Lessons in Grace (Final)

Grace (Final): Holds us in God’s Love—Psa. 119: 129-136; Rom. 8: 31-39

            A lot of folks think that the worst thing possible in life is when calamity and catastrophe strike us. We seem to think it’s the big trials that will be our undoing. But a wise old friend told me a different story once. He said we can mentally adjust to something big and scary to prepare ourselves. It’s when we’re inundated with everyday irritations that we become unable to cope. I think there’s a bit of truth to that. For me, the past few months, nothing major has stretched my sanity. It’s the repeated small things: a couple of weeks in a boot, strep throat, mono, being sick on vacation, having an allergic reaction last week and breaking out in hives that won’t go away. Another friend calls it death by a thousand cuts.

            I see the same with you. Many of you face a surgery or something life-altering with this strength and resignation, but the daily things—illnesses with no answer, dealing with aging, mental health stability, back pain, grief, cognitive issues, all of these daily irritations that we live with, be they small or pretty substantial, really, really try our spiritual strength more than anything else. Now in those daily, ongoing irritations, we have a temptation, and that is to give in and believe that God no longer loves us because of the trials we endure. Paul confronts this head on and says that it’s simply not true. Three takeaways from today’s scripture: calamity and suffering do not indicate God’s love and favor or lack thereof, nothing separates us from God’s love, and we wait, but not as a people without hope and promise.

            First, Paul tells us that calamity, suffering, and trials in this life have no bearing on whether God loves us or not. Verses 35 and 37 contain the reminder: “Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Make no mistake. Paul endured all of this. His faith journey was, at times, miserable. But for Paul and many other early Christians, the true power of faith was found in struggle and resistance.

            When the early disciples fought against oppression, poverty, suffering, persecution, pain, and sickness, they felt the closest to living Christ’s mission. Comfort and religious freedom are very familiar to our modern age and modern church, but they would have been very strange concepts to the early church. That is because the early church looked to this world as a place to fervently share God’s love and faithful welcome, which included doing everything possible to make life better here on earth. And they looked forward in hope to a heavenly home where God’s peace, justice, and grace will reign.

            When we are pushed to endure struggle here on earth, we must remember the trials of Jesus. Here was a savior beaten, broken, humiliated, wounded, and murdered. And that same savior, so well-acquainted with suffering, said to us, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Trials on earth do not mean that God has abandoned you. They are simply trials that we must deal with living here. Part of living in a community of faith should challenge us to ask, “How are we working to make those trials easier with the gifts God has given us?” God’s love endures forever even when we must endure through trial here on earth.

            Next, Paul tells us that nothing separates us from the love of God. Verse 38 is one of those famous verses in the Bible that many folks know well. It says, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” And verse 39 adds a bit to it, “Nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

            A friend and fellow pastor likes to use the phrase, “God loves you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” I remember a story I read once about nothing separating us from God’s love. The writer said this:

I tried once to walk away from God. I was so mad at all the things which had gone wrong, and how I felt God should have fixed it. I was done and ready to give up on the whole idea. But then I walked outside and saw my favorite flower blooming. I turned the radio on, and I heard the song, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” I walked to the library and went to my favorite study desk and there was an old Bible turned to Romans 8. The words leapt out to me, “Nothing can separate us from God’s love.” Everywhere I went, God reminded me of this, and all I could do was sit down and weep with joy.

I like how the hymn “Near the Cross” says it to us. You might miss the subtlety. In the first verse the writer prays—Jesus, keep me near the cross. But by the final verse, the writer fully realizes the power, “Near the cross I’ll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever.”

            I don’t think there’s an adequate way for me to tell just how powerful those words are—that nothing can separate us from the love of God. For centuries, churches, institutions, and places of power have tried to make caveats, separations, qualifications, footnotes, and explanations that water down the real power of what Paul is saying. Yet he is unambiguous and perfectly clear in what he says. Nothing, and he means nothing, can ever separate us from the love of God, end of sentence. 

            So, what do we do with this information? Ah, now comes the harder part. We wait. The Bible is filled with that instruction—wait on the Lord. Verse 34 has a bit of wisdom for us on this. We are told that Christ was raised to life and is sitting at a place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Here, I think pleading is best translated or explained as praying. I know it might be a bit of an unusual idea to think of Jesus as praying for us. But consider how many times in the Gospels Jesus himself prayed. It’s a petition, a plea, a call to us as Christians in this prayer.

            It’s also a reminder that we wait, but we wait as a people who have hope and promise. We have the hope that God’s love with always hold us in this life. And we wait with promise that Jesus meant it when he said he was going to prepare a place for us. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Waiting is hard for us. Stopped traffic on the highway will undo any sense of sanity the collective drivers had. A line at the Kroger gas station, and some folks will drive two miles up the street to not wait for that discount. People will go without caffeine when the line at Starbucks is too long, and sacrificing caffeine is well beyond my understanding.

            But waiting is different when it is infused with hope and promise. You’re not just waiting as your patience and sanity slowly seep away. You’re waiting for something with guidance. Hope guides us and God’s promises sustains us. Both are found in God’s love for us. And as Paul says, nothing can separate us from that love of God. So, hope and promise also stay with us.

            I used to wonder how a person would survive the big changes in life. Hard times, trials, and life-changing events will come. But as I get older, I realize we find a resignation for facing such things. It’s all unexpected daily problems that we can’t control, that seem to not let up, and drive us up the wall that make us feel like there’s no grace left in life. But Paul quashes that idea completely in this chapter of Romans. Trials, struggles, and suffering have no say on whether God loves us or not. God absolutely, 100%, without a doubt loves us, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. It’s a bold statement then and now. It’s even bolder to live it.

