Sunday, September 25, 2005

Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car

[Friends, this is a text from a sermon I Preached a couple of weeks back. It's about grace.]

American Idols, pt III
Luke 15:11-32



There once was a father who had two sons. Both served him well until one day when the younger of the two sons came to his father and said, "Father, I wish to have my share of the inheritance that will come to us when you die."

The Father, shocked as he was, agreed and divided his estate giving the younger son the customary one-third of the estate that was rightfully his under the current laws and customs of the times and culture. The younger son received what he believed was his even though he was rather certain that he should have received more. The father sent him on his way.

The boy was industrious even if he was rather ungrateful. He moved to the city and wisely invested his money and took a job. As time went along he prospered. His bank account grew and eventually he had saved enough to open his own business. Shortly after he opened his business he got married and eventually he had a couple of children of his own.

And he forgot all about the life he once knew…the life at his dad’s business, working hand and hand with his older brother. In fact, he became so successful that he forgot entirely about his family—but then, being so successful, he had no reason to remember. He had no need of going back. He had all he needed in his self-sufficient world. It is said that his father died one day while sitting on the back porch looking off in the direction his son had gone when he first left.

Simone Wiel once wrote, "It is to the Prodigals…that the memory of their father’s house comes back. If the son had lived economically he would never have thought of returning."

CS Lewis wrote in his book, the The Problem of Pain, "The dangers of apparent self-suffering explain why our Lord regards the vices of the feckless and dissipated so much more leniently than the vices that lead to worldly success. Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger."
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In a word, I think, grace is ridiculous. In another word, it is absurd. In yet another word, it is frightening. Someone else wrote, "It is scandalous, irrational, and revolutionary." (Stockman, 114) Philip Yancey says that grace is an unnatural act. I say that for all intents and purposes grace is outrageous.

I confess, it makes very little sense. Just think about yourself because only you know about yourself and what you have done, and who you have been, and where you have been—who you are when no one is looking—just think about yourself and tell me honestly that grace makes sense. I can scarcely look myself in the mirror with a straight face and think about grace. If the Bible insists that grace ‘comes to people free of charge, to people who do not deserve it…’ it also insists that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.’

Grace is the divine ability to take those things which we consider misery, ugly, and make them spectacularly beautiful. If you really think about it, grace is hard to get in our grasp. Consider this story from Matthew 20:

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ " ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. "He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ "But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

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There once was a man who had two sons. They both worked hard for their father. Then one day, the younger of the two sons came to father and said, "Father, you have worked hard all your life. You have everything you need. I need to have a go at it, dad, and I need to have my go at it now. Uh…I…uh…was thinking…uh…maybe…I could have…uh…my share of…you know…my inheritance…uh…today."

The father gladly agreed to do exactly what the younger son asked. The father was a wise man. He knew what the young man was up to but he gladly gave the young man everything he wanted because he fully expected that once the young man saw all there was to, so to speak, he would come back home. You see the father valued the young man more than all the wealth in the world—of which he had plenty in piles. To let the son have his pittance was nothing to him. "Gladly, my son. We will make the arrangements this very day." And they did.

The next morning, the younger son left home. The father never saw his beloved son again. The son, doing exactly what the father knew he would do, went out and spent, and spent, and spent. "He went out there in search of experience, to taste and touch, and to feel as much as a man can…" He raised parties. He hired dancers. He bought only the best booze and only slept with the finest looking women…or men. He did whatever he could and whatever he could buy. Nothing was above or below his appetite. He whored himself around to anyone who was willing. Time went on but the money did not. His once bottomless checkbook gave way and he sank into disrepair. He turned to a life of crime in order to support his habits. He got in trouble day after day with the law.

He often thought of home. Oh, that warm house and clean clothes. There’s enough there for everyone. But he thought that all that was far beyond him. He could not go back. "My father would never accept that I had done this to his money, his reputation. I have brought shame upon my family…here I am in rags, disease-ridden, filthy, addicted…" and he wept and wept. But he never returned home. He never returned home even though, day after day, the father would stand on the porch looking, watching, waiting for his beloved, bedraggled son to come walking down the road…to return home to all he had to offer.

"Therefore God gave them over in their sinful desires of ther hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised." (Romans 1:24-25)

"My father is a rich man, he wears a rich man’s cloak. Gave me the keys to His Kingdom, Gave me a cup of Gold. He said, ‘I have many mansions, and there are many rooms to see.’ But I lefte by the backdoor, and I threw away the key." –U2 The First Time, Zooropa

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Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame.
Removes the stain.
It could be her name.
Grace, it’s the name for a girl
It’s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything.

