Obstacles to Grace

Good morning ladies.

Please turn in your purple books to page 48 and join me in the prayer to the holy spirit.

My talk is on the obstacles to grace and my name is Terry Cavanaugh and I am a clergy.

I would like for you to try and experiment with me this. morning. Please hold your breath for 5 seconds. Ready, take a deep breath, now, one, two, three, four, five. Now you can breathe again. Even though that was just a short period of time, five seconds, I'm sure some of you was starting to feel a little stress. Now imagine with me that you could not breathe.

How would you react if all of a sudden without warning you was unable to take a breath? That's exactly what happened to me. I was eating breakfast when all of a sudden a small bit of food, eggs, blocked my airway. I was unable to breathe. My lungs were crying out for air, my body was going into shock, and I begin to turn purple. I thought I was dying, Had I been alone, I have no doubt that I would've been dead. However, because of God's planning, I was at Emmaus walk and setting with me was Aubrey Rock who is a certified nurse and EMT. He immediately sprung into action, he picked me up, apply the Heimlich maneuver, and within seconds the obstacle (a bit of scrambled eggs smaller than a nickel) in my throat was dislodged. That obstacle, like all obstacles came without warning. I did not get a little note on my pillow with a chocolate mint, that said “Heads up, tomorrow at Breakfast you are going to choke to death, just in case you would like to know.” Instead it came unexpectedly, devastatingly and deadly. I have discovered all obstacles come that way, a bit of scrambled egg, or an obstacle to your faith both without warning.

You have heard of Prevenient Grace, or the grace that goes before you. There is no impossible situation because God’s Grace is also in front of you.

You have learned about Justifying Grace. The Grace that makes you Just as if you never sinned.

The Christian life takes place in real life, like the old Campbell’s soup commercial says it’s made for real real life. Because it is make for real life it is also effected by the consequences of sin. I wish I could tell you that your life from now on is going to be glorious, wonderful, and fabtabuless (OK I made that one up.) But if I did you would come back and call me a liar, and you would be right. We all face obstacles to grace. So, if we all have to face obstacles to grace then, I don’t know about you, but I would like to know what an obstacle to grace looks like. Would you like to know what obstacles that can leave you ship wrecked on the ocean of life, look like? The best definition is "an obstacle to grace is anything that keeps us from enjoying the loving relationship God offers us in Christ. So an obstacle to grace is anything that comes between us God. That obstacle, just like that little bit of eggs for me, can choke out your very life of faith if you let it.

At the center of every obstacle to grace is sin. And ladies sin is when we are self-centered rather than God centered. Look at the up here and tell me what is in the center of sin.

That is right I. I is that the center of sin, in fact some people have even said sin is all about the big I. Making your self the center of the universe, the standard for all goodness, instead of acknowledging God as the rightful center. You may say that's not true of me. Well I don't know, there was a study done years ago and they looked at our phone conversations and can you guess what the number one word used in telephone conversations, the big I . Because our human tendency is to think it's all about ME. Rick Warren, in his excellent book, The Purpose Driven Life, begins the book with the simple statement, “It’s Not About You.” That statement was so radical that it was the lead story in most of the book reviews. In a world that claims it is all about you, from schools that give trophies for trying, not just winning, to a society that refuses to hold people accountable for their action, because they believe it is all about you, comes this revolutionary idea that is not about you, it is about God. It is about God and our relationship with God. A relationship that is fractured by sin. As you know, the New Testament of the Bible was written in Greek and the Greek word used for sin was, ἁμαρτία. Say that with me, ἁμαρτία. The word comes from archery, and it means to miss the mark.

Back when I was in High School, they taught us archery. I want to tell you I because an expert at ἁμαρτία, I not only miss the center of the target, I missed the target, and even miss the hay bale holding the target. I was an expert at missing the mark.

Now you're shooting an arrow at a target you could miss the center many ways, you can shoot to high, you can shoot too low, or to one side or the other. You can even miss the target on purpose, or by accident. When you miss the target it's still a miss.

Sin is anything that causes us to miss the target of God's will. Anything that separates us from the love of God and the love of those around us.

Ladies there are three types of obstacles to grace the first type is the one that hinders the relationship between you and God. The second type of obstacle is the one that hinders the relationship between you and others. In the third type is the obstacles that hinder your relationship with yourself.

Now with a clean sheet of paper, wait a minute, your already have that. Use the paper to mark a harsh mark for each one of these you have committed. Now, focus on your paper and not on your neighbors, as my grandmother used to say, “there’s enough dirt on your own front porch to keep your broom busy.”

