Thursday, March 19, 2015

Bragging Rights

Ephesians 2:1-10


            There’s an old preacher’s story about the fellow who had one too many at the local tavern.  Fortunately, he didn’t live far away so he wisely decided he’d walk home and leave his car parked.  He took a short cut through the local cemetery, and in the dark did not see a freshly dug grave.  He fell in. He jumped and jumped and tried to crawl out, but each time he slid back down.  So, he settled in the corner to sleep it off.

            A little while later another fellow in the same condition fell into the same grave.  He also jumped and jumped and tried to crawl out, but each time he slid back down as well.  Then from the darkened corner of that hole he heard a voice, “You’ll never get out that way.”  But, you know ------ he did!

            It turns out there was a way out of the grave, but he just didn’t know it until he heard that voice.

            In our scripture today, the Apostle Paul describes a way out, a way beyond the grave.  So, let’s listen to his voice as he conveys the voice of God.  Let us pray:

            Lord, speak to us now in a way each of us can hear, through your Word and by your Spirit.  Soften hardened hearts, enliven souls nearly dead from disappointment and discouragement, and resurrect hope in the promise that we might live “together with Christ.”  Amen.

            One of the dilemmas created by the dramatic advances in medical technology during the last century focused on a question doctors never really had to ask before:  “How do you know when someone is dead?”

            It used to be so simple, listen for a heartbeat or see if the patient is breathing.  If not, write the death certificate.  But, then machines were created that could breathe for the patient and keep the heart beating indefinitely.  So, brainwaves were measured and the expression “flat-line” evolved to indicate to that death had happened.  This new standard is not without controversy because some disagree about how flat the line has to be.  From time to time people argue about this as they did when both the Florida State and Federal governments got involved with the decision on whether or not to end life support for Terri Schiavo.  Death is not as clear-cut as it used to be.

            For the Apostle Paul, there was no confusion.  He said to all of us, “You were dead through the trespasses and sin in which you once lived.”[1] In other words, we are all “dead men walking”; people who breathe air with beating hearts and bouncing brainwaves, but spiritually dead none-the-less.  We are all prisoners on death row.

            Sin in his eyes, does not merely disrupt or damage – it destroys. It destroys completely our relationship with God and so damages our relationship with each other. It is not a disease that can be cured by a vaccine.  It is not a character flaw or a bad habit that can be corrected with self-discipline and hard work.  It is not a psychological neurosis that can be treated. It is death plain and simple that leaves us helpless, hopeless, and lifeless.  Dead people don’t just decide to become alive.  If they are to live again an outside power or force must resurrect. Some kind of cosmic defibrillator is needed to jumpstart a hardened heart.

            That brings us to verse four and two words that have changed our world and maybe your life – “but, God”.  Countless people over the ages have felt trapped because they realize they have been captured by the dull routine of a world that promises but never delivers.  This conformity has sapped the life out of them, but God…  Millions have dragged themselves and their families down by some addiction that has captured their bodies and souls, but God… Many more have been seduced by the siren’s call for more, for more power, more money, more… well just more, but God…

            “But, God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”[2]  Let me read that again slowly.  “But, God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead…”

            Not many can really appreciate the profound depth of that kind of love.  Parents of wayward children can maybe understand, for they know the anguish of seeing a child self-destruct.  They know the worry and grief that follow every call from the police station, every failed try at rehab, and every curse that spews from the mouth of the one they love dearly.  So, they can grasp, a little, the kind of faithful hang-in-there perseverance God demonstrates by loving the unlovable, forgiving the unrepentant, and holding out hope of one more chance for redemption.  Parents feel that way for their children.  God feels that way for us all.

            So, the Bible says, “even when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ.”  Don’t walk past that last phrase, “together with Christ.”

