Welcoming Grace

Welcoming Grace
Every year we gather here for our annual service in the park—the Sunday before the 4th of July. It’s the start of the community celebrations for the day where we as a country celebrate our independence and freedom. And as part of that celebration, the Community Club has organized many activities next weekend—craft fair, the parade, fireworks and many other ways that the community can gather together to celebrate…And any way that the community can get together to celebrate is a good thing and important for the life of the community. It is important work that the community club is doing, but it’s not only the community club’s job to celebrate the life of the community…
And here we are in the park as part of the celebration for the 4th of July. The theme this year for the festivities is “Freedom, the greatest gift.” Now clearly, the 4th of July is meant to celebrate national freedom and remember all those who have helped to ensure that we as American citizens have the freedoms that we so appreciate and celebrate. As an American citizen myself, I join in that celebrate and appreciation of the freedoms that I appreciate because of others’ sacrifices. And the theme for the 4th is meant to imply that national freedom that we celebrate…But, if I tell you a secret, will you promise to tell everyone? The freedom that we receive through Jesus Christ is much greater than anything else...
Paul writes about this freedom in his letter to the Romans. Now many evangelists will quote from this passage of Scripture to help convict people of their sins. Paul does write in this passage, “the wages of sin is death.” Which is true...the wages of sin is death. Sin causes death…And I don’t necessarily mean in a physical sense either…And first it would be important to define what sin is…Sin is anything that separates us from God…Whatever it is that separates you from God is sin…Now to be sure, the Bible does list some specifics about what is sin and what are some things that will separate us from God. God has laid out many laws and rules for God’s people to follow but not because God wants to be a dictator, but because God wants to be close to us. Now, to say that the wages of sin is death leaves us a place that really isn’t that pleasant…Because I mean really, let’s be honest…we all sin…we all fall short…Probably by the time you had your morning cup of coffee you committed some kind of sin…Sin is something that we all do…So, if we all sin and sin separates us from God…That’s kind of a bleak ending there…And fortunately, that’s not where Paul leaves us.
Because the message of the passage here is not that sin separates us from God, suck it up and deal with it…you’re going to be separated from God…Nor is that the message of the Gospel…That God sees our sins and turns God’s back on us…Actually it’s quite the contrary…The message of the Gospel is the way that God reached out to us again…
Throughout history, God was constantly trying to restore the relationship between God and God’s people…The relationship that was hurt because of sin…Throughout Scripture we have stories of God reaching out to God’s people…through appointing kings and judges…through calling prophets and priests…through leading God’s people to the promised land…through providing manna in the wilderness…The Bible contains many stories of God trying to reach out to God’s people and repair that relationship between God & God’s people…And every time that God tried and it seemed as though that would be the time that took…Well…then along would come sin again and once again separate us from God…
When I had moved to Ohio, my best friend and I talked about once a week, and that trickled to maybe once a month and then slowly to nothing at all…After awhile, I tried to call and left messages for her, but didn’t get any response…So, I stopped calling…Our friendship seemed to be over…I have to say that I am so glad that God doesn’t act like I do…That God doesn’t give up on me…That God doesn’t give up on us, all God’s people…
Here’s the truth…Now, most people know John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that God sent God’s only son, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It’s one that’s often quoted and one that you may have memorized as a child…And here’s the good news in that…That God loves the whole world so much that God was willing to put on human flesh and live among God’s people…God was willing to go as far as possible to restore this relationship that God put on flesh and dwelt among us in the form of Jesus…Jesus, being the only perfect human being, being that Jesus was fully human and fully divine meant that it was only Jesus who could restore the relationship between God & God’s people…Jesus took on the sins of the world—all those things that separate us from God…Jesus took them all…So that we might be able to have that right relationship with God…
That’s the freedom that we have through Jesus…Jesus died and rose from the dead 3 days later…Death couldn’t hold Jesus—Jesus defeated death…Through Jesus Christ we are no longer slaves to sin and death…That’s Good News! That’s the message of the Gospel…That’s true freedom!
Now, some of you may be thinking…Okay Melissa, that’s true, but Paul also says in his letter that we’re free from sin, but enslaved to God…So, how is that really free? Well, that’s true—we are free from sin, but enslaved to God…Being free from sin doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want and run around willy nilly! It doesn’t mean that we are perfect people either, that if we accept this freedom through Jesus that makes it impossible to sin…We are enslaved to God…By being freed from sin & death, we are offered a new way of living…One that keeps us in communion with God, the people of God, and all the saints on earth and heaven…So, it’s not a freedom that casts us into chaos, but one that places us in the order that God intended…
Grace is talked about much in the United Methodist faith…John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement talked about grace in 3 different ways or forms…Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying…Grace is offered to us free, without a price…it is the unmerited favor of God…the unmerited love of God.
We are surrounded by prevenient grace from the time we are conceived. In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” This prevenient grace means that we are constantly provided with support from God to choose to draw near and cast off our sin. This grace does not guarantee salvation, but rather offers the gift of salvation to all. This means that there is an opportunity to turn away from grace; because we have been given free will, there is opportunity to “walk away” from God and from the grace provided. Prevenient grace is what God does to lead us into an awakening of the image of God and causes us to repent. For me, my awakening came gradually. I was raised in the church and can’t remember a time that we didn’t participate in worship or Sunday school. When I was in first grade, the Sunday school teacher told us that we needed to pray and ask forgiveness and that was the first time that I remember asking God for forgiveness. When we repent of our sins, we enter into justification.
Justification happens through God. Justification is what God does for us, what we could not do for ourselves, to purify ourselves or to be made “right” or “just” before God. We accept the grace that God gives us and recognize the authority and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Justifying grace is the work of the Holy Spirit, when we say “yes” to the call of prevenient grace. After a mission trip, I can recall waiting at the railing for communion and feeling overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. In that moment, I felt God’s grace and forgiveness wash over me and I was called into a renewal of my commitment to God. As we grow into grace and move on towards perfection, we begin sanctification with God.
Sanctification is what God does with us as we continue to move toward on to perfection. Going on to perfection is that constant journey to achieve holiness with God’s help. Perfection is something that we can strive to achieve in our physical life and something that we should constantly be working towards. This perfection can be achieved through the means of grace, but it can also be hindered in our own backsliding, in our own sin. As I continue to grow in grace, I have been convicted of sins of injustice and oppression. As I continue to seek ways of working for justice, I recognize where in my life, I have participated in oppression without my knowledge. Through God’s grace I have become aware and through God’s grace, I join in the work of God to share God’s message of grace and love to all people.
Through the grace of God we are offered true freedom…it’s an amazing gift…What will you choose to do with this gift? Will you accept it? Will you welcome this grace? It’s there for you to accept—no questions asked…Join in this true freedom…Listen to the call from God…As we come to the table this morning to taste the grace of God through communion, listen to the cry from God…the cry from God to be in relationship with us, because God loves us that much…Let us welcome the grace together….