Prevenient Grace - Walk #2201 - (8/12/22)

Jim Noble

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Rev. Jim Noble

Jim Witt – LD, Scott Bradford - SD

Please turn to page 48 in your worship books and join me in the prayer to the Holy Spirit: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and we shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I will start my talk with a confession and beg your forgiveness and grace…I am not a native Texan! I grew up in the Kansas City area, about as far from an ocean as you can get in the USA. Our first residence in Texas was in the Dallas area, also not real close to an ocean, but then, after seminary, we lived in Alice…less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico. I’m not much of a dirty beach going person…but there is deep sea fishing. Long before I was born, my great grandfather loved to deep sea fish…I even have a reel or two and a rod from him. I went deep sea fishing with some friends out of Port Mansfield a few years back…for those that haven't been deep sea fishing…the ride out is enjoyable through the bay…then you get to the jetty's. the jetty's are where the island (SPI) is cut for boats to go out into the open ocean…the sea was rough with five to six foot waves and we fished about eight miles out…It was a rough trip physically and I was reminded that deep sea fishing can be dangerous, even deadly. But, luckily I was surrounded by grace. Grace in the form of a boat, an engine…grace in the form of friends, and a hat, and sunscreen, water and food, and something to hold onto in the rough seas. Grace in the form of Dramamine! Grace in the fact that, considering my preacher's salary, I was INVITED on the trip at no cost to me whatsoever. All that grace before my line even hit the water.

My name is Jim Noble, and the title of this talk is Prevenient Grace. WRITE THIS DOWN (though I’ll have a handout as well), Prevenient (SPELL) means to come before. Our lives are much like a deep sea fishing trip and it is easy for us to focus on all the evil and danger around us and to forget, or not even see, the ocean of grace we are all surrounded with. Some of you may or may not realize that the New Testament Word of God was not originally in English, or Spanish, or Italian. Most of it was written by the earliest Christians in Greek. Our word grace comes from the Greek word Karis. One of the core meanings of this Greek word is gift. God's grace is a gift to us! The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the churches in Ephesus, describes it this way (Chapter 2:4-9):

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ1 -- by grace you have been saved -- 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

God's grace is one grace with many characteristics. Describing God's grace is kind of akin to describing the Trinity. We try but no matter our efforts, mystery will remain…We use three main terms to describe our experiences of grace…prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. These relate to different stages, or manifestations, of God's grace in our lives. Prevenient grace is present throughout our lives, from conception onward, regardless of the stage of our faith journey. God's prevenient grace woos us and draws us…One of my favorite books of the Bible, and sadly one of the most misinterpreted, is Revelation. At almost the very end of the book, while describing his vision of New Jerusalem, heaven on Earth, the writer says (22:17),

The Spirit and the bride (Christ) say, 'Come.' And let everyone who hears say, 'Come.' And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life without cost.

Revelation Chapter 21 says the gates of heaven as being open by day, and there is no night. In other words, they’re always open. But, only those who allow God to be God will even want to be there. You might ask yourself, "Self, why do I need all this grace anyway? I'm a good person who tries to treat other people right and I'm nice, isn't that enough? Yeah, I like me some me!" Well, like it or not, we are all part of the human situation. God created the world, the universe, and everything in it (including us) to be in loving relationship with God. God declared creation Good and setup the first humans, Adam & Eve, in the paradise of the garden of Eden. Temptation was there too, and Adam & Eve broke the commandment of God in an attempt to rule themselves and remove the need for God. Sin was chosen. A choice we, by the way, ratify virtually every day of our existences. So, we were created by God for loving relationship with God but we are fallen through sin. Still, though, the deepest parts of our souls and being yearn for the relationship with God for which we were created. Even though Adam & Eve (and by extension we) sin, God's love and grace are available to us. In fact, God's love and grace are greater than all our wrong choices. A great traditional Christian Hymn says it this way, "Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin."

Have you ever wanted a relationship with a person much more than they wanted a relationship with you? I have! We were talking the other day in the office about 80s power ballads and I remembered how Sara by Starship was right during my major 7th grade crush on Sara Bruckner…Oh, how I thought she was the answer to all my dreams! “Sara, Sara! storms are brewin in your eyes…sara, sara, no time is a good time for goodbye” By the way, in the official music video, Rebecca Demornay played Sara…that didn’t help. But alas, and thankfully in hindsight, she didn’t want little Jimmy as a “boyfriend.” “I’ll never find another girl like you…we’re fire and ice, the dream won’t come true, lol” Well, God desires a relationship with us even more than we want a relationship with God. A relationship with God is the best kind…a covenant Love relationship. A covenant is a bond, freely agreed to by the parties involved. It IS NOT FORCED OR COERCED. God's covenant is a covenant where you can place absolute trust in God, the other party.

The Old Testament is filled with God's pursuit of the Israelites and the cycle of obedience and disobedience they repeated numerous times. Then, at just the right time, God sent Jesus to reveal the nature of God in a human life. If you know no other Scripture, perhaps you know John 3:16. It is the Scripture that fans used to put on big posterboard at the Superbowl and such…

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

How do We Experience God's Prevenient Grace?

Looking back over my life, I can see prevenient grace at work. I was baptized as an infant in a United Methodist church. Although we were not active Christians in my childhood and youth, I believe God was present powerfully at my baptism and claimed to my life for God right there. God's prevenient grace was present in the form of my imperfect but loving parents and family, our loving neighborhood, and through many of my friendships. God's prevenient grace called on me to attend a Christian camp in middle school. It was at that camp I felt Jesus for the first time. Though I fell away and didn't reconnect to the church very well after that camp, I did begin to pray daily. Even when I was away from the church, God's grace, I believe, stopped me from making disastrous choices I was inclined to make. God's grace has been present in the form of my conscience. Even after I had strayed far from God in my twenties, God's grace was present in my searching and longing for meaning in my life. Then, God's prevenient grace was present in the form of an invitation to return to church and in the people at that church who lovingly guided my re-engagement.

