Nobody's Prize

Nobody's Prize--May 22, 2018

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." [Titus 3:4-7]

There's nothing but grace at every turn.

The mercy of God is ruthless to our self-importance in that way, giving no quarter and offering no sanctuary for our deal-making, point-tallying, bean-counting impulses to hide out and remain untouched.  The grace of God weeds out every little sprout of self-righteousness that takes root like crabgrass in our hearts.

These verses from what we call the Letter to Titus are relentless in that regard.  God does the saving, God does the giving, and God does the justifying.  And as if to make it perfectly clear, the apostle preemptively rules out that God did any of that as a reward for our good behavior or "works of righteousness."  Our goodness or badness, our number of moral actions versus immoral actions, simply do not factor into God's equation.  And is because, as the lyric of Jonathan Rundman put its so well, that God's grace and forgiveness are "less like math, less like a deal," and "more like a heartbreak beginning to heal."

Not only are we saved by grace, apart from anything we have done, are doing, or will do, but even the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is, you guessed it kiddies, a gift of grace.  You don't earn the Spirit like a merit badge in Scouting, and you can't deserve the Spirt any more than you "deserve" the smell of rain or the beauty of a sunset.  These are gifts, and they depend on the goodness of the Giver, not the worthiness of the recipient.  Or rather, it is the goodness of the Giver that makes the Gift (the Spirit) possible for us, and because God chooses to give, we become worthy by God's say-so.  

But let's be clear: the Holy Spirit's presence in your life is not a reward for a job well done. The Spirit is nobody's prize. The Spirit is poured out simply on the terms of God's merciful choosing and God's reckless desire to give the farm away for free.

We religious folks sometimes play a rather silly game about all of this. We may say that anybody and everybody is eligible for believing in Jesus, and that you get "saved" by grace... but then, we say... but then, from there on out in the Christian life, it's all a matter of your effort.  You've got to pray enough, or give enough, or do enough in order to get the Spirit to act in your life, we might say.  Or, you've got to master these disciplines to get yourself "holy."  Or, you need to at least show some moral improvement for your spiritual permanent record.  It's all sort of a way of saying, "You get in the club for free... but then you have to pay your own way to stay in good standing."

And the actual writers of the New Testament call that all poppycock.

Nope, says the apostle here.  The Spirit is all grace, too.  Can't earn your way in to God's love. Can't earn your place to stay in.  Can't get "more" of the Spirit as a reward for good behavior, and can't trade holiness points in for a bigger share later, either.  The Spirit is lavished on blazer-wearing professionals with pleated khaki pants... and on tattooed night-shift bartenders. The Spirit is poured out on lifelong church members who haven't missed a Sunday since childhood, and on the stranger who has never darkened the door of a church building.  The Spirit is given to people who speak my language, and the Spirit is given to people who speak every other language on earth but mine. The Spirit is God's gift to me... and God reserves the right to give the same Spirit as a gift to my enemies, too.

There is never a point in this life of faith where the currency changes from mercy to my accomplishments.  There is never a point where God says, "Your first six months are free, but now you have to earn your keep around here."  Never.  The only economy the Spirit operates is the economy of mercy.

See?  It's grace at every turn.

Lord God, thank you for grace.  Give us the further gift of grace to see our need for it.