2nd Corinthians 5:14-15 -?For Christ?s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.?
1st Peter 4:10 -?Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully, administering God?s grace in its various forms.?
Like many of you, over the past week or so Sue and I have enjoyed watching the Winter Olympic Games on TV. And?our watching has paid off because we?ve seen some thrilling events.
For example, one night we saw that exciting race where at the very last minute two skaters from the Korean team lost their footing which allowed Apolo Ono to win the silver metal in the men?s 1500 speed skating and a 19 year old American named J.R. Celski get the bronze. Celski?s win was especially thrilling because it was his first appearance in the Olympics. It was also his first time competing since a race about six months ago in which he sustained a very serious injury. I was particularly moved to see his parents in the stands proudly, if somewhat nervously, watching their son race and win.
Another night we saw Alexandre Bilodeau win the men?s moguls?while his older brother who has Cerebral Palsy cheered him on. And his brother wasn?t the only one cheering?all of Canada was as well. Tears were streaming from people?s faces as they sang their national anthem because Bilodeau was the first Canadian to win gold on Canadian soil.
Well, I could go on and on because we?ve watched several other winter Olympic events this week: the ski jumps, the biathlons, the figure skating, and so on. Sue and I always look forward to the Olympics because we know that these events insure that at least for a few weeks there will be quality television for us to watch and enjoy TOGETHER. I think of it as sort of a ?marriage friendly March Madness deal? because the Olympics are sporting events that both husband and wife can get into.
But of course, this year our enjoyment of the games has been overshadowed by the tragic death of an olympian from the Georgian Republic, a young athlete named Nodar Kumaritashvili who was killed in a training run on the men?s luge track. I read that this particular luge track is the fastest ever. Competitors typically plummet down it?s ice-coated tubes at speeds of over 90 miles an hour. Kumaritashvili?s death has highlighted a sobering difference between the winter and summer Olympics…specifically the events of the winter games can be very, very dangerous. If you doubt me on this I would remind you that in two thirds of the competitions that make up the winter games athletes have to wear helmets. I can?t think of any of the SUMMER Olympic games that require that kind of protection. Over the years at least five young Olympians have been killed in the winter games. Journalist Kevin Blackistone writes:
?Winter Olympics are not, like the much bigger Summer Games, a mere COMPETITION among ATHLETES. They are also a DARE against CATASTROPHE. [In my opinion,] the official symbol of the Winter Games should be two fingers, crossed. A study has shown that Winter Olympic athletes suffer far more serious injuries than Summer Olympic athletes. The list of injured athletes includes:
- Canada?s world downhill champion John Kucera, who snapped the tibia and fibula of his left leg when flipping into the safety fence at 65 mph in Alberta…
- …and American half-pipe snow-boarder Kevin Pearce, who will never compete again because of a brain injury suffered during training…
- …and French ski cross daredevil Florent Astier, who crashed into a fellow racer and wound up needing emergency surgery on a severed spinal cord that caused paralysis.?
As I read this, I for one couldn?t help but think of that ABC news footage from back in the ?70’s where a ski jumper from the former U.S.S.R. lost control as he sped down the ramp, and crashed through the side guide rails and then tumbled down the mountainside. His horrific fall illustrated the last part of their slogan: ?…the AGONY of defeat.?
This year as we watched all these winter daredevils, I wondered, WHY do young people risk their health and even their very lives to participate in dangerous sports like these?
Why do they race around ice tracks while wearing long razor sharp blades on the bottoms of their shoes?blades that can easily slice through flesh like a hot knife through butter? Why do these young people put on skis and then slide down a steep icy-snow-covered hill at breath-taking speeds? Why do they ski down a long VERY steep ramp that launches them hundreds of feet into the air so that they literally fly down a mountainside? For that matter, why do figure skaters attempt those quadruple mid air spins that could so easily lead to broken bones and backs? Why participate in the VERY dangerous Winter Olympic Games? I think if we got these brave athletes together and asked them these questions we would get a variety of answers.
- Some would be say they this as a way to seek fame?to excel?to stand out above their peers by winning an Olympic metal.
- Others would say they risk life and limb in the hopes of amassing a great fortune in the form of endorsements.
- Some would say they do it simply because it?s fun?they feel more alive when they are close to death.
