Sin, Grace, and Our Role

Exodus 20, Philippians 3

Good morning!

A few years ago, I was teaching a calculus class at Parkersburg Catholic High School. One of the things we did – one of our secret academic weapons – was that we had a policy of requiring that students write a paper every semester in every class. It didn’t matter if the class was English, Social Studies, Algebra, or Phys Ed, every student had to write a paper in that class every semester. All the papers were then graded for content and grammar according to the same set of grading rules. And you know what? It worked. The 7th graders could barely write, but by the time they made it to the level of junior or senior, they could write well – very well.

I often asked for a paper such as, “If your life was a mathematical equation, what would that equation be?” or “Describe your relationship to God by developing an equation and explaining it.” One year, a young lady wrote me a paper answering that question.

As I read the paper, I could see that she truly wanted to have a close relationship with God. She explained that she was doing all the things that our society expects a Christian to do – she was helping at a food pantry, she was helping with the church nursery, she went to church every week, she was working hard to watch her language, and she was maintaining straight A’s in her classes while playing on a school sports team. In fact, she was working so hard to be good that she was exhausted and about to give up on being good. Being good – really good – can be hard work! If she only realized that God has provided an easier way.

Time and again, I have run into people who have a mistaken idea of what God requires of us to be saved, what God requires of us to go to Heaven, what God requires of us to be loved by Him. Let’s take a brief look at some of the ways people think they go to Heaven.

“I am a good person” a friend of your’s says, and you know, compared to the people around them, they are. Perhaps like the girl from my math class, this person does all the right things. If God were giving prizes for goodness based upon who is most good, our friend would probably win. But you see, there is a real problem with this line of thinking. How good is good enough?

Our first reading today was what we commonly call the Ten Commandments. These rules cover the most common situations. So let’s see how good we are. Have you ever taken a pencil or a paper clip from someone else’s desk without their permission? If so, you’ve stolen and you are a thief.

Have you ever wanted something someone else had? A car, a house, a toy, a painting, a tractor, a smartphone? If so, you have coveted and broken number 10. Have you ever lied? You’ve given false testimony. Have you ever worked on a Friday evening or a Saturday? You’ve broken the Sabbath rule. How are you doing?

But there are more rules given by God in the Bible. Have you ever eaten a pork chop, ham, or a BBQ sandwich? Have you ever eaten shrimp, crab, or lobster? You’ve broken the dietary rules. And that’s just the beginning of the 632 rules in the Old Testament. 632 rules.

Here’s the real kicker – Jesus came along and said that if you were angry with your neighbor, that’s the same as murdering them. If you wanted someone dead, Jesus says that God considers that the same as murdering them. If you gossip about someone, you can destroy their lives, and that is also like murdering them.

And the penalty for breaking any of the rules, any of the ten rules, any of the 632 rules – is death. God will not associate with someone who breaks His rules. Breaking the rules is like committing a crime. And we call committing crimes against God “sinning”. Those who commit sins are called “sinners”.

Everyone in this room is a sinner. Everyone here has committed sins. Everyone here is in big trouble with God – unless?...Unless there is another way to reach Heaven.

Many people have recognized that “nobody’s perfect”. Most people know that everyone commits sins. And so people have invented other ways to make it into Heaven. Let’s look at those ways.

“I’m better than him”. How many times have you heard this. It doesn’t work. Remember, the penalty for even one sin is death. And God KNOWS when you have committed a sin. It doesn’t matter how much better you are than the next person, we are all headed for death.

“Ok, I believe in God” But so did all the Jews of Moses’ time. So did the Jews of Jesus’ time. So do the devils and demons. Believing in the existence of God does not get you to Heaven.

“I was baptized as a child and have attended church all my life.” That’s good. That’s a good step. But where is your heart today? Baptism is not permission to sin as you please. You see, Baptism changes you from being a rebel – the way you were born – to being a citizen of the Kingdom of God. It is a first step. Attending church should help you walk as a citizen. But what is your intent today? Have you been trying to be a law-abiding citizen of the Kingdom – or have you been a law-breaker, not caring about the laws of the Kingdom?

Baptism is important. It is very complex and God does certain things when you chose to be baptized, or your parents chose to have you baptized. At baptism, God changes your heart from the heart of a rebel to the heart of a citizen. God changes you from being inherently evil, the way all people are born, to being inclined towards good. Your choice didn’t do it, your belief in God didn’t do it, God did it. And so it doesn’t matter how old you were, or whether you even knew it happened. If you were a baby, someone vowed that they would raise you as a member of God’s Kingdom and teach you God’s ways. God chose to declare you a member of His Kingdom and chose to protect you simply because He wanted to give you a gift. He gives you the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you and lead you – if you will listen to that Spirit.

But Baptism alone isn’t enough. As with all people who are born into a country, when you reach a certain age, you must decide for yourself whether or not you will remain a citizen of that country. There is no hard-and-fast rule for this age, but for most people, a good time is ages 12 to 15, although some may be much older. At some point, you must decide whether or not you will attempt to the best of your ability to follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is what Christians mean when we say “believe in Jesus Christ”. Do you try to the best of your ability to follow Jesus Christ?

Why is this important?

Let’s walk through this.

First of all, Jesus claimed to be God. In John’s Gospel, there are seven times when Jesus says, “I AM”, which everyone at the time knew was short for “I AM THAT I AM”, which was the name that God called Himself when He appeared to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus even went to far as to say, “I and the Father are One.” And you know – the crowds of people understood this. Every time Jesus claimed to be God, some people in the crowd picked up stones to stone Him or otherwise tried to kill Him.

Ok, but just because someone claims to be a pickled egg doesn’t make them a pickled egg. But Jesus proved that there was something special about Him through all the miracles He worked. And everybody knew these were miracles – they talked about them and many people followed Him because of these miracles. The people weren’t stupid – they knew that water doesn’t turn into wine and they knew that people don’t walk on water, and they knew that Lazarus had been dead for four days in His tomb and was going to stink like a dead deer carcass when Jesus told Lazarus to come out of the tomb – and he did!

But the big finale was when Jesus told his students what was going to happen and it did happen. He was sacrificed on the cross on Friday and then Sunday morning He began to appear to His students – and eventually to over 500 people in eleven different appearances at different times and places. And so, if Jesus were a nutcase claiming to be God, God must have really liked this particular nutcase. If Jesus were a liar, then God must have really liked this particular liar. And so it only makes sense that Jesus was exactly who He said He was – God, walking on this earth in an ordinary body made of flesh and blood.

There are two parts to Jesus Christ, and we must remember this. Jesus not only brought us a Message from God about the love of God and what we must do. He also was THE Message – showing us how to live as a walking, breathing, talking example of what God expects of humans. The disciple John calls Jesus the “Word of God”.

If you believe this, then it is natural that you believe that whatever Jesus said is very, very important, and thus you are now loyal to God. And if you are loyal to God, He can work with you through the Holy Spirit. God has all eternity to show you how to stop committing sins – if you trust Him and are loyal to Him.

And so, according to Jesus and His disciples, those people who trust and follow Jesus Christ as God Himself walking upon the earth, are given the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct them, and are given the gift of eternal life that they may become perfect in their ability to follow God’s will, a will which is always for their good.

Keep this in mind. God created this Universe and He created you. God is like a man that built the ballpark, owns all the bases, owns all the gloves, owns all the baseballs, owns all the bats, owns both teams, is the umpire, is even the Commissioner of baseball himself. There is no game played unless God wants it played – he can take his baseballs and bases and gloves and bats and the ballpark itself and god home anytime he wants. He owes us nothing.

There is nothing you can do to get God to like you. There is nothing you can do to get God to hate you. God is so far above us, that he only laughs at us when we try. But God does love us. And because God loves us, He gave us these gifts, the gift of Jesus Christ’s presence, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of eternal life. All this is provided by His choice. We say that this is God’s grace – His completely free choice to give us gifts, which he places on the table in front of you. That is His part – He created the Universe, He created you and gave you a life, and He puts the gifts on the table in front of you.

Now for your part. This is the hardest thing for us to accept. It doesn’t matter who your parents were, it doesn’t matter how good you’ve been, it doesn’t matter if you made a decision for Jesus years ago. What concerns us is today. Today, are you trying your best to actually follow the leadership of Jesus Christ, to follow His example of love, sacrifice, kindness, courage, and grace? Or have you strayed from that path, doing self-destructive things for your own amusement, killing people gently with the things you say and do, spreading a rot of the heart throughout the world?

