The Grace that Comes Before
07-26-09
This morning, I’m preaching the first sermon in a 4 week Wesleyan sermon series. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was an 18th century Anglican priest, who at his time in history, had some new and different ideas about faith and community. In this series, I will be exploring the theological concepts of prevenient grace, Christian perfection, the Kingdom of God, and community accountability. This morning we talk about grace.
Have you ever noticed that some people are born "fixer-uppers?" They love to buy old houses with peeling paint, leaky plumbing, tiny kitchens, too few bedrooms and no closets. They don't see any of these qualities as deterrents-only the promise of some future project that needs to be tackled. Fixer-uppers are never happier than when their living rooms are full of sawdust and their bathrooms are full of holes. They love to wake up to the sound of protective roof tarps flapping in the wind. For these folks there is nothing more fun than eternally being "under construction."
The truth is all of us are tasked with being fixer-uppers, because all of us are continually "under construction" as we mature our spiritual, emotional, and physical selves. Spiritually speaking, there are many things that allow us to become a good work in this life; none, more important than the grace of God.
You know I told a few people I was going to preach on prevenient grace, and I got the same response from all but one of those people. Most said, "Huh? What? What kind of grace. Grace is grace right?" Well yes and no. Wesley, wanting to make sure that all new believers, seekers, and long time disciples, both educated and uneducated understood the depth of God’s grace in our lives, talked about three specific aspects of grace; Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying grace.
When most of us talk about grace, Wesley, would say we are referring to what he called Justifying grace. Justifying grace is our experience of God’s grace and love. It is when we begin to accept God’s love for us and begin to learn to accept and love ourselves. "Sanctifying or Perfecting grace," is part a continual part of our maturing as disciples of Jesus Christ. It was out of an understanding of sanctifying grace that Methodism’s passionate commitment to mission and social justice emerged. The Wesleys taught that as we open our lives to the love of God, it must make us more loving toward others, more loving toward other people. This love changes the way we live our lives. Both these facets of grace are recognizable and easily understood.
Yet prior to a personal understanding of God and God’s love and a missional understanding of God and God’s love, comes the concept of Prevenient grace. Prevenient grace literally means the grace that comes before. It might be more helpful to think of it as "preparing grace," the grace that prepares us for God’s forgiveness and holy life. It is a grace that is in all and for all people, even if we are not consciously aware of God working in our lives. As our first scripture verse suggests, God knows us in the womb and moves through our lives before we even have any awareness that there is divine force at work in the world today. God’s prevenient, or preparing grace awakens us to the seriousness of our lives shows us the way to new life, frees us to accept God’s offer reconciliation, and moves us to growth, maturity, and change. Wow, what love and grace God offers us; what a responsibility it is for us to respond.
I think our Gospel story is a good example of preparing grace. Jesus, having just begun his ministry is walking by the sea of Galilee and he sees Simon Peter and his brother Andrew fishing. He calls out to this fishermen, who by the way have not met Jesus until now, and says "follow me and I will make you fish for people." Our text says, "Immediately, Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Same happened for James and John who left their father sitting in a boat mending a net, and followed Peter, Andrew, and Jesus without question. Let’s think about this for a moment. Neither Peter or Andrew asked to have a few more minutes to reel in their nets of fish. James and John didn’t take time to say good-bye to their father. They didn't ask Jesus where they were going or how long they'd be away. They knew they had been called by Jesus and there could be no hesitation. And immediately they gave up what they were doing to follow Jesus.
These first disciples gave up a great deal in order to follow Jesus. Not only were they giving up their family life and community, they were actually going to live outside the cultural standards of their time, standards that said community is where you live, none of this traveling around business. They immediately they dropped their nets and followed him. And I highly doubt they did so because of Jesus good looks. I doubt they did so because they liked Jesus’ sense of humor. I doubt they did so because they were bored with fishing that morning and were looking for adventure. No, God was at work in their lives before they were even aware. The Holy Spirit was preparing their hearts, opening their minds, building their trust, filling them with courage. God’s Holy Spirit of grace moved something deep within their own spirits as they were drawn to this preacher by the sea. God had plan for Simon Peter and Andrew, for James and John, and these simple fishermen followed Jesus on a journey that would forever change their lives.
