So a little while ago I was at my brother’s beautiful home.
We had just set up a new basketball hoop for his kids, so as well-mannered and
responsible fathers… is that laughter… I am taking names. We of course had a
dunk contest… crushed it. Afterwards we of course had the 3-point competition
and this is where our adventure takes, A TURN. I lob a shot towards the hoop it
bounced straight up, and with the slowest bounce I have ever seen. The bounce
was so slow I literally had time to say, “there is no way that breaks the
window, Right?” the ball lightly taps the front window of my brothers how and
Shatters it like the dreams of an Iowa girl getting off the bus in Hollywood
hoping to be a movie star. SHATTERED. As we stood their wide eyed, and for me
at least, embarrassed. We realized well the windows were single pain 30 years
old and let in more heat than the Broncos offensive line. So my brother started
the process of replacing his front windows. He quickly realized he had to deal
with the three scariest letters in home repair. H-O-A. That right, before
purchasing his new windows, he had to get the color, shape, size, and company
approved by the.. H-O-A. You see the home owners association is an organization
meant to keep a neighborhood on the same footing. Keeping yards clean, houses
visually appeasing, and the most anal and nitpicky amongst the community busy
for 2 Tuesdays every month. Really HOA’s are there to make a community play by
the same rules. So that one house doesn’t destroy the esthetic or code the
community agrees to.
This has
many upsides. Great looking homes, high property values, heck some even have a
community pool that is inside your HOA dues. Yet this has some downsides. Like,
I don’t know, being threatened with a fine because you haven’t had a chance to
paint your chimney the HOA approved color because you work two jobs and are
passionate about the work you do at your church. This downside also made it so
my brother had to work for almost 6 weeks before getting his Window replaced,
and while waiting on the HOA he got contacted… by the HOA… about his broken
window. So do you see where some frustrations might start to build.
There is a
belief that to live in God’s HOA (Heart owners association) we have to work to
follow all those rules. These items that make us proper Christians to live in
God’s neighborhood. By keeping our actions consistent. Coming to church Sunday,
giving a base tithing, and trying to do a service project once a year. We fulfil
our side of the covenant. Sadly, that is the old HOA covenant with God. We have
so much to do to live in God’s community. As if we can act close enough to
perfect that God will pass by us on his HOA walk though. Our cloths are clean
enough, our words are clean enough, our handshake is firm enough. As long as we
appear to be right with God, that must be the case. It isn’t, we will never be
good enough for God’s HOA. “For No human
being will be justified in his sight” Romans3:20. With Jesus the covenant
was changed.
Christ’s
covenant isn’t that we are to work to live with God, but that Christ wants to
live with us. Those whose homes and hearts had been ravaged by wear and tear.
Some of us can empathize with this. My home has bushes that are untrimmed,
yards covered in leaves, both my living room and family room covered in the
toys of a highly active 5 and 3-year-old, even my bedroom has shoes and clothes
at the foot of the bed. My heart is the same, overburdened with the stress of
work, with the worry that my son is doing well enough in school, the fear I am
not supportive enough as a husband. Both my heart and home show that beating of
use over time. Christ see’s our wear and tear and says it is not what the house
or heart looks like that matters. It is a much simpler question. Is it open? Is
your heart open to those who are in the most need? Is your house open to those
who knock? Are you willing to show your imperfections not to emphasis your own
frailty but to Glorify the strength of God?
For what
becomes of Boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? NO, but the law of faith.
For we Hold that person is justified by faith, apart from works prescribe by
the law.
Our New
Heart Owners Association Covenant is clear. No matter how Good you make
yourself look. No matter how many houses you build, no matter how many services
you attend, no matter how many sermons you give. We are all justified by the
same thing. A faith in the one who presented you his grace. If you have the
cleanest house with the best décor, or you have have a home covered in toys,
spaghetti stains and dog hair. Grace has been given to you through Christ jesus
our lord. We can not do enough to move into God’s subdivision. So God sent his son to live with us. To live
in our imperfection. To live in our frailty, fear, and selfishness. In Christ
Jesus God signed up for our HOA. “The
Righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For
there is no distinction. For all have sinned and short of the glory of God.
They are now justified by his Grace as a Gift. “ Our Homes and our hearts
are impossible broken, just as God designed. So that we may not depend on our
own works, but only on the grace of God.
In this
imperfection God’s HOA calls us to one simple thing. Believe. Believe his love
abounds over you. Believe you can be his hands and feet. Believe you can do all
things through Christ who strengthens you. Believe the community of believers
are imperfect but can do impossible things. Believe in yourself, for you are a
creation of God. Just Believe – It’s a covenant we all can sign. This covenant
frees us from the burden of unreal expectations. This covenant frees us from
self-loathing, fear, and frailty. For in that covenant of belief we are given a
gift, for in that Belief in the Son, We will be Free Indeed. -Amen
