7-21-2018

Good Morning All,

     Ephesians 2: 8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”.

    When I was in college, one of the guys who lived in the dorm that I did was nominated to be the homecoming king.  It was about a 4 step process as every organization could nominate.  Then the homecoming committee narrowed it down to 5 men and 5 women to be candidates.  We teased him a little, at first; but when he made the final cut we really gave him a hard time.  We would bow deeply before him as he walked by.  We formed and entourage for him and we always called out, “we are not worthy, we are not worthy” when he came into the room.  At first he was a little put out but after a while he went with the flow.  He didn’t win but we all had a lot of fun.

    Have you ever been around someone who you felt you weren’t worthy to be around?  When my wife first started to show interest in me, I thought it was for my buddy.  I didn’t think I was worthy of someone that pretty.  (I still don’t).  It can be hard when you are in their presence.  You don’t know what to say; you don’t know how to act; you feel tentative and very stressed about being with them.  It can be that way when we think of our relationship with God.

    It is said that Martin Luther climbed the 28 steps of the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) on his knees, saying the Lord’s Prayer on each step trying to be worthy of God.  When he got to the top, he didn’t feel any better than he did at the bottom.  He could never feel worthy of God and his grace.  Luther finally realized he never would.

    We are never worthy of God’s grace.  Nothing we do impresses God.  Nothing we do makes God sit up and notice us.  We are saved because God loves us and for no other reason.  He came to us and sought us out and brought us back to his kingdom because of his loving nature not because we are worthy.  So we don’t have to worry about how good we are or how many acts of “good works” we do, we could climb 100 steps on our knees; it would not impress God. 

    What impressed God was when Jesus died for us.  What really impressed God was when Jesus took the full brunt of the punishment for our sins.  That is what impressed God.  It impressed him enough to call it good enough to forgive our sins because of it.  This action makes us worthy to stand before God as his redeemed children.  This action saves us from eternal damnation and gives to us the promise of eternal life.  All we need to do is cling to that promise and trust it to be true.  We are saved, not by being worthy or good enough; we are saved because we are loved.  We are loved by a God whose desire is to have us live as his dear children.  It is God’s love not our actions.

Gracious Father, we are never worthy of your grace yet you pour out grace upon grace upon us.  For this we give you thanks.  We ask that you bring comfort to those who struggle, trying to be good enough.  Let them come to know that we are saved by your love and not by our works.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret