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Writer's pictureJosh Dollendorf

Celebrating Sinners

"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." - Romans 11v6

A few weeks ago, we were able to gather my youngest son's year birthday. It was a time of enjoyment, family, and lots of treats! Even though my son will never remember these we had so much fun celebrating him. But after reading John Wesley's sermon named, "The New Birth," I look at my son with a new perspective: sinner. Albeit, a very adorable sinner, but a sinner nonetheless. Everyone knows their children are far from perfect. No one has to teach a child how to cry or take toys away from a sibling. These tendencies are just our natural instinct. Wesley would describe it by saying while an infant's physical senses are fully functional, they have no spiritual sense. (1) As a product of the Fall in Genesis 3, everyone was born into a world of sin. While this was not God's intention or fault, it can only be through Him that restoration can be found. Our spiritual sense can only be awakened when we realize of our need for the Grace of God. 


We tend to fall into the trap of seeing grace as transactional. I do this so God does this for me. However, we cannot forget that we are not the ones initiating this act. God's grace has been long at work even before we realized our need for it. "Grace is descending into his heart; and prayer and praise ascending to heaven: And by this intercourse between God and man, this fellowship with the Father and the Son, as by a kind of spiritual respiration, the life of God is the soul sustained; and the child of God grows up, till he comes to the 'full measure of the stature of Christ.'" (2) states Wesley. Not only can we receive this gift from God, we can see it at work in our lives when we allow it. Just like when my children get presents for their birthday and want to play with them all the time, when we receive the grace of God in our lives, we have the opportunity to do something with it and allow it to transform us. It is not meant to just sit on a shelf, but something put into place.


So why grace? In order to answer this question, we must understand the purpose of grace! If I can sum it up in my own words, the purpose of Grace is to draw us back to and closer to Him. After we allow the grace of God to work in our minds and choose to follow God, the process doesn't stop. Just because we are saved does not mean the journey is over. This is when the journey just begins. God continues to work in us to the point where internal changes flow outward. We love differently. We talk differently. We live our lives differently. When we allow grace to work in us, God transforms us into whom we were called to be. How do we do this? Well, it all starts when we celebrate a sinner who has his spiritual senses awakened by the presence of God and becomes a Christian infant. Then grace can continue to work and drive us towards maturity.


Resource:

Wesley, John. “Wesley Center Online.” The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 45 - The New Birth. Accessed October 4, 2024. https://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-45-the-new-birth/.

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