GRACE

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen." (Rev 22:21)

OUR TEXT FOR THIS MORNING is a verse with which all of us are very familiar, because it is used as the benediction at the close of most of our services of worship.  And indeed it is a most fitting benediction for the New Church, for it is the final verse of the Book of Revelation, that book which closes with the proph­ecy of the New Jerusalem.  In the last two chapters of Revelation there is the wonderful description of John's vision of "that great city, the holy, Jerusalem"1 said to be seen "coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her hus­band."2  The many blessings of this New Church, or New Jerusalem, are described and represented with the most wonderful image­ry.  We are told, for example, that in this church there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; that the Lord will make all things new; that God Himself will be with us, and be our God; that in the midst will be the river of water of life; and that we shall see the Lord's face, and His name shall be in our foreheads.  At the end of these and other blessings, we are then told the crowning blessing of all, the blessing which will especially be with those of the New Church.  This blessing is the blessing of the Lord's grace:  "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

The whole of the New Church centers really around two things -- the coming of the Lord, and the blessings He brings us with this coming.  So it is that our services begin with the opening of the Word, for this is how the Lord makes His advent, and they close with the benediction.  The priest, as a representative of the Lord, pronounces the blessing of Divine grace upon the peo­ple, for the Lord's grace is as it were a summary of all the many blessings which the Lord has given for His New Church.

To understand what is meant by the Lord's grace, we must realize, first of all, that when Divine revelation speaks of grace, it has a very specific meaning.  This isn't the case in everyday language.  In ordinary everyday speech, grace can mean many different things.  It can, for example, mean basically the same as elegance -- we talk of a graceful dancer.  Used in another way, it can refer to the prayer of thanks before a meal -- we say grace before we eat.  Both these uses of the word are, in fact, related to each other.  A graceful dancer has an elegance which pleases those who watch.   On the other hand, when we say grace, we are thanking the Lord, and telling Him that we are pleased with the kindness He has shown us.  Grace thus has to do with something which pleases us.  If we are in somebody's good graces, then that person is pleased with us.  He is favorable towards us; he is kind to us, and wants to please us.

This, then, is grace.  In essence it is a feeling, an affec­tion.  It is a feeling of favor towards another person, a feeling which expresses itself in being kind, and in trying to help and to please.

Grace is of fundamental importance in human relationships.  This is something we begin to understand very early in life.  Surely most of us can remember quite vividly certain episodes during our childhood when, for some reason or another, our parents weren't pleased with us.  We were not in their good graces. Quite likely, it made us feel terrible.  It can be a shocking experience for a little child, who depends so much on his parents, to suddenly realize that they are displeased with him, cross with him, or, if you will, are ungracious towards him.  For a short time -- and for a little child a short time can seem like a very long time indeed -- it seems as is his whole world has collapsed, because he is out of grace with his parents.

This need to be in somebody else's grace does not, of course, disappear with childhood.  As adults also, we count on the favor of other people.  Employees hope that their superiors will be pleased with them, especially if a hoped-for raise or promotion is at stake.  Salesmen count on retaining the favor and grace of their clients, and so on.  Then, of course, there are our friends.  When those we know, those we associate with, are displeased and unfavorable towards us for one reason or another, it can feel as if a black cloud can descended upon us.  Indeed, this is why reputation is so highly valued by most people.  Upon their reputation, upon their good name, depends the favor, the kindness, the grace of others.  If somebody acquires a bad reputation, he is looked upon by others with disfavor.

Since grace is such a crucial element in human relation­ships, it is no wonder that it is at the heart of that most important of all relationships -- the relationship between the Lord and the people He has created.  If we depend as children upon the grace and favor of our parents, and as adults upon that of our bosses, associates, clients or friends, surely the grace of the Lord must be of paramount importance.  More than anything else, we surely need the Lord's favor, kindness and grace.

But this need for the Lord's grace or favor is something we may seldom reflect upon, for the simple reason that we can so easily take it for granted.  Though we may fall out of favor with those around us, we need never worry that the Lord's grace towards us will cease, for His grace is constant and unchanging.