            We live it when we wait for God, filled with hope, and remembering the promise that God’s love endures forever. But the waiting is hard, and sometimes, God feels distant while life feels overwhelming. In those times and in all times, may we remember Paul’s words and know that grace holds us in God’s love. Period.  

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1462156451185995            

Lessons in Grace Pt. 4

Grace 4: Grace Looks Forward—Gen. 41: 17-36; Rom. 8: 19-25

            The other day I was watching a show on food history from the Depression and World War II Era. They were talking about how people learned to make something out of nothing in so many different ways. For example, there was a recipe for meatloaf. Now, because food was rationed, the family could only get ¼ pound of meat. They interviewed this elderly woman who had invented many of these “desperation recipes.” She took that one-quarter of ground beef and added some potatoes, vegetables from the garden, bread, rice, and the Lord only knows what else, and turned it into a whole meatloaf which fed a family of 6.

            Two things stuck out. First, I think Jesus must have worked with a Southern grandma when he fed 5,000 off of some fish and bread. Second, the elderly lady talked a lot about looking forward. She said you really had only a couple of choices—you looked around and got as depressed as the economy or you looked forward to when times would be good again and made the best of what you had. There’s a resounding truth there. God walks with us through years of fullness and years of struggle, but in all seasons, God calls us, in grace, to look forward to where we are called to go. Three things stand out from our scripture: grace plans ahead, grace doesn’t stop when times are tough, and grace looks towards tomorrow with hope and not despair.

            First, grace plans ahead. In our Genesis reading, we see the story of Joseph where he interprets the dream of Pharaoh. The leader of Egypt sees seven strong cows followed by seven skinny cows which eat the strong ones and never gain weight. The same is true for grain. Joseph is then brought up out of prison where he has sat for years because Pharaoh needs God’s wisdom instead of the failures of his sorcerers. And Joseph gives an answer. There will be seven strong years of harvest followed by seven lean years, so prepare for the lean years. The moral was for Egypt to plan ahead for years of famine.

            I think this is a good metaphor for the state of the church right now. We’ve seen an ebb and flow of church strength over the years. Every so often there are times church attendance and giving boom. Then there are times when everything falls off. I did a little research on historical church membership across the United States. As one might expect, the 1930s to 1960s saw the highest rate of church membership in the US hovering at 60 to 70%. But if we travel back in time, in 1776 roughly 17% of the populace maintained a church membership.[1]

            Just as there are high times and low times in the economy, the same is true in lives of faith and the practice of faith. For example, this year, Georgia’s peach harvest died out, and the peaches had to be sought out from elsewhere, and last year we had peaches galore. When we see times of scarcity with faith and the church, it’s not a time for despair; instead, it’s an opportunity to plan ahead and prepare for the lean years. It’s also the same in our lives. We spend all our youth, middle age, and moving into elder years learning and growing in faith for when we need it most. We store up the wisdom and faith for when we encounter the crises of life. If we don’t tap into those storehouses of grace, we will be utterly helpless when we come to a tough part of life’s adventure.

            But even as we plan ahead, grace doesn’t stop with tough times. Joseph not only interpreted the dream for Pharaoh, he also provided the solution. He advised Pharaoh to find a smart person and put that person in charge of saving up in the good years to prepare for the famine years. The rest of the story, as you may know, is that Joseph becomes this powerful leader he is recommending. Now I have a friend who says that Pharaoh tells his dreams and gets them interpreted. I tell my dreams, and my trusted friends get the holy water because they think I’m crazy.

            This wasn’t just a dream Pharaoh had. It was a vision from God. Sometimes when we face the famine, God will speak and give us wisdom and insight—guiding us along. And sometimes, we have to tap into our spiritual storehouses. The same is true in life. If my laptop breaks, I have to pray there’s enough in savings to buy a new one. If the church is experiencing a season of struggle, they will hopefully have an endowment to bear them through.

            The good news of the story is that the famine was seven years and not for all of time. When we experience loss, struggle, the famine of life, it often feels like it takes over and becomes the never-ending story. But there’s a whole history where God was with us, and there’s a future where the famine will be over. In every struggle, every famine, every trial, God makes a way through. The journey may be hard. The endurance may wear us to the very core, but God makes a way in the desolate places for hope and grace to spring forth. It takes a wilderness to get to the Promised Land.

            And lastly, in thinking on that Promised Land, grace will look forward with hope and never despair. In Romans 8, Paul writes, “But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” One of the most beautiful parts of the Christian faith is this idea that everything is rooted in hope. Despite the wildernesses, the famines, the down times, the rough places, we continue to look forward with hope.

            Paul had a very keen sense of this hope. His life as an evangelist was, at times, horrendous with imprisonment, beatings, rejection, hard labor, poverty. But in every dark place he continued to believe that to live here gives glory to Christ and in death we gain the heavenly reward we’ve waited for. He writes these very words of encouragement to the Romans, saying, “We were given this hope when we were saved,” then he reminds them to wait patiently and confidently for that holy reward.

            But there’s also a gentle reminder that hope isn’t just about waiting for Heaven. I read a quote one of my minister friends posted the other day. It said, “I’m not a Christian just because I want the reward of Heaven. I’m not a Christian just to be running from Hell. I’m a Christian because the character of Jesus Christ is so compelling to me that I want to spend my life chasing it, embodying it, and sharing it every day.” Hope doesn’t present itself as a ticket to Magic Kingdom. Hope is a way of life that has us living our lives in the way Christ would live because we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a proclamation and covenant to live this faith we believe in this world every day. When we live our lives for Christ, that is hope in this world.

            In the 1940s, this church was filled to capacity at a Sunday night service. They took in enough offering to pay off the building note in just a few years. It’s easy to look back and become convinced that the famine and lean years have overtaken us. But just as I watched that elderly lady take a quarter pound of beef and feed a whole family, there is always a reason to look forward with hope. We have the ability to live stream services where all can watch. We have FaceTime on phones so that in seconds we can see and encourage family members thousands of miles away. I can text to find out updates on folks seconds after a doctor visit or emergency. Even in life’s famines there are opportunities for amazing ways of bringing hope and bright, Christ-filled future.

