Amazing Grace

September 13, 1998

1 Timothy 1:6-17

I hope you were watching TV the other night when Mark McGwire hit #62. I'm preaching about "grace" this morning, and grace is attractive wherever it is found, on whatever level. Professional sports is usually not the place to look for grace but there it was: a multi-millionaire baseball player actually putting people first on the list of priorities!

[Both McGwire and Sammy Sosa have done themselves proud! Sosa, when he passed the old NL home run record was surprised when the fan who caught it returned the ball. What did Sosa do? He signed the ball and gave it back to the fan! Maybe not earth-shattering. Maybe not even worth putting in a sermon. But to me an example of grace!]

On a more serious note, I heard a piper skirling "Amazing Grace" on the rocks at Peggy's Cove, and saw a Baptist choir and pastor ministering to people there in mourning. Once again, it may not have been "saving grace," but somehow God's love was being shown.

GRACE IS JUST ABOUT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORD IN OUR LANGUAGE OR ANY LANGUAGE! No wonder that the song Amazing Grace is maybe the most beloved of all hymns. It was written by a man who had been engaged in a wretched, sinful, sickening business. John Newton was in the shipping business: his cargo was human life! He was a slave trader. No wonder he wrote "Amazing Grace . . . that saved a wretch like me!"

PAUL WROTE in this letter to live by: "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners!" Then Paul added, "I am the chief of sinners!" But along with John Newton, Paul could testify, "I once was lost, but now I'm found!"

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO BE LOST

(cf txt in Luke 15)

In Luke 15 Jesus tells three "lost and found" stories.

The first is about the ninety and nine sheep in the fold, and the one sheep out on the hillside lost. Grace searches and brings the lost sheep back and there is rejoicing.

The second parable is about nine silver coins in a purse, but one that has gotten lost in a crack or crevice somewhere. Grace sweeps and scours and looks and the coin is found and there is more rejoicing.

The last and most famous of the "lost and found" stories is the Prodigal Son story and when the son comes home grace is waiting and there is a celebration.

Different stories. Somehow it seems different ways to be lost. You have to look for a sheep. You also have to look for a coin. You have to pray and watch and wait for a son to come home. But being lost is still a helpless state. Grace is the "help" that reaches out and brings the lost back home. There are many ways to be lost.

THERE IS JUST ONE WAY TO BE FOUND: GRACE!

In our arrogance we say "I found the Lord!" We don't mean it for arrogance. But in reality whenever we meet with God, GRACE has been active and the Lord has found us! That grace is active here today! Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, God's grace is actively seeking to draw you nearer to God!

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT AMAZING GRACE

Paul writes "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love" (1 Tim 1:14) Paul, like John Newton, said he had been engaged in terrible sin. He had been a blasphemer, a persecutor of believers. He had been full of arrogance and pride. But Paul had been confronted by GRACE!

GRACE IS SEEN IN JESUS, AND PEOPLE THAT LET JESUS LIVE IN THEM

Grace is truth about God. It is words (like this sermon)— but more: It has to get wrapped in flesh, somehow. It has to be incarnate. Jesus is the Source of all saving grace. But Jesus is seen in his body, the church!

Paul saw Jesus in the people he persecuted. He saw grace in Stephen the martyr. He saw grace in Ananias of Damascus! He saw the love of God incarnate in Barnabas.

If you let Jesus live in you, you can be a channel of God's grace! Scary, isn't it!!

GRACE IS FREE . . . BUT IT IS NEVER CHEAP

There seems to be a qualifier in Paul's testimony: "I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief!" Is this saying God never forgives willful sin?

The answer I would give this question is: There is NO sin which God will not forgive except the sin we put beyond his grace by our own pernicious unbelief!

But this IS a warning against counterfeit grace! Grace is a very dangerous thing to play with! Playing with grace as though it is a license to go on sinning is foolhardy business!

To search our hearts and come to communion bringing our failures and sins is one thing. To try to use the means of grace as a fire-escape without any real intention to change is quite another thing entirely.

JOHN THE BAPTIST SAID RUGGED WORDS "Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth the fruits of repentance!"

We are not saved by repentance. We cannot turn our own lives around. But we will not be saved unless by God's grace we DO repent!

GRACE NEVER EXCUSES SIN, BUT GRACE IS GREATER THAN ALL OUR SIN!

In my second pastorate I made friends with a man who had made a mess of his life. I went hunting with him many times. I came to love him and his wife, who by the way was his third wife. I came to understand that he thought he had committed the unpardonable sin because he couldn't go back and undo the mess he had made.

But one day grace broke through that black gloom, and I had the privilege of kneeling beside that man nearly old enough to be my father and holding his arm as we prayed together and he shook and wept and confessed and found clear forgiveness and grace! He lived a number of years after that with a clear witness that he was a child of God!

(Conclusion)

I began this message with glimpses of grace as it connected with stories in the news this week. But we are all well aware that the one story that has been overshadowing all others, at least for us Americans, is one almost too painful to talk about.

It seems as though everyone has an opinion about the sorry mess that has been revealed at the center of our government. At the very least we have been embarrassed by the actions of our nation's leader.

Is God capable of forgiving him? Of course he is. Has he truly confessed and repented? That is not for you or me to say, ultimately. Should he face the consequences of his wrongdoing? We have to leave that to those who have that heavy responsibility.

In the Book of Nehemiah, who lived under conditions perhaps worse than we can comprehend, is his testimony of what he, Nehemiah, did when he found the wall of Jerusalem had been broken and the gates burned:

"And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven . . .and said I beseech You O Lord God of heaven, who keeps covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments . . let your ear now be attentive and your eyes open that you may hear the prayer of your servant: I confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you: both I and my father's house have sinned... grant... mercy."

Let the people of God unite in prayer for our nation! Not to picket and parade in the streets. Not to lobby in political power. This is a time to plead for God's Amazing Grace! Pray for our President. Pray for our nation.

Prayer

Hymn