The Promise of Grace - August 24th, 2014 sermon

By Pastor Greg

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          One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart.  She responded to God’s call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  Even though she had a very rough past involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution, the change in her was evident.  As time went on she became a faithful member of the church, eventually teaching young children.  It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor’s son.  The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans.  This is when the problems began.  You see, some in the church didn’t think a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor’s son, so the church began to argue and fight about the matter.  To decide what was right, the church scheduled a meeting.  During that meeting people argued from both sides of the issue, and tempers began to rise.  The meeting was getting completely out of hand.  Of course, the young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past.  As she began to cry, the pastor’s son stood to speak.  He stated, “Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial.  I ask you, does it wash away sin or not?”

          This illustration asks a very weighty question.  And it’s not a question about forgiveness; rather it is a question about Grace.  How much of a person’s past sin does God still hold against them?  Forgiveness and Grace are two church words that get tossed around quite often in religious circles, especially when you hang around a bunch of Christians.  And honestly, they are two words at the center of our faith.  Yet do we understand them?  Forgiveness is releasing someone from their wrong.  You and I might have a disagreement and say things that are hurtful.  Later on we both apologize for our behavior and offer forgiveness.  But Grace takes forgiveness one step further.  Grace removes the penalty for our actions.  We may commit a crime, like steal our neighbor’s car.  When caught and convicted, we feel remorse for what we have done.  Oh, we may apologize to our neighbor, and our neighbor might forgive us, but the penalty still remains.  Grace removes the penalty.  And in Christianity, Christ takes the penalty of sin from us.  That is biblical Grace.

This is the promise of Grace.  God offers us forgiveness for our sin, but He also gives Grace.  The penalty for that sin is no longer held against us.  The punishment we expect we do not receive; a promise Jesus illustrated so beautifully in the story of the Prodigal Son (read Luke 15:11-32).

          In this story, the young son comes to his senses and returns to the father (That’s repentance).  Expecting one thing, he receives just the opposite (That’s Grace).  The father did not hold the son’s past against him.  Instead the father celebrated the life that that had been restored.  What was lost has been found.  What was dead is now alive.

          In the Kingdom of God, this is what happens to all who turn to Christ in faith.  All who come to their senses, confess their sin, and repent of their sin, will find Grace.  They will receive not what they had earned through their sin or by their disobedience, but what God chooses to do by His Grace.  We cannot disregard Grace.  Grace cannot be ignored.  Grace demands to be noticed.  It jumps from the Word of God and smacks us square between the eyes.  The Word of God takes Grace and forces us to choose; either Grace works, or it doesn’t.  There is no middle ground.  Either a sinner is granted Grace when they confess their sin, or they are not.  And here, in this story, Jesus reminds us that the Father chooses grace.  However, this story of the Prodigal Son was not spoken to those needing grace but to those who complained about grace.  The story of the Prodigal Son is written as a rebuke to the Elder Son.    

It’s important we realize why Jesus told this story in the first place.  Jesus was talking to a couple of religious big shots.  They didn’t seem to understand Grace or their role in being instruments of Grace.  Teachers and religious leaders were complaining that Jesus was associating with sinners.  So Jesus reminds these men that since the Father has chosen Grace, so too must they.

As I look at this story it seems to me that the Elder Son didn’t seem upset that his brother has left.  He did not share the Father’s remorse.  If he did, I suspect he would have been out searching for his brother.  He would have been sharing the Good News that Dad wants the younger son to come home.  If he really cared for his brother, the Elder Son would have assured him that Dad is not angry, but sad.  He could have brought a message of peace, not condemnation.  But, of course, the Elder Brother does none of these things.  Instead he reminds Dad of all the bad things his brother HAD done; as if grace did not and would not work.

Most of the un-churched people I’ve talked with remind me of the younger son in this parable; feeding pigs and wondering how they ended up broke and starving.  Like the Prodigal, they know their life is a wreck, and they dream of finding their way to God.  Like the Prodigal they expect judgment and condemnation if they were to draw near to God.  Like the Prodigal, many un-churched people expect punishment.  They come expecting anger for the way they have destroyed their life.  This is what the un-churched seem to expect from God.  If only there was someone to teach them the truth.  If only someone would tell them how deeply the Father longs for them to come home.

          If Jesus were to evaluate the Church today, would he identify us with the attitudes of the Father or the attitudes of the elder brother?  Would you say Christians today are helping the un-churched find grace, or do most Christians simply look for sinful unbelievers?  My own personal opinion is that the Church spends a great deal of time and energy identifying who is a sinner or who has sinned, but little time and energy helping the un-churched find grace through Jesus.

          For those who have received Grace, Christ has given the responsibility to hold grace before those who have not.  He has commissioned the Church to be His witnesses, not His lawyers.  Our task, as the Church, is not to merely proclaim “the whole world is lost in the darkness of sin”, but to remind the world that “the light of the world is Jesus”.  Our responsibility as the Church and as Christians is to help the prodigal to find grace and to celebrate with them when they receive grace.

          What if, what if the reason so many people are staying away from God and His Church is because the Church does not proclaim Grace?  What if the problem is not the Prodigal or the world in which he lives, but the Elder Son; the Church?  What difference would it make in today’s world if the Church became an advocate for the Father’s love and Grace?

The Promise of Eternal Life - August 17th, 2014 sermon

By Pastor Greg

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          In 1999 Tom Hanks stared in the movie The Green Mile.  It's a story about a Prison Guard who worked on death row.  Each prisoner on that cell block had received the death penalty for their crimes, and would eventually end up in the electric chair.  Early in the movie we meet a prisoner named John Coffey.  And as he is being escorted into the prison, the guards call out "Dead man walking".  The judge had pronounced his sentence; death by electric chair.  John Coffey was destined to die.  The execution had just not happened, yet.

          Strange at it may seem, the same can be said about all of us.  We are all "Dead men walking".  Now, I'm not trying to be morbid by pointing this out to you.  But I think most of us are aware that death is real.  As the writer of Hebrews has pointed out, everyone will die once (Hebrews 9:27).  We are all destined to die, it's just that for those of us still walking and breathing, death has not happened, yet.

          Except for a few individuals, death has been happening since the fall of humanity.  Oh sure, some people have been rescued from death; people like Lazarus who was brought back to life.  But truly stories like these are rare.  Nothing seems to stand in deaths way, which makes Christ’s promise in John chapter three seem a little hard to swallow, especially if we don’t fully realize just what He was promising.

          One night a Pharisee named Nicodemus drops by to talk with Jesus.  As the two were talking, the topic of life came up, and Jesus makes an incredible promise.  "And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:14-17).

Jesus told Nicodemus that he was already dead.  He just didn’t know it, yet.  He was a dead man walking; bitten by sin, destined to die.  But then He tells Nicodemus that he did not need to die.  Jesus says that Nicodemus could find eternal life if only he would look to Him in faith and believe. Jesus compares Himself to the Bronze Snake Moses used to restore life, a story we read in Numbers 21:4-9.

While the people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, they began to grumble and complain (for the “umpteenth” time).  “God, we hate this food.  Our feet are tired.  When will we get there?  We are so miserable out here.  Nothing could be worse than this.”  So God shows them just how “worse” it could be, and He allows poisonous snakes to invade the camp.  Many people were bitten.  Many died.  Eventually they turn to Moses for help.  “Tell God we are sorry for grumbling and complaining”, they plead.  And God, in His mercy, instructs Moses to make a Bronze Snake, lift it on a pole, and anyone who looked to the snake in faith was healed.

          I’m sure Nicodemus knew and understood this story.  But what he probably didn’t know was that he, a Jew, had also been bitten by sin, even though he was an exceptionally religious man.  There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants” (John 3:18-21).  The point Jesus was trying to make was that everyone is already dead.  Even the Jews were dead men walking.  But God, in His mercy, had once again provided a way for anyone to find healing and life.  They only needed to look to Jesus in faith.  Those willing to admit they are poisoned (destined to die) must look to Jesus in faith.  That is how they will find healing and life.  However, Jesus points out that those who believe in God’s only begotten Son will not merely have their life restored, but that they will be granted eternal life.

          This is the good news preached by Christ.  He will grant eternal life to all who are willing to admit they have been bitten by sin; destined to die.  But the promise He makes here is sometimes misunderstood.  Christian and non-Christian alike don’t fully understand this promise.  Jesus isn’t saying that our bodies will live forever.  He is speaking of something far greater and substantially better than merely immortal flesh and blood.  The life He is talking about here transcends the breath in our lungs or the beating of our heart, and instead focuses on the very part of us that makes us human in the first place.

          A person may still be breathing and they may still be standing, but without Christ they are dead, and not just waiting to die someday.  Those who have rejected Christ are dead today to love, happiness, peace, contentment, purpose, and the many other things that bring meaning to life.  It is to those still living in darkness that Jesus offers eternal life.  But He isn’t merely talking about a body living forever. Jesus says that the effects of this Eternal Life can be seen and heard and felt today, just as the wind can be heard and felt, and its effects seen, so too does Eternal Life affect the way a person loves today.  It affects the way they feel today, the way they treat others today, and the way they care for others today.  This healing opens a person’s eyes today to the glory and majesty of God all around them.  The person reborn into eternal life finds purpose and meaning in life today, not one day off in the distant future.  Jesus asserts that Eternal Life is granted the believer the moment they look to Him in faith.  This Promise of Eternal Life begins the moment they admit they have been poisoned by sin and turn their eyes to Jesus; the moment they are born again.

Be honest with yourself.  Your heart might still be beating and there might still be breath in your lungs, but do you really feel alive?  Isn’t there a longing deep within your heart for purpose and meaning?  Do you feel like you are groping in the darkness for love, friendship, compassion, and peace?  Jesus says this is because you have been bitten by sin, and its poison has marked you for death.  You are a dead man walking.  However, it doesn’t have to stay that way.

Nicodemus, the most respected religious leader of Israel during that time, had no idea he was a dead man walking.  His life was empty of the kind of life Jesus was offering.  But it did not have to stay that way.  And it doesn’t have to stay that way for you either.  Physical death has not happened to you, yet.  But one day it will.  You and I are both marked for death.  I looked to Him whom they pierced and found life.  And the good news is that you too can find healing and life; eternal life by looking to Jesus in faith.

Shadowlands - August 3rd, 2014 sermon

 

By Pastor Greg

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Two monks on a pilgrimage came to the ford of a river.  There they saw a girl dressed in all her finery. Not wanting to spoil her clothes, she stood perplexed; unsure what to do since the river was running high.  Without giving it much thought, one of the monks took her on his back, carried her across the water and put her down on dry ground. Then the monks continued on their way.  But after an hour the other monk started complaining, "Surely it’s not right to touch a woman; it is against the commandments to even be that close to a women.  How could you go against the commandment?" The monk who had carried the girl remarked, "I set her down by the river an hour ago, why are you still carrying her?"

In the story of these two monks, one was living in today while the other lived in the shadow of yesterday; holding on to things from the past and refusing to let them go. In the same way it’s discouraging to meet someone who reminds us of our yesterday rather than rejoice in who we are today. But what if we are the one doing the remembering? What if we are the ones still living in the shadow of yesterday?

This struggle is not new. Even the great evangelist Paul struggled with the things he had done and the things he had said. Even after serving the Lord for years, Paul struggled with the memory of sin. He still struggled with living in the shadowlands; that place between the mountain of Grace before him and the mountain of guilt behind him. (Read Romans 7:15-25).

