What Happened to Grace?
In the past month I've been doing a series of sermons on urban legends, spiritual myths. Each week I have taken apart a common cliche that Christians use, that is commonly held to be true and even scriptural, but which is anything but Biblical or Christian. I planned out the sermons several months ago, but hesitated about it right up until the last. Am I ever glad I didn't second-guess myself out of doing them! These sermons have been great fun to prepare and have sparked me to think about something larger within Christendom and American culture.
The first four sermons took on the following sayings that are very commonly accepted, but which are not Biblical: "God needed another angel," "Everything happens for a reason," "God won't give you more than you can handle," and "God helps those who help themselves." None of them are in the Bible, and to one degree or another represent wretched theology. They represent an attempt to understand what cannot be understood, and to comfort. In reality, they fail miserably. Reflecting on these last week, I discovered an underlying theme in all of them, a very poor conception or appreciation of grace.
The baby dies of a rare disease or birth defect and out comes the cliche, "God needed another angel." The implied message there is that God intentionally killed the baby. So much for a God of grace and goodness. The second cliche is similar. "Everything happens for a reason." Is this reason God? If so then every neighborhood leveled by a tornado was targeted by God. Devastating typhoons and tsunamis in the far east are an intentional act of God. The drunk driver who runs over the kid on a bicycle is an act of God. Again, where is the grace of God in that? "God won't give you more than you can handle," almost sounds right, but as the old saying goes "close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades." The statement implies that God is the one who places all the burdens on us, and causes all the misfortunes of life. Compounding the problem, it places the power to hold up under the burdens on us. The power to stand is within. Not much grace there. Then yesterday, we covered the favorite verse of many Americans, "God helps those who help themselves." Unfortunately, this common saying isn't in the Bible either. In reading scripture, we find that in reality, God has a soft spot in His heart for those who cannot help themselves. The Old Testament repeatedly urges the faithful to look out for widows, orphans, and aliens- in other words, people who are unable to provide for themselves. Yes, the Bible does enjoin against laziness and encourage industry and productivity, but nowhere is this made a prerequisite for God's help.
Obviously, this preacher would be very happy indeed if Christians immediately dropped these worn out, trite sayings from their vocabulary. Alas, this is unlikely to happen soon. For these phrases to gain such traction in our society and in our churches, it seems to me that there must be something about them that appeals to us. As I mentioned earlier, it struck me that all four of them represent a gross misunderstanding or lack of appreciation for grace. Theologically we may pay lip service to the notion that God saves us by grace, but do we really believe in grace? Certainly the urban legends I listed present a distant and capricious god, rather than the loving Father whom Jesus said we should refer to as "papa" or "daddy" (translating the Greek word abba.)
Perhaps more importantly, do our lives reflect the concept that the God who is revealed in scripture is gracious? Consider what we find in some of the writings attributed to the aged apostle John. In the upper room before the betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus gives his followers a new command- to love each other (John 13). It's as if he were saying, "okay guys, I'm not going to be with you much longer, but I want to make sure you get this- you've got to love each other!" In 1st John 4, we find the writer saying that the person who does not love has not been born of God, because God is love; that we love each other because God is love and has loved us first.
Yes, I do believe in the wrath of God, but I also find in scripture that God's "default" is grace. God shows this grace in sending his Son to die for us so that we may live. May our lives reflect that same grace and love.
The first four sermons took on the following sayings that are very commonly accepted, but which are not Biblical: "God needed another angel," "Everything happens for a reason," "God won't give you more than you can handle," and "God helps those who help themselves." None of them are in the Bible, and to one degree or another represent wretched theology. They represent an attempt to understand what cannot be understood, and to comfort. In reality, they fail miserably. Reflecting on these last week, I discovered an underlying theme in all of them, a very poor conception or appreciation of grace.
The baby dies of a rare disease or birth defect and out comes the cliche, "God needed another angel." The implied message there is that God intentionally killed the baby. So much for a God of grace and goodness. The second cliche is similar. "Everything happens for a reason." Is this reason God? If so then every neighborhood leveled by a tornado was targeted by God. Devastating typhoons and tsunamis in the far east are an intentional act of God. The drunk driver who runs over the kid on a bicycle is an act of God. Again, where is the grace of God in that? "God won't give you more than you can handle," almost sounds right, but as the old saying goes "close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades." The statement implies that God is the one who places all the burdens on us, and causes all the misfortunes of life. Compounding the problem, it places the power to hold up under the burdens on us. The power to stand is within. Not much grace there. Then yesterday, we covered the favorite verse of many Americans, "God helps those who help themselves." Unfortunately, this common saying isn't in the Bible either. In reading scripture, we find that in reality, God has a soft spot in His heart for those who cannot help themselves. The Old Testament repeatedly urges the faithful to look out for widows, orphans, and aliens- in other words, people who are unable to provide for themselves. Yes, the Bible does enjoin against laziness and encourage industry and productivity, but nowhere is this made a prerequisite for God's help.
Obviously, this preacher would be very happy indeed if Christians immediately dropped these worn out, trite sayings from their vocabulary. Alas, this is unlikely to happen soon. For these phrases to gain such traction in our society and in our churches, it seems to me that there must be something about them that appeals to us. As I mentioned earlier, it struck me that all four of them represent a gross misunderstanding or lack of appreciation for grace. Theologically we may pay lip service to the notion that God saves us by grace, but do we really believe in grace? Certainly the urban legends I listed present a distant and capricious god, rather than the loving Father whom Jesus said we should refer to as "papa" or "daddy" (translating the Greek word abba.)
Perhaps more importantly, do our lives reflect the concept that the God who is revealed in scripture is gracious? Consider what we find in some of the writings attributed to the aged apostle John. In the upper room before the betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus gives his followers a new command- to love each other (John 13). It's as if he were saying, "okay guys, I'm not going to be with you much longer, but I want to make sure you get this- you've got to love each other!" In 1st John 4, we find the writer saying that the person who does not love has not been born of God, because God is love; that we love each other because God is love and has loved us first.
Yes, I do believe in the wrath of God, but I also find in scripture that God's "default" is grace. God shows this grace in sending his Son to die for us so that we may live. May our lives reflect that same grace and love.
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