Prevenient Grace
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We Believe in God’s Grace
We Believe in God’s Grace
We believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His sight.
We also believe that the human race’s creation in Godlikeness included the ability to choose between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally responsible;
that through the fall of Adam they became depraved so that they cannot now turn and prepare themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God.
A Dark Place to Start
A Dark Place to Start
I realize that most of my messages start with a disclaimer… At this point, it is probably not surprising,
but just so we’re clear, we going to start today from a pretty dark place.
Some of you were probably expecting something a little more snappy to start off a message about grace…
maybe some sunshine, rainbows, kids playing...
Well, that’s not the place Jesus was in at this point in his ministry.
In fact, right before the parable we’re going to look at today, we read in Mark’s Gospel about a pretty emotional day in Jesus life.
Let me set this up for you...
See, Mark really likes sandwiches…
Story sandwiches. It is a tool he uses in a number of places to link things together that might not otherwise be related.
This parable we’re about to look at was probably told on a Tuesday afternoon.
Just a couple of days after a big parade.
A parade where people praised Jesus as a conquering hero.
But he didn’t conquer… at least not on THAT particular Sunday.
Instead, he rolled up to the temple, looked around a bit, and then headed to Bethany,
probably to Lazarus, Martha, and Mary’s house for the night.
Back to the story sandwich… Monday morning, Jesus and the disciples head back up to Jerusalem.
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And we say UP, not because they were headed north, as we typically do today, but because Jerusalem is up the mountain from basically all the places around it.
If we look at this image of the destruction of Jerusalem, we can get an idea of the terrain. When your parents tell you about how they used to walk to school, uphill, both ways… there’s a chance that story started in Jerusalem.
But I digress...
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Back to Monday morning… and it really must be a case of the Mondays, because on the way up to Jerusalem, Jesus sees a fig tree.
Hoping to find some figs (but knowing better, because figs weren’t in season) he walks up, doesn’t find any, and flat our curses the fig tree!
Not exactly a WWJD moment, eh?
But wait, he’s not done yet...
From there, he heads back to the temple and starts flipping tables. We’re on a roller coaster here.
The next day, they’re walking back up to Jerusalem from the ‘burbs, and Peter sees the fig tree from the day before… withered and dead.
The point Mark is making, if you haven’t figured it out, is that Jesus didn’t just curse the fig tree yesterday, he also cursed the temple.
What happens now? Well this doesn’t, yet. But it will, in around 70 AD.
For now, Tuesday seems to be a little bit more chill… and that’s where our story picks up.
Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
“He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
“But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
So yeah, we’re in a dark place in the story. We’re in the week leading up to Jesus crucifixion.
And what we’ll see as we talk about this today, is that sometimes it takes darkness for us to be able to see the grace.
Think about Joseph’s story in Genesis… spoiled little kid probably wouldn’t have known grace if it jumped up and bit him.
Of course that was before he found himself at the bottom of a cistern,
or sold into slavery
Or in prison for something he didn’t do.
He was powerless to overcome these challenges on his own.
From this side of the cross, we can look at this parable differently. So let’s unpack it together and I think we’ll start to see God’s grace unveiled.
I’ve been using the general term grace so far this morning, but what we’re really talking about with this article of faith is what we call
Prevenient Grace
Prevenient Grace
grace that goes before
grace that goes before
Grace which William Barclay tells us is evidence of the generosity of God..
Think about the imagery of a vineyard.
The owner who built it provides everything needed to make good wine.
The owner then turns it over to temporary stewards to mange the vineyard, and produce good fruit.
All the owner expects in return is that the tenants work faithfully to produce good fruit, and that a portion of it be returned.
It is not a stretch for us to bring garden imagery into this parable.
It is not hard to already see where this is going.
Our article of faith tells us:
“through the fall of Adam they became depraved so that they cannot now turn and prepare themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God.”
Despite being given all the best things and the perfect environment for bearing good fruit, humanity fails when we try to do it in our own strength.
