My Ministry in a Nutshell

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

May 28, 2006

Text: Ephesians 2:8-10

The majority of the adults on our church roll had not been born in June, 1961, when I graduated from seminary one week, began work as an associate pastor the next week and got married the week after that. In June, 1961, 2006 seemed light years away, but now looking back, 1961 seems as close as a few months ago.

During the 45 years since leaving seminary, I have preached just under 2,000 sermons and most of them were preached two or three times each Sunday. What did I say in all that talking?

A couple of years ago, the mother of one of the teenage boys in our congregation told me her son did not want to come to worship. The reason he gave was: “I know what Jim is going to say; he has only one sermon.” I do not know if the young man was merely giving his mother a hard time or whether he was so astute he had tagged me correctly. From all I have read of preachers across the centuries, I am convinced most of us preachers have been given only one sermon to preach and a life time to try to get it said right. So, that rebellious teenager was right even though he was probably unaware of the profound truth he was saying.

The essence of what I have tried to preach in both words and deeds is the truth and wisdom the passage we read this morning points toward. So, let's look at this passage, phrase by phrase.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.... When we Christians talk about salvation much of the time all we are talking about is being rescued from hell when we die. But salvation is not just a concept about being rescued from hell when we die. Salvation also has to do with being rescued from misspent living, rescued from wrong priorities, rescued from the ways we distort our living and do harm to our neighbor and the world we live in.

But the word we translate as “saved” also means much, much more than just being rescued. The New Testament word for salvation also has to do with being healed and made whole or complete. This is to say, salvation has to do with being set right with God. When we are set right with God we live as we were created to live. When we live as persons saved by grace, our priorities and values are consistent with God's will, and we use all our time, ability and money to express our love for God and neighbor. In our daily living what we say and do is consistent with God's will.

But we tend to resist living under the dominion of God's will. We humans have a tendency to do what we want with life and our lives. We tend to want a relationship with God sort of like our relationship with our doctor or lawyer or auto mechanic. We want God to help us when we need help, but not to get in the way of our doing what we want to do.

We do not mind helping our neighbor every once in a while; in fact, we rather enjoy the change of pace and it makes us feel good about ourselves. But total commitment to God's will? Well, let's change the subject. We do not mind coming to worship every so often if the music is to our liking, and the sermon reinforces what we already believe and the people are friendly but not intrusive. But to live so in harmony with God that all we say and do is really an expression of our worship and commitment to God? Who can do that?

If salvation has to do with restoring our relationship with God so that we live each moment as God intends, who can be saved? How can any us of be rescued from all that seduces us away from God? How can any of our sin sick souls be healed? How can any of us experience the kind of completeness, the kind of wholeness God intends us to experience? How can any of us be saved?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God....” “Saved by grace through faith” whatever else this means, it means that it is God's love at work in our lives that finally makes us whole. And this love comes into our lives as a gift. How it comes into our lives is as varied as are our lives. God is not limited in the ways God makes grace available to us.

And when we become aware of God's love -- so aware of it we trust it completely -- the grace of God transforms our perception of life and that means God's grace shapes our living. Once we have been awakened to God's love, once we have been made sensitive to the grace of God at work in life, our perception of life is somewhat like fish in the ocean. Fish live and move and have their being in the ocean. Just so, those who are aware of God's love and live confidently trusting God's love, live and move and have their being in the grace of God, and God's grace shapes their daily living -- similar to the way the ocean shapes the living of the fish.

But the grace of God, the love of God, is not just any kind of love. It is the grace of God revealed in Jesus and through Jesus. This is not to say that only those who know about Jesus are able to experience God's love, but it is to say that it is only when we compare the love we see and experience with the love we see in Jesus that we are able to verify that love as being the grace of God. The grace that saves and makes us whole is the grace revealed, identified, in Christ Jesus.

It is the activity of God's grace (the grace Jesus has made known to us) that enables us to live as God intends us to live --to swim through life as God created us to do. This grace, this dynamic love revealed in Jesus that is at work in us and on us is what empowers us to live as God intends. But for God's grace to empower our living we must have faith. It is by faith we are able to access the grace that is given. To be the persons God has created us to be, we must trust God's love so completely, embrace God's love so fully, God's love to shape our living. We are saved, made whole, rescued from distorted living by grace which we access through faith.

“...and this is not your own doing; it is a gift from God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” It's like this. Imagine a man caught in flood waters about to drown. In the debris of the flood, a log floats by; the man grabs hold of the log and is saved from drowning. Some might say he saved himself by grabbing hold of the log floating by. But a more accurate observation is that the floating log is what saved him from downing.

When we trust God's love that is at work in the flood waters of life so completely that we embrace it, it is not our act, our work of embracing God's grace that saves us; it is God's grace we have embraced that makes our lives complete; it is God's grace we have embraced that brings healing to our souls; it is God's grace we trust so completely it shapes our living that rescues us from distorting our lives. Just as the man who grabbed hold of that log could not really brag about saving himself; neither can we who have embraced God's love. We have a lot to rejoice and give thanks for, just as the man saved from drowning rejoiced and gave thanks for the log.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift from God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Next, this passage tells us that while our works do not save us, we have been created for the purpose of doing the kind of good works Jesus did. This is why we have been created -- to do the kind of work God wants us to do. The passage put it this way: “For we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

When we live genuinely trusting God's grace, God's grace just naturally shapes our living, and we find we are incomplete unless we do good works similar to those we see in Jesus Christ. Our doing good deeds is not our attempt to manipulate others or God; our good works are not a ploy for recognition. Our good works are the byproduct of salvation, the byproduct that flows from us when we are made whole by the grace of God. Just as a bird responds to springtime by singing, we respond to God's grace by doing good works. This is the way God has designed life. We have been created to live with confident trust in the grace of God, and when we do, our doing good works is the inevitable byproduct.

The teenager who said I only had one sermon, was speaking profound truth, whether he was aware of it or not. I have been given one sermon to preach, and after 45 years, I am still trying to get it right.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift from God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what (God) has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

God, enable us to grasp the Gospel contained in this passage the way that man grabbed hold of the log in the flood so that we find ourselves not merely rescued by your grace from all that can drown us but made whole and complete by your grace shaping all we say and do. Amen.

Pastoral prayer:
God, on this Memorial Day weekend we remember those men and women who have died serving this nation. We also pay tribute to those who are yet alive but carry physical and emotional scars of battle. We also remember the burden their sacrifice has placed on members of their families. Today we pray for all these women and men and their families. Give them comfort, strength and healing of body and soul. We also pray for all those who continue to be willing to go in harms way on our behalf. Enable them to be sensitive to your presence. Grant them the faith needed to draw upon all the resources your grace has to offer as they face what they alone must face. Teach our leaders and the leaders of all nations how to solve conflicts without the use of military force. Rescue the leaders of all nations from the illusion that revenge is the way to lasting peace. Show them and each of us how to put into action, your justice and your mercy. Show them and us the way to peace. All this we pray in the name of the Prince of Peace who taught us to pray: "Our Father ...."