Means of Grace

Series: Wesley's Means of Grace: What is Grace?
Scripture: Exodus 15:22-27 and Ephesians 2:1-9
Title: "A woman's name that rhymes with brace"

Sarah and I are getting to really like living here. We had a great fourth of July weekend. We just wish we weren’t so dead tired every night because we heard that some of the bands downtown were pretty good. Things are slowly starting to feel comfortable. Our house is slowly getting in order, but it might be awhile before all the cardboard is gone. But do you want to know what one of the toughest things to get used to when you move is? This is something I have not gotten used to and it still really bothers me. And it has nothing to do in particular with moving from Saint Louis to Chenoa.The worst thing right now is not the train that goes by at night. Its not the feeling of sleeping in a big empty house. Its not searching in every room for a light switch. The worst thing is that the cable channels are all different.

I tell you, the only ones I know for sure are 18 and 17 - ESPN and ESPN2. I’m still looking for a channel we used to get called the Game Show Network. I don’t think we get it though. It was one of my favorites. I love old game shows. One of my favorites was Password. Another one like it was the $100,000 Pyramid. I miss that game, so I thought we’d give it a little try. There are seven words here that you have to guess, and I’ll give the clues.

1) What do some families say together before they eat dinner? (Grace)
2) Finish the title of the song, "Amazing ________" (Grace)
3) The opposite of a poor sport is one that wins with _______ (grace)
4) A ballerina is not clumsy, but instead has _______ (grace)
5) A woman’s name that rhymes with brace is _______ (grace)
6) God gives us the gift of free _______ (grace)
7) The musical with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John _______ (Grease)

Did I get you? Can you guess what this sermon is about? Grace is a basic concept of Christianity. Grace is perhaps the basic concept of Christianity. Last week I talked about getting to the basics. Do you remember what I said were the two fundamentals of being a Christian? It was Love God, Love Others. Now I’m talking about the basic fact of who God is. What is God? God is a God of Grace.Grace is pretty amazing, partly because it is not something that you find in society much anymore. We live in a world where people are constantly concerned with punishing. We must punish wrongdoers, and bring people to justice.

For many, the only solution to society’s ills is to build more jails, with tougher guards and higher walls. Our culture is all about getting ours, getting what’s coming to me. Unfortunately our Bible and our God have little interest in us "getting what’s coming to us." Grace means we don’t get what we deserve.

Perhaps that is why our culture seems to have such a problem with Christianity. At some level, there seems to be a conflict between the world’s values and Grace. The world says punish, God gives grace. And that is what is so amazing about Grace. It seems to go against everything that the world holds dear. Yet it is exactly what the world needs more than anything right now. And it is the best way to describe God.

Today two passages from the Bible were read. One a story from Exodus, the Old Testament. I don’t know about how you feel, but many people do not like the Old Testament. They feel that the God of the Old Testament is all about wrath and vengeance, and that the God of the New Testament is about love and mercy. That is a gross mischaracterization of God and of the Bible. God is, was, always has been and always will be a God of grace. Hopefully a look at this story from Exodus can help us see that.This passage from Exodus comes right after the crossing of the Red Sea, or as some say - the Sea of Reeds. The Hebrews had just escaped from Pharaoh. They had just seen the great wonders of God, convincing Pharaoh to let them go. They had seen Pharaoh change his mind, and come after them, only to be swept away by the Sea. God, against all odds, helped the Hebrews overcome the greatest power of the world. God took the side of a group of slaves, the lowest of the low, and overpowered the Pharaoh - the greatest king the world had ever known. So they had left the slavery of Egypt behind, but what were they left with? They were in the wilderness. To appreciate this though, we have to come to a new understanding of wilderness.

Today, when we think of wilderness, we think of idyllic visions of lush green forestry, unblemished by human hands. Many of us long for wilderness, we seek it out as an escape from the drudgery of our day to day lives. For these people though, wilderness was the worst place to be. Wilderness, simply meant death. It meant no wells, hot sun, whipping winds, parched earth, wild animals and lawless men. The Wilderness was no place for a respectable person to be.

