The Lutheran Hour
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"With God, There Is Great, Even Greater Grace"
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Text: James 4:5-10
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Christ is risen, He is risen indeed and His life is yours especially when the pressures of this life seem insurmountable. Amen.
Do you know the story of Annie Johnson Flint? To most Christians, she is known as a writer of some very powerful hymns, sung in church around the world. Just listen to this verse from her hymn entitled, “He Giveth More Grace.”
“He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added afflication He addeth his mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of his infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth and giveth again!Wow! Truer words have never been said, and these words bless, especially when you realize that they were penned in the midst of real suffering and heartache. These words of victory were written in the midst of lifelong struggles that never ended.
You know, when I listen to music today, there are songs of joy, songs of victory. But when you look deeper as to the why and how the songs were written, most writers and performer sing happy songs when they’re happy, and angry songs when they’re angry, and sad songs when they’re sad. Who writes powerful songs of victory in the middle of suffering, in the middle of anguish or sadness? People who know the joy and power of faith in Jesus Christ, that’s who; people like Annie Johnson Flint.
In fact, Annie Flint might not have ever written powerful words like the ones in the hymn verses today if not for the pain and suffering that she endured in this life. Hers is truly a story of victory in the middle of heartache and suffering, of knowing the power of faith in Jesus Christ when at the precipice, the cliff’s edge of life. Annie Johnson Flint suffered her first loss at the young age of three when her mother died. The next several years were to continue such pain and tragedy as she and her sister were orphaned, not once, but twice. By God’s grace, she had been adopted into a family, and her truncated childhood did have some joy and peace. But even that ended in the tragedy of losing her parents again. Through the painful years of her young adulthood, she still fought hard to achieve her dream of being a school teacher and a concert pianist. But, the greatest hurt of all came when those dreams were struck down when she contracted very painful, debilitating arthritis.
In the middle of all these things her faith is what held her; it was her faith in Jesus Christ that not only held her, but it continued to grow strong for her. In the middle of the tragedies, she decided to start writing poetry about the power of faith in Christ. For throughout her life, she knew one thing. She knew that even when facing the painful “No answers” in life, the promises of God were always yes, in Christ, and that meant that they were “yes” in Christ for her, too. She knew that there was something great, even greater than the sufferings and pain that she endured, right until the point of her death. She knew that God gives grace in time of need. A grace greater than our sorrows and heartache; grace greater than the setbacks of sin, greater than the temporary pains of a life waiting to be abundantly full in the resurrection life for all those who believe in Christ.
So, what happens when you are at the precipice of life? What happens when you are at the edge of the cliff financially or emotionally? What happens when you do realize how serious this life is and how bent and broken things are?
Those are the kind of questions that the Apostle James aims to answer today. He’s talking about the one thing that really matters in your life when you realize how fragile life is, how difficult life can be. That’s why he paints such a stark picture today. He calls all people, but especially the Christians to whom he writes, to “Cleanse their hands; to purify their hearts, to let all silliness be gone, because the time is now to deal with what is most important in your life and mine. There are important decisions to make in life; there are vital issues to face in life, but James says that there is nothing in this life more important than your relationship to God. When you are standing at the “precipice of life,” there is only one question that matters.
Is there a way out, a way through? Better, do you know, have you received God’s great, greater grace in Jesus Christ?
That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God; he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning, your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
With God, there is great, greater grace because we need it.
And, that’s good to know especially when you are at the precipice, when you are at the cliff’s edge of life.
The Book of James is a practical book about Christian living in a sinful, dying world. In it there is advice as to how to deal with your wealth, with your passions, with your tongue (as either a weapon of destruction or encouragement). But, none of that works if you remain disconnected and impervious to the grace of God in Jesus Christ that literally gives you life in the middle of death; gives you grace in the middle of guilt and judgment, and gives you mercy in the middle of the messes that are so common to us all.
With God, there is great, greater than all of that grace for life, period. When you stand at the precipice of problems, when you toe the edge of the cliff of tribulations and troubles, that’s the time when you look for what really matters in life.
When you are at the mountains edge, things get serious. When you are at the edge of the skyscraper, you really begin to feel the wind, the heat.
When I was in New York City, I loved to go to the roof of the buildings and just stand outside and feel the sun on my face or the breeze through my hair. It was a wonderful feeling especially in the middle of a city where the sun didn’t always make it to the street or the breeze didn’t always blow down there on the sidewalk. But, even as wonderful as that was, I used to get uneasy when I’d get too close to the edge. At that edge, things got serious. You never were casual there, too much to lose.
Well, sometimes we get pushed to that edge; we get backed into a corner that sits hundreds of feet in the air. James talks about how sin does that to us in our life. How we truly box ourselves in by our lust, our coveting, our disregard for the things of God, our disrespect for one another, people that God created and redeemed. There is no one immune to such temptation for we are sinful people through and through.
