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This Beautiful House
Sunday Worship Sermon
AUGUST 30, 2009 - “Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’”
(Mark 7:14-15)
Mary had a difficult childhood. Her parents divorced when she was young. After the divorce, Mary lived with her mom. The situation wasn’t always good. Mary’s mom drank, and she neglected Mary in order to pursue her own next relationships with guys. This became a pattern, and as Mary got older she just wanted to get out of the house as much as possible. When she did get out, she unfortunately got in with the wrong type of friends. She engaged in a lot of sex at an early age, experimented with drugs, and finally became addicted.
One day Mary hit rock bottom and knew if something didn’t change she would die. Fortunately, a friend got her into rehab. The first days were real tough, she wanted to give up, but the staff encouraged her and eventually she made it through her treatment. As time went on, part of that treatment was having a plan for a new kind of life once she was discharged; a plan that, if she followed through with it, would help keep Mary from returning to drugs.
Things went fine for awhile, but eventually challenges came up in Mary’s life, and she was tempted to use drugs again. Mary’s friend, the one that helped her the first time, intervened again. “Don’t do this, Mary,” her friend said, “You’re really going to regret it.” Mary pretended to listen, promised her friend she would not use again, said good-bye, and headed back to her apartment. That night, needle in hand, Mary prepared to shoot up when she heard her friend’s words again, “Don’t do this, you’re really going to regret it.” But this time, it wasn’t her friend’s voice but that of some other.
Today, looking back, Mary testifies that it was God’s voice she heard that night. That it was God’s love reaching out to her before she even knew anything about God. It was Prevenient Grace; God’s love active in her life trying to prevent her from doing any more harm to herself. She now admits that she had heard that voice before but was too into herself to listen to it.
Mary is a different person now. She listens for the voice of God in her daily life. She is drug free, and she has a steady job and good friends. She put her old ways behind her. She unburdened herself by confessing her sins, and she has stated her belief in Jesus Christ as her Lord and savior. And when she did that, Christ justified her. He restored her formerly broken relationship with God. She could be restored because she confessed her sins, said, “I believe,” and meant it; and because Jesus long ago had died on the cross for her to save her from sin and death.
Mary is now living a Christian life, continuing to grow in her own faith, helping others come to Christ, and serving those in need. Comparing her to her old self it’s like she’s be born again; and she has. She has died to herself, and been reborn again in Christ. Even when she struggles, Mary seems to move through life with a strange, wonderful peace. People around her see it, and want it for themselves. God’s Justifying Grace makes that possible for all of us. Justifying Grace forgives us, saves us, and welcomes us into a new life with Christ.
Bill has his story too. Bill’s childhood was different from Mary’s. He came from a warm, loving family. His parent’s took him to church when he was an infant and he’s been in the church ever since. He was baptized and confirmed. On his Confirmation Day, he and his fellow confirmands confessed their sin, asked for forgiveness, and all stated in front of the congregation, “I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,” and he has repeated it since at all the right times.
Bill got through High School with no major problems, went off to college, graduated, and got a good, steady job. He eventually got married and started having a family of his own. Life was good for Bill except for one thing. With all that Bill had, he ended up feeling empty inside and he didn’t know why. He even changed jobs a few times thinking that would satisfy his need. Each new job was exciting at first, but Bill always ended back in the same place, feeling unfulfilled - feeling something was missing.
Through a few of the men in the congregation, God’s Prevenient Grace came to Bill. They too had drifted for awhile in their own lives, and sensed what Bill was going through. Bill was a believer, Bill was saved, but Bill really didn’t have a personal relationship with Christ. He believed with his head but not his heart. Justifying Grace had saved him, but Bill still hadn’t surrendered his life to Christ. When Bill was confirmed, he stated his faith in Christ, but he still hadn’t died to self and been born again in Christ.
The men encouraged Bill. They took their time to meet him where he was at. They invited him to spend time with them in various Church activities. And in the conversations that came up over time they shared with Bill some of the things that worked for them:
“Doing daily devotions starts my day off right,” one shared. And prayer from time to time throughout the day keeps me on the right path.”
“Worshipping on Sundays is about what I put into it. It’s not about being entertained by the worship leaders; it’s about all of us being active in praising and honoring God. Singing with enthusiasm the way we would if Christ appeared during worship. Not just listening to those proclaiming God’s word through scripture, choir selections, solos, prayer, and the sermon but hearing what God is trying to say to me on this particular Sunday, based on what’s going on in my life right now.” That’s worship. That’s the work of the people.
Another stated, “When I take communion each month, I am doing more than remembering the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Remembering is important; it is a part of honoring God. But Holy Communion is that and more. I’m partaking in the Lord’s very own Supper. That’s why it referred to as the Lord’s Supper. I’m being filled with Jesus’ very own love and power, of his very own vitality.”
Yes, these are things the men shared with Bill. And what they said, he noticed they also practiced in their lives. And he noticed they did other things as well. Frequently, he saw them helping others in many ways. Frequently, he noticed them gathering together to help people in need. Not people just in their own church but people in the community who didn’t even go to church, and also people far away in other states and countries. During these times Bill would hear them say to one another, “they need our help; if we don’t help them who will?” Sure resources we not unlimited, they all knew that, it didn’t have to be said; still, they strived to do all they could do using Christ as their example.
Bill grew to like to be around this group, and he found himself spending more and more time with them. He sensed that he was growing more like them, and he felt good about this change. One day he realized the he no longer felt restless with his life and unfulfilled. It had been awhile since he felt that hole inside of him. One Sunday, he heard his pastor talking about surrendering one’s life to Christ and being born again. He couldn’t think of a specific time or date when it had happened but he felt that he, himself, had been reborn in Christ and this realization made him feel very good and very much at peace. God’s Justifying Grace had not only saved Bill for the future, it had brought much joy into Bill’s lifetime even now.
Bill had learned one other thing from those men that took him under his wing. He learned that God loves us for whom we are, but is always working on us to become whom he created us to be. Until the day we die, God is never through forming and shaping us, like the potter with the clay. It is through God’s Sanctifying Grace, his continued work on us - after we’re saved, after we’re been reborn - that helps us become more and more and more like Christ himself. One might say it is God’s goal for us in life.
For four Sundays during August, we used the image of a house to talk about God’s three forms of Grace. We said that grace was God’s love actively working in our lives. In Prevenient Grace God turns us from our wanderings out in the yard of our sinful lives. He invites us up the steps onto the porch of his house and gets us to come to him at the front door.
Through Justifying Grace, God helps us come to the point when we are able to confess our sins and say “I believe,” necessary things before Christ lets us into the house to save us. To enter into God’s house, to be saved, also requires us to have our broken relationship with God the Father restored. Long ago, Christ’s death on the cross took care of that for us.
Being saved and entering the house is just the start of our lifelong journey through the house. As God shows us one room after another in His endless house, His Sanctifying Grace is shed forth on us, enabling us to become more and more perfect like Christ. Could any house be more beautiful, more appealing, than the one just described? It’s your house and my house, ready and waiting to be occupied when we choose to go. Lord, through your grace – your love active in our lives - help us to go!
Amen.
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