Christian (5) – When Grace Met Truth

Welcome to part five of our series Christian and I promised you last week that this series is about to go up another level. If you thought “I am not so sure about this whole disciple thing, I’d rather be just a Christian” I hope you will never give up trying to be the best Jesus follower you can be. It’s not going to be easy, I promise you that. But if we ever want to influence the world with what we believe we better be serious about doing what Jesus called us to do – love one another, love people the way Jesus loved.

But if you read about how Jesus loved as recorded in the Gospels, there’s a tension in the way he loved—it was messy, inconsistent, unfair, and confusing. At times, Jesus was harsh; at times, he was forgiving. At times, he pointed out sin; at times, he seemed to ignore it. Our temptation is to try to resolve the tension created around Jesus’ love. But if we try, we lose something important, something essential. The challenge for followers of Jesus is to love in the messy, inconsistent, unfair, and confusing way that he did—to hang onto the tension.

Are you now ready for Christian, part five?

Moving Forward

If Jesus is the embodiment of grace and truth, and the church is his body, then we have to be comfortable with the mess and the tension. The church is at its best when it embraces God’s grace and truth and refuses to let go of either.

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever had to share a difficult truth with someone at work, in your family, or at church? Were you graceful in the way you communicated? How did that affect the way the person responded?

2. People focused on truth worry that others will get away with something, while those focused on grace worry that they might make others feel bad about themselves. Which better describes you? How does that affect the way you think about God and faith?

3. In your interactions with Christians, have you mostly experienced judgment, a wishy-washy avoidance of biblical truth, or a mix of truth and grace? Explain.

4. Read John 4:1–26. What do you find most startling about this story? What about it makes you uncomfortable? What about it is reassuring?

5. Read John 8:1–11. Talk about how Jesus navigates the tension between truth and grace in verses 10 and 11. Is it significant that Jesus tells the woman he doesn’t condemn her before he commands her to leave her life of sin? Why or why not?