Like a Family--June 2, 2025

Like a Family--June 2, 2025

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:12-13)

Let me ask a potentially awkward question: does the effort we put into our lives and our labor matter, in the end?  Does the work we do mean anything beyond a paycheck--like, does God care about the way we spend--or waste--our lives and our talents?

And if so--if our work and effort and striving do make some kind of difference--then where do we Christians get off saying that we are saved by grace apart from our works or accomplishments?

That's the rub, isn't it?  On the one hand, we Christians (especially we Lutheran ones) make a big deal out of the bold assertion that we have been put into a right relationship with God through Jesus by grace through faith, apart from works of the law.  That is literally the starting point for the Protestant Reformation, and Martin Luther was certain he hadn't invented that idea, but got it from the Scriptures.  So on the one hand, you have this strong, clear assertion that we cannot earn God's love, and that salvation is not something you can achieve, buy, or win like an award.  It is only a gift, and it is given apart from how many good deeds we have done, how many rules we have followed, or how frequently we attended church.

On the flip side, though, there is an alternative perspective, as many of us heard in worship this past Sunday, that says that in some sense, Jesus will indeed "repay according to everyone's work." And that sure sounds like the opposite of "we're saved by grace through faith apart from works."  Doesn't it?

So what gives here?  Do our actions and choices matter?  Are we supposed to look forward to some kind of divine repayment on the basis of what we have done with our lives?  And if that is in any way true, do we have to give up all of our "saved by grace through faith" talk... even though that also comes from the Bible?

Let me propose that maybe these two notions are not contradictory, but two sides of the same coin.  Maybe it is true that we have been brought into God's family as a gift of grace without our earning it... and at the same time, that our choices matter, and God cares about whether we use our time and energy well, or whether we waste them on pursuits that are worthless in the end.  But maybe the image of family is the right place to start, because families are both communities bound by unconditional love and organizations in which members have obligations and responsibilities to each other at the very same time.

Think of it this way. How do you get into a family in the first place?  You can't earn your way in; that's for sure.  Belonging is only and always a gift.  Whether we are talking about our birth or adoption, or marrying into someone else's extended family, we cannot achieve our way into a family.  It is something given to you, and whether it is a mother giving birth to you, parents making promises at an adoption hearing, or your spouse promising to be faithful to you in marriage, you cannot buy, earn, or achieve that belonging.  All you can do is receive such belonging with thanks.  No one tells a newborn baby, "You have to earn your place in this family by carrying your own weight around here," but rather, a baby's place in the family is given wholly as a gift of unconditional love.

At the same time, there is a certain way you live together in a family--again, whether you are talking about the raising of children from infancy or the partnership and creation of new routines in a marriage.  And in particular when you are raising children, you want to encourage things that fit with the values of the family--things like helping each other out, cleaning up your messes, taking responsibility for your actions, and helping whoever is feeling in the greatest need of support at the moment.  Parents try to give their children opportunities to grow in those kinds of things--with responsibilities and chores, with incentives for following through, and, sure, with consequences for not stepping up to fulfilling those obligations of mutual care.  You don't get kicked out of the family for not making your bed or not putting away your folded laundry, but you might end up with some kind of consequence if you don't do what is yours to do in the family.  

On the flip side, you don't earn your place in the family by performing chores well enough--babies can't do anything that contributes to the running of the household, after all.  Neither do young children lose eating privileges if they leave their shoes on the floor.  But you might well encourage your children to make responsible choices and offer them greater freedom, more opportunities, or other good things as positive reinforcements.  None of it is as crude as a business deal or a this-for-that transaction (those are definitely not how a family works, much less the Reign of God), but there is certainly a sense in which parents give encouragements to their children to promote the kind of growth and character development that they want to see in them.  Those encouragements aren't the same as payments for services rendered, and they are not a matter of turning love into some kind of reward.  But it is still possible to see how a family can simultaneously be a community of unconditional love and of positive reinforcements at the same time.  You can't lose your belonging in the family by failing to do chores, and you didn't earn your way into the family by doing them well enough.  But you do grow into the kind of mature person who can show love to others as well as receiving love.  

So in a family, your actions matter--not as a means of "getting in" or avoiding getting "kicked out" of the family, but as a way of contributing to the well-being of all in the family.   You might not lose your place in the household if you never help with the dishes, but it does send the message that you don't care about anybody else in the family if you can never be bothered to put your plate into the dishwasher.  You might not lose your belonging in the family if you never put your clean laundry away, but it does communicate ungratefulness to the ones in the family who wash and dry your clothes for you--and that isn't a sign of maturity.  And since the goal of being in a family is not to stay as babies forever but to grow to maturity in love, then it actually makes perfect sense to say that families involve both unconditional grace and responsibilities that might come with positive reinforcements.  Both can be true at the same time, and in fact, the reinforcements are ways that parents try to graciously help their children grow to maturity.

If we can see how that might work in a family, then maybe it's not that hard to imagine that God's Reign could work the same way.  We can still say, wholeheartedly, that our belonging in God's family is nothing but grace--a gift given with unconditional love that will not let us go.  And at the same time, we can say that God's intention is to bring us to maturity, and that will involve encouraging us to become the kind of people who use our time, our energy, and our resources wisely and with love.  It's not a deal or a transaction, and there is definitely no buying your way into heaven through your good deeds or earning your salvation based on your church attendance or frequency of prayers. But our actions in this life do matter to God, and the choices we make, even at an everyday level, shape us either toward maturity or away from it.

So maybe the right question to ask is not, "What kind of reward will it get me in heaven if I do this or that good thing?" but rather, "What kind of actions can I take today that reflect the character of the family I belong to--the family of God?" And we trust that God can use even small actions of love, of decency, of truthfulness, and of justice, for God's purposes in building up the whole family--much like your small action of helping set the table or take out the trash can help lighten the load of someone else in the family who is feeling stressed... and also help you to grow in maturity, too, by doing it.  

Today, what can you and I choose to do that will help us grow to maturity in Christ-like love?  What kinds of actions might we give our energy toward in this day that would make Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant" to us in response?  

And what is keeping us from doing that kind of good in the world, even right now?

Lord Jesus, bring us to maturity in your love--by whatever ways you have in mind.