Grace and Peace

Do you recall the first public miracle of Jesus? It was at a wedding party in Cana where Jesus was a guest. They had run out of wine, which was a terrible breach of hospitality. Jesus’ mother asked Him to do something, so Jesus quietly changed water into wine. When the guest of honor tasted this new wine he made this observation to the groom, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (John 2:10)

That’s the difference between Jesus and the devil. The devil always serves his best first and then it gets progressively worst. The prodigal son started out with wine, women, and song, but he ended up with pigs, slop, and filth.

That’s a picture of sin. There may be the initial thrill of sin, but the next time it’s not quite as thrilling. That’s why millions are constantly searching for the next pill, the next snort, or the next on-the-edge experience to break the boredom.

The world, the flesh, and the devil always operate according the law of diminishing returns. What starts as a moment of pleasure always ends up as an eternity of misery.

But with Jesus, He always saves the best for last. As the song says, “Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.”

An old Native American story tells of a brave finding an eagle egg. Not being able to return the egg to an eagle’s nest high up on a rocky cliff, he decided to put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The hen sat on this eagle’s egg along with her own. Soon the little eaglet was hatched alongside the prairie chickens.

All his life, this eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the other chickens did. Clucking and cackling he scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He flew in a brief thrashing of wings no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how prairie chickens are supposed to fly.

Years passed. The eagle grew old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. “What a beautiful bird!” said the eagle to one of the chickens. “What is it?” “That’s an eagle, the chief of birds,” the chicken clucked. “But don’t even think about it, you could never be like him.” So the eagle never did, and died thinking he was a prairie chicken.

The story points us to a tragic truth. Though meant to lead powerful and meaningful lives enabled by the Holy Spirit, we often settle for a weak and meaningless existence.  We reason that since everyone else is doing it; it must be the way to go.  Surely we wouldn’t want to be different from other’s we know. But God has called us to holy living. 

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16 ESV)

Jesus told his disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV)  From the beginning of the Church, love for God and others has been the hallmark of our faith expression.

That is why Paul took the issue head on when he wrote the Church at
Corinth, where believers were being led astray from love because of their divisions, immorality, pride, and inconsiderateness.  In 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, Paul writes, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had come upon the apostles so that they were given the gift of being able to speak in languages that they had never learned so that people from various cultures and languages could understand them. But Paul reminds us that if we are able to speak eloquently in earthly languages or even utter the very language of angels, without love we are nothing.

Believe what you will about the miracle or sign gifts (and I’m sure that within the readers of this post we’d have a divergence of opinion), the truth is that life in the Spirit is characterized first and foremost by love, not by charismatic manifestations. By the negative, Paul reminds us that the only exercise of language which profits is that which is done within the context of genuine love.

Paul likens the sound of loveless speech to noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. Cymbals were associated with pagan cults in that day.  When going to a pagan temple, worshippers would bang the cymbals or gongs to awaken the “gods”.  To speak without love is as empty as pagan worship.

The Corinthians believed that their eloquence in human language and their ability to speak in unknown tongues had automatically ushered them into a higher plane of spiritual existence.  They enjoyed their “conspicuous spirituality” which ultimately only called attention to themselves.  Going to church, taking communion, marching for life, feeding the poor, visiting the sick or those in prison, singing praise choruses, and doing good deeds minus a genuine love for God and others equals nothing. All of these things done faithfully with love for God and others equals a life well lived and God being glorified!

A kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students, Joey, put on his cowboy boots.  She and Joey struggled with great effort to get his feet into the little boots. Finally, when the second boot was on and she had worked up a sweat, she almost cried when Joey said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” She looked down and sure enough; they were.

It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. But she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on; this time on the right feet. When the task was accomplished, Joey announced, “These aren’t my boots.”

She bit her tongue rather than scream, “Why didn’t you say so?”  Once again, she struggled to pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they got the boots off than Joey said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ’em today.”

Stifling a scream, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the ill-fitting boots on his feet again. Then helping him into his coat, she asked, “Now, where are your mittens?” To which he replied, “I stuffed ’em in the toes of my boots.”

The teacher’s trial starts next month.

