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“PASS IT FORWARD”

There’s a memorable line to be found in Jesus’ instructions to His twelve disciples just as He’s sending them out on their Matthew 10 mission trips.

“Heal the sick,” He tells them. “Raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.”

Now, I can guarantee you one thing. If a TV evangelist here in 2004 – and I’ll pick on myself here . . . radio too – had those kinds of powers, 99 times out of a hundred, the guy would be a millionaire. Am I right? If you were a genuine, no-faking-it faith healer, and could touch people and have them get well or even come out of their caskets at the mortuary, you could name your price. And I imagine the same thing was true in the time of Jesus. Back then it would have been denarii instead of dollars, but the temptation was just as real.

But what does Jesus say next? Apparently, Peter, James, and John weren’t allowed to take along VISA card swipe machines with them on these forays. Because the next six words are very plain:

“Freely you have received, freely give.”

I like how the Message paraphrase puts these instructions.

“You have been treated generously, so live generously.” Another paraphrase version adds: “Do this graciously and freely as though you’re giving gifts to people, because this power is also a gift to YOU.”

And you know, as we get right down here to the end of our series on God’s amazing grace, and quietly ponder the question: “How now shall I live?”, I think these six wonderful words from Christ our Savior should be remembered: “Freely ye have received, freely give.” Those of us who have experienced grace and God’s unlimited forgiveness in our lives face the moral imperative of not only forgiving others – as we already studied – but also extending the message and blessing of grace to everyone in our lives.

A film came out a few years ago that captured this idea right in its title: Pay It Forward. As I understand the story, a kid named Trevor is living a tough, latchkey life with his cocktail waitress mom in Vegas. But when his teacher, a Mr. Simonet, writes down on the blackboard at school: “Think of an idea that could change the world,” this is what Trevor decides. When you receive a kindness, pay it forward. Pass it along. Do unto others. In fact, pass it forward three times. One favor comes in; three go out. Soon the kindnesses will snowball like a Ponzi scheme in reverse. Trevor’s mom comes home to find a homeless man living in their garage: one down, two to go.

Now, how can we go about this in the spiritual realm? One way would be just as described in this Joel Haley Osmont film: extend kindness to a homeless person. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the destitute. Ask yourself every single day, “How has God’s grace abundantly blessed me?” Then go and “pay it forward.”

Of course, as grace especially relates to forgiveness, we can certainly do heaven’s will by “paying THAT forward,” as we’re taught, both in the Lord’s Prayer and also in the colorful Matthew 18 story about the ungrateful servant. Think with me how we carry around grudges with us, angry and resentful against family members or co-workers for things that might have happened to us long years ago. How we pay a price for clinging to those fondled hatreds! And Jesus gently says to us: “Lonnie, freely ye have received forgiveness; freely give the same.”

It’s probably true that when we fail to “pay it forward,” it’s likely that we simply don’t realize what a rare and valued gift God has given US. I mean, stop and think about what Calvary forgiveness really means to you right this very minute. An absolutely clean and eternally impeccable slate in God’s record book. A heavenly home. Life that never ends. How could you fail to appreciate it . . . unless you just didn’t stop and think about it?

In fact, Jesus Himself has an experience in Luke seven where a woman He had forgiven of her sins turns right around and decides to “pay it forward” right back to Jesus! She gets down and begins to anoint His feet with an expensive perfume. Ironically, the Pharisee who is hosting the party, a man named Simon, begins to grump to himself about it. “Jesus must not be a prophet, or He’d know what kind of woman this is.” And without making a public spectacle of this hypocritical man, Jesus gently says to him: “You know, Simon, I don’t think you really grasp how huge God’s blessings for YOU are. You feel like you’ve been forgiven ‘little,’ and that’s why your love is so little. This woman got forgiven for a whole bunch, and look how generously she’s now passing that love along.”

By the way, let me “pass forward” a great essay that’s just short of a hundred years old, from the archives of my own Adventist faith community. Written by E. G. White, one of the church’s founders, back on Christmas Eve, 1908, here’s what the writer has to say:

“As the plan of redemption begins and ends with a gift, so it is to be CARRIED FORWARD.” Interesting line, nearly a century old. Continuing: “The same spirit of sacrifice which purchased salvation for us, will dwell in the hearts of all who become partakers of the heavenly gift. Says the apostle Peter: ‘As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.’” That’s I Peter 4:10. Here’s a bit more: “In him who is fully in sympathy with Christ, there can be nothing selfish or exclusive. He who drinks of the living water will find that it is ‘in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ (John 4:14) The Spirit of Christ within him is like a spring welling up in the desert, flowing to refresh all, and making those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life.”

Just imagine, friend, what the Church would be like if every person who had received grace from heaven passed it along with as much generosity as we perceived in our own gift. What an amazing turnaround for the community of faith! You know, it’s interesting how “Alcoholics Anonymous” has thrived as a powerhouse, life-changing phenomenon in our world today. And out of the famous “Twelve Steps,” we notice that Step Two acknowledges our need for a “Power greater than ourselves.” Step Three has us turning to Him. Step Five has us admitting our need TO Him. Step Six is where we’re willing for God to remove our defects of character. Step Seven has us humbly ASKING Him for that. Step Eleven directs us to keep seeking Him for power and strength. And now, guess what Step Twelve is? If you’ve been through it, you already know. But it’s essentially those wonderful three words: PAY IT FORWARD.

“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, WE [TRY] TO CARRY THIS MESSAGE TO ALCOHOLICS, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

Here’s a quick story as we close. A Christian man named Frederik felt he had personally experienced the grace of God in his life when his wife, Marike, was miraculously healed of cancer as a direct result of prayer. How could he “pay forward” this gracious gift from heaven’s throne? He was a politician living in the awful agony of South Africa’s regime of apartheid; in fact, as the Minister of National Education under Prime Minister Pieter “Pik” Botha, he was a firm believer in segregated universities and schools. His National Party, where he was a rising star, was a staunch pillar of the apartheid system of government.

But when Frederik was elected head of his party in 1989, he stunned the nation when his very first speech “called for a nonracist South Africa.” He let Nelson Mandela out of prison, where he had languished for so many years. He undid the ban on Mandela’s African National Congress, and began to negotiate for a very different future for the country whites and blacks shared together. And as you probably know, Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk went on to share the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their selfless, heroic work to bring apartheid to an end. Even more, both men were pioneers in the spiritual process called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, where victims of apartheid “passed it forward” in granting forgiveness for sometimes unspeakable crimes against them and their families.

“We must show we all can forgive the horrors and mistakes of our country’s past,” De Klerk said later to a reporter. “The National Party . . . we have gone on our knees before God Almighty to pray for His forgiveness. I stand before you today . . . to admit that which was wrong . . . to continue to build bridges in our quest for reconciliation.”

And this visionary prime minister went on to personally demonstrate his willingness to pass along grace and forgiveness when he voluntarily stepped down from power in 1997 rather than put the nation through a continuing ordeal of moving haltingly into its new democratic future. Today his F. W. de Klerk Foundation continues to “pay it forward” as it works for peace around the world.

Today, March 18, 2004, also happens to be de Klerk’s 68th birthday. May this godly man have many, many more.