Unforgiven But Not Unforgiveable

We all likely agree that sin is bad and that forgiveness is good!  Thanks be to God that forgiveness is ours in Jesus Christ.

But sin as sin cannot be forgiven apart from the components thereof.

1. There must be an offense against God's will.
   

2. There must be a vehicle of grace, given by God, not to overlook the sin but to crush it, to pay the price for it, if justice is to be accomplished.

3. There must be both an identification of this sin as sin in the life of the believer as well as a desire to repent of it.

If either of the latter of these component parts is missing, the sin is unforgiven.

We sin by committing certain acts (as well as failing to act in accordance with God’s will) because ultimately sin is an offense to God.

Those who understand their actions to offend God and sincerely repent of (or turn away from) their sin, seek the grace given by God in Jesus Christ.

Those who refuse to accept that their actions constitute sin and/or refuse to repent of their sin remain in their sinful state.  Their sin is not forgiven.

Who, with this knowledge would choose to remain in their sin?  Only those whose hearts are hardened against the will of God. Those who love their sin more than they do God.  There are many in this position today.  There are those who want to overlook the sins of others as a vehicle for remaining in their own sin.  “Judge not lest ye be judged” is a phrase used by many, perhaps even without recognizing it, as a means of protecting themselves from the judgement of others. Judgement however, is not dependent upon the standards of mankind.  It is based on the word of God.  When we confront one another, in love, seeking to help one another with the plague of sin, we advance the word of God, we assist in the eradication of sin, and we become the kind of people that advance rather than retard the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are commanded to “speak the truth in love” to this end, that we assist one another to grow in the grace of God. In an age of self-interest, political correctness, and an absence of any ultimate truth, we neutralize God’s word and work.  It is a hard thing to stand willing to judge one another because in so doing we subject ourselves to the same standards and, by implication, ask others to judge us.

That scripture clearly states: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” And few of us want to make ourselves open to the judgement of others or to be judged in accordance with the same standards we might use to judge others. It's easier just to loosen the standards so that we all get along.

But the scripture continues: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 

How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

We first commanded to take a long hard look at ourselves, to remove the plank (the sin) in our own life, so that we might be able to see clearly enough to help others remove the specks in their eyes.  The implication is clear that we are to be about cleansing ourselves from sin. We are to actively confess and repent of our own brokenness so that we can assist our fellow Christians in their pursuit of forgiveness.  Why then would we restrain ourselves?  Why would we not enter into discussion about our own sins and seek to assist others in pursuing the grace of God?

Those who have truly experienced the grace of God are willing to subject themselves to the word of God.  They eagerly seek to be right with God irrespective of the cost.  A passion to lead a righteous life naturally includes a passion to assist others in leading a righteous life.

“Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory. The free gift of God’s grace makes us right with him. Christ Jesus paid the price to set us free.  God gave Christ as a sacrifice to pay for sins through the spilling of his blood. So God forgives the sins of those who have faith. God did all this to prove that he does what is right. He is a God of mercy.”

“So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.  Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

Sin is bad. Forgiveness is good.  Opposition to the truth and an unwillingness to speak the truth in love puts us at odds with God.

In speaking to those who refuse to allow themselves to be judged by the word of God and who do not feel it is the church's place to judge others according to the word of God, Paul writes: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

And “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

These words are directed at the church, at those who should know better, but who refuse to make the difficult decision, who approve of those who refuse to repent, who twist and flaunt the word of God as a means of escaping the difficult task of being the church.  Let us not be counted among them.

Esther's "Uncle" Mordecai addresses her as she is faced with a challenge that could cost her her life: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance…will arise from another place…And who knows but that you have come to your…position for such a time as this?”  The church is facing an increasingly minor role in our culture.  If we are unwilling to speak the truth, that truth will come through another means.  Who knows but that we have come to this situation for just such a time as this!

Solo Deo Gloria!

Sage Advice

July 24, 2014

Some words you may be familiar with…

“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?"

or

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation…But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government."

or

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and dedicated, can long endure…It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

or even this one I took note of in my readings, this week

…There is a great decision that every denomination has to make sometime in the development of its history. Every church also has to make it either at its beginning or a little later—usually a little later. Eventually every board is faced with the decision and has to keep making it, not by one great decision made once for all, but by a series of little decisions adding up to one great big one. Every pastor has to face it and keep renewing his decision on his knees before God. Finally, every church member, every evangelist, every Christian has to make this decision. It is a matter of judgment upon that denomination, that church, that board, that pastor, that leader and upon their descendants and spiritual children.

