BROKEN CHORDS AND AMAZING GRACE

Setting in church a couple of Sunday's ago, and listening to the message of the day, some thoughts came flooding into me.  That doesn't happen to me too often so I wrote them down as a quickly as I could so I wouldn't forget them.  Now I'm trying to read my handwriting to decipher what I wrote.  More difficult to read than hieroglyphics, as I make my way through my scribbles, the memories are flooding my thoughts again, only this time they are flooding my heart, too.  They are miscellaneous but somehow form a pattern, a glorious pattern of grace.

1. Jesus descends the mountain.
2. My brokenness is not beyond the reach of grace.
3. Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.
4. The stench of death will give way to the fragrant aroma of Christ.
5. The old will go; the new will come.
6. The brokenness will mend.
7. God comes into the mess and stamps His life on the whole thing we call our lives.

The mountain Jesus descended was the mount of Transfiguration.  Rather than stay on the mountain He came back down into His world where broken, lonely, needy people lived.  In other words, He comes right down into the middle of what we call life.

Once there Jesus embraces us with a divine and holy hug, and His very presence draws out of us the belief that our brokenness, even ours, is not beyond the reach of His grace.

The thought about Chords vibrating once more come from one of Fanny Crosby's song, Rescue the Pershing, written in 1869

Down in the human heart, Crushed by the tempter,

Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;

Touched by a loving heart, Wakened by kindness,

Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.

                                   
I've often wondered exactly what might have been on Crosby's mind when she wrote those words.  I know they speak clearly into my life.  There was a time when my life was broken, damaged, and besieged by my own sins.  There was no wholeness, just brokenness.  Then the grace came.  The mending took place. The healing occurred.  The miracle broke forth.  Chords that were broken began to vibrate once more. The music was restored.  Amazing grace spoke into my life and restored what had been stolen.

The next phrase comes from the story of Lazarus who was raised from the dead by Jesus.  He had been dead four days when Jesus asked that the tomb be opened.  The shocked family and friends reminded Jesus that Lazarus had been dead long enough for the stench of death to permeate the tomb.  Was it really wise to move the stone away?  They obeyed, however, and Jesus spoke the word of life into the deceased body of Lazarus.  The stench of death gave way to the fragrant aroma of Christ, and Jesus ordered that the grave cloths be removed from Lazarus.  A living man no longer needs the trappings of death.  The new aroma is the fragrant aroma of Jesus the Christ—the aroma of life and victory and grace and love and power and victory and compassion. 

The last three phrases speak for themselves.  When the fragrant aroma of Jesus dominates stories the old goes, and the new comes.  People experience first hand that brokenness does, in fact, mend, when that brokenness is placed into the hands Jesus the Christ.  I've seen it, and so have you, that moment when God comes into the mess and stamps His life on the whole thing we call our lives. 

The miracle of Jesus is so powerful that those who encounter Him tend to reorder their lives after Him and the grace He has lavished on them. In the chaos and mess of things, a glorious pattern of grace begins to take shape.  The stench off death no longer permeates.   The glorious and transforming fragrance of Christ fills the air. Graves cloths are no longer called for.  The signs of new beginnings emerge on the horizon. 

We become overwhelmed "that God should love a sinner such as I" ("Such Love," by C Bishop and Robert Harkness, 1929) and come into the mess, and stamp His life on the whole thing we call our lives.  What do we do with such a love?  Maybe Augustine speaks for us all when he prayed,

You called, you shouted, you broke through my deafness,

you flared, blazed, and banished my blindness,

you lavished your fragrance, and I gasped.

"I gasped."  Maybe this is the best spontaneous, unrehearsed, extemporaneous response available for one who expected judgment and, who, instead, found themselves caught up in God's amazing, poured out, and lavished grace.

In eighteen century England, Charles Wesley "gasped," and then wrote, 

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

ECHOES OF A RESURRECTION

In the book, The Gospel for the Person Who Has Everything, (Judson Press: Valley Forge, Pa, 1978) William Willimon speaks of people who say, "Well, I'm happy, contented, well fed, reasonably decent; and, after all, isn't that what religion is all about?"  To this Willimon says,

No, that isn't 'what religion is all about. In fact, it's just the opposite.  Many of the strong share with the weak the erroneous notion that self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and self-sufficiency are the only goals of religion.  For some pagan religions, such self-centeredness is the goal.  For Christianity, it is not.  Our Lord tells us that if we want to find ourselves, we must lose ourselves in something greater than ourselves.  In giving ourselves to others, we receive back the true selves that we were created to be (p. 56).

