"Grace"

Sermon Transcript for November 12, 2000

By Rev. Mike Beck

 

As we worship today I want to go in two different directions. First of all, I want to touch on the doctrinal theme of this week. We’re following the Christian Believer series. The theme for this week is the "grace" of God. Friends, we need later on in the service, to touch on our stewardship emphasis. But there was no way I could let Dan preach last week on the subject of sin and then skip over the topic "grace". So, I’d like to do that this morning in the first part of the service in a little different way. Dan, last week, preached on sin that Romans 5:21 puts it this way, that "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more". Well, we Methodist have always sung our theology. So, in that light, we’re going to begin our worship today by singing three hymns of "grace". Now, I’m going to exempt the choir from what I’m going to say because I don’t want them to go through the week with stiff necks, but I want us this morning as we use these hymns as basically our sermon, to focus on the words of the hymns. So I am going to ask you to leave your hymnals in the rack. We’re going to project the words of these three hymns up on the screen. And, as we do that, I predict you’ll discover the words take on much more meaning when you’re looking up at them this way instead of looking down on them this way. So, again, you’re getting the message in these hymns. Remain seated as we sing together two versus of the great hymn of praise, "Grace Greater Than Our Sin".

That’s why we call it "Good News". The good news of the gospel is that grace is not greater than the sum of your sins. And if you think of the deepest place in your life that you’ve gone into sin and disappointed God and others, why we call it good news is that grace is greater than all of our sins. But the problem we have in understanding the doctrine of grace is this, in our growing up from our earliest years, most of us have tried to earn the favor of others through our good works. That’s ingrained within us and so we carry it over to our understanding of God. Now hear me carefully, good works are important! But our good works are a love response on our part to say "thank you" for God’s gift of grace. But our good works are not something we do to earn God’s favor. Ephesians 2:8 is a verse we need to have memorized. "It is by grace that we are saved through faith, not of works lest anyone should boast." The great invitational hymn, "Just As I Am", is actually a hymn of grace. Let the words speak to you as we sing together.

Again, there is such good news in the words you just sung. That to use the words of another good hymn, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling". But the promise that when we come to God just as we are, God receives us, welcomes us, forgives us, by grace. When we understand our sin in light of a Holy God, then we can begin to understand how awesome the grace of God really is. And here’s a prayer that I have for Grace Church. And by the way, what a great name--Grace Church. My prayer is this, that each of us would become so immersed in the grace of God that it would turn around and cause us to be grace-ful persons. Grace-ful persons in our dealing with others. Think about that as we stand and sing three versus of the hymn, "Amazing Grace".

 

The Stewardship Challenge

Barbara, I’m glad you were singing this morning, because your life is a beautiful witness to both themes in this worship service of the grace of God and also what it means to be a good steward of the gifts God has given to you. Thank you. If you are a member or constituent of Grace Church, you’ll receive this week a letter relating to your stewardship commitment for the coming year and also of the financial needs of Grace Church. Now let me say that I really think that the first part of that is far more important. That planner is not nearly as much about the financial needs of Grace Church as it is your call to grow in your discipleship.

So I’d like to spend a few moments today as your pastor thinking with you about this very important week in the life of our church. Let me say as we begin that God is at work in this place. Through the mailings you have received in the last few weeks and through the lay witnesses of the last two Sundays, we have tried to highlight the many places among us where it is evident that God is at work. Several years ago Henry Blackaby wrote a best-selling book entitled, "Experiencing God". Here was the premise of that book. Blackaby said that more often than not the question we ask is, "God, what do you want me to do?" And Blackaby says, "That’s the wrong question." The question we need to be asking is to say, "God, where are you at work and how can I join you in what you are doing." And so in a very real way as you receive that letter this week, along with your "Estimate of Giving" card for the coming year, we’re inviting you to join in what God is doing.

Let me first of all say "thank you". We don’t do that often enough in the church it seems like. We finish one emphasis and without ever saying "thank you", we come back with another need that is before us. Total giving of the people of Grace Church in 1998 was $400,000. By 1999 it had grown to $470,000. Our total giving for this year will probably exceed $530,000. The pastor needs to say "thank you" for your growth in stewardship, for your embracing what God is doing. On top of that, at the same time we experienced that, over the past three years the people of Grace Church have given $150,000 in second mile giving to missions. And again we say "thank you".

