Grace

Happy Daylight Savings Time.

The most wonderful time of the year.

When you compare the various religions of the world,

you'll find that they actually have a lot in common.

Some of you have done this, studied this academically.

Many religions in the world share ideas

about how human beings are to live,

how we are to treat one another.

You will even see concepts such as incarnation,

the idea of a divine being becoming human,

such as resurrection,

the idea of someone coming back from death.

You can see versions of these concepts

in multiple religions in the world.

But there is one thing that sets Christianity apart.

There is one thing that you will find

in no other religion, ancient or modern.

Grace.

The concept of grace.

The notion that God's love would come to people

free of charge, with no strings attached,

that seems to run against every fiber of our being

as human beings.

If you look at the Buddhist eightfold path

or the Hindu doctrine of karma

or the Jewish covenant with its requirements

or the Muslim code of law,

each of these offers a way for human beings

to earn their way into the approval

and the blessing of God.

Only Christianity dares to claim

that God's love would be completely unconditional

in the way it enters our lives.

And this is why the Christian gospel

is uniquely able to transform

human hearts and lives.

And you will probably find no better description

of grace and the Christian gospel

than the one we have in the lectionary reading this week

in Paul's letter to the Ephesians,

chapter two, verses one through 10.

So we're going to look at this

as we consider this unique concept of grace

and the power that it brings.

And we're gonna ask three questions.

Why do we need it?

How do we get it?

And then what is it all for?

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word

and we thank you for the opportunity

to look at the very core of our faith.

For those of us who are Christians,

this is something that we need to hear

again and again and again.

No sooner have we heard it

than we begin to forget it.

For those of us here who are not Christians,

not sure what we believe,

Lord, perhaps this is a time

where you might open our hearts

to help us to see the life

and the love that is on offer.

Lord, wherever we may be this morning,

we pray that you would do your work in us

for your glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So why do we need grace?

This is where Paul begins in verse one.

He answers this question for us

when he says this.

He says,

and you,

you were dead in the trespasses and sins

in which you once walked.

You were dead.

Now, I would guess

that most people in our culture,

including people who are Christians,

who have grown up around Christianity,

fail to grasp the full meaning

of Paul's words here.

One of my favorite movies

is The Princess Bride.

And Wesley is the main character.

There's probably somebody here

who has not seen it.

So for your sake,

Wesley is the main character.

And at one point in the movie,

his friends think that Wesley is dead.

And so they bring him

to a man named Miracle Max.

And Miracle Max takes a look at Wesley

and examines him.

And he says,

and they say,

he's dead.

What can you do?

And Max replies,

oh, look who knows so much.

And he said,

I'm not gonna do the impersonation,

but it's very tempting.

He says,

it just so happens

that your best friend here

is only mostly dead.

There's a big difference

between mostly dead

and all dead.

And since Wesley is just mostly dead,

it turns out all he needs

is a magic pill.

And once he swallows that pill,

he's good to go.

And he goes and he saves the princess.

Most people, I believe,

in our culture

have a kind of Miracle Max mentality

when it comes to the human condition.

Right?

They would read Paul

and they would say,

well, surely doesn't,

Paul doesn't actually mean

that we are all dead.

That would be extreme.

Surely what Paul means,

and this is just rhetoric,

is that we need a little help.

We just need the right medicine

to get us on track.

Now, different people

have different ideas

about what that medicine might be.

Religious traditionalists,

maybe some of us in this room,

might say we need moral reform.

That's the medicine

that society needs

to get us back on track.

Some of you might be more

in the secular progressive camp.

Secular progressives might say

we need more tolerance

and we need more inclusion

and we need less

of the religious

closed-mindedness and bigotry.

That's what society needs.

That's the medicine.

Social media gurus.

Now we've been fasting

from social media, right?

So this doesn't apply

to any of us,

but for other people,

social media gurus might say

we need cold plunges

every morning.

We need a keto diet, right?

These are things

that are going to radically

restart our lives

and get us on the right track.

People love to believe

these kinds of things.

People love to believe

that all we need

is just a little more discipline.

All we need

is just a better strategy.

People love to believe

that we are just one book

or one retreat

or one life hack away

from becoming

the best version of ourselves.

Even though all of these approaches

look different on the outside,

different packaging,

underneath they're all the same.

They all flow out of the idea

that we are fully capable

of solving all of our problems

in our own strength.

We just need the right medicine.

We love to believe that,

but medicine does not work

on dead people.

It works on sick people,

and if you're mostly dead,

but medicine does not work

on dead people.

