Romans 11:1-10           “Grace Alone”

                       

 

            As I did the Sunday before, I want to back up to the last line of the scripture we had the week before. The very last line of Romans 10 shows us this incredible image of God with God’s hands out towards us. “All day long I have held out my hands. . . .” God’s arms must be getting really tired of waiting for us! The spreading of the arms to another is a sign of welcome and also of giving. It is a symbol meaning that I have something for you. It is the perfect image of the grace of God–like a mother or father opening her or his hands to a child. What you need, I have for you, please come to me.

 

            I want to share with you the last intense theological conversation I had with my mother—God rest her soul. About a year before she passed, I was there at the home in Los Angeles where I had grown up. My mother was living alone by then. She was suffering from COPD, on oxygen 24/7. She knew that her life was at that point measured by months rather than years.  She was reminiscing and said to me: “I have led the perfect life! This has really been the perfect life.”

            She went on to tell me that she had had a great childhood, growing up in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She had had great friends, a great education, a great marriage, great children, a great second marriage, a great house to live in, and perfect grandchildren. Yes, her life had been perfect, she asserted.

            Then, I had to ask her: Had she not grown up during World War II? Well, yes. Weren’t there turbulent times when she married my father? I remembered a lot of moments that could not have been called “perfect” growing up in that house. Well, yes. And having COPD and needing oxygen, how could that be described as perfect? Well, yes. My mother gave me those points. Still, she said, life had been wonderful for her! And, it had been as perfect as one could have expected.

            I am so happy that my mother passed from this world with a sense of satisfaction that her life had been good and meaningful. I praise God for that life. I hope that when my time comes that I can look back with so much satisfaction. I think this is a perspective that is gained with years.

            In that very moment when my mother’s soul passed unto God in heaven, that is when her life was perfected.  Honestly, we all live Kauai; we are all living a relatively good life here.  We have no war. We have enough to eat. We have good friends and family. God has blessed us greatly. Yes, we have some nuisance things like mosquitoes. But, we are in Christ alone perfected. We thank God for this life, and thank God ever more for the life that is promised to us that is true perfection.

            When I speak of the grace of God from the standpoint of being perfected one day, I can thank God for everything in this life–the good times and the bad. Life is not easy. Yet, it has been given to us by a God with open arms, giving us what we need today, and welcoming us back to God in the end. This is grace. This is grace. We will one day see how our perfection in God came to be.

            As Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:1-5, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling—if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked, for while we are still in this tent we groan under the burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

            Remember that Paul’s profession was that he was a tentmaker. That is what paid his bills and put food on the table for him. Here he is saying, let that old tent collapse for God has created a new perfect tent for you. Let it fall. 1 Corinthians 13: “When the imperfect passes away, the perfect shall come.”

            I remember as a child of the 1960’s that one day my mother bought a book from the checkout stand at the “Shopping Bag” supermarket where the family did its grocery shopping. “I’m okay, You’re okay.” You may recall having read that book a long time ago. The author Thomas Harris says that we go through phases in life from feeling that “I am not okay, but you are okay” to “I am not okay and you are not okay,” to  “I am okay, but you are not okay,” and finally to “I’m okay and you’re okay.” That is the supposed apex of existence in this world—that everything is just oky-doky.   Nope. Everything is going to be perfect. We are shooting for perfection with God, not just “okay.” That only comes by seeing God’s arms stretched out for you and coming back to God. When you realize that God has given you this life and everything in it as well as the life everlasting through Jesus Christ, then you are perfected.

 

                        Do you remember the Gospel Story of the “Rich Young Ruler”?  He approaches Jesus and asks the question: “What do I need to do in order to inherit eternal life?” The rich young ruler states thereafter that he has always obeyed the Ten Commandments.  Jesus tells him to sell all that he has and to follow him. The rich young ruler walks away. Do not walk away from the Truth of Jesus in your life. Do not settle for just okay in this worldly existence. God’s arms are wide open before you. God’s grace is in your life.

 

            I am supposed to be talking today about the grace of God. That is the sermon title. Grace alone. Saint Paul in his letter to the church in Rome brings up the example of the life of the Prophet Elijah. Now, the word in Greek for “grace” is “charis” or “charite,” and yes we get the word “charity” in English from this word. Elijah is called to be the last true prophet of God in Israel in his time. He is persecuted for being that voice that still speaks for God.

            God decides to send a drought and famine against Israel because they have stopped worshiping the Almighty. So that Elijah survives this desperate time, he is sent to the brook Cherith and is fed by ravens. God feeds him directly. This is the grace of God. He is able to survive despite the hardship by God’s direct charity in his life. Later Elijah is sent to Zarephath near Sidon (Lebanon) to meet a widow who will feed him. God sends that charity to him. Lastly, Elijah is led to a cave where there is food already prepared for him waiting on a rock. That is where he hears God’s still small voice. All of this is the charity of God over Elijah’s life. All of these stories you can read in 1 Kings.

            This is the story of the very meaning of the grace of God–the charity of God in our lives. God could have let Elijah perish in the desert. Nope, God fed him with ravens. God could have let him starve in Lebanon. Nope, God sent the widow to him to help. God could have let Elijah perish in the wilderness in that cave. Nope, God fed Elijah.

            In our own lives, God’s charity (grace) is coming down to us in unexpected and miraculous ways. God is not going to let us perish. That is why God sent God’s only Son to us. God did not have to do that. We could have just been left to live out our days without hope and faith in life eternal with God.

Don’t let this world mislead you into thinking that we are all okay and that that is all that life is supposed to be—okay. We were made for perfection. We were made to be with God in heaven. Through God’s Son Jesus Christ we have that life before us now.

 

Finally, the last lines of our scripture says “God gave them a sluggish spirit.” You see, this is from God. Everything in life is from God. This is the charity or the grace of God over our lives. God gave the Spirit, but it is sluggish in some! When one of my vehicles is sluggish, I tune it up. You know, I look for what the problem might be that the engine is running hot, idling rough, or stalling all together.

This is the call for our own lives. God has given us the grace of the Spirit of God over our lives. We just need that spiritual tune up. We need our engines looked at and tuned up again. Are you feeling sluggish, or just “I am okay, you’re okay,” remember that God has built you for perfection. God’s arms are wide, giving you all you need and more. The grace of God the Almighty is over your life day-to-day and into eternity.

 

Amen.