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The Means
of Grace – WORD AND SACRAMENTS – Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN Main Theme: The three primary means of Gods grace are “Word and Sacraments”. Today we look at the foundation of the world and creation – God’s Word. It is one of the powerful ways God discloses Himself to us. His Word… is alive, announces new life, initiates a response, and is the truth that sets us free. His Word brings guidance to order our lives, gives the gift of faith, and creates and sustains all that exists! The self-revelation of God culminated in Jesus Christ - the Word made flesh. We need to bath daily in the Word of God that our lives may be filled with His grace!
1) FOUNDATION! A Taxi driver in Columbus, Ohio, was driving a man past the new Werner Art Center. The driver informed him that it was designed as an expression of the post-modern thinking. The building has no pattern. Staircases go nowhere. Pillars support nothing. Fragmented and discontinuous geometric forms characterize this building. The architect designed it to reflect his view of life; which went nowhere - was meaningless and senseless. The man then asked the driver, “Did they do the same thing with the foundation?” The driver laughed. Why? Because you can get away with meaningless thoughts in the infrastructure, but once you start messing with the foundation, you risk it will collapse! Now, unlike Post-moderns, we Christians DO believe in “absolute truth” – but some of us may not realize that the whole of creation is built upon the foundation of God’s WORD!
2) GOD’S WORD! Think about this: everything you have ever learned from God, and everything you have ever experienced that was Godly, came about as a result of God’s Word. God’s Word… 1) is the way He discloses Himself to us! God is revealed, unveiled, made known through His Word. And I’m not talking about receiving “encyclopedia information” ABOUT God – the Word of God is FROM God! When you are reading the scriptures, involved in private devotions, studying the Gospel in small groups, or listening to a sermon and you encounter the Word of God, you are encountering God Himself. When you encounter the Word of God – God is interacting with you, in an attempt to disclose Himself to you.
3) LIVING! Now remember – God is eternal. He did not once exist and is now gone. We’re not reading, studying, or hearing an ancient or dead language of someone who has vanished. God addresses us in the present; the here and now, and so we need to recognize that God’s Word… 2) is ALIVE! Why? Because God is alive! The author of Hebrews (12:22) says, “But you have come to Mount Zion… the city of the living God.” That’s why he professed earlier (4:12), “For the Word of God is living and active.” The Bible is not the text of an ancient history – it brings you to a greater understanding of His nature – now! …it bring you into a deeper relationship with Him – now!.. …it provides a window to His will and purpose for you – now! In other Words, when you and I encounter the Living Word of God, He is doing something to us. Fact is, God’s Word cannot be separated from God’s actions. They are the same thing. When the living God speaks the living Word to us, He is revealed – with the intent of bringing us new life! Now!
4) NEW LIFE (A)! Did you hear the purpose of God’s Living Word? It 3) announces new life! Ironically that new life often begins with God’s Word initially making us squirm. When we discover God’s will for our lives and then measure our broken reality against it – ouch! Admittedly, I’m not always partial to having my sins revealed! Early on in my encounters with the Word of God – I began to suspect that God was out to get me – to make me grovel in the “mud” of my sins. Because if the penalty of sin is death – I was destined to be burnt toast! God’s law was the mirror of truth that forced me to shed my illusions about my goodness. Oh sure, by the world’s standards I looked good, but after seeing God’s higher standards, I saw failure in every part of my life. But after God disclosed His “law”, He also disclosed His grace! He washed away my sins, not because I deserved it or earned it – but because of pure, unconditional, sacrificial love! He wants His rebellious children to turn around – and to have new life! Life as He originally designed it!
