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And all who have been united with Christ in
baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There
is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And
now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You
are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 3:27-29
The day I got my driver's
license (in 1963) I proudly drove my Father's '52 Chevy "Yellow Bomber." It was a good car, but it belonged to
Dad. So did the '56 Taunus (a Ford made
in Germany). Now THAT car was a challenge!
It had an electric clutch that whined like a sick cow, and the gearshift
lever on the steering column never engaged unless you wound it in kind of a
loop when you shifted from second to third!
After driving other people's cars for two years I finally got my own - a
1954 Olds, big as a house, with "fluid-drive" (whatever that was). It was
mine, all mine. But, still, it was Dad
who had paid for it. The first car I
ever owned that I'd actually paid for was a '60 VW Bug. By then it was 1968, and who really knows how
many times that odometer had turned over.
You know the smell, grease, musty fabric, dents, and rust...but it's YOURS!
Fast-forward to 1993. My father-in-law was very ill and was going to
come to live with us. He was too sick to
drive his Buick Park Avenue from Las Vegas to Florida. I took a plane to his home and drove the car
back. He was to follow, but on the night
before his scheduled flight to Jacksonville, his heart stopped, and he took a
different flight to be with Jesus.
Suddenly my automobile world
got turned upside down. I'd worked my
way up from a VW Bug all the way to a Ford Escort. Now we had a luxury car. Elizabeth was going to drive it, but Russell
wound-up behind the wheel instead.
Pity poor old Russell, driving a nearly new Buick
Park Avenue around. Well, my
Father-in-law's Buick has become a model of my salvation in FIVE ways:
1. It was FREE
Once again I was driving
something paid-for by another. Tony
worked hard, while Sofie saved. The
fruit of a lifetime meant being able to afford a fine car. Every time I sat in the driver’s seat I was reminded
of how my first house cost less than this car!
My salvation cost me
nothing. It was free to me. Not only was there no purchase
necessary, there was NO PURCHASE POSSIBLE! Jesus died and rose again as a perfect
sacrifice, and the hardest thing for any of us to understand is that it is
offered without price.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith,
and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God. Ephesians 2:8
Salvation is not only free it
is.....
2. It is BETTER
It is unnecessary to go
through the list of cars I've purchased to do a spreadsheet analysis on which
one is best. Just like my motorcar
fiascoes, all my plans for my life are like buying Edsels for investment, when
compared to the salvation Christ offers.
The Bible declares:
no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
Beloved, God has something
better in mind for you than your own plans.
His salvation is like Tony's Buick compared to the VW's of my own
plans.
Free, better, and....
3. It is the FATHER'S UTMOST
You would have had to know
Tony to really appreciate how much this means.
My father-in-law was a mechanic.
Not just any mechanic...he
was a master. On the job, in the
neighborhood, everybody came to Tony for their sick cars. He could fix a diesel, gas, or anything with
gears. Cars were Tony's pride and
joy. He took care of them inside and
out.
When we first had children,
Tony had a new Mercury. It had cloth
upholstery; we had formula in bottles.
The two met, and formed a wonderful little round stain. Tony never could get that stain out, so he
gave us the car and bought a new one!
The one that Elizabeth
inherited, the Buick Park Avenue, was the finest car Tony ever had. He polished it and talked to it like a
baby. It was his utmost, and he gave it
to us.
The Father's utmost was more
than a Buick. It was His Son,
Jesus. Salvation through Christ is more
than we can understand or appreciate. It
is like giving a diamond tiara worth $100,000 to a child. Yet, Jesus died for us. His salvation is free, better, the Father's
utmost, and....
4. DEATH made the TRANSACTION
When I drove that car home
from Las Vegas, I was simply doing a favor.
The car was arriving, then Tony.
It was his car. (NO
MISTAKING THAT!) Then came the
awful message at the other end of the phone; Tony wouldn't be coming.
Some weeks later we received
an envelope in the mail, copies of the death certificate. With those in hand, the transfer was
made. Where the ownership papers on that
Buick had once said, Tony Inghilleri, now it was Elizabeth.
How much like God's plan. In the ancient language of the Bible the Greek
word tetelestai
is what Jesus cried out as the last word from the cross, It is finished!
This is the same word that would be written across a debt
document once it was paid off. That is
what Jesus did; with his death the price was fully paid for our salvation. This is why we sing,
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain, He
washed it white as snow.
Only death could make this
transfer. You can sell a car, or give it
away. But inheritance only comes with a
death.
...and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [of
sin]. Hebrews 9:22
God's salvation, free, better,
the Father's utmost, transferred by death, and....
5. It is a FAMILY MATTER
There's a fraternity among
first-generation Italian-Americans that can never be entered-into by
outsiders. I may have married Sofie and
Tony's only child, but I wasn't Italian.
Sofie was always worried – about everything! She constantly reminded us (me particularly)
about every danger that the world held.
This outsider needed to be instructed in the care and protection of
their child.
Sofie was constantly warning
me to keep more than a half-tank of gasoline; well, you never know. This was in the middle of the 70's oil
crisis. During one of those long lines
at the gas station, my car (the beat-up VW) ran out of gas. The next time I saw Sofie she didn't SAY a word. But the LOOK she gave me
shouted everything I never wanted to hear:
Hmmpf, told you so!
The Buick, free, better than
anything I'd ever hoped to own, the utmost of Tony's best, transferred by
death, was a family thing. It was
Elizabeth's. She was the heir. So how did Russell wind up with it? I am a good friend of the heir.
Hear again that verse about
being a good friend of the heir:
And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true
children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham
belongs to you. Galatians 3:29
For those of you are baptized
into Christ…that is who you are, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and good
friends with the Father.
Jesus Christ is the heir, the
Son of the living God. His free,
wonderful, utmost, death-bought salvation is yours if you will be a friend of
the heir. There is a Civil War story
that tells of a soldier who needed a favor only Abraham Lincoln could
grant. But the soldier couldn't get an
audience with Abe. Dejected, he was
standing on a street corner when a small boy went by. Noticing the sadness of the soldier the boy
asked if he could help. One thing led to
another, and the boy, whose name was also Lincoln, took that soldier by the
hand, and led him to the Oval Office, where his father Abraham sat. The favor was granted.
In the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!
This sermon preached on March 27, 2022, at Pleasant
Hill United Methodist Church, worshipping at Seagrove, North Carolina. The occasion included the joy of receiving
Bud into the family of membership upon reaffirming his baptismal vows, and baptizing
Selena, Dylan, Noah, Jozlyn, and Serenity.
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