Have you felt like that? Like you’ve been had opportunities before you and in your own power you dropped the ball, or missed the mark, or strayed off course?
You’re not alone. I have. At some point, we have, or we will.
We fail because we continually try to do it in our own strength.
The psalmist writes:
For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
Yet God extends grace. Because it is not God’s plan that we stay in our sin.
We learned last week from Pastor Des that the atonement - brought about by Jesus death and resurrection - means that this gift of grace is free for everyone.
Did you hear that? Grace is a gift. For everyone. Freely bestowed upon all people.
Dr. David Busic, one of the Church of the Nazarene’s General Superintendents writes:
“No person is a stranger to God’s grace, and everyone is the object of the Spirit’s wooing… while not irresistible, no person is left without the offer of restorative grace.”
We cannot earn grace. We don’t deserve it. Nothing we do will ever change that fact.
Yet, grace is present. It has been from the beginning of the world, going before us and
working behind the scenes...
grace that works behind the scenes
grace that works behind the scenes
Grace goes before us and works behind the scenes in our lives because God is trusting.
The owner of the vineyard generously provided everything needed to bear good fruit, then went on a journey.
In the garden, God left Adam and Eve to their own devices with minimal instructions.
In our lives, God trusts us. The silence we may sometimes feel from God is just that - trust in our faith and decision making working together for the best outcome.
Our article of faith affirms this:
“We also believe that the human race’s creation in Godlikeness included the ability to choose between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally responsible; “
God knows how we were made. God was there!
When God isn’t silent, that’s when we need to listen. Just as God trusts us, we also need to trust God.
Sometimes, in the behind the scenes work of grace, God uses others to speak into our lives, or other means to disrupt our plans that don’t coincide with God’s will for us.
In the parable we hear of slaves and servants coming to the vineyard to collect.
To the hearers of this parable on that Tuesday in the temple courts, they were already making connections.
Isaiah chapter 5 tells a similar story.
Now I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a rich and fertile hill.
He plowed the land, cleared its stones,
and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower
and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.
Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,
but the grapes that grew were bitter.
Isaiah’s vineyard only produced bad fruit. And in the end it was destroyed...
So Jesus updates the parable and surprises (and infuriates) the religious leaders standing around on this no so random Tuesday.
Because Jesus implies that the fruit from the vineyard in his story is good, it’s the tenants who are bad. The tenants represent the religious leaders. Those charged with the priestly duties of caring for the kingdom. the garden. The vineyard.
Kent Brower writes:
Mark: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (In the Text)
The fate of the vineyard in Isaiah is destruction (Isa 5:5–7). In Mark, the vineyard is given to new tenants. This change is significant.
He goes on to say:
Mark: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (In the Text)
The purpose of the vineyard to bear fruit for the owner will be realized under new tenants.
The servants sent by the owner to collect… the text tells us they came at harvest time… the greek word used there is kairos - which could also be read “in the fullness of time” or “In God’s timing”
The servants who have come to collect are the prophets. They are the ones through history that have come to provide advice and course correction to an off the mark kingdom.
From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors.
God’s pursuit is persistent...
Not only that but God also sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened.
Do you have Christian friends that speak into your life?
Or have you been through something and now that you’re on the other side you can see how God’s grace was working in your life?
If you’re in the middle of something now, maybe you can’t see it yet. But I want you to hear this and feel affirmed - keep trusting God.
And keep listening...
Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything
until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.
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You know, I can’t help but feel like God is getting ready to do something big. In our church, through this revival this week, in our nation.
The signs are all around. For every good thing we do in obedience, there are circumstances and situations being used by the enemy to undercut and sabotage.
We will not, we can not, we must not let it be so.
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The battle is already won.
And God’s grace enables us to carry on in victory.
Grace that Enables
Grace that Enables
William Barclay reminds us that God’s enabling grace is also patient… more patient than the tenants deserve. More patient than the religious leaders in Jesus day deserve. More patient than we deserve...
