©2005 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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01-08-06 |
A Healthy Helping Of Grace |
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1/8/06 A Healthy Helping of Grace
For many of us
this is, I think, in many respects
the most difficult time of the year.
Part of it has to do with Christmas.
If it was a great holiday season for you
in which all of the right family members were there
and none of the wrong ones,
now that they’ve left
there is an emptiness,
a hollowness inside you that makes everything seem bleak.
You’ll miss them.
And if it wasn’t such a great holiday season,
and you found ourself
having to cope with a whole bunch of added people pressures,
and financial pressures,
and time pressures during the past few weeks,
you’ve probably come through the whole ordeal
both physically and emotionally exhausted.
And then, of course,
there is the brutal reality of January in Alaska.
For many years now
Sandee and I have had a standing date
at 10:00 a.m. each day for coffee.
We get our coffee in town,
then park for a few minutes
at a place that overlooks the river.
One day this past week we had some scheduling conflicts
that required us to change our meeting time to 9:00.
And when we arrived at our favorite spot
it was still nearly dark!
With so much darkness,
and so much cold,
and so much ice,
and the need to regroup or recover from the holidays,
it can be a very hard time of year.
So to help us with the battle,
I’m going to keep us in the first few verses of Philippians for one more week.
We spent two weeks in the first six verses of this book a month or so ago,
and I want to return to where we left off
just to complete the thoughts.
When we were last in the book
I told you that this remarkable little letter
is Paul’s survival manual
for the prisons in our lives.
This letter was written by Paul
from a Roman prison
while waiting for a trial
that could end with his own execution.
Paul, of course, was in a literal,
physical prison,
but his comments and attitudes
can be of tremendous value
in helping us to cope
with any circumstances in life
that are beyond our control.
I sometimes find myself as impressed
with some of the things NOT said in the New Testament as with the things that are said.
Did you know that not once
in any book in the New Testament
are God’s people ever referred to as VICTIMS.
The concept of being a victim
as it relates to Christians
simply does not exist in Scripture.
A victim is a person whose life
is negatively impacted by someone
or something beyond his control.
From our perspective
Paul was a victim of the hatred of the Jews in Jerusalem
whose determination to kill him
ultimately resulted in his prolonged imprisonment in Rome.
Did you know that at one point
in the chaos that lead up to Paul’s imprisonment
there were more than 40 men
who had bound themselves under a vow not to eat or drink until Paul was dead?
Sounds to me like Paul
was clearly the victim of intense
and unjustified hatred.
Ever felt like a victim?
If you’ve ever felt like you were in prison
you have undoubtedly felt like a victim.
Maybe you saw yourself as the victim of a job you hate,
or a boss who hates you,
or a family situation that’s tearing you apart.
Perhaps you’ve seen yourself
as the victim of events in your past,
the intentional
or unintentional sins of others,
sins that have forced you to deal with evil in your own life
you would never otherwise have had to face.
It is impossible to live in this world
without being victimized
at some points
by someone or something
that we would never have chosen for ourselves.
And the world was really no different
2000 years ago.
The reality of evil has been the backdrop of the human race
since Cain killed Able.
So then why isn’t the concept of being a victim
dealt with in Scripture?
Why doesn’t Paul talk to us
about the way in which he has been victimized by the Jerusalem Jews
and by the Roman Government?
I think it is because God is committed
to offering us the truth,
and the truth is that circumstances
never make us a victim -
the only thing that has the power
to make us a victim
is our
attitude towards those circumstances.
At the heart of the victim mentality
is the belief that my happiness,
and my success,
and my future
are all being controlled by someone
or something else.
“I would like to choose a different life,
a different place,
a different way,
but I’m a victim of forces beyond my control,
and all I can do is hang on
and hope the world will treat me better in the future.”
Now set that attitude next to that statement we looked at
when we were in this passage last month.
Phil. 1:6
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
That statement is carefully designed
to serve as the ultimate in anti-victim mentality.
