Can You Go Too Far With Grace?

Those who are afraid of the message of the grace walk have sometimes suggested that you can go too far with grace. They're afraid about getting "out of balance" with the message. It is from out of that unfounded fear that this lie finds expression. The fact is that grace is a Person. His name is Jesus. So to say that you can go too far with grace is like saying that you can go too far with Him. It simply isn’t possible.

"But if you teach grace the way you are, people will think it's okay to sin," some have said to me. That kind of fear shows a lack of understanding about what grace does in a person’s life. When God’s grace really takes hold of us, it does the exact opposite of encouraging sin. It causes us to draw near in love and faith to God, which is where we find a greater desire to walk in a way that honors Him.

The idea that you can go too far with grace is an irrational fear. When a believer sins, he is acting in a disgraceful way by contradicting the very essence of the grace of God. Grace empowers us to honor our Father through our actions, not dishonor Him. It is possible to pervert grace so that it stops being grace, but it isn’t possible to go too far with it.

Paul had this to say about the effect grace has in a person's life:

For if by the transgression of the one [Adam], death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17

He said that if we’re going to reign in life, there needs to be an abundance of grace, which provides the gift of righteousness. The result will be that we reign in life, which surely does not sound like “encourage more sinning.”

The word “abundance” in that verse suggests an overflow. It doesn’t mean filling something to the top. It means filling it beyond the top, so that it spills over. Paul said that is what has happened to the Christian. We have received an overflow of grace.

In Philippians 3, Paul gives his own testimony of what receiving the grace of Jesus Christ did for him. He threw away the pride he had in his religious credentials in exchange for the joy of knowing Jesus Christ. Then did he stop there? No, he says,

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 Grace motivated him toward godliness in his actions, not away from it.

Go too far with grace? There’s no way. The fact is that most Christians haven’t gone far enough in their understanding of it. It's just a word they throw around at church. We need an overflow of grace, especially in the modern church world where legalism is so rampant. As much as we say we don’t want to live under the law, we’re often scared to death of the grace of God.

We need to boldly proclaim God’s grace to the church world — not only to the unredeemed, unsaved world, but to the church world. We need to proclaim the grace of God because the fact is that, even if you could go too far with grace, which you cannot, I’ve not been in a church yet where there was even a remote possibility of going too far with the grace of God.

Go too far with grace? Not a chance. We need an abundance of grace in the legalistic barrenness of the modern church terrain. It’s only when we jump in over our heads, into the river of God’s grace, and we experience that abundance, that we know the victory that is ours in Jesus Christ.