The question is this: Shall we modify the truth in doctrine or practice to gain more adherents? Or shall we preserve the truth in doctrine and practice and take the consequences? (A.W.Tozer)

Such passages talk not about the implications of independence from England, nor about the importance of Federal control over the state governments’ decisions on matters of great significance, but about the decisions you and I make today, decisions which each of our spiritual ancestors have had to make, decisions which  members, pastors, boards, and denominations must make to ensure that the Son of God who is the Truth and the Word of God which is the truth is never compromised for the sake of ease, friendliness, or numerical strength but that the Light of Truth forever brightens the darkest recesses of sin in which we constantly find ourselves.

Many congregations, assemblies, synods, denominations, and other christian organizations are embroiled in a great controversy between social expediency and Biblical truthfulness, between social justice and God’s righteousness, between social relevance and eternal salvation.  In short we are in a battle for the very soul of the church and each and every one of us will need to decide for ourselves and with one another the direction we should go - to speak the truth in love, in our anger not to sin, and to seek faithfulness above success.

The truth is the world needs born again, dedicated, fanatical, Christians who refuse to compromise on the Word of God, for there is no other word, no other name, and no other means by which men can be saved.

Jesus uses the parable of one who has planted poisonous seed in another man’s field,   Bearded Darnel a wheat look-a-like which entangles its roots and grows up almost identical to wheat.  Its seeds though are black.  Its seeds are poisonous.  Its seeds can cause dizziness, vomiting and even death.  It still appears in wheat fields today but is sorted through by more expedient methods of sieving and fanning.

Jesus explains the parable.  The seed is the Word of God, that which you can hold in your hand today.  The very Word of God.  Not a word from God.  Not a human word in which you might someday find a word from God.  But THE Word of God wrote.  The One who sowed the good seed is Jesus.  This is His word, the Living Word of God.  Jesus is also the one who will judge in the ends times as to whether those in the world, the harvest, you, me and every single person who has ever lived, even the embryo’s we cast off for convenience,  will be judged to be wheat or tares.  Jesus doesn’t pray that we, the wheat, the members of the Kingdom be taken out or saved from the world but that we exist alongside the Bearded Darnel.  Wonder why there is such evil in the world, because according to the word of the Lord, it’s a part of his plan.  Oh there will be a harvest and there is a place where the black and poisonous seeds and the tares will be burned.  And a place where the righteous will shine like the sun!  Hallelujah.

The news headlines bring little in the way of relief… 

Christians in Mosul, Iraq, have been told that they must leave, convert to Islam or accept dhimmitude (that is to be subject to Islamic rule), or die. A communique from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS), at one time gave Christians a deadline, saying that if they do not leave or accept Islamic rule, "their destiny is the sword."

Merian Ibrahim, a Christian sentenced to death for apostasy and then cleared, was rearrested when she tried to leave the country. 

In Sri Lanka, a pastor and his family were attacked in their home by a village mob while they waited for police to show up for a prearranged meeting.

People in the UK are arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.

And I sometimes think that the church in the west is dying because it's just too easy to be a Christian there.

But the truth of God’s word still reigns and the grace of God is still available for those who would yet open their ears to hear, their eyes to see and their hearts to believe.  God has a better plan.

Romans 12 says: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

God has a way.  God has a means.  God has a desire to actually change some of the hardened hearts. The Bearded Darnel will be harvested and burned in the fire. And we are his plan of getting that news out.  We don’t uproot.  We don’t spray “round up.”  We don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.  Rather, we feed on the Word of God, the faith “that was once… and for all… entrusted to God’s holy people.

This challenge we face is nothing new.  Listen to the report of Jude, the brother of James and of Jesus himself as it comes to us from his letter addressed to the most general of audiences in the earliest days of the church… an eye witness account (not the deconstructive pontifications of a latter day scholar) and God’s word to us…

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

“To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

“Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

“Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

“In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.  But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

“These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.  They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

“Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”  These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

“But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”  These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

“But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

“Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

 

Councils may err...

July 21, 2014

 “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others...Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.“ (2 Corinthians 2:1-2,15)

The Women’s Bible Study I resource and lead has begun an 11 week Bible Study on 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.  And I am elated.  I get a charge out of Sunday School classes and Bible Studies which actually focus on the scriptures rather than the latest NY Times best seller, because the church is all too often faced with decisions which require a well-formed and mature, Biblically grounded faith.  A children’s level Sunday School education is not enough in these matters.  And reading what others say about the Bible should never serve as a prelude to or a replacement for actually reading the Bible.  Deconstructive theologies, post-modern approaches, and gender specific hermeneutics fail us.  “Cliff notes” don’t hack it in serious study circles.

Church statisticians remind us that Biblical ignorance is at an all-time high with too many adults considering Sunday School and Bible Studies to be the realm of women and children - limiting themselves to an infantile understanding of the greatest source of knowledge we have about God and God’s will for us His children.  Few adults are able to name the Ten Commandments, the twelve disciples or how many books actually make up our Scripture, much less comment meaningfully on the more complex matters of differentiating between counsel and command in the Bible.  Too many look to the words of Jesus in the scriptures as having more authority than the other words, not understanding the specifically stated view of scripture that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Few realize that the N.T. understanding of O.T. sin is not that sin is no longer sin, but that many of those O.T. standards were to set Israel apart from its neighbors and as a means to help us understand that we are incapable of fulfilling the Law on our own accord.   Not that the Law is inappropriate but that we can’t fulfill it.  There is even confusion between God’s Law and the Mosaic Law.  The truth is, and always has been, that we all need a Savior to deliver us from our inherent fallen state of sin.  Denying that sin is sin can’t do that.

