Restoration

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 10.21.12

There’s a TV show that my family and I watch called American Restoration. The star is Rick Dale, who “is an expert restorer of classic objects and artifacts with nearly 30 years in the business and his own shop in Las Vegas, Nevada--Rick's Restorations. Rick has built his career on an unbridled passion and unique skill for transforming the rustiest and most beat-up items into like-new products that can fetch a big price tag. He doesn't shy away from a challenge and has worked on items as varied as a beaten-down 1940s gas pump, a rusted-out 1950s soda machine and a classic jukebox with a complex mechanical design, upping the value by restoring them to mint working condition. Rick isn't just an exceptional craftsman--he is also a businessman who must manage the big personalities of his employees, many of whom are his own family members.”[1]

Watching Rick restore whatever his clients bring in is an amazing process. Usually what they bring in has been dropped, crushed, rusted or in some other way destroyed. But after Rick and his employees have worked on the item it looks and operates just like it just came from the factory.

Even better than watching the restoration process itself, though, is seeing the joy that bringing something back to “like new” brings to Rick Dale. There’s no doubt that what Rick is doing is his passion. Not many people would have the patience to take a broken, dented and non-working item, take it completely apart, clean and repair each individual piece, sand, repaint and put the whole thing back together again so that it not only looks brand new, but works like it was made to work.

You know, we’re in much the same shape as those broken and dented items that folks bring to Rick’s Restoration workshop. We have been broken and scarred to the point that we are almost not recognizable as the same types of humans that God created on the sixth day of creation.

“Through sin the divine likeness was marred, and well-nigh obliterated. Man’s physical powers were weakened, his mental capacity was lessened, his spiritual vision dimmed. He had become subject to death.” (E.G. White, Education, p. 15)

Can you imagine how God’s heart must break when He sees the marks that sin has made on our lives?

As damaged as we are, though, we can be restored. Before Adam and Eve ever sinned, God had a plan to repair the damage that sin would do – to bridge the separation that sin would open up between God and the beings that He created. God’s instrument of restoration is Jesus. 

“The thought that God’s eye is watching over us, that he loves us, and cared so much for us as to give his dearly beloved Son to redeem us, that we might not miserably perish, is a great one; and he who opens his heart to the acceptance and contemplation of themes like these, will never be satisfied with trivial, sensational subjects.” (E.G. White, Christian Education, p.188)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

That’s part one of our restoration process – the earthly part. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, His death is applied to our lives so that when our names come before God, He won’t see our sins, He will only see that our debt has been paid. Our relationship with Him is restored to “like new” condition.

But wait, there’s more!

Part two of the restoration process is even more exciting. When Jesus comes to take us home to Heaven, something miraculous will happen. We will be changed into our original, pre-sin condition so that we won’t just be “like new,” we will be completely new.

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-55

One of my favorite pastors, Walter Pearson, preaches about the moment when we are caught up in the clouds to be with Jesus. At that moment, we will realize both that we are face to face with Jesus and that we will have our incorruptible bodies. We will look at Jesus and see, for the first time what “made in God’s image” really looks like.

I don’t know which part of our salvation/restoration seems more miraculous – yes, changing our sin battered bodies into God’s original design is amazing, but I think the real miracle takes place when the Holy Spirit touches our sin stained hearts and cleanses and fills them with a love for our Creator and King. How can God fix something so broken as a sinful human being?

Allan Dale Golding gives an illustration that might help us understand God’s restoration process.

“When we were missionaries in the Philippines, we vacationed in Baguio City in the mountains of Northern Luzon. While there, we visited the St. Louis Silver School, where silversmiths are trained. We admired exquisite workmanship in the workshop and gift shop, and took home a souvenir—a pure silver money clip embellished with a distinctive design. I carried that clip for the next 24 years. One day it finally broke as I slipped a few bills into it. I then took the two pieces of the money clip back to the silver school in Baguio. One workman, about my age, asked if he could help me. I explained my predicament and laid the pieces in his outstretched hand.
“After examining the pieces for a minute or so, he looked up at me and said, ‘I designed this clip. I was the only one to make this design. I made all of these that were ever made.’
“I asked, ‘Can you fix it?’
“He said, ‘I designed it. I made it. Of course I can fix it!’”[2]

Jesus designed and created us. He made the plan to fix us when we fell and if we will let Him, he is waiting to re-create us in His image again.

“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.” John 3: 16-17AMP

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[1] American Restoration, 1996-2012, A&E Television Networks, LLC.

