Grace Is Amazing

Below is the message given in the Wheatland Parish Sunday, August 25, 2013.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 1:17-2:10.

We're nearing the end of our Hymn Hysteria sermon series, looking at the top hymns from the tournament we held earlier this year.  Today we look at the number two hymn in the tournament, “Amazing Grace.”

Frankly, I thought when we started this that Amazing Grace would win.  It defeated “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”, “Blessed Assurance”, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”, “Because He Lives”, and “He Touched Me” before losing to the champion “How Great Thou Art”, which is the song we'll look at next week.

The tune of Amazing Grace is a nineteenth century American melody.  We don't know who wrote it.  The words, however, were written by John Newton in 1779.

Many of you know the story of John Newton.  There was a movie made about it a few years ago.  He was born in 1725, was a sailor, was later a tax collector, eventually became an evangelist, and in 1757 applied to become ordained as a priest in the Church of England.  He would not be accepted until 1764.  In 1784 he became an outspoken advocate for the abolition of slavery.  In addition to “Amazing Grace”, Newton also wrote the words to the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”, which is also in our hymnal.

God's grace truly is amazing.  I think on some level most of us realize that, which is probably one reason this hymn is so popular.  I wonder, though, if we think often enough about just how amazing God's grace is.

Here's what I mean.  Whenever something bad happens, what questions do we ask?  “Where was God?”  “Why did God let this happen?”  And a lot of times, what we're asking is “Why did God let this happen to me?”  “I don't deserve this.  Why did God let this happen to me?”

Now, if you've asked that question, or if you're asking it now, that's okay.  I'm not criticizing you.  I've asked it, too.  I think most of us probably have.  It's a pretty natural question for us to ask.  That's what almost the whole book of Job is—Job asking God why God let all these things happen to him.  God understands why we ask that question, and God does not get mad at us when we do.

I think, though, that when we ask that question, we're looking at things the wrong way.  The question is not why God allows bad things to happen to us.  The question, really, is why sometimes God has good things happen to us.

Think about it.  I'm guessing that everyone here has had some good things happen to them that they did not earn and do not deserve.  I know I have.  I've had lots of them, way more than I have time to talk about this morning.  If I tried to tell you about all the good things I've had happen to me that were none of my doing and that I did not earn and did not deserve, we'd be here all day and you'd get really mad, because you want to go down and have dinner.  And so do I, so I won't do it.

Most of the time, though, we take those things for granted.  When good things happen that we don't deserve, we don't ask, “Why did God let this happen to me?”  We don't say, “I don't deserve this.”  Oh, once in a while we do, if it's something really big or something that bails us out when we're really in trouble.  But even then, that feeling usually does not last.  We're grateful for a while, but then we go on about our business.

The thing is, when something bad happens and we ask that question, “Why did God let this happen to me?” what we're really implying is that God owes something to us.  We don't come right out and say it, but what we're really implying is that God owes it to us to give us good things.  We think giving us good things is what God's supposed to do, and so we don't think anything about it when God does it. That's why we take it for granted when we get those good things.  We think we're owed them.

The fact is, though, that God does not owe us anything.  Why would God owe us anything?  No matter how good we are, can we really do anything that will impress the almighty, all-good God?  Is there anything we can ever do for God that God could not do without us?  In fact, God could probably do it a lot easier and faster without us.  A lot of the time, we just get in God's way and slow God down.

In fact, if we think about it, the real question is why should God ever let anything good happen to us?  Why should God do anything for, as the song says, “a wretch like me”?  I cannot do anything to deserve it.  I mean, I'm not saying I'm this terrible, horrible person or anything, but no matter how good we are, can we really do anything that will impress the almighty, all-good God?  None of us can.  That's why grace is so amazing.  We cannot earn it.  We will never deserve it.  God has no reason to give it to us.  And yet, God gives us grace anyway.  It's such an incredible, amazing thing.

There's a lot more in this hymn than I can address in one message.  We could do a whole sermon series based on it, and maybe someday we will.  But for now, there's just one other thing I want to talk about that shows up in this hymn:  fear.

Fear can be such a paralyzing thing.  It plagues us all our lives.  When we're in school, fear can keep us from trying out for sports or music or drama.  We think, “What if the other kids don't think it's cool?  What if I'm no good at it?  What if everybody laughs at me?  What if the teacher makes fun of me?”  And so we don't try, and we never find out if we could've been any good or not.

It continues when we're adults.  Maybe we have a dream of getting a different job, or of starting our own business.  But we think, “What if it does not work out?  What if I mess it up?  What if I fail?  What if I get fired or go out of business?  What will everyone think of me?”  And so we don't try, and we never find out if our dream could've come true.

And it applies to our faith, too.  I assume that pretty much everyone here would call himself or herself a Christian.  But how often do we ever talk about that outside of this building?  How often do we bring up our faith in conversation with others?  How often do we invite someone to come to church with us?  I'm not saying we never do, but a lot of times we could and we don't.  Why not?  Fear.  We think, “What if they don't want to hear about my faith?  What if they think I'm some sort of Jesus freak or something?  What if me talking about my faith messes up our relationship or our being able to work together?  What if they make fun of me for my faith?”  And so we don't try, and we'll never know how many people we might've been able to help come to God or have a stronger faith.

What makes it so sad is that most of those times, our fears never come true.  And even if the things we're scared of happen, it's really not that big a deal.  What if we do find out we're not good at sports or music or drama?  So what?  We'll find something else we are good at.  What if we do fail at our dream?  So what?  Even in this economy, a person who's willing to work hard can always find a job somewhere and get back on their feet.

And what if someone does not want to hear about our faith?  So what?  They're not going to hate us for it, unless we get obnoxious about it.  I'm fifty-four years old, and I've lived in six different places, and I've met a lot of people, and I've never once had someone dislike me because I'm a Christian.  They've disliked me for other reasons, but not that one.  I'm not saying it could not happen, but around here, especially, it's pretty unlikely.

I have lots of relationships with people who don't go to church.  Some of them don't believe in God at all.  So we talk about other things.  Maybe, some day, when they see how a Christian lives, and see the joy our faith gives us, they'll get curious about it and want to know more.  Maybe they won't.  But we can still be friends.

        As Christians, we don't have to be afraid.  God has seen us through many dangers, toils, and snares.  And God will keep doing that.  So let's do what God wants us to do, and let's do it without fear.  God's grace has brought us safe thus far.  And God's grace will lead us home.