"What Kind of Grace Is This?" Fourth Sunday of Easter May 15, 2011 1Peter 2:19-25
We live in a world in which we have a tremendous opportunity. By “we” I mean us Christians. We have the opportunity to live in a way in which no one else can. Many can have a lot of things but they don’t have the freedom that God gives. Many have freedom but it’s not the same. They use it to do all kinds of things that at the end of the day are for the purpose of indulging themselves. We are different. We have the opportunity to use our freedom to be servants. This might not sound like a good evangelism commercial for those who aren’t Christians, and maybe it’s not. And it may not sound like a good motivational message for those of us who are. But when you live to indulge yourself at the end of the day you are left with emptiness. When you live to serve others at the end of the day you are filled with something. It can be described as something like peace that surpasses our understanding. It can be described as fulfillment, or even satisfaction. But that is not the reason we are to serve. That’s more like a by-product, or even icing on the cake. We are not to serve others so that we can get something out of it. The reason we are to serve is because that is who we are. We are people like everyone else. But we are Christians. We live in society like everyone else but we are called by God to live in Him. The difference is that we Christians understand grace. Non-Christians don’t want to have anything to do with the grace of God. They don’t want a handout. We know we need grace. Non-Christians take offense that they must sit idly by while God Almighty does all the work for them in saving them. And who is God to tell them they need to be saved anyway? We know that not only do we need to be saved by grace but that it is solely by grace that we can do anything good. Non-Christians are much more interested in pointing out how good they are or how self-sufficient they are. In our weaker moments we indulge ourselves rather than celebrate being a servant. I’m not talking about eating a big bowl of ice cream. Indulging ourselves often comes through getting by with God at the lowest common denominator. Come to think of it, we end up a lot like non-Christians do. We are very much offended by God’s view of grace. It’s a grace thing of God when we suffer unjustly. Say what? Whatever happened to just good old grace? We are saved by grace, not of works. God gives, we receive. The old time religion works very well for us, so we don’t need Peter to come along and say that the boundless grace of God includes us suffering at the hands of pagans who not only don’t understand grace but sneer at it. What happened to it is that it never existed. At least, not in that form. God’s salvation of you has never been about you sitting back and taking it all in. All the grace, all the blessings, all the good and gracious stuff God loves to give you. If that were all there was to it, you would find it just as unappealing as non-Christians do. What really is the point when you seem to be a pretty good person without the help of God? There is no point. If grace were just you sitting back and soaking it all in and not having a care about anyone else there would be no difference between Christianity and non-Christianity. You could just be the good person you are and not worry about what you might need from God. The reason that it is God’s pleasure and will and grace that you suffer when you don’t deserve it is Christ. That’s a one word reason: Christ. Jesus isn’t so much the reason for the season as He is the reason for who you are. Who you are is because of Christ. The reason you suffer unjustly is because of Christ. The reason you have freedom to be a servant is because of Christ. When you see that who you are is because of Christ then you see why you are offended that God’s grace means you will suffer at the hands of people you’d just as soon give some payback to. When you see that who you are is a servant is because of Christ then you see why it is such a good thing to be a servant. The reason is Christ. That’s what Peter says. When you are graced by God to suffer unjustly, when you are called by God to serve others, you have something you could never get on your own. You have what God has. What God has is power and freedom and love and grace. How God goes about being Himself is by being a servant. Peter says that “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.” Is that what you would do if you were God? Become a servant? Serve the people beneath you? Serve those who frankly couldn’t care less about you? You don’t need to answer that question because you’re not God. But God is and He is who He is and does what is consistent with who He is. That is love and grace and serving. Jesus, as Peter goes on to say, “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.” This is who God is. He is the one who suffered unjustly. And you know why? Because of grace. Because it’s a good thing. Because that’s the way God wanted it. He wanted to serve. He wanted to suffer unjustly. He wanted this because He’s God. In other words, because that’s who God is. God is who He is and does what is consistent with who He is. That is love and graciousness and servanthood. And now we have the opportunity to have what He has. That’s a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. It’s hard. The Bible never says that Jesus’ suffering was easy. Just the opposite. It was the hardest thing ever. Which is good news in another way for us, no suffering can ever get worse than what has already occurred. And it occurred to Christ. He was the brunt of suffering we can’t imagine. When we suffer it is grace and is, even more so, never as bad as we might think it is. This is all good and great and fantastic and would be great and all that if it were the whole story. But with God, being as He is who He is, there’s always more. That’s what being a servant is all about. It’s not like He just helps us out. He truly is a servant. He serves us. He delivers to us what we need. That Jesus is an example for us is great and everything and we can spend our lives attempting to follow in His path. Fortunately for us, the example He gives us is so much more than: Here you go, here’s how it’s done, go to it. Actually, that is the case but it’s because who we are is who we are in Christ. And as Peter goes on to say, the reason is because “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” We never suffer or serve apart from Christ having borne our sins in His body on the tree. We never suffer apart from Him having suffered in our place. We never serve apart from Him having served us in suffering for our sins. This is what He has done so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness. That may not sound practical or even particularly exciting. It may not sound like such a spectacular thing in comparison with what those who don’t believe in Jesus have. But if you think about it in terms of it being you having what God has, well, there isn’t really anything that could be more practical or more exciting. God is who He is and He gives you what He has. He gives you Himself. Christ is who you have and you are in Him and you are Him to others. Will you suffer unjustly? Yeah. Will it be extremely hard at times? Yes, it will. Will you live your life as a servant, putting others before yourself? Yes, you will. Does this mean that you are who you are in Christ; that you, in fact, have what God has? Yes, it does. And that is a very good thing. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. 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