Grace and Love

On Monday evenings I am currently running a Diocesan Training Course about ‘Communication and Preaching’. And one of things I’ve been encouraging new preachers to do is, when preparing a sermon, try to sum it up in one sentence.

Of course, there is nothing new in this. Even in Jesus’ day, there were debates amongst scholars about how best to sum up the whole of the scriptures (what we now call the Old Testament) in a nutshell. You may remember that Jesus got drawn into the debate. It wasn’t a trick question, like some of the other questions that he was asked, I think they genuinely wanted to know his views on the matter.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

That’s a great summary of the Old Testament, and you can see how that clear understanding shaped Jesus’ live and ministry.

Well, this week, there was a similar debate in the Diocesan Office where I work.

It’s an open plan office, and most of the time everyone just gets on with their work, but just occasionally a deep theological discussion breaks out.

It started with a question from a colleague who had been studying the Church of England’s new ‘Pilgrim’ course. And she asked:

If you could sum up the whole of the Christian faith in just one word. What word would you choose?

Now that’s a challenge isn’t it?

Jesus had summarised the Old Testament into two sentences. But here we were being asked to sum up the New Testament in just one word!

We only had 15 seconds to think. So I’m going to give you 15 seconds to think as well.

[Time]

OK time up. Have you chosen a word?

How many of you chose ‘forgiveness’? Well that was the answer given in the book, but my colleague wasn’t so sure (which had thus prompted her to start the discussion).

How many of you chose ‘love’? Well that was what another colleague thought. I guess picking up on the summary of the law, and also Jesus’s new commandment “to love one another as I have loved you”.

How many of you chose ‘grace’? Well done! That’s what I said, and I’ll say more about that shortly.

And then our final colleague, who is the theological scholar amongst us, said… “Well… the word that I would choose is… nice!”

We all burst out laughing …and I’m sure that he meant it as a joke …but he was also making a serious point.

Because being ‘nice’ is most people in Britain think the Christianty ought to be about. And sadly, even many who go to church think that too.

I might have previously mentioned an occasion when I visited a bereaved family before a funeral. And speaking about her deceased husband, the widow said…

“He never went to church. In fact, he didn’t believe in God. But he was the best Christian you could ever meet.”

She said that because he was nice.

A couple of weeks ago the bishops in the Church of England issued a letter to church members urging us all to engage in the political process ahead of the General Election …to put aside self-interest and vote for 'the common good'.

Amongst other things, the letter mentioned rising poverty amongst low-paid workers, and said that the bishops backed the ‘Living Wage’ which is slightly higher than the ‘Minimum Wage’.

The letter provoked a huge reaction from MPs and journalists. Some welcomed their contribution to political debate, even though the disagreed with some of the things they said. Others said that:

“Bishops should keep out of politics, and get back to their day jobs.”

And what lay behind such comments?

My guess is that they think our Bishops should only talk about personal morality, and encourage people to be nice.

(Pause)

This week we are continuing our sermon series entitled ‘Fruitfulness on the Frontline”. And for those who’ve not heard the previous sermons, our ‘frontline’ is where we meet people who are not yet Christians, whether at home, or at work, or anywhere else. These people might be members of our family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances.

And this week we are particularly thinking about ‘Ministering Grace and Love’.

Most of our small groups are studying the course that accompanies this sermon series, and the course note point out that:

“In common usage, the meaning of the words ‘grace’ and ‘love’ are easily watered down”.

I agree.

And when we water down ‘grace’ and ‘love’, what we get is ‘nice’.

For example, take our Bible reading about the sheep and the goats...

It’s all too easy to see these words of Jesus as an encouragement to be nice to others:

To feed the hungry;

To give a drink to the thirsty;

To welcome the stranger;

….and so on.

It’s this sort of Bible passage which makes me feel guilty if I ignore someone selling the Big Issue …and makes me feel smug if I’m ‘nice’ to them and buy a copy.

People think that Christianity is about being ‘nice’ because they assume that Jesus was a nice man.

Yes, there was one occasion when he overturned the tables of the money-changers in the temple …but he probably did that ever so politely!

Furthermore, many today have come to wrongly believe that you get to go to heaven by being nice.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be nice.

In fact the word would be a much better place if more people were nicer.

In the four places where I have worked as an Engineer, as a Curate, as a Vicar and now at the Diocesan Office, I’ve had colleagues who have been nice people. Generally speaking, they have treated each other with respect, and have been pretty supportive of one another.

But listening to experiences of others, I realise how fortunate I have been.

I know that some of you work in places where people are far from nice to each other. Where there is a toxic culture, where people undermine each other, or they’re inconsiderate, or disrespectful, or gossip about each other.

