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Grace Rules: Living in the Kingdom of God Where…
Are you "living by the rules," or are you letting God's grace rule you? There's a big difference between the two. If you're living for God--living by the rules--you'll always be exhausted. You'll feel that you're not doing enough for God and that if you don't "measure up," He will be displeased with you. But God never meant for the Christian life to be that way! His Love for us isn't based on how we perform for Him. He sent Christ to set us free from rules. He didn't call us to serve Him in our own feeble power, but to let His power flow through us--a power that is without limit! What's more, this power is already available to us right now. God has provided everything we need for a truly meaningful, joy-filled life here on earth...all because of His marvelous grace. Rest in God's grace, and let Him live through you. Find out how in Grace Rules .
211 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1998
6 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Steve McVey
63 books21 followersSteve McVey is the President of Grace Walk Ministries, a discipleship training ministry located in the Tampa Bay area. He is the author of the books Grace Walk, (Harvest House, 1995) Grace Rules, (Harvest House, 1998), Grace Amazing (Harvest House, January, 2001), A Divine Invitation (Harvest House, July, 2002), The Godward Gaze (Harvest House, 2003), The Grace Walk Experience (Harvest House Publishers 2009), Walking in The Will of God (Harvest House , 2009), Journey Into Intimacy (Grace Walk Resources, LLC 2008) and 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday (Harvest House 2011). Over 550,000 copies of Steve's books have been published in fifteen languages. Steve is the host of the daily Grace Walk radio program, airing across the U.S. He and his wife, Melanie live in the Tampa Bay area. They have four adult children and three grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 22, 2013
McVey spends the entire book beating the dead horse legalism. We're all familiar with legalistic churches and Christians, you know the ones who say, "No drinking, no chewing, no dating girls who do." This paradigm is vividly represented in the girl's dad on the movie /Footloose/. Unfortunately McVey, like much of evangelical Christianity, gives legalism an incorrect definition when he describes it as "the method of living whereby we try to make spiritual progress based on what we do" (121). Instead, as W.J. Mencarow points out: "Legalism is not just having rules. Legalism is saying that you have to follow certain rules in order to be saved--Big, big difference!" (http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo...). Real legalism is demonstrated in Orthodox Judaism when they say something like, "The women, she says, attract looks that should be reserved for the husband. In her view, this leads to sin, and as long as there is sin, the Messiah cannot appear" (Mittelstaedt). Legalism is not about Christians embracing rules as guidelines for their Christian walks, but about using rules to obtain or keep salvation.
McVey says that if we have a relationship with Jesus then we don't need rules because, "Our lifestyle isn't governed by rules, but relationship. We aren't motivated by laws, but love!" (75). He goes on to use parenting as an example, how people who neglect or abuse their children are the ones who need rules for child rearing, but he and his wife, "don't need them; we love our children." Maybe that works for him, but I wasn't raised by the perfect parents, so I don't know how to be the perfect parent no matter how much I love my children. I work at a state penitentiary, and more often than not if I ask a child molester why they molested their child, they respond, "My father did that to me when I was a child." Everybody wants to believe that his parents love him, so an adult parent who was molested as a child must think, at least sub-consciously, that such an act demonstrates love to their own child. Even when a person is born again, many behaviors and urges take years, or even a lifetime, to modify.
The one typo I noticed in the book, on page 78, is rather ironic, if not a Freudian slip. He says, "The sad irony of their diligent focus on behavior is that their rules 'are of no value against fleshly indulgence' (Colossians 3:23)." The slip is that McVey quoted Col. 2:23, but reference Col. 3:23. Col. 2:23 concludes a section that tells the Colossians that they were saved by Christ, so they don't need Jewish laws and customs. Paul truly is addressing legalism in these verses. However, not following Jewish laws and customs for salvation doesn’t' mean that there are no rules to live by. Col. 3 is full of prohibitions (that is, rules): fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, and lying. It gives commands (also rules): seek, set your mind, put to death, tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing, forgiving, peace, unity, thankfulness, teach, admonish, submit, love, and obey. Col. encapsulates all these prohibitions and commands when it says, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" (now Col. 3:23). Col. 3 is one of many lists of rules in the New Testament to have order in a person's relationship with God, church, family, and self.
McVey teaches a dangerous heresy when he says, "When a Christian knows that he is free from the law, he will discover that God's indwelling Spirit will motivate him to serve based on his relationship to Jesus, not because of external demands to perform" (91). Knowing Jesus through personal enlightenment by the indwelling Spirit is important, but incomplete. The Bible also says to know Jesus through fellowship with other believers, through the Bible, through experiencing His creation, and through observing events.
On pages 91-92 McVey demonstrates some terrible exegesis when he says, "Ezekiel predicted that in this new day those who followed God would no longer act on the basis of external laws, but rather would act out of the internal life they possessed" (92). However, Ezekiel doesn't say to scrap the rules. To the contrary, if we are able to walk in His statues and obey His ordinances, this presumes that God does have rules for us to live by.
Another time McVey had a severe interpreting mistake is on page 122 when he quotes, "'It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). God the Holy Spirit within us will fulfill the Father's plan as we are absorbed into a continuous awareness of our oneness with Christ." McVey is saying that God working and willing his good pleasure is the result of "oneness with Christ." However, the author of Philippians, Paul, says in the preceding verse that this is a result of obedience. Of course, obedience is only possible with rules, not relationship.
Possibly the most dangerous heresy that McVey teaches has to do with knowing God's will. McVey says that the way Paul knew God's will was he "trusted his own thoughts, declaring on one occasion, 'We have the mind of Chirst' (1 Corinthians 2:16). Paul didn't agonize over knowing the will of God--he just did it! He trusted that his thoughts were actually the thoughts of Christ within him" (133). This statement has no Biblical precedence. Look what McVey is ignoring: prayer, discernment, counsel, the Bible... The Corinthians may be the perfect example of why not to just trust our own thoughts and just do it. The church in Corinth was divided into four factions because members trusted their own thoughts on which church leader to follow. Instead, they should have strived as building a building (1Co 3:9-17) to grow spiritually and to work out truth together.
McVey's section on asking for forgiveness (150-154) is about the most unlearned attempt at theology I have ever read. I have no doubt that McVey is telling the truth when he says he became a pastor when he was 19 years old (145), because this would eliminate the possibility of meaningful theological training. Is McVey suggesting that we never again have to confess our sins because, "the Christian will see God as the One who has forgiven us for every sin of our lifetime! The cross of Jesus was God's final word about our sins." He tries to justify this position by demonstrating different covenants in the Old and New Testaments. Instead, he reveals his lack of understanding. Any author is going to explain forgiveness should at least include terms like expiation and propitiation, and make the book 204 pages long instead of 203.
Finally, to my sister-in-law who sent this book to my wife: I found this book sitting on the book-shelf so I thought I'd give it a try, having no idea what it was about. I read through most of it and made most of my comments before I found out it was from you, so don't take anything I said here as a personal attack.
McVey says that if we have a relationship with Jesus then we don't need rules because, "Our lifestyle isn't governed by rules, but relationship. We aren't motivated by laws, but love!" (75). He goes on to use parenting as an example, how people who neglect or abuse their children are the ones who need rules for child rearing, but he and his wife, "don't need them; we love our children." Maybe that works for him, but I wasn't raised by the perfect parents, so I don't know how to be the perfect parent no matter how much I love my children. I work at a state penitentiary, and more often than not if I ask a child molester why they molested their child, they respond, "My father did that to me when I was a child." Everybody wants to believe that his parents love him, so an adult parent who was molested as a child must think, at least sub-consciously, that such an act demonstrates love to their own child. Even when a person is born again, many behaviors and urges take years, or even a lifetime, to modify.
The one typo I noticed in the book, on page 78, is rather ironic, if not a Freudian slip. He says, "The sad irony of their diligent focus on behavior is that their rules 'are of no value against fleshly indulgence' (Colossians 3:23)." The slip is that McVey quoted Col. 2:23, but reference Col. 3:23. Col. 2:23 concludes a section that tells the Colossians that they were saved by Christ, so they don't need Jewish laws and customs. Paul truly is addressing legalism in these verses. However, not following Jewish laws and customs for salvation doesn’t' mean that there are no rules to live by. Col. 3 is full of prohibitions (that is, rules): fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, and lying. It gives commands (also rules): seek, set your mind, put to death, tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing, forgiving, peace, unity, thankfulness, teach, admonish, submit, love, and obey. Col. encapsulates all these prohibitions and commands when it says, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" (now Col. 3:23). Col. 3 is one of many lists of rules in the New Testament to have order in a person's relationship with God, church, family, and self.
McVey teaches a dangerous heresy when he says, "When a Christian knows that he is free from the law, he will discover that God's indwelling Spirit will motivate him to serve based on his relationship to Jesus, not because of external demands to perform" (91). Knowing Jesus through personal enlightenment by the indwelling Spirit is important, but incomplete. The Bible also says to know Jesus through fellowship with other believers, through the Bible, through experiencing His creation, and through observing events.
On pages 91-92 McVey demonstrates some terrible exegesis when he says, "Ezekiel predicted that in this new day those who followed God would no longer act on the basis of external laws, but rather would act out of the internal life they possessed" (92). However, Ezekiel doesn't say to scrap the rules. To the contrary, if we are able to walk in His statues and obey His ordinances, this presumes that God does have rules for us to live by.
Another time McVey had a severe interpreting mistake is on page 122 when he quotes, "'It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). God the Holy Spirit within us will fulfill the Father's plan as we are absorbed into a continuous awareness of our oneness with Christ." McVey is saying that God working and willing his good pleasure is the result of "oneness with Christ." However, the author of Philippians, Paul, says in the preceding verse that this is a result of obedience. Of course, obedience is only possible with rules, not relationship.
Possibly the most dangerous heresy that McVey teaches has to do with knowing God's will. McVey says that the way Paul knew God's will was he "trusted his own thoughts, declaring on one occasion, 'We have the mind of Chirst' (1 Corinthians 2:16). Paul didn't agonize over knowing the will of God--he just did it! He trusted that his thoughts were actually the thoughts of Christ within him" (133). This statement has no Biblical precedence. Look what McVey is ignoring: prayer, discernment, counsel, the Bible... The Corinthians may be the perfect example of why not to just trust our own thoughts and just do it. The church in Corinth was divided into four factions because members trusted their own thoughts on which church leader to follow. Instead, they should have strived as building a building (1Co 3:9-17) to grow spiritually and to work out truth together.
McVey's section on asking for forgiveness (150-154) is about the most unlearned attempt at theology I have ever read. I have no doubt that McVey is telling the truth when he says he became a pastor when he was 19 years old (145), because this would eliminate the possibility of meaningful theological training. Is McVey suggesting that we never again have to confess our sins because, "the Christian will see God as the One who has forgiven us for every sin of our lifetime! The cross of Jesus was God's final word about our sins." He tries to justify this position by demonstrating different covenants in the Old and New Testaments. Instead, he reveals his lack of understanding. Any author is going to explain forgiveness should at least include terms like expiation and propitiation, and make the book 204 pages long instead of 203.
Finally, to my sister-in-law who sent this book to my wife: I found this book sitting on the book-shelf so I thought I'd give it a try, having no idea what it was about. I read through most of it and made most of my comments before I found out it was from you, so don't take anything I said here as a personal attack.
October 26, 2021
(+) by the midway point of the book I was really on board with McVey. Hanging on every word
(+) a good reminder of the futility of trying to be justified by works. It's easy to slip into legalism
(+) the expulsive power of a new affection
(-) comes with similar frustrations to living by John Piper's "Christian Hedonism".
(-) the New Testament does contain calls to action. It would be interesting to see how McVey would respond
Notes:
The emphasis of the New Testament is not on living for Christ, but on being in Christ (18)
God doesn't need us to live for Him. He will live
through us as we live in absolute dependence on Him at
each moment. This is exactly what it means to allow grace
to rule our life. (25)
Seminary of suffering (33)
Righteousness is not something that we gain by living a certain way (56)
Trying to overcome sin by changing one's behavior is typical of a person whose life is ruled by law (65)
Grace focuses on being, while law focuses on doing (68)
God doesn't appreciate what he doesn't initiate (74)
Personal note: good analogy to the law from parenting laws (75)
God didn’t give the law because he believed men would keep it, but rather because man believed he could keep it. He mistakenly believe that if he had clear instructions, he could achieve a righteous standing with God on the basis of behavior. So God gave the law to demonstrate that righteousness can never come by adherence to religious rules (97)
Teach a man who he is in Christ and he can’t be stopped from godly activity. Try to control him through rules, and you set him up for spiritual ruin (88)
Legalistic discipleship emphasizes obligation in the Christian life. Grace focuses on opportunities to express the Christ life. A life ruled by law is driven by duty. A lifestyle where Greece rules is led by desire (91)
He actively serves and obeys God because he can’t help but do so! (92)
We don’t experience a victory by struggling against sins, but setting our mind on Jesus (102)
A person guarantees his own failure when he decides to overcome sin by concentrating on it (106)
The Bible clearly teaches that when a Christian sins, his son doesn’t reflect who he is, but only how he behaves when he is not trusting Christ within him to animate his lifestyle (109)
once we make the distinction between ourselves and indwelling sin, then we are in a position to take the next step toward victory (112)
At every moment that we depend
totally on Him to express His life
through us, we will experience
victory over sin. (113)
Yet before we can correctly relate to the what of
God's will, we must properly relate to the Who of His will.
