone would argue otherwise. In fact, they’ve heard about works so much that many of them are scared to death that they’re going to miss heaven. This is what those of us who are teaching the truth about grace are trying to help our brethren with. They need to learn how to trust in God for their salvation, not their performance.
One last thing: I’m finding that many among us either do not know how to study or begin to “study” with their minds already made up and simply seek to disprove anything that doesn’t align with what they’ve heard for most of their life. Add in their “concern” for “where this leads,” “this sounds denominational,” and “this leads to charismaticism,” and they just shut down and refuse to hear the teaching that is being presented. Then, throw in a few labels like “false teacher,” “neo-Calvinist,” or “dangerous,” spread it around the country via email & social media, and one can go back to being comfortable and feeling good about how he has “defended the truth” and “protected” the church.
Brethren, we can do better. If people around the country are saying there’s a need for more teaching on grace, instead of dismissing them, let’s open up our bibles and actually learn the TEACHING or DOCTRINE of grace.