Paul is telling his readers
that no one and nothing can ever prevent God
from accomplishing His healing and restoring work
in the life of the Christian.
Now look at this -
Paul is not trying to suggest
that bad stuff didn’t happen to us,
or that it didn’t hurt,
or that it didn’t deeply affect our lives.
But what he is saying
is that the stuff that happened
is not what determines
our hope
or our future.
I’ll tell you the way I word this truth to myself.
I see God telling me
that anything I choose to place into His hands
He has the power to reshape
into good in my life.
I can become a victim
only at those points in my life
where I choose to believe
that God either does not care
or is not able to use the circumstances in my life for my greater good.
And wait ‘till you see where Paul goes from here.
Let me put verse 7 together with verse 6.
Verse 6 says,
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
And then,
in the next verse Paul goes on to say,
For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
Now for us to make any sense
out of what Paul is saying here in this 7th verse
we need to talk for just a minute
about that word “grace”
that Paul uses at the end of that sentence.
We’ve looked at all sorts of definitions
for the word “GRACE” at different times.
Sometimes it’s defined as “unmerited favor”,
sometimes its defined as “God’s riches at Christ’s expense”.
I like to define grace as God picking us up and hugging us.
Underlying all our attempts to define the grace of God
is the central truth that it means we are able to come into direct contact
with the reality of God’s personal love for us
because the barrier of our sin
has been removed forever through Christ.
It is the Grace of God
that allows us to discover
that the Creator of all that is
is not only all-powerful,
but He is also incredibly,
and unfathomably good!
OK, now let me read that 7th verse once again.
For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
Now, what events in Paul’s life
enabled both he and the Philippians
to become a partaker of God’s grace?
He says it was his imprisonment,
and what Paul calls “...the defense and confirmation of the gospel”.
Do you hear what he is saying?
He is saying that the two events
that have opened him up more fully, more deeply
to the realty of God’s love for him
were his being thrown into prison
and his being required to offer some sort of defense
for why he should not be executed
for his involvement in Christianity.
He is saying that
not only has his being thrown in prison
not made him a victim,
but it has actually proved to be
the doorway through which
he has been able to more deeply experience the grace of God.
HUH?
Paul is telling us that
not only has his prison experience
NOT hindered his awareness
of His Lord’s love for him,
but it has actually intensified
his awareness of that love.
Have you ever wondered why
God hasn’t fixed the things in your life
that really need fixing?
Here we are, members of the tiny elite
who have heard the voice of God
and responded to His call
and placed our lives into His hands.
We are the few, the chosen, the holy.
We are among the few in human history
who are in league with God Himself.
We’re not playing at religion,
we’re not just tossing a few bones
in the direction of the Hound of Heaven
hoping He’ll be distracted
and leave us alone.
We have dared to reach out to His nail-scared hand
and identify ourselves with Him.
We are now and forevermore on His team.
So then why in the world
doesn’t He fix things for us?
I mean,
why doesn’t He use some of that infinite power of His
to fix what’s wrong with our life,
or the lives of those we love?
Do you know the really big question
that I see coming out of the book of Philippians?
If Paul really was God’s chosen man,
living a life that was well-pleasing to God,
why was he in prison in the first place?
And as long as we’re asking questions,
why did
Epaphroditus get sick?
And perhaps even more to the point,
why has God not done something about that prison He has YOU in right now?
Why didn’t He change Paul’s circumstances?
And why hasn’t He changed yours?
In verses 7 - 12 of this first chapter of Philippians
Paul allows his own life
to offer a few answers to those questions.
And the first answer he offers
is found in this 7th verse.
Paul tells us in this 7th verse
that his imprisonment has allowed
both he and the Philippians
to become partakers of the grace of God in a very special way.
Or, if I were to restate what I see Paul saying,
there are some things about His love that God can only
say to us inside a prison cell.
Do you remember that little incident
recorded for us in Exodus chapter 14?
The nation of Israel had been living in the land of Egypt,
slaves to the Egyptian people.
It certainly wasn’t a good life,
but it was predictable,
familiar,
safe.