It is too often the case that people inside and outside of church circles quote scripture without looking at the background.  Many would be surprised to discover Paul’s use of such phrases as “But to the rest I say, not the Lord…” (1Cor7:12), or “Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion” (1 Cor7:25).

The reality is that too many of us THINK we know what scripture says without understanding the complete counsel of scripture on matters of great importance.  We pick and choose the sections of scripture that seem to support our preconceived notion of what we already consider to be right - a slippery, ever-changing standard determined more by the culture in which we live than the faith which is true and which is able to determine what is acceptable socially and what is not.  We survive on a spiritual diet like unto eating bacon fat and french fries rather than Kale, lean meat, and fresh fruit.

Today our own minority-western culture and a few minor segments of the church within that particular culture, are embroiled in a great controversy regarding the institution of marriage.  The question has become whether the prevailing cultural consensus will determine what we believe or whether God’s clearly revealed will in this matter are to make that determination for us.

In this discussion I often hear an appeal to the issue of women in leadership (an organizational stipulation more than a question of equality or suitability).  I also often hear an appeal to issue of slavery (which by the way is neither commended nor condemned in scripture).  We hear talk of how the church has changed its mind on these and other matters as if change was inevitable and that society is the conscience of the church or that the church, like our nation, should be ruled by the majority.  The will of God is clear to those who will take the time to read, to pray, to study and to seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit.  The vast majority of the Christian faith throughout the world is of one mind on this matter.

Rejecting homosexual marriage, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is not exclusive.  It is not self-righteous.  It is not arrogant, ignorant, unkind, unloving, homophobic, elitist or bigoted.  It is the simple recognition that God’s design for human interactions on that level is one reserved exclusively for a man and a woman.  Even though long term monogamous homosexual relationships were known in “Biblical times” they were rejected by God and that message was conveyed to us through the prophets, martyrs and others who so eloquently and accurately conveyed God’s will to us.  Even the thought that homosexuals were “this way from birth” was evidenced in the broader culture and known to the church of the day.

Still the Christian church believed and taught then and still does today that the church exists to correct such misguided social standards, based on the clearly revealed will of God, not psychology, not biology, and not social consensus; not in a hate-filled but in a hope-filled manner.  Not that we judge one another but that the Lord Jesus Christ judges each of us and that this is revealed in scripture for the sake of the Kingdom.

There are so many questions like this with which the church of Jesus Christ will be faced in the coming years – but none of them are new.  Is there salvation apart from Jesus Christ?  Does one need to be “born again?”  Is polygamy, divorce, abortion, drunkenness, gossip, or lying wrong?  Our answer to these important questions must always be based on God’s professed will in scripture.

How we deal with ourselves and others caught up in these sins is a different question.  Whether or not we offer a way out, the way of redemption, the way of the cross is equally as important a question.  To deny sin is to deny the opportunity for repentance.  It is to deny the opportunity to yet turn and be saved from that sin.  Salvation is good news.  Good news that God loves each of us too much to want us to wallow in our sin, but to be saved from it.  To be increasingly “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

And in Jesus Christ each and every one of us has that possibility.  Thanks be to God.

Truth be told, the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s General Assembly has clearly erred in its own deliberations on this matter and that is to be grieved and to be repented of.  However, thanks be to God, there is yet hope... in Jesus Christ.  And to that end, I pray.  Maranatha!

 

A Poetic Interlude

May 3, 2014

 

How does one go home

When there is no home any more

When home is only a memory

Of many different places

Of many different people

Of many different experiences

When only Heaven will suffice

And all that has transpired

Is only a sketch of the future

What does one call home

When there is no home any more

When home is only a memory

Of special places

Of special people

Of special experiences

When only Heaven will suffice

And all that has taken place

Is only a hint of what will be

Where does one see home

When there is no home any more

When home is only a memory

Confusing the different places

Confusing the different people

Confusing the different experiences

When only Heaven will suffice

And all that has been confused

Is only a dream of what could be

When is one at home

When home only exists in the heart

When home is only a hope

Of all the different places

Of all the different people

Of all the different experiences

When only Heaven will suffice

And all that has been

Will no longer be

When heaven is finally home

And home finally truly is

When home is no longer a hope

Better than the different places

Better than the different people

Better than the different experiences

When Heaven displaces

All that has been

And becomes all that will be

For now we see only a reflection

As in a mirror;

Then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part;

Then I shall know fully,

Even as I am fully known

 -Glen James Hallead, July, 2008

Post Easter Recovery Matters...