And what Paul is saying here

very clearly

is that human beings

on our own

are spiritually dead.

dead.

To quote Miracle Max,

all dead.

That no amount

of human effort

can fix what is wrong with us.

There is no magic pill

that can wake us up

from our slumber.

He's saying

the world is full of people.

Some of those people

are religious,

and by the way,

in Paul's day,

everybody was religious.

There were no secular

progressive people.

Everybody was religious.

The world is full of people.

Some religious,

some secular,

who seem alive.

You can have people

who are highly moral.

You can have people

who do a lot of good

in the world.

People where you look at them

and you think,

that's a much better person

than me.

But what Paul is saying

is that person

may very well be

spiritually dead.

And we say,

well, how do we know that?

Jonathan Edwards,

who was a pastor

and theologian

during the first

great awakening,

he got to see people

coming to faith

in numbers

that most of us

can't imagine.

He saw these incredible

spiritual transformations,

and he wrote a lot about it.

He thought a lot about it,

and he wrote a lot about

what is the evidence

of genuine spiritual life

in a person.

And what he says is this,

the clearest evidence

of spiritual life

is not that they

intellectually assent

to the tenets

of the faith.

It's not their morality.

It's not the good works

that they do

or the external

religious practices

that they partake in.

Edwards says that

the clearest evidence

of spiritual life

is love.

Do you love God?

Do you delight in God?

Do you delight in God's word?

And does that love for God

overflow into the lives

of the people around you?

The point is,

it's all about our motivations.

You can have a highly moral,

highly religiously devoted person

who looks like they are

spiritually alive,

but what motivates them?

Edwards says there's a lot

of possible motivations.

It could be fear.

Maybe they're afraid

of divine punishment.

You know,

in his day,

that was a thing,

not so much in our day.

Maybe they're moral

and upright

and do good

because they fear rejection

from their friend group

or their family,

and so they keep up appearances.

Or maybe it's pride,

he says.

It feels good

to do good.

We live in a culture

that rewards people

who do good

and who advertise

that they do good.

If you do the right good

in the way that your friend group

defines good,

you're going to get

a lot of affirmation,

and that feels good.

Getting praise from other people

makes us feel good

about ourselves.

But what Edwards would say

is this.

That may produce

a highly moral

or highly religiously devoted life,

but all of these motivations

are ultimately self-serving.

We're not doing good

because we love God

and delight in God.

We're doing good

because it benefits us.

And it is therefore

a kind of shallow

and fragile morality

because as soon as it starts

to not benefit us,

we may stop doing so much good.

The truth is,

as we see in verses two and through,

whether we are moral or immoral,

whether we are religious

or irreligious,

on our own, Paul says,

we follow the prince

of the power of the air.

In other words,

we follow the message

of the deceiver

who has been deceiving humans

since the beginning

who said and continues to say,

you're better off on your own.

You're better off

living for yourself.

And so Paul is saying,

we're driven not by love

and delight in God,

spiritual life and vitality.

We're driven by our appetites

and desires

and the ways of the world around us.

And the key point here

in context,

religion is powerless

to make a difference.

Religion is powerless to help.

Religion can turn

less religious people

into more religious people.

We're really good at doing that.

Religion can turn

immoral people

into moral people.

Religion can also turn

immoral people

into immoral people.

We're pretty good

at doing that.

But religion cannot

raise the dead.

It's powerless

to raise the dead.

And so this first point

is crucial for us

to understand

how and why grace

changes lives.

The first thing

that we need to recognize,

Paul says,

is that true spiritual formation

is not possible

until we recognize

that on our own,

we are helpless.

And if we don't see

that we are spiritually helpless,

if we don't recognize that,

in other words,

if we think that we are

fully capable

of solving

all of our own problems

in our own strength,

what happens

when we see someone

who doesn't have

their life together?

What happens

when we see someone

who

isn't doing a good job

of solving

their problems?

Well,

if we think

that we're capable

of doing it

on our own

and we see somebody

who's clearly not doing it

on their own,

what does that mean

about them?

It's very easy

to look down

on such a person.

You know,

you see someone

who's homeless

on the street.

You pass them every day

on your walk, right?

The same person

is there on the corner

and they ask you

for something

and you give them something

and the next day

it's the same thing

and you think to yourself,

you're here every morning,

couldn't you show up

to a job?

Right?

If you can get here,

can't you get to a job?

Why aren't you working?

You need to be working.

Or you see somebody

struggling with addiction

and you say,

you know,

they just need

more self-discipline.

They just need

more self-discipline.

You see somebody

who's undocumented

and you say,

they never should have

come here to begin with.

Right?

