Upside-Down Grace, Solid Ground (Ashtabula)

Welcome & Announcements

(After the liturgist or lay leader gives the announcements, the Pastor adds a personal welcome.)

Pastor: Good morning, everyone. It is such a blessing to gather for worship with you today. I'm so glad you're here as we continue our journey of faith together. It is good to be in the house of the Lord with you all.

Prelude

Call to Worship

Leader: To all who have felt lost, who have wandered onto shaky ground,

People: The LORD is our solid rock.

Leader: To all who have known the weight of failure and feared they were not enough,

People: God’s grace is greater than our sin.

Leader: The world operates on fairness, on getting what we deserve.

People: But we worship a God whose love is an unearned gift.

Leader: In the very place where we were called "Not My People," God speaks a new and living name over us.

All: We are the children of the living God! Come, let us worship Him!

Opening Hymn

Opening Prayer

God of steadfast love, whose grace turns our world upside-down, we confess that we are more familiar with the logic of fairness than the mystery of your mercy. We try to earn what can only be given as a gift. We stand on the shaky ground of our own efforts and wonder why we feel so insecure.

But you are not like us. You are the God who seeks the lost, who calls the unfaithful "beloved," who builds a firm foundation where there was only brokenness.

So now, Holy Spirit, come. Quiet the voices in us that say we are not worthy. Open our hearts to receive the unearned gift of your love. Prepare us to hear your Word, that we might be rooted, built up, and established in the faith of Jesus Christ, our solid rock and our redeemer, in whose strong name we pray. Amen.

Scripture Reading 1

Hosea 1:2–10 NIV

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.” After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God. “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’

Hymn Sing/Anthem

Scripture Reading 2

Colossians 2:6–15 NIV

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Sermon “Upside-Down Grace, Solid Ground”

Good morning. I want you to think with me for a moment about one of the first lessons we ever learn. We learn it in kindergarten, we learn it at our first summer job, we learn it in our families. It’s the simple, straightforward idea of fairness. If you study for the test, you get a good grade. If you do your chores, you get your allowance. If you put in a hard day's work, you earn a day's pay.

It’s the logic of cause and effect, of merit. It’s a world where, for the most part, you get what you deserve. And this makes a certain kind of sense to us, doesn't it? It feels right. It feels... fair.

But I wonder if you’ve ever found yourself in a moment where that logic was turned completely on its head? A moment of such unexpected kindness or unearned forgiveness that it didn't make any logical sense at all?

Because the story of our faith—the very heart of the Gospel—operates on a completely different, almost upside-down kind of logic. Today, we’re going to look at a story from the prophet Hosea that shows God’s love defying all of our human ideas of fairness. And then, we'll turn to Paul’s letter to the Colossians to see how that same stunning, unexpected love gives us the only solid ground we can ever truly hope to stand on.

The Shaky Ground of Unfaithfulness

The prophets of the Old Testament had a tough job. Their role was to speak God's word to God's people, and that often meant delivering uncomfortable news. But for the prophet Hosea, God asks for something more. His life isn't just to speak a message; his life is to become the message.

God gives Hosea perhaps the most difficult, most personal assignment in the entire Bible. He says, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."

Let's be clear. This isn't about shaming a woman named Gomer. This is about God's own heartbreak. This marriage is a living, breathing picture of the relationship between God and His people. God is the faithful, loving husband. And His people, Israel, had been unfaithful. They had forsaken God to chase after other, lesser gods. What were those gods? They were the gods of military power, trusting in chariots and armies instead of the LORD. They were the gods of economic security, making deals with other nations that compromised their integrity. They were the gods of personal comfort, forgetting the poor and the marginalized in their midst. They were the same gods we are tempted to chase today.

And in this living parable, this unfaithfulness has consequences. Look at the names of the children. Imagine holding your newborn baby, and God tells you to name him "Jezreel." It means "God Scatters." It's a name of judgment.

Then, a daughter is born. Her name? "Lo-ruhamah." It means "Not Pitied," or "No Mercy." The relationship is so broken that the natural compassion a parent has for a child has been severed.

Finally, another son is born. And his name is the final blow. "Lo-ammi." It means "Not My People." Can you feel the weight of that? To be told by the very God who created you and chose you that you are no longer His. It is the ultimate consequence in a world of fairness, a world where you get what you deserve. This is the shaky, broken ground of a people who have forsaken their God.

The Upside-Down Grace of God

And if the story ended there, it would be a tragedy. It would be fair, it would be just, but it would be a story without hope. But the story doesn't end there. Just after the devastating verdict of "Not My People," the prophet writes a single word that changes everything: "YET..."

Let that word sink in. After all the unfaithfulness, after all the righteous judgment... "YET."

"Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea... And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Children of the living God.'"

This makes no sense. This is the upside-down logic of God. It's unearned. It's undeserved. It's grace. In the face of our unfaithfulness, God refuses to let our failure be the final word. His love is more persistent than our sin. His grace overturns his own righteous judgment.

Hosea shows us the character of God's upside-down grace. Hundreds of years later, the Apostle Paul, writing to a small church in a town called Colossae, shows us the person of that grace: Jesus Christ.