I think as we approach this important week we need to count our blessings as a church. The first blessing I want to count this morning is in the addition of our Associate Pastor. That was a tremendous step of faith on the part of the Staff-Parish Committee. The search process seemed to take us in a lot of different directions and then doors were closed. And we wondered, "God where are you at work in this?" And I think as you’ve had a chance to witness Dan’s ministry among us over the past four months, we ought to count our blessings that God has sent us such a gifted, talented man of God to serve us in this important way.

And not only Dan, but I want to count the blessings this morning of our other dedicated staff members. Friends, it is fun to come to work. It is fun to be with Sandy, and Donna, and Rose. We’ve witnessed over and over again the marvelous gifts of Sarai and Deanna in leading our music ministry. How fortunate we are to have a person like Steve Wakefield being a role model for our youth. Many of your lives have been touched by our Minister of Pastoral Care. We have a great staff at Grace Church!

I think we also need to give thanks to God for this marvelous new organ. I’m afraid we’ve taken that for granted. I think we too quickly forget the other one was falling apart around us. And it was going to be a quarter of a million dollars to try to rebuild it. At our Charge Conference, Bob Holmes who did such a good job presiding for us, said that after the first of the year when Sarai gets the Christmas stuff behind her, we need to have an evening concert where Sarai gets to show off just what this organ can do. We need to give thanks to God for that.

We need to give thanks to God for the beautiful facilities we enjoy. No matter what part of this building you would walk in to, you would be proud to bring your friends and to show them what God has done in this place. We also need to thank God and to count our blessings, and it may well be five years before we fully realize the impact of it, but friends, churches that don’t find a way to gain flexibility in their worship services, churches that don’t find a way to add technology that is so critically important to meet the needs of a growing generation, are going to by dying churches. Grace Church has stepped out in faith to add that to our worship experience. And we will see the benefits of that more and more in the years to come. And so we count our blessings.

The letter that you receive this week is to ask for your support of our General Fund. Now here I’m going to say something kind of unusual. Giving to the General Fund provides the giver the least amount of satisfaction of any kind of giving. It’s far more satisfying to give Faith Promise Mission giving. It’s far more satisfying to give to a particular cause. But acknowledging that, I as your pastor, need to remind you it is the support of the General Fund that undergirds everything that we do. The General Fund--about half of it provides for our staff to do ministry. Our General Fund makes possible our program ministries--our Ministry of Children, the ministries of the Family Life Task Force, our ministries for Youth. Without your support of the General Fund there isn’t a church office to call during the week. There isn’t a bulletin in your hands on Sunday morning. It supports our church office. It also makes possible our facilities. It maintains the beautiful church, the parsonage that we have. The General Fund finally supports the ministries of the larger church. It makes possible our church conference. It provides for our seminaries and schools of higher education. It sends our missionaries out to the field. And I’ll tell you, it is a joy because a lot of pastors that can’t say this with integrity, it is a joy to pastor a church that does not see apportionments as a tax that the denomination has placed upon them. But rather sees it as a critical part of joining with other United Methodist around the world to carry out some of our larger ministries. When you make your estimate of giving to the General Fund you are supporting all of these things.

Let me share with you next the goals of the Finance Committee. This past year we received 220 estimates of giving totaling $330,000. That represents $1,500 per giving unit. Unfortunately, that only underode 74% of our budget. We expect to meet our budget in full this year, but we also know we need to increase through what takes place this week. We need to raise that percentage from 74% to our goal of 85% of our budget to be supported. What the big things that will accomplish that is there in that first number. To see the number of people turning in a card increase from 220 to at least 250. Or let me put that in practical ways. If you didn’t turn in an Estimate of Giving card last year or if you are a newcomer of Grace Church, you’re a part of the answer to our prayers in increasing that to 250. Our goal for the dollar amount on those Estimates of Giving is $410,000, an increase per giving unit up to $1,650. Those are our goals.

But I want to move now as we conclude to God’s plan of how we reach those goals. As we have prayed, as we have studied what people are writing about stewardship in our day, we discovered that no longer is the plan for what’s going on this week a fancy campaign with a lot of bells and whistles and publicity. The answer to God’s plan lies in two basic areas of which Jesus talked about both in the last thing he said on this earth. And it’s accomplished as we evangelize and win new people to Christ. Often times in meetings in various committees here at church, we’ll talk about exercising faith and we’ll wonder, "Can we really do what we feel God is calling us to do?" And my answer often is, "A part of the answer to doing what God is calling us to do, is found in people who’ve not yet even walked through our door. We are a growing church. In one of the mailings you received, we noticed there were 35 family units not on our church roster at this time last year.