            Something organic must change within the heart and soul of each individual.  If heaven is just about spending more time than we thought we had with the same old body, and with the same old people whom we found so obnoxious and annoying in this life; then heaven will soon turn into hell.  It is “being made alive together with Christ” that makes heaven - heaven, and “being made alive together with Christ” is also what brings a little bit of heaven into our world.

            The Apostle Paul, so that you don’t miss the point, summed it up in a Readers’ Digest condensation of the Gospel.  If anyone ever asks you what Christians believe, you tell them, “For by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”[3]

            “By grace we are saved through faith.” It is that simple.  Since it sounds as easy an opening up a gift on Christmas morning, you’d think everyone would want to be on God’s mailing list, would be eager to open this present; but you know and I know that’s not always true, even among people who show up each Sunday in churches throughout the land.

            The reason for that reluctance is that we’ve all learned over the years that there is no such thing as a free lunch and if something sounds too good to be true it probably is.  We don’t really trust someone who offers something for nothing because we’re pretty sure there’s going to be some kind of catch.  Something will be required of us later, and we’d just as soon know what that is up front.  That’s true with the gospel as well, so there is something you should know before you decide to follow Jesus.

            Though God’s love is freely given - it is not really free.  There was a price paid by God and there is a cost to us as well.  “God so loved the world”, the Bible says, “that he gave his only begotten son.”[4]  That’s the price God paid so that justice and mercy, righteousness and grace, forgiveness and holiness might be woven together to form a single fabric of love.

            Skip that sacrifice and we are left only with cheap grace that cannot really be trusted because it does not take seriously the sin that leaves so many of us scarred by the wounds other have inflicted.  It glosses over our pain by saying, “It’s no big deal, forgive and forget and put it behind you.”  But, if you’ve been badly hurt you know it’s not that easy. It is a big deal so before there can ever be healing or forgiveness there must be some kind of acknowledgement of the damage that has been done. The cross honors all those who suffer and so offers justice for the victims. 

            It also offers help and hope and life for all who sin and trespass, for all who have fallen short of the glory of God because it promises a second chance.  In other words, it is for all of us.  Each one of us has been both the victims and perpetrators of sin.  We want justice and we want mercy.  That’s why God, and God alone, is able to affect our salvation. 

            Christ upon the cross was the price God paid.

            So, what is the price we pay?  Make no mistake; there is a cost to discipleship.  It’s just not what you think.

            Many look at their spiritual lives in the same way they look at their professional lives, and sometimes even family life.  That is, to get something - you have to give something.

            If you want to succeed in your profession, you know you must put in the time and the effort in study and sacrifice.  In the same way that Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts advance by earning merit badges, we do the same with degrees and diplomas we earn.

            Even our most important relationships sometimes work in that same way.  Although we idealize the unconditional “I’ll love you no matter what”, most of us learn from an early young age that mom and dad will be happier and treat us a little better if we bring home good grades, and pick up our rooms, and politely kiss Aunt Mabel when she comes to visit.  Approval usually follows performance, and punishment will follow disobedience so even parental love can sometimes feel conditional.  “I get more of what I want if I do the right things and less of it if I do not.”

            Since that is the way of our world, many assume that is the way of the Lord.  God will love me, must love me, if I go to church and put something in the offering plate. The Lord must welcome me into his kingdom if I say the right words or try to do the right thing or at least avoid the bad thing.  And if I don’t, a quick prayer for forgiveness ought to cover the check.  We all create our own lists of what we think God wants from us.  Some of these lists are longer than others, but none of them really take into account how hurt and offended is a holy and righteous God by sin, by any sin at all.

            I remember a few years back reading an article about an Environmental Protection Agency announcement that it was raising the acceptable rate for arsenic in public water systems.  Now, since arsenic is a deadly poison most people were surprised that any amount at all is tolerable. As far as they’re concerned there should be so arsenic in our water at all.  We are all pretty much looking for absolute purity.

