January 7, 2024 "Grace Works"

Readings: Psalm 29, Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11 Ephesians 1:3-14
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on January 7, 2024

The start of a New Year … and who knows what it will be bringing our way? I have no intention this morning of contradicting anything that Nostradamus or the ‘Farmers Almanac’ may be suggesting, but I do want to plant in your minds one particular thought.

It’s neither a new thought nor even an original thought, but a thought that appears in different ways throughout much of the New Testament. It’s a thought that crops up in a number of different ways in the bible reading that we had from Ephesians.

Simply stated the thought that I’d like to focus on as we start a New Year is this.
“Grace Works”

To enlarge on that thought .. not only has God’s Grace worked in the past, .. not only is God’s Grace working in the present but God’s Grace will continue to shape our future. God’s Grace has worked, is working and will work. It is the Grace of God that bought us to the beginning of a New Year, it is the Grace of God that sustains as we begin a New Year and it is God’s Grace that will get us through a New Year.

Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with a eulogy regarding the purpose and plans of God, as they are enacted through God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He uses such grand words as ‘predestination’ and ‘redemption’, and phrases such as ‘according to His high intention which he purchased in Him’ and.. ‘with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times’

If you think this passage is wordy in English, bear in mind that in the original Greek the whole section from verse 3 through to verse 14 is one single sentence. It’s not the sort of passage that you can read without taking a breath.

If you can spend the time to really to chew on it, it’s a passage full of spiritual meat. We don’t have that time right now, so rather than delving into all the intricacies and theological twists and turns in this rich passage, allow me to just highlight some of the main items on the menu. In true Trinitarian fashion Paul speaks of the Grace of God under three headings.

The Grace of God the Father

It has become politically incorrect within some theological circles to talk of God as Father. Some prefer the term parent, or speak of the feminine aspects of God. Others ignore the concept altogether and speak in terms God as Creator or Redeemer.

Paul makes little sense if you take away from his words his concept of the Fatherhood of God. Had he been writing today he may have phrased things a little differently, but at the time he wrote, ‘Fatherhood’ had particular functions and responsibilities that he relates to the God who creates us and sustains us.

 A primary function of the father’s task was that of making plans. It was through the father’s life that not only his wife, but also his children were blessed. Back then women and children had no status of their own. Who they were was directly related to who their husband or father happened to be and what that husband or father had achieved. The father’s plans were crucial for the well-being of the whole household.

So, Paul speaks of ‘Our Father’s’ of God’s plans. He does so in terms that are warm and nurturing. This is the Father who has already blessed us and continues to try and overwhelm our hard hearts with blessing upon blessing. This is a Father who has chosen us specifically to be His children. Paul uses the term ‘adoption’ to describe how we are drawn to be a part of the family of God, not by our own will, but by God’s gracious desire to nurture our lives.

He speaks of the Father as having chosen us from before the foundation of the world to be His own. Of how this Father desires that we grow and grow in our spiritual lives, so much so that we appear to be holy and blameless before Him. Paul speaks of the “Good Pleasure” of the Father’s will. He speaks of us as “God’s Beloved”, as those to whom He will freely give all that love had to offer. Most of all this Father God is one who plans all things and achieves all things through the ‘riches of His grace’ (v7).

Grace Works. Why? Because that’s the way God works. That like an exemplary father at the time Paul wrote, God wishes us to have lives that are molded and nurtured and formed by that Grace. That’s the Master plan. That’s where God is directing us.

In practical terms, it does not mean that life this year will be hassle free. It will have the usual ups and downs and probably some unanticipated turns that may be awful or wonderful. Yet behind it all and through it all we have an opportunity to discover throughout the coming year that Grace works.

How do we connect with this Grace of God? How do we get it to work for us? Maybe that’s the pressing question. The simplest answer is that we do so through seeking to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Because it is in Him and it is through Him that Grace becomes focused upon our lives.

The Grace of Jesus Christ

It is Jesus who opened the gateway for Grace to flow to our lives. He did so at great cost. He did so through the price He paid at Calvary and the Cross where He suffered for our sins. This is not cheap grace but costly self-sacrifice on the part of God.

It has to be that way because of the enormity of sin. One thing for sure that you are going to have deal with in this coming year is the fact of sin. You will be sinned against and you will sin against others. No matter how lofty your resolutions or high your intentions your are going to mess up. You did last year and you will this year.