So, James speaks straight to us again today. He knows that we all come to the point where we stand at the precipice of life, stand at the edge of the cliff of seriousness. When he says that “Now is the time to mourn and weep, now is the time to let even your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom,” He’s merely pointing out that some questions in life need to be answered by all of us; and how dark a day it would be if there were no answer for you and me then.
But there is! God, Himself gives great, greater grace! At the moment of our fears, there is the power of faith greater than our fears; at the moment of our struggles, there is the sureness of His strength greater than our struggles; at the moment of our sickness, even our death, there is resurrection to life forever in Jesus Christ, greater than our sickness, greater than death itself!
When you are standing at the precipice of life, the questions most people ask, even incessantly, is “How did I get here?” Or what can I do to help myself? Well, James says that there is a more important, vital question to ask. It is: what does God want to do with a people who finally see their sin, their rebellion, their utter need?
There He blows our mind, I’ll tell you, because James says, “There is no, ‘I told you so,'” even though God could say that and more; There is no “eternal, ‘You made your bed, now lie in it,” for that is a bed in which you do not want to lie. To those who know the “danger in which they stand….” James says God has an answer, “He gives more grace!”
He offers His way out, His way through, His way forward. The Good News of Jesus is that you will have His life today, tomorrow, and forever as His people. You can have His healing in the middle of sickness; His peace in the middle of chaos, and His life even past the point of death! He gives you His way through! That’s the power of walking in His grace, now and forever.
With God there is great, greater grace because only He can provide it!
When Jesus fulfilled the Law of God in your place, He did what we can not do. When our guilt drives us to the precipice of despair, the cliff’s edge, Jesus Christ’s life in our place holds us even there. When Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, He was driven over the edge that justice demands so that we could be walked back from that edge of despair in the joy of faith. And when the crucified One, the One who lived a perfect life in our place and suffered sins damning, righteous judgment for us, when He was resurrected to life, God provided an eternal way out, a way through, a way across from death to life, from sin to forgiveness, from struggle to salvation.
With God there is great, greater grace because He loves you with a love that is beyond anything you can even imagine or think. And the power of love does indeed cover a multitude of sins and scale cliffs of despair with real hope and salvation.
A Gaelic legend tells of the power of love. It tells the story of an eagle swooping down and carrying a little baby to its lofty nest. There the child lay at death’s door to be subject to a horrible death as eaglet food. The strong men of the village tried to scale the high and rugged cliff, but each one failed. When all seemed lost and there was no hope of salvation for that little one, suddenly, racing past them all went a small, frail woman, climbing the sheer precipice and returning the baby to safety.
“How did she do it” the so-called strong men asked in amazement.
She told them her secret, “I am the baby’s mother.” Her love enabled her, frail as she was, to out-distance the strongest of men.
The love of a mother who would give her life for her child is a very powerful love. The love of a father who would die fighting to protect his family is a very powerful love. In this world, such love has scaled some incredible heights. But, when you are at life’s edge, when you are overwhelmed with struggles that are never ending; when you are unsure of how you will even be able to make the next step in your walk; James says, “Look to the God of heaven who loves you with an eternal love and has redeemed you with a sure salvation, and comes straight at you with no shifting opinions, but a clear message of life and salvation. He has in store for you great, greater grace that only He can provide!
As James said, 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God, he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
In the next month or so, here in the United States, there is going to be an election for the Presidency as well as for the Congress and the Senate. There are many, myself included, who think that we as a nation are at the edge of a “great precipice” a great cliff’s edge and in many ways, God, Himself is calling us as a people, as a nation back to Himself.
A people can not survive long who actually value “the killing of children in the womb” as a common experience in their midst. A people cannot survive who treat marriage as a disposable commodity entered into and exited merely at the whim of convenience. A people cannot survive if there are no common virtues, no common struggles, no common solutions. So, faithful people of God, get ready to vote, and know that the morals and ethics of the Scriptures are not the corporate wisdom of an ancient religious people, but God’s moral foundations of creation itself, a moral framework for healthy relationships, healthy communities, cities and towns, things that we cherish now even as we wait until Christ returns.
But, even more important than casting a faithful vote at the voting booth is the call, at the great precipice of life, to look to the Lord who provides greater grace, the power for life, now and forever. Life was ultimately meant to be lived by God’s grace in God’s love for others. Now is not the time to merely charge over the cliff devil come what may. Now is the time to count the cost of a rebellious life, to repent of your sin and to put your faith in the One who scaled the greatest cliff of all, the cross, for you. Then you will know the power of what it means to stand at the precipice of life itself, in God’s empowering grace, in God’s certain, eternal love no matter what is happening at the moment.
Draw near to God; He’s already here for you! Submit to the Lord, the One who loves you with an everlasting love!
What we need more than anything else today is a declaration of dependence!
What people don’t understand today is that the “Declaration of Independence,” one of the great freeing documents in all of human history, will not work without the declaration of dependence on the God who creates, empowers, and sustains freedom in all of its facets!
