But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

Dear Faithful and Fruitful Seed-Sowers,

It is my prayer that each and every one of us are walking with Jesus and that we are surrounded by His powerful presence, perfect peace and rescued by His precious grace.

Our “SO WHAT?” questions from last week were:

What is the most important thing you have or own? (Pause. List a few.)
What is the most important thing you know?
What is the one thing you want to pass on to your family and friends?

Before we go to God’s living words of life, let us come to our Living Lord in a moment of prayer.  “Lord, God of all hope and healing, we come today to be touched and renewed, restored and resurrected by Your Living Word.  Come, Holy Spirit, speak to us. Cleanse us of our wrong thinking and guide us in Your ways. Amen.”

Take a moment and read I Corinthians 15:1-11.

The Apostle Paul lays claim to the power and hope of the resurrection right here. But, first, we need to take a moment to reflect upon who Paul is and how he came to this knowledge.

POINT 1: Paul the Persecutor
Paul was a Jew who grew up and sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the greatest Pharisee and teacher of the law.  Paul learned the law and lived the law.  Paul became an aggressive persecutor of the newly formed Christian Church. In chapter seven of the Book of Acts, we find Paul holding the cloaks of those stoning Stephen, the first martyr for Christ and of the church.   By chapter nine of Acts, Paul goes to the High Priest to receive papers to go to Damascus to find the followers of the Way, the followers of Christ.  Paul had been imprisoning them and had these Christians beaten and put to death. The Bible tells us that Paul was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” (Acts 9:1)

Take in this picture of Paul. A man highly educated, passionate about God and filled with fire for keeping the law of God. Are you in this story today?

Have you ever been lost? 
Have you ever felt as if you had gone too far to return to God?
Have you ever looked down on someone and judged them beyond hope?
Maybe you think you are beyond hope?

If so, then this story of Paul’s conversion and encounter with grace is for you!

In the eighteenth century, there were two young men in England whose names were Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert West. They were unbelievers. In fact, they were strong in their unbelief. They were also both lawyers, with keen minds, and they thought they had good reasons for rejecting Christianity. One day in a conversation one of them said, “Christianity stands upon a very unstable foundation. There are only two things that actually support it: the alleged resurrection of Jesus Christ and the alleged conversion of Saul of Tarsus. If we can disprove those stories, which should be rather easy to do, Christianity will collapse like a house of cards.” Gilbert West said, “All right, then. I’ll write a book on the alleged resurrection of Jesus Christ and disprove it.” Lord Lyttleton said, “If you write a book on the resurrection, I’ll write on the alleged appearance of Jesus to the apostle Paul. You show why Jesus could not possibly have been raised from the dead, and I’ll show that the apostle Paul could not have been converted as the Bible says he was—by a voice from heaven on the road to Damascus.” Each went off to write their book. Sometime later they met again, and one of them said to the other, “I’m afraid I have a confession to make. I have been looking into the evidence for this story, and I have begun to think that maybe there is something to it after all.” The other said, “The same thing has happened to me. But let us keep on investigating these stories and see where we come out.”

In the end, after they had done their investigations and had written their books, each had come out on exactly the opposite side he had been on when he began his investigation. Gilbert West had written The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, arguing that it is a fact of history. And Lord Lyttleton had written The Conversion of St. Paul.^[i]

By treating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the conversion of the apostle Paul as the two great pillars of Christianity, these men were saying that if the apostle Paul was not converted as the ninth chapter of Acts says he was, and as he himself declares in his own recorded testimonies both before the Jews and the Gentiles, then Christianity loses one of its two most important bulwarks. Moreover, it loses its most able theologians.

Point 2: Paul the Proclaimer of GRACE
Listen to Herschel H. Hobbs’ (author and theologian) thoughts on law and grace:

I read an illustration about a man who is standing at a fork in the road trying to decide which way to go. One road has a sign which says “law.” The other has a sign reading “grace.” If he chooses to travel the law road, he falls away from the grace road. It is not a matter of being in grace and falling out of it. It is a matter of never having been in grace. One cannot travel both roads. For law and grace negate each other. If it is by works, it cannot be by grace, grace is a gift. If it is by grace, then it cannot be by law. Christ is in the grace road. So, if you travel the law road, you are cut off from Him and His saving power. To depend upon legalism in any form or degree for salvation is to turn your back upon Christ.[ii]

Paul stood on the fork in that road. He had to choose between law and grace.  I believe that we all come to this fork in the road many times in our lives. Maybe you are at one today.

I love how Paul puts it in this letter to Corinthians … Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹ Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:8-11

“But by the grace of God I am what I am.”  What a powerful statement.

