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Matt Manry
Good News
The amazing thing about
grace is that it has no limits or
boundaries. It is free, unconditional
and unmerited. Biblical grace is a
contradiction to almost everything
that American society thinks
should happen in the world. But
the world continuously promotes
the idea of anti-Christian karma
and, most of the time, it is easy to
just smile and agree with this
proposition. Why? Because the
truth is that even most Christians
are afraid of grace because it takes
control out of their hands. Karma
makes sense while grace seems
irrational.
Karma and the Disciples
Karma made a lot of sense to
Jesus’ disciples. In John 9, when
they see a man born blind, their
first reaction is to ask Jesus if it was
this man’s sin or the sin of his
parents that caused himto be born
with this disability. The disciples
operated with a cause and effect
mindset. There had to be a reason
why this man was suffering. The
most likely explanation to them
was this man’s personal sin or the
transgressions of his family. They
thought that personal sin would
lead to painful suffering and that
righteous living would lead to
bountiful blessing. They saw a
blind
beggar’s
suffering
as
something that he deserved.
Karma was at the center of their
way of thinking, and they had
personally walked with Jesus for a
long time!
KarmaMakes Sense to Us
It is easy to think that good
things happen to good people and
bad things happen to bad people.
This is the way karma works.
Everyone gets what they deserve.
The idea of “you reap what you
sow” seems right, after all. Pastor
Tullian Tchvidjian, when talking
about karma, once said that, “The
appeal of this perspective [of
karma] should be fairly obvious: no
one gets away with anything. If
someone harmed you, she will
suffer. If you do good, youwill have
a good life. Karma puts us in
control.” This is what makes sense
to all humans in our depraved
minds. No matter how Christians
look at it, to some extent it is easy
to operate with the mindset of
retribution. The problemwith this
way of thinking, though, is that the
Christian gospel is counter-
intuitive to the way that karma
operates. In fact, Christianity ends
up saying that the thief on the cross
receives paradise (Luke 23:43), and
the
prodigal
son
receives
compassion (Luke 15:20). Because
our debt has been paid by Jesus,
Christians are freed from the
penalty that karma insisted upon.
The price that was warranted for
our sins was intercepted by Christ
on theCross. This is the goodnews.
Undeserved Grace
This is grace: that Jesus Christ
took our penalty and our
punishment. Just contemplate for a
second the fact that no human
being has done anything to deserve
this! We all were dead in our
trespasses and sins! We can look at
the karma scorecard and see that
every single person deserves hell
because of their sin against a holy
God. This is why grace is so
amazing; grace is one-way love!
The grace of Godhas everything to
do with him and nothing to do
with our ability to accept or receive
it. That is why the Christian gospel
always proclaims liberating grace,
because it always interrupts the
penalty that is deserved with the
words, “It is finished”. That is why
Jesus came and intervened in our
seemingly hopeless situation. He
came to reconcile his flock by his
pure, free and limitless grace so that
men and women could spend
eternity with him in Heaven.
Disarming Karma
So the question iswhether our
understanding of what Jesus has
done looks like worldly karma or
gospel-saturated grace. Our answer
is very important. Take a moment
to think about the grace that has
been shown by God through
Christ Jesus, and karma should be
the furthest thing away from your
mind. Gospel grace is infinite and
immeasurable. It iswhat the people
of this world need. As Robert
Capon puts it, “Men need to drink
deeply of two-hundred proof
grace.” Amen to that!
As Christians there is a need
to disarm karma and awaken to
grace. Meditating on the works of
Christ and continuing to look at
the amazing gospel of Jesus is what
transforms the karma-centered
moralist into a Jesus-dependent,
grace-addict. It is only through the
gospel that the notion of “what
goes around comes around” is truly
defeated. It ended over 2,000 years
ago when the God-man suffered
once and for all for sinful man. He
took the penalty that our sins
demanded. At the cross, karma
was disarmed and gospel gracewas
awakened for good. Christ took
our place and our sin so that we
could become the righteousness of
God (2 Cor. 5:21) and spend
eternity with him in Heaven. So
look to the cross and see the
amazing work of Jesus that
conquered karma, so that your
focus can solely be on living out
gospel-driven grace to all men.
Matt Manry is the Director of
Students at Life Bible Church in
Canton, Georgia and a student at
Reformed Theological Seminary.
You can follow his blog at
gospelglory.net or his twitter
@matt_manry.
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RELEVANT
December 2012
19
GoodNewsFL.org
Disarming Karma