Man’s nature is a sinful nature. We are neither basically good nor basically bad, we are basically sinful. Sin is usually underestimated. We think we can classify our actions by filing them in either the “Good” or the “Bad’ cabinet.

“Today, I gave an extra dollar in collection at church.” GOOD file.
“Today, I could have given two extra dollars at church.” BAD file.
“Today, I slammed my finger in the car door and said some words that I don’t usually say. Put that in the “BAD” (but not as bad as if I’d kicked the cat) file. It was GOOD that I didn’t kick the cat. But..“today I got mad at the cat anyways. “BAD”.. but only because the cat ate the goldfish. “GOOD” for you…offering moral guidance for the cat, “BAD” for the cat for eating the goldfish. VERY BAD all round for the goldfish!

It’s hardly surprising the cat ate the goldfish. Cats like fish. They taste good to cats. It’s in a cat’s nature to eat them. It’s also in a cat’s nature to play with their food. Ever seen a cat with a mouse? Oh, they are mean! They’ll catch them. Let them go a little. Then “ME-OW” got you again, “Just when you thought you were getting away with it.” They can be horrible.  What’s with that?

It’s the way they are. Part of being a cat.  It goes beyond good or bad. It’s their nature. In a similar way, sin is a part of our nature. It may disgust us. It may trouble us. It can be controlled to a lesser and a greater extent. Even Paul realized that often he was a loser when it came to battling with sin.

Elsewhere in Scripture he bemoans his fate in terms of saying how he just couldn’t do the good he wanted to do, but often ended up doing the stuff he didn’t want to, even though he was trying his hardest to do the right thing. “Who can deliver me? From this body of death?” he cries out. “Only Jesus” is the answer that he reassures himself with. Forgiveness is not dependent on us. It’s dependent on God. It is entirely through the Grace of Jesus Christ imparted to our lives through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for us. Sinners we are and sinners we will always be. But Christ died to free us from sin.

Some people look at that and say, “Well if Jesus died to free me from sin, how come I keep sinning?”  We keep sinning because we are sinners. We shall remain so till the day we depart this life for glory. To be freed from sin, does not mean having a life that is completely free from sin, but rather that we no longer orientate our lives on the basis of sin, but from the basis of grace. Another biblical writer, in I John, Chapter 3, draws a distinction between those who ‘practice sin’ and those who ‘practice righteousness’. As we stand near the beginning of the New Year, it’s important that we get in the game. And to be in the game.. means.. guess what?

If you are selected to play for a team, Football, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, Cheerleading, Golf, LaCrosse, Tennis, whatever the team…what have you got to do? You have to go to practice! And what happens if you don’t practice? You’re not on the team. Right?

If you are going to be a concert pianist and your teacher tells you to practice this scale and that scale and these exercises and that exercise but you say,  “No. to heck with that, I’m graced by God, I’m gifted, I don’t need to practice… well  no matter how gifted or graced you may be, if you don’t do the practice, then the day you get up on stage, the crowd waiting, the orchestra all tuned up, the conductor waves the baton, and you will flunk out in the first few bars… and the whole world will laugh and say, “Man, what a waster!”

God has gifted us with salvation. Through God’s Grace we are free and forgiven. Don’t waste that Grace. We need to practice our righteousness. Otherwise we fool nobody but ourselves. To enable us to do, God offers:-

The Grace of the Holy Spirit

Paul speaks in verse 13 of “Being sealed in Him (Christ) with the Holy Spirit of Promise.” Wow! There’s another whole sermon in there! But this sermon has come to an end. All that I’ll say about that is that as you allow God’s Grace to work in your life, as you practice those things you believe.. there comes from God a sense of reassurance, a conviction that is hard to frame with words, a boldness and confidence about our Christian walk, that we had never before realized or recognized.

At the same time knowing ourselves sinners, we also know ourselves forgiven. At the same time knowing our limitations, we are discovering that with God the impossible often comes to be. Knowing that all the time we are making choices and coming to decisions and working things through in the dark, yet at the same time, are discovering that we are not alone, that there is a plan and a purpose, and the light is shining in unexpected ways in unexpected places.

In conclusion… my prayer for our churches this year... is that we may each discover... as God leads us... that Grace Works. That grace works wherever we work. That Grace works in our relationships with each other and with others. That grace works in our worship and in our service, and in our giving and receiving.  

Grace Works. Thanks Be to God. AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.