God’s grace and mercy and kindness are a lot bigger than you think they are.

Steve Brown:
God’s grace and mercy and kindness are a lot bigger than you think they are. Let’s talk, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’ve suffered too long under a do more, try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captive free. Steve invited Justin Holcomb to teach us this week. Justin is a priest, a seminary professor, and the author of God With Us: 365 Devotions on the Person and Work of Christ.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you listened last week, you know that we’re in Lent. And that’s not in the Bible, but there are plenty of indications that it’s a good thing for Christians to do during a church year. And Lent is that time, and we saw this last Monday when Dr. Holcomb was with us. We saw that it has to do with repentance. And the repentance comes from God’s kindness and mercy and goodness. And if you’re just joining us during Lent, I’ve asked Dr. Justin Holcomb. He is the Bishop of the Diocese, Central Florida Diocese of the Episcopal Church. He is a seminary professor and author of so many great books. And every time he’s here, I learn something new. And so, during Ment, Lent, it’s the microphone, during Lent, on Mondays, we’re spending some time learning from Dr. Holcomb. Talked about repentance last Monday, what about this Monday?

Justin Holcomb:
We’re probably going to talk about repentance again. It’s Lent, baby. First, I do like, I want to draw attention to the fact, I think he may have just trademarked a whole nother thing called Ment, which is the Monday after the Sunday of Lent. And we can start doing that if we want to.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that would be great, I didn’t know.

Justin Holcomb:
We are going to talk about

Steve Brown:
start a new movement

Justin Holcomb:
repentance, but from a different angle. The first one was looking last week at being assaulted by temptation, Jesus was tempted like we are, and how that strengthens us in our temptation. This week we’re going to look at God’s faithfulness. So, let me read the prayer for the second Sunday in Lent, and again, the focus on Lent is repentance, a refocus on the person and work of Jesus. It’s a 40 day period from Ash Wednesday, leading up to Holy Week, going right into Good Friday with the crucifixion and then the resurrection. But here is the prayer from the second Sunday in Lent about God’s patient faithfulness.

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways. And bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your word.

Steve Brown:
Mm.

Justin Holcomb:
Again, we, I tell you, Lent’s my favorite time, one, because I get to be honest about myself instead of putting my best foot forward like we all do because, you know, the world we live in of scorekeeping. And, but it’s really these prayers. I mean, this one just, I mean, again.

O God, whose glory it is

we’re talking about the glory of God, almighty, powerful God

whose glory it is always to have mercy.

Steve Brown:
Oh man.

Justin Holcomb:
Just that phrase in itself. I mean, how does God get glory? We usually think, God, whose glory it is to smite my enemies, to shine my holiness and scorch earth, all of the sinners. There’s ways that we think about our glory

Steve Brown:
Oh, we do, yeah.

Justin Holcomb:
and power. And that his glory it is always to have mercy. Again, here we go. We’re beckoning, last week we talked about.

Almighty God, come here and help save me.

This one is.

O God, whose glory it is to have mercy.

What do we ask for?

Be gracious to all who have gone astray.

It’s not saying be gracious to those who have done better, tried harder, made some promises.

Who have gone astray and bring them again.

Bring them back. And so, just the trajectory of this, it reminds me of an amazing passage. There’s some doozy passages in the Scripture that, I have a top 10 list that I just kind of give to my daughters and just kind of remind people of. This one needs to go on there. It’s preparing for our time together, Isaiah 30:18. It’s like I’ve never read this passage before, even though I’ve read it not

Steve Brown:
a thousand times

Justin Holcomb:
not every year, but Isaiah 30:18

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

It’s almost like the person who wrote that prayer got it from Isaiah 30, but the fact that here here God is.

The Lord who waits to be gracious to you.

That’s not how I usually think of God. I usually think God’s annoyed because I did it again. For decades, I mean, it’s like, when’s that impulse going to get changed?

But the Lord who waits to be gracious to you.

And therefore he, how does, he exalts himself by showing you mercy. And again, that doesn’t, this goes back to that Roman 6 thing of, well.

Where there is sin, grace abounds.

Should we sin, so grace abounds? Well, of course not. That’s what this passage does is, he shows his mercy, he exalts himself by showing mercy. And then it reminds me of Luke 15, the parable of the Prodigal Son, this Isaiah 30, the Lord who waits. I mean, there’s a lot of things about the Prodigal Son.