May 3, 2014

Easter has come and gone.  My Easter sermon addressed the question of fear – the fear of the resurrection and how it impacted the guards, the women and the disciples.  And I asked  "what fears do we have in reaction to the resurrection?"  "What keeps us from sharing the good news?"  "Do we fear being labeled a “Religious Fanatic?”  “Ignorant?” “Naïve?” A “Bigot?”

As we move into the Post Easter Season, I find myself wondering "what we will do with the Good News?"  We had a wonderful crowd on Easter Sunday.  Many came whom we haven’t seen in some time.  I find myself wondering whether or not they felt welcome enough to come back?  And what about those who are recently arrived, the newcomers?  Will they be encouraged to find a home here in the congregation I am honored to serve?

Statistics tell us that the invitations of Pastors generally fall on deaf ears but the invitation of a member of a congregation who is happy in their spiritual life and comfortable in their membership has a far greater rate of success in their invitations to worship.  Our Elder Board is taking this matter seriously.  They will be looking at our directory list and asking the question, "who haven’t we seen in a while" and "how might we reach out to them in an encouraging way to invite them to come back home?"

Statistics also reveal that up to 75% of Tioga County have likely never been to church.  Is there a way for us to reach out to our non-churched neighbors to share the Good News, not just in simple matters of shoveling their snow or talking on the phone, but in and invitational manner to become a part of something bigger than ourselves.

Some of those who have been attending worship with us lately have reported they saw our new webpage and felt this was the kind of place for which they were looking.  Others came in direct response to an invitation from someone in town that they met.  Most came looking specifically for a traditional form of worship that is contemporary and informal enough to be comfortable and yet sufficiently ordered to be “safe” and meaningful.

To be sure, the bodily resurrection of our Lord is a whopper of a story.  It’s unbelievable.  It’s disturbing in its implications.  It defies understanding.  And that is exactly the point.  That which seems to be impossible is possible.  So what will we do?  Will we tremble and become as dead men (or women)?  Will we be fearful and yet filled with joy running to tell of our own encounters with the risen Lord?  Will we doubt, like Thomas yet seek to see Jesus and when we encounter him, give, like most all of the disciples, our very lives in service to Him, sharing the Good News with all?  Or will we, like so many others, simply deny what God has done?

The ball is in our court, each of us, individually.  What will you do with the Good News?

 

And so it goes...

 February 24, 2014

...when an accusation is made without cause, without merit, without warning by someone you have considered a friend and a colleague.  And even when the matter is settled and hints of instability have surfaced, even though your work is reaffirmed, the sting remains.  When it's followed by the resignation of a staff member, accusations by another, an elder leaving the church, and another in tears in your office, it's hard not to take these things personally.  Even when you hear "it's not you."  "It's the politics."  "It's the lack of support for each other."  It's the absence of fellowship."  It's hard not to take it personally.

And when something else is beckoning, it's hard not to become distracted by what could be, if only, somewhere else.  And a call comes.  And an email arrives.  And the thought seed is planted.  People want me.  And it's hard not to take that personally as well.  And that's the problem.  It shouldn't be personal.  It should be Him.  It's all about Him.  But sometimes He is so slow.  His time is not my time. And it's hard not to take that personally.

And so I keep repeating the only acceptable mantra.  "It's all about Him - it's not about me."  But I'm still in the mess of the politics and the abandonment, and the hurt, and the longing.  In part it is about me.  Not just me getting over myself but me making more room for Him.  I need to get out of the way and it's hard not to take that personally.

 

The Beginning of the Demise of an Otherwise Productive Ministry

February 10, 2014

 

It has been a strange winter indeed.  So many things clamoring for my attention...  so many possibilities... so many opportunities... so many blessings... so many challenges.

I recall entering ministry some 28 years ago with the idea that I was called to simply share the grace I had received.  For the most part that has been easy.  I mean there has been so much grace extended to me, I've never run short of "funds" in my grace bank.  To be sure there are times when I am not sure there's much left to go around but the minute I picture Jesus on the cross and the emptiness of the grave I recall that there will always be a grace balance in my account.  I can't extend more grace than I have been given.  It's not possible.  But to be honest I, like many others I'm sure, have recently been stretched to the breaking point in my ability to be gracious.  I feel like I've given it all... there is no more... I know there is but I'm just not feeling it...

Matthew 18 tells us how to resolve our differences. We go to the offending party.  If we don't get satisfaction we take along a couple of other folks to witness the exchange (accountability).  If that still doesn't work we call them on the carpet publicly (before the church).  And if they still don't repent we cut them off (treat them like the sinner they are) and move on.  It doesn't seem to be such a difficult matter. And yet, how often our personal pride, or our fear of rejection, or some other relational issue prevents us from having the kinds of discussions we need to have with one another.

