September 21, 2008

"Disciples by Grace"

September 21, 2008 

When I went into teaching I was determined to uphold high academic standards.  I refused to grade on a curve and tried as hard as I could to make certain that my tests accurate measures of student progress.  I was known as a fairly hard grader.  But, over the years there were many times when my resolve was tested and I was forced to be more gracious than I intended to be.  One those involved a student in one of my government classes-we'll call him Rudy (not his real name.)  Rudy was a fairly well behaved student, but he really didn't take school that seriously.  He often skipped class and handed in very few assignments.  By end of the first quarter he had earned a grade that was below 40%.  Seeing the "F" on his report card, he also saw the handwriting on the wall.  He rarely attended class after that and of course received a failing grade.  The next year he took the class again with the other government teacher.  He again did not pass.  Finally, he took my summer school government class.  This time he was different.  He really tried, actually turning in almost all his assignments.  But, he was still failing.  I tested his reading level and the test showed it was right around third grade. Our textbook was written for those who could at least read at an 8^th or 9^th grade level.  I didn't quite know what to do.  I worked with him, helping him read, I went over the material with him and tried to prepare him for my tests.  But, even after all that extra attention, he earned a grade of only 46%.  The lowest possible passing grade in our school was 60%.  In my most gracious moments I had never passed anyone who at least didn't have a grade in the high 50's.   I thought about it; prayed about it and wrote a D- on his report card.  Years later I met him in restaurant.  He was happy to see me and told that he had gotten a job as a welder.  I knew I had made the right decision.

I was reminded of my experience with Rudy when I read our scripture for this morning

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

In all my struggles to follow Jesus and to be the disciple that he saved me to be, I must never forget that my peace and salvation come from trusting God's grace, his love that I do not deserve,  that is found in Jesus Christ and in what he did for me.  That seems like such an obvious point.  If we grew up in the church, we were taught this since we were children.  If you came to Jesus later in life, this undoubtedly was why you did it-because you believed that Jesus died for your sins. 

Yet, according to a poll printed on the Religious Tolerance website, over half of all Americans and about one third of all evangelical Christians in this country think that a person can earn his/her way to heaven by doing good works.  And in the same poll the vast majority, 70%, believed that someone who didn't believe in Jesus, but lived a good life will get to heaven.  So when you think about it, the percentage of those who believe that good works determine our final destination is really pretty high.

And what is so wrong with that?  Paul takes up that question in this letter.  In chapter 1, he explains the fallacy of believing in false religions.  He makes this point verses 22- 25,

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 

When people serve gods of their own making and religions of their own imaginations, they tend to justify some pretty evil things.  Here Paul especially emphasizes the sexual immorality that was so rampant in his day.  And some of it was actually done as a way of worshipping certain idol gods.  A good example of this is the practice of using temple prostitutes.  People actually believed that they were worshipping their gods by engaging in homosexual and heterosexual immorality with these prostitutes. It certainly isn't the last time that people have used religion as a front for evil.  About over a week ago we again remembered the evil acts those terrorists did in the name of their religion and their god, killing almost 3000 people and in so doing causing terrible grief and pain to millions around the world.

In Romans 2 Paul turns sets his sites on Israel, on those who knew the one true God.  They were often very good at condemning others for their sins.  But, Paul didn't have to scratch the surface very far to find that they were doing the same things themselves.  Listen to his words to them,

You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?⁴As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

These people were doing the same acts for which they condemning others.  Doesn't that have a familiar ring!  Certainly as an example of this I could decry the sins of prominent leaders and evangelists in the Christian church who committed gross acts of sexual immorality.  But, if we are honest, do we really need to point our fingers that far from ourselves?  When we look at our own homes, workplaces, or even in our churches, how often is God's name blasphemed because of us?

In the end, after looking both outside and inside the church, Paul in Romans 3: 10- 12 Paul concludes

As it is written:   "There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹    there is no one who understands,  no one who seeks God. ¹²    All have turned away,  they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,  not even one."

All children have followed their first parents Adam and Eve into sin: church people and non church people alike.  There is none righteous not even one

But lest you think Paul let himself off the hook, he also confesses his own struggles in Romans 7: 21- 25  (I am reading from the New Living Translation.)

²¹I have discovered this principle of life-that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²²I love God's law with all my heart. ²³But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 

Some people might think they are making a passing grade, but they are only fooling themselves.  They don't even know enough to know what they don't know.  Their understanding of God's standards is so skewed that they don't realize their own sin that keeps them from having true peace with God.

