Living Grace to the World

After 24 years here on 54th and Lincoln, Sherry’s bone to bone knees are painful enough that getting up the dozen steps to our home is more and more agonizing. Her Mom can’t visit us since the other bedrooms are up steep stairs (which are fun for kids to bounce down!) We knew that there was a move coming sometime. Then my uncle’s estate distribution left me with the problem what was the wise thing to do with the money. The stock market is a questionable investment to say the least. Real Estate has been a consistent return so long as the location is good. So I mentioned that getting another home might be a possibility. That set of Sherry’s curiosity. She started looking around. Along with the help of Rick Seymour, a fellow from our church, more possibilities came along. This one showed up, and it grew on us. I loved the living room of another house that overlooked the Columbia, Mt. St. Helens and such. But the rest of the house was pretty old. This one has new appliances, a covered deck, a large master bedroom, a large downstairs, good for friends and especially grandgirls. And there’s only one small step up from the garage and the front sidewalk.

So we are going through the loan application process. Bank of America pre-approved us in a heartbeat! Since our home here is almost paid off and our credit is excellent, they want us on another loan. But we’ll go elsewhere I think.

There’s lots sadness about leaving here. So many memories here. Family life, reading stories with children and grandgirls, the little girl praying quietly, friends sharing souls, remodeling projects, the beadboard in the living room, staining decks, hospitality to so many.

There will still be many of these things in the new house, but getting into it is too future to grab onto right now.

Ben Cross, pastor at First Baptist Eugene, heard me teaching at the CB Northwest Conference. When he heard my approach to such matters as who does baptism, he immediately asked me to preach it at First B! Like all churches, they are dealing with people upset about such matters as alcohol, baptism, women in leadership.

So I started with the definition of grace which is “I help.” Then I went to the three dimensions of grace:

First you have grace as unconditional acceptance in places like Rom. 3-6; Gal. 2-3; 5:1, 13; Eph. 2:1-10. I illustrated from Rom 11:5-6.

Then you have empowerment for growth and service I had them read 2 Cor. 12: 9 where Paul gets grace to deal with his thorn in the flesh, but it’s not unconditional acceptance. It’s also in passages like Acts 4:33; 6:5, 8; 2 Cor. 9:8, 14; 12:9; Eph. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:1.

Finally, I went to Ephesians 1:3-6. God is interested that we be holy and blameless. His grace gives us power for cleansing from sin.

The down side comes when one or more of these dimensions is denied. If one drops cleansing, then Christians end up thinking of grace as license. The American sentence is “Gimme a little grace!” which isn’t grace at all!

If we put cleansing back in but drop empowerment for service, then it’s what I call airplane Christianity: “sit back, relax, let us serve you.” Christians often see themselves on a cruise ship rather than on a mission ship like Operation Mobilization’s Logos. We expect God to be our servant and get really upset when He doesn’t take care of our every need. Perhaps He should be sued for dereliction of duty!

Finally, if we drop acceptance, then empowerment and the need for cleansing leads to legalism. You gotta do more to gain or keep acceptance. Pray more, witness more, love more, serve more or you are put aside in the kingdom.

God’s grace is to help us live in the freedom of our acceptance and also help us mature and enjoy our status as children of God. It also helps us live in community. So what do you do to obey?

What the Bible teaches or prescribes or commands, we obey. Grace based Christians help each other do that. My example is when my leadership become competitiveness. The Bible commands me to be gentle. I need help to deal with that.

Second, what the Bible describes I want to follow as closely as possible. So it describes how to select leaders in Acts 6 and how to deal with disputes in Acts 15. I think we should follow these examples. But most don’t.

Finally, where the Bible is silent, freedom is encouraged to be Spirit led, wise and grace filled in different churches, different cultures and such. God did not forget to tell us what we should do when we gather for a Sunday service. He realized that freedom is a good thing. But be wise and Spirit led.

What of baptism? It’s commanded that believers be baptized as an expression of their faith. It’s described as happening immediately at conversion. Neither the Ethiopian eunuch nor Cornelius waited to get the basics of discipleship down before they were baptized. Why do so many Bible churches do that? But no where does the Bible tell us who does the baptism. The only hint is that Philip baptizes the Ethiopian. So we are free to do it wisely. It may be the pastor, but doesn’t have to be.

What of alcohol? Don’t get drunk. But when does a buzz become drunk? 0.8% is the legal limit and it makes sense to me. The Bible gives examples of parties with alcohol in Jesus’ wine at the wedding in Cana and in Ruth with Boaz at his barley party.  So why do so many today not only practice abstinence, but demand that everyone follow their conscience?

Romans 14 says we need to honor the weaker person. But these people aren’t weak Christians. In fact they’d be offended if we called them weak! They are the judgmental ones, it seems to me. So if we indulge them, we actually are acting in unloving and ungracious ways!