No Condemnation

October 5, 2011

No Condemnation

ROMANS 8:1

His name wasLeon, but I got to call him Papa.Leonwas a fisherman.  He filled the position with all that could be expected from a Gordon’s frozen fish commercial. He was rough around the edges, with a scent of salt and sun that lingered in the air around him.Leon’s arms were large and cut from years of hauling the nets from the ocean’s sandy bottom up into his small wooden boat which leaked just slowly enough to complete a day’s catch.  Shaving daily for him seemed to be much more trouble than it was worth, so he normally bared a three day shadow of gray whiskers on his sun withered face.  It was the face of my maternal grandfather. 

Papa, on the surface of things appeared to be a hard man, and I suppose from an outsiders view, parts of that characterization were true. But deep inside his cerulean eyes was a soft heart towards me. I don’t really know why it was this way because he could rage with the best of them. Papa could sling a knife as well as cast a net, true to his intended target every time.  There were always stories of his famous brawls which echoed through family history during a time when fishing villages were only for the tough of heart. But for me he had a place of love, a place of human grace.

The truth for many of us is that love and grace are very hard things to trust; we desire both, but trusting that love and grace are ours is like arm wrestling with a fisherman namedLeon. The prospects of victory are dubious at best. 

Most of our doubtful feelings come from a poor understanding of God’s attributes of love. We all have a tendency to live in family rumors of an angry God, who at a flash could turn on us with His heavenly sword. We mistake God’s justice as His only concern and quickly forget that God is just and merciful at the same time. We perceive God as an unknown personality flexed for wrathful indignation towards us. But deep inside His invincible eyes is a heart that beats soft towards us. Yes, our Father in heaven is the strong and violent God against His enemies.  Yes, His strategy is strong and sure for the enemy’s defeat and yes, the doom is sure! However, we are not His enemy’s, we are His lineage, His progeny.   While the world must fear the name of Yahweh, we call Him Abba (Papa) Father.

One of my favorite memories of Papa was when I was 17 years old. I thought I had become too old to kiss his face. As I walked into his house I passed by him with a brushing touch on his arm, as though I had become too sophisticated for such displays of childish affection.  Papa’s voice rose up loud and called my name with a firmness I had not been use to in my past,” Brad, you come here and kiss your Papa. Don’t ever think you can come into my house and not love me. You’re mine.”  I was afraid, but not of wrath. I was afraid that I had made my grandfather feel as though I was too important to exchange love with him. I was afraid I had forgotten his place of love and grace for me.

I wonder sometimes if we are afraid of the wrong things with God our Father. I wonder if we really trust that there is no condemnation for us.  Do we just come into His loving presence with a brush of self-righteous piety on His arm? Do we communicate a fear of condemnation? I think what we should fear more is coming into His house and not kissing His face.  We should fear that we are not embracing the work that Jesus did on the cross, but instead standing at a distance and calling it reverence.  Perhaps we need to remember His place of love and grace for us because at the cross Jesus took care of the anger of a betrayed Father.  We need not fear an attack but rather not experiencing His grace because of our expectations of Him.  If we look really hard in His eyes we will see the reflection of Christ, the Beloved.

Love and Grace, Pastor Brad