They did their work,
and their Egyptian rulers fed them,
and clothed them,
and provided them with a place to live.
Then God stepped into their lives
through the person of Moses
and made it clear that this was not the life He had in mind for His people.
Through a dramatic series of miracles
God freed the Israelites from slavery
and promised to lead them
into the land He had prepared for them,
a land described as “flowing with milk and honey”.
And He even took a pillar of fire
and placed it in the sky at night,
and a pillar of cloud
during the day to lead them.
Sounds like a great deal, huh?
Several million people following God
to a life of freedom and abundance.
Do you know where God lead them first?
Right up to the banks of the Red Sea -
no boats,
no bridge,
no way around.
And to complicate things even more
he placed a furious Egyptian army
at their backs,
an army hungry for revenge.
In other words, this loving God of the nation of Israel
led His people directly into prison.
Why?
Because there are some things about His love that God can
only say to us inside a prison cell.
Because these people had lived for 450 years in a sub-human existence
in which they neither knew God
nor believed they needed Him
because their very meager existence
was provided by the man who held the whip
and told them where to work that day,
if they were ever to discover
the abundant life God had for them
step one was learning they could trust Him,
no matter what He said,
no matter where He led,
no matter what they saw
in front of them or behind.
You see, there are some things about His love that God
can only say to us
inside a
prison cell.
You might enjoy reading that 14th chapter of Exodus on your own
just to remind yourself how things worked out for Israel.
The parallels, of course, are obvious.
When we come to our Lord
or more accurately, when He comes to us,
we, too, are in a sub-human existence,
our own type of slavery.
We don’t know our God,
we certainly don’t trust Him.
We just crank out our own pitiful,
futile little brand of performance
and someone rewards us
with food, and shelter, and something to wear.
We pretend it’s a great life,
because we have no alternative,
but inside we know it’s all emptiness
and games.
And then our Lord steps into our life
and calls us to Himself.
In His own perfect way
He tells us that this pitiful existence
was not what He created us for.
He created us for Himself,
and longs to lead us into real life,
life abundantly.
And so we start to follow.
But before we’ve hardly begun,
we, too, find ourselves in prison.
Maybe the bars are made of fear,
or incredible loneliness.
Maybe it’s a financial prison,
or maybe our bars are made
out of some powerful addiction,
or an aching empty feeling of futility.
But whatever it looks like,
it does NOT look like the promised land,
or any kind of abundant life.
Why?
Because we, too, have no idea
what it means to trust our Lord.
And there are some things about His love that God can
only say to us inside a prison cell.
Paul says that his prison has been the doorway
through which he was able to partake
of the grace of God,
through which he was able to
feel the reality of God’s hug
in a way he could never have done
had the bars and chains not surrounded him.
You see, its one thing
for Paul to hear God saying, “I love you”
when he is charging around the world
starting churches,
and preaching sermons,
and working miracles,
and doing great things for the Kingdom.
But it is a very different thing
for Paul to hear God saying, “I love you”
when he finds himself just sitting day after day after day.
It is one thing for Paul to hear his Lord saying to him,
“You will find Me adequate for your needs this day”
when he is standing before several thousand people
preaching the Word.
But it is a very different thing for Paul to hear his Lord saying,
“You will find Me adequate for this day”
when all that day may hold
is boredom and inactivity.
Let me see if I can simplify
what I’m trying to say here.
Our Lord has every one of us
in the same basic training program -
we are in the process
of learning how to trust our God -
to trust both what He says,
and what He does in our life,
to trust His love.
But trusting His love
is something we have never done
prior to our entrance into the kingdom,
and something that very definitely
does not come naturally.
And so, because He loves us,
and He wants very much for us
to know His love,
and trust His love,
there are times when He allows us
to spend some time in prison.
He places us into a situation
where we have no alternative
but to reach out to Him
for the strength to face the day,
and for the hope of finding a way out.
And there are some things about His love
that God can
only say to us inside a prison cell,
and there is a special kind of grace
that can only
be experienced
behind bars.