Grace – It’s Even Better than Free
Pastor Mathew Magera – 12/9/18 – Sermon 317
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I love the book of
Philippians. It's definitely in my top 66 favorite books of the Bible. If you
ever need encouragement, read Philippians. If you are ever feeling down, read
Philippians. If you are ever not sure of yourself, read Philippians. If you
know someone else who fits these categories, encourage them to read
Philippians, or read it for them. It’s only 104 verses long. It's amazing to me
how Paul, who is in prison, can write such an encouraging letter to the
Christians in Philippi. He is so encouraged and motivated by them that he, in
turn, reaches out to them providing even more encouragement and motivation.
Well, I, for one, am glad to see this book in the Advent season. Sometimes the
chaos of Christmas, the anxiety around family gatherings, the family budget
when it comes to Christmas shopping, or anything else can really wreak havoc on
our state of mind. Our reading from Philippians provides us good news if we
find ourselves anxious already.
Jesus has something for us.
He is bringing us something new, a new heaven, a new earth. He's restoring
creation to what it was meant to be in the beginning. There is so much joy
coming our way we can't even imagine it fully. Perhaps the best thing to hear
about that, especially this time of year, is that we don't have to pay for it.
Jesus has something for us and it's free.
Who enjoys free stuff? Most
of us, I'd say. My email inbox tends to explode this time of year. I'm
registered with a number of different stores and restaurants that offer
discounted or free items as birthday gifts. We don't always go out to eat but
when we have a good free offer to do so, usually around mine or Lane's
birthdays, we tend to go and get the most out of what we have. One of the
places we often find ourselves at is Red Robin, as we did last weekend, for a
free burger. I like free things. I would say the general population likes free
things. But, what's better than free? Well, I remember not too long ago Grand
Rapids opened its first Chick-Fil-A restaurant. This chain often offers the
promise of free food for a year if you are one of the first so many people into
the restaurant on their opening day. People went crazy for the chance, lining
up the day before and camping outside the restaurant to receive their free food
for a year.
That would be great to have
but there is one word that tends to make the word free even better. That word
is "unlimited" or "unending". If you had free coupled with
one of those two words, you are in for something spectacular. If something is
free and unlimited, you know you are going to get something until you just
can’t handle any more. That's why I like restaurants like Red Robin where the
fries are unlimited. That' why I like Olive Garden where I can eat as much
salad and breadsticks as I want, sometimes just eating nothing but that and
boxing up my entire paid meal to take home for later. If I'm sitting at the
table and one of these free items is running low, just ask and more will
arrive. When you have something that is not only free but unlimited or
unending, you can partake of it whether it is food or something else until you
couldn't possibly handle any more.
I share this with you to
help us think about what Paul is talking about with the Christians in Philippi
this morning. Free stuff is great! But, there is something that is even better
than free. For Paul, there is something that is so unlimited, so unending that
it is given to us in such a way that it will fill us to the point of
overflowing. Paul is talking about God's grace and that God's grace is even
better than free, it's unlimited. Free stuff is great. Free and unlimited is
better.
One of the purposes of the
Advent season, maybe I should say the main reason is to remind us of the first
coming of Christ and the prepare us for the second coming of Christ. Last week
we talked about the cosmological disaster and finding hope in the darkness.
Now, we've completely changed gears and here we have Paul giving us a
completely different view on preparing for the second Advent of Christ.
Just listen to what Paul
says here in Philippians 1, starting at verse 4, "In all my prayers for
all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel
from the first day until now." This next part is where Paul really hits it
home. He says, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in
you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." This is
Paul talking about free stuff. This is Paul talking about free grace. Free
grace is great, but it just keeps coming until it overflows. God's grace is
unlimited.
God has started something
good in you. God has started feeding you with grace. You didn't deserve it
either. God's grace is one expensive item on the heavenly menu, folks. You
can't afford it. But, God gave it to you free, but even more than that, he's
giving you all you can handle and then some because Jesus paid the bill for you
on the cross. Jesus paid your bill. God has started a good work in you from the
cross of Christ but as Paul tells the Philippians, God's not done. Whether we
feel like we're just full of grace about to pop or we feel like we're running a
little empty, God's just going to keep bringing it to you so be ready. Last
week we talked about being watchful for disaster. This week we are told to be
ready for more grace. But, the message is still the same. Be ready! That grace
is going to keep coming until the day of Jesus Christ when grace is just pouring
out our ears. Paul is confident that he who began a good work in you will carry
it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Free, unlimited grace.
