Reaching, Finding, Healing

 

 

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God.” James 5:19-20 The Message

 

 

I want to tell you about an important scene from one of my favorite movies, Seabiscuit (2003). It is one of my favorite movies because it so beautifully illustrates grace. Charles Howard is a man haunted by loss and death, looking to buy a horse and he goes through all the regular channels. But out of the corner of his eye he notices something different. He notices a “crackpot” horse trainer named Tom Smith. Later on, under the cover of night (like Nicodemus) Charles comes to find Tom. He notices that Tom is treating an older horse that no one else wanted and asks why he is “fixing” the horse. Tom explains that every horse is good for something. And then Tom says a line that I always remember – it is at the heart of the grace of Jesus Christ and the heart of my ministry, “You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause he’s banged up a little.”

 

Banged up a little. That’s all of us – whether we are open about it or not. Whether it is visible or not. Whether it was by our choice (sin) or by circumstances and events. That is one of things I was reminded of yesterday about why Youth Sunday always stands out. The brave young people who shared their testimonies poignantly reminded us that we are all banged up a little. The difference – each year, several of our wonderful young people speak bravely and openly about it. No pretense, no apologies –

just authenticity, some tears and hope – a lot of hope.

 

Speaking of hope. “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him (Jesus) (Isaiah 53:6).” It is by this fact that we are people of grace – received, undeserved, unearned grace as in forgiveness.

 

See, God didn’t write us off, when he could have. Sometimes Christians and churches get so good at celebrating God’s grace that we forget that God could have written us off. And we lose sight of what it was/is to be without grace and a kind of blindness develops to those who are “banged up” and who have wandered away from God.

 

That is why, when we are tempted to think people are less than perfect and don’t belong and to think that lives can be written off, we need to stop and listen…

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God (James 5:19-20).” 

 

Do you know someone who has wandered off from God’s truth? Do you know some people who are “banged up a little” or worse? I know I do. And I have been going after them for most of my life. I do because first I know that I am “banged up a little” and I know the grace by which I am saved – for which I am eternally thankful. And I do this because I believe every life is precious to God, even if they are “banged up a little.”

 

It is hard to precisely put into words how amazing it feels when God has allowed me to be a part of “getting them back and rescuing precious lives…” It is a peace beyond words and it feels sacred; it is the true definition of fulfillment for me. I know that I experience healing when I am a part of others’ healing. God is the initiator of grace, but if we are faithful, the grace we receive can be shared and multiplied – and really that was God’s design – for the grace to be shared. And how “wonderful and marvelous” it is to play a lead role or even to be an “extra”   in stories of grace and redemption. And though I may not get it right every time, it is at the core of my soul.   

 

As many of you know, the partnership of Charles Howard and Tom Smith led to finding the rider Red Pollard and the horse Seabiscuit. It is story of winning despite lost causes; it is story of finding and sharing grace and healing in the midst of brokenness; it’s about redemption. At the end of the film, during the last race, the sound of hoofs and cheers recedes to the musical theme played softly and to Red’s voice, who explains, “You know, everybody thinks we found this broken down horse and fixed him. But we didn’t. He fixed us. Every one of us (as the camera shows each of the main characters). And I guess in a way, we kinda fixed each other too.”

 

See, when it comes to people, according to God – and therefore to us, there is no such thing as a lost cause. And to believe this – to live this – is to be in the palm of Jesus’ outstretched hand.

 

We can’t prevent or stop all the wandering and the dents that we get in life – self-inflicted or the ones that just happen. But we can experience and be a part of the reaching, finding and healing.

 

That is where I want to be.

 

Will you join me?

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What is your own redemption story? Have you ever shared it with anyone? Would you like to share it with me?
2. Have you ever been a part of someone else’s healing and grace? What did that feel like?
3. Can you think of someone for whom you can be a part of reaching, finding and healing? What will you do about it?
4. How you can share some grace today?

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The Cross

Isaiah 53:4-6

The Cross 

4 “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6 

Why? 

In this infamous and often quoted prophetic passage that clearly points to Jesus and the cross, we hear of punishment and sacrifice and misperception.  The misperception is alluded to when it says, “yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.” Back then, on Good Friday, you had people fulfilling these words when they said things like, “some king.” They couldn’t see the “bigger picture” of what was being accomplished. They saw some guy who made outrageous claims and was being put to death.

One could ask, “Why the brutality and violence?”  Even today, there are people who don’t see it. Maybe even some believers don’t understand or misperceive the purpose of Jesus going to the cross to suffer, bleed and die. 

It starts with the reality of God’s holiness. Very simply, God is holy and we are not because of our sins and our sinful natures. But…But God still wanted us to be reconciled with Him. After all the sins, after all the failures, after all the turning away from Him, He is still standing there with His arms open. This is the grace and mercy of God.  

So there had to be a way that we as sinners could be reconciled with the Holy God. Because God is both just and merciful at the same time (another Living Water maybe) the justice part had to be fulfilled too. The penalty had to be paid… “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed (5).”

Prophecy and reality were fulfilled when Jesus, the Son of God, willingly went to the cross to accomplish these things.  As horrifying and ugly as the reality of the cross was and is, we must look at it especially this week each year.

You see, the cross in some ways is a mirror; at the cross we see the devastation and consequences of sin – yours and mine. Sin is so destructive that from God’s perspective we, all of us fall short and deserve to face the consequences of our sins. It is very much like we are guilty during a trial, but during our sentencing, someone, namely the Son of God, stands up and says, I will take the punishment for _________ (fill in our names). Talk about courtroom drama! 

And so that is how we are made whole and healed. Because as awful as the cross was and is, beyond it, the other side of the cross is Jesus’ resurrection and consequently we are made whole and healed. When we are in Christ, in God’s eyes we go from condemned to redeemed; because of Jesus’ shed blood and death on the cross – nothing that we did or could do. 

The cross is perhaps the most powerful and meaningful symbol in the world – signifying all at once, defeat and victory, pain and healing, sin and grace, hatred and love, life and death, mercy and justice, strength and weakness, the cosmic and personal, separation and reconciliation.  

This is why we talk about “going to cross” or walking with Jesus to the cross this week because we can never even approach understanding Easter and the resurrection and all that it means in life and eternally, until we truly see the cross.  

When we truly see the cross, it may “cross” our minds that it could have been us that could have suffered, could have paid the penalty for our sins, could have been separated from God. But it wasn’t us; it was Jesus on the cross… 

If you are asking “Why?” about the cross this week, for the first time or as a reminder…it still comes down to one thing – because He loved, loves, us that much. 

Amen.   

Discussion Questions

1. In what other ways have you understood God’s holiness and our sinfulness? Have they been helpful or not and why?
2. In what ways can you look at the cross differently this week?
3. If you don’t already, what is keeping you from believing that God loves you as much as is described above?
4. How might your Easter Sunday be different after hearing all of this?

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