"Godliness and Grace
" Sermon Transcript for September 16, 2001 By Rev. Mike BeckScripture Reading: Ephesians 4:29-5:2
Today is not a Sunday to carry on with business as usual. I’m going to preach an abbreviated version of the message I’d planned. But I want first to say three things in relation to the tragedy this week.
- Human beings have a tremendous potential for good. We witnessed that in the aftermath of this tragedy. But, friends, we have also been reminded that we live in a world where evil is a constant reality. But there is good news today! The Bible teaches that good is stronger than evil; and we are called to be a force for good.
- We have experienced so many emotions in this past week: fear and shock, despair and anger, helplessness. I want to say this morning and help you realize, emotions are neither good or bad. It is what we do with those emotions that is important. In the midst of the tragedies of life, God calls us to press on. And He promises the grace and hope to do so. He also tells us, even in the midst of sorrow and tragedy, to pause and thank Him for our blessings. We must not give in to fear. We must not allow ourselves to be paralyzed. For when we do, we only play into the hands of the monsters of terrorism behind these evil acts. That’s exactly what they want you to do—to fall prey to fear.
John and Cindy Winteregg’s daughter, Stacia, I think Stacia’s about 7 or 8. It amazes me the wisdom that comes out of that little girl’s mouth. Her mom and dad relayed to me that she said this to them this week. She said, "They want us to be afraid; and I’m not going to do that." That’s wonderful wisdom for all of us today. For when we press on in the midst of grief with courage and hope, we all become stronger people in the process.
- A natural reaction to what has taken place this week is the emotion of anger and the desire to retaliate in some way. I agree with the words of our President, "…that the persons who planned, and the governments who may have provided sanctuary for the perpetrators of this horrible act of evil against innocent persons, must be held accountable." But in doing so, friends, we need to pray as never before for wisdom for our governmental leaders. We need to pray that actions on the part of our government do not further escalate deep-seated problems and tensions. And let every one of us be careful in our justified anger that we do not fall prey to simple answers, to stereotypes, or to actions that will bring further suffering on other innocent persons. And to be more specific, let us realize that the majority of Muslims in our world decry Tuesday’s acts of violence just as much as do we.
And I hope these words are helpful to you as we have prayed for you, as you have prayed for us, and as together we pray for God’s peace and wisdom to be known in our land.
Let me move on to an abbreviated version of my message for today. A message that I believe is very relevant to the events of this week. You have heard me say on many occasions that the word "balance" is a very important word in the life of a Christian. In recent weeks, in thinking about what God is doing in our midst, there have been two words that often come to my mind. These are the words, Godliness and grace. Both terms are vitally important to you as an individual believer and to us as a church. They are attributes that must be kept in balance or tension with one another. Let’s look briefly at each term.
Godliness: Friends, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, here are your marching orders from the pages of God’s Word. Earlier in the chapter from which Dan read, in Ephesians 4:24, I invite you to read these words with me. "Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." There in a nutshell is what we are called to do. To put off the old simple nature and to put on the new self created to be like God in holiness and righteousness.
Ephesians 5:1, which Dan read, we are told, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children." A few years ago when I’d gone down to Wilmore, KY for a time of personal retreat, I went over to see Whitey Westerfield under whom I’d been converted as a boy. Whitey was in his 80’s at the time. And he gave me these words of wisdom that I’ve never forgotten. He said to me, "Mike, the most important thing you have to do is to create in your people a hunger after God." To create in your people a hunger after God! He said, "If you will do that everything else takes care of itself."
Within our church we have a commitment to excellence, we have a commitment to growth, we have a commitment to be a caring family of faith. All of those things are valid and good. But I ask this morning, "Do we have an equal commitment individually and corporately to the pursuit of Godliness?" The best way I can illustrate this challenge with the limitations of time is to have us sing the wonderful chorus, "As the Deer". Its words are taken from Psalm 42. And I would even invite you to picture in your mind in a woods where there is an open field and you see a deer slowly walking across to a stream. And you see that deer dips it’s hand, partake of the water. The words of the chorus--let me read them to you before we sing. Would you sing it together as Sarai leads us.
As the deer pants for the water,
so my soul longs after You.
For you alone are my heart’s desire,
and I long to worship You.
You alone are my strength, my shield.
To you alone may my spirit yield.
You alone are my heart’s desire,
and I long to worship You.
In this life, friends, we’ll never do that perfectly. But in all to many cases, the desire to strive after Godliness never even enters our minds let alone impacting our heart.
Grace: And now I’d like to say a few words about grace, for Godliness must always be balanced by grace. The United Methodist Church is rooted in the rich Wesleyan tradition where Godliness, sanctification, and holiness of heart and life are emphasized. But again the word "balance" comes into play. For at times, balance can get lost and Godliness, hear me carefully, Godliness becomes falsely equated with a list of "do’s and don’ts", with self-righteousness, with judgmentalism, and with spiritual pride. And when that happens, the outward actions may look fine, but grace is lacking. And if grace is lacking, we miss the mark.
To illustrate what I’m referring to when I speak of "grace", we return to our Scripture for today, Ephesians 4:32. Read those words with me. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you." And then in Ephesians 5:2 we are told, "Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
In the entrance to Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, a great gothic sanctuary, is a large painting on which are embossed these words:
To all who mourn and need comfort…
To all who are tired and need rest…
To all who are friendless and want friendship…
To all who are lonely and need companionship…
To all who are homeless and want sheltering love…
To all who pray, and to all who do not but ought…
To all who sin and need a Savior…
And to whosoever will…
This church opens wide its doors and in the name of Jesus bids you welcome.
What a beautiful illustration of what a grace-centered church looks like! And God needs every one of you to live out that life of grace through, and let me be very specific, through …
the kindness of our words …
by trusting and giving others the benefit of the doubt…
by a willingness to voice two simple words, "I’m sorry"…
by not keeping, as Paul writes in I Corinthians 13, not keeping a "record of wrongs"…
by getting the plank out of our own eye before we worry so much about the speck in our brother’s and sister’s eye…
by realizing, friends, that I just might not have the whole story and it’s just possible that I might not have all the truth no matter how much Bible study I’ve done…
by asking: "What would Jesus do?" By always asking, "What would Jesus do?"
I want to Pastor; and I want to be a part of that kind of "grace-filled" church. And again, we’ll never do it perfectly, but are we striving for it?
Tara, I’m not going to play at 9:30 a.m. the video clip. But I do want, in closing, to recommend a movie to you. The movie was out a couple of years ago. It was nominated for many academy awards. It was the movie, "Chocolate". How many of you have seen that movie? Let me see your hands. Now it’s an interesting movie which I believe contains great spiritual truth. A lady and her daughter move to town. And this lady, who without question is a Christ-figure in this movie, the townspeople think she’s an atheist because she never goes to mass. But there in her little chocolate shop that she opens up, she welcomes people. She gives them a listening ear. When the river rats come to town and pull their boats by the shore, she’s the one who is reaching out to them in love. And at the end of the movie is a powerful scene where this lady, who others thought was an atheist, transforms that town with the love of God by simply her gifts of chocolate. And hearts are transformed.
Godliness--critically important. We’re to strive for it. But it must always be a Godliness balanced by grace. May we be that kind of people individually and corporately.
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