Now though this is an elementary principle -- namely, that the Lord's grace never ceases -- it is a principle which was nevertheless completely misunderstood by those who formulated traditional Christian doctrine. The whole of Christian theology centered around a belief that mankind had fallen from grace.  The belief was that because of the sin of Adam, he, and all his descendants, fell out of favor with God.  However, if people had faith in Jesus, then what He did, what He suffered, would count in their favor.  They would then be in a state of grace because of Him.

From this greatly mistaken idea -- the idea that mankind had fallen from grace -- two fundamental errors resulted.  First of all, there arose the idea that once people were received back into a state of grace, they would then have no need to fear hell.  Even though they might continue to do evil, God now favored them, and so would not hold their failings against them.  Second, it meant also that those without faith were damned.  It is no wonder that Christian missionaries traveled throughout the world to win converts.  It was their belief that without the Gospel, and thus the possibility of God's grace, those hea­then they failed to convert would inevitably go to hell.

All these ideas were based upon the belief that the Lord's grace is not constant, upon the belief that He doesn't always look favorably upon us.  And yet how mistaken these people were!  The Lord's face is always smiling upon us; He is always gracious towards us.  He does not smile at some people and frown upon others.  He loves us all.  He doesn't have favorites.  If we ever have some vague feeling in the back of our minds that in some sense we are favored by the Lord more than others, perhaps be­cause we are New Church, or perhaps because we think that our lives are more upright than others, then we are mistaken.  On the other hand, if we think that because of the wrong things we have felt and thought, or said and done, the Lord no longer favors us, then we are equally mistaken.  Grace is the Lord's affection for us, and this grace is constant and unchanging.

We must realize, though, that the benefits and effects of grace are limited unless we ourselves are also gracious.  If somebody favors us, is kindly towards us, and wants to benefit us, it does no good if we are antagonistic towards him and refuse his bene­fits.  If we are ungracious enough to reject what somebody gra­ciously offers us, then, though he may indeed be gracious, his generosity can have no effect upon us.  And this is, of course, the way it is with the Lord's grace.  Though His grace is unceasing in its efforts to help us and bestow benefits upon us, still, whether or not we actually receive the benefits depends upon wheth­er we in turn are gracious enough to accept what He offers us.

We have all heard of people being too proud to accept help from their friends.  Whether we regard this trait as an admirable independence, or else as a act of stubborn stupidity, one thing is clear.  It is one thing to want to be independent of help from our friends.  It is quite another thing to want to be independent of help from the Lord.  If we are too proud to turn to the Lord for help and for benefits, then we are stupid beyond all measure.

The Word makes it quite clear that not only do we need the Lord's help desperately, but we in fact need His greatest mercy.  Our state is such that the only way we can be saved is by the pure mercy of the Lord. This is a difficult teaching to accept.  We tend to be so proud, so independent, so full of self-interest, that we can only, with the greatest difficulty, accept that we are, in reality, utterly weak, utterly helpless, and utterly lost without the Lord.  What is more, the Writings even point out that this is a teaching we cannot really accept.  We might intellectu­ally acknowledge that we are in need of mercy from the Lord.  But we don't really feel this in our hearts.

This has not always been the case with people.  Those in the Most Ancient Church would approach the Lord with the most pro­found humility, knowing that without Him they were absolutely nothing.  They not only needed the Lord's mercy, as we do; they also knew that they needed it.  Such people were called celestial.  Since the fall of the Most An­cient Church, people have not been as capable of seeing and feeling this truth about themselves.  Such people are called spiritual, rather than celestial.  And, with those who are spiritual, pride arising from hereditary evil has resulted in less humility before the Lord. Nevertheless, though spiritual people might not be capable of feeling so intensely the need for mercy from the Lord, still they are capable of feeling that they need His help.  Even though those born after the fall, might not desire the Lord's mercy, they are still capable of desiring the Lord's help, favor and grace. This is why, in the letter of the Word, the Lord's mercy towards those of a spiritual church is called grace. For example, we read of Noah, who represented the Ancient Church -- the first spiritual church -- that he found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.  So too, in the case of the New Church -- and the New Church also is a spiritual church -- the Lord's blessing is said to be one of grace: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

The Lord offers us His kindness, His favor.  He indeed offers us His everlasting mercy, but we, in most states, are incapable of fully appreciating this.  But we can surely under­stand that we at least need His help, His grace.  Even though we are proud by nature, we can stop ourselves from being so proud that we reject the Lord's help.

