Baptism and the Decisive Moment of Grace

``But then this decisive moment breaks in, and the king is moved with deep radical compassion, and he lets him go and cancels the entire debt. Like imagine what that servant must have felt. He walked into that room knowing exactly what he owed. He knew the number. He's probably done the math a 100 times trying to figure out how many lifetimes it would take to pay it back knowing that it would never be enough. And there, in that moment that he expects the verdict that he deserves, the words are spoken, forgiven, gone, done, not deferred, not reduced, but canceled. Everything in that moment changed for him. And that's ultimately what happened for you and I at the cross. [00:48:08] (56 seconds)  #DebtCancelled

Right? That is our reality. And while the law demands righteousness, it can never produce it. But the good news for us is our standing before God is not based on us being perfect, it is based entirely on the perfection of Jesus Christ, who on the cross didn't just overlook your debt, he paid it. The debt that should have ended you, the bitterness that you've nursed, the idols that you fed, the times that you've walked out of here and right back into your old life and lived like the rest of the world. Jesus didn't look away from any of it. He took it, the full weight, the droughts, the fire, the condemnation, and he carried it into death, and he left it there. [00:51:29] (49 seconds)  #ChristPaidItAll

Jesus is exposing this deadly gap that can exist between us coming to church, worshiping, saying the right things, believing the right things, but then when we get to our car, we return to an old life that's filled with bitterness, gossip, greed, and self preservation. It's a grace that has been stowed upon us that that for the amount of debt that we owed changes how we live our lives. And yet here's Jesus saying, it's easy to experience his grace and try to live out of his grace. And yet we know that like the unforgiving servant, we have failed time and time again. And if it was completely up to us, we would walk out of here today saying, I'm gonna try harder to be merciful, but then also in the back of the mind knowing that, hey, I'm probably gonna fail before the check hits the table at lunch. [00:50:31] (57 seconds)  #LivingOutGrace

So the stage is set. Obadiah goes and finds king Ahab and and now they're standing face to face. Ahab on one side, Elijah on the other. You've got a a man who's wearing most likely his royal garments with some dirt and dust on him from his search of grass. And then you have this rugged prophet of God named Elijah squaring off. And it's in this moment that ultimately it's the moment that everything has been building toward. And now Elijah stands before the man that he has come to call out. But notice what the king does first. He knows that things are bad. And instead of confessing, instead of repenting, instead of taking any sort of responsibility, what does he do? He blames. [00:42:45] (53 seconds)  #RefuseToRepent

And so for us, we started with Neo, who saw something differently and it changed how he lived. And that's great. But for us, our story is a little bit different. Because we have received something that he never did. A savior who stepped into our drought, who canceled our debt, and walked out of the tomb to tell you that it is finished. It's not a better way of seeing. That's new life. That's what little Owen got to experience this morning. And it's what we get to experience in faith day in and day out. And so for us, we're reminded that he, Jesus, has stepped in, that he has carried our law so that we can live in his grace. See, that is our reality as followers of Jesus. That is our truth. That is what's real, and that is what's yours. And so, Lord, open up our eyes to see the moments and give us the courage to step into them. [00:56:19] (68 seconds)  #NewLifeInChrist

And seeing that this is an opportunity to bring God's truth and grace, whether it's through a simple act of kindness, a simple spoken word of encouragement, whether it's responding in a big tangible way, but it's sitting there and meeting a need that's there. It's looking for what God is doing. It's being open and aware. And the second part of that prayer is in give me the courage to step into those moments. Because seeing them is only half the battle. We need courage to move, and the Holy Spirit isn't waiting for us to work up the nerve. He is already in you. He is already working. He is already preparing ahead of you in that conversation, that relationship, that moment. And you, as God's people, do not go in it alone because Christ goes before you and his spirit is your power in that moment. [00:55:19] (59 seconds)  #SpiritGivesCourage

See, this drought, season in the history of Israel is, yes, it's a physical problem, but it's a reflection of their spiritual lack of care and concern. See, God's people have abandoned Yahweh and they've been chasing after this god Baal who was the Canaanite god for fertility and rain, believe it or not. And so for years, they've been praying to this god Baal, and it is nothing but a dead end. And so now here we see king Ahab not ready to repent or ready to turn back to God, but rather to try to keep his horses alive. [00:37:50] (38 seconds)  #SpiritualDrought

And that's ultimately what happened for you and I at the cross. You didn't negotiate better terms, but Jesus took everything that you owed, every bit of it, and said, that's mine. I'll take it. And that's exactly what he did. And as we look at the servant, you would think that experiencing this kind of radical grace would change how he lives. And yet here we see in the very next verse, the servant found another servant who owed him a pocket change amount of money. And instead of grabbing the man and giving him this big old hug and telling him, you'll never believe what just happened to me. My debt was paid. I am going to forgive your debt too. No. That's not how he responds. He responds by grabbing him, by choking him, by throwing him in jail until the debt could be paid. [00:48:59] (60 seconds)  #GraceVsUnforgiveness