Do you have a favorite gift that you’ve ever received? Maybe it was a book that changed your perspective on life, perhaps something you use often in a hobby, or it could be something that has more sentimental value than it does monetary. This morning, using St. Paul’s words in Romans, I want to contemplate the greatest gift that God has given us: love. The word that the Church uses to talk about this gift is “grace.” That’s what grace means – it is a gift.
Now,
the absolute best gifts have three components. First, they give us something
that, left to our own devices, we could not acquire. I think about being a
child and being gifted a Nintendo for Christmas – on my own, I had neither the
funds nor the ability to go to the store and purchase one. Secondly, the best
gifts are unearned. If my parents had told me “Tell you what, if you mow the
lawn all summer, we’ll buy you a Nintendo,” that would not have reduced the
number of hours that I spent playing Mario Brothers, but it would have meant it
was no longer a gift – it would have been something I had earned, it would no
longer be a gift. And third, a good gift is something you can use. We might say
that the gift becomes perfected when it is used. Think about receiving a coffee
mug as a gift. If it goes to the back of the cabinet and never holds a drop of
coffee, then it never lived up to its potential as a gift.
So
a good gift is freely given, meets a real need, and is something we did not
otherwise have access to. Friends, this is precisely what we have in the gracious
love of God and it’s all summed up in verse 8 of the 5th chapter of
Romans: “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ
died for us.” That’s it. That’s the Gospel. That is Christianity. Sure, if we
took a survey for the most well-known Bible passage, the most common answer
would either Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” or
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that all
who believe in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” And those are
both great passages. But even more than Psalm 23 or John 3, Romans 5 is the
summation of faith: “God proves his love for us in that while we still were
sinners Christ died for us.”
If
you want a theological definition of grace, that’s it, and it has all of the
aspects of a perfect gift. St. Paul makes it clear that this love of God, which
is at the foundation of all things, is demonstrated while we were sinners.
Elsewhere in the reading, he uses the word “weak” and “ungodly.” In other
words, we were powerless, helpless, without the ability be to reconciled to
God. Sin makes us curved in ourselves, unable to stand upright or see straight.
And there is no program, no set of rules, no self-help manual that was ever
going to fix that. Our mistakes, our imperfections, our ignorances mean that,
left to our own devices, we are always out of alignment with God’s perfect
love. But it is exactly in this hamstrung state that Christ died for us. The
gift of God’s salvation is something that, because of our fallen and mortal
nature, we could never secure on our own. It had to be gifted to us, and that
is precisely what God does in Jesus Christ. He gives us the peace that passes
all understanding and all striving.
And
it’s a perfect gift because there is no price tag associated with it. Before
any of us were born, before we were Baptized, before and regardless of any good
thing we’ve ever done, any award we’ve ever received, any donation we’ve ever
made, God chose to love us in Jesus Christ. It was not after we asked for help,
it was not after we confessed our guilt, it was not after we made a downpayment
on faith – no it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. The
gift of God’s love is perfect because it is given without any regard to whether
or not we’ve earned it, and that’s Good News because none of us deserve it.
And
when I say “it,” that none of us deserve it, we have to really remember what
we’re talking about. We’re talking about the Cross. This love is proven for us
in Jesus’ death. As we heard, “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous
person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.”
Some of us, at our most courageous, would lay down our lives for a spouse, a
child, a grandchild, or perhaps a friend. We see it in the courage of soldiers
and the service of firefighters. But these things make some sense. Because of
familial ties or friendships, we will suffer, and perhaps even die. For an
idea, a nation, or in the name of duty, we will make a sacrifice. But who dies
for their enemies? And I don’t mean a rival, someone you don’t like or have
trouble getting along with. The word used in Scripture really mean “enemy.”
It’s like running towards the combatant wearing the explosive vest, not to save
the innocent people around them, but to save them.
This
is what the love of God does – Jesus did not come primarily to give us an
example, or to teach us a lesson, or to establish an institution. No, Jesus
came to prove God’s love regardless of the cost – by going into the depths of
human sin, experiencing the worst of our betrayal and pain, and dying an
excruciating crucifixion. Though the gift of salvation is free, it is not
without cost. It cost God everything that it means to be God when Jesus was left
beaten and lifeless on the cross. That’s why it’s grace – there is nothing that
we, who are so small and finite, could do to deserve the death of the One who
is the creator of all. Grace is freely given because God so loves us, and perfect
love has no limits.
The
final aspect of grace being a perfect gift is it is needed and can be used. When
we reflect on our lives and all the shoulda, woulda, couldas start to creep in,
grace is a balm for our anxious souls. Sure, we all could have made different
choices along the way. We could have done this instead of that. We could have
apologized sooner. We could have had different priorities. But none of those
things would have made God love us more. We would still be sinners for whom
Christ died. The grace of God is that there is nothing on our to-do list
because it has all been done by God. That’s what makes the Gospel such very
Good News. As Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying
heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” The gift of grace doesn’t give us
more to do, it assures that all has been done.
The
grace that we are given is given freely and it frees us to enjoy the abundant
and eternal life we have in Christ. There’s a church that has as the slogan on
their sign “Enjoy your forgiveness.” What a different way of viewing faith and
life – as something to enjoy, not as something to endure or win. How much of
our lives are spent worrying about and pursuing things that we know don’t
matter and do not lead to joy or love? How many insecurities do we carry with
us by trying to measure up? As this verse reminds us, we are all sinners. It’s
not a contest – we are all equally guilty and we are all equally redeemed, so
let’s stop competing with one another. Instead, we have been reconciled to God,
and, by extension, one another. God has made friends out of enemies, meaning
that instead of finding enemies in our neighbors, or ourselves, we see each
other as friends of God.
And
so, upon reflection, if we notice that we are out of alignment with God’s grace
by still trying to prove something to the world or ourselves, if we have not
been enjoying the gift of life, we can recall the words of a blessing you may know,
“Life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who
walk with us. So be swift to love and make haste to be kind.” Without the grace
of God, that’s a command, one that can induce guilt and shame for not being as
kind as we might like. But in light of God’s love for us, it becomes the
freedom to focus on the only thing that truly matters and truly endures: love.
This is the gift of grace – knowing that we are loved and being freed to enjoy
that love by sharing it and using it. Love, unlike every other resource, is
unlimited – so you can spend it all you like and love will never run out.
That’s why the gift of salvation is often described as “eternal life,” because
love has no limit. It’s a gift that we can use and never run out of.
This
gift of love is what allows us to be different in this world and live
fearlessly and fully in the light of Christ. The hope of our faith is expressed
in another passage in Romans, this one from chapter 8: “For I am convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And
the reason why St. Paul’s and our hope is so unshakeable is that it is secured
by the love of God which is proven that yet while we were sinners, Christ died
for us.
Knowing that nothing can
separate from the love of God, not our sins, not our doubts, not our mistakes,
not other people’s opinions of us, nothing, we can be quick to forgive, we can
be bold to pursue love in community, which is called justice, we can be
generous because we know that we have been gifted all that we truly need. God’s
gracious love enables us to receive all that God desires and intends for us. God’s
gracious love is the perfect gift – we need it, we can’t get it on our own, and
we don’t have to pay for it. Add Romans 5:8 to your list of memorized passages,
for it is the Gospel in one verse: “God proves his love for us in that while we
were still sinners Christ died for us.”
