Dallas Willard interview
http://thejesusquestion.org/2016/01/07/dallas-willard-talks-gospel-grace-and-spiritual-discipline/
When asked by interviewer John Ortberg to define Jesus’s gospel, Willard responds, “It’s how to get into heaven before you die.” Many evangelists, unfortunately, teach a grave distortion of that: that the gospel is all about attaining heaven after death.
In his preaching Jesus insisted again and again on the availability of the kingdom of God in the here and now. The Christian, Willard says, is one who has made the transition from a life lived on his or her own to the life that God is living in his kingdom. Thus the gospel is good news not only for the next life but for this life; it is the enactment of heavenly virtues, by the enablement of heavenly grace, on earth, for the good of all creation.
Willard corrects the mistaken notion that grace is only for the forgiveness of sins: “The sinner is not the one who uses a lot of grace; the saint uses more grace. The saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on takeoff, because everything they do is a manifestation of grace.”
One of the major problems with evangelical Christians today, according to Williard, is their passivity. Many tend to think of their salvation as an eternal-life contract they signed sometime in the past but which has no bearing on how they live in the present. For shame! cries Willard.
“Grace is not opposed to effort; it’s opposed to earning,” he says in this interview. “Effort is action; earning is attitude.”
Eternal life starts now—and yes, it is a gift, but it also requires the Christian to actively live into it.
My Notes
What is the church not getting right?
The problem is with the message – the central message.
The Gospel is…
Ortberg: The Gospel was presented as the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven when you die
Willard: It’s like passing the written part of the driver’s test.
(My Ex. Like watching the pre-game show, but skipping the game)
Grace is not just how to get into heaven when you die, but…
Grace is: How to get to heaven before you die.
Grace is God in action available to me now…
You’ve made a transition from living life on your own to a life that God himself is living in his kingdom and you get to be a part of that.
How to live with God being in charge. Grace. The role of grace is more than guilt and forgiveness of sins. But, it’s way more. It’s for life. Enabling us to live in such a way that God is part of our lives. The saint burns more grace than the sinner. The saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on take-off. We no longer trust just our own efforts to manage our lives.
The Disciplines.
Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning (attitude)
Col. 1 – when we’re transformed out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the kingdom of the son of his love, then we begin to experience grace for the first time.
Re: the Disciplines
Effort alone won’t do it. It’s like trying to speak French by just speaking English louder.