For the one who is sinned against this can be very difficult, confronting another, hopefully in love, to tell them that they have sinned.  Several problems can creep into this, the role of rumor, our own self-interest, perhaps a misinterpretation of the facts.  And hence the need to confront privately, and then with a few others to check our bases before we go before the many.   Accusations seem all too easy a route to take today without these initial steps.  Talking about, instead of to, persons.  Confronting publicly in a crowd without ever having taken the time to approach the individual privately, or with a small group.

For the one who sinned this can likewise be difficult.  We may be surrounded by people who are quick to defend our reputation without regard for the truth of the situation.  We may have unintentionally left ourselves open to accusation by miscommunication.  We may have just done something wrong without fully comprehending how it impacts others.  Or we might just be in denial.  And hence the need to hear from the aggrieved individual personally and perhaps with others before going public.

So what happens when the one perceiving they have been wronged goes directly to the body, to the group, goes public with the accusation without discerning the true facts, without confronting the offending individual, without asking others for help in processing the perceived sin?  Even worse what happens when they are wrong.  It seems as if, in our American culture today, truth is a malleable matter at best and a casualty of self-interest at worst.  Communication is typically triangular.  And relationships as well as truth and integrity pay the toll.  This is very costly in ministry.

Jesus spoke well when he instructed those of us who consider ourselves to be believers to direct ourselves first to one another, then to a small group and finally publicly as a means of protecting everyone's reputation.

In one such situation a relationship has been broken, all for the lack of one simple question which would have easily and in very short order clarified a simple two-word phrase.  But disregard of the courtesy of such a simple and respectful confrontation has left something of a mess.  And now the roles are reversed.  The perceived sinner has become the aggrieved one and may have to work through the steps the other one so casually disregarded.  The seeds of doubt within the larger group, however, have been cast.  Ill feelings seem to abide in a number of cases.  Walls have been constructed.  Motivations are being questioned.  Assumptions have been made.  And questions of personal integrity hang in the air.

Psychologists talk about fight or flight fantasies, but a recent read talks also in terms of faithful flight and faithful flight.

And my spiritual skin is dry and itchy from the winter of my soul...

 

Holidays and Holy Days

December 25, 2013

The New Year is almost upon us. Resolutions are being made.  Budgets are being closed out for last year and new ones opened for 2014.  Christmas decorations will soon be taken down, if they haven’t already. And we will begin to settle in for the long winter ahead.  Winter, in this part of the world, is a time in which the Lord’s gives rest to his creation.  Trees and other plants, often go into a dormancy period, preparing for the spring.  Bears and other animals hibernate taking strength from the nourishment they have received earlier.  And as we read following the Bible story of our Savior’s birth we enter into a period of silence – Jesus’ time as a youth about which we know so little.  Silence in so many ways is golden.

And yet there seems to be so little silence in our lives.  We still fill our days with busyness, of home and hearth, of labor and lending, of travel and training.  The fireplace calls forth a time of rest when we can read a book, rest our eyes, or just relax with family.  But will we hearken to the call?  I personally fear having too much time alone, experiencing too much silence, spending too much time for thinking and processing and I often wonder if others do too?

In the silent and restful periods of our lives we can rest and reflect but that can be a bitter struggle for many as unbidden thoughts of past guilt, current loss, or future anxieties present themselves.  And yet it can be a time when God works wonders in our lives.  These times can be times of rest and renewal when we feed on the nourishment and provision God has previously provided.  They can be times when God works some radical surgery to mold us and shape us.

Carol and I will be doing some traveling following Christmas.  We’ll spend time in Detroit with my sisters, in Bangkok with Natalie and, in Chiang Mai a place we called home for a significant part of our lives, and other friends and missionaries.  While we will be busy visiting and hopefully encouraging missionary friends, so too will we be taking time to reflect.  It may be poolside instead of in front of a fireplace or it may be over a spicy hot meal of some strange concoction rather than the familiar cold weather soups and stews of North Central PA.  It may be in a language far different from English, but we have committed ourselves to spending time resting and reflecting.

I invite you too into the stillness that we are directed to as the Lord speaks to us in Psalm 46 –

 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble…

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells…

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 May your New Year be blessed with the peace which passes all understanding.

I'd like to think that...

"I'd like to think..."

If only the comment had stopped there.  We all like to think.  But it's what we think that makes all the difference in the world.

"I'd like to think that everyone who occupies a pew is a believer..."

"I'd like to think that everyone who calls him or herself a Christian really is..."

"I'd like to think that every American citizen holds 'these things to be self evident...'"

