Grace Upon Grace - Prepare and Share Like Peter
Good morning, men.
We had a full week here in LYH looking after our four grandsons while their sister was born. Man, what a joy to see them meet Emma Grace for the first time, so much love for her. And for us to meet her! She arrived on her mother Meghan Grace’s birthday. Grace upon grace. Truly. We’re still praying hard for our daughter-in-law Rachel and little Isaac, 31 weeks now and coming soon. Please join us in praying for them.
I’ve been really enjoying Church history the last few years, the early Church, the apostles and their teaching, the sacraments as God’s own strong medicine for men who want to actually grow. Some of you who’ve read this blog nearly three years and close to 500 posts might wonder if the old Saskatchewan farm kid has gone soft. Maybe a bit more soft-hearted (or soft-bellied), but no, I haven’t. The best yields require tilled ground. God works us over in just His way to produce a great harvest.
The Saddleback-style saga has thankfully run its course: fog machines, Christian comedians, long solos, tears on cue, the same jokes three services in a row. It entertains for an hour and leaves a man the same Monday morning. Too many today are busy building their own empires, acting like little popes while using the name of God to fill their own accounts. But the living God doesn’t deign to entertain.
Yet, He takes great pleasure in ordinary men - the irregular life of an ordinary fellow who is simply building alongside Jesus. That is where He does real encounters.
Scripture is full of mystical encounters with God. Christianity is both a Dominican exercise and a Franciscan one; it ties logic and faith, reason and trust together. That’s why we read about Moses at the bush that would not burn up (Exodus 3), Peter’s vision of the sheet full of animals ending the old ceremonial laws (Acts 10:9-16), Paul caught up to the third heaven where words fail (2 Corinthians 12:2-4), Cornelius the Roman officer and the angel (Acts 10:1-8). These aren’t emotional highs or contrived shows. They are true encounters with the living God.
The early Church didn’t treat the sacraments like optional extras for the overly religious. They were the means God uses to turn the heart, take root in a man’s life, and make real growth happen. Without the sacraments we stay shallow, and our old disordered desires, the pull toward self and sin, keep winning the same tired battles. With God’s sacraments, grace does what grace does: it actually changes a man from the inside out. Make disciples. That is the charge.
Ezra knew the only way that works. For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, to do what is right, and to teach God's way in Israel (Ezra 7:10). Study. Obey. Teach.
So is it faith or works or both? Well, one without the others is useless. Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? (James 2:20). Like a cloud that brings no rain.
We need reverence again, not the showy kind God hates, but the real kind. Wear the cross. Genuflect before Christ as you enter the pew. God deserves it, nay, demands it. Too many of us bow to the world and strut our own achievements. That’s upside down (James 4:6-10).
I’m cautious as I move toward the Catholic Church, half excited, if you will. I want to honor Christ’s call to unity (John 17), and that is why I am making a move. Yet I also know that every person who loves Jesus and believes in Him is a brother and sister in Christ. I want no part in looking down at other believers as somehow inferior. If you are a Christian, you are part of God’s family. One baptism, one faith (Ephesians 4).
But the more I see and know of God's word handed down, Scripture and Tradition and sacraments that actually deliver grace, I can’t pretend it’s all the same. I don’t see everything yet, but I’m not interested in fighting what God has shown me. I choose to be devoted to the apostles' teaching and to trust Jesus in His call to unity. I want to grow, and I want to help other men grow into the disciples Jesus actually called us to be.
Look again at Cornelius, the Roman officer of the Italian Regiment, who led his whole household in righteous living. He prayed regularly and gave generously to the poor. God noticed. An angel came. At the same time, God was preparing Peter with the same vision three times over. When they met, Peter didn’t pretend that God hadn’t shown him what He clearly had, as inconvenient as that was to his Jewishness. To the dismay of many, Pentecost was not the start of a new private Jewish club. Peter preached what God required, declaring that God shows no favoritism and accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right (Acts 10:34-35).
God shows no favoritism. That ought to stop us in our tracks. Every man who fears Him and does right is accepted. Belief in Christ. Salvation via God’s grace. Peter knew the voice of the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:12). And he faithfully obeyed and preached the Gospel. Who was he to stand in God’s way? (Acts 11:17) Who are we?
Barnabas saw the Gentiles turning and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with resolute hearts (Acts 11:23). I know true encouragers, and I am so thankful for them.
Lord Jesus, thank You for grace upon grace, for new grandbabies and for the ancient words of the one true faith, the Nicene Creed and the Word of God ever true. Give us eyes to see the amazing revival taking place, hearts soft enough to receive the Gospel, and spines strong enough to resist the devil. Amen.
Comments