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TRUSTING GOD WHEN THINGS GO WRONG #3
When You Don't Owe Them Anything
A second grade boy was ecstatic when he secured a place representing his class in the school Spelling Bee Contest. But when the contest began, much to his disappointment and embarrassment, he was the first student to misspell a word and have to sit down.
When his parents tucked him into bed that night, they told him how proud they were of him. With tears in his eyes, he looked at them and said, "But how can you be proud of me when I was the first to go out?"
It's amazing, isn't it, that from the early stages of life we're conditioned to think that value and worth come primarily from performance. If we don't perform well, we don't have a right to be well thought of and acceptable. "How can you be proud of me when I was the first to go out?"
And because we set up life to be structured around this performance orientation, we end up demanding the same expectations from others in order to give them our approval. We develop the philosophy, "Only if you measure up will you get my acceptance and maybe even my help."
So what produces this kind of mentality and attitude? What facilitates this kind of belief and behavior? Today's story of Abraham gives us some insights into how both sides of this dynamic really work. It’s told in Genesis 13 and 14.
Chapter 13 opens with a problem. After coming back to the land of Canaan from Egypt, because Abram and Lot have so many possessions, flocks and herds, there isn't enough room in this part of the region to hold both camps.
So why would space be a problem now in this region when it wasn't before they went down to Egypt?
As the previous chapter reminds us, Abram is coming back from Egypt with all of the rewards given him by Pharaoh, none of which he deserves after what he did to Pharaoh. So the first place he goes as soon as he gets back to Canaan is the place between Bethel and Ai where he had previously made an altar to the LORD. And what does he do there? He calls on the name of the LORD – he worships. Why? Could it be Abram is reminding himself about his safe exit from Egypt, and the many new possessions he brings with him? He knows they have nothing to do with his own cleverness - after all, his own cleverness almost got him killed and his wife stolen.
No, at the altar Abram purposefully remembers God's grace to him – that’s what worship does. It was God who rescued him from his self-made predicament and who has blessed him with all these possessions.
So when his and Lot's herdsmen begin to quarrel and fight over grazing and watering spaces for their huge herds, Abram comes up with a plan.
Notice Abram's attitude here. In spite of the fact that all the land belongs to him from God's blessing and promise and he’s the senior member of the family, Abram gives Lot first choice of all the land. "Wherever you point your eyes, you can go there. It's yours. I'll take whatever's left. We just need to separate."
Notice Lot's attitude here. He doesn’t hesitate to take the first choice away from his uncle. Going for beauty and comfort, he pitches his tents in the lush metropolitan area of the Jordan Valley, very near the city of Sodom. Verse 10 describes this region as being as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Imagine - city living in the midst of a garden environment.
And now the plot thickens. Chapter 14 describes a huge battle that takes place between a coalition of four kings from the north and east and the five city kings of the Jordan Valley where Lot now lives. In the ensuing fight, the cities in the Jordan Valley are conquered and prisoners are taken, including Lot and his family.
A servant escapes and races to Abram with the terrible news: "The cities have been defeated and Lot your nephew has been taken hostage!" Now if you were Abram, how would you respond?
"Hey, Lot chose his bed, now he has to sleep in it! Maybe some time with the enemies will teach him a lesson to make better choices! Tough luck!"
But notice what Abram does. He immediately mobilizes his personal army and goes to rescue his nephew. And with the help of his neighbors, he pursues the captors, intercepts this evil coalition and ends up freeing all the hostages, including Lot and his family, along with all their possessions.
The question is, why in the world does Abram risk himself to save his ungrateful, self-centered, undeserving nephew? What motivates Abram to do something so radical at risk to his own life? Here is the key to the ability to move beyond the performance mentality. The one who has experienced God's undeserving grace experiences the imperative of grace: "As I have done to you, so do to others." The experience of grace and the imperative of grace go hand-in-hand.
Abram had deliberately placed himself on dangerous ground back in Egypt by making foolish decisions and choices, but God rescued him anyway. That experience of God's grace motivates Abram to treat his undeserving nephew (who also deliberately places himself on dangerous ground) the same way God has treated him.
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, emphasizes this progression of grace. In chapter two, Paul describes God's grace (vv. 4-7):
"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus." (New International Version)
Isn't that absolutely incredible? In the midst of our sins, our horribly inadequate performances, at a time when we least deserve it, God raises us up with Christ and seats us beside Him on His heavenly throne completely acceptable to Him. That's grace – giving when you don’t owe them anything!
And then, after describing this reality for 3 chapters, Paul comes to 5:1-2 with the natural progression: "Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (New International Version)
The experience of grace goes hand-in-hand with the imperative of grace. Grace calls forth grace. The greatest evidence that you and I have really experienced God's grace is that we are willing and actively giving grace to others, especially when they least deserve it.
The question from today's story is, do we intentionally put ourselves on the line to intervene with an act of grace even for those who have chosen to fail or sin? That's what living the Gospel is all about!
Are we willing to go out of our way, even at personal risk, to intentionally be gracious and merciful to those who least deserve it? Isn't that what Abram did? That's what real grace is: it's active, dynamic, it takes the initiative - and always with the least deserving! When you don't owe them - that's when grace is grace! Is that the lifestyle you and I live?
Back in March of 1986, Brennan Manning spent an afternoon with an Amish family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He tells about it in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel. The father of the family, a widower, 82 years old, and his four grown children raise piglets for a livelihood. The three younger children, 53, 47, and 45 years old, are all severely retarded.
When Manning arrived at noon, Elam, the 47-year-old son, about 4-feet tall, heavy-set, thick beard, was coming out of the barn some 50 yards away. He had never laid eyes on Brennan before, but when he saw him step out of the car, this little Mongoloid raced as fast as he could toward Manning. Two feet away, he flung himself at him, wrapped his arms around his neck, his legs around his waist, and kissed Brennan on the lips with fierce intensity for a full 30-seconds. Imagine that greeting!
Manning was temporarily stunned and quite self-conscious. But in a moment, as he put it, "Jesus set me free from propriety." He returned the kiss with the same enthusiasm. Then Elam jumped down, wrapped both his hands around Manning's arm and led him on a tour of the farm.
A half hour later, Elam sat next to Brennan at the lunch table. Midway through the meal, Brennan turned around to say something. Inadvertently, his right elbow slammed into Elam's rib cage. It was obviously a painful experience, but Elam didn't wince, he didn't groan. He simply wept like a 2-year-old child. And then his next move shocked Manning.
Elam came over to his chair, planted himself on his lap, and kissed him even harder on the lips. Then he kissed Manning's eyes, nose, forehead and cheeks. And there was Brennan, dazed, dumbstruck, weeping. Why? Here's how he puts it:
"At that moment, [I realized] Elam's love for me did not stem from any attractiveness or lovability of mine. It was not conditioned by any response on my part. Elam loved me whether I was kind or unkind, pleasant or nasty. His love arose from a source outside of himself and myself . . . .Through Elam Zook, I saw into the heart of Jesus Christ who loves us as we are and not as we should be, in the state of grace or disgrace, beyond caution, boundary, regret or breaking point."
Friends, God is calling you and me today to be instruments of His grace, not just to the deserving, but especially to the undeserving. He's calling us to take risks for others, not because they're worthy, but simply because they need. "As I have loved you," He says, "even so, love one another" especially when you don't owe them anything.
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