Don’t you sometimes feel as frustrated by your circumstances as the teacher in the story?  Life comes at us fast and furious and often tests our resolve, endurance, and patience.  Each of us has “gone postal” at some time or another and perhaps said (or done) things which later we regret. 

Scripture has a good word for us in the middle of frustrating encounters with others:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV)

When we are hurting, we often keep our eyes on our desperate circumstances and beg God to change our circumstances. When we focus on our circumstances, we are focused on the wrong thing. Instead, we should be looking for God–to see what God is doing in our circumstances and life. Even though, you may see little evidence of His presence or plan, you can trust His grace.

There’s a great hymn text written by William Cowper that proclaims:

God moves in a mysterious way; His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea; And rides upon the storm.

My favorite stanza is the third:

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense; But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.

Even though Job suffered terribly and experienced deep despondency, he never gave up on God. Even though he made some statements that make us think he wanted to die, he never gave up. He never sinned against God by blaming God. He did not curse God and die. He did not try to end his life. He hung in there. He maintained his integrity to the end.

By faith he looked 2,000 years into the future and he saw a Redeemer who would stand as the ultimate King over all of God’s creation. He knew one day He would see God.

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God. (Job 19:25-26 ESV)

In the beginning, God is there.

All through life, God is there.

At the end, God is there.

If the Lord tarries in His return, we are all going to face death. For some of us, we will be better off dead–it will mean heaven and home for us.

If you don’t know Jesus as your savior you should do everything you can to try to delay that day, because this life is as good as it will ever get for you. Isn’t that scary?

But you can turn from your sins and place your faith in Jesus today, and you can be ready to die.

Job was a wealthy and prosperous man. He acknowledged that everything he had was a gift from God. He praised God in good times and as we read in Job 1:21, he still praised God after losing all that he had: And he (Job) said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

You and I came into this world naked, too. And even if we are buried in a $500 suit, we’ll enter the afterlife with zero material assets. You’ll never see a U-Haul following a hearse, because you can’t take it with you.

Some people think that everything good in their life has come to them because they earned it. There are people who think the world owes them a living, or that they deserve to have all their needs met. The Bible teaches clearly everything good in life is a gift that comes from God above.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

In addition to James statement, listen to Jesus words:

He (God the Father) makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45b)

Even those who hate God vehemently or deny His existence are recipients of God’s beneficence.  God is good and He gives good gifts.

On
September 11, 2001 men killed over 4,000 people. They killed husbands and wives, moms and dads, leaders of commerce, doctors, scientists, educators, and people with many other skills and professions.  Most of all they killed individuals loved by those who miss them most.

On September 12, 2001 men killed over 4000 people and again on September 13 and 14 and 15.  Every day men kill over 4000 unborn babies. 4000 each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month and 1,460,000 each year.  Those killed were perhaps future leaders of this nation, doctors who could have saved many, scientists who may have found a cure for cancer, educators who would have trained young minds, and only God knows what else they may have done.

On September 11, 2001 terrorists killed over 4000 people and the outcry for justice was great; the cry of pain was heard through out our Nation. Swift and accurate justice was rendered.

4000 unborn babies are being killed everyday, but I see no weeping, no anger, and no outcry for justice and no one who cares.  These are living babies in their mother’s womb. They are living human beings, created in God’s image. Human beings God has given a purpose in life.  Innocent human beings needing protection and nurturing.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 English Standard Version)

God created us in His own image.  God creates every child that is conceived in His image. Even while that baby is in the womb, he or she is in God’s image.  What gives us the authority to destroy innocent life?  When did we become so evil, that we send someone to prison for killing a dog, but license the killing of human beings?  God created animals too, but not in His image.  Babies are created in God’s image with a body, soul and spirit. Even the Angels were not created in God’s image. Only humankind bears the image of God by God’s design.

On January 22, 1973 the United States Supreme Court handed down the infamous Roe vs. Wade.  By a vote of 7-2 they declared the “shedding of innocent blood” to be a constitutional right.  Since that time, over 40,000,000 babies have died.  Over 4000 daily continue to be murdered.  When will the insanity stop?