Book Review of Defiant Grace: The Surprising Message and Mission of Jesus

• Author:  Dane Ortlund
• Publication Date: 2012
• Publisher: EP Books (Evangelical Press)
• Retail Price: $11.99
• Page Count: 139 

Gospel-centeredness: Coherent or just cool

The gospel is all the rage these days in Christian circles. It’s trendy to frequently drop the phrase ‘gospel-centeredness’ in our conversations as we sip on our skinny no-foam latte while peering over our cool glasses that we don’t really need to wear. There are many great books surfacing on the gospel and its efficacy in the lives of believers, stimulating fruitful conversations on the blogosphere regarding the gospel and sanctification. While the average Christian understands the bare facts of the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for sin, many of us do not know how to articulate the implications of the gospel of grace for our own lives.  Dane Ortlund’s book, Defiant Grace: The Surprising Message and Mission of Jesus, written for “fellow everyday believers” may be the means of refreshing grace that they are seeking.  Ortlund states boldly, “It’s time to enjoy grace anew- not the decaffeinated grace that pats us on the hand, ignores our deepest rebellions and doesn’t change us, but the high-octance grace that takes our conscience by the scruff of the neck and breathes new life into us with a pardon so scandalous that we cannot help but be changed.” (page 13) Ortlund’s  creative and seemingly effortless use of vivid, metaphorical language alone makes the book a pleasurable read.

Surprised by Grace
Ortlund presumes that our understanding of who Jesus is needs repeated tweaking, so he takes us on a journey through the four gospels in search of the surprising message and mission of Jesus.  His premise is that Jesus is surprising and grace is shocking. The surprises he shares may seem scandalous and counterintuitive to our law-addicted hearts, so Ortlund anchors his summary statements for each gospel narrative in portions of Scripture from that same gospel. He adeptly uses these anchors to give evidence for the unanticipated, astounding message or mission of Jesus as well as show its thematic continuity within the book as a whole.

Chapter 1 begins with Matthew where we see the surprise of disobedient obedience.  The main point of this chapter answers the question of qualification for the Kingdom of God. Using Matthew 18-20, Ortlund shows that Peter, the Pharisees and the rich young ruler all ask the same question that many others have asked through the ages, “What is the least that I must do to get God off my back?” Treating obedience as something that earns points and qualifies us for the Kingdom, we deny the “inadequacy of our own moral resources (as a result of our sin) and the adequacy of God’s divine provision (on account of Christ’s work).” As a result of these false beliefs, our rule-keeping can be evil, our obedience disobedience. In the end, only those who realize their disqualification, manifested in rule-breaking and rule-keeping, are truly qualified to receive Christ’s grace.  

In Mark, we see the surprise of the King undergoing the fate of a criminal, underscoring triumphant brokenness. Christ the King came to die. Masterfully using Jesus’ dealings with James and John and blind Bartimaeus from Mark 8-10, Ortlund unpacks our spiritual and moral blindness, evidenced in our natural, prideful grasping for glory in ourselves. We, like blind Bartimaeus, need mercy from the King who died the death of a criminal to secure mercy and glory for those who admit their blindness and cling to Christ.

In Luke, we see the surprise of the insiders becoming outsiders and the outsiders becoming insiders as Jesus reveals the stunning reality of those included in his community. Luke highlights the radical social inversion of the gospel call: Jesus came for sinners and social outcasts. Those who believed themselves to be on the outside were welcomed, and those who believed themselves to be on the inside were excluded.  “Hell is filled with people who believe they deserve to be outside hell and inside heaven. Heaven is filled with people who believe they deserve to be outside heaven and inside hell. Such grace defies our sense of fair play.” (page 92) Those invited into community with Christ are those who grasp the truth that the ultimate insider became the outcast to secure inclusion for outsiders to be brought in.

In John, we see the surprise of the Creator of the universe becoming one of his own creatures, emphasizing the shocking identity of Jesus. Through consideration of the magnitude of the incarnation account in John 1, Ortlund draws attention to the uniqueness of Christianity in the weighty reality that the transcendent, holy God came to us, as us. Scandalous to the deeply held beliefs of both Jews and Greeks regarding the nature of God is this notion that God became man. “This is the surprise of John. The Creator became a creature so that we creatures can be restored to our Creator. Such grace defies our categories.” (page 105)

Wonder to Worship
By the end of the book, the reader is left freshly stunned by Jesus and his radical grace, marveling at his counter-intuitive message, amazed at his counter-cultural mission. These surprising realities make quick application for the reader, forcing us to think about the motivations of our obedience and giving insight into the desires of our heart and our need for mercy. They navigate us towards the broken and marginalized, reminding us of the beauty and grandeur of the welcome and acceptance of gospel grace. Dane Ortlund invites and impels worship of the Giver of grace, gratitude because of the receiving of it, and a deep desire to be transformed into the image of this One who would come to give such radical, defiant grace!  The only weakness found in Ortlund’s book is its brevity. 119 pages whets the appetite for grace and leaves you wanting more!

