Not "Do" but "Done"

Dr. Richard J. Henderson October 18, 2009

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Job 38: 1-7
Hebrews 5:1-10

Introduction

My mother collected S&H green stamps. Just about everybody did back then. It was a huge craze that lasted from the 1930's through the 1980's. You got little green stamps based on the amount of money you spent. Each stamp was small, although they usually came in sheets that you tore to fit in the small books that held them. After you filled your books of stamps, you looked through a catalogue and traded some of your filled books for a new toaster or a transistor radio or an electric mixer. I remember as a kid wanting to be able to lick the stamps and put them in the books. Or, at least I did for the first six pages!

Some stores would have "double stamp days." That's when you really wanted to do your shopping because you could fill your little book twice as fast.

The whole fad was based on earning stamps and then redeeming them for something good. You got credit for your purchases and you cashed them in.

We do a similar thing today, but now you get airline tickets for using your credit card or, these being less subtle times, cold, hard cash.

I

For lots of people this is the model for how we earn our way to God. You do good: go to church, befriend lonely people, tithe, work in a soup kitchen, tutor children, do small acts of kindness, and you build up credits in God's big book. You try to make your good deeds outweigh the bad that you do. You want the pluses to outweigh the minuses.

It's hard to do. When you stop to think about it, probably your resentment toward your co-worker outweighs that visit you made to your aunt in the nursing home. Your selfishness (always wanting the best for yourself and not caring what other people get) may be a bigger negative than volunteering at the blood drive was a positive.

You realize you have two cars in the garage, both with leather seats and all the accessories, and yet there are families in central Africa who won't be able to eat today. The United Nations announced this week that one billion people go hungry each day! You're adamantly opposed to paying more taxes, and yet you know that thousands of people in your own country will die early deaths because they can't afford health care. You complain that you're stuck in traffic and cars aren't even budging, but then you remember all the people who have to walk three miles just to find clean water.

II

It seems impossible to keep the pluses ahead of the minuses. How can you possibly do more right than you do wrong? In Old Testament times they had a great way of getting rid of the wrongs they did. They would offer a sacrifice. They would symbolically load up an animal, a lamb for example, with all their sins and then they'd kill the animal and burn it as an offering to God.

They didn't do this by themselves, of course; they went to the priest in the temple. Now the priest was a human being too, so he had some wrongs of his own to unload. Hopefully he was a good priest, one who dealt gently with those who were wayward because he knew he had been wayward too.

III

Along the way some Old Testament prophets began to question the sacrifice system. Some people looked at it thinking they could do whatever they wanted because eventually they could sacrifice an animal and make all their sins go away.

Isaiah cries out, "I have had enough of burnt offerings...cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow."

The prophet Amos is even more adamant: "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them...take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

They are saying that offering your sacrifice, or your worship, doesn't take the place of acting with compassion and justice. Without living right, your sacrifices are hollow gestures. Through these prophets God is saying, "I want more than your sacrificed lamb, I want your heart. Don't bring me burnt animals, bring me the person you are. I want a close relationship with you. I want to hear from you. I want you to walk with me. I want you to let me lead your life. Forget about the animals; I want you."

IV

But, what about our failures? What do we do to make up for the ways in which we have let God down? If we don't make sacrifices then what do we do?

At its heart Christianity is not about "Do this;" it's about "It has been done." Christianity is not about achieving goodness, it's about accepting grace.

The One who was without sin (some think of him as the perfect lamb) gave himself in the most extraordinary act of self-giving love. He took upon himself the grossest hatred, the worse violence, and the anxiety and fear of uncertain authorities, and he turned them all upside down.

He received hatred and demonstrated love. He got violence and offered peace. He suffered at the hands of human authority and demonstrated the unwavering power of God. He was given death and brought eternal life.

V

This One, who can overturn the most ruthless power of human kingdoms, wants to be in close relationship with you. He wants you to love him with just a fraction of the love he has for you. If you accept that relationship, you won't have to worry about keeping a mental record of the good things you've done and try to balance them against the bad. All that needs to be accomplished has already been done.

When we look at Christ's ultimate self-giving act of love, we want to be more loving. When we see the sacrifice Christ made for us, we're not afraid to sacrifice. When we are in relationship with Christ, we want to be more like him.

Conclusion

So my mother may have collected her boxes of S&H green stamps, and you and I will continue to build those "credit rewards" in our monthly statements. But we can forget about God's big book and the ledger filled with pluses and minuses all neatly tallied up.

We don't need to redeem anything to get the good stuff. The redeeming was done long before you were born. You don't have to do anything, but now you want to do what's just and compassionate and right.

There's a hand stretched out to you. Your name is on his lips. Get ready to enjoy the exciting journey of a life with the One who can show you the way; the One who loves you more than you have ever been loved before.

Listen for your name. Reach out your hand.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2009