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings.
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things.
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.
--U2, Grace, All That You Can’t Leave Behind

I wonder about this grace…this irrational behavior that God demonstrates towards us feckless and obtuse creatures is beyond comprehension and so we ought just to accept it and be done with it. It is so easy to take advantage of grace, so easy to forget it, so easy to misunderstand it. Grace makes it almost too easy to be human and yet too hard. For if the Bible says we are saved by grace it also says we must repent. And who has time to repent when grace abounds?

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

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There once was a man who had two sons. They both worked hard for their father. He was a stearn man. He worked hard, but he was fair and just. One day the younger son came to his father with an important question: "Father, I’ve been thinking. I’m of age and I have worked hard for you. I’d like to set out and see a little bit, try my hand at business, give it a go on my own for a while. I think I’ve earned that much of an opportunity. What do you say?" The father thought for a moment or two before finally agreeing with the younger son. Later that day he had the appropriate papers drawn up and by the next morning the son was on his way—camel under his butt, money in his pocket, dreams and ambitions all out there in front of him.

All was going well but he was growing wild. His new wealth had brought him a cornocopia of friends from varying places in his new community. He suddenly realized that he had a certain pinache for throwing parties and so he began to throw them more and more frequently. He began doing drugs and drinking a lot. Eventually, he fell into bankruptcy and all his friends abandoned him. He looked and looked for a job before settling for collecting garbage. But it was of no use. He was so far in debt that he was barely making interest payments on his loans and soon after was eating from a dumpster.

One day, he had a revelation. "Even though my father split the money between me and my brother, I am sure there is still enough for me to go back home…I could ask dad for a job at the shop and I’ll work off my debt. Dad will help me out. He has to, after all I’m still his son. What dad would turn away a son?" He set out that instant. And, as he thought, his father was waiting for him…as if he knew he would be coming. But, to he was shocked by what he heard. "Ah, there you are. I’ve heard about your condition. I’ve heard of all that you are into. I’ve heard about your debt. I’ve heard you eat from dumpsters. I’ve heard you wasted all of my money on wine and women and parties. And you still have the nerve to come back here? What for? See your older brother here? Look at him! Has he wasted all the money I have earned? Has he squandered away my life’s work on worthless adventures and schemes? See the ring on his finger? See these fine clothes I have given him? Do you think you have any part of this? Go! Leave! Don’t come back! You have no share in this family."

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

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Henri Nouwen pointed out, ‘God rejoices, not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, not because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because one of his children who was lost has been found." (Yancey, 47-48)

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

"When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

"The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

"But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

" ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"

The prodigal knew he could go home to daddy, but he was, I believe, unprepared for the welcome he received. This was something not expected, not dreamed of, not even hoped for it was so far beyond the realm of possibilities. And yet there it was; there it happened. The old man making a fool of himself in front of everyone. He sees his son coming from afar and starts dancing, and jumping, and rejoicing. He had let the son go, but he rejoices that he has returned.

You can almost hear the sounds of voices, "This irresponsible reprobate! How can he let this son come back. Jesus you have it all wrong that is certainly not how this story should end."

"That boy was a poster child for sinners worldwide. He should be judged. Jesus no man in his right mind would act that way. And no Righteous, just God would either."

"Jesus, I don’t know who you are or what you are about, but that is not the God we serve."

"Mercy for one such as that child? A warm-hearted response? A tender grasp? What are you about Jesus? That story is ridiculous."

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Philip Yancey comments, "Obviously, Jesus did not give us the parables to teach us how to live. He gave them, I believe, to correct our notions about who God is and how God loves." (What’s So Amazing About Grace?, 48)
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You’re a precious stone, you’re out on your own.
You know everyone in the world, but you feel alone.
Daddy won’t let you weep.
Daddy won’t let you ache.
Daddy gives you as much as you can take.
Daddy’s gonna pay for your crashed car.

He gives you the keys to a flamin’ car
Daddy’s with you wherever you are.
Daddy’s a comfort
Daddy’s your best friend.
Daddy’ll hold your hand right up to the end.
Daddy’s gonna pay for your crashed car.
Daddy’s gonna pay for your crashed car.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday…

Waking Up

At 6:00 o’clock in the morning
My alarm clock sounds the warning
That if I do not rouse my weary eyes
And face the morning’s dreary skies
My day will soon waste away.

At 6:00 o’clock in the morning
The sheets and blankets are so warming
That I’d like to stay and rest my eyes
Instead of facing the still black dawning skies
Where the heat of day is on the rise.

At 6:00 o’clock in the morning
The thoughts of living are so thickly swarming
That I wish I could just go to sleep
And dream of things not quite so deep
Where I run, and laugh and play.

At 6:00 o’clock in the morning
My alarm clock sounds the warning
That it’s time for me to think of time
And all the stanzas of life’s little rhyme
Of which I might be a verse or a reprise.

At 6:00 o’clock in the morning…

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Saying Hello

Hello. I will be posting again in October. Hope you will come back soon.

Jerry