And then the second part has to do with what Jesus also told us when he said, "Go and make disciples". And so we’ve approached our stewardship emphasis not with a lot of mailings, not with a lot of bells and whistles, but rather just trying to tell the story in a variety of ways of where God is at work among us. Shelly Reindl comes today to give our Lay Witness directly related to the call to become disciples. Shelly come and share.

Good morning. This morning I’m going to read to you a fairy tale.

 

"Once upon a time not very long ago, just a few years to be more exact, a young married couple moved to this town. They enjoyed life, had great jobs, many dear friends, and a loving family. This couple, Dane and Sally, suspected that their lives held much promise and potential. Despite their success, both Dane and Sally felt a bit empty inside but neither could pinpoint the reasons for their emptiness. Dane just sat and wondered unable to explain his feelings. Sally felt sure that if she improved herself the emptiness would disappear. So she read one self-help book after another. First she tried to understand life, then she tried to be a more happy person by developing seven good habits. Then she tried to change her attitude. But none of these attempts worked very well. Dane continued to wonder and Sally continued to read.

Then one day Jesus spoke to Sally, "Know me". Sally said, "Huh?" Sally continued to do what she had done her whole life. She ignored God. And Dane and Sally continued to lead their successful but empty lives. Then one day when Dane and Sally sat in their living room they heard Jesus say, "Know me". So Dane suggested that they go to church. This idea frightened Sally because she felt uncomfortable in church. But she agreed to go. Dane and Sally attended a few different churches including some denominations that were strange to them. Often Dane and Sally struggled to understand the meaning of the messages they received in church. And despite their frustration and confusion, Jesus continued to say to them, "Know me".

Dane and Sally came to church at Grace. They felt comfortable at Grace because the people were friendly and inviting and the worship service felt familiar. Jesus continued to say to them, "Know me". So Dane and Sally decided to attend Grace regularly. Dane and Sally still didn’t understand why Jesus wanted them to know Him. They still struggled with the messages and meanings of all that they heard. Then one day Reverend Mike asked Dane and Sally to sign up for the Discipleship Training class at Grace. "We don’t know what disciples are", Dane and Sally thought. But we know that whatever they are, we surely are not. But again, they heard Jesus say, "Know me"; and they attended class. As the class progressed, Dane and Sally began to understand many new concepts. For Dane the class filled in gaps in his understanding of Christianity. Both Dane and Sally began to read scripture for the first time in their lives. They both learned how to pray and that God listens to and responds to prayer. They finally understood what Jesus was asking them to do when He simply said, "Know me".

In the Discipleship Training class, Dane and Sally’s lives changed when they read Philippians, Chapter 4, Versus 6 and 7 which says, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition and thanksgiving present your requests to God. The peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." When we heard this and learned that worry is sin, Sally made a conscious effort to stop worrying and dwelling; Dane decided to give his troubles to God. So began the journey.

Next Dane and Sally attended the Marriage Enrichment weekend. Dane and Sally reconnected as a couple and connected even more to God. They understood that God was at work in their marriage helping them to open up to each other and to fall deeper into love. Dane and Sally continued to worship at Grace and Jesus continued to say, "Know me". Fully realizing that they didn’t know Jesus enough, Dane and Sally attended the Disciple Bible study. Dana had read parts of the Bible before but didn’t really understand. Likewise, Sally had read the New Testament but was feeling afraid of certain passages. In addition, the Old Testament seemed strange, dark and confusing. But the Disciple Bible Study class erased their fears and eased their minds. Dane and Sally learned that the Bible is very relevant today; it’s not just a book of old stories. The experiences, fights, and joys that the people of Biblical times faced, are similar to what people experience in the world today. It helped Dane and Sally to get more out of worship, to feel more connected to God and to God’s people. It provided instructions for living. Reading and studying the Bible through Disciple Bible Study provided a framework like the edges of a giant jigsaw puzzle. With the edge pieces together now, Dane and Sally knew that they could continue to learn and grow in the Word with confidence instead of fear, and to gradually fill in more pieces of that giant puzzle. And a new bond of fellowship and love grew between Dane, Sally, the other participants, their leader, and God. Sally finally found the only self-help book she ever needed.

Dane and Sally continued to hear Jesus say, "Know me". But then one day they thought they heard Jesus say something else. They weren’t sure what it was so they waited and listened some more. Finally they heard Jesus say, "Bring others to me". So Dane and Sally joined the Technology ministry at Grace. This ministry uses technology to communicate God’s message in new ways to the people of Grace and to seekers who visit Grace. Sally realized that she could

serve God’s purpose with skills she had taken for granted. And she thanked God for that blessing. She realized that God uses us in ways that we may find hard to understand but that His plan is best.

Dane and Sally continued to hear Jesus say, "Know me" and "Bring others to me". They looked to God for instructions and God led them to ALPHA. ALPHA is a new evangelism outreach program that Grace will begin in January. And Dane and Sally agreed to administer it. Through ALPHA the people of Grace will reach out to others who want to know more about Christianity and the church.

Dane and Sally sat in their living room again and Dane said to Sally, "Isn’t God great? Look what He’s done for us and we never even asked Him." And Sally responded, "He sure is. Remember when we were afraid of knowing God? When all that we saw in the media or heard on TV scared us away from God. How lonely we were? Dane responded, "Yes, we were lost and now we are found. But our journey will never be complete. But all we can do is listen to God and learn and serve." Indeed. As Dane and Sally sat reflecting that evening, they realized how far they had come. They really understood what Paul meant in Philippians that God is at work in every detail of their lives and that he’d been with them their entire lives and that he knew them even before they knew Him. And that they could trust Him with everything. And they became more appreciative of everything they had and realized that they had ....They were finally able to say, "God we love you, we trust you, we praise you, we thank you. And Dane and Sally also realized that God took them to Grace Church to use the ministries and the people at Grace to help them come to Him.

Unlike other fairy tales, this one is a very true story. But like all fairy tales, this too has a very, very happy ending. And the morale of this fairy tale is that God makes all things possible. But that He needs us to worship to make His ministries here at Grace possible. He calls us all to be disciples."

As we are called here with one another, we come together often to fellowship with each other and to worship together. Those things will happen tonight at 6:00 p.m. But you’ve seen first hand witness of the two primary things we’re called to do--win the lost, make disciples. If we do those things, God takes care of the other silly stuff like budgets. Two and a half years ago, Duane and Shelly had not walked through the doors of this church. Two and a half years ago they did not know what it meant to be in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Through the ministries of Grace Church they now know what that means and they are giving of themselves in this service with joy in their hearts.

I ask in close that this week to do these four things as your goal.

1. Let me encourage you to take inventory. The natural reaction when you get your card in the mail is to do what you’re doing now and write the same number down on the card. And that may be what God calls you to do. But in my own mind, and you’ve heard this story before, of all places it was a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in North Carolina, going to a huddle group led by a Baptist lay person, that God confronted me with His model for my giving, which was to tithe. I took out my pencil and figured up my after tax income. Figured out what I was so proud of giving to the Church. And figured out what percentage that was. I drove home and said to Mickey, "We won’t get their overnight, but God is calling us to move toward His model. So, I invite you first of all to take inventory with your giving.

2. I invite you to exercise faith. When you take inventory, you may realize, "Hey, I’m not being the kind of steward God calls me to be." But then you look at your family budget and you’re inclined to say, "But there’s no way God I can do what you’re calling me to do." Friends, the last time I checked my Bible it was filled with stories of faith of people who said to God, "God there’s no way I can do what you’re calling me to do." To which God replied, "Trust me. Exercise faith. Let me show you the way forward."

3. As God has blessed you, I invite you to grow forward with giving. Having said that, I want to especially though address those who live at the United Methodist Community and those who are retired. We realize full well that most of you give benevolently to many different causes. And so as I challenge you to grow forward to tithe, never would we expect that all of your tithe go to Grace Church. There are many other places where God is at work that are dear to many of your hearts. We thank God for your support of those ministries. But we invite all of you to ask God, "Do you want me to grow forward in this critically important area of stewardship?"

4. And then finally, and this challenge is only addressed to a few of you. I would not be able to respond to this fourth challenge because of our family’s financial situation. But there are some of you who are able in the closing six weeks of this year to make what I would call a "kingdom investment" Let me define that. I would define a kingdom investment to Grace Church as beginning with your realization God is at work in our church. Something very exciting is happening. Those of you that can make a kingdom investment are able to turn to a stock portfolio, to accumulated assets of some kind. Not money that you use for living expenses. That can say, "You know, I could sign over those 40 shares of stock to Grace Church and never miss it." Friends, if in the last six weeks of this year, several people come forward to make a significant kingdom investment, we would be amazed at what God will do at Grace Church in the year 2001.

Take inventory, exercise faith, grow forward your giving, and some of you listening to God’s voice, He may want you to make a kingdom investment right now here at Grace. Most of all we need to open our eyes to see what God is doing. That’s our closing hymn.