Epiphany 5

Epiphany 5 SIN: FORGIVEN, NOT EXCUSED! 2/1/07 and 2/4/07

Around 1526 B.C., God extended a call to Moses and Moses offered up a litany of excuses, concluding with this statement: “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (Exodus 4:13) In 740 B.C. God extends His call to Isaiah, to which Isaiah responds: “I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5) 120 years later, God extends His call to Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s excuse is that he’s too young for the job. (Jeremiah 1:6) Around 29 A.D. Jesus extends a call to Simon Peter to follow Him and become a “fisher of men.” Peter shouts in response, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” (Lk 5:8) But a few years later, as Paul describes God’s call upon his life, he writes: “I… do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Cor. 15:9) Considering these 5 major men of faith, the pattern seems inarguably clear…God extends His call, the one called cites numerous reasons for God to look elsewhere, and God persists. This pattern continues now, some 2000 years later…God extends His call to each one of us and we offer up our own lame 21^st century excuses why we cannot share in some ministry to the glory of God!

None of the five men cited from Scripture were capable of accomplishing their tasks alone and God never asked them, nor us, to fulfill His mission by ourselves. God promises that He will always be with His chosen and that, together, impossible missions are accomplished! We seem willing to trust God until we are called upon to do something we did not choose! Jesus said, “I have chosen you.” (Jn. 15:16)

This past Wednesday afternoon I participated with ½ dozen Grace folks in one of our newest ministries: The SonShine Club. We met for 1 hour in the Snowhill Elementary School gym w/our central Bible story the account of David facing Goliath. We sang songs, read scripture, shared in a skit, and 94% of the children memorized Judges 6:12/ “The Lord is helping you and you are a strong warrior.” As a quick aside, Libby Hammond, our SonShine Club coordinator is still seeking more volunteers! We sought to assure the children that, although they face “giant” challenges in life, they need never face them alone…God is with us! David believed that, by God, he would literally “cut” down this 9 foot Philistine giant! King Saul gave David a full suit of armor, David readily took it off and “ran quickly toward the battle line” (Judges 17:48) , saying to the waiting giant: “I come against you in the name of the Lord, Almighty.” (Judges 17:45)

We are not worthy, nor capable, but God alone is worthy and God’s grace is more than sufficient! From Paul, we have the familiar quote, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” (1 Cor. 15:10) We are not, as our young people say, “all that,” but God’s grace is all that we need, as God assured Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you!” Our lessons this week condemn our age-old approach to worship God easily, comfortably, on our own less-than-demanding, the “easier the better”, “I’ll give you 1 hour!” terms. People often enter the sanctuary of God, cast eyes upon the cross, and comfortably come to the Holy Supper with no more than a passing acknowledgement that we are in the very presence…here by the very invitation…of the Almighty God! You may be the exception to what I’ve said, but simply recall your attitude as you came into worship, comparing it with Isaiah’s attitude, as recorded in our OT lesson!

When we approach the real God, “seated on a throne, high and exalted,” (Is. 6: 1) we know we stand immediately guilty before Him. We know that we are condemned by His demands for justice and mercy and for an unswerving, uncompromising trust in Him…and, like Isaiah and Peter (Lk. 5:8) we have no excuse. If God judges us according to our thoughts, words, and deeds, (recently confessed) the verdict is “guilty.” Unless God forgives us, unless God covers our sins with the blood of Jesus, making it possible for us to have fellowship with Him, we quite literally don’t have a prayer! Life has meaning and death is emasculated only by the undying, immeasurable grace of God! When we know who God is, we know that His Church has a mission. The worship of God and fellowship with His people are means to an end. God is always on the move in the Bible, always working toward the goal of establishing His kingdom on earth, “as it is in heaven”. Christianity is a religious “movement,” not simply a “religion”. We are the living, not embalmed, forgiven, active, God-called “body of Christ”!

We may not serve as did Peter or Paul or Moses or Isaiah or Jeremiah or David, but God calls each of us by name, has work for us to do, provides abundant resources to get it done, and refuses to give up on us! When God says we “can” and we say we “can’t”, one of us is wrong. Who, do you think, this might be? When God calls, respond: “Here I am, Lord!” No excuses! Amen.