Paul explains how this impossible reversal happens. He writes, "When you were dead in your trespasses... God made you alive together with him." There it is. We were "Lo-ammi," dead and "Not His People." But in Christ, we are made alive and called "Children of the living God."

How? Paul continues, God did this by "forgiving us all our trespasses, erasing the record of debt that stood against us." Imagine a scroll, a cosmic invoice, and on it is written every harsh word we've spoken, every selfish choice we've made, every time we've chased after lesser gods. The logic of the world says that bill has to be paid. But Paul says God took that list, nailed it to the cross of Jesus, and declared it "Paid in Full." He "disarmed the rulers and authorities"—all the powers of sin and death, all the voices of shame and accusation that tell us we're not good enough—and he defeated them at the cross.

This is our solid ground. It’s not the shaky ground of our own merit, but the firm foundation of what God has done for us in Jesus.

Walking on Solid Ground

So what do we do with this incredible, life-altering news? What does it mean to live on this solid ground? Paul tells us plainly in the verses right before the ones we just read. He says, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him."

Notice the connection. The receiving and the walking are inseparable. The grace we have received is not a permission slip to stay as we are. It is the very power that enables us to get up and walk in a new direction. The grace that saves us is also the grace that transforms us.

Paul says we are to be "rooted and built up in him." Think of a strong, healthy oak tree. That tree isn't striving and straining to grow. It grows because it is rooted in good soil, drawing life and strength from the ground beneath it. When the winds of a summer thunderstorm blow, that tree holds firm because its roots go deep. When a drought comes, it survives because its roots can find water deep in the earth.

Friends, Christ is our soil. When we are rooted in him, our lives begin to produce the fruit of a life lived for God—not out of reluctant obligation to earn his favor, but out of a joyful, grateful response to the love we have already received. This is a walk of transformation. It's a walk where we learn to imitate the very grace we've been shown. It looks like choosing patience when a family member is difficult. It looks like offering a word of encouragement to a coworker instead of joining in the gossip. It means offering forgiveness when it's not earned and love when it's not deserved, because that is exactly what our God has done for us.

Conclusion

The story of our faith moves us from the shaky ground of what we deserve to the solid ground of God's upside-down grace. It's a grace that looked at a people called "Not Pitied" and showed them ultimate mercy. It's a grace that looked at a people called "Not My People" and named them "Children of the living God."

This grace has a name, and it is Jesus. He doesn't just pardon us; he makes us alive. He doesn't just give us a clean slate; he gives us a new way to walk.

So the invitation for us this week, as we leave this place, is not simply to feel good about being forgiven. The invitation is to stand on the solid ground of Christ and to walk. To walk away from the things that draw our hearts from God. To walk towards a world in desperate need of the same unmerited love we have received. To walk in the joyful, sometimes costly, but always life-giving path of discipleship.

Because the God who claims us in grace is the same God who looks at us and says, "Follow me." ...Amen.

(A brief moment of silent reflection after the sermon)

The Giving of Our Tithes and Offerings

Invitation to the Offering

Pastor: As people who stand on the solid ground of God’s unearned gift, our first response is gratitude. One of the ways we express that gratitude is by giving back a portion of what God has so generously given us. Let us now present our tithes and offerings in joyful response to this amazing love.

Offertory & Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

Pastor: Let us pray. Generous God, you have given us everything in Jesus Christ. We now return to you these small tokens of our gratitude. Bless them, and bless us, that our gifts and our lives might become signs of your upside-down kingdom in this community and in the world. Use what we offer here to bring hope to the lost and comfort to the broken, that all might know they stand on the solid ground of your love. Amen.

(Transition to Morning Prayer)

Pastor: And now, having dedicated our gifts, let us continue in that same spirit of prayer, lifting up our hearts and the needs of the world to God.

Morning Prayer

Pastor: Let us unite our hearts in prayer.

Our Solid Rock and our Redeemer, we come to you now in gratitude for your upside-down grace that meets us not where we think we should be, but where we are. We thank you for the unearned gifts that break into our lives: for the beauty of creation, for the love of family and friends, for the community of this church, and for every sign of your goodness and mercy.

And as we give you thanks, we also lift up to you the needs of our world and the burdens of our hearts. We pray for all who find themselves on shaky ground today: for those who are sick or in pain, for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, for those who face loneliness or uncertainty, and for all who are oppressed by injustice or violence. Draw near to them, God. Be their strength, their comfort, and their ever-present help in times of trouble. Remind them that your love is a firm foundation that can never be moved.

And as we pray for others, God, we also look inward. We confess that so often, like the people of old, we forget your faithfulness. We build our lives on our own accomplishments and worry. We chase after lesser things and neglect our relationship with you. Forgive us for the times we have lived as though we were not your beloved children.

Turn our hearts back to you, and remind us of the good news: that the debt has been paid, that we are forgiven, that in Christ, you call us your own.

Rooted in that amazing grace, we now find the courage and the confidence to pray together the prayer your Son taught us...

The Lord’s Prayer

All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Closing Hymn

Benediction

Pastor: Go now, rooted and established in the love of Christ. Live as children of the living God, not because you have earned it, but because He has claimed you. And may the upside-down grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the steadfast love of God the Father, and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forever. Amen.

Postlude