What a friend we have in ………… Grace
NB. Sermon preached at Mid-week service St Helen’s Stanley, 15 June 2008
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Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. -
Grace
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35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Setting the Scene
Just had my Birthday, Father’s Day is coming up, as is my wife’s Birthday. If I’m honest I’m not a great celebrator of any occasion where it imposes an unspoken duty to give. On Friday (13 June 2008) we heard about the Queens Honours list… These celebrities were listed - Des O’Connor, Victoria Wood, Joan Bakewell, Paul O’Grady, and 959 other people were honoured, most for charitable and voluntary work – local heroes.
“A great honour… I haven’t done a day’s work in my life… it’s something I love.” Paul O’Grady
There was much talk about Bruce Forsyth not being knighted, people thought he’d earned it but that’s the very thing you can’t do with the queen’s honours… it is a gift, and supposedly it cant be earned.
I like the gifts that are not earned…..unexpected, for no reason gifts, the undeserved gifts, the just because you’re struggling gifts, an exam coming up, an illness, a sadness and you get a surprise gift or card, those are the ones that melt you, the ones you can never repay because they’re nothing to do with duty, they’re all about loving caring friendships and you can respond to them in some way but you cant repay them.
The readings today gave me the idea of
Move 1 - What a friend we have in Grace
Grace is the greatest undeserved, unexpected, for no-reason gift we could ever hope for.
Grace is greater than being listed or chosen on God’s honours list… it is about being adopted into his family - grace is to be rescued from absence of God to being in God and at peace with God (Romans 5:1) - grace is to be transformed from being seen sinful in the eyes of God (Romans 5v8) into being clean (righteous) because of Jesus.
Grace also helps us grow through and endure in tribulations and sufferings, as Paul said to the Christians in Corinth, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, strength.. in weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Move 2 - What is Grace
Looking specifically at Romans 5 - what does grace mean?
Well, Paul starts Chapter 5 off by reminding us ‘you have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…He has brought us by faith into this experience of God’s GRACE.’
‘Justified’ - is one of those jargon words - the best way of explaining it we are ‘made right with God’ because of the cross (just as if I’d never sinned).
Grace is a word we use all the time but Jesus never defined it or analysed it.
He lived it in his ministry and he explained it by telling stories : A father waiting, longing for the return of the prodigal (that’s grace). A lost sheep carried home across the shepherd’s shoulders, a banquet thrown open to all the people not normally invited (these are pictures of grace from the stories of Jesus).
I am the type of person who deserves divine telling’s off and punishments of penance, forced to walk up Croach Patrick on bare feet but I find when I come back to Jesus with all my sin and shame …I find he has spread a banquet for me and embraces me and says ‘welcome home.’
I love this Philip Yancey quote, “ Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more… no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And GRACE means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less – no amount of racism or pride or porn or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God possible can love.’
Friends, if you think you can’t change or you’ve messed up too many times ..please realise what a friend we have in grace. It is by God’s grace you are saved, God makes the moves, God will make it happen if only... believe me God’s grace will include the strength to cope with whatever it takes to follow him.
Move 3 - What a friend we have in Jesus
Let’s look briefly at The compassion of Jesus as revealed in the Gospel of Matthew
Let us see how Jesus saw the people around him and how he sees us today.
Matthew 9:36: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
This word in Greek is stronger than compassion or pity (from the very depths of his being : gut-wrenching) This word for compassion is only ever applied to Jesus in the NT.
Matthew 10:36 Compassion for harassed and helpless
Matthew 14:14 C for the sick
Matthew 15:32 C for world’s hunger
Matthew 20:34 C for the blind
[Illustration....Lake of tears….when I was at my lowest ebb following the car crash that left me paralysed, the Lord showed me a vision of Gethsemane. He showed me that he wept with me and held my tears, such was his compassion. there must be a Lake of tears.
In all our afflictions Jesus is affected and longs to ease our pain. Cry out to Jesus in our need. The people were harassed and helpless (no purpose – sheep without a shepherd). Ever felt harassed & helpless?
Note, The Religion, philosophy and sexual promiscuity of that day had nothing to offer (e.g. orgies Up Pompeii).
Does that sound familiar? What do they have to offer today?
[Illustration] Joseph Scriven, an Irishman, in a freak accident his fiancée drowned the night before their wedding day.
He took comfort in Jesus, a friend and burden bearer, a compassionate comforter…. He wrote the words, What a friend we have in Jesus.’
Will you allow the compassion of Jesus Christ to touch your heart?
Move 4 - Grace for the Harvest….
We can also see the compassion of Jesus in the way he perceives the Harvest….
Matthew 9:37-38: Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
The agricultural metaphor switches from sheep to harvest. The religious people of the day saw the ordinary people as chaff . Jesus saw people as a great harvest to be saved. Each person a unique harvest sheaf, values and precious.
But the harvest would not be reaped unless there were people to reap. Jesus needs people.
He wants people to hear the good news Matt 9v35 says ‘He went about … teaching preaching and reaching out in healing. But what about today. Last week … we are his hands & voice. People will not hear unless someone tells them ‘How can they believe if they have not heard the message? How can they hear if the message is not proclaimed?’ (Rom 10v14)
After the choosing of the disciples (which means willing to learn - this is very important) they were sent out - but he doesn’t send us out as abandoned gladiators or as servants as a distant master …. He sends us out as friends and family of the King of Kings
This weekend’s headliners = Des O’Connor, Victoria Wood, Joan Bakewell, Paul O’Grady, Laurence Dallilo, Cyril Regis are proud to be nominated as OBE, dames knights, ….. a token honour. How much more should you be honoured to be appointed this weekend as a minister of Jesus Christ the King of Kings? We are appointed to tell his story, to tell our story of being in Him.
To represent a king you would have to spend time in the presence of the king, in worship and in his word, the bible… please hear that as a challenge and do that.
I have a question for you - Do you feel honoured? Or terrified? It is natural to feel both!
That is why we are called to be in his presence and to pray for Holy Spirit power for guidance and to pray for our friends and relatives. Invite, testify, send a message or a text, befriend, love and give as the compassion of Jesus would lead you to love and give to them. Then the harvest will come.