The Obedience Equation

Since Tullian Tchividjian uses math to describe the gospel as Jesus + Nothing = Everything, I thought I'd throw out my own math equation for obedience. I have been having lots of discussions with folks lately about whether or not God is pleased with our obedience. Or, put another way, is our obedience sufficient? Because we have been justified by Christ and have the indwelling Holy Spirit and the resources of grace, does that mean, by implication, that our efforts at holiness through obedience are adequate in themselves to merit the full pleasure of God?

Is this equation correct? My obedience = (equals) God's full pleasure

There are many reasons why I would revise this equation.

Reason #1 - There is always some sin mixed with our obedience. The fall has affected everything, even our best intentions and our most noteworthy works. Every time I do something that God requires, there could be a plethora of mixed motives that went into the obedience. I would safely assume that there was a desire to please God in the knowledge that the act itself is what He requires. I would even be OK with saying that this could be mostly what we are motivated by (though I think I am being generous here). But what if I was proud of my obedience in a self-righteous sort of way, evidenced by my smug, simmering anger at those who didn't obey as I had? What if I boasted, even in the smallest way, about my obedience? Did I just stain the obedience? Is there now something that needs to be exposed in my obedience and rightly repented of? Pride, selfish ambition and glory stealing are only a few examples of the ways in which we can tarnish our obedience. So, do we simply need God to forgive and cancel out the sinful motives and expressions that may be mixed with the good in our obedience to be fully pleasing to Him?

Is this a better equation?  My obedience - (minus) the sin that stains it = God's full pleasure

I don't think so, and here is why...

Reason #2 - Was the obedience that I mustered up all that God required? For example, if I chose to obey the command to love my neighbor by not being spiteful when their dog left his "business" in my lawn for the 100th time, have I fulfilled the command? I may not have made any intentional rude remarks, but rather showed restraint and even serenity on the outside, but did I actively love them? Though it is a good thing that I didn't lose control and verbally lash out at my neighbor (kind of like the common grace for the believer), did I fulfill the command to love my neighbor? Why is it that we often think that what we have done is enough?

Our efforts to obey are never really enough when we look honestly at what the Word of God calls us to. It calls us to what is impossible with man. We are always in over our heads when we try to live out perfectly what the law requires. Either we are crushed by the painful awareness that we have not fulfilled the demand of the law (and cry out for mercy) or we adjust the demands a bit. We lower the standard enough until we feel that our effort is adequate. However, God warns us in James 4 not to judge His law in this way. (I wrote a blog about that here.) God's laws have always been, and will always remain, rigid and inflexible. The disciples of Jesus seemed to understand this as evidenced by their anxious questions like, "Who then can be saved?" When we honestly face the demands of the law, we must reckon with our inadequacy. The laws don't soften for those who are "in" the Kingdom. They remain the same.

So we are left with the itching question: was God pleased or not with my obedience in not giving a verbal lashing to my neighbor? Wasn't he smiling down at my active faith in my obedience? Though I heartily believe that God is pleased with our active faith (as imperfect as it is), I do not believe that our active faith is enough to warrant God's full and complete pleasure. We need some additions. We need Someone to make up the difference of what is actually required, namely perfect obedience.

We need the perfect righteousness of Jesus added to our sincere, though imperfect, attempts at righteousness for the Father to look upon our works with full pleasure. Only in Jesus are we fully pleasing, and fully acceptable before the Father. Only as we are wearing His robes of righteousness are we truly righteous. Why would anyone want to take off this robe to ask if their garments were enough?

So, I believe that the real equation for obedience is as follows:

My obedience - (minus)  the sin that stains it + (plus) an abundance of the righteousness of Christ = (equals) a true righteousness that the Father is most definitely and always pleased with. 

This equation for obedience removes any grounds for boasting as well as any reason for despair regarding my obedience. It allows me to boldly face my sin and inadequacy with honesty and integrity. It frees me to repent. But most importantly, it causes me to place all of my hope in the One whose righteousness is always enough!

You do the math!