A Krispy Kreme For the Road

Transcription

1 A Krispy Kreme For the Road Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. February 26, 2014 Travis Collins I grew up, as some of you did, watching westerns on TV. I have great memories of sitting with my dad in his easy chair watching Gunsmoke on Saturday nights in the 60 s. Usually in those westerns somebody got shot, bled ketchup, and died. Often the person who was shot would hang on just long enough to share something important with their last breaths. The innocent young wife of the farmer, for example, fatally wounded by a stray bullet from an outlaw s gun, would live long enough for her husband to cradle her in his arms. Make em pay, Johnny, she d say. Then her head would fall limp on his chest. When I was a little boy Uncle Barto was my idol. I remember well an occasion when his heart was so weak his very life was in danger. He didn t die then; it was years before his heart wore out. At the time, however, everybody thought he was dying, including Uncle Barto. I remember standing by his bedside. Frankly, I cannot remember exactly what he said, for I was a little fellow and probably scared to death. But I do remember the look in his eyes and the feel of that conversation. I can still sense the gravity of his words even if I don t remember them. The Apostle Paul was headed to Jerusalem where an almost certain arrest awaited. In that last emotional, moving gathering of his ministry partners, they prayed and cried. In his last words to them Paul spoke of the church and its ministers subjects dear to Paul s heart. Jesus, in the moments before he ascended, gave the Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. My point is that when someone is nearing the end they don t waste time on trivial matters. Now, let s be clear: I m not dying. I m not going to be arrested (that I know of). And I m sure after next Sunday we ll see each other at the mall or the ball field. But I did think seriously about what I wanted to leave with you in my last big sermon. I will speak next Sunday but it will be short and it will be different, so this is my last chance to preach a full sermon and so I took seriously this last opportunity! What would I want to leave with you? I didn t have to think long about that. Over the years I ve given lots of talks on Hot Topics. I ve presented the issues, and said what I think about the issues. I appreciate you letting me speak candidly on those issues even when we have disagreed. But it s not what I said about those issues that I want to be my last word. We ve talked a lot about strategy. In a day when our world is increasingly hostile to what we believe, in a day when church involvement is on the decline in our country, we have talked about, and attempted, bold ways to do our part in the ongoing expansion of God s Kingdom. 1

2 But I don t want strategy to be my last word. I want my last words to be Paul s last words to the Galatians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. I want to leave with you, and, yes, be remembered for, Grace God s unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love. By the way, did you ever wonder about the difference between mercy and grace? I ve got a good definition for you. Tony Campolo said he asked a group one day about the difference between justice, mercy and grace. A little boy answered, If a policeman pulls you over for speeding and gives you a ticket, that s justice. If he pulls you over for speeding and gives you a warning, that s mercy. If he pulls you over and gives you a Krispy Kreme donut, that s grace! Justice is God giving us what we deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. Grace is God giving us what we don t deserve something wonderful and unmerited. Grace is God s unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love. Grace does not mean your behavior doesn t matter. Grace simply means that your worth in God s eyes, and His love for you in His heart, are not dependent on your behavior. Grace means, in the words of my favorite writer, Philip Yancey, There is nothing you can do to make God love you more and nothing you can do to make God love you less. There is nothing good you can do to earn one ounce more of God s love than you already have for He loves you infinitely. And there is nothing bad you can do to forfeit one ounce of God s love for He loves you unconditionally. To paraphrase Peter Scazzero, grace means that although we are more sinful, more scarred and more weak than we might dare to admit, we are more loved than we might dare to dream. I don t want to be misunderstood. Grace is not naive, indulgent, or enabling. Grace does not mean anything goes. There is nothing in the definition of grace about a wink and a nod, or turning a blind eye to obvious wrongdoing. In fact, verse 4 of the small, one chapter New Testament book of Jude warns against people who, in Jude s words, change the grace of our God into a license for immorality. Grace is not a free pass. Unconditional love is not undemanding love. Every Sunday we have celebrated communion together for the last three or so years we have declared, We believe in living holy, Christ-like lives. Yet we have concluded our We Believes by stating, We believe grace is the heart of the Christian faith. 2

3 My ministry has been a gift of God s grace to me. In my trial sermon I told you a story that some of you never will let me forget. That day when I was in my first season officiating a football game. The runner crossed the line dragging defenders with him and I raised my hands high and straight and blew my whistle loud enough to be heard in the next county. The players, both teams, turned and looked at me inquisitively. I looked down and I was standing on the five yard line. I told that story and said, I don t care what the search team members told you, I am not perfect. Well, you ve certainly found that to be true. But God is gracious. He has given me opportunities to serve in many places I did not deserve. From music ministry in college to Venezuela to Kentucky to Nigeria back to Kentucky to Bon Air. I am a walking testimony to grace. And let s be clear: grace is not only for the visibly and dramatically reprobate. It s not just people in the gutter who need grace. Behind countless faҁades Behind the doors of countless upscale houses in Suburbia, U.S.A. there exists sin and hurt that would rival the sin and hurt of any gutter anywhere. Las Vegas is not the only Sin City. And no stereotype has the corner on the need for grace. Some people in need of grace wear shackles and orange jumpsuits. Others needing grace wear Rolexes and navy business suits. Some in need of grace hate authorities. Others in need of grace hate themselves. Some people in need of grace abuse their alcohol. Others in need of grace abuse their power. No stereotype has the corner on the need for grace. After all, let s be honest about who came to church this morning. Through the doors to all our worship services there came a bunch of sinners! Oh, yes, the New Testament refers to those whose trust is in Jesus and not our own goodness as saints. But it never stops referring to us also as sinners. Our identity is that of saints. But the reality is we are still sinners. We are not defined by our sin. Not shackled to our sin. Not controlled by our sin. But sinners by choice. Clear and unadulterated choice! So a bunch of sinners came to church this morning! Through our doors this morning came some young sinners who hope no one saw us cheat on the test this week. Some who maybe feel kind of bad about how we treated our brother or sister this week. Some who hope the hotel clerk didn t notice the X rating on that movie we rented in our hotel room on the business trip this week. Some who hope no one ever finds out about that one-time indiscretion from a few years back or that string of indiscretions from college days. 3

4 Some who harbor hatred we d never admit, and prejudice we d never voice. Some who worry far more than we know we ought and others who drink or eat a lot more than we ought. And all of us knowing that the one standing up front who is supposed to be leading this is a sinner, too. Finely dressed sinners we are. Looking as happy and as holy as we can. But sinners nonetheless. Privately grateful, really grateful, for that line from the hymn Amazing Grace about grace saving a wretch like me. Grace is not just for those men and women we meet on Jeff Davis Highway late on Friday nights. It s for men and women we meet in the board room on Monday morning and the men and women, boys and girls we met in the mirror this morning when we were getting ready to come to church. That s why I want my last sermon to you to be about grace the unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love of the Father. Some of you know my favorite baptism story. I want to tell it again the last sermon story I ll tell. No offense to anyone else I ve baptized. But my favorite baptism ever, besides that of my kids, was in the middle of the night in a hospital. In May, 2008, right about midnight on a Sunday night, our home phone rang. It was Denise s best friend. Denise had taken a serious turn for the worse and was in the hospital in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit. Denise had terminal cancer. Her friend said Denise wanted me to come to the hospital. And said she wanted me to baptize her that night. On the way I wondered how I was going to baptize her in a hospital room. Denise was not a member of our church, but a few weeks earlier she d told one of our members she wanted me to visit. Denise explained that she never had gone public with her faith, though she believed in Jesus. As I spoke with her it seemed to me that her faith was real. I m not in charge of judging anyone s heart, but I was (and still am) convinced that Denise s faith, for this world and the next, was in Jesus and not her own goodness. She wanted to give a public indication of her faith, and so I told her of our upcoming annual baptism service in June in the James River. Denise was thrilled at the idea of being baptized in the river and began looking forward to it. But suddenly Denise was deathly ill and in ICU. When I arrived, the room was full. Close friends. Her husband. Her former husband and his wife. Even two nurses saw what was about to happen and came in to add their support. 4

5 We had a good, brief chat and she indeed wanted to be baptized. I hadn t figured out how I was going to baptize her until I looked over and saw a sink and some Styrofoam cups. I took a cup and filled it with water. I obviously couldn t immerse her; I d have to pour the water gently over her head. (And if anyone s first thought ever were to be that that isn t real baptism I d suggest they haven t understood grace.) And we began to sing Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me It was beautiful. At night in an intensive care unit, where the only sounds are the occasional beeping of IVs and the constant puffing of ventilators, the notes of Amazing Grace echoed movingly. I once was lost, but now I m found was blind but now I see. Denise was too weak to sing more than a few words at the time. But she sang the words she knew the best she could. She d sing a phrase or two. Then catch her breath. Then sing again. We sang, When we ve been there ten thousand years And then I baptized her. I poured the water gently over her forehead, a sign of cleansing an outward indication of her newfound, inner faith. Common water from a Styrofoam cup became a sacred symbol that she had opened herself up to Jesus and that God s unconditional, undeserved, unlimited love had relentlessly pursued her and flooded her life. Shortly after I baptized her, Denise drifted off to sleep. The next day Denise woke up in the presence of God. Why sing Amazing Grace? Because Denise seemed to be slipping away fast and I wanted Denise to know that God delights in her. Like all of us, Denise had made some of those what was I thinking? choices in her past. But I wanted Denise to know that the Father whom she soon would meet face-to-face absolutely adores her. I wanted her to know that when she saw God at the proverbial pearly gates He wouldn t be standing there with his hands on his hips; He d be standing there with his arms open wide. I wanted her to know He was not going to say, What were you thinking, girl? But rather, Come on in, girl; I ve been waitin for you. Grace, grace, God s grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God s grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I m found. Was blind but now I see The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. 5