Paul was transformed from a powerful persecutor of the church into a passionate preacher proclaiming Christ and Him crucified, dead, buried and risen! Paul was presented Grace Road and he left the fork in the road that day.

Paul told the church in Colossae these words … “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” Colossians 1:2-5

I know many people who quote only part of this famous saying.  Many say, “I am what I am.” But we need to include the last part of this verse: by the grace of God.

Paul’s life was forever changed and transformed by God’s grace.  Pick up your Bible and you will read how Paul begins most of his letters to the churches with “grace” and he ends most of his writings with words of “grace.” Paul had been trained for years in the law. He stood at the fork in the road for an exceptionally long time. Friends, it is only the grace of God that can change us from being a sinner to saint, from a persecutor to a proclaimer. GRACE: God RICHES At Christ’s Expense—a free gift for all. We cannot buy this precious, priceless commodity. Grace is God’s free gift.

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the rumpus about?” he asked and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God’s love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eightfold path, the Hindu doctrine of Karma, the Jewish covenant, and the Muslim code of law—each offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God’s love unconditional.[iii]

The Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection de-centers unbelievers from the center of their own life.  That is what it did for Paul.  Paul stood at the intersection of Law and Grace and recognized his unworthiness. Paul recognized a truth I want us all to remember “I AM WHAT I AM BY THE GRACE OF GOD.”

Where would you be today without God’s grace?

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

So What?
Brennan Manning has been one of my favorite authors.  I was able to go and hear him speak in person on many occasions.  I have read and reread his books.  They have ministered to me in many ways throughout my years of ministry and my years of being rescued from myself. I stood at the intersection of law and grace often. Manning has written: “The Ragamuffin Gospel, Ruthless Trust, Abba’s Child, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus.”  Get ready for the title of his last book: “All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir.” Manning was a recovering alcoholic.  Brennan died of wet brain syndrome, Weirnecke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS).  Brennan struggled with alcoholism. Listen to some of his last words:

“Do you believe that the God of Jesus loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity—that he loves you in the morning sun and in the evening rain—that he loves you when your intellect denies it, your emotions refuse it, your whole being rejects it. Do you believe that God loves YOU without condition or reservation and loves you this moment as you are and not as you should be?”[iv]

Many of you know that the past few years have been difficult for my wife and I. We have lived through the sorrow and grief of the deaths of four family members and a very close friend who was like family.  I went back to Illinois this past month to help clean out some of the personal items in my dad’s home where he and my mom lived for many years. My mom died in this home. I was with her. This is the same home where my dad and stepmom lived for another 20 years. In mid-May Jodi, Juliet, Brian, and I traveled to the house (from Texas and California) in order to pick up boxes that my stepmom had set aside for the Peters family. We moved the boxes to a storage building in Rochelle. Jac and I planned a cross-country trip for July in order for me to go through those boxes. A few weeks later, I bought a few additional items from the estate sale and had a good set of friends deliver those items to the storage shed.

As Jac and I stood in that old storage building in Rochelle the last week of June, it hit me. I was standing at the intersection of law and grace like my brother, Paul. I actually heard a soft, still voice within my heart, soul, spirit, mind say, “Dave, I want to tell you why this has intruded into your life. I know how busy you are, but you have a platform to proclaim my grace to many. Here is what I want you to know: Unlike you, I go to an awful lot of estate sales every single day. You went to your first estate sale and brought a few family heirlooms back home. Dave, I go to every estate sale I know of and I go every single day. You know what I do? I buy my people back. It’s okay. You are at the same intersection Persecutor Paul found himself at so very long ago: Law or Grace? Paul was blinded. He was guided to town and laid in a bed for days. Paul had plenty of time to pray and to think. So have you. I will imprint on your heart what I imprinted on Paul’s: Forget what lies behind. Focus on what lies ahead. CHOOSE GRACE EVERY TIME.”

Grace.  We cannot earn it. We  cannot buy it.
Grace is a free, priceless gift of God offered to us through the life, death, and resurrection of His one and only Son—Jesus Christ.

A long time ago our blue van housed a bumper sticker on the back end:  HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN? TURN RIGHT. GO STRAIGHT. We drove that van for 350,000 miles. It went to the ballpark several nights a week. One day my wife was working at the concession. A little boy ran up to her and said, “Hey! I turned right and I’m going straight to heaven!” It was good advice for him. It’s good advice for you and me.

Paul had a history. He turned RIGHT and went STRAIGHT. Thank God.

You and me? Same choice. I don’t know about you but I’m turning right and going straight….by the GRACE OF GOD…I AM WHAT I AM.

