2021.09.05

Grace in our Life: Means and the End

Do you have a favorite gift you ever received? I do.

6 yrs. old

Christmas

all the gifts – I only remember one

cardboard log cabin [Lincoln fan]

nothing special about the flaps of cardboard

Dad got down on the floor and played with me

In case you’ve missed any of the Grace in our Life series, let me review a bit:

God created humanity to reflect his image, and said humanity was “very good”

The image got smudged in the Garden when humanity allowed sin in the world

God has set about restoring his image in us by his Grace, and he does all the heavy lifting:

With prevenient grace, he woos us to himself

With justifying grace, he empowers us to become his

With sanctifying grace, he restores his image in us

So, how do we put ourselves in a place to receive this grace?

Well, you’ve likely heard the phrase: “God works in mysterious ways.” That’s true, but it’s also true that

God works in knowable ways!

The reason God seems unpredictable at times is likely because we don’t know him well enough! With however well we do know him, though, we can discover some patterns in God’s interactions with us:

We can easily recognize some instances where God regularly pours his grace into his people through certain ways or situations.

Grace in our Life: Means and the End

The old fashioned term for ‘ways of doing something’ is means, and God has many means of pouring grace into us that can become predictable!

According to the Wesley Study Bible, through these means of grace: “God enables us to increasingly recover the divine image of love in which we were created.”

So what “means” does God use to reach us, and restore us?

Let me begin with the two we revere the highest. We call these Sacraments - sacred experiences that Jesus commanded we continue:

Baptism

The once-in-a-lifetime sacrament where God stakes his claim on a person’s life is what we call Baptism.

In baptism, we celebrate that God declares us his son or daughter and proclaims his pleasure with us … just like he did at Jesus’ baptism.

We don’t repeat this sacrament because God’s claim on us is irrevocable. He won’t remove it, so there’s no need to ask him to reclaim us.

When we’ve wandered away from God, it’s good for us to renew our commitment to Him. In the UMC, we call that “remembering your Baptism”. We remember the commitments made and celebrate that God’s love for us hasn’t waivered at all … even if ours has.

In the UMC, we recognize any Christian water baptism, and we view sprinkling, pouring, and dunking as equal forms of baptism.

The Purple Hulls are a bluegrass gospel group. They wrote these words about baptism:

There's no power in the water

Be it the mighty Mississippi or the Jordan when it floods

There's no power in the water

To take away our sin the power is in the blood

The water or how it’s applied isn’t really the important part, either. The action God takes in baptism is the important part.

Communion

The periodic, regular sacrament we celebrate is Holy Communion, The Lord’s Supper, The Eucharist (Latin: “grateful”).

At his last supper as a human, Jesus gave us this ritual and told us to “do this … in remembrance of me.”

Similar to Baptism, we use many different forms:

wine/juice

bread/cracker/wafer/pita

intinction/common cup/individual cups

Much like baptism, there are many forms and the form is less important than understanding what’s being celebrated.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NASB 2020

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

As a continuation of the Passover, we celebrate that Jesus sacrificed his own blood so that God’s judgment could be converted to God’s grace.

Grace in our Life: Means and the End

Other denominations consider other means of grace sacraments. We limit to these two because they were directly commanded by Jesus.

But that doesn’t limit God’s graceful interactions to just 2 experiences.

John Wesley taught that God’s means of grace are limitless. If he can imagine something, he can use it to provide grace for us … and most of them are not ‘special occasions’ like weddings or baptisms. Most of God’s means of grace are ordinary:

Prayer

Jesus invested time daily in prayer with his Father. God uses prayer as a way to restore his image within us.

Paul tells us to ‘pray without ceasing’. We can live a life continually connected to God’s grace.

The Scripture

Daily reading

Study

Hearing the Word proclaimed

Meditating

We receive God’s grace through his Word

Worship

Worship is actively loving God

certainly Sunday counts … but it doesn’t end there

When we live our lives based on our love of God, he receives joy.

Rick Warren - “Worship is anything that brings a smile to God’s face.”

And in worship, we receive God’s grace.

Fellowship

Much deeper than hanging out over a cup of coffee.

Fellowship is sharing life with other believers.

Sharing hurts and joys and strengthening each other for life’s bumps

accountability

You cannot follow God the way He wants you to without an accountability relationship!

Through Christian fellowship and accountability, we are changed by God’s grace.

Fasting

Why don’t we fast anymore?

The Old and New Testaments BOTH teach fasting as a religious practice.

Jesus told John’s disciples that his disciples didn’t fast because he was there in person. But when he was taken away, “then they will fast.” [Matt 9:14-15]

But … for the most part … we don’t.

Fasting allows us to deny something worldly for a period in order to focus on the godly.

We usually think of food, but it doesn’t have to be food we’re fasting. It needs to be something we’ll miss … so we have regular reminders to focus on God’s grace and pray about that focus.

TV

Caffeine

Radio in the truck

noise/speaking

Fasting is a discipline, and I have fallen out of practice, but it has been a huge means of grace in my life … perhaps it’s time I pick this back up!

These just scratch the surface of how God works in PREDICTABLE ways! He regularly uses these and other means of grace, so we should continue to practice them!

John Wesley provided only 3 General Rules for his Methodist Societies, and the UMC continues those 3 General Rules.

They are quite simple:

Do no harm

Do good

Continue in the ordinances of God

The “ordinances of God” are ‘means of grace’ - Every means of grace holds an opportunity for new life in Christ. In order to take up that new life, something else has to die. In order for us to have new life in Christ, He first had to die and be resurrected.

Acknowledge Master gardeners among us: Tomato "suckers"

In the means of Grace, God prunes away the dead parts of us, so his life can flourish in us.

John 15:1–2 NASB 2020

1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

My favorite gift was my Lincoln cabin because my dad got down on the floor and played with me. In these means of grace, God is getting down on the floor and playing with us!

And today, we get to play on the floor with God … as we come for Communion. You may also notice the water up here. As you come forward today, I want to invite you to participate in two means of grace and consider adding a third:

Come and take Holy Communion as we have been - I’ll tear off a piece of bread, and we’ll have juice cups for you to take, and you can partake of the elements.

As you walk away, I would invite you to renew your commitment to God in the baptismal waters. In remembering your baptism, you’re not remembering an event. You’re remembering the commitments and the encounters you’ve had with God. You do with the water what you feel led to do: maybe you sign the cross; maybe you pour a little bit over your head; maybe you just dip your finger and trace a cross on your forehead or hand; maybe you just stand at the water and remember. However you use the water … Remember your baptism and be thankful.

The third I would encourage you to consider adding is an element of Christian Fellowship. For some of us, this won’t be an emotional event at all. For some, it will be quite emotional. Regardless of where you are on that spectrum, how might you reach out to support others as they’re celebrating these means of grace? Maybe you’re close enough that you wrap your arms around each other and approach together; maybe you just reach out a hand on the next person’s shoulder; maybe you just stand next to them in solidarity; maybe you know each other well enough to serve each other. You get to choose your response to that part, too.

Grace in our Life: Means and the End

But recognize that these are all ways that God regularly engages his people with his grace and brings them closer to full restoration of his image in them.

[Pray over elements and water - include fellowship]

Blessed are you Lord God King of the Universe, who brings forth food from the earth.

Blessed are you Lord God King of the Universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

Blessed are you Lord God King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with divine commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.

Blessed are you Lord God King of the Universe, who provides friends and fellowship for life.