The will of God is not primarily a plan, but instead is a
Person. Jesus Christ is the will of God. When one rightly
relates to Him, doing the will of God becomes the natural
result of our union with Him. (121)
A person ruled by law
will pursue God's will with sincerity
and yet never be confident that he ha
discovered it. One who enjoys intimacy
with Jesus will know it without
struggling to find it. (122)
They discovered the plan while they were seeking the person of God (124)
The only way to be free to experience
God's will is to go through life with a
loose grip on everything around us. (127)
The God I invented could never be totally pleased because I could never be totally perfect (145)
The essence of legalism is the effort to gain gods blessings by what we do (146)
Grace is a system of living
whereby God blesses us because
we are in Jesus Christ,
and for no other reason at all. (146)
When grace rules, the Christian
will see God as the One who has
forgiven us for every sin of
our lifetime! (153)
Where law rules, one is preoccupied with his own behavior, while grace causes us to be preoccupied with Jesus (154)
Do you know that you can relax and enjoy God‘s love without trying to earn it? (156)
(+) a good reminder of the futility of trying to be justified by works. It's easy to slip into legalism
(+) the expulsive power of a new affection
(-) comes with similar frustrations to living by John Piper's "Christian Hedonism".
(-) the New Testament does contain calls to action. It would be interesting to see how McVey would respond
Notes:
The emphasis of the New Testament is not on living for Christ, but on being in Christ (18)
God doesn't need us to live for Him. He will live
through us as we live in absolute dependence on Him at
each moment. This is exactly what it means to allow grace
to rule our life. (25)
Seminary of suffering (33)
Righteousness is not something that we gain by living a certain way (56)
Trying to overcome sin by changing one's behavior is typical of a person whose life is ruled by law (65)
Grace focuses on being, while law focuses on doing (68)
God doesn't appreciate what he doesn't initiate (74)
Personal note: good analogy to the law from parenting laws (75)
God didn’t give the law because he believed men would keep it, but rather because man believed he could keep it. He mistakenly believe that if he had clear instructions, he could achieve a righteous standing with God on the basis of behavior. So God gave the law to demonstrate that righteousness can never come by adherence to religious rules (97)
Teach a man who he is in Christ and he can’t be stopped from godly activity. Try to control him through rules, and you set him up for spiritual ruin (88)
Legalistic discipleship emphasizes obligation in the Christian life. Grace focuses on opportunities to express the Christ life. A life ruled by law is driven by duty. A lifestyle where Greece rules is led by desire (91)
He actively serves and obeys God because he can’t help but do so! (92)
We don’t experience a victory by struggling against sins, but setting our mind on Jesus (102)
A person guarantees his own failure when he decides to overcome sin by concentrating on it (106)
The Bible clearly teaches that when a Christian sins, his son doesn’t reflect who he is, but only how he behaves when he is not trusting Christ within him to animate his lifestyle (109)
once we make the distinction between ourselves and indwelling sin, then we are in a position to take the next step toward victory (112)
At every moment that we depend
totally on Him to express His life
through us, we will experience
victory over sin. (113)
Yet before we can correctly relate to the what of
God's will, we must properly relate to the Who of His will.
The will of God is not primarily a plan, but instead is a
Person. Jesus Christ is the will of God. When one rightly
relates to Him, doing the will of God becomes the natural
result of our union with Him. (121)
A person ruled by law
will pursue God's will with sincerity
and yet never be confident that he ha
discovered it. One who enjoys intimacy
with Jesus will know it without
struggling to find it. (122)
They discovered the plan while they were seeking the person of God (124)
The only way to be free to experience
God's will is to go through life with a
loose grip on everything around us. (127)
The God I invented could never be totally pleased because I could never be totally perfect (145)
The essence of legalism is the effort to gain gods blessings by what we do (146)
Grace is a system of living
whereby God blesses us because
we are in Jesus Christ,
and for no other reason at all. (146)
When grace rules, the Christian
will see God as the One who has
forgiven us for every sin of
our lifetime! (153)
Where law rules, one is preoccupied with his own behavior, while grace causes us to be preoccupied with Jesus (154)
Do you know that you can relax and enjoy God‘s love without trying to earn it? (156)
September 30, 2021
I'm reading this as part of a small group, and feel like it's a good book for personal reflection and group discussion. I especially appreciated the chapter that discussed God's will. At times it felt a bit redundant, but overall McVey offers fresh insights into what it means to truly live in grace, rather than from a legalistic approach.