These days we may think it stupid or dangerous to even consider being as bold as these first disciples. I can guarantee that few of us would follow a preacher standing on the street. Imagine being in the front yard pulling up weeds, or carrots, or whatever, as a preacher shouts, follow me and I will teach you to harvest people. I personally would think it a good time to take a break…inside the house.
Prevenient grace is at work in our lives no matter how bold our response, no matter how small the choice. For each and every human action is a reaction to God’s work in our lives, whether our action is to follow the promptings from God, to become aware of the routine of our lives, the need for forgiveness in our lives, the call to a change in our lives, or whether our action is to ignore it all. God’s grace is always at work in our lives.
I truly understood God’s preparing grace in my life for the first time, when I was preparing to go to seminary. After taking a year to work in Washington DC and explore my calling to ministry, I decided it was time to commit to a seminary education and the process required to become an ordained clergy woman. So I applied to four seminaries, more out of respect for the process and my parent’s advice, than due to indecisiveness. You see, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to attend Wesley theological seminary in Washington DC. I had toured the campus, I had met some faculty. I was aware of the curriculum. I loved the city, and I already had a community of friends and peers in DC who loved and nurtured me. That fact that the seminary had offered me a full tuition scholarship helped eliminate any remaining doubts.
Yet the day before I was to return a phone call accepting Wesley’s offer I received notification from Claremont School of Theology in Southern California. I read through the letter… oh how nice 100% tuition my first year 80% each year following. That was ok…yet nothing could convince me to live in California. God’s grace was at work in me. God grabbed my spirit, and wouldn’t let go, and the possibility of attending Claremont wouldn’t let go either. I hadn’t met any faculty, I had never seen the campus, I didn’t know what curriculum they offered. I didn’t want to live in Southern California. They were offering me less money. I didn’t know anyone. And the next day I picked up the phone and called Claremont School of Theology and before my mind could comprehend what my mouth was saying, I had accepted their offer to be an MDIV student in their program. And Claremont is exactly where I needed to be. I was shaped exactly how I need to be shaped. I was challenged exactly how I need to be challenged the most. Prevenient grace; the grace that goes before, awakened me to my own life, freed me to accept God’s offer of new life, and led me to a place where I could begin to be reconciled to God for those negative aspects of my life that I had not yet dealt with.
God’s grace shapes each and every one of us. Its calling is both exciting and terrifying. And God’s grace continues to be at work in our lives as we are shaped as children by the world around us. As we have children of our own. As we find our first job. As we retire. As we prepare for our death. God’s grace continues to be at work in our lives.
And the good news my friends is that once God’s grace plants the seeds, once God’s grace awakens us to the possibilities and to the realities of our lives, God helps those seeds grow, despite our circumstances and our flaws. Let God’s grace awaken you. God continues to work in your life.
I leave you with this illustration. A house servant had two large pots. One hung on each end of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. The other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. For two years the servant delivered each day only one and a half pots full of water to his master’s house. The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable over accomplishing only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the servant one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
"What are you ashamed of?" asked the bearer.
"For these past two years I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you don’t get the full value from you work."
The servant said, "As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." As they went up the hill, the cracked pot noticed the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path. When they reached the house, the servant said to the pot, "Did you notice the flowers grew only on your side of the path, not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always know about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table."
God’s grace is at work in our lives. God planted the seeds long ago. God uses us in ways that we can scarce imagine. It is through God’s grace we are awakened to our lives, our sins, our world. And all of this grace is a gift, freely given. God’s grace liberates us to accept God’s love, and empowers us to ever grow in faith and awareness. Each of us has flaws. Each of us makes poor choices and finds ourselves in challenging situations. Yet if we allow God to work in our lives, God will use us to grace those around, freeing us to live our life as God intended. God’s prevenient grace is at work in each of us right now. And now is the time to respond. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Blessings,
Melissa