I’ve Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
In the late 80 and early 90’s there was a company
called LifeCall with a system in which subscribers, mostly senior citizens as
well as the disabled, would receive a pendant which, when activated, would
allow the user to speak into to an audio receiving device and talk directly
with a dispatch service, without the need to reach a telephone. The dispatcher would then send help. In 1989, LifeCall began running commercials
which contained a scene wherein an elderly woman, identified by a dispatcher as
"Mrs. Fletcher", uses the medical alert pendant after having fallen
in the bathroom. After falling, Mrs. Fletcher speaks the phrase "I've
fallen, and I can't get up!” after which the dispatcher informs her that he is
sending help. Many of you will remember that phrase. While the phrase was subject of much humor,
when we take the commercial at its face value, it portrays a dangerous situation
for a senior, with perhaps dire consequences: an elderly person suddenly
incapacitated at home, unable to get help, perhaps for hours or even days.
Spiritually we are all Mrs. Fletcher’s, we are
fallen in Sin and cannot get up from it by ourselves. God, in this scenario, is LifeCall. We can call on Him. He will dispatch “someone” to help us up.
According to the teacher’s section of our lesson this process of getting us up
is strongly related to Grace. The word
grace, as used in the Bible, which is how Paul understood it, originated from a
Hebrew verb that literally means “to bend down.” It conveys the idea of a
person bending over to help someone stand up who has fallen and cannot help
himself. From this concept, the word grace came to mean the act of extending
favor or kindness to another person and often someone who did not deserve it.
In the Old Testament, as in Paul’s letters, God is the One who is typically described
as extending grace.
At face value we see the act of kindness and think, “that
was a nice thing that person did.” We
focus on the compassion. So, to us it
becomes mercy. But we ignore the act
itself, and the person receiving the help.
What did the person do? The person that helped the other get up gave the
fallen person what they needed to get up.
Think about it, the fallen person asked for help because they could not
get up. The person helping gave the
person what they needed to do it. This
is a result of grace. When person A is
moved with compassion, person A gives to person B what person B lack to
complete the task, whether they deserve it or not. Person A gave person B the power to complete
the task.
The closest story I can remember
in the Bible of someone falling is when Peter sank in the water. He saw Jesus walking on water and asked
Jesus,
Matthew 14:28 …. Lord, if it be
thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Matthew 14:29 And He said, Come. And
when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to
Jesus.
Matthew 14:30 But when he saw the
wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord,
save me.
Matthew 14:31 And immediately
Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Peter recognized his need, immediately
asked for help. Thus, when the Lord extended forth His hand to catch Peter, the
Lord had compassion on Peter, and gave to Peter what Peter lacked to get to not
sink in the water. Peter allowed the
Lord to pull Him up. Peter received the
grace. Now, this is just a metaphor of our
lives. We are all in the water of life sinking
trying to stay afloat the best we can. God
has compassion on us, and sends us His Son – our Spiritual life guard to rescue
us. We here the call, “You are sinking
or about to sink, but I can save you, let me grab you to take you out.” Will we let Him? We are all fallen in Sin, and it does not
matter how hard we try, we will never be able to get out of it. We are born in Sin and conceived in I
iniquity. We had neither say over nor
choice over that. The Thessalonians
heard this warning, and the good news. They
realized their true condition and that there was nothing they could do to fix
it, so they trusted God to do it.
You see, our biggest problem is
not that we are fallen. Our biggest
problem is that we are in denial about it.
Although God did execute Judgment on many idol worshipping nation, His
greatest rebuke was to Israel and Judah because they followed after the pagan
worship. Christ greatest rebukes were to
the Jews, and most of His commendations were to the faith exercising
Gentiles. And, we are following in the
same footsteps of Israel and Judah. This
is why God is so disgusted with us. God
describes us in Revelation 3,
Revelation 3:17 Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked:
Revelation 3:18 I counsel thee to
buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
God gives us through grace, what
we lack, to bring us back to Him. He
longs for our response. Yet, we tell
Him, “I have need of nothing,” while lying on the floor or sinking in the
water. Christ told Nicodemus that, “…
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). Our greatest
problem is that we reject God’s grace.
We refuse to let Him get us up.
