Acts 11:22-23  *  September 9, 2007  *  Unity Sunday  *  Pastor Leyrer

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Over the last several months we have been observing our 125th anniversary as a congregation in a number of different ways.  Among the ways we have remembered this event is by…

 

·        Producing a special anniversary booklet

·        Special “anniversary reflection” articles in our monthly Lamplighter

·        Inviting six sons of the congregation to come back throughout the year and preach to the members of  the church in which they were confirmed

 

And we’re not done yet.  Five weeks from now, on the evening of October 14, we will have a special dinner and program to wrap up our year of remembrance.  You’ll be hearing more about this after our service today.

 

All of the aforementioned are grateful reminders of our past.  They provide us with a visual context of what God has done to us and through us for the last century and a quarter.  Regardless of whether you’ve been a member of St. John’s for 1 year or 100 years – and we have one of those as well a few others who are pretty close – it is clear that we are members of a church with a long and rich history.

 

However today, on this our 8th annual Unity Sunday – the single day of the year when we all come together as the Christian family known as St. John’s – we’d like to focus on the cause and root of it all.  Today we’d like to spend our time reflecting not so much on 125 years, but

 

125 YEARS IN GOD’S GRACE

 

Grace is clearly the operative word in that sentence.  Because grace is the operative word in our life both as individuals and as a congregation.  Consequently, we’d like talk about 

 

1.  The definition of grace, and

2.  The evidence of grace

 

Let’s begin by simply defining grace.  We quickly discover that it’s a pretty hard concept to capture.  So allow me to share with you an illustration that is the best I can come up with.  (Some of you may have heard this before, but I believe it is worth repeating because, again, I can’t come up with anything better.)  It comes from the famous novel – and now famous musical – Les Miserable by the French author Victor Hugo.

 

The time is the early 1800’s.  The place is France.  The main character, Jean Valjean, is looking to rebuild his life after serving 10 years of hard labor.  He goes from place to place looking for work and assistance, but because of who he is and what he was, he doesn’t have much luck.  Finally, someone points him in the direction of the local priest.

 

Valjean’s cynicism toward mankind has been sharply refined over the course of a decade, so he isn’t expecting much. He is taken by surprise, then, when the priest invites him in to share a meal and spend the night.  After the evening meal, the housekeeper shows him to his quarters, and all go off to bed.

 

In the middle of the night Jean Valjean gets up, ransacks the house of the silverware and whatever else he could easily get his hands on, and prepares to leave.  The priest is awakened by noise in the living room, goes out to investigate and is assaulted by Valjean, who then quickly makes his escape.

 

The next morning brought a knock on the door.  It was the police, with a shackled Jean Valjean with them.  They explained how they caught him and that they found the silver-ware and other valuables with him, which they recognized as belonging to the church.  They just needed to verify their findings, and they could put this prisoner away for life.

 

After listening to the police and identifying the valuables, the priest thanks them for bringing the man back to him.  Then, something truly remarkable took place.  Looking him squarely in the eyes, the priest addresses Jean Valjean and says something along these lines:  “Hello Jean Valjean.  I was hoping I’d have the chance to see you again.  You left in such a rush last night… that you forgot the silver candlesticks I gave you.”  He then directed the stunned housekeeper to add them to Valjean’s collection and politely dismissed the equally stunned police.

 

No charges.  No animosity.  No vengeance.  Jean Valjean was confronted by an act of kindness so radical, so complete and so unexpected that it literally shook the very foundations of his being.  And that was the turning point in his life.  From that time on, touched by grace, he was a changed man.

 

That is what grace is.  It is an act of kindness that from our human perspective is illogical, unimaginable and irrational.  But our perspective doesn’t matter.  Only God’s does. 

 

Take the illustration a bit farther.  Where do we fit into that story?  We are all Jean Valjean.  Unworthy.  Sinful.  Disobedient.  Unappreciative.  Ready to repay God’s kindness with a brazen selfishness.  Programmed to look out only for ourselves.   

 

In return, God meets us with grace.  It doesn’t make sense.  Thank God for that.