And you're looking,

why didn't you solve

these problems?

I solved my problem,

why can't you do that?

Once the truth

of our spiritual helplessness

begins to hit home,

it begins to fundamentally

change how we see ourselves

and how we see other people

and frankly,

it is profoundly humbling

because you know

that you're no better

than anyone else.

When you see people

whom society

tends to look down on,

people who are homeless

or people with addictions,

you say,

well maybe on the outside

we look different,

maybe at this point

in my life

our lives don't look

the same on the outside

but you know

that deep down,

spiritually,

you are no better

than anyone else

and in fact,

you may very well

be much,

much worse

than that person,

spiritually speaking.

You know that even

if you're not

addicted to a substance,

you're spiritually addicted.

Right?

That even if you're

not currently struggling,

not having a place to live,

that you on your own

are spiritually homeless.

You're an outcast.

You're no different.

You're looking into a mirror.

When we begin

to recognize this truth

that on our own

we are spiritually dead,

it changes how we see ourselves.

Also,

if we don't recognize

this truth about ourselves,

we will never really believe

that we need God's grace.

We will simply believe

that we need

what God owes us,

which is a very different matter.

That's other religions.

So that's why we need it.

How do we get it?

Paul says in verse three,

we were by nature

children of wrath

like the rest of mankind.

Now listen,

the idea of God's wrath

is frankly very disturbing

for most people today.

Because I think

when we hear wrath,

like honestly,

when I hear the word wrath,

my first mental image

is that God

is storming around

like a dad

with anger issues.

I think of that

as being God's wrath.

He's just storming around.

He's like,

I can't believe

they did it again.

I've given all these chances

and they're just,

you know,

that's how I imagine wrath.

But that's a completely

unbiblical image of wrath.

What does it mean

when the Bible

talks about God's wrath?

Well,

imagine that you live

in a really,

really big,

nice house.

You're going to have

to really try hard.

But imagine,

pretend that you live

in a really big,

nice,

multi-million dollar mansion

and you've got

original art everywhere

and it's just,

it's this amazing place,

right?

And imagine that you have

to go away for a few weeks

and you ask your friend

to house sit for you.

And your friend says,

yeah,

I'll house sit for you.

And then while you're away,

they throw a huge party.

And it gets way out of control.

And there may be live animals.

And things catch on fire,

right?

And all the art,

everything gets destroyed.

And it may be that

at one point late in the night,

a car gets driven

through one of your walls

or something like that,

right?

So it's a crazy

out of control situation.

And you come home

and everything is trashed.

The whole house is trashed.

The fire department's there,

right?

It's a mess.

You have a couple of options.

You could,

option one,

demand that they pay

every penny

that it's going to cost

to restore your house.

They have to pay it all off.

You haul them

in front of a judge

and you request

a court mandated payment plan

and they have to pay

everything back.

But let's say

it's going to cost

at least a couple million dollars

to restore everything.

Right?

Some of that stuff

is priceless.

What happens to your friend

in that relationship?

Well,

they might never be able

to pay it off.

And so for the rest

of their lives,

the rest of your lives together,

they're going to be paying

and paying and paying

but they're never going

to pay it off.

So that's option A.

What's option B?

You could choose

to forgive them.

But what happens?

What happens

when you say

I forgive you?

What are you choosing

to do in that moment?

Wait,

you're choosing

to absorb

the cost

of the damage

that they did

to your house

and you're choosing

to absorb

the pain

of their profound

disrespect for you

and their disregard

for your things.

And you're choosing

to absorb

all of that.

The price doesn't go away

but you're the one

who's going to pay it.

You're the one

who's going to be writing

the check

to pay

for all of those

repairs to be done.

They're not going to have

any debt to pay.

Not because there's not a debt

but because you paid it

so they wouldn't have to.

You're choosing,

in other words,

to absorb

the full cost

of the wrong

and you're choosing

to extend

friendship

and love

and acceptance

instead of demanding

that they repay you

even though

that would be

just and right

and fair.

You're choosing

to absorb it

to set them free

from that debt

so that you can continue

in your friendship.

The point is this

is that God created

this world

and then God entrusted

this world to us

and we've rejected

and ignored God

in the world

that he made

and then we have defaced

and destroyed

his creation

as well as ourselves

and there is

an accumulated cost

of all of the sin

and the rebellion

of humanity

throughout the centuries

there's a debt owed

for all of the damage

that we've done.

There's a debt owed

for the disrespect

and rejection

of God.

God's wrath

is his righteous desire

for that debt

to be paid.

It is God

looking at that debt

and saying

out of his righteousness

somebody must pay

this debt.

