Amazing Grace: Eulogium

I had the honor to share this message yesterday during the memorial service for my Aunt:

        Luke 15:11-24:  The Prodigal Son

    ¹¹And He said, “A man had two sons.

   ¹²“The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me ‘ So he divided his wealth between them.

   ¹³“And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

   ¹⁴“Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.

   ¹⁵“So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

   ¹⁶“And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

   ¹⁷“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!

   ¹⁸‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;

   ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘

   ²⁰“So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

   ²¹“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

   ²²“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;

   ²³and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;

   ²⁴for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

The story of the Prodigal Son was Gayle’s story…it is our story.  A story of Amazing Grace offered by a loving Father, longing to see you and me walk back accross the horizon…returning to RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with Him!

We just sang a song in “Amazing Grace,” that is so familiar to many of us. So familiar in fact that the Truth it shares may not penetrate our hearts the way it should. However, I am confident that it’s Truth is now fully realized by our Mother, Sister and Friend Gayle.

The Amazing Grace that changed Gayle’s life and can change ours, flows from a cross where more than 2,000 years ago the Son of God poured out His blood and took the full wrath that we deserve to purchase forgiveness and right standing with God for any who will cry out to Him and receive it.

Many of you know Gayle’s story. It is a story with many parts that speak to the broken and fallen nature we live in, so much like the story of the Prodigal Son. However, those hard times, those moments of pain, are not the highlight of her story. A glorious light shines brightly on the part of her story when she surrendered her life, her will, her wants and dreams to Our Heavenly Father. That can be a part of your story also. A new chapter can begin to be penned today that will continue for eternity. Think about it. If you stand on a beach and take one grain of sand between your fingers, that is your life and the rest of the beach is eternity. How fleeting are our days. How permanent is what awaits us after we draw our last breath. There are only two options for eternity…

The First, endless joy in the presence of Our Creator.  A returning if you will to Our Father’s house…where He awaits us with open arms.

The Second, unending sorrow a part from Him in a place we do not like to speak of in this day and age. It is a place that is as real as Heaven and immeasurably more painful than what we experience in this life. It is Hell.

Your future is already secured in one or the other. Do you know which one? Gayle does. Because she trusted the promise of her Savior, because she put her faith in Him, she is now free of all pain, all sorrow, all toil, and rest firmly in the arms of Christ Jesus himself.

Dr. Sidney Martin often told the following story about one of Scotland’s greatest preachers, Alexander McLaren. He was born in a village about three miles outside of the city boundaries of Glasgow. As a boy and a teenager and well into his later life, he was plagued by an inherent dread of the darkness. At age fourteen he found work in the city center of Glasgow in an office there. That office was some seven miles from his home and for his convenience it was planned that he should live with relatives in the center of the city throughout the week and come home for weekends.

Before he left home to begin his new job, Alexander McLaren said, “My father declared that I was to be home on Saturday night. We’ll have to be all here ready to worship in the House of the Lord on the Sabbath Day. When my father gave me that commandment, I began to cringe.” This was the November time of the year and there were no four-day weeks in those days. Alex had to walk on a Saturday and he didn’t finish work till five o’clock. By that time it was pitch black and he had seven miles to walk home in the darkness. And with that prospect in mind he said to his father, “Dad can’t I stay with my aunt and uncle on Saturday night and I’ll walk home Sunday morning and I’ll be home in plenty of time for service.”

The father said, “No Alex. Nobody travels in this house on the Lord’s day. You will be here on Saturday night.” Alexander McLaren said, “as I contemplated that walk, that seven mile walk in the dark, my heart failed within me. But, as I walked the four miles or so from the city center to the boundary, it wasn’t too bad. The city streetlights were lit. When I came to the boundary there was nothing ahead but black darkness. But I plucked up my courage and walked on until I came to a certain spot on the road. And at that spot the road dipped down into what was known locally as the haunted glen.” He said that even in broad daylight it was gloomy and eerie walking through the haunted glen. And he said, “that night I stood on the verge of the glen and every bit of courage I ever had evaporated. I stood there with my knees knocking. I dare not set another foot. And to add to my discomfort, I heard footsteps approaching out of the haunted glen. My fear knew no bounds until little by little I began to recognize something vaguely familiar about those footsteps and out of the gloom of the haunted glen there emerged the figure of my father. And he said, ‘Good evening Alex. I thought I’d just take a wee walk before supper.’”

But Alexander McLaren said later “I learned from my mother that that walk had been planned well ahead. My father was waiting for me in the haunted glen till he heard my footsteps. And that night as my father turned his heel and thrust his arm through mine, I’d have gone through the haunted glen had it been peopled with all the demons out of hell. My father was with me. And that night,” Alexander McLaren said, “I learned something about my dad I never realized before. To me he had always been a kind of a tyrant, a paternal dictator. But that night I realized that he was my father and he loved me. He knew my fears. He knew my weakness. He knew my inward shrinking as I contemplated what lay ahead.” (Grace for True Greatness, 10/17/04)

How many of you are in that dark place today?  Paralyzed by fear…tormented by events in life that seem too much to bare?  I would invite you to listen in the darkness for the footsteps of Christ who is never far off and always longing to walk with you on the rest of life’s journey into eternity.

Amazing Grace
How Sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Shocking but True!

The truth in this message (watch full length here) is a powerful bucket of cold water in the face of American Christianity. Soft pews and passive preaching is not what the people of this nation need. This nation needs the willingness of more Christian Leaders to echo Brother Paul’s message…indeed the message of the Gospel. It cost something to do that! Are we willing to pay the price?

