Sermon Tone Analysis

Lead the Prayer to the Holy Spirit p48

Introduction

I recently watched season 1 of The Chosen, together on Sunday evenings, episode by episode with a group at church.

Holding an event like that means work for me.

I make lemonade and coffee, setup the room, get the technology ready and test it, and get both nervous and excited about who is or isn’t coming.

A couple of months ago, we were watching an episode where, among other things, Jesus heals a man with leprosy.

As the episodes are playing, I’m usually thinking about things like…how is this being received?

Is the volume loud enough?

Is it too loud?

Is the temperature in the room ok?

Is it too dark?

Is it too light?

Is it too quiet?

Is it too noisy?

Are there enough snacks?

Has the coffee run out?

Is there enough creamer?

Why is the sky blue?

You get the idea.

Anyway, all these things are running through my head as I’m watching this episode, which I had already seen.

Then, wham.

As Jesus interacts and then heals with the leper, the Spirit washes over me afresh.

I FEEL the love of Christ, his love, and joy, and peace.

It only lasted a few moments, but I savored it.

For me, in those moments, Jesus used that episode as a Means of Grace for a distracted and anxious Jim Noble.

Praise Jesus!

My name is Jim Noble, and the title of this talk is Means of Grace.

Means of Grace

I was a Certified Public Accountant and Consultant until I started the process toward vocational ministry about 15 years ago.

I did financial audits for a couple of years then got into technology and consulting.

One of the guys I worked with in technology at Ernst & Young, Erich, was a white hat hacker.

(EXPLAIN).

We’re talking one day and he learns I was once a full-time auditor…Ah, he says, you were a checklist monkey.

Excuse me?

What?

Well, he said, auditors when they’re auditing financial statements get out the checklist for cash, or accounts payable, or inventory, what have you and they go down the checklist.

A monkey could do it most of the time.

If something’s missing on the checklist, then you have issues.

I had to laugh, because there’s enough truth in what he said to make it funny.

I don’t see Jesus as a checklist monkey...I don’t see Jesus with some checklist…did you baptize exactly this way?

Did you take the sacrament just so?

Oh, oops, you had a few hairs out of the water when you were baptized.

INVALID…To me, at least, he’s more graceful.

The grace of our triune God can appear in a bunch of different ways.

How it appears to you is likely different than it is to me at times.

Yet, there are certain ways Jesus has promised are ways to find grace and some other ways that people find more often than others.

These ways, these events, these categories we call means of grace.

Means of grace are sacred moments where Christ is re-presented or becomes present to us anew.

They can come in all sorts of forms and what is a means of grace for me might not be so much for you, and vice-versa.

Now, a side note.

I believe, we believe, that Christ IS present with us through the Holy Spirit.

Christ is alive and Lord NOW, HERE, and all over the universe.

Means of grace don’t have to deliver a memory, though they might, or a re-enactment, though that’s possible too…but can be Christ present with you where you are when you are.

Christ is free to act in any way he likes, within the will and character of God, but I’m going to cover some of these shared, lifted up by tradition and history, means of grace.

Sacraments

First, Sacraments.

Sacraments are kind of the hall of fame of Means of Grace…the two that non-Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, which includes most of us, celebrate are Baptism and Holy Communion.

Why do we celebrate two and RC/EO celebrate 7? Protestants removed the five other sacraments using three conditions: dominical institution, meaning, either begun or instituted by Jesus, the presence of a physical or material element or sign, and a divine promise requiring the response of faith.

Not that the other five aren’t important, they are, but they don’t pass these three tests and so many churches are left with two sacraments instead of seven.

Now, don’t sweat writing down exhaustive Scripture references during this talk…I’ll have a document delivered to you with an outline of it and Scripture references, etc...

A bit about baptism: Baptism marked the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22).

John the Baptizer baptized Jesus because it was the will of God for him to do so.

John says in Mark 1:8, “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

He was referring to Jesus.

Jesus entrusted the ministry of baptism to his disciples, and to us.

Christian baptism marks our new identity in Christ.

It’s an outward sign of an inward change, an inward grace, and is therefore a means of grace.

There are different modes of baptism that have been practiced, and are practiced, in Christian churches.

Immersion (put under the water) symbolizes being buried with Christ and raised with Christ to walk in a new life (Romans 6:3-4)

Pouring (when large bodies of water aren’t available) - another form of anointing.

Sprinkling - somewhere between sprinkles and pouring

The age for baptism varies among Christian traditions.

When we baptize adults, we celebrate God’s love and justifying grace in one act.

The baptized is cleansed and incorporated into Christ’s body.

In the baptism of children and infants, we celebrate God’s unconditional love and promise for their lives, God’s claiming of that person.

That act is routinely initiated by the parents or guardians of the child and ratified by the person later at their confirmation.

Holy Communion

Now, about Holy Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “I received a tradition from the Lord, which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread.

After giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me.”

He did the same thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Every time you drink it, do this to remember me.”

Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord until he comes.”

If you know much of anything about the Corinthians, this was pretty radical.

They struggled with preferring flash over faith.

Anyway, this sacrament goes by numerous names..Holy Communion, Eucharist, The Lord’s Table, The Lord’s Supper, the Divine Liturgy, or Mass.

Jesus instituted this sacrament, as he did with Baptism.

He commanded us to continue it.

Our source Scripture for this weekend was a time when Jesus broke bread with those travelers and revealed himself.

That meal was a Lord’s Supper, a Means of Grace.

I like to think of The Lord’s Supper in three main categories…we’re celebrating and remembering all God & Christ have done in salvation history, all the way back to creation.

You know, he even covers all the If Only’s we carry with us with his grace.

We’re also celebrating and remembering all that Christ will do…in the remainder of our earthly lives and whenever he comes in final victory.

He even covers the “Some days...” of our lives with grace.

We also celebrate and live into all Christ/God are doing right now, even Now, infusing our lives with grace through the power of the Holy Spirit as we face the challenges of life.

Praise Jesus!

Describe TWO PICTURES…Means of Grace of the Sacraments

Sacred Moments

In addition to the sacraments, we describe many other means of grace as sacred moments.

These can come as surprises, or perhaps by divine appointment.