Working for Grace or Because of Grace?

Call it a legalism trifecta (see my last two posts), but this caught my eye.  Paul McCain of Cyberbrethren received an e-mail and answered it in a blog post.  Here is the pertinent portion of that initial e-mail:

Being a southern Baptist all my life, I had no idea that the gospel really was this wonderful. When I read things like what Martin Luther said on our questioning God, it is as if he wrote it specifically for me. I was wondering if you could give me an idea on what I should read considering my evangelical background concerning Luther and Lutheranism. I don’t know how much longer I can live on the steady diet of “commit” more to Christ, ask Jesus into your heart week after week.

Apart from the specific request concerning Lutheran materials, that was quite familiar.  A believer was in a congregation that apparently emphasized what "every good Christian should do."  Basically, God justifies me in Christ, but after that the sanctifying work is all mine, so I better get to work.  A passing mention is made of the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer to give power in daily life, but the practical outworking of that theology is a constant struggle to do just a little more so God will accept my pitiful existence in the local church.  Failure begets failure until one withdraws into a cocoon, insulated from the world and its working, with the end that I rejoice in my self-protection and teach others to do likewise.  Or the burden becomes so great that the whole thing is thrown off and apostasy sets in.  I have watched both take place.  Of course, the answer is to stop following that course, which leads to McCain's response.  I give the bulk of it here.

I want you to know, first of all, that your experience with Law and Gospel is precisely what the Holy Spirit wants you to be going through, and has led you to go through.  You see and recognize your sin, you are led to know and love your Savior, whose blood covers all your sins (1 John 1:7).  I understand where you are coming from, with the steady diet of “revivalism” and legalism that keeps pointing you back to what you can do, or should do, or shouldn’t have done, instead of leading you, always, to keep looking to the Crucified and Risen Lord, who loves you. In grateful response to that love, you live for Him, not because “you better or else you can never know you are a Christian” but because you have been crucified with Christ and the life you now live you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself up for you, as Paul puts it in Galatians 2:20.

Let me hasten to add that it is not “unique” by any means to Baptists to feel the way you are feeling.  Many life-long Lutherans as well never really “get” the Gospel either, in fact, none of us ever “fully get” it.  We now know in part, but are fully known and some day will see Him just as He is (1 Cor. 13:9-10).  We are all sinners who struggle every day with the temptations we face, from our old sinful selves, from the world around us, and from the Devil himself who, as St. Peter warns us, prowls around like a roaring lion, just looking for a victim to devour (1 Peter 5:8).  This is why we, with St. Paul, are always facing the reality of our sin, but rejoicing always in the reality of the Savior (Romans 7:15-25), for it is Christ who is always greater than our hearts that are often filled with doubt and fear (1 John 3:20).  He is the Good Shepherd who leads us into the green pastures of His refreshing love, mercy and grace, which we receive through the concrete, reliable, and rock-solid means by which He touches our lives.  We Lutherans refer to these gifts as the “means of grace” and by that we simply are referring to the work of God, outside of ourselves.  God gets the credit and the glory.  We do not have to keep wondering, “Did my decision for Christ really count?  Was I sincere enough?  Did I mean it?  What happens when I do not “feel” like I fully gave my life to Jesus?”  Instead, we can say, “God’s Word promises me that He loves me, through Christ, who died for me.  He has claimed me as His own.  I am baptized into Christ. I’ve been drowned and died and have been raised with Him (Romans 6:1-2).

This response mentions "means of grace."  Those are the preached word and the Lord's Supper which they hold to be vehicles of God's grace to you.  I disagree with what is taught concerning those, but laying that aside, this piece brings up an important matter—the work done on the cross is complete.  No favor can be earned by my efforts, but I rest in the finished work of Christ.  I know people that insist that they must feel a certain way at appropriate times or must be praying a minimum amount of time or reading X number of chapters in their Bibles or…  They are so caught up with doing the right things the right way in order to somehow add to their salvation, when in reality salvation just needs to be lived out in Christ and let him add to it.

Lastly, do not think that Lutherans have this Law and Gospel thing worked out.  No local body of Christians is immune.  At times we all get it backwards: working to gain grace, rather than working because of grace.