Obstacles that Block our Relationship with God.

The first obstacle is Idolatry. Look at Deuteronomy 5:7–8 “‘You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” .

I know you are thinking, I am not guilty of that one. That is what I used to think till I had a professor tell me that idolatry was when I place anything between me and God. So have you ever placed your job, family, car, vacation, anything at all between you and God. I want to stay married to you, but I want other girls friends.

What about Blasphemy- Deuteronomy 5:11 “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” Speaking irreverently or profanely of God, using God’s name to curse or revile anyone.

Resisting God- refusing to obey the will of God; quenching the Spirit of God (1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit;” )

Ignoring God- Not making time for God in our lives, breaking the Sabbath. (Deuteronomy 5:12–15 “‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God;

Disobedience- Which is intentionally rejecting the relationship God offers by choosing not to follow God’s will.

Unbelief- refusing to believe and obey the truth.

Ignorance- Unknowingly alienating ourselves from God and others. Our lack of understanding can defeat us.

Pride-(Matthew 6:5–8 ““When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. ) Jesus, in his greatest sermon on the mount points out the danger of pride. Focusing attention on ourselves rather than giving honor and glory to God.

Unforgiveness toward God or others- (Matthew 6:9-15) If we refuse to forgive we cannot be forgiven,

But remember that forgiveness is not the same as forgetting. We may never forget, but we still can forgive.

Illustration: Holding a book and not letting go.

If you are struggling with forgiving someone, please speak to your spiritual directors. I know they are ready and willing to talk to you and help you let go of the past. Until we let go of the past, our hands are too full to take hold of the exciting future God has for us.

But there are also the obstacles that effect our relationships with others like…

Murder- (Deut 5:17) You may not have taken someone’s physical life, but you can kill someone with your words.

Addiction and abuse- our nation is in the grip of an addiction crisis. Any physical abuse or substance abuse becomes an obstacle to grace.

Lying- (Deut. 5:20) Saying things that we know are untrue.

Gossip or Slander- Saying things with the intent of hurting others.

Stealing- (Deut 5:19) taking things away from those who own or deserve them.

Coveting- (Deut 5:21) Refusing to be satisfied with what we have. When we desire what is not ours.

Laziness- refusing to be a good steward of the life, gifts, graces, and power God has entrusted to you.

Dishonor- (Deut. 5:16) When we dishonor our parents or our spouses or children, we create an obstacles to grace in our prayer life.

The other obstacles to our relationship with ourselves.

Lack of Love-(Mark 12:29–31 “Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”” ) refusing to love ourselves in a healthy manner. If we lack love for ourselves, we cannot love our neighbor.

Bitterness- (Heb. 12:14-15) it is a nasty virus. We decide if we are going to get bitter, or better with time.

Spiritual blindness- the refusal to see what is right in front of you.

I know this has been a lot of bad news, right, yeh, I have been a Debbie downer. So are you ready for some Good news. Ready.

Through Jesus Christ we can overcome the obstacles of Grace.

Look at the vertical line it reminds us that Christ restores our relationship with God. God forgives our sins, and invites us into a new love based, forgiveness driven, and hope inspiring relationship. Gone forever is the guilt ridden, shame driven, fear inspiring concept of God. God meets us where we are, sinful, broken, hurting, but He loves us too much to leave us there. The song writer put it this way, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,.. then love lifted me.”

The vertical line is not the only line in the cross, the other line is the horizontal. That represents our relationship with others and ourselves. When our focus sifts from us to God, something amazing happens. We begin to see others, not as people to be used, but gifts to be enjoyed. We also begin to see ourselves differently. We no long see ourselves as with guilt and shame, but as someone made in the image of God. We begin to value ourselves because we are created by a loving God. David said,

Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.”

Now what about the paper you have, well, I want you to draw a line through all the obstacles in your life. Now draw an other line down to form a cross. Through the cross of Christ, we can over come all obstacles. The spiritual directors are there to talk to anyone who wishes to…

Join me in leaving our obstacles behind them, after this short prayer.

Jesus, you came that we might have life, abundant life, no superabundant life, but we confess that obstacles have gotten in our way. Like the minuscular amount of eggs in my throat, they have chocked out our spiritual life. But today, right now, I leave my past failures, mistakes, errors in judgement, behind me, and move into the new adventurous life you have for me. Amen.

Decolores.