But the "I'd like to,,," world is a Pollyanna world.  While I might like to think those things, they are likely not true.  They are a self-deception.  The truth is that those of us who live in the "I'd like to believe" world oftentimes would like to believe those things because if they are true then we won't have to do anything.  We won't have to work to change the world. We won't have to confront someone else about the lies they are living.  We won't have to do the hard and prayerful work of properly discerning what is of God and what is not of God.  The Scriptures call it "rightly dividing the word of God" (2 Timothy 2:15 -"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.")

This is especially true in the church where we too often hear the words:

     "I'd like to think that when all is said and done the good in my life will outweigh the bad" (and the back story is "I really don't want to be challenged on all the bad I have done, or that I am never going to be good enough to earn salvation").

     "I'd like to think that we are all going to the same place, we're just taking different roads" (and the back story is "I really don't know what I believe and I am too embarrassed for others to know that so I'll just keep quiet and not judge anyone else hoping that my own ignorance or lack of faith will never show").

     "I'd like to think that I'm okay and you're okay" (and the back story is that "I'm not sure I am okay and I'm pretty sure that one over there is definitely not okay so let's just change what it means to be okay and we can say everything is okay, okay?).

Unfortunately this Pollyanna attitude also stands in stark contrast to another lie prevalent in today's culture - what I affectionately call "the Hate-Radio" culture, where judgment reigns supreme - you know unfair and biased reporting.  Where "I'd like to think" is replaced by "THEY seem to think" and the Us or Them war begins.  This "they like to think" side is often advanced by the partisan politicos and the "Tea" or "Coffee" partiers' perceptions of having all the answers - most of which ignore the very One who is the (only) Answer.   And sometimes the two attitudes meld into an "I  think that they can't think."

As I wander through this vestige of western society I once knew as home, I am increasingly realizing just how lost we are - in the rhetoric of ideas, the me-centric identification of purpose, and the ignorance and folly of intellectualism.  We even go so far as to label ourselves a "post-Christian" culture as if the one true faith no longer has influence or relevance.  There are times when one might even become discouraged, EXCEPT, that scripture tells us of the One who is The Way, The Truth, The Life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him... that He who began a good work in those of us who do truly believe will bring it to completion... that there is a judgment, which will be seasoned by grace for the believer to be sure, but still a judgment when the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats are to be sorted.  Post Christendom is in fact the time of the judgment.  And "I like to believe" I am ready... but doesn't everyone?

Joshua's words echo across the ages - choose for yourselves this day, whom you shall serve...but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.  And so I wonder, what is holding us back from full, unqualified, sacrificial faith.

What might be holding you back from either salvation (if that is the case) or at least from sacrificial service (if that is the case).  What are the traditions, assumptions, "holy grails" that keep you from letting go and from committing to and fully serving God?  Will you answer Jesus, "I like to think?"  Or can you answer him "I BELIEVE!"?

 

The Cancer of Unforgiveness

October 1, 2013

My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the 1990’s.  He chose the less aggressive way of treating it.  He died of died of prostate cancer in 2006.  He might well have beaten it had he chosen a more aggressive path.  We’ll never know.  After his initial treatments my mother was diagnosed with Leukemia and he spent most of his time caring for her.  While he was busy caring for her he failed to get follow up testing and the disease raged.  After my mother died and he had dealt with his grief and the many matters pertaining to the estate he began to look at his own life and health and decided he ought to have a physical check up.  And the diagnosis was grim.  He was given 6 months to a year.

Friends, unforgiveness is like that.  It is a cancer that grows within.  It is a methodical and effective killer of our spiritual lives.  Just like heart disease, high blood pressure, and many forms of cancer, unforgiveness can grow undetected until it rears its ugly head with devastating consequences.  We have a medical term for the presentation of a disease without symptoms.  They’re called asymptomatic.  In our spiritual lives the situation is simply referred to as denial.  Christian often live in denial of their unforgiveness, unaware that it lies deep within the recesses of their souls, eating away at their faith, building resentment, frustration, and anger until it rears its ugly head - in a simple conversation about a deeply held conviction, in an event such as the incapacitating illness or even death of a loved one, or even in changes within the church, changes that in other healthier circumstances might be dealt with positively even humorously.

So many times in ministry I have inadvertently and unintentionally run into the unexploded ordinance of unforgiveness.  It is like a landmine waiting to be triggered by the unsuspecting.  I say something and boom and I have a mess in front of me.  Perhaps you have had this experience.  The comment can be innocent enough but you know when you have stepped in it.