A Question

I was asked this question by a dear brother the other day:  How do I bring glory to God when I buy things for myself that are more luxuries than necessities?
Here’s my response…what are your thoughts?
Brother, I don’t want you to think I have been avoiding answering your question. It is such a profound one that I wanted to take a couple of days to pray, think and search scripture to formulate my response. After all of that I know my response will be inadequate.

One thing that I know is never inadequate is the power of God’s word to pierce the heart and by the working of the Holy Spirit to bring us to right understanding. So consider these parts of scripture as they may relate to your question:

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:6-11

Here’s my point, I do not see anywhere in scripture where obtaining luxuries for the sake of obtaining them ever glorifies God. It seems the opposite is true in the sense that the man obtaining those “things” is glorified in his own eyes. Does that make sense?

What we have to be careful of as “American Christians” is that we do not confuse our need to have certain things with our ability to obtain other things. To use your example, we need to wear clothes. Purchasing a pair of jeans can be an opportunity to glorify God in that we can purchase an adequate pair of jeans that may not be “in fashion” knowing that the money we saved in doing so can be used to help someone in need, support the mission of the Church, etc.

I am sure my response has left you wondering why you asked me and questioning my ability to answer a question at all. I am sorry for that. One thing I am thankful for and I praise God for is your desire to think through your faith, your relationship with the Lord, and your love for Him!

In all things, Soli Deo Gloria!

It’s Time

I received the following email from a friend this morning and it hit me between the eyes.  Take a read:

Do People Bore You?
May 10, 2008  |  By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

I’m working on a book on the new birth. The final chapter is designed to give encouragements for personal evangelism. I just added a quote by C. S. Lewis that I love. Here’s the whole section to help you move toward people:

Find People Interesting

Be encouraged that simply finding people interesting and caring about them is a beautiful pathway into their heart. Evangelism gets a bad reputation when we are not really interested in people and don’t seem to care about them. People really are interesting. The person you are talking to is an amazing creation of God with a thousand interesting experiences. Remember the words of C. S. Lewis:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. (The Weight of Glory, 14-15)

Yet, most of us don’t think this way. The gods bore us and we return to our video games. Very few people are interested in others. If you really find their story interesting, and care about them, they may open up to you and want to hear your story—Christ’s story.

It is estimated that on average 1,202,000 abortions are performed monthly worldwide. Some studies show there are approximately 2 million gay men living in the United States and almost 1 million lesbians (I think that estimate is probably low). One study showed that on June 30, 2006 there were 2,245,189 prisoners held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails in the US.

So what?

Here’s my question: As Christians, are we really willing to love these people? Are we willing to hold the mother who just aborted her child against our chest while she sobs? Will we put our arm over the shoulder of a man who has lived so many years in the confusion of homosexuality and show him Christ love? Can we look with compassion into the eyes of a murderer and say “God loves you and still wants you to be His.”?

There is a popular saying, “Hate the sin but love the sinner.” Exactly! This is what I’m saying. The problem as I see it is too often we hate both. It is almost as if we say “God loves you, but that does not mean I have to.”

Come on Christians!

It haunts me to think where I would be heading if Christ would have said that about me: “Mike, my Father loves you, but I can’t. I can’t love someone who has been addicted to pornography and cigarettes. So I won’t endure Calvary for you.”

So you do not think I am on a soapbox here, let me share something with you. I’m writing this for me as much as anyone. There are many homeless who have been passed with a judgmental look from me. For years I have thought of mothers who would have an abortion as unforgivable murderers. If all of the stones I have thrown were tossed back at me, I would be crushed beneath their weight.

John 3:16 begins, “For God so LOVED the world…” At that moment in history, with His creation having built a wrap sheet filled with evil and vile; knowing that His Son would be spat upon and crucified, God still LOVED the world. Let’s do the same Christians. Let’s Love. We know Our Father will judge each and every man, woman and child He has ever created. Let us be about the business of bringing more in to that Saving Relationship with Him through the reflection of His Love in us.

The Pastor and his son

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts.

This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, “OK, dad, I’m ready.”

His Pastor dad asked, “Ready for what?”

“Dad, it’s time we gather our tracts together and go out.” Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring down rain.”

The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to Hell, even though it’s raining?”

Dad answers, “Son, I am not going out in this weather.” Despondently, the boy asks, “Dad, can I go? Please?”

His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, be careful son.”

“Thanks Dad!”

And with that, he was off and out into the rain. his eleven year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract.

After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.

Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer.

Finally, this eleven year old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the
bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch! He rang again and this time the door slowly opened. Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, “What can I do for you, son?” With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that *JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU* and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great LOVE.”

With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave. She called to him as he departed. “Thank you, son! And God Bless You!”

Well, the following Sunday morning in church Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, “Does anybody have any testimony or want to say anything?”

Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face, “No one in this church knows me. I’ve never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live.

So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on that chair, so lonely and brokenhearted I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, “I’ll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.” I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I thought to myself again, “Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me.” I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.

When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes, for there on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life. His SMILE, oh, I could never describe it to you! The words that came from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead, TO LEAP TO LIFE as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, “Ma’am, I just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU.” Then he gave me this Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand.

As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel Tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn’t be needing them any more.

You see—I am now a Happy Child of the KING. Since the address of your church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally say THANK YOU to God’s little angel who came justin the nick of time and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell.”

There was not a dry eye in the church. And as shouts of praise and honor to THE KING resounded off the very rafters of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated.

He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably. Probably no church has had a more glorious moment, and probably this universe has never seen a Papa that was more filled with love & honor for his son… Except for One.

Our Father also allowed His Son to go out into a cold and dark world. He received His Son back with joy unspeakable, and as all of heaven shouted praises and honor to The King, the Father sat His beloved Son on a throne far above all principality and power and every name that is named.