“The Process of Grace Underway” 2014

Romans 5:20-6:8, 11            Colossians 3:1-5

 

Romans 5:20-6:8, 11 (The Message)

20 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. 21 All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life - a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. 1 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? 2 I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? 3 Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace - a new life in a new land! 4 When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. 5 Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. 6 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life - no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: 7 8 If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. 11 From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

 

Colossians 3:1-5 (NRSV)

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).

 

John Newton was born

            to a godly mother  and an irreligious  seafaring father.

                                    As a deeply committed Christian woman,

                                                his mother tried to plant seeds of faith in him,

                                                            until her death when he was 6-7 year old.

               Left mainly to himself, at age 11 he went to sea,

                    and lived a wild life of unrestrained debauchery as a sailor.

 

     Later he joined the Royal Navy, got in trouble, he deserted,

            and was then kicked out,  which took some doing in those days.

Eventually he was drawn into the slave trade,

     first as a mate, and finally becoming captain of a slave ship.

 

The slave trade was a brutal business     of men, women and children

            chained together into horrible and terrifying tight spaces,

                        being packed in as many bodies as a ship could possibly hold,

                                    and sometimes half to a third dying off along the way…

 

 … it was unconscionable depraved evil and greed,

            and though very profitable, it’s hard to imagine the callousness

                        of being a part of such cruelty and inhumane suffering.

 

In March of 1748, on one of his slave voyages, Newton’s ship

            was caught in a violent storm in the of the North Atlantic…

                                                … and for John Newton it was a moment of grace.

 

Terrified by the storm, his childhood religion came back to him,

               he recommitted his life to Jesus Christ

                        and began to pray and read his Bible regularly.

 

We might expect that having experienced God’s grace and compassion,

                he would immediately turn his ship around,

                        and mercifully return his human cargo to their homes.

But no, for several more years and voyages he continued as a slaver,

    even while he was praying and reading his Bible as a Christian.

 

As he later explained it,

            “I was greatly deficient in many respects.  I was in some degree affected with a sense of my enormous guilt, but little aware of the innate evil of my heart … I acknowledged the Lord’s mercy in pardoning my past, but depended chiefly upon my own resolution to do better for the time to come.”

 

He did not recognize the evil of the slave trade right away,

            but eventually, gradually, his world view began to change à

                            until he could no longer

                                    be a part of such depraved cruelty and inhumanity.

 

By God’s grace and mercy, he was changed and became a new creation,

            and in years to come, he was horrified to remember

                the terrible life and evil   that he had once lived.

 

He left the sea, became an Anglican pastor,

            and 25 years later wrote the wonderful hymn, “Amazing Grace”,

                        a recognizable exposition of his spiritual journey.

 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught... my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear... the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares... I have already come.

T'was Grace that brought me safe thus far... and Grace will lead me home.

 

John Newton never got over the power of God’s grace

            and the process of his rescue, redemption and salvation,

                        or the amazing and underserved compassion and mercy of God.

    God’s grace was the foundation upon which he built his life,

            and that grace dominated and defined his theology and ministry.

As a pastor,

            he was often criticized by other preachers and colleagues à

                                    for his constant focus on grace and mercy,

                                                or as they phrased it, “his habitual tenderness.”

 

            They wanted more fire and brimstone,

                        more about the threat of God’s wrath and judgment,

                                    more emphasis on obeying God’s Law and requirements.

 

But having experienced and received such powerful grace himself,

            and having his whole life transformed by that gracious love,

    John Newton trusted the amazing power of God’s grace entirely,

              and that remained   the consistent focus and theme

                        upon which he built his life and served his ministry.

 

In his day, the Apostle Paul

            was also criticized by other Christian leaders and teachers

                        for his focus and emphasis on the grace of God…

… Paul taught as we read in Ephesians 2:8

            For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

 

            Paul’s own conversion was totally unexpected and dramatic

                        when he encountered Jesus along the road to Damascus.

He was a Pharisee,

     proud of his obedience and accomplishments under the Law…

                        … but he knew that didn’t make him righteous before God.

As Paul explains in Romans 3:23-24

            since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

           

For Paul,

            the assurance of God’s grace changed everything about his life.

**  Instead of trying to climb   the ladder of the Law   to reach God,

          Jesus Christ provided something better   the elevator of grace.

 

And so Paul’s critics objected, 

            that if obedience & good works are not necessary for salvation,

                        then there is nothing to restrain us from evil and sin.

 

When Paul wanted to go on a missionary journey to Spain,

            he hoped that the Christians living in Rome would help

                        and support him along the way, though they didn’t know him.

 

He knew what his critics were saying about him, so he wrote a letter,

            the book of Romans, to explain clearly, carefully and exactly

                        his understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

                                    trying to forestall  the objections of his critics.

 

In the book of Romans, Paul is at his theological best,

                        because he wanted to convince them that he was right,

                            and his teaching,   faithful to the message of the Gospel.

 

            After several chapters of explaining what he meant by grace,

                        the passage we read today

                                    addresses an issue and concern raised by his critics.

