Sermon Lent 4C 2016: The Loving God of Grace Introduction Almost sixty years ago a conference on the world s religions took place in England, Where experts from all around the world had come to talk and to debate What, if any, belief or practice was unique to Christianity. They began by eliminating the easy possibilities: Rules: well all religions have a lot of rules and Christianity is no exception; Ways of worship: everyone worships either in community or on their own; Incarnation? God or gods in human form: Other religions had different versions of gods coming in human form Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of returns from death. The debate went on for several days until C. S. Lewis, One of the great Christian authors of the day, wandered into the room. What s the rumpus about? he asked in his Oxford, English accent, And heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity s unique contribution among all the world s religions. Lewis responded, Oh, that s easy. It s grace. And walked out of the room. After some discussion, the conferees had to agree, The notion of God s love coming free of charge, given with no strings attached, Offered from an endless storehouse is distinct, is unique to Christianity; Only Christianity dares to make God s love unconditional; And with that the conference was over. And yet for all the grace that is offered in every aspect of the Christian life; Offered in Christ calling us just as we are to follow Him; Offered in mercy and forgiveness and life beyond the door of death; Offered over and over, even when we reject it and live apart from God; Too few of us know the grace of God in our lives; 1
And even fewer of us are willing to stake our lives on that grace And live in the knowledge and certainty of God s love for us. Part of it may be that we experience so little grace among ourselves or for ourselves; We are taught we have to measure up in so many areas of life; And to have others measure up to our standards; That we re just not used to love and acceptance given freely; And we assume that God is just like us. I don t fully know why we re so halfhearted, So cautious in accepting and living into God s grace; But I think the biggest part of the answer lies in a deep misunderstanding of God; And how God really feels about you and about me. And if Christianity s unique gift to the world is a religion of grace, A God who loves us and wants to be in relationship with us just because we are; Just because He created us and revels in our uniquenesses; Then we d do well this morning and every morning To consider a different way of living into Christ s call on our lives; To see our lives, not as a march to achieve grace, But as our response to a grace and a love that are already and always there. The Gospel of God s Grace The Gospel lesson this morning is one of the most well-known stories of Jesus And is usually called the Prodigal Son story; This is the third of three, consecutive stories or parables That Jesus tells about what the kingdom of God is like and therefore what God is like. In all three stories there s a common thread of grace, of God seeking out the lost to love: A lost sheep that is searched for and found; A lost coin that is searched for and found; And today a lost child who is welcomed home with open arms. 2
I guess Jesus decided that the desire to measure up or to earn God s grace and love Is so strong in us that He felt the need to say the same thing three different ways; To talk about the limitless measure of God s grace and God s desire for us In the hope that it would seep through the barriers of our hearts and minds, To help us to begin to comprehend how different God s grace really is. And what I m most impressed by in the reading of this third story of the lost that is found As it relates to the concept of grace, of freely given love; Is that the younger son is not really the prodigal. We call it the Prodigal Son story, but he s not the one who is truly prodigal; He s not the one who is uncontrolled and extravagant and wasteful; Selfish and not the brightest bulb in the array to be sure, but not prodigal. It s the father, it s God who is the really extravagant character, the prodigal; It s God who gives His love without regard to whether it is deserved or not. Most of us hear the story and focus on the younger son as the prodigal Because he wastes everything; And I ve heard a sermon or two about the older son being the prodigal Because he too wastes all that has been given him In dutiful, lifeless service to the father. As the story unfolds, we see that the younger son and the older son Are a lot alike in the sense that they believe that to receive the father s love, They must earn it in some way. The younger son, having reached bottom, comes up with the perfect apology And practices it on his journey home so that when he returns he can make his apology An apology good enough to deserve to be received in some way by his father, Even if it s just as a hired hand. 3
And the older son labors day in and day out in service to the father, In his words like a slave Working to earn his father s love as if he can buy it through his good works. And we easily recognize the efforts of the two sons in our own lives Where acceptance and friendship and love are most often given or often withheld Depending on how we measure up, depending on what we do to deserve it. But the father in this story is not very interested in his sons deserving his love; He gives it freely, it s always and already there. Notice how in the story, he barely listens to the younger son s apology; But immediately welcomes him to a place of honor in his home; He s not looking to make the younger son pay in some way; He s been looking for him, He s been longing for his return And sees him when he is still far off, with a love that never wavers. And when the older son returns from working in the fields, And complains that he is the one deserving of the father s love Because he s been working like a slave all these years; The father reminds him that work or no work, all that the father has is his always. It s a different kind of love this father gives; A love that is very different than what the brothers expect And different from what we know in our world, For it is a love that is given freely, a love that is given undeservedly, A love that is extravagant because it knows no cost, no measure; A love that is drawn from a limitless supply of grace and goodness. The father, God, loves you and me, cherishes you and me because that is God s nature And He wants us to know His love, to experience His grace for our living 4
Without us earning it, without determining whether we deserve it or not; Beckoning us to live each day in the certainty of God s grace; And then sharing that grace with others. Living by Grace There s a crucial scene in one of my favorite movies, Bruce Almighty ; The movie is about the man who complains that he can do a better job than God And is given all the powers of God on earth in a few zip codes around Buffalo, NY. The story focuses on some of Bruce s goofy and self-centered uses of God s power, But also looks carefully at the relationship between the gift of free will And God s desire to be in a relationship of love with human beings. Toward the end of the movie, Bruce dies and is taken up to heaven. As Bruce and God walk through the clouds God invites Bruce to pray; Bruce prays first for world peace and an end to hunger; And God says that s a pretty good prayer if you want to be Miss America. Then God urges him to really pray And Bruce prays for the woman he loves and has lost With words something to the effect that he wants God to give her A man in her life who will love her and see her as she is - through God s eyes. And God says, now that s a good prayer, I ll get right on it. What a difference there would be in our hearts and our minds If we could look for just one moment at our lives through God s eyes; If we could look, not at how far short we ve fallen from God s intention for our lives, And not to measure how good we are by the way we re living, But to look for one moment at our lives and truly see ourselves the way God sees us; To see ourselves through the grace-tinted glasses of the God who loves us, The God who wants us and who was willing to give His all 5
By stretching out His hands and feet on the hard wood of a cross So that we would know for all time the depth of this grace and this love That is already and always there for each one of us. The grace-filled life is far different from the life many of us lead, Whether we are far from God or trying to answer Christ s call and follow Him; Because this grace-filled life, this Christian life, Does not primarily center on ethics or rules or measuring up, It centers on a new way of seeing. You and I can escape the forces of earned love, the cruelty of deserved love When we begin to see ourselves as sinners who can never please God Or can never deserve God s grace and love With any kind of apology or any kind of life of good works. And instead to see ourselves through those grace-tinted glasses of the One who made us The One who loves us already, the One who always will. And strangely enough, the lens of grace that reveal us as God s beloved children Will reveal the people around you in the same light; As sinners who fall short of God s intentions for their lives But also as people whom God loves. Grace is what separates Christianity from the other world religions; Grace is what God offers to everyone; And grace will give you and me a new vision for life And for everyone around us; And one day, grace will lead you and me home to God in this life and in the life to come. Amen. 6