October 11, 2019
Really enjoyed reading about the life of grace and freedom from all the rules and regulations of religion. Very encouraging and uplifting.
June 16, 2022
The book just didn’t grab me. I put it down after chapter one.
August 1, 2022
Excellent book on Grace without legalism.
April 21, 2009
Wow. WOW. WOW!!!
This book is an amazing unpacking of God's grace and what it means to us as Born-again Christians. I am normally a fast reader, but this book made me read chapter by chapter, sometimes paragraph by paragraph! Take your time and open up your Bible and study it out as you go. You will walk away with a fresh look at life as a child of God...understanding what it means to walk in grace and not legalism, rejoicing in being able to have victory over sin, understanding the will of God, and being able to celebrate the fact that you have been SAVED by God's grace! This is a must read for every believer. I don't say this lightly, but this will now get the title of being my #1 recommended book to others.
This book is an amazing unpacking of God's grace and what it means to us as Born-again Christians. I am normally a fast reader, but this book made me read chapter by chapter, sometimes paragraph by paragraph! Take your time and open up your Bible and study it out as you go. You will walk away with a fresh look at life as a child of God...understanding what it means to walk in grace and not legalism, rejoicing in being able to have victory over sin, understanding the will of God, and being able to celebrate the fact that you have been SAVED by God's grace! This is a must read for every believer. I don't say this lightly, but this will now get the title of being my #1 recommended book to others.
May 2, 2015
This is my second book of Steve McVey that I have read. When i saw the title of the book I was expecting to find the rules of grace, but reading it I found that this book is about surrendering and let the grace of God rule in our lives through Jesus.It is so practical and it acted as my daily devotion for all the days I have been reading it. This is not a book you read once, but it's a book you would like to go back and read it over and over again. After reading this the Christian life make more sense to me and I am so excited to wake up everyday ready to experience what God will do through me. This is indeed what freedom is all about. Letting the grace of God rule our lives.
Loved it!
Loved it!
August 24, 2016
This is a challenging book that looks at your life as a Christian. Many fall into the trap of legalism without realizing it attempting to live their lives for God by doing many good works, trying to look good for God. Grace is shown as a gift of God to live fully for Him without being legalistic. It comes down to a relationship with Jesus, rather than following many rules on how to be a Christian.
I highly recommend this book to every believer and to be ready to be challenged in your belief and walk with God.
I highly recommend this book to every believer and to be ready to be challenged in your belief and walk with God.
October 4, 2012
Nowhere near as good as Grace Walk, his previous book. This book restates most of the same things as the former but then almost seems to go far with an anything goes because we are under grace attitude. There are some good points, but for a great deal of the time I was screaming in my head..."What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"
June 2, 2016
To quote a friend, "It's a paradigm shifter."
"When Grace rules our lives, we focus on Him."
"When Grace rules miracles happen."
If you find yourself a Christian and thinking there must be more I would ask that you read Grace Walk and then Grace Rules.
"When Grace rules our lives, we focus on Him."
"When Grace rules miracles happen."
If you find yourself a Christian and thinking there must be more I would ask that you read Grace Walk and then Grace Rules.
February 10, 2008
I continue to learn great things about God and who I am in Christ!!
October 8, 2008
This book and its prequel, Grace Walk, have been used to profoundly change me and how i view and live this life as a Christian. Pure freedom!!
August 6, 2009
GREAT book! Very readable.
May 6, 2012
First Book on Grace I've read in 30 years of being a Christian that explains true GRACE!
June 12, 2013
Really enjoyed reading about the life of grace and freedom from all the rules and regulations of religion. Very encouraging and uplifting.
July 24, 2013
Very informative, I enjoy reading Steve's Books, I certainly appreciate his explanations and how he use's situation of his life to explain scriptures
July 5, 2014
This book is full of life changing truth. A must read!
July 20, 2009
This book changed my life. It explained grace in a way that I had never understood or been taught.
August 2, 2010
Great book. I so needed to read this. Now to just live it...
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews