080119 "Obstacles to Grace" by Pastor Ron Smith

The most unpopular subject in the universe is sin. Gary was 9 and I was 11. When our next-door neighbor Mrs. Nix hired us to dig out a cave under her house, we crawled under the side of her house to dig out a place for her canned preserves under her wooden floor. After about an hour of digging with shovel and pick I heaved a load of dirt out the door of the crawl space and accidentally struck Gary’s ear with the sharp edge of my shovel. We rushed to stop the bleeding and after a lot of emergency measures my brother’s ear was stitched back together and a couple of months later there was no apparent scar or pain. But the memory of that experience has taught me a lot about what gets in our way from receiving and sharing God’s grace.
This is Ron Smith presenting a talk about OBSTACLES TO GRACE. Transcripts will be given afterwards, but please take notes.
I still suffer from the consequences of negligent sin. This is just one example of how even accidents can be obstacles to grace and keep us from enjoying God’s loving relationship. Sin is the absence of God. God-less self-centeredness is what is portrayed on daily television must of the time instead of God-centeredness.
John said, Jesus Christ must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). The flame on this candle first flickered, and then steadied. We don’t notice its soft and forgiving presence, because the other competing light around us that would take away our focus on it. We may miss out of the streams of smoke and the smell of molten wax. The flame will lengthen and the candle will become smaller. Is this moment special? – Is it lasting? – Will this experience mean anything the next day? "Never forget - Christ must increase; I must decrease." Obstacles to grace keep us from being aware of God.
When my day care children sing about inviting Jesus into their heart – “into my heart, into my heart – come into my heart Lord Jesus” then I know Jesus is real aim of God’s love.
Sin - “Hamartia” misses the mark or target of being in God’s will. We miss the mark and miss out of God’s love when we disobey God’s law. Something or someone gets in the way of your relationship with God. Something “messes with” your relationship with others. These are the vertical and horizontal obstacles to grace.
Exodus 32:19 says that Moses threw the tablets of the law from the mountain to those worshipping a Golden Calf. I felt like one of those people when I saw my brother’s bleeding ear. I had worshipped the money Mrs. Nix was going to pay us instead of focusing on God’s ways of moving slower and more carefully. Deuteronomy 5:7 mandates that when I just worked hard for money from Mrs. Nix without reverence for the safety of my brother, then this was Idolatry to false gods. I didn’t curse God, but the potential of blasphemy was in my heart so that when I heard others speaking irreverently or profanely about God I remembered this hardened hearted feeling of blame toward God (Deut. 5:11). 1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns against my intentional resistance against God. And Deuteronomy 5:12-15 seems to say that I’m still guilty for just negligently ignoring God for not taking care to protect my brother, Gary. My disobedience is sinfully rejecting a relationship with God, who only wants the best for me (Luke 9:ll-27). Every time I experience unbelief, then this is my failure not God’s. I may ignorantly alienate myself from God and others. But Jesus points out in the Beatitudes in Matthew 6 that when I pridefully focus on myself rather than giving honor and glory to God (verse 5) or when I chose not to forgive God or others, I cannot be forgiven (verses 9-15).
Horizontal obstacles would prevent loving relations with others. If I had swung my shovel just a little bit harder I would have killed by brother, accidentally. This would not have been intentional murder, but its consequences would have been a devastating obstacle to my relations with my parents and others. I didn’t become addicted to drugs or sex or anything like that, but I had the same symptoms like masking my feelings of guilt, my brother’s rejection and my sense of shame with denial on an addictive scale. I lied to myself and to others about how much hurting my brother hurt me, too. This acted like gossip or slander in my soul, because it spread a lie of whether God, my brother or my parent’s really loved me. This was like sinful theft that stole something valuable from other people that didn’t belong to me. My sense of guilt stole deeper loving feelings for my brother and my parents. I coveted my brother’s position as the innocent little brother. I even became lazy about caring for other people and things because I felt unable to be a good steward of the life, gifts, graces, property, and power that God had entrusted to me. I had dishonored my parents and others. My only hope then and my only hope today is to pray a sinners pray and ask for God’s forgiveness and for others like my brother to forgive me and receive forgiveness grace-fully.
Please pray with me right now this personal prayer so that God will remove our obstacles to His grace.
Dear Heavenly Father, please send Your Holy Spirit right now into my heart. Help me to pick of my cross of victory and love each day and follow Jesus and His way. Take away my bitterness. Remind me of how You baptize me with Your water, fire and spirit. Teach me how to avoid each obstacle and resist evil and renounce the forces of the evil one. Restore my love for enemies and neighbors. Help me to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Give me Your grace that is greater than my sin. Thank You for making sure that no obstacle can separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus. Thank You for all the colors “De Colores” of Your love and grace in Him, Amen.