These are the kinds of things that MOTIVATE them to do what they do. I bring this all up because in my mind the Winter Olympics prove that MOTIVATION can be a powerful thing indeed. The right MOTIVATION can get you to do just about anything.
And you don?t have to be an Olympic athlete to understand this basic principle. We ALL do things because we are MOTIVATED to do them. For example:
- We commute an hour and a half each way in bumper to bumper traffic because we are MOTIVATED to pay our mortgage and feed our families.
- We shovel four feet of snow out of our driveways over and over and over again because we are MOTIVATED to get out of the house and cure our cabin fever!
- We wear jeans with legs that flared out like bells because we want to fit in with our similarly clad peers.
Motivation is indeed a powerful thing?and we don?t just see motivation exerting its power at the Olympics or on the beltway or in snowy driveways or in clothing styles. We also see it in the CHURCH. Christians who gather together to form local congregations like ours?they do the things they do because they feel MOTIVATED to do so. And?there are lots of things that MOTIVATE or DRIVE churches. Some are motivated by tradition. Others by finances or programs. Some by the charismatic personality of their leader. And, while these are good things in and of themselves, they are not necessarily good things to motivate a local body of believers.
In 1st Corinthians 3:13-14 Paul says that God will judge whatever we do on the basis of whether it will LAST?whether or not it has ETERNAL significance.
Paul writes,?Fire will test the quality of each man?s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.? So the thing that SHOULD motivate a local church-the thing that SHOULD drive the body of Christ?must be an eternal thing?a KINGDOM of GOD thing?instead of a temporary something like finances, or traditions, or personalities.
This morning I want us to wrap our hearts and minds around the ETERNAL TRUTH that we learned years ago should MOTIVATE us here at Redland to do everything WE do and if you?ve been here long enough you know what I?m talking about. I?m referring to…our mutual experience of the GRACE of God. As Paul puts it in our text from 2nd Corinthians: ?Christ?s love compels us?motivates us?DRIVES us! Since we are convinced that One died for all, we should no longer live for ourselves…but for Him Who died for us and was raised again.?
In short, we have been called to be a GRACE-DRIVEN church?which of course makes it vital that we understand exactly what GRACE is! I believe this will be ESPECIALLY important as the ROC comes on line with it?s rec ministries that draw lost people onto our campus…non-Christians who haven?t experienced God?s grace…lost people whose concept of Christians might be limited to believers who are a little lacking in the grace department. So what exactly is GRACE? Well…the word literally means, ?to bend or stoop.? You could put it this way, ?Biblical grace is God?s condescending favor.? An earthly example of this aspect of grace is seen in the way that English royalty relates to commoners. Usually they have nothing to do with ordinary, COMMON people. No?England?s royal family tends to be aloof and distant. They are driven around the kingdom in caravans of limos with dark, tinted glass. Their palaces are surrounded by high fences, deep moats, and armed guards. So, if you are a common bloke, your best chance at seeing the royal family is when they gather on a high balcony of Buckingham Palace and give you that royal ?wave.?
But history records the fact that from time to time English rulers have stood out because for some reason they stopped, gotten down, and touched or blessed a commoner. That?s a picture of grace. That?s ?condescending favor.? There is nothing in the commoner that deserves being noticed or touched or blessed by the royal family, but because of grace in the heart of this earthly king or queen, there was the desire at that moment to pause, to stoop, to touch, even to bless. This earthly example of grace reminds me of the words of Philippians 2 where Paul talks about when the King of Kings paused to stoop, touch and bless. Do you remember Paul?s words? ?Jesus Christ, being in very nature God…STOOPED…He CONDESCENDED…He came down to our level…and made Himself nothing…He humbled Himself and BLESSED us by being obedient to death?even death on a cross.? The late theologian, Donald Grey Barhnouse put it this way. He said, ?Love that goes UPWARD is WORSHIP; love that goes OUTWARD is AFFECTION. Love that STOOPS is GRACE.?
So to summarize, GRACE is God?s condescending, absolutely unmerited favor. It is God ?stooping? to give us what we could never hope to earn or deserve. And, as I inferred, the GREATEST example of this was when God sent His only Son down to earth from Heaven for the purpose of dying in our place on the cross…but the fact is God CONTINUES to bestow His grace on us every single day, as He stoops to bless us with other things we could never deserve or earn:
- His guidance in life-decisions
- His forgiveness when we disobey Him
- His strength when we try to do His will
- His healing power when we are sick
- His presence when we are lonely or afraid
I could go on and on giving examples of ways that God regularly condescends to favor us…to shower us with His unmerited favor because GRACE means that bound up in our Heavenly Father is an inclination to bestow benefits on UNDESERVING people…people like you and me.
