Why Grace Isn't about Religion

As people, we long for security.  We spend a lifetime providing for our own material security, and we can’t help but wonder whether or not our efforts will be enough to allow us the peace and comfort we desire.  Our eternal security is no different.

I once asked a Mormon friend of mine if, when he died, he knew for sure that he would be living eternally in the Father’s presence.  We both knew the essence of the question was whether or not he would be able to do all that his religion required of him to gain admittance into the Celestial Kingdom [this would be a good place for a sidebar of the levels of Heaven in Mormonism. Note: Include what grace and salvation mean to Mormons (i.e., salvation is a free gift that you then have to earn)].  The question obviously pulled at his heart because he responded with eyes beginning to blur, “No, but I believe I have the opportunity.”  His response was indicative of the level of security that Mormons have about their eternal destiny.

As a Mormon, your security is in yourself, in what you can attain.  Christ did his part and now you must do yours.  Depending on how well you do your part, you will receive your reward in terms of where you will spend eternity.  If you obey all the commands and ordinances of God, keep all your covenants, and truly repent, you may attain to the Celestial Kingdom and have the opportunity to become a god yourself.  However, if you don’t do everything that your religion requires of you, you will earn a lesser degree of glory and be excluded from living eternally with the Father.

Consequently, you can never be sure exactly what your eternal standing is before the Father.  You’re tempted to compare yourself to others, but in your heart you know you don’t do everything your religion requires, and you wonder if it will be enough.  You know you don’t fully keep all of your covenants, and you wonder if it will be enough.  And, alas, you know that true repentance and complete forgiveness are something that you yearn for but can never quite achieve.  So, where does that leave you?  It leaves you wondering.  It leaves you uncertain about your eternal destiny; and it leaves you without the security you long for.  As a result, the religious requirements you can’t possibly meet become an ever present source of pressure, discouragement and guilt.

All of this stands in stark contrast to the security that Christ promises.  Real security comes not from your own effort to attain a greater degree of glory but from you yielding yourself to Christ by identifying yourself with his death and resurrection.  Where you continue to stumble and fall, Christ fully met the requirements of the law in your place.  That’s why Romans 8:4 declares that the righteous requirements of the law are fully met in us.  There is no more condemnation or guilt because, through Christ, we are presented to God as holy, blameless and perfect.

In identifying yourself by faith with the death and resurrection of Christ, you become dead to sin and alive to God through Christ.  Therefore, because Christ died for all your sins (past, present and future) and was resurrected for your righteousness, you can have security in the way God sees you.  When you put your faith in Christ alone, God views you through Christ as perfect, not because of anything you did, but because of what Christ did for you.  The only way you can be secure in your relationship with God, then, is to place your faith in the free gift of Christ and not in your own effort.  Keep in mind that while the gift is free, it came at a tremendous cost – the very death of Christ on the cross in your place.

Unfortunately, if you are a Mormon and you are relying on your own effort for your security, you are responsible for going all the way.  God’s standard is perfection, and he requires it now and continually, not at some time in the future. You are called to be perfect, not to become perfect. If you stumble once, and you know you already have, you are guilty of breaking the entire law (James 2:10).  Because you have put yourself under the law, you will be judged by the law; and the judgment will always be “guilty.” The terrible reality of the law is that it is a stern taskmaster that does not allow for grace. What’s even more unfortunate is that your guilty verdict means eternal separation from God, not a lesser degree of glory.

God’s standards are just – you can either attempt to meet them, unsuccessfully, by your own effort, or you can accept the righteousness that Christ freely offers you.  If you accept Christ’s righteousness in your place, his blood, which was shed for you, washes you clean from all unrighteousness and you are forever holy, perfect and secure before God. Christ’s sacrifice for you completely satisfied God’s justice. There is nothing more for you to earn because you cannot add to perfection.  You will be, without a doubt, eternally in the Father’s presence.

I often think of my friend, how his security is in what he believes he has an opportunity to accomplish.  My heart breaks for him and everyone trying so desperately to meet God’s standard of perfection and to obey all the requirements of their religion. By grace, Christ has met the standard for you.  Grace is being given what you don’t deserve and being treated as if you did. It is not something you receive and then work hard to keep or pay back over time. By grace, God gives you eternal life.  He gives you what you couldn’t possibly earn. 

I still recall my response to my friend’s answer:  “Because of what Christ did for me, in my place, I can look at you right now and state with complete certainty that when I die I will be immediately and eternally in the presence of the Father.”  That’s security.  That’s faith in the finished work of Christ.  That security is available for everyone who places their faith in Christ and not in their own works.