            Sometimes we get stuck dreading what tomorrow might bring. But faith always looks forward to where God is going to take us next. The road might not be easy, but God is with us. It’s like the words of our last hymn say, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because he lives.” Amen, and amen.

[1] Morin, Richard. “The Way We Weren’t: Religion in Colonial America,” Washington Post., 1995.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/836733401357798

Rev. Doug Ivey Preaching

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/256976483719533

Lessons in Grace Pt. 3

Grace 3: Grace Doesn’t Cost a Thing, Jer. 28: 5-9; Romans 6: 12-23

            Years ago, I was talking with an old World War II veteran. He said to me that he was always taught the saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” He said, instead, they give you a discount lunch. You can get the veterans discount, military discount, over 65 discount, and if you’re like my friend Bob and complain all the time, they give you the hateful discount. He finished with, “I ain’t never got a free lunch, but I know God’s love and God’s grace ain’t never cost me a thing. And that’s a good deal, kiddo.” Independence Day is a reminder to us that God’s love and grace are a free gift, but rights, freedoms, and the concept of all being created equal bear a cost and come with a price. Let’s consider three ideas from the scripture today: using our whole selves for God’s glory, peace as proven in our lives, and what this free gift of grace means for us.

            First, we are told to use our whole selves for God’s glory. We read in verse 13, “So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” This is often a hard one for us because it does require sacrifice from us at times. We may know we need to call and check on our neighbor, but we hesitate because it will be an unending conversation. We may want to snuggle down in the bed instead of coming to serve the church. If you’re like me, you may want to cuss the fool out of every single driver on I-75 North…and usually only North.

            But we are told to use our whole bodies for the glory of God. That means we listen and do God’s calling. That means we tell the goodness of God to souls in distress. That means we stand up for the poor, the oppressed, and the suffering. That means we befriend the lonely and love the difficult among us. We live in one of the richest nations on earth in terms of money, ability, education, upward mobility, and general resources. And yet, we often still see a strong sense of selfishness. Instead of using the entire self for God’s glory, we see too many using all their gifts and abilities to help themselves and themselves only.

            I think of my grandfather as an example. He was 17 when he enlisted in World War II. We often talk about the sacrifices of his generation fighting for what they thought was right. He went to war as still a child. He got an education after and provided for his family. He sang in church, played guitar, and was devoted for his whole life. And when he was diagnosed with a terminal cancer, he took up playing the ukulele because he’d always wanted to. He may not have changed the world, but he had a tremendous positive impact on those of us who knew him.

            That’s what it means to live your whole life for the glory of God. Every single day and moment is a gift—a gift of grace and love for us and from us for others. It’s an opportunity to use the resources God has blessed us and this country with to inspire and help someone else. God’s grace should be so overwhelming in our lives that love and service flows from us so that all may know this amazing grace. May everything we do be for the glory of God.

            Next, we must let peace be proven in our lives. Jeremiah, known as the “weeping prophet” in part for his words of doom and woe to the people, talks about prophets who predict peace. And he says bluntly, they must show they are right and be proven true in verse 9 of the Jeremiah passage. I often struggle with faith and patriotism together, not because I don’t believe in faith, and not because I don’t love and value my country. But too often we celebrate and encourage fighting and war when we are called to be ambassadors of peace. Paul talks about it. He writes of being entrapped or enslaved to lawlessness over righteous living. He talks of sin in terms of us feeling no obligation to do what is right. And he says that in serving and living for God, we become encouraged to do what is holy and brings eternal life.

            The Bible speaks specifically about us living in peace and being ambassadors of peace over 100 times between the Old and New Testament. Right at the top is Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Part of accepting the free gift of grace, part of accepting this idea that we are to live for God with our whole selves is remembering that we are peacemakers. This weekend we acknowledge that war is a reality. We acknowledge that many brave souls, including my own two grandfathers, served to protect our country. We acknowledge that at times we must defend ourselves. And we give thanks for those who have served to protect us. Grace is free, but freedom and security are not.

            But we must also acknowledge of God-given calling to work for peace. That starts in our own lives and homes. It extends to the places we go. It includes our community which suffers from violence and murder. And it includes us saying, to quote the old spiritual, “Ain’t gonna study war no more.” Love thy neighbor also means living at peace with one another. And the proof of our call for peace is whether or not we live it in our own lives—our whole selves.

            Lastly, what does a “free gift” of grace mean for us? Paul could often be very harsh in his wording. He was a skilled orator and knew how to really rile up an audience. He finishes this part of the scripture with this very pointed statement, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sometimes we try to take the sting of that phrase out. It falls hard on the ears and bruises our feelings a bit.

            Instead, think of grace, and Paul’s words, in these terms. A friend of mine is a therapist. She said sometimes her clients come in and they yell and fuss, shout and cry, and she has to find a way to take none of it to heart. She said, “When they get most upset, I sit and remember that it’s their trauma shouting at me or their past pain sobbing uncontrollably. It’s not them, and it’s not me.” Now, obviously, that is does not mean you should ignore accountability, boundaries, and abuse. None of that is acceptable. But we are still called upon, in our faith, return the free gift of grace we have received.

            A wise friend once said that the phrases, “You’re not allowed to speak to me or treat me like that,” and “But I recognize that you are God’s created and beloved,” can exist at the same time. That is when we need to pray for others the most. In the Anglican tradition, there is a prayer that talks about loving both the unloved and the unlovely. The wages of sin are in fact death: addiction, violence, hatred, abuse, war, fighting, letting your past be unresolved…all of these things can lead down a road to our demise. But it only takes an ounce of grace to heal the wounded soul, if they are willing to truly have the faith. And the truth is that it may be us who have to offer that ounce of grace while using boundaries to create peace within.