 

For Paul,

            sin exists in the world because of Adam’s disobedience,

                        and like Adam, all of us choose disobedience

                              over obedience to God,  choose sin over righteousness,

                                  and on our own, we are powerless not to sin and disobey.

            And, no effort on our part

                        will ever be able to fulfill the requirements of the Law.

 

But unless we realize  that we cannot achieve righteous on our own,

            we will also   not recognize the true & full power of God’s grace,

                           and that because of what God has done through Jesus Christ,

                                    we are a new creation … and becoming a new creation…

                                                … the old self has died, as we have been born again.

 

So we are not Christians because we live Christian lives,

            but by the power of God’s grace,   we can live Christian lives,

                                    a process of grace begins when we trust and believe,

                                                     as the Holy Spirit is changing our lives,

                                                            over a lifetime, from the inside out… à

 

            … or to say it in theological language,

                        having been justified by grace through faith,

                                    we are now   being sanctified, we are being made holy.

 

As Paul explains, God’s Law

            doesn’t and cannot change our behavior or make us righteous.

                        It can only expose our sin and disobedience.

It is God’s grace alone that overcomes our sin,

            and there is always enough grace to cover any sin…

                        … so the greater the sin, the greater the grace to cover it!

 

But   the truth expressed that way   can lead to a misunderstanding,

            as Paul explains it in vs. 1-2

                        What then are we to say?   Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?   By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?

 

The point is,

            God’s grace means that we are no longer enslaved by sin,

                   yet that grace does not make us free to sin without restraint.

 

            To explain that,

                        Paul describes a connection  between grace and baptism.

                                                In baptism we are symbolically buried with Christ,

                                                     and our old self, our old nature   drowns.

 

                                                But then, we are raised from the waters of baptism

                                                            to be resurrected like Christ … vs. 5~8

             Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. … Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life - no longer at sin's every beck and call!

            What we believe is this:  If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection.

 

            “Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life”

 

   As an example, when an alcoholic dies, they are immune from alcohol,

            for the dead no longer want to drink,  for the dead cannot drink.

So too, by grace our old sinful nature is put to death with Christ,

            and we are in process toward a time

                        when we will not want or desire to sin---

-and sin is restrained  by the attractiveness of having to feel guilt.

 

Paul’s point is that by God’s grace in Jesus Christ,

            and the Holy Spirit’s guiding presence in us,

                        our old life and ways   will eventually fade,

                                                    and as we live into grace and righteousness,

                                                            we are becoming what and who we shall be.

 

            By God’s grace, we are becoming what and who we really are,

                        a new creation, the beloved and precious children of God.

 

It’s like, if someone misbehaves badly and unexpectedly,

            or says something uncharacteristically cruel or unfeeling,

                        we might say,

                                    “that isn’t like you”, or “you are better than that.”

 

That is how Paul views the Christian life,

            that to continue to sin is inconsistent with who we are becoming,

                  by grace,   the beloved, healed & transformed children of God.

 

Paul isn’t saying that we have already arrived at this sinless state,

            but,  that is the journey we are traveling,

                toward a more faithful, closer and deeper walk with our Lord.

 

So it is not that we live by following religious rules and laws,

            but that with the truth of God’s grace and Holy Spirit guiding us

                        over time, over our entire lifetime,   God’s grace willà

                                    increasingly permeate our every decision and choice,

                                                over every aspect of our lives, especially   how à

                                                              we perceive and live in the world around us.

 

As we read in Colossians,   vs. 1-2                  

            So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.   Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

 

This is a call to shift our primary focus and concentration

            away from the passing and glittery things of this world,

                        and instead turn toward things that are above, the things of God,

 

                                        toward the grace and blessing and promises of God

                                                already at work in our lives and in this world.

 

Surely  all the successes and the material things of this world

     pale in comparison to the most wonderful truth:

                        that we are loved, that we are all precious, and called à

                                    by God to live lives that express that amazing grace…

 

            … for with our focus on that one thing, God’s grace

                  all the rest   will surely and eventually   fall into place.

 

I used to see God as ever-demanding,  a harsh & angry disciplinarian,

    and always keeping track of my faults, my sins and failings.

                   I felt like   a student with an 'F' at the midterm, who knewà

                      it was doubtful that I'd get my grade up in time for finals.

 

But as I have learned to trust God’s grace and promises more and more,

            I see God  as a loving parent watching precious children at play,

                        as by grace,  God is gently calling all of us to come –

                                    "come and play and laugh,  sit here on my lap;

                                                      and call out to all your sisters and brothers,

                                                             that they too may come and share in the joy."

 

That is the heart of the season of Lent,

            to reflect on the lives we are living   and could be living ---

 

            - not toward a more strict adherence to the Law,

                        but to draw closer and deeper toward our loving Lord,

                                    by confronting the snares and obstacles in the way…

 

… so that more and more our lives reflect and embrace

            the promise of healing   and transforming power of God’s grace…

 

… making my Lenten desire and prayer:

                        "day by day, day by day, O dear Lord, three things I pray,

                                        to see thee more clearly

                                                                to love thee more dearly

                                                                                        and to follow thee more nearly."