Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings, dear ones.
Only minutes ago we bid farewell to Elvin and Eunice…on their way home to Southern Oregon. Since their arrival last evening, we’ve had some great fellowship/dialogue. Wish you could have listened in. Becki is already gone (9:30am) to engage in the class she helps teach at Pheasant Pointe. Thano is outside playing with his two little ones. Thankfully, there is some sunshine.
I’ll head out soon to do a round of sawmill work.
May your day be blessed…as you contemplate the size of the issues we face.
Love, Dad/Ray.
Before I spend a lot of time reacting and saying something like, “Now just a minute, Jesus—that doesn’t sound right!”—I’m prompted to face this question: How big is my guilt before God? The way I am presently processing these words of Jesus (Check out the counterpart of this passage in Matthew 23:35-36), I’m inclined to conclude that my own personal guilt is very BIG—bigger than I can even comprehend. Try to follow me through some thoughts as they are impacting me. I’m seeing that my guilt is bigger than my being cruel to a classmate in 3rd grade—bigger than stealing a bag of candy when I was 12—bigger than telling a lie when I was 14, and so on. My guilt is bigger than my own history of wrongdoing. The strong implication of Jesus’ words is that my guilt and responsibility is so huge as to include all the sins of all mankind from the beginning of man’s history till now—and beyond. How so? I am GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION. Whereas I am a member of the human race, and “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), then I stand condemned with the ALL for it ALL!
This, of course, is not a very popular perspective—and you could find yourself chafing. But before we get all upset and defensive over how unfair this seems, let’s balance out the matter with trying to comprehend the matter from God’s perspective—considering the size and scope of God’s antidote for my guilty condition. “For the wages of sin is death (BIG death), but the gift (BIG gift) of God (BIG God) is eternal life (BIG life) in Christ Jesus our Lord (BIG Savior)” (Romans 6:23). So God’s love gift is also BIG—bigger than I can comprehend. In fact it’s way BIGGER than my guilt! I’m staggering. Please stagger with me. It occurs to me that God offers dramatic definition to the bigness of His grace against the bigness of my guilt in the scene of the cross. Don’t let this get by you.
Now—please join me in singing the first stanza of “Grace Greater Than Our Sin.”
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount out-poured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.
Here’s the bottom line as I see it: If, for whatever reason, I do not personally subscribe to this amazing Gift of God, I must accept the consequence (wages) for SIN. It’s an ALL OR NOTHING deal. No one is partially saved—or partially lost. It’s either one or the other. So if I don’t embrace the gift, it’s not just that I AM guilty for it all, but I may as well be. Does that make sense?