            A wise old veteran once told me that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. You only get discounts. But in that same breath he reminded me that God’s love and grace are free to us and free for us to share. So, this Independence Day we give thanks for those who fought to protect our freedoms. We give thanks that we can continue to work for freedom, rights, and justice. But we also must remember that we work for peace and we offer grace because we have committed to serving God with our whole selves. So may we live out our call to be Christ-like here, ambassadors of peace, and the living testimony of God’s love and grace.

           Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/969235970863257  

Lessons in Grace Part 2

Grace 2: Grace Gives Life—Jeremiah 20: 7-13; Romans 6: 1-11

            A few months ago, I attempted to plant some seeds of beautiful blue flowers on the side of the church by the playground. There are two small planters there, and I had high hopes. But as often happens, things got busy. I travelled a lot for work, and ultimately the two of us who worked on the planting forgot to water them. So, absolutely nothing grew. I tried in vain a couple of weeks later to start watering and giving plant food.

And lo, and behold, something started sprouting. This little green plant rose from the dirt with strength and life. And in a couple of short weeks, my efforts were blessed with a giant weed. I guess that one way to look at the idea of death turning into new life. Paul talks a lot about death and life in Romans. And today we see three main points in his letter and Jeremiah’s writing: first, we die to sin, though we are surrounded by it; second, God’s strength is immeasurable; and last, our God is a God of life.

First, we live surrounded by sin, but we have died to sin as verse 2 of Romans says. In verse 2, Paul writes, “Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” Now, if you’ve done church for a long time, this is probably a familiar phrase to you, though, it may still be a little theologically heavy to figure out. First what is “sin” to Paul? If you read closely, he believes we all have a bit of bad behavior in us. We lie, we cheat, we gossip and so on. But he also believes that there are systems of sin in the world around us. To him, the oppression and evil of Rome, suffering of the poor, the injustice of the world around him were all systems of sin that surround us and that we live in.

In the modern day, we haven’t escaped much. The products we buy might be made by oppressive and slave-like working conditions in overseas countries. Racism and hatred of one another when Jesus taught love and grace is a system of sin we live with. Poverty in light of the church’s mission in Acts 2 is a sinful system. And if you think these things aren’t all that bad right now, you need only know that a hate group out of Florida protested outside of Temple Beth Israel downtown Friday night during their worship and hung an effigy of a Jewish person from a stop sign. Hate is all too alive and well in our world. We live surrounded by all of this, but we don’t seek to knowingly be a part of it. Instead, in the midst of the evil around us, Paul calls on us to seek Christ.

In all things, it is our job to seek Christ, and to seek what Christ would have us do. It’s a rather bright line difference. Here on earth, we find ourselves in a place of sin and death. In many ways this world is a beautiful place, but we often still see so much corruption and so many bad things happening. In the midst of that we are to remember that in faith we belong to God’s kingdom of grace, and righteousness, and justice.

We live in the kingdom of God where we don’t dwell on differences, but we remember that everyone is God’s creation and someone whom God loves and wishes to be a part of the holy family. God’s kingdom is like an old-fashioned Sunday family dinner. Everyone comes over to eat and visit with one another. And everyone has a place to sit at the table. We don’t belong to a world of hatred, anger, cruelty, and 24/7 news of the horrible. We belong to God’s kingdom of love and grace. And Paul calls on us to live that love and grace of Gods kingdom in every moment.

Second, God’s strength is powerful and cannot be measured as Jeremiah tells us so vividly. Jeremiah acknowledges that God is stronger than him, and he wraps up his words with praise, saying, “Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For though I was poor and needy, he rescued me from my oppressors.” We know our God is a God of life, and that is life away from the evil around us. But sometimes life can be a bit weary. It’s in II Corinthians where we read that God’s strength is perfect in our times of weakness.

You see, Paul was a realist about life. When he writes of suffering, pain, depression, fear, and death, he knows these are powerful and potentially overwhelming battles we face in this life. Paul did not take such things lightly or dismissively. But what Paul reminds us of is that whatever we face, with faith, we already stand on resurrection ground. We already live as people of life and life everlasting. And, because of that, we can find God’s perfect strength in our weakness, giving us life when we feel most drained. When bad things rear their ugly head, we can remember God’s strength abides with us no matter what and in and through every trial.

Last, our God is a God of life, for as Paul says, just as Christ is resurrected to life, so are we. The language and grammar Paul uses tends to be quite complicated. And growing up with the King James Bible, thither I understoodest not. But, though Paul uses complex language, his idea remains relatively simple. There is a choice whether to follow what wrong and evil, hatful and mean, or with faith in Christ we live as part of God’s kingdom of life.

I want to go back to the hatred spewed at Temple Beth Israel and tell you a little story. When Rabbi Behar arrived in Macon, she invited me and several other pastors and faith leaders to her house for lunch to meet us, get to know us, and look at ministry we could work on together. It was an amazing time, and unfortunately it was early March of 2020. Seeds were planted, but things seemed to have gotten lost in the weeds. But I will never forget her kindness, graciousness, and welcome to all of us. Whether or not we worship and practice faith in the same way, no ministry leader should have to hide in fear in their house of worship waiting for police to come and help them be safe.

Christ came to bring life, to bring hope, to bring a gospel of redeeming love that had never been known before. You cannot preach God’s love and grace while hating someone. You cannot build a church while throwing people out you don’t like. You cannot change a community and save people from misery, poverty, hunger, and suffering without a bold and collective effort. We believe in a relationship with Jesus, yes, but we also follow the Jesus who healed the sick, fed the multitude, loved the poor, and taught us to visit imprisoned. As Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, then it’s not about God, for God is love.” And through that love we bring life.

Paul faced suffering, scorn, abuse, and imprisonment because he believed in a Gospel of grace and life found in having a relationship with Jesus. That is what he preached and practiced two millennia ago, and that is what we preach and practice today. In the bulb, there is a flower; in a seed, there’s a whole tree. In death there is resurrection and life. Such is the plan of God, to bring people into a place of life and hope through the grace of Christ.

I’ve learned a lesson about growing life since I managed to grow some lovely weeds in the planters out back. You have to water the seeds, look after them, keep them away from the bad things growing around them. You have to make sure they’re strong, for they rely on the help of the gardener. The lesson is this—Christ’s grace brings life now and life everlasting, and it is our calling to nourish that life through the love of Christ living in us.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/2164828923707801  

Lessons in Grace Part 1

Grace 1: Grace Leads to Hope: Exodus 19: 2-8; Romans 5: 1-8

            In law school, we had a website where we could go and navigate job searches. It was a site connected to the law school in a roundabout way where employers could post potential jobs, and we students could upload our cover letters, resumes, and references along with any other documents needed. The site was called “Symplicity” spelled “S-Y-M.” I had high hopes that the job search site would live up to its name…simplicity. But it was anything but simple.

            For example…oh, you’re uploading a document? Time to crash. Oh, you’re looking at a super interesting job, I see, so now I’m going to freeze, and when you refresh, you won’t be able to find that job again. And my favorite: password denied, password denied, password denied. After two months, I never used the site again, and instead settled down into being a humble preacher here. And I certainly did not smart off to career services about how much I hated Symplicity.

            The good news for us is that, unlike my job search fiasco, Paul keeps the book of Romans pretty simple for us. It’s one of Paul’s last known works long after time, trial, and struggle had refined his understanding of Christ’s work here on earth. It is one long lesson on the power of grace in the world, and how Christ teaches us to live that grace. Some of the writing is difficult. And some parts taken out of context seem problematic. But remember this is a letter, and it is all meant to be read as one, long thought. Today we see that grace brings hope through the pathway of three C’s: Commitment, Covenant, and Confidence.

            We begin with commitment. There’s a tough statement in the middle of our reading, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” Most of us would rather avoid problems I imagine. I’ve never heard someone gleefully embrace suffering. And yet so much of our faith is based on how to navigate through trials with endurance—it is well with my soul; through many dangers, toils, and snares; when through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie; though sometimes he leads through waters deep—all hymn lyrics that speak to this endurance.

            To have hope, we must start with commitment through all the trials of life. We rejoice because the only power a trial has over us is to develop us and our character. Will it hurt? Yes. Will we feel emotionally exhausted? Yes. Will we feel like in every way we are about to be broken? Yes, unfortunately. So how do we find commitment in times of trial? The last bit tells us—that confident hope of salvation.

            When the trials come be they physical illness, emotional pain, human inflicted, or just our own mistakes, we can be committed because our hope in God’s salvation has sustained and carried two millennia worth of saints through the worst parts of their lives. It is twofold—God is with us every moment, and God wins, period. Suffering on this planet may seem to surround us each day on a personal and global level, but in the end, God has the final word on the hope found in eternity. Remember those lyrics…”it is well with my soul,” and “this grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” Commitment.         

            We have commitment because we meet God’s grace in our second C, covenant. That is most clearly seen in our Exodus scripture. There we see God making a covenant with the people. If they follow God’s law and commandments, keep this covenant, they will be God’s people. And the people all said, “We will.” We, too, have a covenant with God. We hear it each week, “This is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” In Christ’s life we find our example. In Christ’s suffering, we find great love. And in Christ’s death and life we find hope and covenant.

            Covenant is a powerful word in faith. It is an agreement that is holy and steadfast. God’s covenant with us is that in faith we find hope. Though Romans may be a somewhat long letter with heavy theology, the basis is the same—this covenant—with committed faith, we find hope. A friend of mine is facing this Father’s Day without her dad. Though he’s been dead for a couple of years, she writes that it never gets particularly easier on the holidays.

            Her dad used to have a saying for her when she was down in life. He’d look at her, shake his head side-to-side, and say, “Sweetie, you’ve just got to have a tiny bit of faith to get a whole lot of hope.” So, when she feels most alone, sad, and down, she remembers this truth that from a tiny bit of faith, maybe just even a mustard seed’s worth, comes a whole lot of hope. It comes from God’s covenant with us. In faith and commitment, God promises to be with us until the end of our time, and through eternity. Commitment leads to covenant.

            Finally, because of our commitment and God’s covenant, we can have confidence. Romans tells us, “Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” We can endure hard times because of our confidence in God’s Word and God’s promises.

            Romans 5 contains this phrase that is almost non-sensical to us, “We can rejoice…when we run into problems and trials.” Now, I don’t know about you, but when I struggle and find myself in the midst of a problem or trial, I don’t exactly “rejoice.” Most of us respond either by complaining bitterly, losing all hope of peace and sanity, or ignore it like no real struggle exists. But we can hear or good news in the words of this scripture, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time.”

            As uncomfortable as the realization is, at some point in life, we will all find ourselves vulnerable. Perhaps we won’t be utterly helpless, but we will feel wounded and vulnerable. Christ is the savior of the broken, the God of the hurting, the one in whom we have our strongest confidence and hope. The grace we talk about in faith is based in our confident hope that God is with us.

I love how the words of our closing hymn say it, “His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.” Christ is our solid rock, our strength, and our hope. As the scripture says, in times we struggle, feel helpless, or are vulnerable, Christ is with us every moment, with love, with grace, and most of all with hope. We can have confidence because God keeps the promises made to us.