5) NEW LIFE (B)! So His Word includes His law – which convicts us of our sin, AND the Gospel – the Good News - which brings us new life! Ever heard any “hell and damnation preachers”? They don’t get it! They thrash their congregations weekly with grievousness of their sin, hoping to “scare the hell out of them” with the law, leaving them to shoulder all the responsibility of “getting their act together!” But separating His Word of Law from the Good News (the Gospel) is wrong – because His purpose is to bring us new life! New life in this world and in the next! Paul tells us (Romans 6:4) “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” And John tells us (5:12) "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” You see, God’s Word has a purpose – to bring us new life! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)
6) A RESPONSE! Ironically, not everyone is excited about receiving this new life! But if the Word of God does anything: it 4) initiates a response. Good or bad! Sometimes individuals, churches, or whole nations are addressed by His living Word, and lives are transformed. New life is given! Other times, it is rejected! But you cannot encounter God through His Word without responding. We may accept or reject His desire to bring us back into a loving relationship, but we will and do respond. We may welcome or turn away from God’s desire to disclose Himself to us, but encounter God through the divine Word, and it will initiate a response!
7) TRUTH SETS US FREE! A while back, I took a young man fishing and when he discovered I was a pastor, he apparently felt the need to give me his very worldly view of life. When I asked him if he was open to other possibilities, he said “No. It doesn’t matter to me what others might say, their truth is their truth, my truth is my own.” A true example of post-modern thought – he had given up on the idea that there is any absolute truth! Therefore, he would pick and chose ideas and concepts to make up his own truth. Being the center of his own universe, he and he alone would build his own foundation for life! Seems that everyone recognizes a need for truth – suspecting it will somehow “set us free” - but what is truth? Even Jesus confirmed that all who believed in Him (John 8:32) will discover “…the truth will set you free!” But what is the truth? Jesus answered that in a prayer when He turned to God and said, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17) Did we hear that? God’s Word 5) is the truth that sets us free! The truth, God’s Word, sets us free from the power of sin, Satan, and death! Your intelligence, your wealth, your good looks, your personality – none of these things can free you – but God’s Word saves you and I from our selfishness and the power of evil! The truth that sets us free is God’s Word!
8) GUIDANCE! God’s Word also 6) brings guidance to order our lives! Psalm 119 (vs105) tells us “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” With countless voices calling us to follow them daily – our moral options are endless! Ours is a big universe, so who better to guide us than the Creator of that Universe! God’s Commandments were not given to “take the fun out of life” – as some suggest! God’s will, expressed by His Word, is meant to keep us from harm, and show us the way to get the greatest joy out of life! His word brings us meaning and purpose. His guidance is the light that shatters the darkness of confusion and fear!
9) TEACHING! The psalmist remembered God’s words when he wrote (Psalm 32:8) “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” And in Proverbs we read (3:5-6) “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Wow! With an all knowing, all powerful, all wise partner like God, why would we turn to anyone else for guidance and teaching when He is so willing to provide what we need in His Word? Paul told Timothy, his young spiritual apprentice, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2nd Tim. 3:16-17) If we truly want to be more “Christ-like”, there is only one source of wisdom, guidance and direction – and God is eager to teach us through His Word!
10) FAITH! Have any of you ever wondered why you came to have faith in a God that you cannot see? Yep: that which is responsible for your faith – is the Word of God! The Word of God 7) gives the gift of faith! Faith is not something you can go home and develop yourself. Paul tells the Ephesians (2:8-9) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Now I have had people argue that the word “gift” in this verse relates back to the word “grace”, but that “faith” is the thing we are responsible for, and therefore faith is the necessary work we must accomplish in order to receive the gift of grace. Well, if that is the case, how do we explain Romans 10:17 when Paul also says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” See, we have one of those “If A=B, and B=C, then A=C”, equations. If faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes from the Word of God, then naturally our faith comes from the Word of God! God’s Word is filled with power!
11) CREATE/SUSTAIN! Speaking of power, let’s not forget the power the Word of God has to create and sustain! God Word 8) created and sustains all that has and will exist! God’s Word is the agent by which all the world and universes were created. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read 10 times, “And God said” and suddenly there was light, and sky, and land, and vegetation, and stars, and animals… well you know the creation story. But let us not look past the fact that everything that ever was and is began with the breath of God! The psalmist tells us (Psalm 147:15) “He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. Imagine: God creates, directs, and sustains nature and history with His Words!
