Scandalous Grace

Scripture:  Romans 4:1-5; 13-17

For almost a hundred years it was the conventional wisdom and belief that it was not possible for the human body to run a mile in less than four minutes.  We really did not keep track of things like world records until the 1800s. The first person to be recognized as holding the world record for the fastest mile was Charles Westhall in 1855 with a time of 4:28. The fastest runners in the world kept getting the time lower and setting new records, but they could not get a time below four minutes.   In 1945 a Swedish runner seemed to confirm the impossibility of a four-minute mile by setting a new record with a time of 4:01.4.   In the world of sports, it became a given that a four-minute mile truly was impossible.  A four-minute mile was just impossible. . . until it wasn’t.  In 1954 Roger Banister of England broke the barrier and ran a mile in 3:59.4.   He had done the impossible.   Banister’s impossible feat stood in the record books for only forty six days, at which point Australian John Landy turned in a mile of 3:58.  Since Banister first ran a mile in under four minutes, the world record has been broken eighteen times, and currently the record for the fastest mile is 3:43.13, well below what experts once thought was physically impossible. 

The four-minute mile is often held up as an example of how what we think can hold us back.   Before Roger Banister some of the top runners who trained relentlessly and would run in the best conditions could not get their time under four minutes.  Banister was not a professional athlete.  He only trained part-time while pursuing a degree.   He also ran his record mile in less-than-ideal conditions.   It is often lifted up that the primary difference between Banister and the other top athletes of his day, is that Banister did not believe a four-minute mile was impossible.   Once he proved it was possible, within a few years at the highest-level track events it became standard for the winning time to be under four minutes.   It is often theorized that what kept runners from breaking the four-minute mile was not a matter physicality, it was a matter of belief.  They simply could not achieve what they believed to be impossible.    

 The story of Richard Bannister shows us that when we assume something is true, that belief can have influence over actions. Banister challenged the assumption of the less than four-minute mile, and once we showed it could be done that became the standard.   A similar dynamic is at work in this morning’s scripture.  The Apostle Paul challenges long held conventional wisdom about people’s relationship with God, and in doing so set a new standard for grace.  The new standard that Paul puts forth can continue to challenge conventional wisdom today. 

Last week we also looked at a scripture from Romans, so as a reminder in the book of Romans Paul is addressing the church in Rome that is made up of both Jewish believers and gentile, or non-Jewish, believers.   The primary point that Paul is trying to make in Romans is that despite their different cultural backgrounds all of the believers in the Roman church have the same need for grace through Jesus Christ.   Paul makes this case with a systematic approach that uses the philosophical wisdom and logic of his day.  This morning’s scripture is specifically addressed to the Jewish part of the congregation.  

We know this because Paul focuses on Abraham.  For the non-Jewish believers Abraham would not have had much relevance, but he was incredibly important to the Jewish believers.  We can read all about Abraham in the book of Genesis, and he is significant because it is with Abraham that God makes a covenant.  It is the covenant between God and Abraham that the Israelites traced back to make them God’s People.  Because of the covenant God was the God of Abraham, and as his descendants the God of Abraham was the God of the Israelites.  It was because of the covenant with Abraham that God gave the Israelites the law.  The conventional wisdom of the time at least in Jewish circles, was that they were the inheritors of the covenant.  One of the prevailing thoughts was that because of Abraham, because of the law they had a step up over others in being righteous, in right relationship with God. 

The whole point of this morning’s scripture is Paul pushing back against that, because if it is the covenant made that made him righteous and if it is following the law that saves, then it makes reconciliation with God, salvation, something that is earned.   This is the point Paul makes in verses 4 and 5.  If righteousness is earned, then it is like paying someone what they are owed, but our relationship with God is not something earned by our own merit.  As Paul writes in verse 5: “to the one who does not work but trust God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”   Paul also states in verse 16 “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all.” 
 
Because Paul was so meticulous in the book of Romans he builds this viewpoint out in detail, and this morning’s scripture is just a portion of the overall section where he makes this point.   In the letter to the Ephesians Paul makes the same point as he does in this morning’s scripture a lot more succinctly.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works so that one can boast.” 

The conventional wisdom of Paul’s time is that it was through Abraham’s actions and making the covenant that he could be considered righteous, and it was the conventional wisdom that following the descendants of Abraham by living into that covenant and following the law would be saved, but in this morning’s scripture Paul challenges this conventional wisdom by pointing to grace not works.  Just like a sub-four-minute mile was impossible until it was not, this view of grace accepted through faith, rewrote the rules.  During the time of Paul this would have been considered radical, it would have been a case of scandalous grace.  Today, the understanding that we are saved by grace through faith and not through what we do or through the covenant that an ancestor made with God, is standard.    Yet, as this scripture points out it was not always the case.   Grace through Jesus Christ rewrote the rules, it made the impossible, possible.   Grace challenged conventional wisdom of Paul’s day, and I have to wonder in what ways does grace challenge some of the conventional wisdom today.   Just like it was in Paul’s day, there are still ways that grace might be a little scandalous.  

