March 20, 2024 – Prodigal Grace

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” Hebrews 12

“You do not have to live in fear of God’s anger. On your very worst, most rebellious, and most faithless day, you can run into the holy presence of your heavenly Father and he will not turn you away. Your acceptance has not been, nor will it ever be, based on your performance. You have not been welcomed into an eternal relationship with God because you have kept the law, but because Jesus did. If you obey God for a thousand years, you will not have earned more of his acceptance than you were granted the very first moment you believed. Here’s how radical the gospel of grace really is—you do not have to be something before God because Jesus accomplished everything on your behalf.” (“New Morning Mercies”, March 19; Paul David Tripp)

The story of the Prodigal Son is most likely the best story that highlights the human condition – one son separates himself from the loving father while the other has always been faithful to the father. We know the sins of the youngest son – while the oldest son believes that he has never sinned against his father.

The youngest son, once he recognizes the depth of his sin runs to the father with a contrite heart, and is welcomed home by the compassionate father. The oldest son sits outside the story stewing in his self-righteousness. This is why the presence of the oldest son is so important to this story. Jesus could have stopped with the father running to welcome home his prodigal son – but then Jesus could not address a central problem within religion in his day – and in our day as well – that of the self-righteous who believe they are less sinners than others.

On our worst days, we still can run to the father and will receive grace upon grace. If we stray seven times, and seven times come running to the father, we will be welcomed. It may feel like discipline once in a while – for the sins we commit have their consequences. But in the end, when we run to the father, we are welcomed home again and again.

Pastor Dave

March 19, 2024 – Arguing With God?

“Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Judges 6:11–18

“Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:7-12

Gideon and Moses both misunderstand who G-d is – and how difficult it is to argue with G-d. If you fail to remember that G-d has a plan that goes beyond our understanding, then we may from time to time try to argue with G-d. But as I often say, if you want to make G-d laugh tell G-d your plans. We may have a path in mind, but G-d has an ultimate path that we may have no conception of the distance, the difficulty, and the direction. We may believe that we are the least or the most insignificant in G-d’s eyes, but G-d has insight into our being that we may not even have had a glimpse of yet.

Both Moses and Gideon’s stories are great in the texts of the Old Testament. Both believed they were not up to the task to which G-d was calling them – and yet G-d would not take “no” for an answer. I believe it is because of our human status that we fail to see our potential to do what G-d has called us to do. We feel better if we can argue with G-d rather than go forward with trust and uncertainty. Perhaps we should learn from the ancient teachers like Moses and Gideon – arguing may make us feel better. But remember, G-d will hear your “no’s” for only so long – because G-d will accompany us along each path.

Pastor Dave