Grace
Commentary
Somewhere along the line religious bodies become anxious and lose their confidence in the grace of God. So do individuals. Following a sermon on grace one Sunday, a good church member said to me, ÒKeep preaching like that and you will never raise enough money to meet the budget of this church.Ó
All of us know that people scare easily and that they are likely to respond if they are offered a way to buy their way out of imagined difficulty. The temptation to push the guilt button and to lay it on with the scare tactics is nearly irresistible. And yet, to do such a thing is to betray our Christ.
We need not soft pedal the matter of judgment. It should be clear to all who do not want to fool themselves that there are consequences in life. It has been that way ever since sin entered creation. We ought not to be so large on grace that we disconnect God from judgment.
Nevertheless let us never forget that God does not let judgment come simply as retribution. He moves in every moment to offer redemption and restoration. He would convert judgment into an opportunity for grace. To speak of grace is to speak of the unmerited love and acceptance that God would offer us. We need to seek to motivate our hearers to respond to that grace in love and faithfulness rather than seeking to respond out of fear.
OUTLINE I
Unfathomable Grace
Psalm 103:1-13
Introduction: Who can find a Psalm with a theme closer to the New Testament and its message? Where else is the theme of unlimited and unmerited grace sounded any clearer? Those who love to emphasize the wrath and judgment of God ought to read this poem daily as an antidote to their miseries. Note once again how the Psalmist begins with an invitation to praise before he begins to list the reasons for that praise. The praises of Israel are constant at that point. This poem lends itself easily to a framework for a sermon.
A. The sound of verses 1-5 can lead one to believe that this poet may have also been author if Isaiah 40 or at least acquainted with it. While it is almost impossible to date the Psalms -- and most of them carry a universal time element -- this one sounds like good news sung for exiles.
B. Work your way through verses 6-13 one verse at a time. There is so much here that the time used is warranted. Be especially careful of verse 9 which is often misinterpreted and made to sound as if God gives up after a while when exactly the opposite is intended.
Conclusion: Offer this poem especially to those who labor under images of God left over from attending too many revival meetings. Let them revel in this portrait of the God Jesus came to tell us about -- that God of unending grace and love who pursues us into every place of our lives seeking to save us from ourselves, make us his own, and offer us the gift of life.
OUTLINE II
Updating the Message
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Introduction: It is interesting to listen to Paul as he reaches back into Exodus and brings lessons forward for his Corinthians. Paul was a scholar of the Scriptures of his people and was surely the right man at the right time, the man who could bridge the meaning gap between Old Testament and New.
A. Remembering. In the first paragraph Paul summarizes the gracious gifts of God to his people of some 1300 years before. Escape, deliverance, guidance, manna -- all these are his gifts. What is interesting is the way Paul ties all this to the Christ and makes it clear how Christ carries through these great gifts. It is through Christ that we come to know God as he always has been. Sometimes you hear some talk and get the message that somehow Jesus either represented a God other than the one in the Old Testament or that he converted him. Paul makes certain that his people at Corinth see and understand the continuity.
B. Responsibility. The giving of his gracious gifts places a responsibility upon us. We have become GodÕs possession and we are expected to seek his will. A person can listen to and learn from the past if she will. And there is no room for complaint. Sometimes we wish to appeal to our humanness or our weakness or some other reason meant to deflect responsibility. Paul closes that avenue.
Conclusion: Remind your hearers that the material in the Old Testament is their heritage as well as that of the New Testament and, as Paul makes clear to those in Corinth, they are not likely to comprehend fully the messages of the New if they are ignorant of the Old.
OUTLINE III
Seeking the Simple Life
Luke 13:1-9
Introduction: There are always those who wish to follow the lead of the wisdom writers and see life through simple glasses. For them life is black and white. Sin and you get it in the neck; do good and you will be blessed. WasnÕt it Elihu who summed up this point of view so clearly in Job 36:11-12? Those who come to Jesus want him to validate their ideas and to give them comfort and support. Listen to his answers.
A. They try to make the case that some Galileans who had died a terrible death deserved it because of their sins, apparently sins both known and secret. Jesus is direct in his rejection of the wisdom declaration as an explanation for life. I rather think that Jesus is kin to the Job of Job 2-41 who simply will not accept the claims of those who come to comfort him.
B. In another place, Matthew 21:18-20, you will find this story used to assault the fruitless lives of JesusÕ opponents. Here Luke turns it in another direction and portrays God as the God of the second chance rather than one who hovers over us ready to pounce when we have taken a false step.
Conclusion: Offer to your hearers this further scriptural evidence that the God who has come to us in Christ is one who comes with a gracious heart seeking to make us his own. Of course there are times when we suffer for our sins, times when we escape, and times when we suffer when we have not gone astray. In every case God comes to us in the midst of these matters and seeks to turn us toward his smiling face.
