Tag: grace

Amos 9:8-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


             Doom and hope, judgment and grace, suffering and glory are the movements and rhythm of the Old Testament prophets.  The sins of Israel were not only that they trampled on the poor and needy, but that they saw nothing wrong with their way of life.  Thus, the time was imminent when God would deal with the situation by destroying that way of life and sending the people away to a place where they would have no chance to oppress others.  Death would come to many:  “All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’”
             But God would not completely destroy forever.  Restoration, renewal, and fruitful times will come as a result of God’s free grace toward his people.  “I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.”  God acts and demonstrates grace because that is what God does.  We often get the notion in our heads that God executes judgment to teach people a lesson or to make a point.  But God acts out of his holiness and his grace.  He maintains his righteous decrees while showing mercy to the undeserving out of his storehouse of grace.  
             Israel deserved only judgment, not grace.  God would have been completely justified to destroy them and never restore or renew them.  Yet, God’s grace overwhelms human sin.  Try and understand grace and you will be befuddled because grace is wildly illogical, nonsensical, and unconditionally free.  Grace shows radical acceptance where there ought to be only hell.  
             The height of grace, the pinnacle of restoring the fortunes of Israel, came through a baby and a humble birth in the small village of Bethlehem.  Jesus came to save the people from their sins.  God acted by entering humanity of his own free love so that there could be new life and fresh hope.  Let grace wash you clean.  Allow mercy to renew your life.  Let worship of the newborn king shape your season and the New Year.
             Gracious God, although you are careful to uphold your great holiness, your mercy extends from everlasting to everlasting.  May the gospel of grace form all of my words and actions so that true righteousness reigns in my life through Jesus, my Lord.  Amen.

Amos 8:4-12

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


             Four hundred years of silence….  That is the time known as the inter-testament period, that is, the time between the Old and New Testaments.  No word from God.  No prophets.  There was complete silence… until the fullness of time when the incarnation of Jesus changed everything.  Why so long to hear from God?
             The prophet Amos delivered a scathing message to the Israelites about their total disregard for the poor and needy in the land.  The people in positions of authority and power in Israel only looked on the less fortunate as commodities – as pawns to be taken advantage of for the rich merchants.  Because the wealthy never took the time to listen to the poor, God would not listen to them:  “I will send a famine on the land – not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.”
             We live in a day when the poor are often disregarded.  Either they are ignored altogether, or they are given hand-outs and services without ever having any significant human contact.  In other words, very few people take the time to listen and get to know the real face of poverty.  After all, we are busy making money and checking our stocks, and….  Oh, my, perhaps we have the answer as to why there is such a lack of revival in the land.  God shows such solidarity with the poor that to ignore them is to ignore him.  No matter our financial picture and outlook, every one of us can grace the poor with the gift of time and listening to them.  For in doing so we might just be listening to the voice of God himself.
             Gracious God, you are found everywhere – both the halls of power, and the back alleys of slums.  As I seek you more and more, may I see the face of Jesus in everyone I encounter, whether rich or poor so that I can share the gift of life with them all in this season of anticipation.  Amen.

Ruth 4:18-22

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment


            These few verses tucked away in the Old Testament might seem an odd choice for the lectionary.  After all, what could possibly be ‘gleaned’ from a genealogy?  One of the things I love about Holy Scripture is that, even in the unlikeliest places, it drips of grace throughout all of its contents.  
             Ruth was from the country of Moab – a place outside of Israel that did not worship Yahweh.  Ruth had married a Jewish man, but was widowed at a relatively young age.  She firmly decided to go to Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi, who was originally from Bethlehem.  Since both were widows, they were poor and dependent upon the mercy of relatives.  In a wonderful story of redemption and love, Ruth is noticed by Boaz and the narrative concludes with the two of them being married.  Ruth, from a pagan land, goes from near destitution to wealth, and from being invisible in the world to somebody we know and remember several millennia later.
             The genealogical postscript we have informs us that King David’s great grandparents are Ruth and Boaz.  The line does not end there but goes directly to the birth of Jesus Christ.  Ruth, the widowed woman from a non-descript family outside of Israel ends up being a prominent mother in the most significant blood line of all time. 
             We, too, were once outside of God.  But we have been brought near through the blood of Jesus.  Grace takes what is seemingly far-fetched and turns it into a reality.  Mercy looks at the improbable and the impossible and laughs in its face.  I can only imagine the immense gratitude and joy Ruth had in her life as she experienced such amazing grace as to be given attention and included in the life of the one true God.  Let us be mindful and give time today to reflect on this very same God who delights in showing mercy and express our praise to him with heartfelt thanksgiving.
             Merciful God, there is no god like you – giving grace where it is needed.  Thank you for saving me and bringing me into the life that is truly life through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.

