Common Grace and Special Grace

Sermon at Chew Magna Baptist Church, 6 July 2008


Our text today is from the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew’s gospel; Jesus says

He (the father) makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [Mt 5:44-45, NKJV]

God, the Father, makes the sun to rise on the good and the bad, He sends rain on the just and the unjust. So, it is clear from scripture that there is a general blessing bestowed on all mankind. Calvin called it a common grace. This common grace is an unmerited and undeserved blessing that flows from God to everyone regardless of whether they believe or not. And Jesus tells us that this common grace flows from the very nature of our perfect God because of His great love.

In the first chapter of Romans the apostle Paul says

“what may be known about God is plain… for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen and understood by what has been made”. [Rom 1:19-20, NIV]

God revels himself to all, by the very fabric of creation. Creation sings out that there is a God and that he is a God of love. Now you may say to me that's all well and good, but how does creation actual do this? You may even say to me “I don’t believe in God, so how can this possibly be true?”

Well let me ask you this question, where did everything that we see around us in creation come from? Where did the trees, the rivers, the mountains and the valleys, the abundant life of this planet come from? Not only this but where did the sun and the moon and the vast expanses of space filled with a multitude of stars and galaxies come from? And why is the universe governed by laws, laws of gravity and thermodynamics. Why is there such order in the natural world? Where did all the order, complexity and beauty come from? Why is it here?

Now you may say to me “I don’t care where the universe came from, I’m just happy that its here. I can live my life without ever knowing”. But are you not just a little bit curious?

I remember having this discussion with a university student, many years ago. When I put this argument to him he said, quick as a flash,

“the big bang, the universe started at the big bang, everything can be traced back to that point. From the remnants of this explosion the universe grew and organised itself into what we see now”

So, mischievously I asked him,

“so who lit the fuse for this big bang then?” Explosions are generally set off by someone. And I then asked him,

“how did an explosion result in this world with all its beauty and life?

You see most explosions that I am familiar with leave carnage and destruction in their wake?”

Suddenly he realised that for the universe to spring out of nothing, by itself, took some believing. In fact, the big bang theory wasn’t any real explanation. For the real questions “where did the universe come from, why is it here?” are still unanswered by science. Also he realised that it took quite a leap of faith to believe that this explosion resulted in life and all the beauty of this world.

Imagine this situation, you are routing around a cellar in your house, and after moving an old chest of draws you discover a dusty old frame with a picture in it. So you take it out into the light and you carefully dust it down. You discover that it’s rather fine; in fact it’s a little gem, a beautifully crafted work of art. So what do you conclude? It was just created out of nothing by a freak set of random events over billons of years that culminated in this painting being in your cellar? Or do you conclude that someone must have painted it? The painting had to have a creator. Now the world in which we live is far more beautiful, it is special work of art. And there is an artist, a creator, God, the author of this universe, eternal and ever present, wise beyond understanding, infinite in all his ways, perfect in all he does and is, all powerful and good.

This was clear to the apostle Paul, “His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen and understood by what has been made” This is known as the general revelation of God to the world. It is clear that there must be a God by what we see around us. This general revelation is a blessing from God.

Is it any surprise that throughout human history, in every culture, in every place, in every time, there has always been a need to have gods or a God. Humans naturally need a God. Why is this? Christians believe that we have been made in God image so innately, naturally, there is part in us the needs to know God. I believe this is true. But even without using this argument, it is clear from history that people need God, why? Because it is clear from the world, from what we see, that there must be a creator God.

So, where do our lives come from? - they come from God. He gives us life, He gives us the air we breathe, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”, He sustains not only our lives but the entire universe, and this is God’s common grace given to all believers and non-believers, saved and lost.

But, as believers, we know much more of the revelation and grace of God that those who have not accepted Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour; for there is also a special revelation of God given in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is a saving and special grace that is given to all who have trusted Jesus Christ of which the world knows nothing.

The special revelation of God, this message from God, says something like this,

‘I have blessed you with this common grace; that should have taught you what I’m like; from this you should have seen that I am a loving God. You should have also realised that the best way to live is to be kind and loving to one another, so imitating me. But you have fallen short of the beauty of my plan for your lives; each and every one of you has fallen short. You’ve hurt and harmed one another; you’ve often been selfish, unkind and put yourself first. Every action has consequences, the spiritual law of action and reaction is this, the wrongs you have done lead to death, your spiritual death. You’ve given up the opportunity to know me. But this is my judgement: I have sent my Son Jesus to die in your place, as a substitute - His death for your death. The eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit say We have forgiven you, wiped your slate clean. You are not worthy to be called my sons and daughters but if you accept what Jesus has done for you, honestly believe in your heart and say with your lips “Jesus is the Lord of my life” you will be my sons and my daughters and I will be your loving Father God and you can only do this by my Holy Spirit living in you.’

This wonderful, wonderful good news,

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
[1 John 3:7-10, The Message]

This is our precious, precious Gospel, this wonderful revelation, that God is for us, that God longs for all to come into a living relationship with Him; this divine special and saving grace, unmerited and undeserved blessing that flows from God.

For it is the God  who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,  that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. [2 Co 4:6-7, NKJV]

Yes on the outside we who believe are the same as everyone else; we are like simple clay pots, not special, not particularly beautiful. But inside, in our inner being, our spirits have been made alive to the knowledge of the glory of God. Have we not received something that is more precious and of greater value than silver or gold?

So then, let us live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as people who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do.

God is real, His blessings are real. God blesses in some measure the good and the bad, the believers and those who do not believe. But the blessing and grace reserved for those who believe in him out weigh this common grace.

For God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, we have been enlightened, and we have tasted of the heavenly gift (that is Jesus our Lord), and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, And we have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. We have stepped from death into life. Let me tell you a secret mystery, we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. We shall see God face to face, we shall know God fully even as we are fully known; and we shall know such joy.

Amen

A leper’s story, “Lord, if you are willing …”

Sermon preached at Clevedon Baptist Church, july 6th, 2008

Prologue

We all have times in life when we have a real need of God. Life has its ups and downs; there are different seasons in life. There are seasons of rejoicing and happiness; perhaps your wedding day or the birth of a child. At these times life overflows and one should be thankful and grateful to God. However when everything is going well we can often neglect God.

There are also seasons of struggle, seasons of suffering. At these times we are in great need of God. We call out from the very bottom of our souls, we cry out to him “Please Lord, help me” but in the back of our minds there is a small voice which adds “if you are willing”. We have a small doubt, “Is God willing to help?” If we ignore God in the good times will He ignore us in the bad times?

The Christian life is not easy; didn’t Jesus himself say “the way is narrow and few find it”. God has called us to a way that is full of challenges and God expects great things from us. You may say to me “what are these challenges, what are these great things that God expects?”

They are these

• to live a life that is like Jesus,
• to live a life that is full of compassion and love,
• to live a life that is full of honesty and truth,
• to live a life that is full of forgiveness and faith,
• to live life full of the Holy Spirit and to be ever close to God.

This burden of love can weigh heavily on us, and we can often choose to try and bear it on our own, in our own strength. But you know we will fail this way; we will be bruised and hurt by this way. This bruising, that is often caused by others, can cause us to step aside from the way, to retreat from the way of love. We find ourselves saying I can love but only within certain limits. It is even possible that we completely loose sight of what God requires of us. However, at these times, if we listen to the prompting of God, we call out to him in prayer,

• “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal my heart from the hurt I feel”.
• “Lord, if you are willing, you can give me strength and help me through these hard times”
• “Lord, if you are willing, you can help me to forgive. Help me to forgive those who have hurt me, perhaps a father or mother, perhaps a brother or sister, perhaps a once close friend”
• “Lord, if you are willing, you can help me love more, love my husband or wife more, love my children more, love my parents more, love people in this church more”
• “Lord, if you are willing, you can fill me afresh with you Holy Spirit”
• “Lord, if you are willing, you can give me more faith, give me more wisdom, give me more hope and joy”
• “Lord, if you are willing …..” you can add you own prayers here..

The leper’s story

Now our text today is from Luke’s Gospel chapter 5 verses 12-16, and you can find parallel passages in Matthew and Marks Gospel accounts. The Gospels are so wonderful because they recount little stories about Jesus and His ministry. So they tell us about Jesus. They tell us the truth about what He is like. But this is not all, the Gospels stories, like this one today, are little pictures. They are true events painted for us; events that have such emotion and pathos that we cannot help being drawn in. If we meditate on these stories, if we imagine ourselves at the scene, if we let the Holy Spirit work in our hearts and speak to us, we will learn deep and profound truths and mysteries.

Luke 5:12-16, Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:2-4

12And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13Then He (Jesus, moved with compassion [Mark 1:41]) put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.” 15However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

I can image Jesus and the disciples coming into a city at the break of dawn after spending some time in prayer in a lonely place. And on the outskirts of this city they see a man moving slowly towards them. The light is dim, but it is clear that He trying to hurry but was unable to walk well. As he got closer you could start to see his worn and torn clothes, and bare head. He was clearly very poor and needy. Then you start to see the top part of his face, for the bottom part was covered with a cloth scarf so that you couldn’t see his mouth. The skin around his eyes and ears was bunched; it had deep furrows between the swellings. The only way I can describe his face to you is that it looked like that of a lion, it was awful. And it was about this time that you feel the pit in the bottom of your stomach, you smell an unpleasant odour that sticks in your throat, for he truly stank, and the fearful word “leper” comes into your mind. You stop dead in your tracks and start to move away.

At this moment the leper falls down on the ground, bowed down, this horrendous face, face down; but Jesus doesn’t move away. He just stands and waits to hear from this leper.

The leper speaks with a hoarse voice, with grating tones, for the leprosy has got to his throat as well. He says, he begs “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”

This poor wretch of a man, to say he was at a low point in life is an understatement. His life had been ruined; his friends and family would, for the most part, have abandoned him. He would be forced to live away from everyone and everything he knew, his health was slowly deteriorating. He had lost it all. Hope was gone, for who has ever recovered from leprosy; it was like a blind man seeing again, or a dead man coming back to life. His life was over.