Willimon has hit on a sensitive cord for me.  All around me are people for whom life seems to be working so well.  They are healthy.  They are wealthy.  They have influence.  They are gifted.  They are skilled.  They are talented.  Everything seems to be working out fine for them, and their success seems to erode for them a sense of spiritual need.  How does the church communicate to people who seem to have it all, that they do, indeed, need God?

I suspect the answer rests somewhere in the mist, yet, fact, that anyone's life can changed in a heartbeat.  Even the wealthy die.  Even the healthy, assuming they reach old age, die.  None of us get out of this world alive.  Wealth won't save you in the end. Health won't save you in the end.  Possessions won't save you in the end.  Education, skill, talent, savvy are great for the journey, but they won't save you in the end.

There is another issue to be taken into consideration, though.  It is the fact that regardless of race, creed, color, status, power, ethnicity, creed (or anything else we can think of) everybody who has ever lived has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  In light of this Jesus said to His eleven remaining disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved…" (Mark 16:15-16, NASB).  One of the people who did come to believe was a man of great authority and standing in the Jewish faith, Saul of Tarsus, who wrote under his new name, Paul, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16, NASB).

In the affluent culture of the USA, with money, healthcare, and abundance of food, one can get lost in an illusion that all is well.  Yet, everyday the headlines tell us that all is not well.  Life and death are going on all around us, twenty-four hours of every day.  In America, outside America, on every continent, in every nation, and every town, everyday our brains, and sometimes, our hearts, are inundated by the fact that death is no respecter of persons.   

How, then, should we live our lives?  With the speed of light we are all rushing toward the day of our death, but do we need to rush forward inoculated against the upcoming inevitable?  Are we so unaware of reality that we actually act as if we have forever on the earth?  Are we so insensitive that we define our value on the basis of what we do or what we have?  

I am told that the American actor, John Barrymore (1882-1942), once said, "Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him."  The British author, William Somerset Maugham died in 1965. At the time of his death he said, "Dying is a very dull and dreary affair.  And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it."  Henry Ward Beecher died on March 8, 1887.  He was a clergyman, social reformer, and a speaker known for his support of the abolition of slavery.  At the time of his death Beecher said, 
"Now comes the mystery."  Joke about it, laugh it off, or take it seriously, we are all moving toward the day of our death.

The New Testament says, "people are destined to die once" (Hebrews 9:27).  This is at once both sobering and electrifying.  To know that we don't have forever in this world should help us to make the best go at life we can make.  The fact that we shall at some appointed time make our exit should lead us to handle what is given us with the deepest of respect and humility.  Stewardship of life even comes to mind when one realizes that our days are numbered and that we will indeed pass away, leaving, whatever we leave, to the enjoyment of others. 

If we are blessed with the things of life so that we can share good things with others, may the grace of God lead us to be great givers.  If life is a struggle for us, and we find ourselves just getting by, may the grace of God lead us to be great givers?  There is a wonderful event described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5.  He explains it this way: 

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

The "severe trial" to which Paul referred was a famine that struck the land of Palestine, and during this challenging time many people entered into a great a depression. The famine was the result of a drought that had affected the Christians who lived in Jerusalem. When word of the drought and famine came to Paul, he began an effort to raise money in the Gentile churches for their Jewish brothers and sisters in the city that gave birth to the Church.  When he mentioned this great need to the churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, they responded with great generosity, even though they, themselves, weren't wealthy.

As Paul shared the story with the Corinthians he said of the people who gave that "they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability." (2 Corinthians 8:3).  Some have used this story to speak of how followers of Jesus ought to generous in the core of their life.  It is not equal giving but equal sacrifice that matters in the Body of Christ; and, it's not just about financial resources, either.  It is about an attitude in life where one actually believes "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35, NASB).

If we are the recipient or the giver, all that we are and all that we might have should be embraced by the sacrificial self-giving of Jesus Christ.  God help us to take what we have and use it to His glory and honor.    

What an impact on the world it would be if gifted, talented, brilliant, wealthy, educated people could recognize their deep need of God, and live out the meaning of faith in Christ in their worlds.  That responsibility falls to all of us who follow Jesus but not all of us have the same influence.  Together, however, wherever the Church might be, the world would be dramatically impacted for the kingdom of God, should each of us, regardless of our position in life, take up our cross and follow Jesus.  If that happened the world-changing event of Acts chapter two would be re-enacted today, and one more time onlookers would have to confess, "These men who have upset the world have come here also… (Acts 17:6, NASB).

The world is being upset by a whole lot of folks these days.  What a marvelous turn of events it might be if the kingdom of God trumped them all, and a resurrected Lord would flood the world with His amazing grace, His transforming love, and His compassionate heart.  It is hard to comprehend, I know; but one can dream and visualize and hope and pray.  After all, there is a resurrection with which we must contend.