It ought not be so.  Charles Stanley, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Atlanta, talked in terms of unforgiveness not fitting a Christian as if he, who wears a 41 long suit were to dress in a 62 short.  People would notice.  They’d tell him to go home and change his clothes.  Christians who harbor unforgiveness eventually become symptomatic.  They show signs of previous encounters to which they hold tightly.  Divorce, unfaithfulness, abuse, deception, teasing, humiliation.  This is the lot common to life in general.  But Christians are expected to handle it differently.  We are to forgive.  Not to tolerate.  Not to stuff down and ignore.  But to actively pursue forgiveness.  And that is costly.  It means that those of us who notice are supposed to bring it to other's attention.  We’re supposed to be telling one another “that suit doesn’t fit you.”  The unforgiving attitude is unbecoming.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that he insists that those who would call themselves Christians must not live like the as nonbelievers.  They are ignorant.  Their hearts are hardened to the things of God.  But we who believe, we who have taken upon ourselves the yoke of slavery to the Lord Jesus Christ accept his way as the only acceptable way to live – “to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness…forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Each and every Sunday many pray – “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  This is a significant prayer.  We do not and we dare not ask God to forgive us more than we forgive one another.  In fact it presumes that we have a habit of forgiving each even as we seek God’s forgiveness for ourselves – and forgive us our debts only "as we forgive"  is the actual wording  Bible verse in Matthew; the Luke version says “Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.”

Let me ask you to intellectually think through the limitations on God’s forgiveness.  Is God unable to forgive some sins?  Is God unwilling to forgive some sins?  The only Biblical reference to such a concept is the sin that grieves the Holy Spirit – the context of which is where someone says that the work Jesus did is not by the power of God but by the devil – accusing the Holy Spirit of doing demonic work.  That is the one sin that cannot, that will not be forgiven.  Everything else, EVERYTHING else is forgivable.

The sin your neighbor, your father, your spouse, your child, your rapist, your abuser, committed is not unforgiveable – by you or by God.  But harboring that unforgiveness seems to be something which we justify in so many ways.  “You don’t need to forgive that” our friends will admonish us.  “To forgive that sin, that crime, that whatever, would be to make light of it.”  WRONG!   The depth of the sin only reflects the depth of grace necessary for the forgiveness.  And Jesus Christ gave everything for our forgiveness.  So too are we expected to go to any lengths necessary to forgive those who sin against us.  One might argue that the depth of the unforgiveness we hold onto testifies to the depth of depravity within us as much as to the extent of the sin committed against us.

So what does forgiveness entail?  It means freely giving up the resentment.  Freely sacrificing the anger. Freely surrendering any right we have to be mad, to feed hate, or to retaliate.  It means turning over the justice and the resolution of the situation to God.  But the thought of someone who wronged us being forgiven is hard.  We reason that it is different than the thought of our being forgiven by God.  Usually we think our sins pale in comparison to those perpetrated against us.  It’s easier to hold on to our unforgiveness that way.

To be unforgiving then is to voluntarily hold onto the anger.  It is a deliberate refusal to give up the resentment, the right to revenge.  And it is a slap in the face to God.  It is our way of saying to him that we don’t believe he is capable or interested in the justice of the matter.  We fear he might let someone get away with something.  Today’s litigious environment is exactly that – an environment of unforgiveness, of playing God, of seeking revenge BECAUSE we don’t trust God.  We shouldn’t have to pay the price…

Think about the preposterous, arrogant nature of that thought for just a minute.  That the God of the universe, the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present God knows less than we do or is less capable of dealing with it than we are, or would have us perpetrate another injustice in the name of justice.  Unforgiveness dethrones God and attempts to put us in his place.

So how do we deal with sin in the family of God.  This morning’s passage in Matthew 18 makes it clear.  If we start from the 17^th verse and work backwards everything falls into place.  The sin must first be worthy of something that would cause the church to exercise discipline and throw the person out treating them as a non-believer.  In other words in order to be considered something worthy of discipline or action it first has to be so significant that it warrants the person being considered not to be a believer.  It is something a true believer would NEVER do.  It is that significant a sin.  It is not a mistake.  Any other sin is not worth the action.  And then we go to the beginning.  Vs. 15 If your brother sins against you… This is only for believers.  It is to be assumed that non-believers will sin against us.  It’s what non-believers do.  And their sins aren’t even worth considering.  Forgive them they are not worth the trouble.

I expect behavior of Hollywood like I hear about in movies and in the news reports.  I don’t expect anything better.  But we are to have a higher standard of behavior for those in the church.  And so, when a brother or sister in Christ sins against US…. Oops.  Wait a minute.  Only those sins that are against us personally are worthy of our consideration?  What someone did to a friend of ours is none of our business?  When someone sins against us we are to go to that person.  If someone sins against a friend of ours, it is their responsibility to address the situation not ours.   This is not an optional process.  It isn’t presented as a “here’s one way to handle it.”  It is an IF this happens, then you are to…  We can’t use the excuse “I’m not comfortable with confrontation.”  We are directed, commanded to go to them and show the person their fault and to give him or her a chance to repent.  If they don’t, we go get someone else FROM THE CHURCH.  Not a non-believing friend or neighbor.  Someone from the church.  The church doesn’t air its dirty laundry in public.  We don’t talk about the sins of our church with non-believers.  It besmirches the image of God and degrades everyone else in the fellowship.  Nor does the church sweep its sins under the rug.  It doesn’t ignore them hoping they will go away or hoping that we can just live together in peace.  It deals with them.