Some Baptists are fond of saying, “Once saved, always saved.” But John Wesley, reading a bit deeper into the Bible, concluded that it is possible to go so far off the path of Christ that you are no longer loyal to Him. This isn’t something that is made by a single decision. It is what happens over days and weeks and years. One day you look up and discover that you have wandered far from the path of Christ and you are no longer following Him. It is indeed possible to lose your salvation because you no longer follow Jesus.

Just as we have seen ugly atrocities committed by some American soldiers in the Middle East, atrocities which greatly hurt the reputation of the American army by solders who were severely punished and kicked out of the service because this is not what American solders are supposed to do, it is possible for Christians to commit gentle atrocities and harm our reputation – and God’s reputation.

Gentle atrocities? What are they?

You’ve seen them. It is the gossip that destroys someone’s reputation. It is becoming too much like the world and letting the world’s ways guide us rather than Christ’s commands. It is the disapproving word or glance at a child that is acting like a child that chases away a family from the church. It is all the subtle ways that we tell people that we are a closed club. It is the carrying of grudges for years. It is complaining about some volunteer’s performance of a volunteer duty. It is a slight way of letting someone know that we disapprove of the way they are living. In all of these, people are hurt, chased from our churches, and then the devil finishes them off. It is the modern equivalent of throwing someone outside the camp so the wolves can finish them off. Or you can wander outside the camp and the wolves are waiting for you.

Make no mistake – there are wolves prowling outside in our community. Those wolves have names: drug dealer, bar owner, video poker operator, baby daddy. People’s lives are destroyed out there – children’s lives are destroyed out there – families break apart out there. People have enough trouble within these walls keeping on the path. Never commit the gentle atrocities that would chase people outside these walls.

Instead, walk the path of Christ fully. Go to those who suffer from the wolves and help them. Find those who have been bit and chewed and scratched and are barely surviving – drag the wolves off of them and bring them into your home first and teach them that God loves them too. And when they are ready, bring them inside this camp.

Our Pioneer Clubs are trying to do just that. Perhaps you aren’t able to work in the clubs, perhaps you aren’t able to bring children to the clubs on Wednesday evening as so many are doing. But you can help – our startup costs with Pioneer clubs are significant – but then, growth always costs time, talent, witness, and money. We give each older child a special Bible, a workbook, a sash, and other things. All of these run about $30 per child. Could you sponsor 10 children? Could you sponsor 1 child? If you want to support Pioneer Clubs and our children’s ministry, Ollie will be waiting with a basket after the service. (Those of you who are not able to come to the church on Sunday mornings can mail a contribution to the Quiet Dell UMC, 96 Trinity Road, Mt Clare, WV 26408 and mark it “children’s ministry”.)

God gives grace – His gifts – to everyone. If you have realized that you’ve left the path, God is waiting for you to come back. God doesn’t care who you are, for everyone has sinned – those on the outside – the person sitting beside you – the person talking to you – and you, yourself have sinned. Never forget that. Come to the altar today, kneel and ask forgiveness for what you have done – or not done. Ask Jesus for help finding the path of life again.

Your role is to pick up the gifts that God has given to you and make them yours. Follow Jesus, listen to the Holy Spirit, live forever. And imitate Jesus Christ in all you do.

John Wesley said, “Do no harm, do all the good you can do, and attend upon the ordinances of God.”

Today we will celebrate Holy Communion. As we do so, remember those who are in need. Any money you leave upon the railing will go into our fund for directly helping people in need. Perhaps you have a spare $5 or $20 or even more. Perhaps today you will choose to eat cheaply and give what you would normally spend eating at a restaurant to those who are in need. Be generous as Christ has been generous with you.

Our Service of the Great Thanksgiving follows a pattern that dates back into the early days of the church. These words – in different languages, changed as the language changes, but always holding to the same meaning – these words have been said in this ceremony for centuries, and so we are connected to those who have shared our faith before us – and to those who will continue in the faith after we are gone. In this breaking of the bread, we attend upon one of the ordinances of God. The Bread and the Juice are one way that God gives us eternal life. How is this?

Remember this: It was through the Word of God that all things were created – including life itself. John tells us that “the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us” – this is Jesus Christ, the Word – or Message - of God. If the Word was made flesh and blood, than it is natural that the body and blood of Christ can give us life. And so, as I say the words that have been said by Christians for centuries, listen to their meaning. Listen to them and memorize them. Listen to them and make them part of your mind and your soul even as the bread and the juice becomes part of your body.