God's grace was present as I felt my call to ministry amidst Disciple 1 Bible Study. Melanie and I were living in San Marcos when we had a decision to make…we had to decide whether I would remain in my career at that time and return to Dallas…or move to Kentucky and go to Seminary. We decided to move to Kentucky. As we were driving to the airport to fly to Kentucky and close on a house, I knew my job would soon be ending and Melanie had no employment. Then, the phone rang. A psychologist in Lexington (who she hadn't spoken to in months) was calling to offer her a job! Grace abounded in our time in Seminary in Kentucky in so many ways. Grace abounded even amidst the sudden death of my friend Hanok there in a car accident. I'm eternally thankful for God's grace in my life and I'm thankful God's grace is available to you too, and to all. Praise God!

Now, in general, where some ways we might experience God's prevenient grace? I’ll touch on four of the ways: You can write these down if you’d like or I’ll have them in the outline as well.

1 - Maybe through events, both positive and negative. God's spirit can speak to our minds through our struggles, frustrations, and difficulties. As strongly as I thought I wanted to marry Sarah Bruckner in 7th grade, believe me, God’s grace was present in the fact that I did not! In my prior career, I once went through a grueling interview process (7 interviews as I recall) for a coveted internal audit position at a GE subsidiary. I thought I had it in the bag only to learn I didn’t after meeting with the CFO. I was devastated. As things happen, though, and based on what happened to that company, I consider that denial a prevenient grace…sparing me from the pain of what could’ve come.

2 - Of course, God's Spirit can speak to us powerfully for beautiful things as well. I happen to love the beauty of nature and am often overwhelmed by the presence of God in it. Our preschool spilled some deer corn after an event for the kids recently and I found myself so blessed to watch such beautiful little birds gather it so joyfully the next day. Friends, we don’t have to travel to the beaches of Bora Bora to see beauty…if we’re open to it, it surrounds us!

3 - We might also experience the prevenient grace of God through the care and sacrifice of others. I remember once, while in seminary, getting an unexpected gift card from an unexpected person…at the exact time it was needed…only God can orchestrate things that way.

4 - We should also experience God's grace through the body of believers, the church. The church helps us experienced God's grace and presence through worship, prayer, sacraments, small groups, mission, and study. You’ll hear more about many of these in other talks. Some years ago, an unexpectedly large group from a prior appointment cleaned and landscaped the yard of one the members who was widowed and had cancer and, therefore, could not physically keep her yard as pristine as she had for years. She told us that she had never felt more loved. It's amazing, too, how when one goes to serve it is the server who ends up being as richly blessed, or more richly blessed, than those being served.

God's love and grace can also flow through us to others. God can and will use us as agents through our words, actions, and presence to help others open their hearts and lives to the prevenient grace of God. I remember a fellow Methodist pastor from Ohio telling a group of us about his church's mission work in South Sudan. These South Sudanese are some of the poorest people in the world and have been ravaged by war. Also, they're Muslim. After several years of teaching in agriculture, drilling water wells, bringing medicine, and other acts of love, some of the village leadership finally asked, "Why are you doing this? We don't see Muslims here doing this work…why are you?" Only then could the team explain the grace of God and of God's Son, Jesus Christ to listening hearts.

Go with me for a moment back to that boat ride in rough seas off the coast of port Mansfield. It was very tempting for me to focus on the negative. I was very wet, I was nauseated, and, quite frankly, my more than ample rear end was extremely sore from the poor seating and the pounding from the waves. But once I chose to focus on the positive, and was awakened to the ocean of grace around me, I felt joy. Once we started fishing (we were fishing for red fish), there were challenges. We caught a bunch of sharks, mostly little. I also learned about trigger fish…nasty little fish who reside at a shallower depth than most red fish and who like to take bait without getting hooked. How did we overcome all that? We had an ample supply of bait…and we just kept sending it down. And we eventually caught some red fish.

I finished a book not long ago about the battle for the island of Betio on the Tarawa atoll in the South Pacific. It had an airstrip and was one of the first key islands taken by the American forces in an attempt to create a path to Tokyo. It was the first amphibious assault and the lessons learned, through tremendous sacrifice, paved the way for Normandy and other assaults. The book was titled, “One Square Mile of Hell,” and boy was it. It was a moving and haunting book. The Japanese knew the importance of Betio and fortified it incredibly. They even stationed some of their elite personnel there, something like the Rangers or Seals or some such that we have. One of the Japanese commanders felt that a million men couldn’t overtake Betio in a thousand years. The island was littered with bunkers, pillboxes, and tunnels. Even days of aerial bombing and naval shelling did little damage before the Marines waded amidst mortar fire, machine gun fire, you name it. Some of the few Japanese survivors said later how they couldn’t believe the Marines. They’d mow down one wave and here would come another, and another, and another, and another. We humans like to build defenses too, especially before we know an attack is coming or during or after an attack. You can build all kinds of fortifications against the mercy of God and/or of others. If you succeed in holding off God you’re whole life, he’ll honor your choice. But God is going to continue to send wave after wave of grace to you…he’s so extravagant! He even sent Jesus, his son, God incarnate, to be crucified and to experience, many believe, the totality of human sin from all past, present, and future on the cross. Jesus chose to go through horrific death for our chance at freedom. God’s greatest desire is for your heart to be conquered for him…not to kill you but to give you life, and life eternal. Will you open your defenses, your heart to the life-giving relationship God is offering you in Jesus Christ?