Grace Alone- OR We Need Grace Not Karma

 

“We Need Grace Not Karma- Grace Alone” Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:4,5

A sermon preached on Reformation Sunday at Spring Valley Presbyterian 10/26/25

Here is the link to the 10:30 worship service https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZaL3IJanJM&t=119s

We all want grace not karma.  Karma is the idea that you get back what you deserve.  Grace is the idea that you get better than you deserve.  Which would you choose?  We may want karma for others, but we really want grace for ourselves.  When someone treats me poorly (i my worst moments)- I tend to want karma for them.  “Instant karma will get you” [I might say to the guy who almost ran into me as I was driving].  But when I drive poorly I want to throw up my hand and “say I’m sorry” and expect that person not to be mad.  Karma is the idea “an eye for an eye- a tooth for a tooth.” Ghandi who was very familiar with the Hindu concept of Karma supposedly said, “An eye for and eye and tooth for a tooth” makes everyone blind and toothless.”

Today is Reformation Sunday.  It is the day we remember the Protestant church was formed when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the wall of the Wittenburg cathedral door.   At the time the church was so controlling of people to the point that church bureaucrats, scholars and experts were taking the place of God.  We take these things for granted.  You couldn’t pray directly to God for forgiveness- you had to go through a priest.  You couldn’t read the Bible in your own language- you had to be dependent on a priest to translate it from Latin and read it to you.   They were saying then that you were saved by grace and doing good.  The watch cry for the Reformation were the solas- Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone, Glory to God alone, Christ alone, and the priesthood of all believers.  I will be speaking about these key ideas that help shape who we are as a church today.  Today I will be speaking about grace alone.  

         We all need more grace.  I was listening to a guy on the radio say he didn’t think he could become a Christian because it wasn’t fair.  It is not fair that a person who is mostly good (by our standards) doesn’t get to go to heaven but a thief on the cross who has been bad his whole life is welcomed to heaven.  How is that fair?  It is not!  But if we got what is fair none of us would make it to heaven.  If getting into heaven meant getting a 100, we might say “My 45 on the test is better than your 25”  but they both fail.  Heaven is a perfect place and if we let even one person in who has messed up one time- it would not be a perfect place.  We need God’s grace to make up for our imperfect score.  We need God to forgive us.  

The other problem with this radio guy’s idea is that not only is no one perfect, but how good do you have to be?  If a policeman is at the traffic light watching every day and you stop 100 times, but then you run it once- will the officer not stop you?  Will the officer say, “I saw you stop a hundred times so it’s okay.”  Maybe you didn’t rob that bank for 40 years but then one time you did.  Does that mean it is not as bad it could be or mean that robbing the bank is not bad?  There is no grace with fentanyl drugs.  You may just say no a thousand times- but if you take it once, you can die.  The Bible says two condemning things: 1) All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God- in other words none of us are perfect- none of us deserve heaven; and 2) the wages of sin are death.   Martin Luther was a trained monk.  He was deeply aware of his sin and the church then said you must confess your sin or you might die in it.  If you did not confess before you died, you would go to hell or at least purgatory.  So Luther was constantly confessing his sins to his abbot.  I didn’t pass the salt quickly enough when asked.  I had a bad thought toward the one who asked me to pass the salt.  He would constantly run to his abbot- to the point that the abbot was tired of his confessions and said, “Why don’t you go out and do something really bad and then confess it.”

