Ephesians 2:1-10 – As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
- Years ago, as I was attending Wesley Seminary in Washington DC, I had to take several courses in preaching – or sharing the word of God that I now refer to as the morning message.
- There was a fundamental rule: stick to one primary message – do not ramble so much that you have two messages in one.
- We, I will not ramble – but today I do have two distinct messages in one, but believe it or not, they are tied together. You are the judge.
- All during lent we have been working with Grace – that Amazing Grace – and today we are on verse six the final verse: When we have been there ten thousand years, bright shinning as the sun, We’re no less days to sing God’s praise Then when we first begun.
- The final stanza was not a part of Newton’s original hymn. The new lyrics are actually from “Jerusalem My Happy Home” and were reproduced in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s own representation of the hymn in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). By 1910 it became fixed to the hymn “Amazing Grace” as a fitting doxology to God’s ever abundant Grace.[1]
- Let us sing the last verse of Amazing Grace – 378 in our hymnal.
- The Book of Discipline defines grace as “the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit.”
- Grace pervades all of creation and is universally present.
- Grace is not a gift that God packages and bestows on us and creation.
- Grace is God’s presence to create, heal, forgive, reconcile and transform human hearts, communities and the entire creation.
- Wherever God is present, there is grace!
- Grace brought creation into existence.
- Grace birthed human beings, bestowed on us the divine image, redeemed us in Jesus Christ and is ever transforming the whole creation into the realm of God’s reign of compassion, justice, generosity and peace.
- Simply, Grace can be defined as the love and mercy given to us by God because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it.
- Grace is truly amazing, because it is given to us by God especially when we cannot earn it.
- Several weeks ago, I discussed Prevenient Grace-God’s grace that goes before us — loving us and guiding us when we do not even know it. Then, last week, we experienced Justifying Grace – when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
- Now – sanctification grace – the grace that continues all of our life as we live more and more into following Jesus as a disciple. This grace is the grace that nudges us into a deeper and more committed Christian life.
- Pause
- In 1995, I had just graduated from seminary, and I was attending the BWC Annual Conference to be ordained as a Deacon in the UMC, which would be a three-year process before I could be ordained an elder. Parading on to the Bishop’s podium with the other candidates, we answered questions before the entire conference.
- One of the most memorable was: “Are you in debt so as to embarrass yourself or to interfere with your work of ministry?”
- And the answer is supposed to be, “No, Bishop— I am not in debt!”
- Can you imagine being asked that question in front of hundreds of people?
- It gets even better!
- After three years of probationary status, I was recommended for ordination as an elder in 1998.
- Paraded back out onto the Bishop’s Podium, we answered a different set of questions. This time it included the historic questions passed down from John Wesley’s days:
- “Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?”
- The expected answer to both questions is “yes.”
- How could I ever answer the question about my understanding of the word perfection with a yes answer – so I crossed my fingers and said yes – what a way to start as an elder – with a lie!
- This question stems from Wesley’s understanding of grace: it’s the third part of his grace – prevenient grace, justifying grace and now sanctification grace. of “salvation by grace,” and centers on the third understanding of Grace – Sanctifying Grace or holiness or perfection — like the question I was asked so many years ago.
- “Nobody’s perfect,” we hear and believe.
- That’s because we think being perfect means not making mistakes, not having any problems – perfect body, perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect job, perfect spouse, perfect children.
- We look at our lives and know that’s not us.
- We look at our family and friends and neighbors and know it’s not them, either.
- And we look at our world and know that it’s certainly not perfect.
- Even though we humans have spent centuries coming up with all kinds of standards and rules and laws, and all sorts or organizations trying to make things better, things are far from perfect.
- Obviously, our world is far from perfect. We are far from perfect. But, by the grace of God we can be!
- Wesley got a lot of criticism for preaching a doctrine of perfection.
- That’s because even back then, people didn’t understand what Christian Perfection meant.
- They, like us, thought that being perfect meant being flawless, being sinless – being, well, perfect.
- And they, like us, didn’t think that was possible for us mere mortals.
- But that’s not what Wesley was talking about. Wesley was talking about being made perfect in love, of becoming more and more like Christ, of growing in love and grace by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Which leads to the third expression of grace that is inherent in our Wesleyan Faith, and that is Sanctifying Grace.
- I love the way that the UMC defines sanctifying grace: “Sanctifying grace is God’s unending pursuit of Christlikeness in us.”
- One writer has commented that the concept of sanctification is perhaps the most significant contribution of Wesleyan theology to the doctrine of the church.
- John Wesley, himself, thought that sanctification (which he also called holiness of heart and life) was the distinctive emphasis that separated Methodism from all other Christian expressions because it taught that our faith is a journey that ultimately leads us back to the perfection of creation, to the restoration of the full image of God.
- So often we hear – have you been “born again?”. Born again is only the beginning of the journey, not the end!
- And as such, it is the great hope of faith. God accepts us, redeems us, forgives us, where we are and then begins the process of sanctification, the work of restoration in us.
- Six months before his death at the age of 88, Wesley wrote in his journal of the continuing journey toward perfection that he had been on for more than 50 years and says:
- When I was ordained, one of the questions that John Wesley had written, I was asked was whether I believed I was going on to perfection. So, a faith that matters is a faith that helps people towards perfection.
- If justifying faith says that God accepts us, saves us, where we are – sanctifying faith says that God accepts us where we are, but God does not intend to leave us there.
- In the house of grace, prevenient grace is the front porch – justifying grace is the front door through which we enter a saving relationship with God and sanctifying grace is that which allows us to settle into the rest of the house.
- In commenting on Wesley’s house analogy, Kenneth Carder says:
- Sanctification is the endless exploration of the rest of the house.
- And so perfection, holiness, entire sanctification comes as we allow God dominion over our entire house, our whole life.
- And so, for us, a faith that matters is not one that excludes but one that invites all people to come along with us as we explore all the rooms of the house of grace.
- Now, growing, dynamic, faith filled churches – churches that are making a difference in their community – are not filled with people who have arrived, but rather people who are on the journey. A group that is always seeking to follow Jesus more perfectly.
- Not perfect people, but people who are moving on towards perfection.
- A faith that matters is a witness of lives who are on the journey and seeking others to walk with them.
- And we do that through worship, and Sunday School, and Bible Study and small groups/missional communities where we are constant working to introduce Jesus Christ in EVERY life.
- And God is calling persons from within His church to serve as vessels of His grace because a faith that matters is one that calls each one of us back, no matter how far we’ve strayed, one step at a time, to embrace the image of God in whom we were created.
- Message two: Palm and passion Sunday.
- Please close your eyes and listen to this:
- This is Amazing Grace played on bagpipes. – A very haunting sounding instrument. Many times, a bagpipe is used at funerals and is an instrument for mourning melodies.
- Here is a recent commentary on Palm and Passion Sunday[2]
- There is something about the wail of a bagpipe that just seems especially appropriate to the connection of experiences and meanings that takes place on Palm/Passion Sunday.
- Leading off the procession of the palms as it always did, the bagpipe filled its role as a festive instrument, one of celebrations, like those common in so many parades.
- It called to mind the joy and dynamism of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the festive shouts of hosanna.
- At the same time, the bagpipe is a martial instrument, with a long history of being present in battle. The steady march of the piper to the tunes being played was a reminder that many have marched to conflict, suffering, and death to the call of the pipes. In that vein, the bagpipes’ tones foreshadow the Thursday/Friday conflict already threatened in Jesus’ chaotic and messianic entry on Sunday. “The whole city was in turmoil,” says The Gospel of Matthew, and few instruments can convey a sense of turmoil like a bagpipe can.
- Finally, the mournful wail of the bagpipe, so often present at memorial services or graveside, sings the counterpoint to Palm Sunday’s celebration and energy. Whether we hear only the Palm Sunday Gospel reading or the whole of the Passion, there’s no escaping the Good Friday culmination of the drama. No matter how festive the hosannas and waving palms are, there is a somber element to the day, and the bagpipes make the awareness of that inescapable fact.
- The piper bears an instrument ideal for the day and its colliding narratives and competing themes. No matter what they play, some will hear celebration, some militancy, some somberness. Whatever the notes, the meaning belongs not to the piper but to those who hear them.
- Palm/Passion Sunday address all that’s happening as Holy Week commences. As we proclaim the triumph and the threat, the nobility and the betrayal, to hear what the Gospel says—be it the hope of a coming king, the acknowledgement of a prophet in conflict with injustice, or the empathic compassion of a suffering servant.
- There’s no toning down or quieting the bagpipe; there is simply playing it. So too on this day of festivity and foreshadowing: there is no reconciling it, no explaining it, only proclaiming it in all its chaotic glory.
- Amazing Grace: A traditional funeral song, “Amazing Grace,” offers the message of peace and salvation after death. The song finishes in the final stanza with a strong religious message of the afterlife which is sure to offer comfort to mourners.
- When we have been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, We’re no less days to sing God’s praise Then when we first begun.
- Thanks be to God!
Dick
[1] Amazing Grace by Michael Hoy 2023
[2] Sunday’s Coming Premium: Palms, Passion, preachers—and pipes – revwrh@gmail.com – Gmail (google.com)