Much More Surely
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Third of Lent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Romans 5:1-11
Theme: Assurance of salvation – the grace of God predisposed to reconnect with us
Tomorrow is Caleb’s birthday. He’s going to be 10 years old. It’s hard to believe that an entire decade has gone by since we welcomed him into our family and into this world.
We celebrated his birthday yesterday. He had several friends over, along with his grandparents and Leslie’s brother Scott and HIS family. It was, all in all, a good day. Good play, lots of laughter, graciously generous gifts, and not TOO much getting on each others’ nerves.
Before getting too far into today’s message, a disclaimer needs to be made: Though this is not a Father’s Day message as such, I am going to be touching on issues of parenting – of Fathering – and the marks of a loving father, knowing full well that there may well be some of you hearing this whose point of reference for a loving father is not your biological father, but rather another male figure in your life: an Uncle, an older brother, a teacher, perhaps someone who did not come along until later years, but who filled that void in your life who took on the role of a father. It is to THAT person, to whom I would ask you to turn your thoughts in trying to put a face to the concept – to the idea and the ideal of a loving father or parent.
If you are still SEARCHING for that person in your life, I would encourage you to search patiently, diligently, prayerfully, with openness to who God might put in your path who could be that person for you.
On with the message:
I spent most of the time watching the proceedings of the party. Helped a LITTLE around the edges, took a few pictures, and threw away the wrapping paper as it came off the gifts, minor things. A couple of things came to mind during the party that I chose to tend to – a couple of short phone calls – one to take and the other to make, which took me away from the festivities.
I consider myself a loving father, for the MOST part. Not anywhere NEAR perfect, as you’ve heard me share from here or on one or another Wednesday evening Bible Study on occasion. I would much rather use myself as an example when things go wrong – because in my mind they so often DO – than to find an instance to point to someone else and say “That’s not the way to do it” – it goes back to having a plank in my own eye and trying to take a splinter out of someone else’s. It works better to work on the plank first.
But like I said, I think for the most part I’m a loving father – but even as such, there are times when I fall so far short of the mark – the goal – of fatherhood that I wonder about my fitness as one. That is usually in a particularly dark moment. I don’t have them very often, thankfully, but they come around on occasion, and I have to ask myself: will that that I just did – or didn’t do – be what Hannah and Caleb and Judson think of when they are asked to picture God as a loving parent at some point later in their lives, and will it stop them from being able to do that?
It’s a heavy burden to bear. A sobering realization that how I am with them is going to affect how they think about God. Maybe not their complete understanding of who God is, but on some level, perhaps not even on a conscious one – I will be in there. That goes for all of us who have interaction with children – whether our own or someone else’s, whether in a structured environment like school or Sunday School, or in random encounters around town or at ball games, at Wal-Mart or Food Lion, or Family Dollar.
Our faith and scriptures tell us to be kind to one another – even to our enemies, but especially so to children, to be gentle and loving, to be patient, to be willing to teach, and listen, to laugh and play. Don’t ask me to quote THOSE particular verses, but the overall thrust of the Gospel, as well as those places IN scripture where we SEE Jesus interacting with Children – it was in a welcoming manner – in contrast with how his disciples were apparently treating them.
We have this image of Jesus as welcoming, loving and accepting. By extension, and understanding Jesus to be God the Son -- God incarnate, we can apply THOSE same attributes to God the Father as well as God the Holy Spirit.
And here is where we get to the intersection of our text and our lives.
Kids will be kids. They will get distracted, they will be careless, they will forget something they’ve been told to do. It happens all the time. My family is no exception. I was no exception. I would venture to say that no one here went through their childhood without at least once goofing up. How did our parents respond? How did WE, as parents, respond?
Did we laugh it off, or did we fly off the handle? Did we yell, or did we gently remind for the 34th time in the last hour to do the same thing yet again? Did we threaten, or did we take the time and energy to correct, gently and perhaps with a little humor, and in the process create a lasting memory of how we would LIKE to be remembered as a parent?
You see, we’re all kids. We’ve all been there. We’ve all “goofed up.” We’ve all done what should not be done. We’ve wandered away. In some instances, we’ve actively RUN away – From God, from Jesus, from the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit.
And our image of what might happen to us if and when we come back around to ask forgiveness for what we’ve done – or failed to do – is on some level based on our own experience in our own lives, or worse, on an image of a wrathful, vengeful, dispassionate God who would just as soon let us burn as come to faith and a relationship with him – a person that is divorced from the image and the person of Jesus Christ to the point of being someone entirely different.
Paul is telling us in this passage of a God who is the opposite of that. He is telling us that God INITIATED the reconciliation that we are beneficiaries of before we were even in the picture – before we even LONGED for that reconciliation – before we even realized we were in NEED of that relationship – God as a loving creator and father made provision for us.
You see, the one thing that God does better than create is love. And he’s already done the creating – at least the INITIAL creation – God DOES engage in creation every day, minute and second of our lives – but God is working on teaching us to love – to love as he did while he was with us in the person of Jesus – and teaching to love like that is the work in progress. It was begun in the incarnation, and continues through Christ’s present body – the church.
So God has given us – has SHOWN us – how it is to love – to reconcile – especially when the one with whom you are trying to reconcile initially rejects you – or even kills you.
There is nothing to fear in God. There is nothing to fear in entering into relationship with Jesus Christ. There is everything to gain – everything to know, to feel, to experience, to find. God has saved a place for us – for all of us – at his table. The invitation is open.
