Tag: grace

Mark 7:24-30

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            There are many times in our lives when not much happens until something becomes urgent.  A doctor, a preacher, or financial planner can tell us something until they are blue in the face, but it will not mean much without a profound inner sense that some sort of change needs to occur – that the way things are isn’t going to cut it any longer.
 
            Today’s Gospel lesson is a story of urgency.  Here is a Gentile Canaanite woman, a person who is about as far from God as one can get in the ancient world.  She was not concerned about appearances, etiquette, or any pretense to hide her pain; she cared about her daughter getting healed of her suffering.  So, she sought Jesus.  And the woman believed that Jesus was the answer to her daughter’s situation.  It was the dogged belief (pun intended) that Jesus will deliver.
 
            Grace is bestowed only to the humble that recognize the urgency of needing Jesus.  It is bestowed only in God’s good timing – not ours.  The real muster of a genuine faith is exemplified by a willingness to beg, and is demonstrated with perseverance in the face of the slimmest of odds.  A superficial reading of the story might lead us to think that Jesus’ initial response to the woman was elitist and aloof.  It seems to me that a better way of looking at it is that our faith will be tested to prove its authenticity.
 
            The woman displayed a raw, real, and persistent faith – the very faith that Jesus commended.  It makes me wonder how urgent I am in prayer.  I wonder what would happen if I prayed for one lost neighbor or relative every day with the same urgent persistence as the woman; or, if I begged God without giving up to heal my grandson’s epilepsy; or, if I persevered in prayer for revival.  Perhaps the real enemy of the Christian life is mediocrity and a false sense of acceptance that all is just fine the way it is – kind of like the Pharisees.
 

 

            Healing God, you are the hope of the church and of all who look to you in faith.  Please turn the world, and my world, upside-down with spiritual power that heals people of disease, depression, and demonic influence so that the kingdom of God breaks into all of life and does its transforming work in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Grace Is the Word

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
Whether we are aware of it or not, the world spins on the axis of grace; without God’s mercy life as we know it would cease to exist.  Judgment and death are never the final say over the earth – grace is the word that changes everything and transforms the impossible into the realm of reality.
 
The large Old Testament book of Isaiah is thick with the message of judgment for both Israel and the nations that surrounded her.  The sins of Israel were many.  The primary offenses were injustice toward the needy with the have’s taking manipulative advantage of the have-not’s; and, empty worship rituals toward God.  Social and spiritual corruption was rampant.  God pleaded with the people through his prophets to stop doing wrong and start doing justice, encouraging the oppressed, and defending the causes of people who do not have the power to defend themselves (Isaiah 1:10-17).
 
            Although God’s judgment was imminent through the powerful Assyrian Empire, God would not annihilate his people.  God promised that a Righteous Branch would grow up from the seemingly dead stump of Israel.  A child would be born.  A Messiah would be given.  There would be hope in Israel.  Heartfelt authentic praise will again fill the air.  Proclamation of God’s great name will again be on the lips of Israel.
 
            What is remarkable about all this is God’s grace.  God made promises to Israel not based upon what they would or would not do; God made promises to his people by his own radically free love.  It was not a situation of making a deal – “if, Israel, you get your act together then I, God, will be good to you.”  No!  Before Israel even had a chance to return to the Lord, God was already choosing to be gracious and merciful.
 
            If we miss the message of God’s grace in the Holy Scriptures, we have missed salvation because only grace can save us.  What we have in common with the Israelites of old is that we both are totally dependent upon God’s amazing grace.  Without grace, we are lost.  There is praise because it is a response to the incredible grace God gives which is completely undeserved (Isaiah 12:1-6). 
 
            Grace is the thing that is distinctive about Christianity – no other religion, no other place will you find grace amidst the awful muck of the world.  Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return.  Grace is recklessly generous.  Grace does not use carrot sticks, scorecards, or power politics.  Grace does not demand – it only gives.  Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.  That is what God did for Israel.  That is what God has done for us.  And when we get a hold of this truth, even a little bit, there is a cascade of praise that comes rolling out of our hearts and onto our lips.
 
            The prophecy of Isaiah is an adventure of God’s reckless love toward unlovable people, which is why it is one of the most quoted books of the Old Testament by Jesus.  Jesus came because of grace.  Jesus came to release us from our obsessive need to be right, our compulsion to be rewarded, and all our anglings to be respected.  Because Jesus came to set sinful captives free, life does not have to be a joyless effort to justify and validate ourselves before others.  The grace of God in Christ is a game-changer.  And when we get a glimpse of it we are forever altered and undone by its mercy.  Grace brings praise.
 
            When grace takes hold of a congregation there is no mumbling of songs – there is a shouting aloud and singing for joy because God is great!  Grace brings such joy and gladness that we do not care what we look like to other people; we are going to shout and sing and express our joy!  Yes, there is an important place for contemplative, reverent, reflective worship… and, there is a place for completely letting go, becoming unhinged, and dancing before Jesus!
 

 

The season of Advent is all about God’s relentless pursuit of wayward people – the anticipation of grace coming in the form of an infant – and the bringing of grace to a people living in darkness. Let us return to the Lord.  Let us be captivated by grace.  Let us renew our love for Jesus.  Let us lose ourselves in praise and adoration of the One who gave everything for us.  Let us worship Christ the King.  Let us proclaim his name as exalted over everything.

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.