But while he was still a long way off,

verse 20

his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

I’m betting Jesus had Isaiah 30:18 in the back of his mind.

The Lord who waits to show mercy.

When he’s talking about this gracious father. And again, that’s what you need. That’s what you need in Lent is God’s patient faitfulness. Again, this changes how you think about repentance. Most people think repentance is, it is a refocus of everything. But we mostly think, well, I screwed up, I’m going to tell God I screwed up, and I’m going to prove that I’m serious about how serious I am about not doing that again, by stating an oath, and he’ll, and it’s like the strength of my internal resolve somehow makes us feel better when the whole time God’s going, let me, let me show you mercy. Let me, let me, let me reframe how you think about it. It’s not groveling, it’s a different act, it’s a different thing. And it’s God bringing you to repentance by His kindness and by His Holy Spirit. He’s working in you to actually confess and agree with what He has said about our sin. And then He’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us.

Steve Brown:
You know, I was speaking for a conference in North Carolina once, and as you know, often I say.

God’s not angry at you.

And I could quote what you said in that passage from Isaiah about God just waiting to show His kindness and His grace. And so, I had a question and answer period after my teaching that evening, and a guy raised his hand and he said, I disagree with you. And I said, well, get in line, a lot of people do. He said, I think God is angry and I’m glad he is. And I said, being very pastoral and kind, sir, you’re a fruitcake, there’s something wrong with you. And I said, why are you glad he’s angry? He said, because it keeps me in line. And that made me think of what you just said, that we generally think of God as being irritated, upset, and surprised. And it’s interesting, that prayer has to do with the people. You know, we think when we became a Christian, then we got gooder and gooder every day. Sometimes we’re not, sometimes we fail, sometimes we yield to the temptation, and as you referenced the Prodigal Son, the father waits. And the father’s demeanor is kindness and mercy and forgiveness. That’s a major theme of Lent, isn’t it?

Justin Holcomb:
That’s what brings you back. That’s what this prayer says is.

For those who have gone astray from your ways, bring them back with penitent hearts, in steadfast faith.

I mean, we’re asking God to empower us both by desire and to actually have the ability to have a penitent heart and faith. It’s not just groveling, just like, I’m sorry, self flagellation. But with steadfast faith, fix our eyes on Jesus. So, we’re asking God to change us and empower us so we can actually turn in proper repentance and just walk in faith. And that is the game changer. And the guy who talked about the angry God, my daughters are 14 and 16 now, but when they were younger, I just told them, here’s what I expect, I’m going to get what I want either by giving you consequences or by you knowing, I love you no matter what. And I’m hoping you’ll be motivated by my love and not my threat. And all of the research, all the psychological research says that people are motivated internally by internal incentives, not external threats or even a carrot, not even like more money or something. They’re motivated by something deeper than just an angry God of avoiding wrath. And God’s love for you is the deepest motivation. And I think that’s what’s so important. That’s why Paul says.

God’s kindness leads to repentance.

And this guy who disagrees with you, he’s disagreeing with Isaiah and Jesus. I mean, this prayer is summarizing the teaching of Scripture. And so, I think that’s what’s really important is that God’s anger causes us to repent, but anger is not the last word. He’s a God whose property is always to show mercy. And he shows his glory by having mercy. He’s holy and because he’s holy, we get wrath and anger, but also because he’s loving and merciful, we always get his righteousness and forgiveness.

Steve Brown:
Game changer. Take that teaching to heart because it’s the thing that puts gasoline in the Christian engine. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Justin Holcomb. Steve and Justin are leading us through a special series called Lent: God’s Kindness Leads to Repentance. We’re doing this every Monday throughout the Lenten season as we journey toward Easter, and I trust it is blessing you. We will dive back into our journey through Philippians tomorrow, hope you will join us for that.

God is often at work in counterintuitive ways. We often chase after big shiny things or important people who make us feel good about ourselves and guarantee us a table for the cool kids. But all across scripture, God is working in and through weakness. He is working in and through the deadbeats, the moral reprobates, and the homeless guys. Who would have thunk it?

Well, that’s an excerpt from an article by Matt Johnson, and you can find it in the latest edition of Key Life magazine. And where can you find Key Life magazine? In your mailbox after you call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to order that magazine. Or if you want to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of Key Life magazine. Last thing, would you prayerfully consider giving to support the work of Key Life? It’s easy, just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give through text. Just text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.