Let’s Pray
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Third of Lent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Romans 5:1-11
Theme: Assurance of salvation – the grace of God predisposed to reconnect with us
1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Tomorrow is Caleb’s birthday. He’s going to be 10 years old. It’s hard to believe that an entire decade has gone by since we welcomed him into our family and into this world.
We celebrated his birthday yesterday. He had several friends over, along with his grandparents and Leslie’s brother Scott and HIS family. It was, all in all, a good day. Good play, lots of laughter, graciously generous gifts, and not TOO much getting on each others’ nerves.
Before getting too far into today’s message, a disclaimer needs to be made: Though this is not a Father’s Day message as such, I am going to be touching on issues of parenting – of Fathering – and the marks of a loving father, knowing full well that there may well be some of you hearing this whose point of reference for a loving father is not your biological father, but rather another male figure in your life: an Uncle, an older brother, a teacher, perhaps someone who did not come along until later years, but who filled that void in your life who took on the role of a father. It is to THAT person, to whom I would ask you to turn your thoughts in trying to put a face to the concept – to the idea and the ideal of a loving father or parent.
If you are still SEARCHING for that person in your life, I would encourage you to search patiently, diligently, prayerfully, with openness to who God might put in your path who could be that person for you.
On with the message:
I spent most of the time watching the proceedings of the party. Helped a LITTLE around the edges, took a few pictures, and threw away the wrapping paper as it came off the gifts, minor things. A couple of things came to mind during the party that I chose to tend to – a couple of short phone calls – one to take and the other to make, which took me away from the festivities.
I consider myself a loving father, for the MOST part. Not anywhere NEAR perfect, as you’ve heard me share from here or on one or another Wednesday evening Bible Study on occasion. I would much rather use myself as an example when things go wrong – because in my mind they so often DO – than to find an instance to point to someone else and say “That’s not the way to do it” – it goes back to having a plank in my own eye and trying to take a splinter out of someone else’s. It works better to work on the plank first.
But like I said, I think for the most part I’m a loving father – but even as such, there are times when I fall so far short of the mark – the goal – of fatherhood that I wonder about my fitness as one. That is usually in a particularly dark moment. I don’t have them very often, thankfully, but they come around on occasion, and I have to ask myself: will that that I just did – or didn’t do – be what Hannah and Caleb and Judson think of when they are asked to picture God as a loving parent at some point later in their lives, and will it stop them from being able to do that?
It’s a heavy burden to bear. A sobering realization that how I am with them is going to affect how they think about God. Maybe not their complete understanding of who God is, but on some level, perhaps not even on a conscious one – I will be in there. That goes for all of us who have interaction with children – whether our own or someone else’s, whether in a structured environment like school or Sunday School, or in random encounters around town or at ball games, at Wal-Mart or Food Lion, or Family Dollar.
Our faith and scriptures tell us to be kind to one another – even to our enemies, but especially so to children, to be gentle and loving, to be patient, to be willing to teach, and listen, to laugh and play. Don’t ask me to quote THOSE particular verses, but the overall thrust of the Gospel, as well as those places IN scripture where we SEE Jesus interacting with Children – it was in a welcoming manner – in contrast with how his disciples were apparently treating them.
We have this image of Jesus as welcoming, loving and accepting. By extension, and understanding Jesus to be God the Son -- God incarnate, we can apply THOSE same attributes to God the Father as well as God the Holy Spirit.
And here is where we get to the intersection of our text and our lives.
Kids will be kids. They will get distracted, they will be careless, they will forget something they’ve been told to do. It happens all the time. My family is no exception. I was no exception. I would venture to say that no one here went through their childhood without at least once goofing up. How did our parents respond? How did WE, as parents, respond?
Did we laugh it off, or did we fly off the handle? Did we yell, or did we gently remind for the 34th time in the last hour to do the same thing yet again? Did we threaten, or did we take the time and energy to correct, gently and perhaps with a little humor, and in the process create a lasting memory of how we would LIKE to be remembered as a parent?
You see, we’re all kids. We’ve all been there. We’ve all “goofed up.” We’ve all done what should not be done. We’ve wandered away. In some instances, we’ve actively RUN away – From God, from Jesus, from the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit.
And our image of what might happen to us if and when we come back around to ask forgiveness for what we’ve done – or failed to do – is on some level based on our own experience in our own lives, or worse, on an image of a wrathful, vengeful, dispassionate God who would just as soon let us burn as come to faith and a relationship with him – a person that is divorced from the image and the person of Jesus Christ to the point of being someone entirely different.
Paul is telling us in this passage of a God who is the opposite of that. He is telling us that God INITIATED the reconciliation that we are beneficiaries of before we were even in the picture – before we even LONGED for that reconciliation – before we even realized we were in NEED of that relationship – God as a loving creator and father made provision for us.
You see, the one thing that God does better than create is love. And he’s already done the creating – at least the INITIAL creation – God DOES engage in creation every day, minute and second of our lives – but God is working on teaching us to love – to love as he did while he was with us in the person of Jesus – and teaching to love like that is the work in progress. It was begun in the incarnation, and continues through Christ’s present body – the church.
So God has given us – has SHOWN us – how it is to love – to reconcile – especially when the one with whom you are trying to reconcile initially rejects you – or even kills you.
There is nothing to fear in God. There is nothing to fear in entering into relationship with Jesus Christ. There is everything to gain – everything to know, to feel, to experience, to find. God has saved a place for us – for all of us – at his table. The invitation is open.
Let’s Pray
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