According to the story, they had been in the wilderness for three days without water. Then they finally find some, but it is spoiled. It is stagnant water, and any outdoorsman knows to never drink stagnant water. Once again, the world is telling them that they are going to fail. First the military political power of the world was up against them, now the natural powers of the world are their foe. There is no source of life. All they know, all that is being presented to them, all the world is telling them is: death. But God comes in with grace. God enters with life. God gives Moses a simple instruction, throw a piece of wood into the water, and suddenly the water can be drank. This water, which was once almost mocking them with death, is now renewed as a source of Life. God intervenes, and life is brought to the people.

This is grace. This is what the Christian life is all about. When the world gives us stagnant puddles, a gracious God gives us living streams. When the world gives us depression, a gracious God gives hope. When the world gives us poverty, a gracious God gives us plenty. When the world gives us disease, a gracious God gives us healing. When life gives us death, a gracious God gives us new life. That is the story of Exodus. And that is the story of the Gospel. The world gave Jesus its worst. The world mocked him, tortured him, crucified him, and left him abandoned even by his closest followers. But the Gospel tells us that was not the end of the story. God is a God of resurrection. God is a God of grace.

For the world, grace is silly. It is illogical and irrational. For many it is downright unfair. For the world, Grace is foolishness. But for the Christian, for the faithful, for those that have heard the Gospel, for those that have felt the Gospel, Grace is our greatest source of hope and life. And I mean it when I say felt the Gospel. It is one thing to hear the story, it is another to feel it. It is one thing to claim that you are a Christian, it is another thing to live it. Grace is not something that can be explained, even by the greatest of preachers. Grace is something that is felt.

One thing is for sure, we can all use a little grace in our lives. The world can be a very ungraceful place. The world is full of stress. It is full of burden and pain. It is full of worry and doubt. We have all felt it. We have all lived through financial trouble. We have all lived through seeing someone we love suffer. We have all struggled. Yet here we are, by the grace of God. And I’m probably wrong for speaking as if all the struggle is in the past. Many of us are struggling right now. Many of us are hurting right now. Does that mean that God has left you? Of course not. God never leaves. You may feel grace again. You may feel God’s peace again, but it may take time. Grace is not a switch you can flip on and off. It is a lifelong process. Life is full of ebbs and flows, ups and downs. To everything there is a season. But the Spirit is always here. Grace is always available. And when you feel it, when you feel the grace of God, when you feel the warm arms of God wrapping around you like a mother in your blanket, there is no feeling in the world like it.

So the question is, how do you feel it? I can’t give you that answer. That is something you come to on your own. Sometimes it comes through music. Sometimes it comes through a peace and calm that you cannot explain or describe. Sometimes it comes through the laughter of a child. Sometimes it comes from the kind words of a stranger. There are many ways to feel grace. I can’t tell you how you will feel grace, but I can tell you about how some have felt grace through the years.

John Wesley called them the means of Grace. And over the next few weeks that is what I am going to talk about, the means of Grace. Worship, Bible study, prayer, the Lord’s Supper, Christian groups or conferencing, and service. These are not the only ways to feel the grace of God, but these are some that are tried and true. Worship God - come to church and gather with others to praise and worship God. Hopefully if we as a church are doing our job, then people can come to church to feel God’s grace. Study your Bible. Don’t just put it on the shelf. Use it, read it, wear it out and buy another one. Read books about the Bible by good authors or come to a Bible study.

Pray. Pray often. Pray without ceasing. Develop your prayer life so that it comes easily and habitually. And when you pray, don’t just talk - listen. Partake in the Lord’s Supper. It is a powerful act to come to the Lord’s Table and share with all Christians the meal that Jesus offers to us all. Meet with other Christians. Get together and talk about your faith and about your lives. Enjoy the fellowship of believers and the support that friends can give. And serve others. I guarantee you that by feeding others, you will be fed. Serve in a spirit of mutuality and respect. Now, I’ve just given you my next seven sermons. But I hope you still come back, and maybe we can share a little in God’s grace.