In this morning’s scripture, Paul points out that we are saved by grace through faith not works, and as followers of Jesus who seek to model our lives on grace I think there is a piece of conventional wisdom that grace can really challenge.   The conventional wisdom today is that “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”  The origins of this phrase can be traced back to the nineteenth century.  At this time, it was common for saloons to offer a “free lunch” to someone if they purchased a beer.  The food served was often not terribly filling and it had a high salt content, all of which encouraged the patrons to buy more beer.  As an opinion piece from a 1873 Newspaper quipped, “One of the most expensive things in the city- a free lunch.”   The phrase, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” began as a warning to people to be on the lookout for marketing gimmicks, but even though bars stopped the practice of a free lunch long ago the phrase has hung around. The phrase gained popularity in the 1970s when it was the title of a bestselling book by economist Edwin Dolan.  Today the phrase is often used in economic context to convey the idea that everything has a cost of some sort.
 
  While that is technically true and thinking of hidden or unintended costs can be helpful or prudent, the idea of “no such thing as a free lunch” is often used cynically today.  It is most often used as a criticism of social programs that benefit groups of people more in need of help.  The phrase is often used to justify an argument that I should keep what is mine instead of it being used for the betterment of others or society. The wisdom of today is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and people are incredibly concerned with others taking advantage of the system and getting something for nothing.   There is a lot of hand wringing today because a lot of people are concerned that someone else is going to get a free lunch at their expense.   But that is not a grace-filled way to approach life, because grace is never earned, it is a free gift without expectation.  
 
 Grace absolutely had a cost.   This morning when we celebrate the sacrament of communion, we remember the cost.  The body of Christ broken for us, the blood of Christ poured out for the forgiveness of sins.   The motivation of Jesus was not “what do I get out of this?”  The motivation was love, and that love for each of us is so strong, that even if you were the only person Jesus could save by his sacrifice, it is still a cost that would be paid without hesitation.   
 
The conventional wisdom of “there’s no so thing as a free lunch” is motivated by a point that put’s self-first, it is a viewpoint that is about keeping what is mine.  Grace is the exact opposite.  It is motivated by being other focused.  It’s motivated by selfless love.   In Paul’s day grace challenged the conventional wisdom by pointing out that grace may be guaranteed to all and today grace challenges us to be focused on others with selfless generosity. 
 
Over the past few years, a number of churches have found ways to put grace into practice.   One of the greatest worries that Americans have is related to expenses from a medical emergency.  Medical debt is an American problem, with one quarter of households reporting they have difficulty paying for medical expenses in the past.   Churches have found ways to address this issue in a way that leads with grace.  A few years ago the mega-church Northview Christian in Carmel, IN paid off $7.8 million in medical debt for almost 6,000 families.  
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The Carmel church did not raise almost $8 million to do this, what they did was buy unpaid debt from medical institutions.  They were able to buy the debt at pennies to the dollar, and then instead of trying to collect the church forgave the debt.   Dozens of other churches in Indiana have also done this as well as hundreds around the country.   They are not all mega-churches with vast budgets.  A Couple of years ago Acton United Methodist Church outside of Indianapolis which has an average attendance of a little over 100 raise around $20,000 to pay off $2 million of medical debt.  
 
The churches do not end up knowing the families they helped, but these families were relived the burden of massive debt because of the kindness of followers of Jesus.  Yes, there is a cost to this kindness, but that should not be a hinderance.  This morning’s scripture helps point out that what makes grace be grace is that it is fa free gift to the receiver, it is never earned or deserved.  But if on the cross Jesus paid it all for us, then grace challenges us today to consider how we might selflessly give out of love to help others.   There are many ways to do this, and paying off medical debt is one way that some churches have found that they can put grace into practice today. 
 
In this morning’s scripture Paul challenges the conventional wisdom of the day by point to grace.   Grace was scandalous then and grace is still scandalous today, because to take grace seriously means we have to admit that we cannot save ourselves and that we are in need of the gift of God’s forgiving love.    Grace is also scandalous because if we are going to live as followers of Jesus, then we must also lead with grace like Jesus does.  This means that focus is on others and motivation is selfless love. So may we lead with grace, because it is grace that saves us.  May we lead with grace because it is due to grace that faith is credited as righteousness.  May we lead with grace, because that is what this world needs now more than ever.