       The Church was also saying some things that combined grace with works.  They were saying these things to try to scare people into doing good.  But the Bible says we are not saved by being good but by grace- what Jesus did on the cross was enough- sufficient to pay for our sins.  We don’t need to act like it wasn’t sufficient by trying to make up for sin.  So the church was trying to build St Peters basilica- still today on of the biggest church buildings in the world.  They were running short on funds so they told their clergy to tell the people that if they gave money to the church their sins would be forgiven- and maybe they could also get their grandmother or grandfather out of hell or purgatory.  The monk that spoke this in Luther’s town said, “Every time a coin in the giving box rings, a soul from purgatory springs.”  Where does it say that in the Bible?  They were making it up- and everyone knew it!   The church was saying things like you were supposed to do your best-reach up- and then Christ will pull you up the rest of the way.  That sounds more like fairness.  But the Bible says that we are dead in our sins.  Dead people don’t reach up.  If we do reach up it is because someone has awakened us and enlivened us to reach up to Him.  The scripture says that if we are saved by being good instead of grace then we could boast about what we did: “Look at me- I earned my way.  I gave my ten percent- I helped five little old ladies across the street- I deleted that bad social media page.  Luther would say- do that- but not to be saved- but out of gratitude that Christ has saved you.  One of the solas was “Glory to Christ alone” not glory to me  for what I did for Christ.  We will cast our crowns before His.  He alone is worthy of all glory and honor and praise.  It is not about me it is not about you- it IS desperately about the God who made us and then redeemed us.    

     There is no perfect church.  I am sorry but Spring Valley is not perfect. It may be the perfect church for you- where you are supposed to be- but it is not perfect.  But neither is any other church- nor any other human organization this side of heaven.  In fact, the first question you must answer when you join the church is “do you admit that you are a sinner and in need of God’s mercy and grace?”  In other words- to join the church you must admit you are not perfect nor are you worthy of God’s help and grace.   If there are not perfect people on this side of heaven, then we cannot expect a perfect church on this side of heaven- for the church is made up of people.  We are a people who the Bible describes like clay- and the Great Potter is continually reshaping us and molding us.  So we need more grace as we are being molded- and re-made time and time again.  The word “disciple” does not mean “I’ve got it all.”  The word disciple means learner.  PBPWMGIFWMY- be gracious.  Augustine said the church is not a museum for the saints but a hospital for sinners.  Grace is what we all need in the hospital.  We don’t need people criticizing us because we are sick or we are not perfect yet.  But if you are not perfect- this might be the place for you.  I have already found this church to be a hospitable and kind hearted church.  If the church said that we want all sinners to leave- we’d all get out.  We all stand equal at the foot of the cross in need of grace and mercy.  

      GRACE IS A GIFT- The word “grace” in Greek are so similar.  Charis (grace) and charisma (gift).  Grace is something   given freely that we don’t deserve.  Billy Graham used to say it was “God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.”   Grace is undeserved favor.  Mercy is not punishing us as we deserve; Grace is God’s blessing us when we do not deserve it.  Once a man could not make house payments.  That the bank did not foreclose on him was mercy.  That his friend heard about his demise and made his house payment was grace.  The ultimate mercy and grace is found in the cross of Christ.  We deserve to be punished for our sins against God, others, and ourselves.  It is merciful that He took our punishment on the cross.       The idea that we reap what we sew is in the Bible.  So is the idea of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  They were actually an improvement over the Mesopotamian laws where you cut off a hand for taking a piece of bread, or tear down a house for slandering a neighbor.  Karma is a natural idea- you hit me- I hit you back.  But Jesus talks about turning the other cheek.  Jesus talks about loving your enemies.  Jesus talks about leaving revenge to God.  We don’t have to be paralyzed by when someone hurt us in the past.  We don’t have to think that evil wins.  Evil is not conquered by being evil.  Love conquers evil.  Jesus shows us that on the cross.  Christ goes way beyond karma.  He does not treat us as our sins deserve.  But more than that is the grace of Christ brings us to heaven where there will be no more eyes poked out and no more teeth knocked out. We have a constant overflowing flow of grace.   For from His fullness we have received grace upon grace.  

