Monthly Archives: January 2018

"I came not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them!" Matthew 5:17

Barney Fife was leaving the church after a Sunday morning service. Both Aunt Bee and Andy complimented the preacher on the message about the need to slow down and not rush through life. "It was wonderful!" "It hit the nail on the head!" Barney, who had been snoozing through it offered, "Yes, that's one subject you just can't talk enough about…SIN."

So in the spirit of Barney Fife, let's talk about sin this week. But I don't want this to be a long complaint about all the evils of the world. I don't want to drone on, albeit in type, about the moral decay of our society or take on the latest grotesque example of some sin that reels vulgarly down the middle of the street.

Instead I want to talk about the goodness of sin.

Don't get me wrong, sin is an awful thing. The word seems obsolete and so very out of step with our lax standards today. The only sin the general society seems willing to acknowledge is when someone suggests that something is a sin.

I risk droning here, but, honestly, it appears that our squeamish culture loves to point out the failings of anyone on the other side of any divide. Especially when the apparent failure comes from a minister or one who claims to be a Christian then the calls of "Hypocrite!!!" ring out. A sinner is met with mocking and ridicule from the very people who object to the word in the first place.

What's especially troubling for me, however, is the implication that because someone has failed to meet the standard then the standard is useless and should be discarded. It's the equivalent taking down the net in tennis because it obstructs the flight of a low-flying ball.

I believe that the failure to meet the standard God establishes points out the need for the standard. Instead of getting rid of the notion of sin, why not embrace it? It's really no help at all to redefine, ignore, or rationalize it. Sure it's uncomfortable and risks making us feel badly. My sin makes me feel badly! But how much more badly do I feel if I continue down a path that leads to destruction?

So the first "goodness" of sin, is that it reminds us of the need for godly standards, the Ten Commandments, all the "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots." Every grace-focused Christian needs to regularly recall that Jesus pointedly said, "I came not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them." And fulfilling them certainly does not mean getting rid of them.

I believe it was Chesterton who wrote, "Good art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." I'm going to trust that God knows where to draw the lines, and my task is learning to live within those boundaries.

And that leads us to the second "goodness of sin." It does point out where I need to change. When I'm confronted with clear evidence that I'm living "outside the lines" I have a choice. I can argue with the line by either redrawing it or erasing it altogether. Or I can shape my behavior to be in conformity with the line.

In our hyper-individualistic age the word "conformity" is anathema. We're so in love with the notion of unbridled self. It is Invictus on steroids. "I am the captain of my own soul!" even if I'm steering the ship over a waterfall.

What I've just described is the very "self" that Jesus told us to deny. The chief paradox of the gospel is that by clinging to self we lose ourselves, and that by denying self and conforming to our Creator we actually find freedom.

A common feature of "quest" stories is that the protagonist, Frodo or Dorothy for example, must not leave the path. Bad things await, and you'll never reach your destination if you stray. When I stray from the path, I inevitably get a sting of pain, a foreshadowing of the further destruction that awaits me if I continue off the path. The sting should guide me back to the way that leads to life and peace.

The Bible is clear and unified in the fact that sin is always in us. In Genesis God warned Cain that it "crouches at the door." Paul wrote extensively about the flesh, which is a very unfortunate translation, but means the sinful nature, or the "bent" to sin that we struggle with.

We all tend to regard our sin as less serious and smaller than it actually is, but in a moment of clarity and honesty we must recognize that much of the soul-pain in our lives is simply the result of sin. And pain can be a great teacher that shows us where we can change to escape the pain.

So I suppose this GraceWave is a call to honesty. Simple, brutal honesty. Sin is a real, daily struggle that wise people have been warning us about for thousands of years. Human nature in the 21^st century has not changed.

But I must end on a note of grace. The awareness of sin might awaken a renewed commitment to eradicate it. That's a good thing IF the response is cloaked in grace and joy. Too often a Christian responds to sin by trying even harder to be a good Christian, and I mean "good" in the very worst sense of the word.

The response might be to read the Bible more, go to church more, pray more, etc. These are all good things, but if that defines being a better Christian, notice where the focus is. Self. My Self is trying harder. It all comes down to me. And that is not a good thing.

The awareness of sin brings grace and joy when we allow it to refocus us on the presence of Christ in us. I am to be conformed to Christ not by outward actions, but by the inner relationship. Becoming a good Christian is never a matter of the outward working inward. It's the inward working outward.

You are in Christ, and Christ is in you. That is the immutable fact of being a Christian. Yes, sin is real, but it can be used for our good if it drives us back to the inner Christ. Before Him we find no condemnation.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 28, 2018

"Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if someone sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Matthew 18:21

You've just found out that you're going to die in the next few minutes. What goes through your mind in those moments? Denial? Terror? Bargaining?

Matthew O'Reilly knows. O'Reilly is an emergency medical technician. He's the guy that shows up at the wrecks and heart attacks and other places where lives hang in the balance.

He says it's not unusual for people in those crisis situations to ask the obvious question, "Am I going to die?" For the first part of his long career he always told them no. He wanted to spare them from what he believed was the chief fear of all people, the fear of dying. He wanted them to have hope, even though he knew it was false hope and, he suspected, some of his patients knew that too.

One event five years ago changed his approach. He was called to a grisly motorcycle accident. The rider was conscious and aware that his injuries were traumatic. He looked at O'Reilly and asked THE QUESTION. At that moment, O'Reilly decided to change his approach. He told the truth. To his surprise the patient responded not with panic, but with acceptance. He decided from that moment that he would not give false comfort to the dying with his lies.

The story is compelling on many levels, and if you want to watch the 6 minute video of his story you can google his name and TED. It's worth a watch.

What I really found compelling is what he's discovered in numerous similar instances since then. The number one concern people have at the end of life is forgiveness. And it's not forgiveness from God. They either hope a family member forgives them for some transgression, or they want an estranged family member to know that they forgive them.

Many times, forgiveness is a problem. It's really never easy, but it's amazing to me how much we want forgiveness and how reluctant we are to give it. We struggle with forgiveness.

We excel at holding on to the very things that make us sick, and we'd rather die than change. An unforgiving spirit is is one of the things we hold on to most tightly and the worst soul-acid there is.

The chief struggle with forgiveness in my experience and observation is this: we won't consider offering forgiveness until we have extracted a full confession and a guilty plea. We want the other person to know how much they've harmed us, and we want them to know that we're granting forgiveness to them (if we choose to, and that certainly is not guaranteed).

So many times, though, we're faced with a situation in which our offender is not in any way open to discussing their transgression. In fact, they may not even be alive any longer. So we have no chance for a prosecution, verdict, punishment, and the possibility of our grand forgiveness. We're just stuck with the hurt.

What do we do?

First, stop equating your peace with their confession. In so many cases, it's simply not going to happen. Your vision of reconciliation is a mirage. Thoughts of one day having your grievance ratified is an illusion. It's time to simply accept that. You won't move on as long as you make their confession a prerequisite for your peace.

Second, and this is very hard, you must accept your role in the continuing pain you're experiencing. This does not mean necessarily that you had a role in the original offense. Though frankly, if I think honestly about the series of events that led to the hard feelings I can usually pinpoint something I did to contribute to it. I need to be honest about that or my self-deception with continue to imprison me.

But let's say you were a 100% victim and the perpetrator is either gone or shows no interest in reconciliation. What could possibly be your role in your ongoing pain?

Here it is: you're expecting another human being to change to make you happy. You. Cannot. Do. That. It's nurturing a resentment, and that's keeping you sick. And I assure you that poison will come out in some very harmful ways to you and other people around you that had nothing to do with the crime. But you want that recalcitrant offender to fess up and change so you'll feel better!

Even God doesn't change people to make you happy. Your prayers to that end are, frankly, a waste of time. Your efforts to convince someone else of their role in your grievance, even if you're 100% right, is a waste of time. If you're trying to change another person, you're looking in the wrong direction.

Most of my readers know the story of Victor Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist who survived the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. After the war, he urged forgiveness. Now no one in history has a more justified grievance than the Jewish people for what was perpetrated against them during WW II, and Frankl received a great deal of opposition to his advice. He responded "if we don't forgive them, they will continue to kill us."

Take an honest look at the resentments you're holding on to and you'll find that they're actually holding on to you. By the throat and by the heart.

Give grace another chance. One of the Greek words for forgiveness in the New Testament is built on the root word for grace. We always can use more grace. Giving it or receiving it. Especially from those closest to us.

Hopefully, you're in good standing with all of your close family, but if you are then you're likely in the minority. Don't wait for a life-threatening event to bring you to the point of forgiveness. Ask for it if needed. Offer it if asked. But please stop expecting someone to change and trying to effect that change either through prayer or some emotional manipulation. Just accept.

And try this prayer that I recently read. Remembering that we're not here to change another person, and that it's fruitless to try, simply pray this way:

God, bless them. Change me. Amen

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 21, 2018

"From the fullness of Christ we have all received, grace upon grace." John 1:16

This verse is the foundation for GraceWaves. It summarizes so beautifully some of the themes of grace that are central to understanding and relating to God. Jesus came to show us God's grace. As we are still near the beginning of the New Year, I thought this would be a good opportunity to review some of the basics of grace.