Things have to be

made right.

Somebody's going

to write the check.

The problem is

we owe

such a vast sum

that even if we had

all of eternity

and we were all

working together

we would never

be able to pay it.

We would never be able

to put a dent in it.

That's the predicament.

Hear Paul's words.

But God

being rich

in mercy

because of the

great love

with which

he loved us

even when we

were dead

in our trespasses

made us alive

together

with Christ.

And then he says

by grace

you have been

saved.

On the cross

he's saying

Jesus

absorbed

the cost

of all of that

sin

and rebellion.

He paid

the price

in full

and the reason

is because

he has chosen

to embrace

us

as sons

and as

daughters

even though

we deserve

the opposite.

He said

I will write

the check

for the damages

and it will

come out

of my

account.

Right?

And this is

what grace

means.

It is God's

willingness

to absorb

the cost

of our

rebellion

and forgive

us rather

than demanding

repayment.

And you say

well how do we

get this grace?

How does it

come into

our lives?

And Paul

says in

verse 8

by grace

you have

been saved

through faith

meaning anyone

who comes

to him

in faith

will be

embraced.

It's a

guaranteed

response.

Their debt

will be

paid in

full.

And there

are three

verbs

that we

see here

and they

all have

the same

prefix

sin

which means

with or

alongside.

God made

us alive

with Christ.

God raised

us up

with Christ.

God seated

us with

Christ in

the heavenly

places.

And what

we see

here is

that grace

is not

just about

clearing the

debt.

It's an

invitation

to do

life with

Christ.

To leave

behind a

life of

spiritual

alienation

and death

to begin

to live

life with

him.

I love

how Eugene

Peterson

translates

Jesus'

invitation

in Matthew

11.

He says

this,

Are you

tired?

Worn

out?

Burned

out on

religion?

Come to

me.

Get away

with me

and you

will recover

your life.

I will

show you

how to

take a

real rest.

Walk

with me

and work

with me.

Watch

how I

do it.

Learn

the

unforced

rhythms

of grace.

Learn

the

unforced

rhythms

of grace.

The

reason that

we need

grace is

because we

are

spiritually

helpless.

And the

way to get

grace is by

faith.

To come to

Jesus in

faith and

simply to

ask.

And then the

task simply

becomes this.

Learn the

unforced

rhythms of

grace by

beginning to

do life

with Jesus.

That's it.

Final

question though,

what's this

all for?

What's the

purpose?

What is our

salvation for?

And here's

where it

begins to

really come

into our

lives.

Every single

one of us

in this

room,

you have a

God-given

vocation.

Right?

There are

all kinds

of ways

that God

has given

you resources

and gifts

and talents

and abilities

and connections

and all the

things that

make you

you and the

things that

when you're

doing them

you're in

the sweet

spot of

what you

should be

doing.

This is

why you're

here.

You have

a vocation.

So some

of you

are creators.

Some of

you are

thinkers.

Some of

you are

caregivers

and you're

nurturers.

Some of

you are

you build

or you

organize,

you optimize.

Some of

you help.

Some of

you heal.

Some of

you restore.

Some of

you teach

or inspire

or lead.

We all

have a

vocation.

And there

are ways

that God

has specifically

gifted you

to be a

blessing in

the world,

called you

to participate

in the healing

and restoring

of the world.

The brilliance

of the image

that we have

of the new

creation

at the culmination

of all things

is that you

have a garden

and a city

that have

come together,

that it is a

combination of

God's design

and his

creative power

and human

creativity.

We participate

in building

that which

will last

into eternity

and God

has given

you a

vocation

as a way

of building

into that

future eternal

reality right

here and now.

So let me

ask you a

question.

question.

When you

do your

work well

and you

are in

your sweet

spot,

who gets

the glory?

I have a

feeling that

probably the

biggest challenge

for most of

us in this

room, and you

can raise your

hand if you're

an exception,

most people

care about

living good

lives.

You might

say, not

me, but

most people

do.

We care

about justice.

We want

to help make

the world a

better place.

Probably some

of us moved

to D.C.

to be a

part of

some job

or cause

to try to

help make

the world

a better

place.

That's what

animates you.

So the

challenge that

I believe

for us is

not doing

good works.

It's doing

good works

that call

attention to

God's glory

instead of

our glory.

So this

is why

Paul says,

this is not

of your own

doing.

This, he

means, grace

coming into

your life,

transformation.

This is not

of your own

doing.

He says, this

is a gift

of God, not

a result of

works, so

that no one

may boast.