Free to Serve

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
I am not into arm-twisting when it comes to recruiting volunteers for service in the church.  And whenever someone thinks I am being “soft” on people by not making them feel guilty, I respond with conviction:  “That kind of approach is not consistent with the gospel of grace.”
 
Yet, that does not mean we ignore guilt because only true guilt can lead us to grace.  We all have times when we feel guilty.  Guilt in and of itself is not a bad thing.  Guilt is the response of the conscience to things we have done or left undone.  Guilt is the conscience telling us that we have done something wrong or have not done the good we know we ought to have done.  It is what we do with the guilt that determines the trajectory of our Christian lives. 
 
There are several ways we can respond to guilt.  We can rationalize our guilt and not accept the truth about what we have done.  When we use phrases like “it’s not my fault,” “it’s only wrong if I get caught,” “I didn’t hurt anybody,” “they deserved it,” and “it’s not that bad,” then our conscience can be seared like a hot iron so that we eventually do not feel guilty.  The result is of this is always hardness of heart.
 
            Another inappropriate way of dealing with guilt is the opposite of denying guilt; it is to hyper-focus on the guilt by feeling ashamed.  There is a difference between guilt and shame.  Guilt feels bad for actions done or not done.  Shame feels bad for who I am, as if I am incapable of being good.  Shame believes I do bad things because I am bad and deserve the consequences.  In other words, shame is really false guilt.
 
            The result of shame and false guilt is always one of two responses:  either we become inactive through feelings of discouragement and defeat; or, we become hyperactive by working like crazy to feel better and hope that the guilt and shame go away.  It is to impose a certain penance upon yourself in order to cope with the dirty feelings of guilt.
 
            But the good news is that every one of us can have freedom from guilt and a clear conscience because of Jesus Christ.  If we have been victimized in the past, we no longer have to feel ashamed as though we caused or deserved the violence done to us.  If we have said or done some truly egregious things that displease God and damage others, we no longer have to live with the regret and guilt on our consciences.  If we have failed others and God by not living up to who we ought to be, we no longer have to live day after day with our consciences bound with guilt.
 
            Here’s why we experience freedom and a clear conscience:  Christ has obtained eternal redemption for us by his blood (Hebrews 9:11-14).  Back in the Old Testament sacrificial system, the high priest would enter the temple/tabernacle to offer animal sacrifice.  Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) he would enter the Most Holy Place.  The Ark of the Covenant was there.  The priest would slaughter the heifer and take some blood and sprinkle it on the altar. 
 
There were all kinds of rituals to perform in order to access God, and even then the sprinkling of blood only outwardly took care of cleansing the people.  But when Jesus offered himself once for all, the curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the people was torn from top to bottom.  The way has been opened for not only an outward purification, but an inward cleansing of a guilty conscience so that we might now serve the living God with freedom and confidence.
 
All are now welcome at Christ’s Table.  There are no hoops to jump through.  There is only a radical hospitality that accepts everyone who comes to God by faith in Jesus.  We are holy because of the blood of Jesus Christ.  We can now serve God with joy and not serve him in order to gain spiritual brownie points and assuage our guilt. 
 

 

Service in the church needs to be motivated not by feelings of guilt but by a deep awareness of grace.  When we are overwhelmed with grace, to serve is to love God, which is the very thing we become eager to do.  So, when recruiting volunteers, take the route of inspiring grace in others, not guilt, for we are gloriously free in order to serve.