GRACE TO FACE THE HOURS
Scripture Reference: Job 14:1-5
A few weeks back, a movie came out entitled, "The Hours." Though the underlying theme of homosexuality may surprise you, the critics declare the movie was thought provoking as it dealt with how individuals handle the stresses of life as each tick of the clock reminds each one how quickly time does move.
A male character, dying of AIDS, declares just before he throws himself out an open window, "You still have to face the hours." A female character, who after filling her pockets with rocks walks into a river, thinks about the suicide note she left for her husband, looking back to the love and the hours they have spent together. Another female character tries to end her life by overdosing on pills.
The message for those left behind "You still have to face the hours."
No matter how well planned a life may be, the potential for sudden change is always present. When that change comes; when things don’t work out the way one thinks they should, one still has to face the hours.
What can we do with the hours that stretch interminably before us, those hours we would rather not have to face? How do we arise to face each new day knowing that the hours will come in spite of our denial, and avoidance strategies?
What do you do when you know that no matter what you wish for or fantasize about; the morning will still come and with it the hours that you will still have -- to face that same problem, that same crisis, that same situation, that same debt, that same employer, that same co-worker, that same family member? I am going to tell you in a moment how to face the hours.
For me this may be the last sermon on grace for a while, but for us this should not be the last application of grace. Grace may not be in the titles for a time, but it should be in the text of our lives everyday.
For four months this year we sought to understand this thing called “grace”. We were taught it was God’s unmerited, unearned favor applied to His creation in general, but received by His children specifically.
If you are God’s child, then it is only by God’s favor.
If you are alive, then it is only by God’s favor.
If you still have food and shelter even though your money is still messed up, then it is only by God’s favor.
If you are not consumed, defeated, or destroyed then it is only by God’s favor.
It may not make sense this grace…it may seem to simple to believe…it may appear to be a catch…why, because you are trying to figure out why God would give us favor not on the basis of how bad I am and not on the basis of how good you try to be, but just because He is who He is. The “I am that I am” God.
Can you hear Him this morning?
I am God
I am good
I am a protector
I am a provider
I am fair
I am holy
I am love
I am forgiving
I am your Savior
I am a giver of grace.
…From the mouths of men, arrogance and pride, but from the mouth of God affirming and powerful…
Listen, you have spent your whole life trying to earn your way through life. All of your life your parents, grandparents, or guardians have instilled in you to work for what you get, there is no such thing as a free lunch, you have to earn your way, pull your own weight.
Now you are told that there is something you could never earn or deserve, your flesh would almost rise up if you didn’t hear the rest of the story --- it’s free. Gates is not giving it, Cosby is not giving, Buffet is not giving, Ted Turner is not giving it.
Oprah gives away gifts, the Fannie Mae foundation gives away grants, Wal-Mart gives away goods, but only God gives away life changing and life sustaining grace.
I have realized that God has with grace let you make your own decisions, chart your own destiny, and design your own purpose for yourself with patience and tenacity. He knows that there is something better for you, but He doesn’t come down and get in your face, scream, or yell you back to reality.
So often He allows you to run your determined course; you sin but rather than a flogging, forgiveness; rather than condemnation, conviction, correction, and comfort; rather than a I told you so, a I still love you and care for you.
He allows you to go out, but not too far out. You are at a place where your stuff owns you, your business owns you, your job owns you, your pleasure owns you, it doesn’t seem like God has in say in your life at all.
Yes, God would like for you to wait on Him, seek His counsel, get His wisdom, apply His word, before you act, think, or do, but when we don’t He either applies discipline in grace or He allows us to crash and burn still in grace for our correction.
If you are not careful, you could be tempted to think that others receive more grace than you. You may feel that there are people who do less, but seem to get more. People who don’t care as much or give as much, but seem to be brimming over with favor – that’s not fair.
You are the one struggling, but she’s the one throwing away money.
You are the one looking for a spouse, but they have two and three marriages.
You are trying to have child, they two and three they don’t want.
You are the one praying everyday; they pray no prayers, but show up with what you have been praying for.
You have an apartment you keep clean trying to get into a house, they have house they don’t keep clean.
You arrived to work on time, take the right amount time for lunch, and work late, but they get the promotion, the raise, the bonus, the praise.
If you are not careful you can face the hours forgetting that grace is measured by the heart of the giver and not by the hand of the recipient. It doesn’t matter who seem to have more than you or have it better than you --- if it wasn’t for His grace you wouldn’t have the little bit that you have.
I could be in the family of the worse offs, I could be living at the address of “not able”, I should have been on skid row, but God who is rich in mercy and grace.
Transition
The poetic book called Job serves up for us a lesson on the grace we have to face the hours. He tells us in essence that our times are in the hands of the Lord. If this is so, then our manipulation of time will not change His plan for our lives.
Oh yes, it does seem that sometimes God’s path to the fulfillment of His plan is rather complicated, especially when He reminds us that the path for the believer is the narrow way, the straight way. In spite of our confusion about the hours, God’s Sovereignty must override our finite mental meanderings.
Look at the text once again:
Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. 5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Job 14:1 "How frail is humanity! How short is life, and how full of trouble! 2 Like a flower, we blossom for a moment and then wither. Like the shadow of a passing cloud, we quickly disappear. 3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? 4 Who can create purity in one born impure? No one! 5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.
Job has been through some stuff in his life. The opening verses of the first chapter speak of the character of the man, the conduct of the man, and the care of the man both privately and publicly.
