Worship Service Sunday, August 25, 2024
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve talked about the Church of what’s happening now, and that we are part of today’s Church, and how we can achieve the role as Christians in this church today and in the world. Spreading the Word is not an easy task. So last week we talked about Trusting God and the Holy Spirit that he would give us the wisdom, like it said in our Bible verse, to say the right words and have the strength and the courage to go out there into the crazy world.
Even as Christians we sin, even as Christians we sin every day. Did you ever feel like I really blew it this time? There’s no way God would want to forgive me now after I did that. I’m sure you all have seen the commercial where the woman falls down and says, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”. And we all can relate. We can sometimes feel that way when we’ve failed and we feel that we’ve fallen so far from God’s grace that we can’t get up. In the case of the woman who has fallen, her saving grace is the life alert button. Friends, we have that life alert button. It is the grace that is given to us by God. All we have to do is push that ‘grace button’ and He will grant us grace no matter what you’ve done. Take for instance the people that have gone to prison for horrible crimes. Think how they may feel about what they’ve done and how far they’ve come from being redeemed or forgiven. Are they not eligible for God’s grace? Of course they are eligible for God’s grace through redemption and acceptance. God’s grace is there for everyone.
Speaking of prison, there is a new movie out called Sing Sing, and it tells of a New York’s prison theater program that helped transform the lives of inmates. It tells their story with the alumni playing themselves. The program was founded at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1996 called Rehabilitation Through the Arts, RTA. RTA started with a group of men that just wanted to have a voice. At six New York State prisons, RTA unites inmates with theater workshop teachers, modeling for both communities, and approach to the justice system based on human dignity rather than punishment. That is its mission statement, “human dignity instead of punishment”. What a concept, huh? According to RTA, fewer than 3% of its members return to prison within three years compared to 60% returning to prison nationally without this kind of program. One of the statements that was made is, “there is hope and goodwill in every person, and we need to see the value of that instead of devaluing them because of what they’ve done”. That statement is true of us even when we mess up in that God sees our value every day.
God loves people like you and God loves people like me regardless of our faults. It is easy sometimes to let our past sins be a constant burden to us, even after we have confessed and repented. Paul has comfort for those of us who feel this way, And that comfort is founded on the power and the measure of God’s grace in us. Before his conversion, Paul, then known as Saul, persecuted the church mercilessly. He was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. If anyone could have been beyond grace, it was Paul. But God intervened and saved him. Why? For this reason, Paul says in, 1 Timothy 1:16, “yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life”.
Perfect patience, I need that. If God would forgive Paul, he will forgive anyone who will confess their sins and repent. If he would show abundant grace to a violent unbeliever, he would also shower grace upon his penitent children. God is not stingy with grace. Paul celebrates God’s saving grace, which he beat freely bestowed on us. Ephesians 1: 5-6, “He prepredestined to us (that’s all of us) to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will, to praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved.
Speaking of sustaining grace, 2 Corinthians 9:8, “and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” Verse 9 tells us, “as it was, it is as it is written, he scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.” God’s grace is inexhaustible and is given so freely that words cannot express it fully. Great sin requires great grace, but God will give superabundant grace to those who seek forgiveness.
Romans 5:21-22, “The law came in so that the transgressions would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more so that as sin reigned in death even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord what a powerful statement powerful it’s there it’s there for the taking God will lavish grace upon sinners who are truly repentant. You can’t just go around going, yeah, yeah, I’ll have grace. No, you have to truly be repentant. Remember, no matter how far you’ve fallen, you can still run to the Father. Our God is the God of second chances and He won’t give up on us. Don’t let your past sins weigh you down. Learn to rest upon God’s super abundance of grace. Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, But one thing I do, forgetting, listen to this, forgetting what lies behind, leave the past in the past, and reaching forward of what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.” Those are Paul’s words. We have to leave the past behind.
I listen to a lot of Christian music and one of the bands is called Unspoken. They they have a song called “What He Says About You” And “He” means God. In the chorus I thought the lyrics were very apropos for our message today:
You are loved
What He Says About You ~ Unspoken
Chosen
Long before the day you were born.
You are held
Forgiven
Treasured more than you’ll ever know.
When the lies get loud
Let the truth ring out till the only thing you’re listening to
Is what He says about you.
And it tells us every day in the Bible what he says about us. He doesn’t condemn us. He doesn’t want us to die. He wants us to be with him in eternity. In the end, people will judge you anyway. So do not live your life trying to impress others. God’s opinion of you is the only one that matters.
Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. Yes you can, with the grace of God. Amen.
