Get Drunk on Grace': Pastor's Fascinating Take on What's Wrong With Christianity and How Believers Can Fix It

Tullian Tchividjian, senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is out with a new book that forces Christians to take a profound look at the way they're living their lives -- and embracing faith. Simply stated: "One Way Love" encourages readers "to get drunk on grace."

Sure, that phrase may sound odd on the surface, but Tchividjian, grandson of famed evangelist Billy Graham, believes that Christians need to recapture the heart and soul of the faith. Rather than focusing on rigid rules and a tough-to-cook-up recipe for "being good," he hopes to see the church return to its grace-centered roots.

Photo Credit: Tullian Tchividjian

So, what does all of this mean, exactly?

Making his intentions clear, the preacher, who visited TheBlaze newsroom last week, told us that Christians and non-Christians, alike, are bogged down in our fast-paced culture.

With a focus on to-do lists and a hankering for accolades and accomplishment, Tchividjian argues that life is simply exhausting -- and that, somewhere along the way, many believers got sucked into a vortex of sorts.

Through "One Way Love," he's hoping to tackle these monumental issues in an effort to get Christianity back on track.

"I think the main premise is that we are exhausted people. Everybody I’ve talked to is exhausted. People are exhausted spiritually, they’re exhausted relationally, they’re exhausted emotionally, they’re exhausted physically," he said. "And they’re not exhausted because their life is busy; they’re exhausted because, through their busy life, they’re trying to secure meaning, worth, significance, purpose."

In a fast-paced, modern-day society that exerts monumental pressure, Tchividjian says that people are working fervently to save themselves, to secure their existence and to validate their lives -- all things that only God can do for mankind. These desperate attempts are fruitless, the pastor argues, without what he calls "God's inexhaustible grace."

Rather than obsessing through a checklist of necessary Christian behavior, he argued that it is important to get back to the heart of Christianity. Faith, he says, shouldn't be based on "our performance" but, instead, it should be predicated upon "God's performance for us in Jesus."

"People end up believing that their meaning, their value, their significance is ultimately up to them," the preacher continued. "And what this book really does is -- it serves as a clarion call to the church to say, let’s get back to the good news that great men like Martin Luther, the Apostle Paul -- [what] these men gave their lives for -- which is, the Christian faith is first and foremost about not the sacrifices we make, but the sacrifices God made for us."

It's not only about living this sentiment out, though. In "One Way Love," Tchividjian also argues that it's important for Christians to change perceptions among non-believers. To outsiders, he says it sometimes seems as though faith requires the fulfillment of a massive to-do list.

"We burden people -- we exhaust people," he added.

Pastor Tullian Tchividjian (Photo Credit: Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church)

The pastor maintains that God doesn't love people more when they are performing well in life and he doesn't love them less when they're struggling. While Christians should certainly act the part, placing action and "to-do" items before the faith (the latter of which he believes actually informs the former) isn't wise.

When individuals realize that God's love was secured through Jesus Christ and live that reality out, Tchividjian argues, the dynamic changes entirely.

The faith leader's own background sheds light on why he believes the way he does. While Tchividjian has built a robust career on his merits in the faith world, he comes from one of the most well-known Christian families in the world.

Being Graham's grandson, he said, is a "huge privilege" and an "honor," noting that he was blessed to be given a front-row seat to the famed evangelist's many profound messages.

"I learned more from him just in private than anything he did publicly. He is really the most humble person I’ve ever met," he said. "He’s accomplished so much in his life than a hundred men accomplish in their lifetimes together, and he really believes that he’s just a country preacher who was called by God to preach on a large stage."

Being Graham's grandson, though, didn't shield Tchividjian from having his own unique set of problems. During his younger years, the pastor described himself as "the black sheep grandchild."

From dropping out of high school at 16 to getting kicked out of his house around the same time, Tchividjian struggled as a young man and embraced the party scene. Fleeing Christianity, though, had little to do with a rejection of his family heritage. In fact, the preacher said that there was never pressure from his parents or grandparents to go into ministry.

For Tchividjian, rebellion was all about having fun and experiencing life.

By the time he hit 21, though, things radically changed his life and he felt called to ministry. Interestingly, of 19 grandchildren, only two went to seminary -- and Tchividjian was one of them.

In this Dec. 20, 2010 file photo, evangelist Billy Graham speaks to the media at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. (Photo Credit: AP)

"My call to preach came almost immediately after my conversion because it was such a prodigal son story...I wanted to tell the world what God had done for me," Tchividjian told TheBlaze. "I wanted to tell people this is who God is--what he does for train-wrecked people like me."

While he spent his wild younger years in South Beach, he now ministers in South Florida and he says his former life experiences have helped him minister to wanderers, skeptics and cynics. After all, he can relate. Tchividjian believes the experience has made him less judgmental.

"As a preacher, I am so tuned into my own depravity and my own sin, and my own failure, because I know how far I was -- because I’m not shocked, I’m not surprised, I’m not judgmental," he said. "I can relate to the heart behind it and believe that I’m totally capable of that."

It seems these experiences have helped craft his central argument in "One Way Love" -- a book that attempts to refocus Christians on God's apparent overarching and unceasing love for mankind.

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