a drop of water

Scandalous Grace

A Message from Matthew 20

Jamie Wilson – Coast Vineyard – March 29, 2009

Lost in a Religious Mindset

• Anger and resentment are symptoms of the religious mindset.
• Obedience to God seems empty when we’re stuck in a religious mindset.
• The insecurity of a religious mindset drives us to feel superior towards others.

A Kingdom Full of Grace

• The desperate receive special grace in God’s kingdom.
• Our reward comes out of the Father’s heart.
• We all have the potential to be offended by God’s grace.

Seeing Life through Eyes of the Kingdom

• Pay attention to the overlooked.
• Expect God’s generosity, even when it seems too late.
• Celebrate grace wherever we find it.

A few reactions, thoughts and conclusions:

Title - It almost seems scandalous, to describe grace as scandalous.  Scandalous makes me think of disgrace, moral depravity, shame and those are words that I would not typically associate with grace.  However, scandalous can also describe the shock, the ridiculousness and the undeserving characteristics of God’s grace.

Section 1 – What does it mean to have a religious mindset?  I guess it means to have a mindset that does not consider God’s grace.  Instead of focusing on what God is doing, the focus is on what we are doing.  In the first point, with the focus on ourselves and what we’ve accomplished, we gain a sense of entitlement that grows into anger and resentment at someone who, by our discernment, has accomplished less, yet receives more.    In the second point, our focus is on proving the worth of our own life, instead of an expression and response of love to God who first loved us.  And in the third point, our focus is on our position in relation to others, providing us with grounds to elevate ourselves above others.

Section 2 - Jamie pointed out that the day workers in the story were still waiting for work at 5pm.  They were desperate since most workers would probably head home earlier and give up on work for the day.  It is beautiful to consider that the source of grace, the amount of grace is rooted in the father’s heart.  It was also a good mental check to realize that we can be offended by God’s grace; when someone who seemingly needs the grace more than me, gets the same amount that I do, seemingly underservingly.

Section 3 - These are such world changing visions for how life could be lived daily.  Being sensitive to the people who are overlooked for whatever reason — class, status, belief, gender, education, race, ethnicity, theological camp, etc; expectantly depending on God’s generosity to meet the needs around us even when we’ve seen God rejected and rejected his grace ourselves; to actively looking for God’s grace wherever we see it in order to celebrate it without the cycnicism, anger and resentment that cripples the life infusing power in God’s grace — it is visions like these that I want my life to be built on.

Extravagant Faith (A Message from Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23)

March 8th, 2000 – Coast Vineyard - Jamie Wilson

A Spiritual Check-Up: Which kind of soil are you?

• The dry path question: Am I closed to, open to, or learning to follow the messaage of Jesus?
• The rocky field question: Am I willing to sacrifice to see more of God’s kingdom?
• The thorny soil question: Is there a fear or desire in my life choking God’s work?
• The good soil question: How much multiplication do I want?

Living for Maximum Return

• Our job description is to sow the message of the kingdom.
• Most of the seed won’t bear fruit.
• We get the highest yield when we sow everywhere (the sower does not know where the wind, weeds, rocks and thorns are…)
• It takes a long time to see real results.
• There is plenty of supply.  There is much room for extravagance in sowing.

The question that I am left with is this: how do we sow, what does it look like?

Maybe that has an obvious answer, and I’m just missing it.  I think that sowing looks different for everyone and must be integrated with your personality, your occupation, your culture, and your calling.  For me it seems like a lot of sowing would be sharing / painting the vision of the Kingdom of God for other people to see.  This leaves a huge blank canvas for each of us to creatively color in, because each of us experiences the Kingdom of God uniquely within our contexts.  I invite you to comment on how you sow the vision of the Kingdom of God in your work place, in your family, with your friends…

March 1, 2009 – Coast Vineyard – Michelle Wilson

The Kingdom of God is Now.

• The Kingdom of God has already come. – “the kingdom God is upon you”
• The Kingdom of God has yet to come in full. – We live in a tension where we hope and take part in the realization of the kingdom.
• The Kingdom of God is coming right now. – We are in the middle of the greatest event ever happening.

The Kingdom of God is New.
To enter into it, we need to:

• Take off what we think we know.
• Put on what God is doing now.