[2] Allen Dale Golding, “Creator Makes and Fixes Creations,” www.preachingtoday.com

Extravagant Grace

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 1.28.12

“My wife is ... a mirror. When I have sinned against her, my sin appears in the suffering of her face. Her tears reflect with terrible accuracy my selfishness. ... But I hate the sight, and the same selfishness I see now makes me look away. ...“The passion of Christ ... is such a mirror. Are the tears of my dear wife hard to look at? Well, the pain in the face of Jesus is harder. It is myself in my extremest truth. ... The death he died reflects a selfishness so extreme that by it I was divorced from God and life and light complete. ...“Nevertheless, I will not avoid this mirror! No, I will carefully rehearse, again this year, the passion of my Jesus--with courage, with clarity and faith; for this is the mirror of dangerous grace, purging more purely than any other.”[1]

Have you seen that commercial that’s out right now that’s pushing some prescription medication?  It shows a “doctor” standing outside, next to a full length mirror, and he says, “I wish my patients could see what I see.  Then as each person walks past the mirror, his (or her) health concerns pop up on the mirror.  They’re things like “high cholesterol,” “risk for heart attack,” and other things like that.  The problem is, the reflection of the person doesn’t change at all.  They just look the same.

I think the commercial would be much more effective if the image in the mirror changed, Portrait of Dorian Gray style, ya know?  Like, if the person had high cholesterol, there’d be big chunks of fat stuck all over him.  Don’t ya think that would work lots better?

Well, it’s kind of the same way with us.  We walk around in our little lives thinking we’re pretty much okay, but we don’t see ourselves the way God sees us. 

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17

Now THAT would be an eye-opening experience, wouldn’t it -- to see the world from God’s perspective?  That’s kind of a lot to think about.  We want to think of ourselves as pretty likeable, but we’re not seeing the thick, oozing coating of sin that God sees.  We can’t imagine how far we are from His original creations, Adam and Eve.

And, as if all that didn’t make us hard enough for God to love, much less even look at, our sins took the life of His Son.  Now, if you’re a parent, you know how you feel about anyone who had just hurt your child’s feelings…

Well, put all that together, and we really should be absolutely hideous and completely unlovable, from God’s perspective…and yet…

“I learned an enduring lesson about grace from my church's response to Adolphus, a young black man with a wild, angry look in his eye. Every inner-city church has at least one Adolphus. He had spent some time in Vietnam, and most likely his troubles started there. He could never hold a job for long. His fits of rage and craziness sometimes landed him in an asylum.“If Adolphus took his medication on Sunday, he was manageable. Otherwise, well, church could be even more exciting than usual. He might start at the back and high-hurdle his way over the pews down to the alter. He might raise his hands in the air during a hymn and make obscene gestures. Or he might wear headphones and tune in bebop music instead of the sermon.“As part of worship, LaSalle [Church] had a time called ‘Prayers of the People.’ We would stand, and spontaneously various people would call out a prayer for peace in the world, for healing of the sick, for justice in the community around us. ‘Lord, hear our prayer,’ we would respond in unison after each spoken request. Adolphus soon figured out that Prayers of the People provided an ideal platform for him to air his concerns.“‘Lord, thank you for creating Whitney Houston and her magnificent body!’ he prayed one morning. After a puzzled pause, a few chimed in weakly, ‘Lord, hear our prayer.’“‘Lord, thank you for the big recording contract I signed last week, and for all the good things happening to my band!’ prayed Adolphus. Those of us who knew Adolphus realized he was fantasizing, but others joined in with a heartfelt, ‘Lord, hear our prayer.’“A group of people in the church, including a doctor and a psychiatrist, took on Adolphus as a special project. Every time he had an outburst, they pulled him aside and talked it through, using the word ‘inappropriate’ a lot.…“We learned that Adolphus sometimes walked the five miles to church on Sunday because he could not afford the bus fare. Members of the congregation began to offer him rides. Some invited him over for meals. Most Christmases he spent with our assistant pastor's family.“Boasting about his musical talent, Adolphus asked to join the music group that sang during Communion services. After hearing him audition, the leader settled on a compromise: Adolphus could stand with the others and sing, but only if his electric guitar remained unplugged (he had absolutely no music ability). Each time the group performed thereafter, Adolphus stood with them and sang and played his guitar, which, thankfully, produced no sound
“The day came when Adolphus asked to join the church. Elders quizzed him on his beliefs, found little by way of encouragement, and decided to put him on a kind of probation. He could join when he demonstrated that he understood what it meant to be a Christian, they decided, and when he learned to act appropriately around others in church.“Against all odds, Adolphus's story has a happy ending. He calmed down. He started calling people in the church when he felt the craziness coming on. He even got married. And on the third try, Adolphus was finally accepted for church membership.“Grace comes to people who do not deserve it, and for me Adolphus came to represent grace. In his entire life, no one had ever invested that kind of energy and concern in him. He had no family, he had no job, he had no stability. Church became for him the one stable place. It accepted him despite all he had done to earn rejection.“It gave him a second chance, and a third, and a fourth. Christians who had experienced God's grace transferred it to Adolphus, and that stubborn, unquenchable grace gave me an indelible picture of what God puts up with by choosing to love the likes of me.”[2]

God is so good!  He looks at our horrible ugliness and loves us anyway.  Jesus draws us close to Him and tenderly covers our filthiness with His spotless sinlessness because He wants to spend eternity with us.  Thank you, Jesus, for your extravagant grace

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[1] Walter Wangerin, Jr., in “Reliving the Passion.” Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 4.

[2] Philip Yancey, "Taking My Stand with the Church," Leadership (Spring 1996)