Now, of course?a GOOD human might want to bestow a benefit or two on a DESERVING person. For example: if you are known as a hardworking youth pastor who just got back from a youth retreat, your pastor might say, ?Kevin, you?ve been on duty night and day three days straight. Take president?s day off!? Or, if you are known as a GOOD student, your teacher may give you a couple extra days to finish a term paper. Or, if your grandmom loves you…she might buy you an ice-cream cone even if you didn?t clean your plate at supper…just because she knows that all in all you?re a pretty good kid. There is nothing unusual abut this type of behavior. We see this weaker form of grace?grace that gives gifts to DESERVING people?we see it all the time. But God?s grace is FAR ABOVE this weaker human version! God?s grace is as EXTRAORDINARY as human grace is ORDINARY. You see…He gives good things even to UNDESERVING people. He gives us good when we deserve bad. It is His nature to do so. And as His children?as His church?as the flesh and bones He is using to further His eternal kingdom on this fallen world?we are called to express, to dispense, THAT KIND of grace. Our experience of God?s amazing grace should drive us to become gracious people?but of course if that is to happen, if we are to be KNOWN as a Grace-driven church….then we need to understand it so this morning I want us to review four basic, foundational statements about grace?and the first is this:
(1) God?s grace is NOT a NEW idea?but it is a RARE thing.
Now?many people seem to think that God didn?t start being loving and gracious until Jesus came. In their mind?s GRACE was something God thought up when mankind failed to obey His laws. They believe He tried the ten commandments and the rest of the Old Testament law and when that didn?t work, He came up with PLAN B: The Grace Plan. But this is not true. Grace was God?s ORIGINAL plan, set into motion long before the law was revealed to Moses. The purpose of the law has ALWAYS been to show how much we are dependent on God?s grace. The fact is God graced us with His condescending favor?BEFORE man was created. 1 Peter 1:18-20 says,?You were redeemed from your empty way of life with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world.?
And?even prior to man?s fall, Adam and Eve EXPERIENCED God?s grace. Think about it. They didn?t deserve to be put into a lavish garden where all their needs were met by a loving Creator. They had done nothing to earn God?s intimate fellowship in that heavenly place, so even before they sinned Adam and Eve experienced God?s grace?His condescending favor. So…God?s GRACE is NOT a new idea. You could say it is literally older than dirt because it was around before the world was created. Now?you would think that since GRACE has been around since before the dawn of time it would be a common thing. You?d think everyone would know about it. But that?s not the case. Since ours is a fallen world, God?s caliber of grace is a RARE thing?an unheard of thing in most places. In our society, instead of grace?instead of undeserved favor?you get pretty much what you deserve. You get what you pay for. The theme of our culture is ?quid pro quo, you reap what you sow.? Think of it:
- When it comes time to pay all your Christmas bills…and you discover that you charged more than you could afford, if you called VISA and explained, would you expect them to say, ?Don?t worry about it. Just pay what you can and we?ll forget about the rest.? Not going to happen is it?!
- If you call your home owner?s insurance and to tell them you have water damage cause by ice dams in your gutters and they send a guy out to inspect, does he say, ?Well, your policy says we don?t cover damage to contents in situations like this, but hey don?t worry about it, we?ll pay the entire cost anyway?? I can tell you by experience?you?ll never hear an insurance adjuster say that.
- If you cut someone off in traffic causing them to slam on the brakes do they smile and give you an understanding wave or do they slam on the horn & give you another ?wave??
No…in our world Grace is a RARE thing…and unfortunately one of the places where grace is scarcest is in many churches. I mean, most believers are not very good at dispensing the grace they have received. We tend to dole out more legalism and judgment than we do grace. Philip Yancey writes, ?Christians have spent enormous energy over the years debating and decreeing truth; every church defends its own particular version. But what about grace? How rare it is to find a church competing to ?out-grace? its rivals.?
This is sad because the main thing that distinguishes the Christian faith from false belief systems is GRACE. GRACE is the one thing the church has to offer that cannot be obtained anywhere else. Swindoll writes, ?In false religions, enough is never enough. They require followers to sacrifice more, achieve more, suffer more, learn more, or improve more. But the Christian enjoys peace with God by grace. We never need to worry abut whether our deeds were sufficiently good to earn a secure afterlife. We never need to fear death or divine judgement.
We rest securely in the unearned, undeserved, freely given gift of eternal life with our Maker,
Who has promised to accept and embrace all who receive His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.?
As Christians we should be grace experts?but instead many of us are grace rookies. This is one reason that, in spite of the fact that grace is OLD it is a RARE thing. Here?s a second basic ?grace fact.?
(2) God?s grace is BIG enough to cover the sins of all PEOPLE and that?s good because all PEOPLE need it.
This is an important GRACE principle for us to embrace because many times as we look at the heinous sinners of the world: the Adolph Hitlers and the Elizabeth Smart kidnappers…the Osama Ben Ladens…and the child molesters, etc. Well, we compare ourselves to them and as we do this we begin to conclude that we aren?t so bad off. We might even begin to think we?re pretty good…good enough not to need God?s great big grace. It?s kind of like being a figure skater in the Olympics. You think, ?I fell once in my routine, but those guys fell three times and one guy even lost control on a spin and landed in the judges? lap! So, I definitely deserve the gold!?
Well, that kind of comparison may work in the Olympics but it s a foolish way to live because the Bible TEACHES?and the way we each live our lives?SHOWS….that each and every one of us are hopelessly lost sinners… in desperate need of God?s forgiveness. In Romans 3 Paul talks about this foolish kind of comparison. He says,?Shall we conclude that we are any better than the ?true? sinners of the world…the ?experts?? NOT AT ALL! As it is written, ?There is NO ONE RIGHTEOUS, not even ONE! There is NO ONE who understands…NO ONE who seeks God. All have turned away!? Then later in verses 23 and 24 he sums it all up with these familiar, convicting words: ?ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His GRACE through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.? So, the fact is NONE of us have a single shred of self-righteousness to cling to. We would all be lost and bound for Hell, if it weren?t for our faith in God?s grace.
David Jeremiah says,?You can be the most upright citizen in town and before the revealing light of heaven be seen as a miserable wretch at the mercy of a holy God. You can have a crime-free record, perfect standing with the IRS, the works of Mother Teresa, the passion of Paul and the conviction of Gandhi, but you still stand accused and convicted….before the perfect standards of an infinitely righteous Judge.?
The Bible refers to this particular principle of grace as TOTAL depravity and TOTAL means exactly that. EACH and EVERY ONE of us are depraved sinners.
Swindoll puts it this way, ?If depravity were blue we?d be blue all over. We?d bleed blue, think blue thoughts, and have no possibility of a single fragment of a second when our heart, soul, and mind weren?t flooded in blue. You could be as colorful a personality as you wish, but every tint of the rainbow would be overwhelmed by blue.?
My daughter Sarah has a camera that allows you to take a picture that only reveals one color. The rest of the shot is black and white. For example she can screen out every other color but blue and it?s amazing because there is indeed blue in everything. You get some very interesting ?blue? shots on that setting. Well, it underscores this principle, I mean, if there was a camera that highlighted sin, we?d see it in everyone because all of us are sinners. All of us are depraved. All of us need God?s grace. Ivan Turgeneve, the 19th century Russian novelist and playwright said,?I don?t know what the heart of a bad man is like, but I do know what the heart of a good man is like….and it is terrible.? Jerry Bridges adds,?Your WORST days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God?s grace. And your BEST days are never so good that you are beyond the NEED of it.? So this fact that God?s grace is big?this fact that God loved the WORLD so much that He sent His Son…this fact that, as 1st John 2:2 says Jesus is, ?…the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins for the whole world.? The fact that,?If we confess our sins?ANY SINS?God is faithful and just and will forgive us and cleanse us from all righteousness…? The fact that God?s grace is BIG is WONDERFUL news because we are all sinners with a BIG pile of sins.
Don?t misunderstand me?this DOESN?T mean if we are grace-driven we are soft on sin. Of course not. We know what our sin cost God so we still look at SIN the same way…but we do look at SINNERS differently. We look at them as peers! As C. S. Lewis once said,?To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.? This leads us to a third basic truth about grace
(3) God?s GRACE is not FAIR?in fact, it?s unfair enough to be absolutely FREE.