So secondly we get a couple of folks from the church as we approach the believer whom we feel has sinned against us.  If he or she still refuses to deal with the issue we take it to the entire church, the congregation.  While sin may be personal IT IS NOT private.  It is a disease on the church which needs to be dealt with openly, honestly, and candidly but even more importantly with love in a forgiving manner.  To deny a brother or sister in Christ the opportunity for forgiveness is to withhold the very grace of God.  It is to play God ourselves.  It is to judge the other person and to judge God himself.  And in so doing we ourselves are judged.

And yet unforgiveness plays not an insignificant role in our congregation.  It rears its ugly head in the strangest of circumstances.  I’ve heard unforgiveness (under the guise of “righteous indignation”) expressed over previous pastors being asked to leave, or over congregational members who led the charge to asked pastors to leave, over the misspending of money or the politicizing of the gospel.  I still hear anger and resentment, unforgiveness expressed over the closure of PCDC.  We need to build a bridge and get over it.  This is what the cross is all about.

In the Session’s recent planning work we labeled these points of unresolved conflict or unforgiveness,  as “freeze points.”   They’re places we are not able to get past because the sin and unforgiveness have not yet been dealt with.  These freeze points hinder the ongoing work or advancement of the church because of lingering issues of distrust which arise from this unforgiveness.  Sin is sin.  We are all guilty.  And we need to get over it.  We need to get over ourselves.

Unforgiveness is a seed that grows.  It establishes long, strong and bitter roots.  And gossip is the fertilizer that feeds it.  Unforgiveness is unbecoming a congregation and unbecoming of every individual member of any congregation, and I dare to say that we each have our own share of unforgiveness.  After years and years of rehearsing the stories in our minds, we know what the truth is whether we were there or not.  We’ve convinced ourselves of it and or our right to be mad.  We trust the people that share the stories with us.  We associate with those that will affirm our own stories.  And the roots grow deeper.

There is a thorny vine in the front yard of the manse.  I have dug and I have dug and I am unable to come to the root ball, the original source of the vine.  It has become endemic. And every year if have to deal with it to keep it at bay.

Unforgiveness is like that.  Unless or until we deal with it we will suffer.  Of course the earlier we deal with it the better.   It may not rear its ugly head until the sanctuary is painted, until the carpeting is replaced, until a staff member moves on, but it will rear its ugly head.  And it has.

What we need is a movement of the Holy Spirit where members of this congregation, members of this community who consider themselves to be Christian, stand up and be counted; to stand up as men and women of God and confess their own complicity in the harboring of resentments, in the self-righteousness and arrogance of judgmentalism, in the unforgiveness that permeates who we are.  Unforgiveness is unbecoming a child of God.  It is unfitting.  It is a besetting sin.  It stifles spiritual growth.

Is that unforgiveness in your heart for something someone has done but not to you personally, maybe to a friend or a family member?  Let it go.  You do not have the right to be unforgiving. The sin wasn’t committed against you.  Is that unforgiveness you harbor for something that does not prove the person is a heinous, reprehensible non believer?  Then let it go.  It’s not worthy of the energy you will expend nursing that grudge.

And if that unforgiveness you harbor IS for something significant enough to cast the member out of the church if they don’t repent, then your responsibility is to address the situation in a biblical. Kind and loving manner.

No matter how you view it, unforgiveness is never, under any circumstances, acceptable.

So who is ready to confess the sin their unforgiveness and to resolve it with the offender?  Who is man or woman enough to stand up and to seek God’s forgiveness?  Who is Christian enough to go across the room, to make the phone call, to visit the house of the one who has so offended you and to extend a hand of forgiving fellowship, to admit your own complicity in holding on to resentments that have begun to eat away at you and even at this congregation’s fellowship, to either forgive and let go of all claims or to take action to resolve the difference.  You can’t have it any other way and call yourself a follower of Christ.  Unforgiveness doesn’t fit us.  It just doesn’t look good and it keeps us from doing what we really need to be doing.  It saps our energy.

But rejoice and be glad.  In forgiveness, in dealing with our own sin of unforgiveness there is freedom.  In forgiving we release the person to God’s care, to God’s correction, to God’s provision for them.  We free ourselves from the bondage of discontent, anger, and resentment.

Playing God can be very tiring.  Unforgiveness is draining.  I encourage you to give it up.  To give the throne back to God.    It’s freeing.  It’s healing.  It’s restorative.  It’s THE best health decision you can EVER make.  It doesn’t have any side effects like chemo therapy.  It isn’t as physically exhausting as exercise.  There are no pills to swallow.  Just our pride which is wrongly placed anyway.  Let go and let God and make a life that is truly worth living, one that models the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Forgive one another as you want to be forgiven by God, for so shall we be.