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 9am Pacific at 9284 Baseline Road Rancho Cucamonga, California.  If you are not able to join us in person you are invited to watch out live-stream and connect with us through your chats, prayers and worship.  You can always go to our YouTube channel and wrtch the weekly worship service, children’s messages and sermons.  The YouTube channel is The Seed Christian Fellowship.

[i] My version, an old one, has West’s and Lyttleton’s books bound together: Lord Lyttleton on the Conversion of St. Paul and Gilbert West on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (New York: The American Tract Society, 1929). In some editions the flyleaf contains the words: “Blame not until thou hast examined the truth.” The story of these two men is told in R. A. Torrey, The Bible, and Its Christ (New York: Revell, 1904–1906), 98–100.

[ii] Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (p. 132). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

[iii] Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace?, Zondervan, 1997

[iv] Brennan Manning, All is Grace, 2011, David C Cook

“Now, brethren, I want to remind you of the Gospel i preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” I Corinthians 15:1-4

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

Today is the day before 9-11; the 20th anniversary. It is my prayer that you all are well and healthy today and are walking with the Lord. Let us continue in prayer for our nation, our world, and for one another.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the church over the past year.  Not just The Seed Christian Fellowship, I have been thinking about the church universal. I do not want to bore you with statistic and numbers but my first degree from college was in Business and Accounting. I love to work with numbers.  The funny thing is that God called me out of counting financial reports and called me to counting sheep. A glorious by-product of this new style of counting is that I no longer count sins, forgiving and forgetting sins instead of logging all the hurts and betrayals of sins on my ledger sheet. I don’t know if God has called you to this new style of counting but, for sure, it is my new way of living.

The other day I was reading and article on numbers about the church and church membership in America. A recent Gallup poll shows that church membership in America has dropped to below 50% for the first time in eight decades — that is 80 years if you are counting. Today church membership in local congregations stands at 47% when in 1999 (22 years ago) church membership was around 70%.  Gallup’s reports says that “The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans who express no religious preferences.”  You know those forms at hospitals and other places where you fill them out and you can put your religious preference on them? The box for religious preference is now being marked  “NONE.”  The NONEs have it! (or do they?)

George Barna is a Christian researcher.  His organization did some research on the meaning of Easter.  Here are some of the things that they found. Within the religious definitions offered by Americans, there is a certain degree of confusion: 2% of Americans said that Easter is about the “birth of Christ”; another 2% indicated it was about the “rebirth of Jesus”; and 1% said it is a celebration of “the second coming of Jesus.” Not included in the theistic category was another 3% who described Easter as a celebration of spring or a pagan holiday.  On the non-religious side, 13% of respondents said they were not sure how to describe Easter. Another 8% of Americans said the holiday means nothing to them or that they do not celebrate the occasion. Other non-religious descriptions of Easter included: getting friends and family together (4%), spring break (3%), a symbol of new beginnings, rebirth, and renewal (2%), a time to dye and hide eggs (2%), an event for children to have fun (2%), the Easter bunny (1%), an occasion that is too commercialized (1%), and an opportunity to enjoy food and candy (1%).

What I find most interesting is how unchurched people view Easter. In terms of the audience that most Christian churches attempt to attract every Easter weekend – non-churchgoing adults – the research shows that only 25% of the people connect the EASTER holiday to Jesus’ resurrection! Church, we need to do a better job of proclaiming EASTER! Like the verse above says, I tell you what is most important: Jesus died. Jesus was buried. Jesus rose from the dead.

It can’t be said much easier. The GOSPEL is this: Jesus died for our sins. Jesus was buried. Jesus rose from the dead.

Resurrection Reminder
“Now, brethren, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.” I Corinthians 15:1

Paul wants to encourage the church (we are the church now) to remember!

Remember the Gospel!

The Greek word for Gospel is “εὐαγγέλιον euaggelion” which means “Good News” and it is the word from which we get the word “evangelism.”

So What is the “Good News” to you? What is it that you will take a stand on?

What do you believe and what is it that you are willing to hold onto no matter what?

When Billy Graham was preaching in Germany one day, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer invited him to his office: Coffee was served, but before Billy’s first sip, Chancellor Konard started in: “Young man, do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?” “I most certainly do,” Billy replied. “So do I, Chancellor Konard said. If Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, there is not one glimmer of hope for the human race. When I leave office, I am going to spend the rest of my life studying and writing about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s the most important event in human history.” [i]

In the words of Jaroslav Pelikan, an American scholar, “If Christ is risen—then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—then nothing else matters.”[ii]

Timothy Keller, a pastor, wrote, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said?[iii]

Paul wanted the early church to take a stand and remember the Good News! In Paul’s day being a Christian was more than intellectual assent to a group of doctrines. The social price that followers of Christ paid forced them to take a stand in a hostile world. I think we can learn a little from Paul as we go through this worldwide pandemic called COVID-19. With all the news we are bombarded with 24 hours a day: what is the Good News?  What can you and I stand on?