And in just seven verses his whole life changed. He went from having a lot to having nothing. He went from being respected because he never acted wickedly
and never tried to deceive others, never been attracted to his neighbor’s wife, never refused to help the poor; never let widows live in despair or let orphans go hungry while he ate, while others try to hide their sins, he never concealed his --- to being accused by friends of a great and terrible sin against God.
In those early hours of this ordeal his wife with these words challenged him…"Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die."
His reply to her…"You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. --- Now that is the keeping grace of God.
For fourteen chapters he has had to face the hours. I don’t know what that translates into as far as days, weeks, or months, but suffice to say that time was not absent.
Several facts stand out in just those five verses in our text…I may not fulfill my proper homiletic task, but let me put it out there.
1. Humanity is frail…
2. Life is short and full of trouble…
3. God demands an accounting of that life no matter how short…
4. God has decided the length of our lives and know how many months we have…
So how should you be facing life with the knowledge that humanity is frail, life is short and full of trouble, God demands an accounting of your life no matter how short, God has decided the length of our lives and know how many months?
I have to ask…how are you going to live your life with the knowledge that humanity is frail, life is short and full of trouble, God demands an accounting of your life no matter how short, God has decided the length of our lives and know how many months?
I need to interrupt your thoughts or your sleep; in the next coming hours how will you spend your life with the knowledge that humanity is frail, life is short and full of trouble, God demands an accounting of your life no matter how short, God has decided the length of our lives and know how many months?
Job has put something on our minds. This didn’t come to mind before his situation but after. I believe that sometimes you have to go through something before you realize that humanity is frail, life is short and full of trouble.
But don’t you take another step, don’t leave out of here today without getting this down in you… God demands an accounting of your life no matter how short, God has decided the length of our lives and know how many months and we are not given a minute more. (We only have a little time)
I have lived approximately 458 months going into my 459th month. I look back and I see some bad decisions, some messed up choices, some arrogant positions, some stubborn situations, some controlling moments, some misspoken words, some lost friendships, and some prideful positions.
I also see my feelings hurt, my life judged, my motives questioned, my toes stepped on, my ego bruised, my words turned on me, my personality checked.
But I also see something that I hadn’t really noticed before. It was brushed stroked before, during, and after those seasons. It is not some of the choices undone. No, I don’t see some of the friendships mended. It is not that pride was eradicated because some of that still exists. I don’t see some apologies due or debts paid back.
Well, get to what you do see Pastor. You can’t guess it by now --- its grace. I see grace all through those 458 months. Does anybody here see grace in your life?
Calculate how many months you have had. Are you willing to admit there was some not so good stuff? Some of you look at me every week as though you don’t have a history. Even the best of us still belongs with the rest us in the eyes of God.
Okay Abraham, Pastor, Honey, Dad, Brother, you have proved your point. You have made your case. I do have a past and grace helped me through. But that was then and this is now. Give me some help. --- Grace --- Then and now.
We face the hours of our life by approaching the throne of grace and staying there. When we come to the throne of grace, we don’t have to wonder what our Father thinks about us because He always loves His people and welcomes them into His presence.
As John Newton wrote:
Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such
None can ever ask too much.
If before this present moment, before this situation, before this time God gave me grace and I didn’t know it or appreciate it, how much more will He provide me with grace for what I am facing now and what I will have to face after this?
Listen, grace doesn’t necessarily remove the situation or the problem but will help you in the midst of. I would rather live life with challenges caused by my obedience to God than life with challenges disobedient to God.
I have discovered that how you face your hours doesn’t have to be determined by what you have. I have found you can have less, but still praise God. I found you could still have the stuff and still miss God.
You can at the bottom and still look up. You can be broke and still bless somebody. You can be just an employee, but still smile and say, “Have a nice day.”
No matter what you are going through you will still have to face the hours, but we can rest in His assurance that our times, our life is in His hand. And since my life is in His hand I’m here to tell you that it is all right to help somebody.
It is all to trust God with the direction for your life, He won’t lead you astray.
It is all right to get up tomorrow and face the day.
It is all right to face the problem, the issue, the situation because you’ve got grace to help, to sustain you, to keep you from falling.
It is all right to serve a little more, it won’t mess you up.
It is all right to give a little more, it want break you.
It is all right be holy, it won’t weaken you.
It is all right to be Christlike, it won’t confuse you.
It is all right to help the youth, serve the elderly, feed the homeless, counsel the hurting, share the gospel, teach a class, it won’t shame you.
It is all right to get a degree to reverse the script and be a Christian with a degree than a graduate with some Christian influence.
The time to hide is over…
The time to regret is gone…
The time to live is now…
There was a powerful line in the movie spoken by Nicole Kidman’s character that went something like this as she reminiscent over the fact that her life was stolen from her:
“To look life in the face, to know it for what it is, to love it for what it is, is the right of every human being.”
You don’t have to let the thought of something stealing your life from you because God’s got it under control. With grace you can pray a little longer, read the word a bit more…
It was by grace…
Jesus was born in a manger…
He was raised in a poor environment…
Baptized in the Jordan River…
Healed while persecuted…
Ministered while castigated…
Suffered indignations too numerous to mention…
Locked up in a Roman jail cell….
Beaten all night long…
Condemned to a rugged cross…
Died between two thieves…
But early Sunday morning…He rose up from the dead.
And by His grace…
I can handle persecution
I can handle trouble
I can handle evil
I can handle opposition
I can handle death
CLOSE