First, grace is action. It's the removal of sin (one of the Greek words for forgiveness is built on the root word for grace). It's the binding up of wounds and caring for the man waylaid on the road to Jericho. It's paying the last hired the same as the first hired. It's the cross. Grace is always action.

This distinction differentiates grace from love. Love is more of the force, the divine energy that catalyzes the action of grace. God IS love, and because God is love, God does things for us. In fact, He's constantly trying to improve our lives.

The same is true in any healthy relationship. Leslie loves me, of course, but I see her love for me by all the things she does to make me feel her love. Grace makes love concrete and makes people around the agent of grace better.

That God is eternally, and moment by moment, trying to impart His life-changing grace to us is a point repeatedly emphasized throughout the Bible. So as you begin this New Year, simply accept the truth that God is on your side. That cannot be changed. God is trying every moment to bring something good into your life.

This active goodness of God is what makes grace so puzzling and confounding. Most people don't trust grace and ALL people struggle with the concept regularly. At some level we're suspicious of grace, feeling that if grace applies then we'll all misbehave terribly.

This misconception brings us to the contrast between grace and law. Law does constrain behavior to an extent, for breaking the law sounds life a fundamentally fearful thing. That's why some religious types can be so very good in the very worst sense of the word. A man who is thoroughly sold on law alone inevitably becomes judgmental and condemning for a focus on the law always ends up being a focus on self, and the self's ability, strength, and commitment to fulfill the law. It's a classic ego move.

Grace, by contrast, always focuses on God. Further, only grace, ONLY GRACE, truly changes a person, for it works from the inside out. Law attempts its work from the outside in and always fails. It can create the appearance of holiness, but a law-oriented person retains a fundamental fear that he will break the law and thus offend God. In the love/grace construct "perfect love casts out fear." Grace creates security.

So be secure this New Year. Whatever you fear, you can trust to God. Anything.

I want to close with an idea that has has taken more form in my mind over the decades. It seems I have a bent to grace, if you will. As far back as I can remember grace has resonated with me, and even "made sense." Additionally, I'm often puzzled by the number of Christians that struggle with the concept. I've seen a lot of fear in Christians, the antithesis of grace.

I've come to the conclusion that grace was modeled for me from an early age. My adoption, I think, set a tone. I was loved and chosen, and told so over and over. I remember my parents as smiling people. I felt secure, from before my first consciousness.

I think also that the ministers in my life modeled grace, chiefly Bro. J. K. Pierce of my home church, and a man I still consider the pastor in my life. And in seminary I heard grace taught, and my studies of Greek confirmed my experience.

What I had modeled for me in my life, many people have missing from theirs. We certainly get our fist theology from our parents and early childhood experiences continue to shape our views of God. Frankly, I've worked with so many folks with fractured pasts that it doesn't surprise me they struggle so much to find intimacy with God.

In fact, according to Erikson the chief developmental goal entering into adulthood is intimacy as opposed to isolation. Interestingly, the basic virtue-goal in this stage is love. Multiple or normalized trauma early in life challenges the ability to be loving (i.e. showing grace). A child/teen who has been denied grace-models often grows into an adult focused on rules and either becomes insufferably good (again, in the worst sense of the word) or rebellious out of sheer frustration at failing to successfully follow all the rules.

Of course, it's never too late to find good models. It starts, I think with a decision to look for them. Remember, God is constantly washing grace over us. If we stop focusing on the shouting world and the screaming ego then we find the whispered grace of God. Just make a decision to start looking. And for the rest of us, make the decision to keep looking.

So allow me to suggest a prayer for the New Year that draws on these ideas:

God, I commit my past to Your mercy, I commit my future to Your Providence, and I commit myself to looking daily for Your grace. Amen

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

January 14, 2018

A trip to Israel changes your life. After you walk the land where Jesus was born as we all are, worked as a carpenter, taught as a rabbi, died as a Savior, and returned as the King you will never read the Bible the same way. As the stories come alive, your faith also will come alive in new and unexpected ways.

We still have places available on the trip. We need final commitments and deposits by February 8.

To learn more visit www.jcbs.org and click Find A Trip in the upper left. Then enter the following: Tour: JC18; Date: 052618; Code: X (to the right of date); Group Leader ID Number: 41969.

Join me as walk the land and feel, in a very special and life-changing way, a deeper connection to our Lord.

Grace and peace

Dr. Terry Ellis