Spring and early summer was always baseball season growing up at my house. I played for several years until one season I was beamed by every pitcher in the league. The price of being left-handed in a league full of right-handed pitchers. But even after I quit playing, my younger brother and sisters continued.
For many of my brother’s games, a friend and I would be dropped off to support him from the stands. And I was always given some money for the concession stand. The concession stand carried all sorts of candy. Snickers, Butterfingers, ice cream, as well as popcorn, hot dogs, and fries. But my buddy and I usually went for the Warheads.
Warheads are little hard candies coated in an intensely sour flavor. The package came with several individually wrapped candies meant to be eaten one piece at a time. As adolescent boys, we stuffed as many into our mouths as possible. Watching your buddy’s face turn into a red and twisted mess made the sixty seconds of your own face puckering torture worth it. Rather than enjoying the sweetness of other goodies, we were addicted to the entertainment of the sour.
This seems to be the state of the church in our times. We have access to joy unspeakable, peace beyond understanding, and hope beyond all hopes but we choose to feast on sour grapes. Feasting on the sour grapes for so long has turned our faces into funny shapes and the world sees us as the sour patch kids.
Psalm 32:11 Rejoice in the Lord and be happy you who are godly! Shout for joy, all you who are morally upright! (NET)
Who are the morally upright? Those who have faith in Jesus and are in living in the power of the Spirit. In short, people saved by grace and living by grace. The miracle is God loved broken, morally bankrupt, and blasphemous sinners enough to die for them to declare them righteous. No person has any right to claim purity and innocence on their own merit, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s law. But God’s grace testifies we are clean through faith in Jesus and the work He accomplished on the cross. This is a reason to rejoice! A people that have discovered treasure have no reason to be walking around as sour patch kids. Instead, they should be marked by an unquenchable joy because they know God loves them. And their God has redeemed them.
Not only do they know God loves them, but they also know that no matter what there is no reason to fear. Any punishment that lingered over them because of their sin has been paid by Jesus. Because of the blood of Jesus, they are morally upright before God. And when this truly happens, then they can live morally upright among people. Freedom from fear is a reason to rejoice. Those with this freedom have no reason to walk around like someone peed in their cheerios, but have a demeanor that reflects the joy of heaven because the King of heaven resides in their hearts.
I am not naïve; I know we live in a world shackled by evil in bondage to sin. Sin impacts us daily, and its consequences are oppressing us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But you and I can testify from personal experience that sin is outmatched by Jesus. Jesus lives in our hearts and His Spirit is transforming our minds. As a popular song by David Crowder puts it, “earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t cure.” (Come As You Are) If that is the case, my friends, let us not walk around like sour patch kids addicted to the lemons of this life. Instead, may we live as those who are “drinking from a river that never shall run dry” and “feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply.” (Hymn Dwelling in Beulah Land) To have Jesus is to have joy unspeakable, unshakeable, and unmovable.
written by Jason Barnett. Jason is the pastor at Greensburg Church of the Nazarene, in Greensburg, KY. You can LISTEN to his sermons via The Dirt Path Sermon Podcast. FOLLOW him on twitter and The Dirt Path Facebook page.
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