Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
Amazing Grace, How sweet the
sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
T'was blind but now I see…
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
T'was blind but now I see…
We sing that song, but often we live to another tune:
Offensive Grace, how hard to take,
That saved a wretch like them.
For we did good, and they did not
How can they fair the same?
Grace seems so unfair.
It is simply not
right, or just. And it runs counter to
everything we believe in.
One of my
seminary professors related an experience that he had while he served in the
parish.
One day, while he
was visiting a parishioner in the hospital, a man in the room across the hall
called him in.
Jim knew this
man, he was the husband of a prominent member of the Baptist church in
town. But unlike his wife, who was
extremely devout and faithful throughout her life, this man had never darkened
the door of the church.
But now he was
dying.
Over the course
of his conversations with Jim, one thing led to another and before it all was
over he had confessed his sins, asked Jim to baptize him, which Jim did, and
then he subsequently died.
His wife was
livid.
She had tried
throughout her life to get her husband to go to church, but he had refused.
All the while she
was living her life, faithfully, doing all that Christians should do, her
husband just did his own thing.
When Jim forgave
him, when Jim baptized him, it just
seemed totally unfair to her.
Her husband had
merely repented on his death bed, and was saved.
It
just didn’t seem fair or just.
I had a similar
experience.
Alison was a 15
year old girl who was severely injured in an automobile accident.
I had baptized
her in the emergency room before she died, and during her funeral preached
about how, though she didn’t wake up to the alarm that went off in her room the
next morning, she did wake up to the bright light of heaven.
The next week we
had a youth group meeting and her classmates had a lot of questions.
“Did she even
know you baptized her?”
“How do you know
she went to heaven?”
And most telling
of all: “If you don’t have to do anything to be saved, why are we in
confirmation and going to church, and all that stuff?”
As
much they cared about Alison, they too felt this matter of grace was a bit
unfair.
The grace of God
is offensive.
God’s good favor
should be reserved for those who deserve it, should it not?
Why would God
reward those who are not obedient?
Why would God be
merciful to those who have not lived faithful and upright lives?
“The kingdom of
heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers
for his vineyard.”
Early in the
morning he hired workers.
And then
throughout the day he returned to the market place, and whenever he found workers
standing idle because they had not found work, he sent them to his
vineyard. This continued from dawn until
sundown.
At the end of the
day, when the workers were paid, each received a day’s wage, from the first
hired until the last.
Those who had worked
the longest, and had received the normal day’s wage, were outraged that those
who had been hired at the end of the day received the same.
Grace is
offensive.
The thing about
this parable, and what it points out, is that God’s grace provides for each according
to their need, not according to their labor.
Each worker,
needed a day’s wage to feed his/her family, and so that is what they
received.
All sorts of
questions could be posed.
Such grace is not
sustainable. Imagine what would happen
if workers realized that if they waited to show up until late in the day, they
would still receive the same pay. Wouldn’t
everyone wait?
I mean, really,
why get up at dawn to work through the day, if you can work the last hour of
the day, and still get paid?
“Are you envious
because I am generous?” God asks.
Well,
yes we are.
God’s grace
provides what we need, not what we deserve.
Sometimes life is
that way.
I have four
children. Part of me wanted from the
beginning to treat them all the same.
But it didn’t always work out that way.
Cars, for
example, buying them cars.
One of my sons
was an avid golfer, and after taking him to and from the golf course every day,
for quite a while, I decided to buy him a car, an older used vehicle, but a
car.
And when he went
off to New Mexico State, it just made life that much easier for all of us.
My oldest
daughter needed a car when she started student teaching. And so I bought one for her.
But my youngest
two went to the University of Idaho, and their studies did not require them to
drive anywhere, so they didn’t get a car.
I did provide Jens with a car for a while, but Brita never needed a car.
Was
I unjust to my kids? Or was I gracious
in providing for each as they had a need?
God’s grace
provides what we need, not what we deserve.
Jonah.
Sent by God to
warn the people of Israel’s archenemy Nineveh of the judgment that was to come.
He didn’t want to
go.
He wanted God to
destroy the Ninevites.
So we went the
other way, setting sail for Spain.
But God wouldn’t
have it. And we have the whole story of
how God caused Jonah to be thrown overboard, sent a large fish to swallow him
up and take him back to Israel, and then once again God sent Jonah to
Nineveh.
So this time
Jonah went, warned the Ninevites, they repented, and God saved them. And Jonah was pissed.
“That is why I
fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and
merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent
from punishing.”
God responds:
“And should I not
be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a
hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their
left, and also many animals?”
Jonah undoubtedly
would have like to sing a song like “God Bless America”,
And a second one,
which basically would be “And may God damn our enemies.”
And for Jonah,
nothing was more angering than the fact that God would show grace and mercy
toward Israel’s enemies.
“And should I not
be concerned about North Korea, that great country, in which there are more
than twenty five million persons, and also many animals?”
Should God be
gracious to our enemies?
God is a gracious
God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to
relent from punishing.
Does that apply
to North Korea?
“The United
States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or
its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,”
Those are the
words of Donald Trump at the United Nations the other day.
They represent a
common human sentiment.
Many a nation has
sought to destroy, even ‘totally destroy’, their enemies.
Yet God’s grace
is offensive.
“And should I not
be concerned about North Korea, that great country, in which there are more
than twenty five million persons, and also many animals?”
This is the
thing.
North
Korea may not deserve God’s grace and mercy, but God’s grace and mercy has
never been about what we, or they, deserve.
Actually, that is
a good thing, because if we are totally honest, we do not deserve God’s grace
and mercy any more than anyone else.
It’s easy to look
at others and conclude that they, and the lifestyle they have lived, do not
deserve any reward whatsoever from God.
It’s human nature
to believe that salvation is a reward for the righteous.
But to fully
understand God’s grace and mercy, we have to first be honest about ourselves.
And if I’m
honest, I have to say that “I don’t deserve it.”
For me, this
never became clearer than when I was forced to face the reality of my
alcoholism.
At the end of my
drinking I was consuming, on average, ten fluid ounces of Scotch a night. That was the average. And depending on how you count it, that’s 7
to 10 “drinks” a night, though if you had asked me, I would have claimed to be
having “only a couple of drinks”.
It had become
more important to me than anything else.
More important than my wife, my children, and yes, my ministry.
And it nearly
cost me my life, let alone, the disgrace I experienced.
It was then, that
I discovered the grace of God like I had never discovered it before.
It was then that
I experienced God as a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding
in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.
God responded to
my sins, not by punishing me, but by showing grace and mercy in so many ways.
It is good to
remember that, whenever I think that others do not deserve what the Lord
offers.
It is good to
remember that when I think of ‘totally destroying’ our enemies.
It is good to
remember that when I look at my neighbor and conclude that they have received
far more than they deserve.
Martin Luther’s
last words are reported to have been,
“We are beggars,
this is true!”
And yes, indeed
we are.
We are all
beggars.
And God is gracious
and merciful to each according to their need.
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