But Paul doesn't do that.  He finds his peace with God in Jesus Christ and in what he did on the cross, declaring

²⁵Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Unlike what I did with Rudy, God does not grade on the curve.  He does not just bend the standard for us.  According Jesus own words

"²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Indeed the standard is perfection.  Our Lord tells us in his word,

You must be holy because I am holy." (Leviticus 20: 26, 1 Peter 1: 16)

Instead of bending his standards God sent his Son Jesus Christ who became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, where he died for our disobedience and rose that we might live to be his disciples. 

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. ¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Now you might wonder what this all has to do with being a disciple of Jesus.  Just as we cannot have peace with God and know salvation unless we understand our own sin and cling to Jesus, we also cannot become true disciples of Jesus until we do that.  Jesus demands that before we can be his disciples we stop pointing fingers at others and start looking within.  We must stop grading others and start looking at the failing grades that God is giving us.  Being a disciple is not just trying to be like Jesus.  It is, first of all, realizing that by trying hard we can never be like him.  We are his disciples because loved us and chose us and saved us.

But what does this say about living as a disciple.  Notice that Paul follows what he says about having peace with God through Jesus Christ reasons for joy.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings..

Jesus wants his disciples to have joy.  In fact, after one session in which he taught them about love, he said these words,

¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  (John 15: 11)

Notice the two reasons Paul give for joy. 

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God

As disciples of Jesus we know where he is leading us.  We know what lies at the end of the trail.  And as those who trust in Jesus and not in ourselves we can rejoice because we know for sure that we get there. 

When we say we "hope" that something will happen, we are merely expressing a wish.  "I hope the Cubs will win World Series."  That's not what the word "hope" means in the Bible.  It means a sure expectation-something I am looking forward to-something I know is coming.

In his letter the Apostle John writes these words,

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Second Paul says that we can rejoice in our sufferings.  As we heard last week Jesus promised that in this world we will have trouble.  If we trust in our own works, there are only two possible explanations for why God allows grief and tragedy to come into our lives.  One possible reason is because we have sinned; the other is because God is being unjust.  And so we either condemn ourselves or we condemn God.  Both paths lead to misery, never to joy.  There is only one path that leads to joy.  That is the path of trusting God's grace, of trusting that "he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) and knowing that even though I can't figure it out, "God will work for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose."

Now, trusting in God's grace is not the faith that is proclaimed by the faith healers.  They turn faith into a good work.  In order to obtain healing or material blessing you have to have a certain level of faith or you have pray in a certain way.  (That is just another way of saying that getting what I want from God depends on me.)  So, if I pray for healing and am not healed then I must assume that there is something wrong with my faith; if I get what I want, then I can set my set myself up as an example of faith to others.  If only they had faith like mine, they too would be healed.  One of these paths leads to despair, the other to pride.  Neither leads us to joy.  Only trusting in God's grace will lead down that path.  Then when God hear my prayers and heals me I rejoice in this grace and when he doesn't I also rejoice that his grace is sufficient for me.

I began by reflecting on Rudy's story.  But, as I wrote this sermon, God's Spirit began to remind me that Rudy was not the only one who received grace.  He reminded me of my own teachers and of the many times that they did not give me what I deserved. He reminded of my dad who would come home tired, but still have time to help me struggle through my geometry problems and of my mom who would stay up until the wee hours of the morning typing my papers, papers that I should have completed long before.  He reminded me of one of my college English professors.  I probably never told you that story.  I was so depressed about not getting a teaching job that I blew off my term paper.  I never handed it in.  It was really a stupid thing to do. Nine months later I received the job offer from New Mexico, I discovered I needed that class to be certified.  I called the professor on the phone and he graciously agreed to accept my paper.  The last thing I did before I left Grand Rapids on my way to New Mexico was to drop off that paper.  And this wasn't the last time I received such grace.  I was reminded of a seminary professor.  When my dad passed away in January of 1990, I was floundering again.  I remember walking into his class and discovering that he was giving an exam.  He must have seen the bewildered look on my face.  He came up to me and said, "Why don't you just go home and get some rest.  You can take this test when you are ready."  And then as I thought of these disciples of Jesus, I thought of my Master himself.  "And the chastisement that brought me peace was laid on him and by his stripes I was healed."  And then instead of being proud of what I had done for Rudy, I became thankful that I hadn't done something that would have made me ashamed.

Today Jesus calls out to us.  A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  AMEN!