Lessons in Grace Part 2

Grace 2: Grace Gives Life—Jeremiah 20: 7-13; Romans 6: 1-11

            A few months ago, I attempted to plant some seeds of beautiful blue flowers on the side of the church by the playground. There are two small planters there, and I had high hopes. But as often happens, things got busy. I travelled a lot for work, and ultimately the two of us who worked on the planting forgot to water them. So, absolutely nothing grew. I tried in vain a couple of weeks later to start watering and giving plant food.

And lo, and behold, something started sprouting. This little green plant rose from the dirt with strength and life. And in a couple of short weeks, my efforts were blessed with a giant weed. I guess that one way to look at the idea of death turning into new life. Paul talks a lot about death and life in Romans. And today we see three main points in his letter and Jeremiah’s writing: first, we die to sin, though we are surrounded by it; second, God’s strength is immeasurable; and last, our God is a God of life.

First, we live surrounded by sin, but we have died to sin as verse 2 of Romans says. In verse 2, Paul writes, “Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” Now, if you’ve done church for a long time, this is probably a familiar phrase to you, though, it may still be a little theologically heavy to figure out. First what is “sin” to Paul? If you read closely, he believes we all have a bit of bad behavior in us. We lie, we cheat, we gossip and so on. But he also believes that there are systems of sin in the world around us. To him, the oppression and evil of Rome, suffering of the poor, the injustice of the world around him were all systems of sin that surround us and that we live in.

In the modern day, we haven’t escaped much. The products we buy might be made by oppressive and slave-like working conditions in overseas countries. Racism and hatred of one another when Jesus taught love and grace is a system of sin we live with. Poverty in light of the church’s mission in Acts 2 is a sinful system. And if you think these things aren’t all that bad right now, you need only know that a hate group out of Florida protested outside of Temple Beth Israel downtown Friday night during their worship and hung an effigy of a Jewish person from a stop sign. Hate is all too alive and well in our world. We live surrounded by all of this, but we don’t seek to knowingly be a part of it. Instead, in the midst of the evil around us, Paul calls on us to seek Christ.

In all things, it is our job to seek Christ, and to seek what Christ would have us do. It’s a rather bright line difference. Here on earth, we find ourselves in a place of sin and death. In many ways this world is a beautiful place, but we often still see so much corruption and so many bad things happening. In the midst of that we are to remember that in faith we belong to God’s kingdom of grace, and righteousness, and justice.

We live in the kingdom of God where we don’t dwell on differences, but we remember that everyone is God’s creation and someone whom God loves and wishes to be a part of the holy family. God’s kingdom is like an old-fashioned Sunday family dinner. Everyone comes over to eat and visit with one another. And everyone has a place to sit at the table. We don’t belong to a world of hatred, anger, cruelty, and 24/7 news of the horrible. We belong to God’s kingdom of love and grace. And Paul calls on us to live that love and grace of Gods kingdom in every moment.

Second, God’s strength is powerful and cannot be measured as Jeremiah tells us so vividly. Jeremiah acknowledges that God is stronger than him, and he wraps up his words with praise, saying, “Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For though I was poor and needy, he rescued me from my oppressors.” We know our God is a God of life, and that is life away from the evil around us. But sometimes life can be a bit weary. It’s in II Corinthians where we read that God’s strength is perfect in our times of weakness.

You see, Paul was a realist about life. When he writes of suffering, pain, depression, fear, and death, he knows these are powerful and potentially overwhelming battles we face in this life. Paul did not take such things lightly or dismissively. But what Paul reminds us of is that whatever we face, with faith, we already stand on resurrection ground. We already live as people of life and life everlasting. And, because of that, we can find God’s perfect strength in our weakness, giving us life when we feel most drained. When bad things rear their ugly head, we can remember God’s strength abides with us no matter what and in and through every trial.

Last, our God is a God of life, for as Paul says, just as Christ is resurrected to life, so are we. The language and grammar Paul uses tends to be quite complicated. And growing up with the King James Bible, thither I understoodest not. But, though Paul uses complex language, his idea remains relatively simple. There is a choice whether to follow what wrong and evil, hatful and mean, or with faith in Christ we live as part of God’s kingdom of life.

I want to go back to the hatred spewed at Temple Beth Israel and tell you a little story. When Rabbi Behar arrived in Macon, she invited me and several other pastors and faith leaders to her house for lunch to meet us, get to know us, and look at ministry we could work on together. It was an amazing time, and unfortunately it was early March of 2020. Seeds were planted, but things seemed to have gotten lost in the weeds. But I will never forget her kindness, graciousness, and welcome to all of us. Whether or not we worship and practice faith in the same way, no ministry leader should have to hide in fear in their house of worship waiting for police to come and help them be safe.

Christ came to bring life, to bring hope, to bring a gospel of redeeming love that had never been known before. You cannot preach God’s love and grace while hating someone. You cannot build a church while throwing people out you don’t like. You cannot change a community and save people from misery, poverty, hunger, and suffering without a bold and collective effort. We believe in a relationship with Jesus, yes, but we also follow the Jesus who healed the sick, fed the multitude, loved the poor, and taught us to visit imprisoned. As Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, then it’s not about God, for God is love.” And through that love we bring life.

Paul faced suffering, scorn, abuse, and imprisonment because he believed in a Gospel of grace and life found in having a relationship with Jesus. That is what he preached and practiced two millennia ago, and that is what we preach and practice today. In the bulb, there is a flower; in a seed, there’s a whole tree. In death there is resurrection and life. Such is the plan of God, to bring people into a place of life and hope through the grace of Christ.

I’ve learned a lesson about growing life since I managed to grow some lovely weeds in the planters out back. You have to water the seeds, look after them, keep them away from the bad things growing around them. You have to make sure they’re strong, for they rely on the help of the gardener. The lesson is this—Christ’s grace brings life now and life everlasting, and it is our calling to nourish that life through the love of Christ living in us.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/2164828923707801