         Not long ago, a man had an overwhelming credit card balance.  His sister heard about it and she did some research and paid it off anonymously.  When the man called the credit card company to tell them he couldn’t pay his debt he found out it was paid.  He didn’t need to continue to ork to pay it off.  He just needed to receive the gift.  Our debt has been paid on the cross- than you Jesus!  We do not need to do good to pay off the debt.  But we do need to be grateful.  Part of this is to be generous.  Part of being grateful is not purposefully sinning.  Can you imagine the brother saying, “Wow, now I can gamble again!”  Calvin pointed out we do good not as servants who are paid but as children out of love.  Let us celebrate that there is more than karma.  That there is grace for us.  

To Know Christ and Zmake Him Known

 Jer. 9:23-24; Phil 3:7-14. 9/28/25. EPC

This is what the LORD says:“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.24But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD,dwho exercises loving kindness justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,”
7But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in a Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 
Jeremiah had just predicted the utter destruction and captivity of Jerusalem.  This happened in 586.  If you knew that everything you had would be gone,  it would change your perspective. There isn’t real wisdom in asking- if everything I treasure disappears, what am I left with? 
    In 1988 Kay had just had our second baby.  I was trying to cook supper- and I was frying French fries the old fashioned way with hot oil. I got distracted by a phone call and had to go to the back of the house.  When I was back there I heard this explosion.  The. Pot had exploded with heat and a fire was burning the kitchen cabinets and was going into the attic.  You’re not supposed to do this- but I rushed the pot out the back door, then got a fire extinguisher and put out the flames while Kay called the fire department.  Back then we didn’t have much, but everything was tinged with smoke and much was ruined and burned up in just seconds.  The old question is, “If your house caught fire, what would you save first?  The answer should be your family- but what’s next? 
    NOT BOASTING Jeremiah tried to save his people by getting them to turn to God and then getting them to surrender instead of being killed.  They would not listen.  But he gave us this beautiful verse inspired by the Holy Spirit- no doubt.  In our culture how much is spent on what is temporary- and we know it.  In my mind, such devotion to the temporary good takes away from the better eternal.  So in the face of destruction, let not the wise or skillful person boast in their earthly wisdom.  All the books will be burned.  I have visited a lot of brillliant men and women who have lost their ability to think with dementia.  Specifically, I visited one of my old college professors- a brilliant guy who had written several books.  But he couldn’t remember his name.  It is so sad- but there is a truth here.  Let not the strong and powerful person boast in their strength- the strongest will be bent or die.  I remember talking to a man who owned multiple gyms in our area- he was a good friend. He worked out a lot and was in excellent shape. But the doctors had told him his muscles were not producing enough testosterone to keep from shrinking.  He was so sad.  Jeremiah goes on to say “Let not the wealthy boast in their wealth.”  You can’t take it with you.  In the book of Ecclesiastes, it speaks of the vanity of wealth and how we must leave it all behind.   The old saying goes that “I’ve never seen a UHaul trailing a hertz to a graveyard.”  Much less a tiny columbarium niche. Now these three things are things Jeremiah says not to boast about- I want my children and grandchildren to have- use your mind, your body, and have enough to be comfortable. Yet there are limits.  What have you become addicted to that has become your God?  Temporary gods die a hard death. Today I might ask for how long can you leave your phone behind? The more of these things you have, the harder it is to hold them lightly in this life.  But the one thing that doesn’t fade away is the God who made us and loves us.  Jeremiah knew experientially that all he had would be gone.  He had been put in prison.  The people of his home town of Anathoth tried to kill him because he asked them to turn away from false gods.  They wanted to worship multiple gods to cover all the bases.  They were the choosers of God instead of thinking God is their Sovereign King.  Jeremiah had lost all he had already.  He knew what was important and wanted to tell the people- quit boasting or wallowing in the comfort of temporary things.  In Hebrew the word “boast” is “let-Halel” from which we get our word “Hallelujah.”  Literally, it says “quit glorying in your wisdom, strength, and riches.” Or it could be translated quit praising your wisdom, strength, and riches- or quit worshiping your wisdom, strength, and riches.  Hold lightly to these things- because you will have to let them go.  By the way with the rise of social media, there has been a rise in the amount of money Americans spend on beauty products- nearly doubled for the younger generations we spend $6.6 trillion each year on trying to be pretty or handsome.  I have heard many times when someone looks at an open casket- “Doesn’t she look beautiful- or doesn’t he look handsome.”  I don’t say it, but I want to say it- that’s just makeup. The exterior things are temporary- don’t look at the outside of the cup Jesus said.  If you were told a hurricane may destroy-all you have, how would yo prepare?  Go buy some books in case the internet goes out? a generator, chain saw?  But if it was a cat 5- wouldn’t-matter.  What role does your faith play  in preparing for a hurricane?  if the way you prepare for the disasters in your life or death is to do everything but-call out to God then you need to listen to Jeremiah.
KNOWING GOD- But God doesn’t leave us hopeless- Jeremiah knows this too.  There is something we can boast about- and it is the one thing that we often hide- that is our faith.  If anyone wants to boast let them boast that they understand and know me.  Knowing God is so important.  Jesus said as recorded in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life- that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  Paul said that he considered everything rubbish- garbage- compared to the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. 
A) THIS IS NOT JUST KNOWING ABOUT GOD- Knowing facts about God are important.  James says the demons know about God and shudder.  It is possible to know about God and still be evil in your heart.  But when you know God relationally- when you love Him- and want to know Him better- it transforms you.  I can say after 45 years of marriage I have been changed for the better- sometimes it has been difficult for me to be shaped, and many times it has been difficult for my wife to help me be a better person.  But when you love someone- it changes who you are.  You want to please them.  Some of you guys need to remember when you first were dating how you did anything to make her happy- and some of you gals need to remember how patient you were when you were dating and how you were able to overlook some things better.  You do not stop growing in knowledge of someone in marriage or in any kind of friendship.  You never stop growing in knowledge of God.  He is infinite and eternal.  Jeremiah picks three qualities here- loving kindness, justice, and righteousness.  We can grow in our knowledge of God in all of these areas. 

