Sermon July 29, 2007 Squishy Grace - Pastor Wesley Howell

I know, I know, we are saved by grace; that is, we are saved not by anything that we do, but by what God does. We can do nothing to add to our salvation in Jesus Christ. (What could we do to add to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross?) All we can do is receive it, accept it, and give thanks for it.

When we were up at Holden Village a couple weeks ago we had some great Bible Studies. Charlie Mays, a retired Pastor, led classes every morning about “Difficult Passages in the Bible”. 80 plus people attended every morning of which 99.9 percent were Lutheran. Day two we examined the story we have for Old Testament today…but the WHOLE story. We read about Abraham dickering with God. People felt pretty good. Wow. For ten people I’d save the city say’s God. BUT unlike today we kept going…and what ends up happening? It’s not a pretty picture. Sodom and Gomorrah are the names of the towns. Lot and his family get out but the city gets fried.

People REALLY didn’t like the story. This story is SO disturbing to me. It’s SO violent. Where is the Grace? Yes, where’s the Grace? Let’s re-write the ending so that God is merciful and gives them another chance.

Daniel Wolpert, the Spiritual Director during our time there, raised his hand. I may be the only Presbyterian here but you Lutherans keep saying Grace, and when you do your eyes kind of glaze over. I thought I knew what it meant but I’m totally not connecting. Could somebody explain it to me?
The answers came flying. Grace is God’s love. God’s unconditional love for us; that he’ll love us no matter what.

Wow, said Daniel. I thought maybe God’s ridding the world of evil could be Grace. God sounds more like Mr. Rogers here. Hello children. You’re special. You know you are. Can you say, Special?

It’s going to take a lot more than one sermon but we’ve walked down a weird path. Luther struggled to find a God that wasn’t 100% wrath…now we’ve drifted so that God is 100% Grace. And Grace has become God. God will love us no matter what. It doesn’t matter what I do in my life. That’s OK. God will love you anyway. Easy to take the next step where Grace becomes the new indulgence.

And we wonder why life is kind of thin on the spiritual front. We don’t have to take it too seriously. Get baptized, attend worship or contribute at least two times a year, and according to the ELCA you’re a member. Membership is easy. But being a follower, which is what Jesus asks…being a follower is tough. It’s hard work.

God, in Jesus Christ, has already done all that needs to be done to fulfill God's part in the relationship. God sent his only son Jesus to us, who taught us, healed, lived among us, suffered for us, and died, then rose again from the dead. He came back to us and he forgave us. That is God's part of the deal; but what about our part of the deal?

I think this is a parable about that.

Teach us to pray! Say the disciples. And Jesus gives them the Luke version of the Lord’s Prayer. But then he tacks on a couple parables. A friend knocking at the middle of the night. A widow looking for justice from a judge.

Our part of the deal involves persistence. We are saved by God's grace, not by our work, but . . . There are a lot of people who say God is distant from them. They say that when they pray, they feel like they are just talking to themselves. They hear stories about God impacting people's lives, but these stories seem to them as mere fairy tales. God has never said or done anything to them, they say.
And yet, perhaps the problem is not that God is distant from them, but rather the other way around they have become distant from God.

How often do they participate in the worship of the church? Do they ever pray? Do they ever read the Bible or seek God's word for their lives?

Here is a parable for you. A man and a woman were married. They promised, as people do in marriage, to live together forever, no matter what. Shortly after their honeymoon, the man went on a long trip. He left town and left no forwarding address. His young wife never heard from him again.

Ten years later, he shows back up in town. He went to his wife and planned to resume married life just as they had after their honeymoon. And yet, to his surprise, his wife hardly recognized him. She had already had their marriage annulled, and was now married to another man. "Why don't you love me anymore?" he protested. "Why have you forsaken me? Why have you broken our marriage promises?"

We have to keep at it Sunday after Sunday.

A cross may be free, but discipleship was and always will be costly. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, in words that have become virtually scripture in any conversation about discipleship:

"Cheap grace is the preaching of . . . forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
Cheap grace is . . . grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate.
Costly grace is . . . the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which one must knock,
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs us our lives. It is grace because it gives us the only true life." [Bonhoeffer, rephrased for gender inclusiveness]

Faith, hope, love, these are noble, high Christian virtues, to be sure. Faith isn’t easy. Jesus isn’t going to lie. It’s hard work. And Grace isn’t cheap…or squishy. God is NOT Mr. Rogers.