Let me put it this way, if you, if I got what was fair?what we deserved?we would all end up separated from God for all eternity. After all, as guilty sinners that is what we all deserve?that kind of punishment would be fair. So, thank God, His grace is NOT based on fairness. No?it?s based on the fact that Jesus unfairly endured our FAIR punishment on the cross. Because of His gracious act on Calvary God gives us what we don?t deserve…..and I really mean that word ?GIVES? because grace means our salvation costs us nothing. It?s God?s absolutely free gift. We don?t contribute anything to our redemption except our sin. Even that first nudging of faith that lead?s a person to God is His gracious gift to us. This is what Jesus taught in John 6:44 when He said,?No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him.? No?God?s grace is free. As it says in Romans 3:24,we are, ?…justified FREELY by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.?
Here?s one more basic fact about grace.
(4) It?s more than something you EXPERIENCE. It?s something you LIVE.
Once you fully grasp God?s grace?once you understand that you have experienced His condescending favor?it changes you?or it SHOULD. Grace should drive you?MOTIVATE you to become a gracious person.
One of my favorite stories is Victor Hugo?s Les Miserables. It centers on the life of a man called Jean Valjean, who was imprisoned during the French revolution for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. He serves 19 years of hard labor and becomes bitter and angry toward both society and God. After his release from prison Valjean wanders for days begging for food and shelter but receives nothing but denials from graceless people who do not want to help a convict. Finally, the weary and hungry Valjean arrives at the door of a poor bishop named, Monseigneur Myriel. The bishop invites him in and offers him a hot meal and a warm bed. At the dinner table Valjean bitterly explains his situation but then brags that with food in his stomach and a night?s sleep in a real bed he would become a new man. Instead that night after everyone else is asleep he decides to rob his gracious host. Watch this clip from the film version of Hugo?s classic story.
[Show Les Miserables clip from 6:17 – 9:53]
Listen once again to the bishop?s challenge to Valjean. He says, ?Jean Valjean don?t forget…don?t ever forget. You?ve promised to become a new man. Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil…With this silver I?ve bought your soul. I?ve ransomed you from fear and hatred.?
Well, for the rest of his life Jean Valjean was driven by the truth of that challenge. Because of his experience of the bishop?s grace, Jean Valjean made his entire life an act of love. He was driven to become an honest laborer and eventually saved enough to buy a factory that provided work for an entire town…where he was so known for his generosity and grace that they forced him to become mayor. Grace drove him to provide shelter for a dying prostitute and then to devote himself to raising her little girl, Cosette, as his own daughter. Later he faced peril to save the man who loves Cosette, even though he knew it meant returning to prison. In short, Valjean?s experience of grace MOTIVATES him to live it. One of the reasons I believe Hugo?s story is so much-loved?is the fact that ours is a GRACE-needing world. People hunger for God?s grace. So they are drawn to this story about grace as a moth is drawn out of the darkness toward the light.
Well?do you understand better what it is that drives us here at Redland? Our experience of God?s grace is what motivates us to worship….and to share our faith….to gather to encourage and love one another as friends who stick closer than a brother.God?s grace compels us to strive to become more like Jesus…and to serve others selflessly?sacrificially?a reflection of His sacrifice for us. We live to give grace in all these ways.
We come now to our time of decision. In my mind this is the most important part of our service because it is these moments in which we respond to the motivation of God?s Holy Spirit. You see, I believe that during this service, God?s Spirit has been graciously drawing us?speaking to us. For example, you may be here today and are a Christian, looking for a church home and God?s Spirit has made you want to be a part of Redland. Well, if God is driving you…compelling you…to join us then we invite you to leave your seat and come forward and make this commitment today. Or maybe God has used our review of the basics of grace to motivate you in other ways. Perhaps it drives you to ask God?s forgiveness for some sin that you thought was too big for Him to forgive. Maybe it compels you to change the way you are responding to the sins of someone in your life…a friend or family member. Or maybe you are here today and God has used this study to draw you to Him. This has become a moment of truth as He graciously offers you the gift of salvation. Won?t you admit your guilt and need and accept it today? In any way that God?s grace motivates you, respond as we sing by coming forward and sharing your decision with me or Bobby or Kevin.