Some of you have family members, or neighbours or friends who are not very nice either.

And in environments like that, just being ‘nice’ can be really difficult. It’s so easy to get dragged down to the level of others. And if you succeed, if you manage to “turn the other cheek” as Jesus once said, people do notice the difference. And that’s one way in which we can be fruitful on our frontline.

But Jesus didn’t say to his followers,

“A new commandment I give you: be nice to one another.”

Rather, he said:

“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

[pause]

‘Nice’ is a watered down version of love.

And sometimes, ‘love’ means saying or doing things that aren’t very nice.

Some of the things that Jesus said and did were truly shocking. They really upset some people, so much so that they wanted to kill him.

‘Nice’ wasn’t the first word that some people would have chosen to describe Jesus.

And Jesus calls us to love like him:

To love our enemies;

To do good to those who dislike us …or even hate us;

To speak kindly about those who tell lies about us;

To stand alongside those who are despised, the poor, the immigrant;

To speak up for those who can’t defend themselves, because others are criticising them behind their backs;

That’s the sort of love that Jesus had.

That’s the sort of love that he wants us to have.

It’s a costly love.

It’s more than ‘nice’.

(Pause)

Jesus’s kind of love is an unconditional love.

But more than that, it is an underserved love. And that’s where grace comes in.

‘Grace’ is one of those words which had multiple definitions. Here are five of them:

Smoothness and elegance of movement. "she moved through the water with effortless grace"

Courteous good will. "he had the good grace to apologize to her afterwards"

An extended period granted as a special favour. "we'll give them 30 days' grace and then we'll be doing checks"

A short prayer of thanks said before or after a meal.

Used as forms of description or address for a duke, duchess, or archbishop. “Yes, your Grace.”

But when the Bible uses the word ‘grace’ it doesn’t mean any of those. Instead, it means:

“The free and unmerited favour of God.”

In other words, it is undeserved love.

And the best way to remember that is the story behind the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’.

As I’ve mentioned before, John Newton was a slave trader. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. Whilst his boat was being repaired, he wrote the first verse of his world famous song.

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

(Pause)

The conversion of St Paul is the best true story of how grace has the power to totally change someone’s life.

And I think the best fictional story is that of Jean Valjean in Les Misersble.

How many of you have seen the play or film?

We’ll we are going to see a clip of Jean Valjean’s conversion.

It is set in 18th Century France, and the first person you see in this clip is Jean Valjean himself. He has just been released from prison on parole, having served 20 years of hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread.

He has no-where to stay, he is full of anger and bitterness …and then he meets a Bishop.

By the way, just look at the expression in the faces of the women servants.

…and the piece of paper at the end of the scene is his parole license.

[Watch the scene]

Jean Valjean rips up his parole licence because he wants to make a new life for himself. A life of grace, built on the grace that he has been shown by the Bishop.

And the film is the story of his life.

It is also the story of a man called Javert who is completely devoted to the law. He is determined to track down Jean Valjean to throw him back in prison, because he has broken the terms of his parole. It’s a fascinating interplay of grace and law.

If you’ve not seen the film, I can thoroughly recommend it. You can buy the DVD for just £5.

In the clip, you can tell from the expressions on the women’s faces that they are horrified by what the Bishop does.

Grace is shocking.

Jesus told several parables about grace…

The parable of the good Samaritan. The Jews hated the Samaritans, and they would have been horrified to hear Jesus telling a story about a Samaritan showing mercy on a Jew.

The parable of the prodigal Son. A degenerate son who brings dishonour on the whole family by squandering his father’s inheritance on loose living. And then, when all the money’s gone, he has the audacity to come back home. But it is the father’s reaction which is the most shocking. Instead of sending him away, he throws a lavish ‘welcome home’ party!

The parable of the workers in the vineyard. Where those who were hired at the end of the day, and had only done a couple of hours work, get paid the same wages as to those who worked hard all day. Where is the fairness in that?

Grace is underserved love.

Grace is shocking.

It’s the emphasis upon ‘grace’ which sets Christianity apart from all the other major religions.

And that’s why, if I had to sum up the Christian faith in one word, I’d say ‘grace’.

When you water down the biblical definition of grace, you get one of the other dictionary definitions that I mentioned earlier ‘courteous good will’ …or being ‘nice’.

But Jesus calls us to be people of grace in the shocking sense of the word.

(Pause)

On our frontline we need to minister grace and love.

I began this sermon by mentioning that I encourage new preachers to try to summarise their sermon in one sentence.

So, if you happened to nod off during the past few minutes, this is my sentence:

On your frontline, try to be ‘nice’

…but also look out for when God is calling you to go beyond just ‘nice’.