The Kingdom of God cannot be contained by our old selves.
To become carriers of it, we must:

• Ask to be made new.
• Ask for the kingdom to come within us.
• Expect turbulence (don’t confuse this with the actual presence of God).
• Expect to be used by God (bring healing and freedom).

For me, this message challenged me to consider tangible ways on how to bring the Kingdom of God into the lives and places that I come in contact with.  Three questions helped me visualize this idea.

1. Write down names of people or places that I want to see the Kingdom of God come into.  Draw a box around those words.
2. Write down truths, promises, experiences of the Kingdom of God that you have heard of or believe outside the box.
3. Connect the words that are outside the box with words that are inside the box as you see fit.  On those lines write ideas and actions about how to make them a reality.

This illustration can continue to grow as we learn and experience more of the Kingdom of God and how it works.  If I keep my drawing in my head it helps me be more consciously prayerful throughout the day.

Here is a reproduction of the sermon handout from Coast Vineyard, on Sunday, February 22, 2009.  Pastor Jamie gave the first message in a series focused on the Kingdom of God.   

This was the last message in the annual Tough Questions series at Coast Vineyard this past Sunday. Pastor Michelle gave the message and here are the sermon notes:

Bible often uses the metaphor of blindness when referring to sin; when you can’t see, you are a hazard to yourself and those around you.

When should Christians Take a hard stand against sin? (Luke 6:39-42)
1. First and foremost, when we find it in our own lives. (We can not help anyone without dealing with ourselves first)
2. Second and only second, when we find it in the church. (Must be saturated with humility, compassion and patience. – Gal 6:1) The message is not to never look at others and only at yourself, but instead to look at yourself very hard so that you can be available and able to help others around you. It is a responsibility to each other, for us to get ourselves in shape.

Is that It? What About Everyone Else? (Matt 5:15-16)
Our good works and not our rebukes are our witness to the world.

What About Politics
Pitfall #1: Confusing our faith with politics.
Pitfall #2: Removing our faith from politics.
Solid Ground: Acting like Jesus in our politics.

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
We must be a light in our community and show the world God’s invitation into relationship through grace.
Separation of church and state was intended to keep government from enforcing a particular form of religion, and not prohibiting religions influence on the state.

I like the idea for us to take a hard stand against sin “when we find it in our own lives,” but I’d like to explicity add that it is important for us to take a hard stand against the sin in our own lives.  Its there, so its not a matter of when we see it, its a matter of when we decide to see it. I like the idea that its importance is rooted in supporting and helping those around you.  We aren’t taking a hard stand against sin in our own lives just to make ourselves ‘better’ or make those around us ‘better’,  instead we are taking a hard stand against sin to glorify God, together.  It is a communical process and commitment in relationship, to stand firm against sin together.

I think that it is helpful to break up this question further into a few ideas.  1. Whether we should and how we should take a hard stand against sin are two completely different questions.  2. Does it matter what type of sin it is and the scope that it has, i.e. personal or global (social injustice)  – though admittedly all sin is far reaching in its effect no matter how personal it may seem.  I believe we should always take a hard stand against sin, but how realizes into action is a lot more fuzzy.  I’m torn between the idea that we should wait for an opportunity to share our hard stance against a specific sin or if we should openly and readily share it, regardless of who is listening.  I’m torn because it seems like taking an uncompromising stance on sin is of so much more value when someone is seeking guidance, or encouragement to not compromise, or to hold fast to a prior commitment versus someone who doesn’t see, believe, or entertain the idea that they are in error.  But at the same time, what if that opportunity never comes?

How to take a hard stance against sin – this to me is the tough question.  Maybe the how lies somewhere in the gray area of how much it affects me?  Does the sin’s scope directly affect me and should that dictate how active I am in expressing my hard stance agains it?  Sin has the ability to make everything around it rotten, imperceptibly until its too late.  Soemthing I’m realizing is that sin often begets sin, i.e. the extreme example of someone killing someone starts the vicious cycle of killing.  So I believe that one key aspect of taking a hard stance against sin is making sure that you aren’t sinning in the process (more emphasis on examining yourself first).  Sometimes taking a hard stance against sin is passive, sometimes its active.  Jesus takes a hard stance against sin and in a world where sin is very present, each of us has the free will to choose to sin or not to sin.  So I guess that comes back to the closing point of the sermon, to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”