MAKE HIM KNOWN- To boast about knowing Him- means to let others know.  Do not be ashamed of your faith.  It is what brings you joy, hope, love, grace, strength.  Food is my love language.  I love to eat.  I don’t mind talking about my latest meal or my favorite restaurant.  If I find a new helpful app for my phone- I share it with people- I like to talk about the YOUVERSION Bible app.  When I have been working on houses on a mission trip- I will say, “Here use this tool- it works great.”  When you find something good you want to share it.  This is the same with knowing God.  I have a friend in God- and you can be his friend too.  Come and meet my friend. He’ll be in church Sunday and I’ll introduce you.  I am not embarrassed to introduce my wife` or my children or my grandchildren.  I am proud of them.  I boast about them because I love them.  If you love God- and to know God is to love God- then you will want to introduce Him.  Make Him known.   [Calvin]Jeremiah says in 29, “If you seek me you will find me if you search for me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah wanted others to seek Him.  It is possible to know God as sure as you know anything else.  You know Him by faith.  But we all live by faith somewhat.  If I get in my car- I know my brakes will work.  Now I don’t go look under my hood to make sure there is brake fluid or look underneath the car to inspect my brakes every time.  I know they will work.  I know the sun will come up tomorrow because I trust it will.  I don’t scour the news to see if someone is predicting it won’t come up.  Everyday I know things by faith.  Knowing God is not any different.  There is security in knowing my brakes work and the sun will come up.  There is peace that comes when you are able to live by faith in the small things.  How much more peace comes from knowing God.  Spread the peace in a world that desperately needs God’s peace.  Eastminster you have done it for over 75 years.  Keep spreading the knowledge of God. 

Douglass Key said this was my “swan song at Eastminster.”. So let me end with this (from Casting Crowns): “I’m just a nobody… trying to tell everybody… all about somebody who saved my soul. Ever since He rescued me, He gave my heart a song to sing.  And I want the world to see nobody but Jesus.”

I man the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen