July 31

Romans 5:8 says “Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” Try reading that sentence and putting emphasis on a different word each time. “CHRIST died for us while we were still sinners.” Christ DIED for us while we were still sinners.” “Christ died for US while we were still sinners.” “Christ died for us while we were STILL sinners.” Lucado says that “God has made a covenant to adopt his people. His covenant is not invalidated by our rebellion. It’s one thing to love us when we are strong, obedient, and willing. But when we ransack his house and steal what is his? This is a test of love.” Christ died for us, God sent his only son to die for us, while we were still sinners, living in and loving sin! But God promised to love us and forgive our sins, to send a way for us to be with him in eternity. (I can’t find a happy medium between summarizing the book and summarizing the discussion so I am just going to jump in and hope you can keep up!)
In 2 Sam. 9 we see David begin to reflect on his friendship with Jonathan. He asks “Is there anyone still left in Saul’s family? I want to show kindness to that person for Jonathan’s sake.” Little picture: Jonathan saved David’s life, David promises to show kindness to Jonathan’s family. Big picture: God saves our lives (eternally), we promise (through our faith and through baptism) to show kindness to God’s family (that means everyone!).
Do you have someone in your life that comes with a subtitle? Susie, the homewreaker. George, the alcoholic. Liz, the one who got pregnant in high school. Do you think of yourself in terms of what you have done, good or bad? That was how Jonathan son Mephibosheth, the cripple, was reffered to. (I probably would have reffered to him as Mephibosheth, the one whose name I can’t pronounce or spell correctly!) Lucado asks “Isn’t there anyone who sees you for who you are and not what you did?” Once Mephi is found and escorted back to the palace, he falls before his lord (by lord I mean ruler of a certain land) and confesses “I am your servant” (2 Sam 9:6). David could do any number of things here but he chooses to openly welcome Mephi, to reassure him that he is in the right place, and to make room for him at the table. We are imperfect, crippled descendants of a royal lineage and we have been invited to dine with the LORD (by Lord I mean ruler of all things). We have been shown grace and mercy in our current, seriously flawed, state. Does anyone else feel a sense of relief? Whew, I’m glad to be at this table and could you please pass the potatoes?
Lucado provides us a partial list of what awaits us at the table. Go to page 104, 105 to see the full list. We discussed that we are most excited about being “delivered from the power of evil” (Col. 1:13). As someone said today ‘evil is everywhere here, on earth’. It is oppressive, it is mounting, it is daunting, but when we get to his table it will be no more. We mostly agreed that it is hardest to believe that “You are perfect” (Heb. 10:14) will ever apply to a big ole sinner like me! But won’t that be a great meal? A perfect me, eating with a perfect you, who is sitting across from a perfect God…..wonder what we will talk about?
The next three chapters were a real light bulb experience for me. I hope some of you felt like they provided some insight or highlight. I love the intro to this section where Lucado writes “The more we immerse ourselves in grace, the more likely we are to give grace.” That was a homerun statement for me. It really hit home and it makes me want to get up and run! And how true it is! Don’t you agree that the more focus we put on God’s grace in our lives, how he has forgiven even the worst of sins, leads us to be more forgiving of the worst of sinners in our lives? It’s not easy and it’s not always fun, but then again sending your only son to die on the cross for a bunch of selfish sinners probably wasn’t easy or fun either. Some people have a major problem with grace and the main reason is because “to accept forgiveness is to admit sin”. To allow God’s grace to dominate our lives is to admit that we sin, and sin a lot. Why do some people have a problem with that? I tell you what, it is a lot easier to live in a world where no one expects you to be perfect and to never be perfect, than it is to live in a world where everyone expects you to be perfect and you never are. I’m glad I don’t have to live with that perpetual disappointment. So let’s thank God with all our hearts and minds that he doesn’t expect us to be what we cannot ever be. He freely offers grace to those who will believe that it is there!
How many of you would consider committing adultery on your wedding night? Not many of us would. Sometimes we see our commitment to God as a convenience. But did you get married just because it was convenient? I think not. So if we take our baptism as seriously as our wedding vow s and we work as hard at our relationship with God as we do our relationship with our husbands, can you imagine how great it could be? Some people think: ‘I’ll pray real hard when I need something or when I’m in trouble but as for all the other times I can make it on my own. Oh yeah, and let’s have a don’t ask don’t tell policy for my sins…you don’t come right out and ask me about them and I won’t tell you about how bad I’ve been.’ But is that what our baptism in the cleansing waters was all about? Is Christ’s commitment to us that flimsy? Lucado says “To return to sin after sealing our souls in baptism is like committing adultery on your honeymoom.” Why bother even dunking your toes in the baptismal if that’s all it means to you? Now, of course it is inevitable that we will sin but let’s not try to hide it from God. That’s just a waste of time. Instead, let’s thank God for the grace he has shown us and really make use of it. Admit your sin and ask forgiveness and experience the relief and freedom and purity that comes from the love of God.
Have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions: Why doesn’t God just remove the temptation from my life? Why doesn’t God remove the enemies in my life? Why doesn’t God alter my personality to be more godly? Why doesn’t God heal my aching body and my broken heart? Why doesn’t God give me a great skill to use for his glory? I know I have asked almost all of them. Sounds a little whiny doesn’t it? I think we do that a lot with God. But as we see in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.” We need some weaknesses (one of mine is writing, especially punctuation) so that God’s power, love and grace can be clearly seen in our lives. I love the quote from Lucado that reads “God would prefer we have an occasional limp than a perpetual strut.” So for whatever the circumstance, no matter how bad, God’s grace is sufficient. God’s grace is sufficient.