All of us know that people scare easily and that they are likely to respond if they are offered a way to buy their way out of imagined difficulty. The temptation to push the guilt button and to lay it on with the scare tactics is nearly irresistible. And yet, to do such a thing is to betray our Christ.
We need not soft pedal the matter of judgment. It should be clear to all who do not want to fool themselves that there are consequences in life. It has been that way ever since sin entered creation. We ought not to be so large on grace that we disconnect God from judgment.
Nevertheless let us never forget that God does not let judgment come simply as retribution. He moves in every moment to offer redemption and restoration. He would convert judgment into an opportunity for grace. To speak of grace is to speak of the unmerited love and acceptance that God would offer us. We need to seek to motivate our hearers to respond to that grace in love and faithfulness rather than seeking to respond out of fear.
OUTLINE I
Unfathomable Grace
Psalm 103:1-13
Introduction: Who can find a Psalm with a theme closer to the New Testament and its message? Where else is the theme of unlimited and unmerited grace sounded any clearer? Those who love to emphasize the wrath and judgment of God ought to read this poem daily as an antidote to their miseries. Note once again how the Psalmist begins with an invitation to praise before he begins to list the reasons for that praise. The praises of Israel are constant at that point. This poem lends itself easily to a framework for a sermon.
A. The sound of verses 1-5 can lead one to believe that this poet may have also been author if Isaiah 40 or at least acquainted with it. While it is almost impossible to date the Psalms -- and most of them carry a universal time element -- this one sounds like good news sung for exiles.
B. Work your way through verses 6-13 one verse at a time. There is so much here that the time used is warranted. Be especially careful of verse 9 which is often misinterpreted and made to sound as if God gives up after a while when exactly the opposite is intended.
Conclusion: Offer this poem especially to those who labor under images of God left over from attending too many revival meetings. Let them revel in this portrait of the God Jesus came to tell us about -- that God of unending grace and love who pursues us into every place of our lives seeking to save us from ourselves, make us his own, and offer us the gift of life.
OUTLINE II
Updating the Message
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Introduction: It is interesting to listen to Paul as he reaches back into Exodus and brings lessons forward for his Corinthians. Paul was a scholar of the Scriptures of his people and was surely the right man at the right time, the man who could bridge the meaning gap between Old Testament and New.
A. Remembering. In the first paragraph Paul summarizes the gracious gifts of God to his people of some 1300 years before. Escape, deliverance, guidance, manna -- all these are his gifts. What is interesting is the way Paul ties all this to the Christ and makes it clear how Christ carries through these great gifts. It is through Christ that we come to know God as he always has been. Sometimes you hear some talk and get the message that somehow Jesus either represented a God other than the one in the Old Testament or that he converted him. Paul makes certain that his people at Corinth see and understand the continuity.
B. Responsibility. The giving of his gracious gifts places a responsibility upon us. We have become GodÕs possession and we are expected to seek his will. A person can listen to and learn from the past if she will. And there is no room for complaint. Sometimes we wish to appeal to our humanness or our weakness or some other reason meant to deflect responsibility. Paul closes that avenue.
Conclusion: Remind your hearers that the material in the Old Testament is their heritage as well as that of the New Testament and, as Paul makes clear to those in Corinth, they are not likely to comprehend fully the messages of the New if they are ignorant of the Old.
OUTLINE III
Seeking the Simple Life
Luke 13:1-9
Introduction: There are always those who wish to follow the lead of the wisdom writers and see life through simple glasses. For them life is black and white. Sin and you get it in the neck; do good and you will be blessed. WasnÕt it Elihu who summed up this point of view so clearly in Job 36:11-12? Those who come to Jesus want him to validate their ideas and to give them comfort and support. Listen to his answers.
A. They try to make the case that some Galileans who had died a terrible death deserved it because of their sins, apparently sins both known and secret. Jesus is direct in his rejection of the wisdom declaration as an explanation for life. I rather think that Jesus is kin to the Job of Job 2-41 who simply will not accept the claims of those who come to comfort him.
B. In another place, Matthew 21:18-20, you will find this story used to assault the fruitless lives of JesusÕ opponents. Here Luke turns it in another direction and portrays God as the God of the second chance rather than one who hovers over us ready to pounce when we have taken a false step.
Conclusion: Offer to your hearers this further scriptural evidence that the God who has come to us in Christ is one who comes with a gracious heart seeking to make us his own. Of course there are times when we suffer for our sins, times when we escape, and times when we suffer when we have not gone astray. In every case God comes to us in the midst of these matters and seeks to turn us toward his smiling face.