In God’s timing, (kairos)
- remember that God’s time is not our time. We are bound by time. God is not -
In God’s timing, we will be called to account on the fruit we bear.
But God already knows our struggles.
So he doesn’t quit with prophets...
Kent Brower writes this:
Mark: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (In the Text)
There is no reason, apart from gracious optimism, for the owner to think the tenants will respect his son. Nevertheless, he has one left to send, a son, whom he loved.
Tim Gombis echoes this thought with even stronger language...
Mark (The Parable of the Vineyard (vv. 1–9))
The narrative takes an absurd turn in v. 6 as the owner has run out of available servants to send and is left with one possibility: his son, “whom he loved.” It is outrageous that the owner would think to send his beloved son to the tenants that have proved themselves remorseless, murderous savages.
The owner knows the risk. God knows what is at stake here.
But in God’s infinite mercy and grace, the story carries forward. The vineyard owner tarries as long as he can. Until all that is left is a
grace without limits
grace without limits
God’s grace however does not surpass the fact that God is just. Try as we might to test the patience of God. History proves that God acts first.
Think about Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Saul of Tarsus… who acted first? God did.
When it comes to us, God also acts first. The prevenient grace we’ve been talking about is God’s move.
But…the gift of grace we receive does not come without great personal cost to God.
In the parable, the son is sent last… in the fullness of time. This is the only option left...
Brower writes:
Mark: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (In the Text)
For some reason, the tenants think that if they kill the son the inheritance will be theirs. Their extraordinary stupidity is exceeded only by the extravagant patience of the landowner.
Jesus knows what the justice of God demands as an atoning sacrifice.
In Mark’s gospel, he’s already spelled it out for his disciples three times on the way to Jerusalem. And we see God working behind the scenes to bring about the circumstances...
Gombis again writes:
Mark (The Parable of the Vineyard (vv. 1–9))
Audiences of Mark’s Gospel know that the Pharisees (3:6) and the Sanhedrin (11:18) have already committed themselves to killing Jesus. Moreover, they have heard Jesus predict his betrayal, suffering, and death three times on the road to Jerusalem (8:31; 9:31; 10:33)
And that’s what they do. In the parable, verse 8 says:
So they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
And later that week - just three days after this parable is shared - that’s just what they did to Jesus.
They grabbed him in Gethsemane, arrested him, beat him, tortured him, humiliated him, and crucified him.
Just outside of the vineyard.
We know that isn’t the end of the story
That knowledge is how we can lean into this belief that:
We believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness...
God made the way.
God’s just, but limitless grace flows from that hill outside the city.
God’s patient, enabling grace equips us to know love and to welcome those who come alongside us.
God’s trusting, behind the scenes grace pursues us in the quiet times.
And… God’s grace that goes before us generously provides us all we need to, as the article of faith says,
to believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His sight.
We can’t do it without God’s grace.
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We’re about to go into a time of Communion. One of the two sacraments we celebrate in the Church of the Nazarene.
John Wesley defines a sacrament as “an outward sign of inward grace, and a means by which we receive the same.”
When we think of grace, don’t think of it as a substance. We don’t take communion together to refill our grace tanks.
Instead, think of grace as the Love of God. Think of it as relationship with God. By exercising our relationship with God, we share in grace and also become a means of grace for others.
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So the question I want to end with is this...
How will you respond to God’s grace today?
Will you chose to reject it, or will you choose to build on the firm foundation of God’s love for you?
a firm foundation...
a firm foundation...
The parable ends with a reference to Psalm 118...
Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is wonderful to see.’”
The stone the builders rejected...
The beloved son the tenants threw out of the vineyard...
The crucified one who hung on a tree outside the city...
The one who was crushed so we could be made whole...
Jesus, our atoning sacrifice, the one who cleanses us from sin and makes it possible for us to respond to God’s pursuing grace...
He is the cornerstone on which our Church is built.
We are the new tenders of the vineyard.
Are you feeling the call to rest on him?
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
I invite you to respond as we share in the remembrance meal Jesus ordained for us...