James says, “We need answers to the day-to-day issues of life,” but even those answers won’t work if you remain disconnected and unreceptive to the grace of God in Jesus Christ that is offered to you by grace through faith!
He gives grace; He gives abundant grace; He gives eternal grace; He gives grace in time of need. James shouts, thank God He gives more grace at the cliff’s edge of life when our life overwhelms us and when solutions seem impossible.
I don’t think it’s said any better than Amy Johnson Flint in the last verses of that hymn…
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto to men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!”So, remember today that He doesn’t call you to stand sheepishly or fearfully at the precipices of life, He comes to stand there with you so that you will not fall, to stand there with you so that you might scale the highest mountain, or repel down the steepest cliff, so that you might indeed live life abundantly in His Name, now and forever.
Amen!
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for September 23, 2012
Topic: More Teaching on Heaven and HellANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Gregory Seltz responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. A listener was watching TV with some friends and one of these shows came on that talks about heaven and hell and what people think about that nowadays. Our listener realized, “I haven’t really heard anybody at my church talk about heaven or hell lately. Why don’t churches speak so much about that nowadays?”
SELTZ: Now that’s a great question and it’s good to point out that this is our second Question and Answer show on this topic in just the last few months.
ANNOUNCER: Which I think shows that maybe we’re talking about things that are on people’s minds; things they might be discussing.
SELTZ: It’s good to know that. But the question this time, though, is a bit bigger than merely talking about what the Bible teaches about heaven and hell. Our listener is asking, “Why don’t we hear about either much in church today, heaven and especially hell?”
ANNOUNCER: Because certainly the Bible talks about it. Jesus, Himself spoke about heaven and hell quite often.
SELTZ: If you go on the internet today, there are actually some blogs that try to say that the Bible doesn’t teach anything about hell. And, while the Bible does use different words and metaphors to explain its teaching, to describe one’s eternal punishment as well as one’s eternal life with God, the Bible clearly teaches that there will be punishment for sin eternally and that there is heaven for all who believe in God’s provision for them in Jesus Christ.
ANNOUNCER: Well, then, if the Bible talks about this reality of eternal punishment as well as eternal salvation, why don’t we hear more sermons about heaven and hell?
SELTZ: Well, I think one of the reasons is that many churches have fallen prey to a certain kind of teaching that the church needs to be more about helping out things now. In the ’60s and ’70s, there was this teaching that the church was so “heavenly minded that it was of no earthly good.” So, many churches started to focus merely on the here and now not the things that are yet to be. It’s almost like people were saying that if you can’t show me how this teaching is practical for my life today, then it means nothing to me at all.
ANNOUNCER: But, in reality, nothing is further from the truth. Such a belief could actually cut out much of the Bible’s main teaching that we are “saved by grace through faith in Christ,” and we’re saved from what; from the eternal punishment for sin, right?
SELTZ: That’s exactly right. Those who neglect the eternal ramifications of their sin and the eternal peace and comfort of their salvation; they can actually miss out on the power and purpose of living that eternal life right now.
ANNOUNCER: But, I’m suspecting there’s really another reason why we don’t hear so much about heaven and hell in some churches.
SELTZ: There sure is. Many people today just don’t believe in them, especially hell, because they have decided that it’s not fair for God to punish people for their sins. To them, hell is an archaic notion of a less enlightened people.
ANNOUNCER: It’s ironic that people think they have the right to decide what is fair but God does not.
SELTZ: And that’s the point. This is serious business and God’s justice will punish sin because sin is a cancer that plagues humanity, robbing us of the joy of life now and our eternal life later with God. When Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 that “God the Father made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God,” He was telling us that the stakes of eternal life are high, but that God has made a way for all to live forever with Him. God doesn’t send people to hell arbitrarily; they go there because they want to live life on their own terms, even eternally. They just don’t realize what that will entail. That’s what hell is….life without God!
ANNOUNCER: That seems to be the point when people think that even eternal, abundant life is possible on their own terms, they don’t want to talk about heaven and hell.
SELTZ: That’s correct, when you’re talking about this heaven and hell stuff, it brings up the uncomfortable truth that real, eternal, lasting life is beyond their ability to manipulate or control. God is the Creator, we are the creatures. Life and salvation are in His hands.
ANNOUNCER: Thank God He’s given us a heavenly message of grace that defeats that punishment of hell so that all might have life instead in Jesus. Let’s pray that we continue to talk more and more about that in the future. Thank you Pastor Seltz. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“O Lord, Increase My Faith” by Orlando Gibbons. From Alleluia, Song of Gladness by the Cathedral
Singers (© 1993 GIA Publications, Inc.)
“Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us” From Every Voice a Song (© 1995 Concordia Publishing House)
“The Church’s One Foundation” arr. Charles Ore. From From My Perspective, vol. 3 (© 1995 Organ
Works Corporation)