Now, we have to admit this
all stands in nearly a stark contrast to our Gospel reading. When we think of
grace, John the Baptist is not necessarily the first person I think of. I see
John the Baptist more as an annoying, turn or burn, street preacher that I
would just as soon avoid. He sort of takes the joy out of Paul’s message. I
mean, just look at how John addresses the people. "You brood of
vipers!" You snakes! People are coming to see him, to be baptized by him,
and the first thing he does is he insults them. Produce good fruit. Stop being
bad and relying on the Law to save you. In other words, stop sinning just so
that you can make a sacrifice and be clean again. You can't talk your way out
of this just because you are children of Abraham, inheritors of the Promised
Land and followers of the Law. Repent and produce good fruit. John the Baptist
is not really a giver of grace. However, he does point to it.
So, we have a conundrum. What
do we do with Paul who says, "he who began a good work in you will see it
to completion on the day of Christ Jesus" and John the Baptist who says,
"The ax is already at the root of the tree, and every tree that does not
produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire"? How can
they go together?
We need both of these
sentiments. We need Paul. We need John the Baptist. It's a package deal. Jesus
comes not only to give us grace to begin a good work in us, but also because we
are sinners in need of that good work. We can't claim the pleasantness of grace
without the harsh admonishment of our sins. That's the part Paul mentions when
he says, "he who began a good work." While God will see it through to
completion, we still live in a world where we don't feel it complete quite yet.
It's not fully realized yet. So, if we don't feel full yet, that’s why. But, don't
worry, more grace is on the way.
In Jesus Christ, we have
been made into a good tree, using John the Baptist’s words. Standing on the
promises of the resurrection, God's grace reassures us that we who bear good
fruit, who bear that grace, will not be cut down. John tells us what we
deserve. Paul tells us what we get. You are not a dry tree anymore. You are not
in parched lands. You are not living in a drought. You are not living without
energy. Joy carries and moves you. That's the power of grace. You are bearing
fruit, in suffering, and in joy. You are bearing fruit. Grace blooms in you.
Resurrection has turned loose in you. You have no alternative; you are spilling
over with the sheer goodness of God already.
You know that feeling when
you go out to eat and you reach that point where you are too full to continue?
When you're full of free food and you can't possibly eat another bite, you have
a feeling going on down inside of you. We might call that indigestion. There
might be a fire burning that we call heartburn and we head to the medicine
cabinet for some Tums or something like that. When God's grace fills us up it
sets off a feeling inside us also but I tell you what you feel is not
indigestion. There is a fire burning inside you but it is most definitely not
heartburn but rather it is your heart burning for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the power of the resurrection at work in you. That's what grace is. It is that
power in you, surging in you, bouncing around and waiting to let loose.
This is the duality we deal
with during Advent, remembering the first coming of Christ and preparing for
the second coming. Remembering there is sin within us that needs to be cast out
by Christ's coming into the world and his death on the cross. Preparing for the
day when that good work that had begun in us on the cross will be complete when
Jesus comes again. But, we can be confident that in our remembering and in our
preparing that grace already abounds and that this grace was given freely and
that there is nothing we have left to do to pay for it, for Jesus already paid
the bill with his blood. We can now freely prepare for what it is to come, to
ask the server for yet another serving of grace. Bring some more, pile it on,
I'm still hungry for it and I know you are too.
Grace. It's even better than free. It's
unlimited, it's unending. It's what Paul speaks about in Philippians 1. So, as
you leave today, be mindful of your sinful condition, of the admonishment by
John the Baptist, but be freed by the power of grace and the resurrection
working in you, forgiving you and encouraging you that in the highs and lows of
the holiday season, he who began a good work in your will see it through to
completion on the day of Christ Jesus. To God be the glory, now and always.
Amen.