When we confess our sins, our guilt is lifted by Christ because of His work on Calvary. And for a while we forget what lay in the shadow of yesterday. Nothing compares to the joy found today in God’s Grace. But after a while many Christians turn and look back at yesterday. And it is here in that shadowland between guilt and freedom that every Christian will walk from time to time. In the darkness of that place guilt casts its shadow upon us; guilt of sins long forgiven. And when we walk there we are continually haunted by the memories of our past.

There is the mountain of guilt on the one side, and on the other the mountain of Grace. But so many of us live in the shadowland between the two; knowing the sin has been forgiven, yet haunted by the memory of our sin. And instead of focusing on what we have become, we spend time regretting who we were. From time to time in this shadowy place, guilt creeps back into our hearts for things which we have already been forgiven.

So, even though Paul struggled with this, how do you think he was able to overcome this? Even though the shadow of his past crossed his mind from time to time, why did it not hinder his ability to minister? The answer is found in his proclamation at the end of this chapter. “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord”. By focusing on Jesus, Paul was confidently able to proclaim, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It’s actually pretty clear that although Paul had a past, he focused on the promises of Jesus. He was able to “Forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13). Paul had learned one very important truth; that even though there was a mountain of sin behind him, Christ had forgiven him. He no longer carried what Christ had taken from him years earlier.

Since Christ no longer condemns us for sins we have laid at His feet, where do you suppose that condemnation comes from? The easy answer is to blame Satan. We blame him for reminding us of who were and what we had done. But I think we need to bear some of that blame as well. Satan does not have the power to convict us of sin. He is not the one who allows dead guilt to come to life. Sure, he reminds us of the words of our mouth or the deeds of our hands. But we are the ones who resurrect the guilt. We are the ones who walk back through the shadowland instead of looking forward and upward to whom Christ is helping us become. We are the ones who relive the guilt Christ had taken from us years ago.

I wish God would purge these things from my memory. And if I understand the Fire of heaven, I suspect one day He will. One day all believers will be free of those memories. But for the time being all of us must live with the memory of our sin. However, I believe we have two choices in what we can do with those memories. We can either live in the shadow of yesterday or proclaim the promises of Christ. Sure, we have a mountain of guilt behind us. But that guilt has been taken from our hands and replaced with the Grace of Christ. The memory remains, sure, but the guilt has been removed. And rather than gaze at the mountain in shame, we can chose to see it as a great triumph by Christ.

You know, when someone happens to remind us of our yesterday (either someone else or ourselves), this becomes a great opportunity. Rather than resurrect guilt, we can point to the mountain and proclaim, “Look at what my Savior was able to overcome!” We can take criticism and condemnation of our past and turn it into praise for today. “Yes, yes” we can shout. “That’s who I was. But isn’t our Savior so amazing that He was able to cover that mountain of sin with a mountain of Grace”? When we embrace the promises of Christ instead of the criticism of others, we can shout with Paul and proclaim, “If God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31).

The Good News proclaimed by the disciples is that a person who has looked into the depths of their heart and confessed their sin to Jesus is a person whose sin has been forgiven. Christ has promised us this. John reminds us of this. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9). Many Christians know exactly how it feels to walk in the shadow of their sin. So when they meet someone else traveling through those shadow lands, they wrap their arms around the hurting person and encourage them to find forgiveness in Jesus; to lay their guilt at His feet. Sure, there are some who refuse to apply this truth to others. But there are many who forget to apply this to themselves. For some reason many Christians, me included, resurrect memories and guilt of past sins. And we allow those sins to entangle us; to strangle us. Many Christians I know still feel condemned by sins that Jesus has already forgiven. And if Christ were to speak to us right now I’m sure He would say, “I took that sin from you years ago. Why are you still carrying it?”

There are times when the sting of our past affects us in the present. And we feel ashamed for who we were. But, as the Christian group Tenth Avenue North asks, “Don’t you know who you are? You are more than the choices that you've made, you are more than the sum of your past mistakes, you are more than the problems you create; you've been remade. You’ve been remade”.