12) JESUS! Now I could go on and on, talking about how the Word of God heals, strengthens, comforts, forgives and cleanses, fills us, feeds us, and lasts forever… I could create an endless list… but God wants you and I to make an Easter connection today to the Word of God. We said initially that God’s Word is the way He “discloses Himself” to us! So it should not surprise us that God’s Word 9) is Jesus Christ! In fact in Hebrews (1:1-3) we read “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” You see Jesus is God’s final revealing of Himself!
13) THE WORD! I’m sure you’ve read John’s opening before, but have you made the connection when he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” And a few verses later (vs 14) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And verse 16 tells us “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.” Imagine, God wants to reveal Himself and new life to you so badly, that the Word that was God, became flesh, that we might know our Creator personally and intimately! Are we grasping what Martin Luther shouted with his pen, “For in His Word and in His works He shows Himself to us!” Jesus is the WORD!
14) SELF-REVELATION! It’s true; the self-revelation of God culminated in Jesus Christ! …in the Jesus who demonstrated God’s heart by sacrificially pouring Himself out for us on the cross, dying in our place that our penalty for sin should be paid in full with His own blood. But God’s self-revelation did not end because of that death. Jesus was raised, and lives among us, and within us! God Himself, revealed in the Word made flesh, now longs to reside in our hearts – to transform us and bring us new life! As Jesus is alive, so is His Word!
15) ? Let me ask you; if Jesus, the Word made flesh, was actually in the fellowship hall right now, how many of you would love to go meet Him? (Raise you hands) Me too! Why? Is there something within us that wants to get closer to Him? Do we have an idea that if we could get closer to Him our relationship would deepen? Do we suspect knowing more about Him and the relationship He longs to have with us might pour down more blessings upon us? Would sitting at his feet bring us the guidance and wisdom that could help us make sense of this crazy world we live in? Would His Words bring us clarity of purpose? Would hearing His voice empower us with a deeper faith? Might the divine breathe of God begin to create within us a new life? The answer, of course, is “Yes”. All that and more!
16) IMPORTANT ENOUGH? But Jesus is not in the flesh in the fellowship – and won’t be until He comes again! And yet, God, revealed through the Word, disclosed in Jesus Christ - is here! The Living Word of God has been made available and is sitting on our shelves – often doing nothing more than gathering dust. And before we start squirming and rehashing our tired excuses for NOT engaging ourselves in God’s living Word, let’s reflect on the fact that God’s Grace comes primarily to us through the Word and Sacraments. So why are so many of us still hiding behind the lame excuse of not having the time to “encounter God” in His Word? Richard Foster once wrote “I have discovered that the most difficult problem is not finding time but convincing myself that this is important enough to find the time.” That is really the issue. It isn’t that we don’t have the time, it’s that we don’t feel it is important enough to make time for it. Let’s lay the question out on the table: do you feel that God, who discloses Himself through the Word expressed in Jesus is important enough to make some time for? Is He?
17) EVERYDAY! Now the Lord knows some of us will claim, “But God I come to church and hear a sermon every week! And isn’t that your Word? Isn’t that dining on your spiritual food?” And He might thank us for doing so, but then point out that we don’t just eat lunch on Thursday and go without eating again until Thursday rolls again, do we? No, you eat everyday! Likewise, how can God disclose Himself in such a short time on Sunday morning? Those of you who are married – how deep would your relationship with your spouse be if you could only hear from them one time a week for a few minutes? God longs to reveal Himself to you every day! Why? Because everyday, you deal with a broken world, filled with temptations and evil! Everyday, selfish thoughts and desires rise up and need to be washed away, our spirits need strengthening, our souls need fortifying. We need the gift of new life every day! We need the truth, (the Word of God), to set us free! We need the Word which is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path because darkness surrounds us everyday! The Lord knows you need His guidance, 24/7! He knows your faith is under attack every day – and His Word is that which creates and sustains our faith! God longs to reveal Himself to you every day!
