Easy Grace?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians2:8,9NIV

...if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Romans10:9,10NIV

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1John1:8-10NIV

We know that grace is the free and unmerited gift from God which secures our salvation. We equally know that there is nothing we can do to earn that salvation. Our “good works are as filthy rags” it says in Isaiah 64:6. So, our salvation is both free and we can’t earn it. In fact we can’t even put a deposit on it to help out. Yet that same free gift to us, cost the Son of God dear. The cost was His life on the cross, but then we also know that He rose from the grave, defeating death forever, and for us His followers. What great Grace!

Ok, I hear you say, you are saying things we already know. True, but I fear we are falling into a trap which is so easy to do as regular church goers. I fear we may become guilty of accepting this amazing free gift of God’s grace, and then….that’s it. Nothing. No change. No difference in our life or lifestyle. We certainly don’t try to earn our salvation, but neither do we expect, or even allow, God to do a work of change in our lives. So we are effectively no different after salvation than we were before. Is that what our Saviour wants from us? Nothing? I think not.

Our verses talk about confessing our sins, and professing our salvation. You can’t confess or profess if you are still unchanged and holding on to the old ways. Our salvation is then on a ‘shoogly peg’ to use an old Scottish phrase. In fact, our salvation is really in doubt. Make certain you confess and profess, and only then is salvation sure and the heart pure. Any and all good works from this point on are given from a heart of love. Not trying to earn salvation, but because of the certainty of our salvation. Amen and Amen.

Investment

Imagine for a moment you are in the fortunate position of receiving a large windfall of unearned, unexpected cash in the order of a few million pounds or dollars. Who cares at the accuracy of that figure? I know it may not be likely, so I did say ‘imagine’!! Let your mind free wheel for a minute. What’s the first thing you would want to do? I don’t know about you, but I would want to be sure I didn’t waste it, or worse still, lose it.

You suddenly become very attached to your windfall, and instead of it being some theoretical exercise, it becomes so real that you want to protect your investment. But wait a minute, this only becomes an investment when you decide to make it one. You have never had anything like this in your life, and you know it will only happen this one time. So you are very protective, and rightly so. You and I would be very strange people if we didn’t care. We become excited and want to do some good with all this money. You can help disadvantaged children. You could help advance medical science and research. You could make sure your family never want for anything in their lives.

The truth is you and I have already been offered a gift of unimaginable wealth. We didn’t earn it or work for it, and we accepted it. Being a gift, it was free. All we have to do is reach out and take it. But there are many people who do not trust a free gift like this one because there might be a hidden catch. So the gift is not able to help you, or anyone else. Our great gift makes the biggest change in our life we could imagine. Except this time we don’t have to imagine. This gift of life from God is something we can own when we accept it. Salvation is not a pipe dream. Once we have accepted this free gift, we can help pass on our excitement and thankfulness to others. You wouldn’t stay quiet with a few million pounds in the investment fund, so why do we stay quiet when we have the guarantee of this amazing gift from the greatest and trusted source in reality?

But...

Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were. But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) Ephesians 2:3-5 (ERV)

As a parent, hearing the words “but Dad” sent a shiver down my spine because I never knew what was coming next. It would usually have something to do with not liking what they were asked or expected to do. Human nature comes to the fore, and we show our displeasure with that single word “but”. The word is basically a very negative expression isn’t it?

I love the “but God” verses in the Bible, and this is just one of many. It simply means “in spite of”. In our case we are “like everyone else in the world, and deserve God’s anger”. But in spite of that, and because we “have been saved by God’s grace” He gave us new life! What a great God!

The question that often comes to me is this: Since this salvation is so freely available to all, why do more people not take God at His word and accept His gift? We must be a very headstrong and stubborn people to refuse God’s free grace. I can’t think of any other reason, can you?

Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7,8

In the words of the old song, “Love is a many splendored thing”, and how true even today. Love takes many forms, from the deep love of a mother to her new born baby, to the mature love of the old doting couple in the twilight of their years, and all the love we enjoy in between.

Do you remember your first date? Your first kiss? When you proposed? When you were overwhelmed by the feelings of love for your children? These are as nothing compared to the love shown to us by God. We are reminded that, “Anyone who does not love does not know God.” How sad to think that there are many who have never loved, or been able to love, and yet take the name of Christ.

But look at the credentials that God shows when the verse continues, “God is love”. Not almost, or nearly, not even mostly, but God IS love. Nothing less and nothing short of full love for all His creation. Faced with a love like that, our human love pales in comparison, so how can we turn our backs on the intensity of God’s unconditional Love? And yet we can do just that, so why not determine to live a live worthy of the love He shows us, and as the verse says, “ let us love one another, for love is from God”? Then there would be fewer problems in our churches and communities.

Choosy

One of the best things about our free and fair democracy, is that we get the chance to be choosy at all sorts of levels. We choose people from the President or Prime Minister, right down to who our friends are on Facebook. We choose our life’s partner, our family home, and our car. We choose where to go to church, and where to spend our holidays (and with whom!). The list is endless. There is one significant common factor in all of this, but we will come back to that.

Because we can choose people and things at one level, doesn’t mean we get to choose everything. Our children are a gift from God. We might choose our house, but not the burst pipes in winter, or the flat tyre of our chosen car. Again, the list of consequences from our initial choices could go on. There is another, but separate common factor going on here.

The bottom line is that we have one level of choice, and the common thread is that we are in control of those choices, but we are not in control of the consequences from those choices. In some ways that is a good thing, after all we may live in a democracy, but not everything is fair. There are many who are less fortunate than us. Some families become fractured, and some people get sick. There is something really sad about a young family trying to ‘make it’ in life, but who do not have a well paid job, and when serious sickness comes along, they struggle badly. Are their choices and dreams any less important? I don’t think so.

I have become very aware of two of God’s children who got very ill, and with the same disease, but in different countries. Each is treated the same as others in their own situation, as their disease worsens and spreads. One racks up a massive medical bill which can never be paid, and the other receives all necessary and top rate home and hospital care, but the family do not get a bill. Both of these good folks did not have their illness by choice, and neither was the necessary cost of treatment a choice. Each person’s care was the consequence of choices made on their behalf by their respective governments. This is not a political argument, but pointing to a higher story where God does not treat any of His children differently, or as they deserve. Nor does God pay out dependent on what we have put in. His boundless grace takes care of that, and I love the truth of God’s free, undeserved, unmerited gift of grace. As Christians, we don’t have to help the poor, it is our choice to help, or not. Here’s a thought: What if our nations grafted God’s Word right into society? Now that would be a community both of good choices, and good consequences! Just a thought.

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. Mark 14:7 NIV and..Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8,9 NIV

Social(ism)

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there was no needy person among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:31-35 NIV

The US government is in real trouble. They have maxed out their credit card, and are in danger of defaulting on their interest payments, which is a national tragedy, and an international embarrassment. You would think the two party system would be able to get together to make sure there is no danger of default. In the words of the UK meerkat TV ad, *simples*, but not so fast Tonto. It don’t work like that!

Hatred reigns, thinly disguised as political wisdom in the form of the dreaded social medicine policy that is Obamacare. Simply put, that means making medical care more readily available to poorer people. Oh, too simple? Ok then, it means giving medical care to some folks who haven’t paid into the system adequately. It comes down to this: No medical care if you don’t have the right insurance cover, and we all know that insurance companies just hate (there’s that word again) to pay out. So, disadvantaged people don’t get good healthcare cover. They are second class citizens.

This was put into context for me by a US politician, who said there was a deep fear and distrust that Obamacare was a socialist doctrine, with no place in the free society that is the USA. Wow! That made me sit up. This senior politician was a Republican (of course). I put the verses up front, and I hope you read them carefully. I will paraphrase it this way: After prayer, and making all things common, they shared and had no needy person among them. Now I hate (that word again) to state the obvious, but there appears to be a direct link between the free economy Republican position, and the US evangelical churches, especially in the Bible belt. Do these well intentioned folks (I am giving the benefit of the doubt) not know the difference between being social-ly responsible, and social-ism? Apparently not, and in the meantime America shows its true heart, and it is not a heart for others, as the Apostles, or Jesus would teach.

Apologies to my US/Republican friends. Maybe I have it all wrong, so tell me where my misunderstanding lies. have I possibly misinterpreted Scripture? Is it all too complex for a mere Scot to take in? At this point I have to point out that Adam Smith was Scottish too. In the ‘self evident truth’ wording of a famous document, ‘All men are created equal’. Really?

Free Speech? What Free Speech??

Tory election candidate Philip Lardner has been suspended for describing gay people on his website as "not normal", the party has confirmed. His suspension was provoked by comments in the "What I believe in" section of his website, under the sub-heading: "Homosexuality is not 'normal behaviour'." The former Territorial Army soldier wrote of his support for the controversial "clause 28", which was introduced by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher and banned public bodies from promoting homosexuality.

Last year, David Cameron apologised for Tory efforts to stop the measure being repealed by Labour and his party have since indicated they would consider allowing same-sex marriages, if elected. But Mr Lardner wrote: "As your MP I will support the rights of parents and teachers to refuse to have their children taught that homosexuality is 'normal' behaviour or an equal lifestyle choice to traditional marriage. "I will always support the rights of homosexuals to be treated within concepts of (common sense) equality and respect, and defend their rights to choose to live the way they want in private, but I will not accept that their behaviour is 'normal' or encourage children to indulge in it. "Toleration and understanding is one thing, but the state promotion of homosexuality is quite another."

The comments have since been removed.

Labour's Europe minister Chris Bryant, who is gay, said: "These comments are completely unacceptable and betray the nasty, judgmental truth behind the Tory campaign."

Where else can we start but with the dictionary definition of the word 'Normal'

nor·mal (nôr′məl)

adjective

1. conforming with or constituting an accepted standard, model, or pattern; esp., corresponding to the median or average of a large group in type, appearance, achievement, function, development, etc.; natural; usual; standard; regular.

There is no way that the gay community can be described as normal using this definition. This does not imply that they have no rights, neither does it say that they should be discounted, but they are NOT NORMAL by definition!

What happened to free speech? Does it not apply to prospective MPs? Is the Conservative Party embarrassed by this statement? Maybe they are offended, but the man does have a right to say it. It is not illegal. It seems that the only people who have a right to freedom of expression are the minorities, and they can take the form of gays, and other minority (non Christian) religions especially, as we have seen recently.

There seems to be a contradiction here. The Tory Party will recognise the importance of 'normal' family life by giving married couples a tax break, but in the same breath, they do not allow one of their candidates to say the obvious. Gays do not constitute the majority of our population according to the definition which says.

1. the median or average of a large group in type, appearance, achievement, function, development, etc.; natural; usual; standard; regular.

Ok, get it now? No offence. No confusion. No contradiction. Not normal. Now what? Will we see the minorities change the dictionary, as they have the (obvious and clear) teaching of the Bible? Now that would be unlikely.... but don't rule it out altogether. And on top of that the same party would sanction same sex marriage! Choosing a candidate in this election is giving me a bigger headache than in past years. To borrow and change a phrase coined by another political party, "we are dancing to the minority's jig!" Oh that is scary!

It appears that there will be one less possible MP in parliament who would have a moral compass. If this is how we hire and fire our MPs, we are indeed .." A' DOOMED LADDIE".

1.