Grace Lutheran Church Sermon Amazing Grace, February 18, 2007

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Transfiguration Sunday

Amazing Grace Sunday “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”

February 18, 2007 Ephesians 2:8-9

This Sunday we join thousand of churches singing “Amazing Grace.” This hymn written by John Newton, a former slave trader, is a beloved hymn to so many. Grace is amazing indeed but what indeed makes grace so amazing?

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.

The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the [commotion] about?” he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” (Perfect Illustrations for Every Topic and Occasion, pp. 116-117; citation: Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace?).

Why is grace so important?

Grace is not just important for John Newton and others who have lived a decidedly despicable life. Humbled none of us can honestly pray along with that foolish pharisee who prayed, “I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” The amazing grace of God is not just real for the drug dealer in a burnt out apartment who looks in the mirror and is confronted with the failure of his life.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “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.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

Grace is so important because by grace we are saved and not by works of the law. In the letter of James we are reminded of the danger of trying to stand on works of the law, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10)

Not one of us is above the law. The Bible does not teach that God has nothing against us. In fact we learn through the cross that God has everything against us, the amazing grace is that he places all that he has against upon his own son.

What did Christ do for me because of grace?

We are going to run through now some of the basics of the work of Christ. Why go through something so basic as grace? The foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. The foundation for our mission as a church is Jesus Christ. Frankly if we get this wrong we are in trouble. And according to frequent studies that are released a frustrating large number of people who claim the name Christian are building their life on the quicksand of good works instead of the bedrock of the amazing grace.

So walk with me through what is so amazing about grace.

St. Peter wrote, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18) Jesus substituted himself into our punishment so that he could bring us to God. Jesus saw us in the dirty rags of our sin and by grace took those rags upon himself.

We are justified by grace. Paul encouraged the Romans in their suffering by reminding them that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25) It is just as if I had never committed those trespasses because Jesus was delivered up for them. As Paul goes on in chapter five of the book of Romans to explain, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

We are reconciled by grace. We have the ability to bring to this world a different spirit to conflict because we know the peace of reconciliation. Paul reminded the Corinthians who struggled how to live between the divisions of the world and peace of God saying, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:18)

As the VBS song reminds us,

Father Abraham had many sons

Had many sons had Father Abraham

I am one of them

And so are you

So let's just praise the Lord

By grace we are adopted into the promises of God. In him we have obtained an inheritance. (Eph. 1:5,11)

By grace we are redeemed. We are called to conduct ourselves with a holy fear knowing as St. Peter reminds, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19) We are called to conduct ourselves with the full awareness that we are not that far removed from being slaves ourselves. Christ purchased us from the bondage of our will so that with this sanctified freedom we may go forward and build his kingdom.

By grace Jesus turned away the wrath of God. Jesus made atonement for our sins without regard of how we would receive this gift. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11)

It by grace we are forgiven of our sins. The forgiveness that is offered is not conditional. A pastor who gives absolution to a repentant sinner does so freely just as Christ has freely forgiven us. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Eph. 1:7)

Grace is indeed amazing. But we must be on guard that grace does not remain only the conversation of the sanctuary.

What difference does this amazing grace make to our day-to-day lives? We are no longer in bondage to sin or hostile to God. We bring this freedom to the lives we lead. We see each person as a person that Christ came to love and care for through his holy precious blood.

No man, woman, or child should be owned by any other person. We fear and trust in the Lord above all things. After Paul told the Ephesians that they are saved by grace through faith and not by works so no one can boast we wrote, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10).

In the new movie “Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story” there is a scene where William Wilberforce a young member of parliament in England is being lobbied by abolitionists. The abolitionists want William to introduce and support legislation that would prohibit the slave trade in the British Empire. They show him a former slave and how he was branded by his former owners. That physical branding makes real the ugliness of slavery and how it is a denial of that person’s identity as a person whom Jesus Christ purchased not with gold or silver but with his holy blood.

The story of John Newton and William Wilberforce's work is far from finished. There are still an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today. Modern day slavery can come in many different forms. Entire families may work long days in rice-mills, brick kilns or on plantations. Children may be abducted and forced to fight in a rebel's army. All of the people in these examples are slaves—they cannot come and go as they please and are often beaten or threatened with violence. They have no autonomy in their day-to-day lives and deserve the right to be free.

In conjunction with the release of the film Amazing Grace, the producers of that film have launched a campaign to abolish modern day slavery and allow children and adults around the world to live in freedom. Because amazing grace brings an amazing change in our lives we must be bold in this world to act. Sometimes the stories of Uganda and the Sudan seems so far away and you may think that you can’t make a difference. Bev Lauer, the daughter of Warren and Marilyn Luick, has told me about a great organization called Child Voice International. Child Voice International is working to restore life to children that had been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda. This children have had their lives stolen from them but now are discovering that they are still loved by God.

Grace is not just about what God has done, as if it was a lesson in history. Grace is the undeserved love of God given at the expense of Christ. This love is for you and for the whole world. Grace is about what God is presently doing through you to bring his undeserved love into this world.

We can still make real in the lives of individuals the freedom we ourselves have found in Christ Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria

sermoncentral.com had a great collection of resources to prepare this sermon for Amazing Grace Sunday.

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