Yet somehow he had heard of Jesus, we don’t know how but he had heard that Jesus was able to do great things, healing miracles. A small seed of faith remained, “Is it possible that God can use this Jesus to restore my life? Maybe I can get my life back like the patriarch Job. Is possible that Jesus can heal me? Is possible that Jesus can make me clean again?”

The Leper says “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean”, why use the word “clean”? Listen to

Leviticus 13:45-46

45 “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry,  ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

The Leper was to continuously say “Unclean, unclean” to anyone he met, to everyone he saw; he must have hated that word, and he longed not to be “unclean”.

Marks Gospel says “Jesus was moved with compassion” Our God is moved with compassion at the troubles and circumstances of our lives. God’s love for the whole world is not a love that sits back and is oblivious to the state of the world. God sees the world, see the people of the world in their struggles, see us in our hurts and is moved with compassion. For God so loved the world that He acted, he sent his one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.

God is for us not against us; His love for us never fails. He is affected by our sufferings and our hurts. He is moved with compassion.

Does God care? Does God care? Yes, yes and again I say yes and Amen. He loves his children, and He will see that “all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well”, as the 14th century Christian mystic lady Julian of Norwich put it. In His justice and mercy, He will bring all things to a good end. I trust and believe this.

This leper, even though he had been brought so low, even though he had lost everything, still believed that God was able to heal him. But was God willing to heal him? This leper knows Jesus' capability, but he is uncertain of the extent of his compassion. Are we like this, we accept God is able but is He willing to help us, is He willing to bless us? Listen

Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.

Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him. Oh the wonderful extent of the Love of God. The Son of God, touched him, embraced him. This leper that had been separated away from any physical human contact was first embraced by Jesus. Jesus is not fearful for His own life nor is He afraid of what others may think or say about Him. The compassion of the Lord is so great that He comes to us as we are.

He embraces us as we are. He embraces us when we are all alone, He embraces us when we not lovely or loveable, He embraces us when we are not good or clean, He embraces us when we are not whole but when we are broken.

Jesus did not have to touch this leper; He could have healed him at a distance. But our Lord chooses to come close to us. Jesus touches us, and then says to the cry of our hearts “I am willing, be cleansed”. We should understand this. God is able to help us and He is willing to help us, He is willing and able.

The love of God, that passes all understanding, is to give us a future and a hope. The love of God is to set things right in our lives, to put things back to how they should be. The love of God is to cleanse us, to make us whole. The love of God is to heal us, to restore us to life, life in all its fullness. Do you believe this?

If I may translate and paraphrase the Spanish 16th century Teresa of Avila, she put it this way

“With the presence of Jesus we lack nothing, so let nothing trouble you, let nothing dismay you, the things of this world are passing away, but God never changes, your patient endurance will win for you all things, for God alone is all you need.”

As Christians, this is our calling; we are to be people who have God in our hearts, we are to be are like Jesus, filled with compassion, and filled with trust in the power of God. Truly I say to you, if we live like this then the world will know that we are Christians, God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

Epilogue

Let me finish by looking at what happened to this man. Jesus tells him to go straightaway to see the priests and make an offering for his cleansing. He is to tell no one that it is Jesus who heals him. However, the man doesn’t obey the command of the Lord. He goes and starts to tell others about the fact that he is cured. He cannot control himself. Perhaps understandably he acts as an ambassador for Christ. So why did Jesus ask him to go to the priests first and to tell no-one?

We see Jesus’ compassion for this man is such that he would have him avoid needless further suffering. Jesus would always have us avoid needless suffering. There is suffering for the Gospel, there is also suffering that come our way that God uses to make us wise, to deepen our faith and understanding, but there is also needless suffering that comes from disobedience.

For it was only at Jerusalem this leper could be pronounced clean of leprosy. And it is only there that he could bring the Levitical offering of birds, lambs, grain offerings etc. You can see Leviticus chapter 14 for the details. It was only the Levitical priests who could pronounce that he was clean from leprosy. This pronouncement would be the final acceptance that he was able to be reintegrated into society. The final stigma of leprosy would be removed.

However, that former leper did not listen to Jesus. Jesus always knows what is best. This former leper talked about what had happened to him and who performed the miracle. Now the priests in Jerusalem were opposed to Jesus and would not want to confirm any of his miracles. In fact later on they sought to kill Him. So by talking this former leper may have caused himself a whole lot of trouble. He would find it very difficult to be pronounced clean by the authorities now they knew Jesus was involved.

You see God knows best, we must trust him. There is a time to talk and a time to refrain from talking. All good things have their right season.

In conclusion, what have we seen from this passage?

• We should listen to God for He knows best
• Let us come to Jesus and ask for his help.
• God is able to help us even in our darkest hour
• God is willing to help us, out of his compassion, because of his great love for us.

Amen