Ephesians 2:8-9 (The Message)
Now God has us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.
Galatians 2:16 (GNT)
16 Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be put right with God through our faith in Christ, and not by doing what the Law requires. For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires.
Luke 15:11-32 (GNT) Story of the Prodigal Son
11 Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. 13 After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living.
14 He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. 15 So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. 16 He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. 17 At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.
“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father called to his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.
25 “In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him, ‘What's going on?’ 27 ‘Your brother has come back home,’ the servant answered, ‘and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. 29 But he spoke back to his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! 30 But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!’ 31 ‘My son,’ the father answered, ‘you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’”
Now God has us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.
Galatians 2:16 (GNT)
16 Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be put right with God through our faith in Christ, and not by doing what the Law requires. For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires.
Luke 15:11-32 (GNT) Story of the Prodigal Son
11 Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. 13 After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living.
14 He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. 15 So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. 16 He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. 17 At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.
“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father called to his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.
25 “In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him, ‘What's going on?’ 27 ‘Your brother has come back home,’ the servant answered, ‘and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. 29 But he spoke back to his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! 30 But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!’ 31 ‘My son,’ the father answered, ‘you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’”
Just so you know this sermon is about grace.
Jesus didn’t talk about grace – Paul did.
Jesus talked about love – loving God,
loving your neighbour, loving your enemy.
Jesus talked about God and our relationship with and to God.
Jesus talked about laws and The Law
Jesus told the parable we know as the prodigal son.
You all know the story – youngest son gets inheritance and blows it all, comes limping back home – the father is elated – kills the fatted calf - throws a party and the eldest son’s nose is out of joint.
When I look at that story I see a man who loves his two sons – there is nothing they can say or do that decreases that love – he loves them- period- end of story- his love is not dependent what they do. He loves them both.
His love is a gift to them. A true gifts no strings attached.
He expects nothing in return. Yes it is nice when gifts are recognized. It is nice when they are appreciated. It is even nicer when they are received with gratitude but all those are not conditions of the initial gift. A gift is something given without expectation of any return.
We live in a culture where often there are expectations: I give you a gift – you return the favour – you invite me to dinner with the expectation that the invitation will be reciprocated, these are not gifts they are exchanges but God doesn’t work that way.
God’s gift of love, like the love of the father in the prodigal son is based on just being. The prodigal son is the father’s son regardless, we are children of God, recipients of God’s love regardless of our response to that love, regardless of how good we are, there is no worthiness test.
Whoever we are
Whatever our circumstances
Whatever we have done or not done
God’s love pours over us all.
That’s grace at work!
Jesus’ confrontation over and over again with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes was always about the law.
It doesn’t seem that Jesus had a problem with the Law because it was the law – in fact, he saw himself as the fulfillment of the Law. Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17
The Law would include for Jesus- circumcision (God’s covenant with Abraham), the ten commandments (God’s covenant with Moses) and Deuteronomy which outlines all kinds of rules including diet, clothing, activity, and temple observances such as holy days and festivals. We can see in the Jesus story that Jesus goes to Jerusalem on high holy Days – he is a practicing Jew in good standing, he is a rabbi, he is not preaching against Jewish Law.
He is taking the Prophets seriously, he takes John the Baptist seriously, he sees his mission as a uniting force that brings Judaism together, gathering the lost sheep –including the Samaritans back into the fold. He is continuing John the Baptist’s work and getting Israel ready for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
And his vision of the Kingdom of God is informed by his relationship with God. He called God “Abba” – the equivalent of our Daddy- his God – Yahweh had evolved from the cold judgmental god of war and triumph. And I suspect Jesus thought that people should also evolve from being obedient servants scurrying to get things done, do things right, on time, and be seen to do the right things at the right time in the right way.
When Jesus tells the Pharisees to go pray in secret as a better way to pray than to be out in the open praying loudly, he is not denouncing the prayer, which would have been a prescribed prayer. He is telling them there is a better way to be in relationship with God. That God is not judging them even if people are, even if other Pharisees are, that they cannot, cannot pray their way into God’s good graces. God’s love, like the love of the Prodigal son’s father, is not on the exchange system it is on the grace system.
You see we get really caught up in that exchange system, we want things to work that way, we really don’t believe that things don’t work that way – after all we live constantly in a way of life that bolsters our understanding that the exchange system is the way that things are supposed to work.
The Pharisees wanted things to work that way, they thought things worked that way, they had been told things worked that way- you followed the law and good things happened to you- you could be a noted Pharisee, you could have disciples, you could be known and looked up to by the hoi-poli, people would like you and then along comes Jesus!
The eldest son wanted things to work that way, he watched his younger brother go off and have a good time while he stayed and worked on what was left of the estate beside his father- no good times, no parties , no killing of the fatted calf - just work. He wanted his reward for his good behaviour and hard work and he wanted his younger brother to pay for his misdeeds – and what happens his father loves them both. Unbelieveable!
We want to be rewarded for the sacrifices we make, we want others to be well – punished for not making the sacrifices we made – seems fair – then along comes God!
And grace – and Paul.
What is the thing about grace that Paul has trouble convincing the Galatians and the Ephesians that it really really is something God does – grace originates with God – grace is what God is about. Gods love, God’s grace is available to everyone, is poured out on everyone, surrounds everyone and it cannot be earned.
What is it in us that wants to be able to say we earned God’s love, what is it that makes us want to be able to point to this or that and say “See look how good I am – I did this or that, I followed the law to the letter, I go to church, I read the Bible, I don’t have a tattoo, I don’t take drugs, I do this, I don’t do that – God loves me because …, I will go to heaven because…, in the middle ages you could buy indulgences (pieces of paper signed by a bishop)in the church (the Roman Catholic Church) that said you will go to heaven and you could even buy them for long dead relatives. That was one of the things that started the Protestant Reformation, Luther was incensed by the audacity and blatant commerce of the church. In his view God’s grace could not be bought and he relied heavily on Paul – thankfully.
Luther is a fascinating figure because he knew through his own experiences that you could not buy your way anywhere into grace, you couldn’t pray your way into God’s love, you couldn’t exchange your way into a relationship with God. God’s grace was not in our control.
Paul and Luther were strong advocates for just accepting God’s Love and God’s grace.. This is God at work – you do nothing but receive it.
And what a blessing it is when we just accept that we are accepted by God - just the way we are, accept that there is nothing that we can do or say that will make us more acceptable in God’s sight. What a weight it is off some of our backs. Accepted just as we are, just where we are, just what we are.
The problem is, like the Jerusalem Jews who visited the followers of The Way in Galatia and Ephesus, like many churches today – like many Christians today – there is always somebody who wants to say but…you have to follow these rules, you have to believe this, you have to look like this, you can’t be x,y,z if you want to belong here, you can’t really be a Christian if you…, you can’t be a member unless....
The problems is like the men in Galatia and Ephesus who thought they weren’t good enough if they weren’t circumcised, like the prodigal son who was so broken and beaten down that he thought he had squandered all his father’s love with his bad behaviour and suffered all the more because he thought he couldn’t go home, that he would not be accepted there convincing himself that he could be a hired worker rather than a son.
The problem is like the good Jews who visited the Galatians and Ephesians and told everyone they had to be good Jews- that is circumcised and follow all the Law to be followers of Jesus, the problem is like the good son who because of his good behaviour thought he had earned his father’s love and his inheritance
The problem is like us or, at least, like me a bit of both the Jews and the Galatians, like the prodigal son and the elder son, not good enough but I did this and this and this so God has got to like me, and knowing all the time there is no way I can measure up because it is not dependent on what I do or what you do. We all fall short, we all have failings, and we all try so hard.
Grace offers us a way to escape from the cycle. IN Romans 8:9 Paul writes this amazing line he says: “Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters”.
Not just that the community is to see themselves as brothers and sisters but that Jesus is a brother. – we are siblings not only to each other but to Christ. We are all children of God.
We are all loved by God. We are all saved by grace.
Jesus didn’t talk about grace – Paul did.
Jesus talked about love – loving God,
loving your neighbour, loving your enemy.
Jesus talked about God and our relationship with and to God.
Jesus talked about laws and The Law
Jesus told the parable we know as the prodigal son.
You all know the story – youngest son gets inheritance and blows it all, comes limping back home – the father is elated – kills the fatted calf - throws a party and the eldest son’s nose is out of joint.
When I look at that story I see a man who loves his two sons – there is nothing they can say or do that decreases that love – he loves them- period- end of story- his love is not dependent what they do. He loves them both.
His love is a gift to them. A true gifts no strings attached.
He expects nothing in return. Yes it is nice when gifts are recognized. It is nice when they are appreciated. It is even nicer when they are received with gratitude but all those are not conditions of the initial gift. A gift is something given without expectation of any return.
We live in a culture where often there are expectations: I give you a gift – you return the favour – you invite me to dinner with the expectation that the invitation will be reciprocated, these are not gifts they are exchanges but God doesn’t work that way.
God’s gift of love, like the love of the father in the prodigal son is based on just being. The prodigal son is the father’s son regardless, we are children of God, recipients of God’s love regardless of our response to that love, regardless of how good we are, there is no worthiness test.
Whoever we are
Whatever our circumstances
Whatever we have done or not done
God’s love pours over us all.
That’s grace at work!
Jesus’ confrontation over and over again with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes was always about the law.
It doesn’t seem that Jesus had a problem with the Law because it was the law – in fact, he saw himself as the fulfillment of the Law. Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17
The Law would include for Jesus- circumcision (God’s covenant with Abraham), the ten commandments (God’s covenant with Moses) and Deuteronomy which outlines all kinds of rules including diet, clothing, activity, and temple observances such as holy days and festivals. We can see in the Jesus story that Jesus goes to Jerusalem on high holy Days – he is a practicing Jew in good standing, he is a rabbi, he is not preaching against Jewish Law.
He is taking the Prophets seriously, he takes John the Baptist seriously, he sees his mission as a uniting force that brings Judaism together, gathering the lost sheep –including the Samaritans back into the fold. He is continuing John the Baptist’s work and getting Israel ready for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
And his vision of the Kingdom of God is informed by his relationship with God. He called God “Abba” – the equivalent of our Daddy- his God – Yahweh had evolved from the cold judgmental god of war and triumph. And I suspect Jesus thought that people should also evolve from being obedient servants scurrying to get things done, do things right, on time, and be seen to do the right things at the right time in the right way.
When Jesus tells the Pharisees to go pray in secret as a better way to pray than to be out in the open praying loudly, he is not denouncing the prayer, which would have been a prescribed prayer. He is telling them there is a better way to be in relationship with God. That God is not judging them even if people are, even if other Pharisees are, that they cannot, cannot pray their way into God’s good graces. God’s love, like the love of the Prodigal son’s father, is not on the exchange system it is on the grace system.
You see we get really caught up in that exchange system, we want things to work that way, we really don’t believe that things don’t work that way – after all we live constantly in a way of life that bolsters our understanding that the exchange system is the way that things are supposed to work.
The Pharisees wanted things to work that way, they thought things worked that way, they had been told things worked that way- you followed the law and good things happened to you- you could be a noted Pharisee, you could have disciples, you could be known and looked up to by the hoi-poli, people would like you and then along comes Jesus!
The eldest son wanted things to work that way, he watched his younger brother go off and have a good time while he stayed and worked on what was left of the estate beside his father- no good times, no parties , no killing of the fatted calf - just work. He wanted his reward for his good behaviour and hard work and he wanted his younger brother to pay for his misdeeds – and what happens his father loves them both. Unbelieveable!
We want to be rewarded for the sacrifices we make, we want others to be well – punished for not making the sacrifices we made – seems fair – then along comes God!
And grace – and Paul.
What is the thing about grace that Paul has trouble convincing the Galatians and the Ephesians that it really really is something God does – grace originates with God – grace is what God is about. Gods love, God’s grace is available to everyone, is poured out on everyone, surrounds everyone and it cannot be earned.
What is it in us that wants to be able to say we earned God’s love, what is it that makes us want to be able to point to this or that and say “See look how good I am – I did this or that, I followed the law to the letter, I go to church, I read the Bible, I don’t have a tattoo, I don’t take drugs, I do this, I don’t do that – God loves me because …, I will go to heaven because…, in the middle ages you could buy indulgences (pieces of paper signed by a bishop)in the church (the Roman Catholic Church) that said you will go to heaven and you could even buy them for long dead relatives. That was one of the things that started the Protestant Reformation, Luther was incensed by the audacity and blatant commerce of the church. In his view God’s grace could not be bought and he relied heavily on Paul – thankfully.
Luther is a fascinating figure because he knew through his own experiences that you could not buy your way anywhere into grace, you couldn’t pray your way into God’s love, you couldn’t exchange your way into a relationship with God. God’s grace was not in our control.
Paul and Luther were strong advocates for just accepting God’s Love and God’s grace.. This is God at work – you do nothing but receive it.
And what a blessing it is when we just accept that we are accepted by God - just the way we are, accept that there is nothing that we can do or say that will make us more acceptable in God’s sight. What a weight it is off some of our backs. Accepted just as we are, just where we are, just what we are.
The problem is, like the Jerusalem Jews who visited the followers of The Way in Galatia and Ephesus, like many churches today – like many Christians today – there is always somebody who wants to say but…you have to follow these rules, you have to believe this, you have to look like this, you can’t be x,y,z if you want to belong here, you can’t really be a Christian if you…, you can’t be a member unless....
The problems is like the men in Galatia and Ephesus who thought they weren’t good enough if they weren’t circumcised, like the prodigal son who was so broken and beaten down that he thought he had squandered all his father’s love with his bad behaviour and suffered all the more because he thought he couldn’t go home, that he would not be accepted there convincing himself that he could be a hired worker rather than a son.
The problem is like the good Jews who visited the Galatians and Ephesians and told everyone they had to be good Jews- that is circumcised and follow all the Law to be followers of Jesus, the problem is like the good son who because of his good behaviour thought he had earned his father’s love and his inheritance
The problem is like us or, at least, like me a bit of both the Jews and the Galatians, like the prodigal son and the elder son, not good enough but I did this and this and this so God has got to like me, and knowing all the time there is no way I can measure up because it is not dependent on what I do or what you do. We all fall short, we all have failings, and we all try so hard.
Grace offers us a way to escape from the cycle. IN Romans 8:9 Paul writes this amazing line he says: “Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters”.
Not just that the community is to see themselves as brothers and sisters but that Jesus is a brother. – we are siblings not only to each other but to Christ. We are all children of God.
We are all loved by God. We are all saved by grace.
