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The Message for Oct 8, 2017
Is My Sin Beyond God’s Forgiveness?
Ephesians 2:1-22
Rob Miller, Pastor
Today we begin a 4-week worship series on Grace or more specifically on (image) Grace is Greater.
God's grace is greater. Even when it doesn't make sense. Even when it doesn't feel fair. God's grace covers everything we've done – no matter what.
The best way or perhaps the only real way to understand grace, is to experience it ourselves, personally. Over the next four weeks we will consider four life-changing questions and how grace offers an answer to life’s toughest questions. Including:
- Is My Sin Beyond God’s Forgiveness?
- I Lost My Husband, Is God Still Good?
- How Can I Trust God When Everything Goes Wrong?
- Can The Power of Community Help Me In My Loneliness?
I am thankful to Kyle Idleman who provided the resources for this series. I hope you are moved by God’s grace and empowered to share that grace with others.
Our reading each week will be the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This chapter became the theological foundation for Martin Luther and the Reformation 500 years ago. This chapter also became the theological foundation for the Lutheran Church. If you want to know what it means to be a Lutheran Christian then read Ephesians 2…
Everything we stand for,everything we are about as Lutheran Christians is based on these words,especially verses 8 &9 – which go something like this...
We are saved, by grace, through faith, and not through our good works.
That’s our bread and butter. That’s the foundation for everything we say and do. That’s what we are all about. That is our reason for being.
Turn with me now to our reading from Ephesians chapter 2…
Read Ephesians 2:1-22
We are a church of grace. We are people of grace. The Bible is a book of books revealing God’s grace. Life for us is all about grace or it’s about nothing at all. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s grace. We are to be the vehicle of God’s grace in this hurting and hostile world.
Our mission statement here at FLC is this… Whatever it takes to make disciples by sharing God’s grace.
As disciples of Jesus we share with others what God gives to us - grace. Grace changes lives for good. I invited you to listen to Darryl’s story and how he experienced graceand how he became a vehicle of grace for others. Check out this video…
Darryl’s Story
Darryl said,“Every time I looked in the mirror, all I could see was a monster, someone who had shattered lives.”
How many of usperhaps experience moments like that… We look in the mirror and don’t like the person we see. We know that God’s grace is great, but when it comes to our specific shortcomings – ourshame and our brokenness – how often do wequestion God’s grace and forgiveness for us?
Perhaps we wonder,Is my sin beyond God’s forgiveness? I know we do that because I’ve done that. I know many of you have done that too. You’ve told me you’ve done that.
When it comes to our sins and God’s grace I invite you to consider three things:
- You are not alone
You are not the first person to commit a sin. And chances are pretty good that someone has committed a bigger sin than you have. Point is: We are all sinners. We all fall short of what God expects from us.
St. Paul put it this way in his letter to the Romans…
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,and all are justifiedfreely by his gracethrough the redemptionthat came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24)
Let’s try a more modern translation of that text. Here is Rob Miller’s version…
There is no difference between churched and unchurched, for all have sinnedand fall short of God’s expectations,and all are justifiedfreely by God’s gracethrough the cross of Christ Jesus.
Just because we come to church that does not make us more special that those who don’t come to church. We know that we are sinners, that we are a special kind of sinner. We are forgiven sinners because of what Christ Jesus has done on the cross for us, and not just for us but for everyone.
Everyone is a forgiven sinner, but everyone doesn’t know it yet. So… we should see the people around us as forgiven sinners and treat them as such. That is not easy to do. Unless we realize…
The cross has the final word, our sins do not…
Darryl was caught in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong. His actions drastically changed his life and the lives of others. Motivated by vengeance and caught in a dangerous situation, Darryl stabbed and killed a man. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
What hope did he have to make it right? How could God forgive a sin that was so big and so permanent?
Maybe you feel like you’ve done something that was so terrible and so permanent that you wonder how you could possibly make it right? Maybe you wonder how God could possible forgive you?
That brings us to the second thing I invite you to consider here this morning…
- God’s grace is greater than your sins
Maybe it’s one sin for you, one terrible moment of rebellion against yourself or against someone in your life. Or maybe it is a pattern of sin or a path you’ve strayed down for years,something so deeply ingrained in you that you don’t even know how to that the first step in a different direction.
This is part of the fallen world we live in. I wonder if sometimes we are fearful that, while God has forgiven us in the past, this is the last straw. God forgives everyone, but God can’t possibly forgive me. We are tempted to hideour true selves with a mask, because we cannot bear to look at the person we see in the mirror.
The truth is, God’s grace is greater than Darryl’s sin. God’s graceis greater than his messed-up childhood, greater than the life he lived, greater than the murder he committed.
Darryl did not deserve God’s grace. And that’s the point. Nobody deserves God’s grace. Grace doesn’t work that way. That’s why grace is grace. We don’t deserve it.
Darryl’s life was made new, and now he lives a different life because of the beautiful gift of grace.
Like Darryl, the Apostle Paul knew that he was a terrible sinner. In fact, Paul considered himself the worst of sinners. He wrote to Timothy these words:
Here is a trustworthy sayingthat deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.(1 Timothy 1:15)
Paul wouldregularly reflect on his past,how he tried to stop the spread of Christianity by killing Christians wherever he went. He never forgot where he came from or what kind of person he was before he met Jesus.
The day Jesus came into his life, was the day that God’s grace began pouring into Paul’s life and it transformed him. God’s grace continued to transform him for the rest of his life.
So that begs the question,What burdens are you carrying around that seem like they are beyond God’s forgiveness? How are shame and guilt preventing you from experiencing God’s amazing grace?
Please know this… please believe this… please consider this - God’s grace is greater than all the bad you have done or could ever do.
That brings us to the third thing I invite you to consider…
- You are forgiven
Turn to someone sitting near you right now, look them in the eyes and say to them,You are forgiven.
The question is: can you forgive yourself? God already has. Can you?
In a few minutes we are going to confess our sins. It’s an important part of our worship. We come clean with God. We get right with God through repentance and the forgiveness of our sins. That’s my favorite part of worship. That’s the part where I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Then we share a meal of grace in the form of bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ. The one who makes forgiveness possible. The one who empowers us to forgive one another.
God’s grace is greater than your sins, stronger than your shame, grander than your guilt. God’s grace is shared in this place so we can go and share that grace with others.
Will you? Amen.