18) HE! Friends, God is here today to empower you with the Spiritual discipline to make His Word a priority in your life. He loves you so much, and He daily desires to express that to you through His Word! He knows your frailties and weakness, forgives and washes away your sins, and is here to enable you to become more Christ-like each and every day! He does this through His Word! He is here to heal, comfort, guide, and bless you through His Word! Because He knows you and your needs better than you do yourself, He eagerly longs to provide you with everything you need throughout the week! So, receive the Holy Spirit now, that you may be drawn to His living Word every day! He’s here to help you take baby steps – so start in the New Testament, reflect on a paragraph or two, pray on it – reflect on how it applies to your life! He offers you Himself all week, and longs for you to hear His word in church, read it on your own, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it daily! Why? Because He longs to bless you! He longs to empower you! He longs to pour His amazing Grace down upon you - every day!
19) ENCOUNTER! Friends, when the Werner Arts Center was built – even a post-modern architect wouldn’t mess with the foundation! The Lord wants to bless you today with the realization that the whole of creation is built upon the foundation of God’s WORD! It is how He discloses Himself – and every encounter with “the Word” is an encounter with the Lord! His hand is extended; receive His love, His power, and His blessings as He makes His Word your foundation too – that you might encounter Him daily and have new and abundant life! Praise God! AMEN!
Opening prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we gather here this morning to bask in the amazing grace that only you can give! The world we have traveled through this past week has cared little for us, and demanded much from us. It has confused, tempted, and beaten up many of us emotionally, physically and spiritually. But it is your love that has sustained us and draws back into your embrace this morning. It is your love that forgives and washes away our sin. It is your love that heals, and guides, and strengthens us for service. As we praise you in song and word this morning, receive our thanks, our love, and our lives - touch our hearts and empower us to become more and more Christ-like each and every day! Let your light shine in us and through us. Draw us to each other as your Easter people that the gifts and resources you give us come together to serve you and our neighbors in ways that reflect your unconditional love to a needy world! Reveal yourself to us now through your Word and Sacraments that our relationship with you and one another may be deepened! In Jesus Name we pray, AMEN
Sermon/Confessional Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, we are so eager to receive your blessings, but not always as willing to encounter you daily through your life-giving Word! We are easily tempted to use our time to focus on our own desires, or worldly entertainment, or a host of other activities that keep us busy. But the one thing you desire for us to experience – yourself, through your Word – well, we fall far short of that goal. Forgive us for not making your Word a daily priority, and empower us that our foundation for life is built firmly upon your Word.
Lord, we confess that we have not always seen your Word as being alive, and the source of power and love! We have sought truth in places other than your Word! Our excuses to leave our Bibles on the shelf, have caused us to miss out on divine guidance and a deeper faith. We have failed to see that Jesus is the Word that brings us new life when encountered every day! Forgive us and transform our hearts that we may receive your grace and love daily through the gift of your Holy Word!
And now Lord, although you know us better than we know ourselves, listen as we share in a moment of silence, those other parts of our lives that need to be forgiven, washed clean, healed, and recommitted to you! (made anew.)
(Silence) Lord, you long to draw us closer to you, that your loving heart and amazing grace may revealed to us in new and wonderful ways through the gift of your Word! Fill us with your Holy Spirit now that we may be empowered to seek out, feed upon, and encounter you daily through your living Word! AMEN
Assurance of Forgiveness: Friends, listen to the good news: The Lord, who “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, …that Lord has mercifully heard your confession and eagerly forgives you all your sins. Go now, knowing that everything you seek that is life-giving is found in the Lord, who eagerly makes Himself available to you daily in the living Word! Let the Holy Spirit empower you now to encounter Him daily, that you may know the truth that sets you free and brings you new life! In Jesus Name we pray! AMEN
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