Sunday, we visited our friend Jim at The Church of the Lepers. The opening prayer went something like this: “Thank you, Lord, that none of us is in jail this morning. Thank you that none of us is on the street. Thank you that none of us is in a hospital awaiting surgery this morning. Thank you that we have a roof over our head and a meal to eat after we worship. Thank you for caring about us. Amen.” You wouldn’t think such a prayer would bring tears, but as I glanced around the room more than one grown man was crying. Jim has been on and off the street the ten years I’ve known him. He’s been in and out of jail, he’s been on and off crack cocaine, but he’s never been out of sight of the God who created him.
I have a good friend who gets to share the Lord in a local prison on a regular basis. He often tells me that such a meeting is the highlight of his week as he teaches God’s Word and worships with men who truly are grateful to be alive and who are hungry to hear of the One who came to rescue sinners.
We’re all in need of two things God offers: grace and truth. The lost need grace and truth; the saved need grace and truth. This week, as Good Friday approaches and Resurrection is anticipated, we all celebrate the One who was full of grace and truth. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth… From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (John 1:14-18)
We dare not reject the Father’s grace… or cheapen it. We dare not reject the Father’s truth… for the truth sets us free. When their Rabbi was crucified, the disciples lost all hope. Was he not Messiah? How could he have died on the tree? Their new understandings of grace were shattered and what they thought to be the truth was undone. This is why the original Easter is the greatest day in history. God proved grace was not a dream and truth was really truth. The Resurrection established hope and we all live in hope today. Happy Easter!
“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…” Ephesians 1:18-20
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:22-25
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:5