When it comes to life, we want a bit of simplicity in things. As I started my job search fresh out of law school, I hoped that the search site, Symplicity, would be the answer to that prayer. The truth is that it should have been renamed “Stupidly Complex.” But when it comes to faith, Paul tells us in Romans that the understanding is simple. It is three Cs. We make a commitment to follow Christ in faith. We stand solid on God’s covenant to give us grace and love. And we have confidence that no matter what, God is with us. May it be simple. And may we be confident in God’s grace and hope.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1725506334544845  

Faith Is Not Easy

Service Video Here: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/274348768491664

Disciple Making

Disciple Making—Genesis 1:26-2:3; Matthew 28: 16-20

            My friend tells of the first and last time he played baseball. He was instructed from the very beginning of playing, when the ball is hit, and you hear, “Go!” you need to run the bases. He memorized this over and over till it was ingrained in his memory. So, true to form, by the third game, there’s a crack of the bat, the ball is hit hard and goes way, way up in the air. He hears the adults shouting, “Go! Go! Go!” so based on his training and memory, he starts at base one, runs to base two, then three, and home. He’s celebrating a homerun, only, he realizes no one is cheering with him. You see, there was a problem. He was playing the outfield, not batting, and they were saying, “Go…catch the ball.”

            Sometimes church is clear as mud too. Growing up in church years ago, there was an emphasis on people coming to the church. We sang, “Bring Them In,” and “Bringing in the Sheaves,” which is in fact “sheaves” and not “sheep.” And if it was a particularly hard-hitting sermon, “Rescue the Perishing” was dusted off and toddled out as a closing hymn. Then something changed in the mid-2000s, and we were told to “Go!” We got the hymns, “You Shall Go Out with Joy,” and “Send Me Out,” and “Follow You Anywhere.” Don’t come, but go, but when you go also, remember to come…and bring them with you, but still go and also still come back, both and yes.

            For a bit of clarity, let’s look at what Jesus actually says for us to do. We are instructed to go, to baptize, and to teach, with some being clearer than others. First, we are told by Jesus to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” There’s a bit of instruction there—to go AND make disciples, but also, it’s pretty vague on the whole game plan, the where and how of it all. This is where the rest of the gospel comes in handy. Feed people, be kind to them, lift them up when they are broken, seek gentleness instead of being right, and nourish their souls—these are the ways we make disciples.

You don’t need a bouncy house, a $50 million dollar youth and family budget, a coffee shop, and a fog machine. Private jets are also optional. People need to simply see that example of Jesus in us loving them, lifting them up, praying for them, and bringing some hope and care into their lives. It’s as simple as bringing a meal or sitting at the hospital with someone who is worried. People will gravitate towards a church home where they feel loved and welcomed, and where they feel they can make a difference themselves. It’s on ongoing cycle of going and making disciples, who come and go out to make other disciples.   

            Next, we are told to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This one is more straightforward. Baptism was part of the faith from the very get-go. Jesus came to be baptized by John. Believers throughout history have professed their faith and commitment through baptism or been brought into a faith they would later confirm with baptism. It’s based in this idea of redemption.

One of the best parts of the gospel stories is that Jesus never left people unchanged where he found them. In some way every story is about healing, teaching, inspiring, confronting old and exhausted bad ideas and behaviors. Jesus was about the work of redemption—of changing or challenging people for the better.  In baptism we try to do the same by reorienting people towards the one who created the and redeems them from sin.

This work seems straightforward, but it’s not always easy. An old preacher friend of mine, near the end of his career, was talking about baptism. He said that he estimates that he had baptized well over 200 people in his 40+ years of ministry—adults by full immersion. Then he added, “Some of them I should have held under.” The excitement of disciple making and baptizing people gets really dulled and strained when we see them behaving badly not soon after.  But as humans we struggle, and redemption can be a bit of a process. Following Christ does not lead us to perfection in life. It leads us to hope, to grace, to a way that teaches love and mercy, but people will still mess up. They’re going to be embarrassed, and we’re going to be frustrated.

            That’s why Jesus rounds it out with “teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” A life of faith is a life that is always growing. Now I know modern audiences have trouble with that word, “obey.” It hits a little harsh on our sensibilities because it is so connected to obedience at the end of strict discipline and punishment. But that’s not Jesus’s example. Obeying Christ simply means following even if there is a cost and finding our way back if we mess up.

            As people of faith, we teach peace and love, not violence. We teach humility and sacrifice—like the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross—not winning, power, and no holds-barred fighting. A friend of mine, who is a principal at a rough high school, said, “When the students come to violence and fighting, it is not my job to fight with them. It’s my job to make them shut up, sit down, and sing ‘Kum-bah-ya’ together until we find peace.” In a world that likes to fight and stoke the worst fears within us, that’s hard task.

            But Christ came into this world to teach peace, redemption, and a faith that moves us beyond human feuds. And so it is our job as well to show the world how to be quiet, sit down, and sing “Kum-bah-ya” together until there is some semblance of peace. If we are God’s people living out God’s calling in this world, and we act just as horrible as the world around us, what is going to be left to offer grace, to save those who are lost and hurting? Like it or not, we are called to both do better and teach others to do better.

            The why is simple.  We read in Genesis, “Then God said, ‘Let us create human beings in our image, to be like us…So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them.’” There’s something special and amazing about being created in God’s own image. For all the trials, the suffering, the sickness, the struggle we deal with here on earth, and for all the things that make us so mad and irritated, we are still made in God’s image. We can teach others to obey God because we know how much God truly loves us and wants us. And no matter what nightmare we face, we know God is with us here on earth.

            So today let’s be grateful that God gives us some guidance. My poor friend thought he was doing the absolute right thing when he ran all four bases for a home run. He had the right idea, but in the wrong context. For us, God is clearer—go and make disciples, baptize all the nations, and teach them to obey or follow the wisdom and pattern that Christ gave us.  Go, baptize, teach, and in doing these things we will fulfill what Christ has given us as the Great Commission.