Listen to Paul: We stand on the hope and power of the resurrection.

My favorite comes from Paul’s letter to Romans — …if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:8-13)

With all that the world is going through, we are living in a time when we need to stop and remember what our north star is, what is our center point of our faith.

Here’s your homework: What (or who) is my north star?  What (or who) is the center point of my faith?

So What?
John Stott, a wonderful pastor and teacher, wrote these words about the resurrection of Christ: “The Resurrection somehow resonates with our human condition. It speaks to our needs as I reckon no other event of antiquity does, or even could.”

In other words, it is not up to us to make the resurrection relevant; it already is relevant without us. We just need to proclaim it and apply it with joy and confidence. Christ’s resurrection from the dead is not just an idea, a concept, or a doctrine—although it is truly a breathtaking and revolutionary doctrine! The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the power that will usher broken fragile humanity into Christ’s “newness of life”.

I love that Matthew ends his gospel with Christ ascending from the mountain, saying, “I’ll be with you til the very end of the age.”

Where are you in this story? Paul is writing a letter to his friends and family in the church in Corinth. Evil abounds everywhere they go. The world is calling out to them every day. Can you relate? I can.

Imagine receiving an email or a text from Paul right now: I Corinthians 15:1-11 — Put your name in the Bible. Put your name in all the blank lines below.  Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and put your name in the story.

Now,  YOUR NAME _________, I want to remind you _____ of the gospel I preached to you _______ , which you ______  received and on which you ______ have taken your _____ stand. By this gospel you ______ are saved, if you ______ hold firmly to the word I preached to you ________.  Otherwise, you _______ have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you _________  as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 

Every day I get to go spend time with my father-in-law whom I call dad.  He is 89 and slowly fading away.  Every day he says to my wife and I, “I haven’t seen my wife in a long time. She must be dead. I just can’t believe that she’s gone.”  His wife of 71 years is gone but every time we talk about Mom’s death, I get the blessed opportunity to talk to dad about heaven, about the hope and power of the resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins that comes with faith in Jesus.  He has learned to love to hear about forgiveness. He has the hope of the resurrection within his heart and mind and he is not afraid of dying like he was.  The resurrection has put the living face and name of Jesus Christ into his heart. Dad knows that some day he will die and that he will be able to live forever without any more pain, suffering or tears.

Here is you final “so what?” You are on a deserted island…the world is on one side…calling your name…offering you trinkets of fame, gold, fortune…on the other side stands the risen Jesus Christ…calling your name…offering you His legacy of grace, forgiveness, mercy, joy and love. Do you know what side you are standing on?

My wife and I talk every morning. We read our devotionals and discuss the high points. This morning I asked how she was doing. “I’m sad. They lost my Covid test and I can’t go see Dad until I redo another test, which means 3 more days and it’s already been 2.” Fortunately, they didn’t lose my test and I am able to go visit Dad. (The care home is now requiring two tests a week from non-vaccinated people. We cannot get the vaccine at this time due to health issues and we are happy to test–despite the great inconvenience. The end goal is our ability to see Dad.) Jac told me about an article she had read about a red cord and she said, “It reminded me of how Rahab hung a scarlet cord in her window after hiding the spies in enemy territory. They promised that if she hung the red cord in her window, they would find her and rescue her. That’s how I’m feeling. This is really hard–what I’m doing with Dad and with covid but I hear, ‘I see you. I see your red cord in the window. I will rescue you. Wait.'” I’ve thought about how her thoughts apply to us all. There’s no magic-8 ball with all of the answers–at least there’s no human, magic-8 ball. We have the Bible (basic instructions before leaving earth) and we have the hope of the risen Jesus Christ. He sees your red cord in the window of your heart. Wait. He’s coming back.

Long ago, I counted financial reports and profits and loss and numbers. It took a whole new call for this former accountant to learn how to count on Christ–who is actually counting on me. Together, Jesus and I are an overwhelming majority. This coming week, I will fly home to be a Spiritual Director on a men’s grace weekend. I leave you with one, last thought and prayer:  the world or Jesus…what side are you standing on?

Paul says, “I give to you the 3 most important things I know: Christ died for your sins. Christ was buried. Christ rose from the dead.”

Sometimes the GOSPEL is that easy. You only have to know how to count to three.

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www,theseedchristianfellowship.com