1-9-22   “It is the Grace of God!”

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Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

Pastor Jenny Lee, Ph.D.

 

 

 “It is the Grace of God!”

 

I want to start with something funny. I learned about this story from an internet site: A man died and went to heaven. He met God at the Pearly Gates. God said to him, “Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in to heaven.” The man said, “Okay, I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart.” God said, “That’s wonderful! That’s worth three points!” He said, “Three-points? Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithes and service.” God said, “Terrific! That’s certainly worth a point.” The man said, “What? Just one point?? Okay, I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans.” God said, “Fantastic, that’s good for two more points.” The man cried, “Just two points more?” He was irritated and said, “At this rate, the only way I’ll get into heaven is by the grace of God.” God said, “Bingo, 100 points! Come on in!”

Happy New Year, everyone! Today, we are still faced with many difficulties, conflicts, and issues such as the COVID 19 pandemic, variant, omicron virus and natural disasters like fires, tornadoes, and earthquakes. In addition, these issues led us to unstable social moods, which sometimes caused social violence and injustice. Despite all of this, we have a new day and a new year! What do you hope for in the New Year? As we wished in the advent and Christmas season, we hope that Jesus brings hope, peace, joy, and love into the world through us because we will be the light of the world.

The good news is there are many good people around the world who serve at food pantries, homeless shelters, non-profit organizations, community service volunteers, and Law enforcement departments to name a few. They are the light of the world. We have heard many injustices in the news, but we shouldn’t generalize certain people or groups. We are all different in the educational backgrounds and family traditions we grew up with, even in our religious experiences. Remember, we may judge people by their appearance, but God does not. First Samuel says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Each of us is unique to God. Before God, we are equal as a precious child of God.

I appreciate law enforcement agencies such as police officers, 911 workers, firefighters and other government/community agencies. When I was not familiar with everything in the United States I experienced difficulties. One night in the winter of 2010, my car was stopped on the side of the road on a highway. I didn’t know what to do. I called my insurance company, but I got an answering machine. I then called a friend of mine to help, but it was hard for me to explain where I was. At that moment, a police car stopped, and a policeman asked me what was going on. He called a tow truck company and helped me. They stayed with me until everything was clear, and they gave me a ride to the safety of my home. Some people may say, “They have police-phobia,” which means they are afraid of policemen/women. But, I know they serve people and the community as we Christians do.

Jesus also showed us he might respect government and church ministry as well: When people tried to test Jesus, they asked him, “Tell us, then what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” People tried to make trouble for him because most people hated the Roman emperor and government leaders. However, Jesus knew their intention and said, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:17-22). It is an excellent example of how Jesus also respects our responsibility to the government and church ministry. We are Christians who should be the light of the world. Again, we should be the light in the world, not in heaven. Therefore, we should live out Jesus’ teachings in everyday life, which means love God and love people (neighbors).

In today’s scripture, we may learn about how great God’s grace is through the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. The baptism of Jesus reminds us of our own baptism. Some of you may think that ‘I don’t remember my baptism at all.’ Yes, that’s correct. But, we may start at that point, where we don’t remember anything of our baptism. At our baptism we don’t remember, God confirmed that God loves us. God keeps us in the baptismal covenant, which we don’t remember. When we were baptized as babies we didn’t know anything about God and sin, we were baptized by the grace of God. Because we were infants, we didn’t confess our sins or faith either. We were baptized and became Christians. It is not because we confess our faith but because of the grace of God. The Methodists call it “Prevenient grace,” which means God loves everyone whether they believe in God or not.

God’s prevenient grace leads people to think of God and guides them to believe in God. All people and all creatures are under the prevenient grace. In other words, God loves everyone before they believe in God. Baptism perhaps is just the starting point of God’s epiphany. Through the Lord’s baptism, God was finally presented the Holy Spirit and voice: The scripture Luke 3: 21 says, “when the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven.”   God presents with us in our life journey officially through baptism and identifies us, “you are my child, and the beloved with you I am well pleased.” As many of you know, Jesus finally started his public ministry, which means he officially joined God’s ministry and community after his baptism. Of course, the baptism symbolizes “washing out sins,” “being born again in Jesus,” and “joining a faith community (God’s kingdom).” The fact is that we became one family in Jesus Christ through baptismal covenant, whether we remember our baptism or not. God confirmed that we are beloved no matter who we are. It is possible only by the grace of God.

We all are the debtors of God’s grace and love. Therefore, we cannot judge anyone but only pray for them and love them as God loves us. Let us pay forward God’s love to one another this year. Let us express our gratitude to church leaders, community leaders and government leaders and pray for them. As we have a new year, we may have new hope to love one another and care for one another, experiencing God’s epiphany in everyday life. Thanks be to God!