This, though, is just what an evil person does.  He rejects the Lord's gracious offers of help.  So confident is he of his own judgment, his own understanding of things, that he doesn't listen to the Lord.  He doesn't want help.  He is too ungracious to receive it.  And so, though the Lord is still gracious towards him, the Lord's grace is not received, and therefore has no effect.  Indeed, an evil man not only refuses the Lord's grace, but actually denies that it exists.  This we might expect.  When the Lord tries to help us, He offers us heaven.  He teaches us and shows us how we must live in order to receive and experience love and charity.  It is the greatest kindness He could show us.  He is truly gracious.  But for an evil man, this kindness does not seem like kindness at all.  He loves evil, and when he learns that the Lord teaches the shunning of evil, he regards this gracious counsel from the Lord as a harsh unreasonable command.  He does not receive the Lord's guidance favorably.  Indeed, he rejects it.

And yet this need not be the case.  Of course we tend to be proud.  Of course we tend to trust our own judgment and feel that we are in no need of advice and help.  We don't, by our very nature, see any need to turn to the Lord, listen to Him, and pray for to Him for strength.  But if we make the effort to listen to the Him, listen to His Word, we can in time come to see that we do need help, we do need saving.  If we take the trouble to learn from the Word, and then reflect upon our evil ways -- we can then for the first time receive the Lord's grace.

This grace is, we are taught, nothing else that the affection of truth.  To receive the Lord's grace is to come into a state in which we are af­fected, deeply affected, by His truth . . . affected to the point where we take delight in both learning and doing the truth.  Once we reach this state, where we listen to the Lord's truth and do what He tells us, then every other blessing of heaven, every other blessing of the New Church, can follow.  Without such an attitude, though, nothing but the curses of hell can follow.  The hells are popu­lated by countless men and women who were convinced that their own judgment, their own understanding, was correct, and that they needed no help from the Lord's Word.

Let us then open our hearts up to the graciousness of the Lord.  Let us listen to what He tells us, and then do it.  The Lord has come a second time and opened His Word so that we can understand it, and so receive countless blessings.  But whether or not we receive the many blessings which result from His Second Coming depends upon us.  It is the Lord who blesses us with His grace.  But only a humble person can receive His blessing.  We must be humble enough to realize, in our hearts, that we do need the Lord's help; we do need the Lord's salvation; we do indeed need the graciousness of the Lord.

Amen.

Lessons: Gen. 6:1-9

 Rev.22:12-21

 AC 598

Genesis 6:1-9 1Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

3And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive£ with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5Then £the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

9This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

Rev.22:12-21

12“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the £Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

14Blessed are those who £do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15£But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

16“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

17And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

18£For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, £God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God£ shall take away his part from the £Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

20He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be £with you all. Amen.

AC 598. He found grace in the eyes of Jehovah, signifies that the Lord foresaw that the human race might thus be saved. The Lord's mercy involves and looks to the salvation of the whole human race; and it is the same with His "grace" and therefore the salvation of the human race is signified. By "Noah" is signified not only a new church, but also the faith of that church, which was the faith of charity. Thus the Lord foresaw that through the faith of charity the human race might be saved (concerning which faith hereafter).  

[2] But there is a distinction in the Word between "mercy" and "grace" and this in accordance with the difference that exists in those who receive them; "mercy" being applied to those who are celestial, and "grace" to those who are spiritual; for the celestial acknowledge nothing but mercy, and the spiritual scarcely anything but grace. The celestial do not know what grace is; the spiritual scarcely know what mercy is, which they make one and the same with grace. This comes from the ground of the humiliation of the two being so different; they who are in humiliation of heart implore the Lord's mercy; but they who are in humiliation of thought beseech His grace; and if these implore mercy, it is either in a state of temptation, or is done with the mouth only and not from the heart. Because the new church called "Noah" was not celestial but spiritual, it is not said to have found "mercy" but "grace" in the eyes of Jehovah.