            I pray that we have hearts eager for these things. God has called us, God has equipped us, and God will continue to use our going out to make a difference in this world. So may we take this great calling, or great commission, and may it be our guiding encouragement each and every day. Get ready, now go, baptize, and teach. The world is waiting for you.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/135591876198608

Why Church? Final. Pentecost

Why Church: We Need God—Acts 2: 1-21; John 20: 19-22

            Last week we heard of an unfinished story. Jesus was blessing his disciples, then suddenly, he was caught up into heaven and gone. Jesus was gone, so now what were they supposed to do? The story was not finished. My Nana was a great storyteller, but childhood attention span and the need to actually accomplish things left many of her stories unfinished. God is also the God of unfinished stories because God is still working in and through so many of us. But God also has masterful way of writing the story, and that is found in this week’s conclusion to our sermon series. God writes our stories with the guiding power of the Holy Spirit.

            Since Jesus was gone back into heaven, the disciples needed something, some kind of direction. I understand that need for some guidance. I stay so busy that holidays are often hard for me. From the moment I wake up on a day off, there is this overwhelming sense of, “I should be doing something.” The disciples were also struggling with this. They knew a mission was coming, but they didn’t yet have the tools to do accomplish it. They needed God in their lives in order to accomplish this holy work of sharing Christ’s teaching of love and grace and redemption.

            What they got was the Holy Spirit. And I think it was far more powerful and overwhelming than they could have possibly imagined. Think about the scene in their room. Out of nowhere is this roaring sound which Acts says sounds like “a mighty windstorm.” It was powerful, deafening, overwhelming all at once. Then they see flames settling on each one of them. It’s nothing short of miraculous and amazing. From that point on, they were completely changed people. They needed God to show up in their lives again to make this change.

            What we hear is that this Holy Spirit gave them a voice to speak. Not only did they speak the truth of God’s love with conviction and power, they also spoke it in languages that all who were assembled there could understand. These were fishermen and laborers. They weren’t linguistics experts, scholars, or probably even very well educated at all. Yet they trusted in God and God gave them a voice and spoke through them. That voice within them spoke with courage that they didn’t have before. That voice spoke of peace which they had been missing. And that voice spoke words of hope, which was something lacking in their lives.

            What the assembled groups saw that day was the very presence of Christ now with these disciples as the Holy Spirit. Jesus had gone from “Christ with us” to “Christ in us.” And that Spirit spoke with power, conviction, and boldness to the people, testifying of all the grace Christ could offer. The prophecies of old had come alive and were now being lived out.   

            For us the struggle is that we are a bit headstrong. Unlike the disciples, we are educated, connected to the news, digitally woven together on phone, tv, and internet in ways life has never seen. All that connectivity and information makes us feel a bit independent. We don’t always make time for or feel that we need this presence and Spirit of God to show up in our lives. We try to figure it out instead of seeking God’s wisdom. We rely on our knowledge instead of discerning God’s calling. We google instead of praying. And here I say, “Chief of sinners, though I be.” Prayer and faith are meant to be part of the journey from the very beginning. The disciples ministry truly took off an flourished when they received that Spirit of God and leaned into God’s guidance.

            When we go our own way, shut out God, and shut out those who can help and walk with us, we end up with emptiness, loneliness, and we lose our connection to that faith which helps us to get through. In Mark 5, Jesus tells the importance of this faith, saying, “Your faith has made you whole.” And when the wind and rain came, Jesus said to the disciples, “O you of little faith.” There is power in having faith from start to finish of any trial or struggle and combining that with the wealth of wisdom and knowledge in the world today. It’s almost like it takes both to finish the story in our lives.

            But sometimes we still wonder, “Do I really pray over everything?” I saw a comic the other day that asked whether we were supposed to pray over leftovers. The character said, “Dear God, it’s me again with this spaghetti. It’s the third time this week, so I hope it’s really good and blessed now.” But the truth is, yes, prayer should be a consistent part of our lives. That Spirit of God is always with us, speaking, encouraging, and nudging us along as we need.

            But this departure from God’s Spirit has also affected our churches. A friend sends me these video clips of “Sermons You Can’t Unhear.” They range from churches engaging in meanness, to hatefulness, to the sin of bigotry, to outright ridiculousness. Churches should not be mean to people, even when holding them accountable. Preachers should not try to stay relevant by reclaiming some modern slang. Don’t talk about being a thirst trap for holiness. It’s ridiculous. The Gospel of love and grace preaches itself if we live it in this world.  

            Our communities of faith should look like the early church. They should be places of healing, prayer, and fellowship. They worshipped in the synagogue, but communion was held in someone’s house with a full meal to feed the faithful. Broken lives were healed and the lost and lonely found a place where they were welcomed and empowered in Christ’s name.

            Like the early church, which was filled so fully with God’s Spirit, when we come in faith to God’s House, we should find ourselves in a place where God’s presence is cultivated in us and a loving truth is spoken. When Jesus appeared to the disciples, he said to them, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The story was finished—Christ’s work of love and redemption was done, but at the same time the story was not over yet! We are still being sent out in Jesus’s name on a mission of love and redemption. That message gets lost sometimes, but it’s still the holy calling we have from God.

            On this final part of our Easter series, if we ask “why church” the answer is very simple: because we need God. We can have everything ever wanted in life, and we will still need God. At some point, life will be too hard otherwise. I once heard a sermon where the preacher said, “Even if you have nothing left in life, if you have your faith in Jesus, you still have everything.” And that is the kind of hope that will get us through tough days in this world.