            That is what the kingdom of God must be like, what heaven must be like or it will not be heaven at all. Remember sin does not merely disrupt or damage – it destroys. It is death plain and simple that leaves us helpless, hopeless, and lifeless, so it can have no place at all in God’s kingdom. Since, dead people don’t just decide to become alive.  If we are to live again, an outside power or force must resurrect. Some kind of cosmic defibrillator is needed to jumpstart a hardened heart.  That is the grace of God given through Jesus Christ and received by faith.

            Faith is the price we pay and it has a higher cost than most of us realize.  Today, many understand faith to mean “belief or agreement”.  People say they believe in God in the same way they believe the sky is blue or the grass is green.  It is pretty easy and doesn’t demand a lot. If it means I may go to heaven if there is a heaven after I die, why not say, “I believe in God”, and tuck that little confession away in the drawer with my Last Will and Testament to be opened when I die?

            Look at the stories of faith in the scripture though, and you’ll soon discover it means far more than cheap words and easy agreement.  Those words “together with Christ” describe and attachment, union, and solidarity with Christ.  That’s why Jesus said, “If you want to follow me you must deny yourself, and take up your own cross.”[5]
That’s why the Bible speak of being in Christ, of being baptized into his death so that we might be raised with him to new life.”[6]

            “This comes not by works”, Paul said, “so we cannot boast.”  We have no bragging rights.  Anytime you hear someone who claims the name of Christ judge another inferior and themselves superior, haul out this verse as a reminder that we have no bragging rights.  None of us pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.  We are all pulled up by God.

            The only thing we can give to God that matters at all is worship, and to do that, we must give up any sense of self-sufficiency and control. That requires faith and faith is flat out impossible for all who think they can do it on their own.  It is seen as foolishness to all who want to remain in complete control of their lives.  Breaking through this hardened façade is impossible without the moving of God’s Holy Spirit.

            There is a Hebrew legend about a disobedient angel who pleads for mercy form God.  God said, “I shall not punish you.  However, in atonement, you must bring back from earth the most precious thing in the world.”

            The angel began the search. He found a soldier dying of wounds he received defending his country.  The angel caught his last drop of blood and brought it back. God said, “The courage of one who give his life is precious, but it is not the most precious thing in the world.”

            The angel resumed his quest.  Wearily he roamed the earth until he came upon a nurse who was dying of a disease she had caught wile nursing child back to health, and he captured her last breath and brought it back.  God said, “The selfless devotion of one who saves the life of a child is very precious, but it is not the most precious thing on earth.”

            The downcast angel continued to wander.  One day he saw a farmer preparing to kill a man who had stolen his cattle.  The farmer, his gun ready, stood at the wind of the thief’s cottage and watched him tuck his children into bed and kiss them goodnight.  At that moment the would-be murderer remembered his own children and lowered his gun and how lost they would be without him.  He shuddered to think that he had been on the verge of destroying the happiness of this home, and a tear rolled down his cheek. The angel caught the tear and brought to the Throne of Glory.  God accepted the tear with rejoicing.  He smiled and said, “You are forgiven, for there is nothing more precious than a tear of repentance.”

            That’s the price we pay.

            Everything that follows, faithful worship, good works, righteous living are all “thank you notes”.  Each Sunday we show up we write another note of thanks to God who saves and redeems.  Every random act of kindness whispers to Christ, “thank you”.  Gratitude is expressed every time God gives us the strength to turn away from some temptation that captured us in the past.  The Bible says this is to “be our way of life”, not followed as steps to heaven, but embraced with joy in the knowledge that “together with Christ” we have been made alive.[7]

            Let us pray:

            Lord, let every breath we take, every prayer we offer, every act of kindness we share offer praise and thanksgiving to you and the grace you have given through Jesus Christ. Amen.

           
           


           

           

                         

           

                       

             

           



[1] Ephesians 2:1
[2] Ephesians 2:4
[3] Ephesians 2:8
[4] John 3:16
[5] Matthew 16:24
[6] Romans 6:2
[7] Ephesians 2:10