Sermon

Fathers Day 2002
Text: Romans 5:1-8 June 16, 2002

Teresa and I have been enjoying the devotional booklet entitled Christ in Our Home. It is available to you throughout the year and can be found as you exit the church. Each morning after breakfast we pause for a few minutes to read the assigned scripture lesson, the brief devotional reading and the prayer assigned for the day. The devotional reading for this last Wednesday, June 12 was written by noted author and lecturer Barbara DeGrote Sorensen who lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota and is married to Pastor David Sorensen.

Barbara writes:
“Karen gets it. She knows she hasn’t always been a “nice” person. Widowed young, she raised her three girls in an alcoholic stupor some days. It wasn’t what she had planned. She remembers herself before Jesus and after. It was the love that saved her.

Talk to anyone who has been pulled from their brokenness by God’s Grace and given undeserved favor and unconditional acceptance. While yet a sinner—cherished, claimed and named. It’s life changing. Those who are touched by grace in this way don’t forget it.

In some ways, Christians like Karen have an advantage over Christians who have grown up always knowing God’s love. They remember the before and the after. Some who endure their own self-imposed darkness for a long time are overwhelmed by hope pouring into their hearts, convincing them of their own worth.
We need to listen to their stories; hear about the before and after. We need to remember our own brokenness as we listen and give thanks to God that suffering and endurance produce character, hope and overflowing love. Just look at Karen.”

“It was the love that saved her.” Can the same be said about you? Has the love of God saved you from your own brokenness? Has that love provided you with a hope that keeps enduring whatever life brings to you? Has God’s love allowed you to forgive yourself and find a self-worth that you never thought you could have? 

St. Paul speaks in our lesson about a door that has been opened for us all by what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Whoever you are, however you have sinned, whatever your failings or mistakes or faults, you now have “access to grace.” The whole world has access to grace by faith in Jesus Christ. When I think about the problems that dominate the news I cannot help but think about the difference grace would make in each instance. Those in our society within the church and outside the church who prey on children could never do so if they were accessing God’s grace. Their lives would not be filled with the sickness of sin but with a love from God that would lead them to cherish every person, especially the most vulnerable, as God cherishes us all.

What about all the hatred and strife and terror we see in our world today? Until hearts are changed, I am a big believer in Homeland security and a war on terror, but in the meantime, we also need to concern ourselves with finding ways to help others all across the world access the grace that is ours in Jesus Christ. Many of them do not know there are alternatives to what they have chosen to do with their lives. Many only know hatred and vengeance and anger. No one who knows the love of God will ever be able to harm others with suicide bombings or dirty nuclear bombs or any other evil scheme. AT A TIME WHEN CHRISTAINS SEEM LESS WILLING THAN EVER BEFORE TO STAND UP AND SAY WE HAVE THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH IS JESUS CHRIST, THE NEED IS GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE FOR MISSIONARIES AND EVANGELISTS WHO WILL HAVE OUR FULL SUPPORT TO GO OUT INTO THE WORLD AND TELL ONE AND ALL WHAT IT MEANS TO ACCESS THE GRACE OF GOD. 

Closer to home, there is much that we can do. On this Father’s Day we are reminded that God intends for faith to rule in our hearts and our homes. From an early age, children need to learn from the adults in their lives what it means to trust in the love of God, what it means to access grace, what it means to live with a hope and endurance and strength and character that are gifts from God. 

From God’s point of view, fathers are to be the spiritual leaders in the home. They are to be examples of faith and see that no matter what it takes, their children grow up to know and love God. All this is to be accomplished in a time when fathers are competing with many cultural influences that strive to pull children away from God with unrelenting pressure. It is also no secret that many fathers raising children today have no meaningful relationship with God. So the message for fathers today is that grace is the way to go. Learn what it is and access it every day of your lives. You will need to rely on grace to keep you going when your own failings confront you and you will need to let your children know that there will always be more grace for them than they will ever need.

St. Paul then tells us that we are people who are joyful---we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. There are many things that can bring joy in this life, but no other joy can compare with the joy that is ours when we access the grace that is ours in Christ. What good will it do if we give our children everything their hearts desire and we never help them come to know the hope of sharing the glory of God? 

Barbara DeGrote Sorensen is right. There is a brokenness we all share—as children, as adults, as fathers and mothers and sons and daughters—as members of the human family. It is a brokenness we encounter every day—it is with us all of our lives. What can also be ours everyday is the grace to which we obtain access through Jesus Christ. Such grace makes all the difference. It keeps putting us back together and leading us in love. It carries us beyond the guilt to the hope of glory.

At the end of her devotional, Barbara listed a prayer concern for those in Alcoholics Anonymous. I would add to that a prayer concern for all who have never found the grace that is freely available to us all and the peace that is ours in Christ. AMEN

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