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Authors: Paul Ellis
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can.
“Who
would you ban from taking communion?” Who would you ban from hearing the
gospel?
“Who can
preside over communion?” Who can preach the gospel? The answer to one is the
answer to the other, which is to say any believer can.
Do you
see? Religion likes to make things complicated but the gospel, including
communion, is simple. Religion likes to judge and draw lines. “You’re in,
you’re out. You’re clean, you’re unclean. You can take communion, you can’t
take communion.” But grace is inclusive. Jesus ate with anyone who would eat
with him. He even broke bread with Judas.
“But
what about children taking communion?” Some churches make it a habit to keep
small children from the table because they “don’t understand.” I don’t think
this is a wise practice for it’s motivated by fear rather than love. It sends
the message that all are not welcome and God is scary. This is not a message
for our children, or anyone, to hear.
In our
house we take communion with our young children nearly every Sunday. For us
it’s an opportunity to remember Jesus, and we partake with joy and
thanksgiving. Our only requirement for the children is that they need to be old
enough to eat the crackers!
12. An Open Letter to
Hot-Blooded Young Men
Grace attracts sinners. Since I am
someone who preaches grace, I get a lot of correspondence from sinning
Christians. Few are looking for help in overcoming sin; many of them are
fishing for an assurance that God will continue to love them despite their bad
behavior. More often than not, these messages come from young men who are
living as though they were married, even though they are not.
Since I
grow weary of being an agony aunt for men who should know better, this article
is addressed to those of you who are wrestling with sin, but particularly to
hot-blooded young males. Here are my responses to five commonly asked
questions:
1. Will God love me if I keep sinning?
Yes, absolutely! I know this is
not what religion has told you, but you need to know that God’s love for you is
unrelated to your behavior, good or bad. There are many variables in life but
God’s love is the one constant you can bank on. You can be certain that he
loves you.
A better
question to ask is, do you know and enjoy his love? The prodigal’s father loved
him constantly but the prodigal did not experience his love for as long as his
attention was elsewhere.
Every
one of us has needs and these needs are designed to lead us to Jesus (see Philippians
4:19). If you’re not getting your needs met in Christ, you will make inferior
choices — and this is where the trouble starts.
2. Does God’s grace mean I can
continue to live in sin?
No. Grace brings freedom and that
includes the freedom to make poor choices, but if you use your freedom to
enslave yourself to sin, then you have missed the point of grace.
A
Christian who runs after sin is like a prisoner who has been released into the
custody of a gracious king, who then uses his freedom to re-offend and do all
the things that got him imprisoned in the first place. Now our King is
extremely gracious; he won’t send you back to prison, but you may send yourself
there.
The King
of kings didn’t give his life as your ransom so you could run back to Egypt.
That’s the wrong direction. Egypt is history. We’ve got places to go and grace
is going to take us there. Move on to the Promised Land of his love for that is
where life really begins.
3. Will I lose my salvation if
I choose to keep sinning?
No. Jesus is your salvation and
the Holy Spirit is your eternal guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22). If sinning
caused us to lose our salvation, then heaven would be empty.
But the
question troubles me. Religion has got us so obsessed with making heaven and
avoiding hell that we’ve put life on hold. The earth isn’t a waiting room for
eternity. This is the place where real life happens (see John
“Who
would you ban from taking communion?” Who would you ban from hearing the
gospel?
“Who can
preside over communion?” Who can preach the gospel? The answer to one is the
answer to the other, which is to say any believer can.
Do you
see? Religion likes to make things complicated but the gospel, including
communion, is simple. Religion likes to judge and draw lines. “You’re in,
you’re out. You’re clean, you’re unclean. You can take communion, you can’t
take communion.” But grace is inclusive. Jesus ate with anyone who would eat
with him. He even broke bread with Judas.
“But
what about children taking communion?” Some churches make it a habit to keep
small children from the table because they “don’t understand.” I don’t think
this is a wise practice for it’s motivated by fear rather than love. It sends
the message that all are not welcome and God is scary. This is not a message
for our children, or anyone, to hear.
In our
house we take communion with our young children nearly every Sunday. For us
it’s an opportunity to remember Jesus, and we partake with joy and
thanksgiving. Our only requirement for the children is that they need to be old
enough to eat the crackers!
12. An Open Letter to
Hot-Blooded Young Men
Grace attracts sinners. Since I am
someone who preaches grace, I get a lot of correspondence from sinning
Christians. Few are looking for help in overcoming sin; many of them are
fishing for an assurance that God will continue to love them despite their bad
behavior. More often than not, these messages come from young men who are
living as though they were married, even though they are not.
Since I
grow weary of being an agony aunt for men who should know better, this article
is addressed to those of you who are wrestling with sin, but particularly to
hot-blooded young males. Here are my responses to five commonly asked
questions:
1. Will God love me if I keep sinning?
Yes, absolutely! I know this is
not what religion has told you, but you need to know that God’s love for you is
unrelated to your behavior, good or bad. There are many variables in life but
God’s love is the one constant you can bank on. You can be certain that he
loves you.
A better
question to ask is, do you know and enjoy his love? The prodigal’s father loved
him constantly but the prodigal did not experience his love for as long as his
attention was elsewhere.
Every
one of us has needs and these needs are designed to lead us to Jesus (see Philippians
4:19). If you’re not getting your needs met in Christ, you will make inferior
choices — and this is where the trouble starts.
2. Does God’s grace mean I can
continue to live in sin?
No. Grace brings freedom and that
includes the freedom to make poor choices, but if you use your freedom to
enslave yourself to sin, then you have missed the point of grace.
A
Christian who runs after sin is like a prisoner who has been released into the
custody of a gracious king, who then uses his freedom to re-offend and do all
the things that got him imprisoned in the first place. Now our King is
extremely gracious; he won’t send you back to prison, but you may send yourself
there.
The King
of kings didn’t give his life as your ransom so you could run back to Egypt.
That’s the wrong direction. Egypt is history. We’ve got places to go and grace
is going to take us there. Move on to the Promised Land of his love for that is
where life really begins.
3. Will I lose my salvation if
I choose to keep sinning?
No. Jesus is your salvation and
the Holy Spirit is your eternal guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22). If sinning
caused us to lose our salvation, then heaven would be empty.
But the
question troubles me. Religion has got us so obsessed with making heaven and
avoiding hell that we’ve put life on hold. The earth isn’t a waiting room for
eternity. This is the place where real life happens (see John
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