2111AFC031221 – Wrath and Grace
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2 Chronicles 36:15-16 – 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; 16 but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy.
Ephesians 2:8-10 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
John 3:17-19 – 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Today I want to address one of the Seven Deadly Sins and, as we do so, to consider one way to defeat that sin in our lives. The sin I wish to address is a sin by which we seem to be surrounded – and it is taking over much of our lives. We’ll begin with an excerpt from the First Weekend in Lent in 2016:
This chart is based on many analyses of Christian scholars who looked for a way to present information on their understanding of the nature and severity of these sins. One common way to present them is by using the mnemonic “PEGSLAW.” That is the basis for this table:
| The 7 Deadly Sins and Their Corresponding Virtues | ||
| P | Pride | Humility |
| E | Envy | Kindness |
| G | Gluttony | Temperance |
| S | Sloth1 | Diligence |
| L | Lust2 | Chastity |
| A | Avarice3 | Charity |
| W | Wrath | Patience |
| 1Acedia, Apathy | ||
| 2Covetousness, Concupiscence | ||
| 3Greed, Cupidity | ||
The one we will look at today is Wrath. When we speak of “the wrath of God,” we are citing the divine judgment upon sin and sinners which will be meted out on the Day of Reward against unrepentant sinners, but it is important to know that it is being felt today by the ungodly as the hardening of their hearts through the creation of their “Cancel Culture.” As you can see, the corresponding Virtue is Patience. Patience is a Virtue that starts with God. God is patient with us – for example we have Numbers 14:18a – 18 The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression and Exodus 20:6 – 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. “Steadfast love” is Mercy, and thank God that God is merciful! Nonetheless, what is so alarming is the pointless, violent, corrosive, angry Wrath that sweeps through mobs of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people all around the World. Is God patient with them? Does he expect us to be patient with them? The answer to both questions is yes – up to a point. When we are Patient with each other as believers, there is great peace in that because that sort of Patience is integrated into The Fruit of the Spirit. It is the ability to endure whatever comes. “Endure” in this context is to persist, to carry on; it is not the kind of endurance that is characterized as passive toleration. This is a kind of Patience that is to be as God’s Patience is – “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression [and aggression?] and showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love him. In my own sinful and often prideful little mind, that is a great way to approach Patience – after all, it’s what God does! – so, because we know that, we also have good reason to rejoice in the Gift of Salvation.
Rejoicing just happens to be the theme of Laetare Sunday – the Fourth Sunday of Lent and that happens this weekend. Back in 2020 during Advent we celebrated Gaudete Sunday. Both of those Sundays are celebrations of rejoicing. The vestments are Rose-colored. During the austerity of Lent we pause to reflect on how loving and patient God is to have provided us with so great a Savior, so let’s think on that topic for a bit.
In our first Key Verse from the Sunday readings we see that God did everything he could to wake us up (not to be confused with this most recent nonsense movement “woke”). He sent Judges, and Prophets, and Messengers, and his earthlings rejected them because they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy. He had already destroyed every living thing except the inhabitants of the Ark, so instead, he sent us his Son, our Savior, for this reason: 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Those who embrace Wrath do so in their own darkness and – having rejected the Light – they are condemned already unless they repent and believe the Gospel. And woe to those who claim to be believers but lure others into sin and darkness by claiming to be pure, wise, and “woke.”
I urge you to look into these passages: Isaiah 9:16, Matthew 18:6, 2 Peter 2:1, Romans 1:18–32, and especially 2 Timothy 3:1-5 – You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. AVOID THEM! (my emphasis added). In these passages you will see what happens when sinful leaders and sinful followers disdain the Mercy of God and give the pretense of being godly in their thoughts, words, and deeds while they are actually children of Wrath and Pride, the siblings of Ignorance and Want.
Belovéd, we need not – must not – be misled by these demonic manifestations of Satan’s power. Indeed, we know Truth and Truth has freed us “from all sin and unrighteousness” because as we read in 1 John 5:16-19 – 16 If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one – to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal. // 18 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19 We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. It is exactly that kind of information that makes the Gospel “The Good News!” and we could sure use a load of that these days!! Therefore, Belovéd, in keeping with the spirit of Laetare Sunday, let us REJOICE! In Scripture we have plenty of examples of ways to rejoice. Here’s a quick reminder:
Rejoice with one another, Beloved. Pray for, with, and about one another. Be kind to one another, and be especially kind to strangers. Remember what He said: “Whatever you do to the least of these…” and “I AM coming tomorrow.” Isn’t that a good enough reason to rejoice? There’s a post for that right here, and in that post you will find these biblical terms for REJOICE:
Samah – שָׂמַ֖ח – Jubilant, spontaneous dancing, signing (simhach) – 1 Chronicles 29:9
Alaz – עָלַז – Exult – Burst into leaping with joy – Habakkuk 3:17-18
Nagilah – נָגִ֖ילָה – Let us rejoice – Psalm 118:4
Euphraino – εὐφραίνω – To gladden the mind – Revelation 12:12
Kauchaomai – καυχάομαι – Glory in success and boast against – 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
Sunchairo – a συγχαίρω – Rejoicing together, with others – Luke 15:6
Agalliao – ἀγαλλιάω – Rejoice Greatly, to exult; jump for joy – Revelation 19:6-8
Chairo – χαίρω – Rejoicing over experiencing God’s Grace; be glad in the Lord – Luke 15:32
That is such a great word – REJOICE. When I hear it, I hear it as re-joys as in joys again, and again, and again. One of the best JOY words around is Halleluiah and its alternative Alleluia. We are to be an Alleluia People! What does that word mean? It means GOD BE PRAISED. We used to sing a song about that. (↔ Music Link) We’d be divided into two groups – boys and girls, left-side and right-side, children and adults – and on the Halleluiah phrases one group would stand. When Praise ye the Lord came up the Halleluiah group sat down and the second group stood up. There was a lot of “jumping up and down.” Rejoicing is like that. It’s just being so happy that we simply can’t sit still. (↔ Music Link) That’s one of the effects of being baptized with FIRE and the Holy Spirit!
Pope Francis I on his election chose that name because St. Francis is a Saint who typifies joyful commitment to the hard work of evangelization. He is “Everybody’s Saint.” When I was a kid, I learned a song attributed to him that sings in my soul to this day. It is an Alleluia song, a song of Praise, and when we praise God, we are caught up in rejoicing with him for his Saving Grace as we rejoice because of his “steadfast love and lovingkindness” in our daily lives For by grace you have been saved through faith. Perhaps you will also remember this beautiful hymn. It remains a favorite here! It is All Creatures of Our God and King (↔ Music Link). You can find the full lyrics here (↔ Click Link). It is reminiscent of Isaiah 12:6 – 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
The Wrath of God is real. We see it affecting those around us every day. We will not be subject to it if we remember to Rejoice in the Lord who is our Life and our Salvation since Those who believe in him are not condemned; For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. That is the Gift and the effect of Grace, the unmerited favor of God. It beats Wrath hands down every time. REJOICE!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