 

This grace doesn’t have to be imagined.  It can be seen.  It is not a pious myth or a crutch constructed by psychologically needy people.   It is real.   This grace is rooted in time and in space and in world history.  This we know because “grace and truth,” the Apostle John tells us in the opening chapter of his Gospel, “came through Jesus Christ.”

 

In other words, Jesus Christ is grace personified.  And we are reminded that the greatest act of grace took place in a very disgraceful place.  On a hill outside Jerusalem reserved for executing criminals.  There Jesus died – the Sinless One in place of us sinful ones – as our substitute and in our place.  In the process all our guilt before God died with Him 

 

Now we know God for who and what He is:  A God of free and faithful and forgiving and amazing grace.  A God who delights in His children while on earth and has reserved a place for them in heaven where they will reside forever.

 

Such grace makes an impact.  Listen again to the words of the text.  “News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabus to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”   

 

This information takes us back to the early church.  The risen Jesus Christ has returned to heaven having given His church their marching orders to spread the Gospel.  The Christian Church was growing.  But it was misunderstood.  As a result, it often met opposition and persecution.  The verses just before our text tell us that many early Christians had to flee for their lives.  One of the places they fled was a city named Antioch, some 300 miles north of Jerusalem.

 

The believers who fled to Antioch apparently didn’t sequester themselves or form a secret society.  They witnessed what they believed.  Soon a thriving Christian community began to emerge in Antioch.  And it wasn’t just made up of those with a Jewish background, but it encompassed people from different ethnicities. News of this spread to “headquarters” in Jerusalem, so an early missionary named Barnabus was sent to check things out.

 

What he found is noteworthy and significant.  Our text tells us “he saw evidence of the grace of God.”  How do you think God’s grace made itself evident?

 

I don’t think these new Christians’ paycheck doubled or their aches and pains suddenly went away or there ceased to be struggles in their daily life.   Those things likely did not change.  But a spiritual transformation had obviously taken place.   The opening chapter of a Christian book that’s been on the market for a number of years is entitled “For Most Who Live, Hell is Never Knowing Who They Are.”

 

Now these people knew who they were.  They had known certain things instinctively – like the universe couldn’t have just happened without design or that some sort of internal moral code that defined right and wrong resided within them (and which they often failed to keep) or that there was something big missing in their lives. 

 

Now in the message of Jesus Christ all the dots were connected.  Now they knew who they were:  sinners, yes.  But sinners loved by God, forgiven through Christ and saved eternally by grace.  Now life had meaning and purpose and joy.

 

These people would have understood exactly the famous words St. Augustine wrote in the very beginning of his autobiography:  “O Lord, you have made us for yourself.  And our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”

 

Because that’s what grace does.  It puts our souls at rest.  It let’s us know who we are.  And where we are going in the future.  And that we are watched over, protected and provided for in the present.  That assurance and inner peace is the evidence of God’s grace in each of our lives.

 

Today we remember that God’s grace is also evident in our life as a congregation.  In a few minutes we are going to sing a hymn that was specially written for our 125th anniversary by our choir director, Dr. Bill Braun.  In this hymn we will thank God for those who came before us and who laid both the physical and spiritual foundation we have built upon and enjoyed for a century and a quarter. 

 

And we should.  God has blessed us through our forefathers.  We have been the beneficiaries of the planning and prayers of those who came before us.  And while many congregations have come and gone in 125 years, God has allowed us to remain strong and healthy.

 

But as we do, let us remember what is at the root and core of it all.  Let us remember that we are who we are and we are what we are as individuals and as a congregation not because we made the right decisions or had insightful leaders or positioned ourselves to grow better than others.

 

We are what we are and we have accomplished what we have accomplished for one reason and one reason alone.  God’s grace.

 

So once again from the bottom our thankful hearts we proclaim this day as individual Christians and as the members of St. John’s:

 

Not unto us, not unto us the glory, Lord;

Not unto us but to your name be praise

Not unto us but to your name all honor be giv’n

For matchless mercy, forgiveness, and grace…

 

Specifically, 125 years in God’s grace.  Amen.