The story is now finished. For seven weeks we’ve covered why we still need church in our world. The story is finished. Christ came to earth, redeemed us from sin, called us his own, and gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us. But even as we think the story is finished, the truth is it’s not. The story is also still unfinished because the question we have to answer is what will we do with all of what God has given us now and in the days and weeks to come? Trust God, and trust that God’s Spirit is with you. As we trust, we will know that every day is a new opportunity for the Spirit of God to fall afresh on us, to lead us, and to guide us.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/134950842924761

Why Church (Part 6) Ascension Sunday

Why Church? Story Not Finished: Psalm 93; Luke 24: 44-53

            One of the things I loved most growing up was when my Nana told me stories. Every day that she kept me when I was very, very little, we’d start the morning out with breakfast then long-winding stories of childhood imagination and fancy. She was very long-suffering. The only problem is that a child’s attention span will eventually give out and chores need to be done, so none of the stories ever got finished. Nana is the best unfinished storyteller I know. Well, except, I think she may come in second to God. God really is the best and unfinished stories.

            In the Gospel lesson for today we read the story of Jesus’s ascension into heaven, and it gives us a glimpse into how God writes the narrative of life. Fair warning, this is a literal two-part sermon. I know we are working through a series, but this same sermon will spill over into next week. You, too, get an unfinished story. Back to the gospel, the disciples thought the trauma was over. When Jesus was crucified, they lived in fear, dread, worry, and the belief that they were next. They thought all was lost, and the whole work of Jesus was over. They became stuck and paralyzed. Then Jesus appeared, and brought relief, strength, and guidance to them.

            Forty days later, Jesus is gone again. He gets swept up into heaven even as he is blessing them. There’s no warning, no time to get prepared, no real therapeutic adjustment phase. Boom. Jesus is gone. But this time, they pray and worship because they know now that this is not the end of the story for them. Jesus tells them that the death and resurrection fulfill scripture and prove he is the Messiah. Jesus tells them there is work to be done in forgiveness, repentance, and turning to God. Jesus tells them they’re witnesses to the miraculous that they have experienced. Jesus tells them that soon the Holy Spirit will come and fill their hearts, souls, and minds. So, when Jesus is gone for the second time, there’s no weeping, angst, or worry because they know that the story of grace is not yet finished. That story, that good news, goes on.

            Where do we find ourselves in this story of grace and redemption? Often, we find ourselves stuck. We get stuck on bad habits, long-lived fears and worry, uncertainty, old wounds and wrongs that people have done to us. It is very easy for us as humans to get stuck in place in our spiritual lives. Look at the disciples. We will learn next week that they wasted no time. They moved in earnest to tell the good news they had learned. And we get stuck because we get all upset over something in life and miss the next chapter of God’s grace. Jesus forgave his killers even as he was on the cross. Stephen, the martyr, prayed that God would not hold his death against his murderers.

            As people of faith, following Christ means turning the page, moving on, and being ready for the next amazing chapter of life that God is about to write. If it had been anyone else except for the disciples at the ascension, I’m sure there would be questions or comments like, “Why’d he have to go away again? If Jesus isn’t going to lead us like I want, I’m done. This Holy Spirit thing hasn’t shown up yet, guess it was all a hoax even if he did rise from the dead.” And my favorite, “This isn’t how we used to do it in my Synagogue.”

            If we don’t look for the next chapter of faith, we will never be able to follow Christ because he will be gone, and we will not be ready to move with him. This is a problem because God has amazing things planned for us to do. Our lives interwoven with God’s guidance and love creates something amazing, beautiful, and unexplainably fantastic. When God speaks, acts, and lives in and through one of us, it's absolutely beautiful. But we have to be willing to let God write the story.

            Theologian Henri Nouwen said, “To pray, to listen to the voice of the One who calls us the ‘beloved’ is to learn that that voice excludes no one.” As you will hear next week, the disciples were not stuck by Jesus’s being gone from them. They went out with a sense of urgency preaching, teaching, and living the call that all should know the love of God in their lives. We cannot be distracted from living that same mission. At the end of the day, our primary call is to introduce people and especially hurting people to God’s love in and through our Christ-like work.

            A friend of mine came home one evening from work. He found his wife of two years sitting on the couch. Her wedding rings were setting on the coffee table. As he sat down, she said, “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t think I really loved you like I should, and I’m sorry but I can’t explain it. You need to leave tomorrow.” The house was in her name, so he was forced to depart and stay couch surfing with friends. This one thing could have ruined the remainder of his life. But instead, he leaned into his faith in God, and he turned the page to the next chapter of life. Years later, he met, married, and started a family with someone who was far more perfect for him, and was blessed beyond measure. If he had gotten stuck on the adversity of today, he would have missed all of God’s blessings that were coming.

            If we ask today, “Why church?” The answer is simple. God is not done writing the story of life, of faith, of creation, and of redemption. God is the master of unfinished stories, and God is still writing the next chapter of your walk of faith. The story is not done, regardless of your age or ability, until you take your last breath here and wake up into a whole new book of God’s blessed hope.

            In every story there are rough spots and there are wonderful moments of joy and relief. The trick is that we have to keep going to get to the next chapter of life in our walk with God. The disciples could have been totally let down by Christ’s ascension believing him to be gone. But they knew now that Christ was the overcomer of death, suffering, and life’s trouble. They weren’t scared anymore. Instead, they were eager and ready for God to lead them into the next chapter of their lives here and there lives of faith with God.

            Next to God, my Nana told the best unfinished stories. She and mom laugh about me saying as a child, “Tell!” every time there was a pause in the story. But that’s how we should live, eagerly anticipating how and where God can call us. Next week we finish up this series on “Why Church?” with Pentecost. So, stay tuned and come back for part two of this sermon next week. It may be the final part of this story, but it is by no means the final chapter. God is calling, and there are so many amazing places we can go in faith.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/793817738918955