Austin Gardner | Religion Says "Do," Grace Says "Done"

Throughout church history, the greatest struggle has been the tension between grace and performance. Today, Austin Gardner addresses the fear many of us have: If I tell people they are loved unconditionally, won't they stop doing right?

Austin shares his personal journey of moving away from a "steeped legalism" that crushed people under expectations, toward a biblical understanding of grace that actually empowers holiness. He contrasts the "coach who only criticizes" with the "Father who loves first," and explains why your position in Christ is more important than your performance for Him. If you’re tired of the religious treadmill, join Austin Gardner for a message of radical rest and restoration.

SEO Keywords (Tags):
Austin Gardner, Gospel vs. Legalism, Performance-Based Religion, Grace-Filled Living, Christian Rest, Biblical Obedience, Austin Gardner Podcast, Transformation, Mental Health and Faith.

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

Legalism And Fear Of Failure

Austin Gardner 0:27

You know that I am quite concerned about all the legalism that I was steeped in and how I was I was hard on people. I, you know, I was hard on myself, I was hard on other people, and people are hard on me. And I kind of accepted that as being the way it was supposed to be at church. Now, this blessing thing is just working me over. So I'd like to talk to you a little bit about grace and performance and the gospel. You know, throughout church history, uh probably one of the greatest spiritual struggles is the tension between grace and performance, grace and works. I mean, James kind of deals in that in his book. Many believers ask questions like, do I have to earn God's blessings? If I fail, would God withdraw his favor? And of that, I believed with all my heart. I was like, God loves me, but if he's not blessed, he won't, and I could lose his power, I could lose his bless. Samson lost it, didn't he? And I would just have all these thoughts in my head. How do blessings and obedience fit together? So some churches emphasize grace so strongly that holiness seems to disappear. And I don't believe that's true, but I'll just say it because I know that's what you're thinking. Fact is, in the last video, I couldn't think of the term sins of omission. But you know, uh sometimes we're afraid that grace causes us to do sins of commission and sins of omission, because well, God loves me, it doesn't matter what I do. I was teaching that in Atikipa one time, and a lady who loved Jesus with all of her heart, she just interrupted me and said, You can't tell people that. She said, if you tell them that, they'll change the way they live. They won't do right. We tend to think people only do right because they're threatened, not because they're loved, and that's that's the problem. But the Bible presents a whole different picture. It produces blessings flow from grace, and grace produces obedience. That's the biblical picture. I want to just kind of think about the gospel and legalism. You know, the problem with legalism is that we somehow think that God accepts us because we earn it through our performance. If you obey God enough, he'll love you. If you perform well enough, God will bless you. And I know that the first reaction is, no, we don't really believe that, but we don't believe that up here, but we kind of believe it down here. Uh the gospel says the opposite: God loves us and he gives grace before we obey. In Galatians 3 3, the apostle Paul went so far to say, are you so foolish? Are you so dumb that you began in the spirit and now you're made perfect by the flesh? Because you see, the main problem with most Christianity is that we start out by grace. We'll say we're saved by grace, but then it's all on us. Getting saved was all on God. Now living it is on us. And he's saying, you started your Christian life by faith in Christ alone, and now you're going to complete it through human effort. Legalism sneaks in quietly. It replaces joy with pressure. It replaces freedom with fear. Just imagine for a second with me a child trying to earn his father's love. He cleans the house and brings home perfect grades, and he works constantly to please his father, to impress his father. But a healthy father loves his child before the child accomplishes anything. The child obeys because he's loved. He doesn't do it to earn love. That's the difference between legalism and the gospel. Religion says, I obey, therefore I'm accepted. The gospel says I'm accepted, therefore I obey. There's a drastic difference in the two. And I hope you know that. I think you do. The religious leaders of Jesus' time had turned faith into a system of performance. They believed that blessing came through strict rule keeping. Jesus challenged that idea. He said they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born. They lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. They don't move a finger to do it. The Pharisees were really kind of like the spiritual leaders of their day. I want you to imagine carrying a backpack filled with stones, and every rule is a stone, and the weight becomes unbearable. And that's what legalism does. It crushes people under expectations that we can never meet. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said. But you know what repentance is, don't you? It's a radical, complete change of mind from thinking I know to knowing God knows, from thinking I can do it to realizing I can't do it. I can't do it, and I'll accept the grace of God. Grace doesn't ignore sin, grace transforms sinners. Grace produces holiness. Some people hear the language of grace and assume it means obedience is optional, but the scriptures teach the opposite. We're not trying to do that. Grace will empower us to live the life that we're called on to live. For by the grace of God, for the grace of God brings salvation that has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Titus 2, 1112. Grace teaches us how to live. Grace changes our desires. Grace gives us strength to overcome our sin. Think of a recovering addict. Shame doesn't change people very much. But when someone experiences deep love and acceptance and support, transformation can come. Grace creates an environment which change, where change can happen. Grace does not make sin safe. Grace does not ignore sin. Grace breaks sin's power. That is so powerful. One of the most powerful teachings in the New Testament is that believers are united with Christ. Blessing doesn't come from our performance, blessing comes from our position in Christ. He's in us, we're in him. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The phrase in Christ all through the Bible. Blessings flow from our relationship with Jesus in Christ. That comes in the Bible like 160 times. It's a special union with Christ. We're forgiven, we're adopted, we're blessed. We stand before God based on Christ's righteousness, not our performance. I want you to imagine standing under a waterfall. You do not create the water, you simply stand where it's flowing. Being in Christ is like standing under the waterfall of God's grace. The balance of blessing and obedience. The Bible never teaches that obedience earns blessing. That's not a biblical thought. But it also never teaches obedience is unnecessary. It's not necessary to save you, but it'll be the natural outflow. Grace changes us. We obey. Therefore, we're justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. We stand in grace. This is the foundation of our Christian life. The law says do this, but it's never done. Grace says believe this, and everything is done. So blessings matter in our church and in modern Christianity. Whenever leaders stop thinking or churches drift into performance, we need to let them hear about grace. People get to believe that God's disappointed in them. They're never good enough. They must constantly prove themselves. I think I lived a lot of my life right there. But blessings, putting our blessings or God's blessings on them reminds believers that their identity is in Christ. Blessing strengthens faith and encourages growth. A coach who only criticizes his team will destroy it. A wise coach corrects mistakes but encourages players. Encouragement builds confidence. Confidence produces growth. Blessing works the same way. The gospel frees us from performance-based religion. We obey God not because we fear rejection, but because we have received grace. Blessing reminds us believers that God's favor flows to us through Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Galatians 6, 18. Paul ends a letter with blessing because that's the foundation of the Christian life. Legalism says earn God's favor. The gospel says Christ secured God's favor. And from the grace of Christ, the grace of God, flows a life of obedience and holiness and blessing. I thank God for his love and his grace. And I have never known him like I have recently, never been so thrilled with it like I am now. And I believe that if you'll study and meditate on that, it'll change your life. Thank you for listening. Share this with someone else. If you would, I'd really appreciate it. God bless you.