Amazing Grace

  Scripture Romans 5:1-11  Common English Bible  

5 Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory. 3 But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. 7 It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. 9 So, now that we have been made righteous by his blood, we can be even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10 If we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son while we were still enemies, now that we have been reconciled, how much more certain is it that we will be saved by his life? 11 And not only that: we even take pride in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one through whom we now have a restored relationship with God.

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Have you ever picked up a book and discovered on the very first page something that made you go “What?” and drew you forward into the book?   I got a book like that recently.   In the first paragraph the author, Brennan Manning, told of presenting the opening section of a three-day seminar, in which he spoke “on the gospel of grace and the reality of salvation.”  When he had finished, the pastor who was hosting the event turned to his associate and fumed “Humph, that airhead didn’t say one thing about what we have to do to earn our salvation.”  (Ragamuffin Gospel. pg 15)   When I read that I said to myself, (but probably out loud)  “What?  But, that’s the point.  We don’t earn salvation.  It is unearned and undeserved and given by God’s grace.”  Once I’d gotten that off my chest, I continued reading.   A little while after that I started working on this message, and the first thing that struck me was this:   “Christ died for ungodly people.”      In keeping with our theme for Lent, my question was “Why?”

   

I mean, even Paul says, “It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person.” We understand sacrificing oneself for others - mothers protecting their children, soldiers protecting their comrades in arms, teachers protecting their students.  We see this happening all the time, but there is always the thought that these are people who are worthy of protection.  When do we hear about people protecting bad people?  When do we hear anyone say “You are sinful and unrepentant, so I will lay down my life for you so that your sins may be forgiven, even though you absolutely don’t deserve it.”  Why would anyone do that?

And yet Jesus did just exactly that.  He died for those who weren’t already doing the right things.  Like - the thief on the cross.  Hear Luke’s story of how a sinful man was saved at the very last minute.  

Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

He did nothing, really, to deserve Jesus’ mercy.  All he did was admit he was a wrong-doer who deserved his punishment.  But Christ died for ungodly people, for people we might consider undeserving or unworthy.  Christ died for that thief, who knew he had done wrong but had no time left to change his life.   He didn’t have time to say the Sinner’s Prayer (which, indeed, hadn’t been written yet).  He didn’t have time to fully confess his wrongs or take Jesus as his personal savior.  He certainly didn’t have time to be baptized.   And yet, Christ died for him.  Why?

…. when we see someone who doesn’t have some of the blessings we have received, we are likely to say something like, There but for the grace of God, go I.  

It seems humble, doesn’t it?   Like, it could be me living in a tent on the church steps.  Except I made better choices than she did? Except I am faithful?  Except God likes me better? There are people on the streets who did everything right, but they lost their job when their company closed, and they lost their house when the savings ran out.  There are people on the streets who are every bit as faithful as me - maybe even more so.  And the idea that God loves me more? That’s just plain bad theology. 

Christ died for the ungodly, the undeserving, the unfaithful . . . for us.   Why?  God loves all of us, all of God’s children - the good and the bad, the faithful and unfaithful, the lucky and the unlucky, believers and non-believers . . .

We, knowing that we are recipients of God’s grace, are called to act toward others with grace - with love and compassion.  We are called to follow Jesus, to do the things that he commanded us to do, to go among all the peoples of the world to spread the good news of God’s love and forgiveness.  We are called to show the world what it means to accept God’s grace into our lives, and to preach through our actions rather than just with words.    

I have been watching the events in New Zealand this week, and what I have been seeing is grace in action.  Seeing all of the disparate and diverse parts of New Zealand’s population coming together in grief so that together they may heal, I am both amazed and comforted by the fact that, instead of pointing fingers and casting blame, instead of spending time focused on the hate, the nation has come together in solidarity to support the victims with love.  Seeing so many different groups performing the haka in response to the shootings has brought me to tears every time. The Maori Council commissioned a new haka in response to the mosque shootings in Christchurch, which was performed at the funeral of 26 of the victims on Friday. It is titled Haka for Life. 

Attention! Attention!

Why do we wait for something bad to happen

to eventually come together?

Wake up, be true!

Strip away bad things like

negativity and belittling others

because the underlining factor is racism.

Stomp on it.

Get rid of it

So all that remains is your true person.

I am you, you are me, this is us.

The greatest thing in the world,

Tis people!  Tis people! Tis people!

Hi!

(composed by Dr Ken Kennedy, Koro Tini and Jamus Webster)  

“Strip away bad things, like negativity and belittling others . . . so all that remains is your true person.”  That is why we observe Lent. That is what we are supposed to be doing during this season of repentance.  If we are fasting, that is to say, if we have given up something we love for Lent, it is not just for the sake of having something to say when you are asked “What did you give up for Lent?”  According to Frederica Mathewes-Green, “[Fasting] is not self-punishment or payment for sin. It’s an exercise like weightlifting, designed to strengthen the willpower muscle. If you can resist a slice of pizza, you can resist the urge to yell at someone in traffic.”   It is not something we do to earn God’s love, but it is something we do to show God our love as we work to become better, more loving persons.

Anne Lamott said, “I do not at all understand the mystery of Grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”   I didn’t know what it was that caused me to wake up that Saturday morning in 1989 suddenly aware that I had only emptiness inside, an emptiness that sent me to drug and alcohol rehab that very afternoon, but I know today that it was God’s grace, nudging me toward a better way, a way that would bring me closer to him.  

Even though I had left the church decades before, 

even though I only read the Bible so I would have ammunition to use against Christians, 

even though I was still so angry with the Church I was raised in and with the God I had been taught about there that I railed against God whenever he was mentioned, 

even though it would still take me another three years to show my face in Christian worship, 

God’s unconditional love and grace sent me to 12 Step meetings, where I learned about God’s love, and compassion, and forgiveness.  For the first couple of years, while I was still trying to figure out my relationship with God, I would sing Amazing Grace when I was alone in my car.  It was my best, most sincere prayer.   It was the only way I really knew to say “Thank you” to God. 

“While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people.”   Why?  Because God loves us.

Please stand and join me in singing of God’s Amazing Grace.