He says, if

you are boasting

about any of

this, then you've

completely missed

the point.

For, he says in

verse 10, we

are his

workmanship,

created in

Christ Jesus

for good works,

which God

prepared beforehand

that we should

walk in them.

So what is he

saying?

We're not

saved by good

works, but we

are saved for

good works.

That's the

purpose.

Some of you

may know this,

that the word

for workmanship

is poiema.

You know, we

get the word

poem from that.

You know, so a

way of saying

this is that

Paul is saying,

our lives are

meant to be

God's love

poem written

to the world

to put his

love and grace

on display.

When you look

at a piece of

great art, you

don't praise the

art, you praise

the artist.

You say, this is

amazing, what a

phenomenal artist

to create something

this beautiful.

When you hear a

great piece of

music, you don't

praise the

instrument.

I don't say, wow,

what an amazing

guitar.

I say, what an

amazing musician.

What a skilled

musician, right?

God's vision is

that our community

would be a

community that

puts him on

display.

That when people

see the way we

live our lives,

they wouldn't

praise us.

They would praise

him.

So we are the

art, but he's

the artist.

We are the

instruments, but

he is the

musician.

He's the

composer.

The vision is

that our

community would

be like a

great symphony

of grace.

That each of

us would see

ourselves, that

you would see

yourself as an

instrument of

God's orchestra.

You're an

instrument in

God's orchestra,

and when you

play your role,

when you follow

Jesus faithfully,

when you do your

job with excellence

and integrity,

when you love and

care for your

neighbors, when

you're patient and

gentle with your

children, right?

When you're doing

all the things

that you're

called to do,

God is playing

his music through

the good works that

he has composed for

you to do, right?

He wrote the sheet

music beforehand, and

he's given you the

sheet music, and now

you're playing it with

your life.

And the God-given

purpose of each one

of us is that the

song of our life would

glorify him.

And the good news of

this is, living for

God's glory is not

only right, it's not

only the reason that

we're here, but it is

also incredibly freeing.

Because let's just be

honest, some people have

a lot of anxiety about

whether or not they are

being faithful to God's

expectations of them.

But most of us are far

more worried about the

expectations that other

people place on us, or

the expectations that we

place on ourselves.

And most people I know

who feel crushed under

the weight of

expectations is the

expectations from other

people and from

ourselves that brings

the most weight.

And grace not only sets

us free from the demands

and the requirements of

the law, it sets us free

from having to live for

anyone's expectations.

Because we know that we

have the delight of God.

And that's all that

matters.

I love the story of the

great artist Michelangelo.

I never knew this until

more recently.

He was apparently plagued

throughout his life.

To try, he was sort of

plagued with anxiety and

stress trying to live up

to his other, or to his

own demands for himself

and to the demands that

other people placed on him.

He got notoriety and so

people just demanded and

expected brilliant,

amazing artwork.

And he found that to be

crushing.

And most of his life, he

just lived crushed under

the weight of those

expectations and this

incredible perfectionism.

But as he approaches the

end of his life, a

spiritual rebirth begins

to occur.

And one of his final works

was intended to be his

gravestone.

And it was a statue of

himself, but in the guise

of Nicodemus from John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, the one who

was born again.

And it's a statue of him

as Nicodemus holding the

dead body of Jesus.

And in a poem, Michelangelo

describes coming to the

end of his life and

recognizing that his

artwork had actually become

harmful to his soul because

it became, quote, my idol

and my king.

Because he was living for his

own glory.

He was living to try to

appease the expectations of

others and that he had

placed on himself.

And what happened at the

end of his life is that

grace liberated him from the

crushing weight of

expectations.

He began to realize that his

only true hope was not being

a great artist or receiving

acclaim from others, which is

like a black hole, but rather,

quote, his greatest hope was

this, the divine love, who to

embrace us opened his arms upon

the cross.

Grace set him free.

And that would be my prayer for

everyone in this room, if you've

been a Christian your whole life,

or you're just now considering this

for the first time, that grace

would set us free.

Let's pray.

Lord, we pray for your spirit to

do what only you can in our

hearts, that somehow, as the word

became flesh in Jesus, you would

take these words from your

scripture and that they would

become a flesh and bone reality

in us, that you would impress upon

us and within us into our marrow,

into our sinews, the freedom that

grace offers.

I pray that we would cling to it as

though our lives depended on it.

And I pray that you would set us

free to delight in you, free to

love you, free to feel your

embrace, free from the crushing

expectations of the world, free to

live lives that glorify you, that

embody this promise and this

invitation that you extend to the

world.

We pray this in Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Pokémon 1 1964

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.