Sermon for
May 1, 2005
6th Sunday of Easter
“(2) WE BELIEVE IN LOVE - THAT MAKES IT ALL RIGHT”
Romans 3:23, 5:1
There is something
about you that will never change. And that is this: love made you; love
is of the very essence of who you are, love is the very heart, the very
core of your being. Long before you were born God put in your heart great
treasure, this image of God in which you were created, love placed at the
very center of your life. That great treasure is still there. The only
problem is it no longer resides at the very center of your being. The
Apostle Paul puts it this way: All have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
That image of God in you you have
pushed aside and replaced with other things. You and I, just like our
ancestors Adam and Eve, have chosen to follow our own way, have lived our
lives quite independently from God. We squandered such great treasure,
traded it for so many other worthless things. Our priorities are all in
the wrong places. You will never be whole, you will never know joy, life
will never be right for you until love is restored to the very center of
your heart.
Once you give up such
great treasure, can you ever have it back again? Yes, you can. That’s
the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What you lost can be returned
to you. The great treasure you surrendered is given back to you as a
gift. That is why the Apostle Paul is so confident in his declaration
since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)
What
you need to do is to give your life to him, give to him everything that
has taken the place of love in the center of your being, and he will
restore great treasure to your heart. All you have to do is say “Yes” to
God.
That’s why John
Wesley in the 1700’s in England left his pulpit in the Anglican Church
(the Church of England) and preached to the miners, laborers, shopkeepers,
and common everyday folk outside the church. That was the message of the
Methodist Movement he started over 250 years ago. That’s the message of
our United Methodist Church today.
You see, John Wesley
taught us that when you say “Yes” to God something happens to you. When
you say “Yes” to God, your relationship to God is restored. God accepts
you just like you are. That’s what happens to you when you tell God,
“I’m sorry for trying to center my life on so many other things. I now
want to center my life on you;” when you give up any and every claim of
earning or deserving this relationship with God and just accept it as a
gift just as God accepts you.
John Wesley called
this God’s justifying grace. Justifying grace is the grace of God
that is yours the moment you accept the relationship God offers. This
acceptance is commonly called our conversion. Our acceptance is an act of
faith, not a work through which we merit the relationship. It is the
faith that Jesus asks of his followers—an act of trust and
self-abandonment by which you no longer rely on your own strength but
commit yourself to the power and guiding work of him in whom you believe.
When was the 1st
time you said “Yes” to God? Was it a dramatic, emotional, and memorable
experience for you? Or was it more a gradual realization in your life
that you are indeed a child of God? I expect conversion experiences
represented here today are as different and unique as each of you. There
is no one way to come to God, that experience is unique to each person and
just as valid no matter what its form. My own experience came to me one
day as a young teenager. God had been working on me for quite awhile by
then. God blessed me with a Mother who never looked out for her own needs
first, but always looked out for the need of another. She held a deep
concern for the less fortunate, a deep passion for equity and justice, and
had little patience for racial prejudice. Having been raised and nurtured
in the Methodist Church, one day it hit me, “Hey, God loves me and I
really do love God.” So I had a brief but meaningful conversation that
day when I told God, “I’m yours.” It was not an earth-shattering,
radically life-altering experience for me. It was simply the affirming
acknowledgement of something that had been growing in me all my life. It
was not until some time later that I began to realize what was really
growing in me was a call to ordained ministry.
When was the 1st
time you said “Yes” to God? What was that experience like for you?
Whatever your experience—sudden or slowing growing, dramatic or gradual—it
was just right for you. It was your own personal experience of love.
That was the moment
in your life when God makes it all right. You made mistakes, you made bad
choices, you went other ways, but right then you promised God you would go
where your Lord would lead you. You apologized to God and God accepted
your apology and accepted you. There is really nothing you can ever do to
make up for the past but that’s OK because God makes it all right. Just
as a parent comforts a child who comes running saying, “I’m sorry, I’m
sorry!!” so God held you close and said, “It’s OK, it’s OK, it’s all
right, it’s all right.” God, you see, makes it all right. Love makes it
all right. That’s God’s justifying grace. What a great treasure.
The
cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting
with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of
glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh please, Mommy. Can I have
them? Please, Mommy, please?" Quickly the mother checked the back of the
little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her
little girl's upturned face. "A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00.
If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no
time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday is
only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from
Grandma."
As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17
pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went
to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for
ten cents. Grandma did give her another new dollar bill for her birthday
and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.
Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She
wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only
time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath.
Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.
Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was
ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to
read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do
you love me?" "Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you." "Then give me
your pearls." "Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the
white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember
daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite." "That's okay, Honey,
daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss. About
a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you
love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh
Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I
got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket
that matches her sleeper." "That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you,
little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a
gentle kiss.
A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed
with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin
was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it,
Jenny? What's the matter?" Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her
little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little
pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy, this
is for you."
With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one
hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached
into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine
pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just
waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her
genuine treasure.
Anonymous
from the Internet
Those
dime-store pearls, those dime-store pearls, they meant her whole life to
her, as best as a little girl almost five years old understands life at
all. She loved those pearls. But she loved her Daddy more. And boy, did
Daddy ever make it all right! And you know what? I bet her Daddy let her
keep those dime-store pearls, too.
The good news of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ is this: what you lost can be returned to you.
The great treasure you surrendered is given back to you as a gift. That
is why the Apostle Paul is so confident in his declaration since we are
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What you need to do is to give your life to him, give to him
everything that has taken the place of love in the center of your being,
and he will restore great treasure to your heart by God’s justifying
grace. All you have to do is say “Yes” to God.
Have you said “Yes”
to God? Have you turned away from all the other things in life that just
leave you empty and now center your life on God? Have you turned over to
God everything—your job, your relationships, your family, your worries,
your joys—have you? Have you ever told God, “I’m sorry for trying to
center my life on so many other things. I now want to center my life on
you.” Have you ever had a brief conversation with God and just said,
“I’m yours!”? There is no better time than right now as you prepare to
come to his table today.
There is really
something about you that will never change. You will never be whole, you
will never know joy, life will never be right for you until love is
restored to the very center of your heart. When you say “Yes” to God,
when you accept God’s justifying grace, God makes it all right. Thanks be
to God.
