I preached last Sunday night… we’re still in Proverbs… preaching it thematically…
I got the topic of Repairing Relationships… which is ironic at best. But it was good to use lots of resources collected on the topic of Forgiveness, lots of Keller influence who’s just very helpful at explaining and applying the Proverbs…
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I’ve speaking at BSMS CU on Monday, that’s the Brighton and Sussex Medical School Christian Union to you… they’re studying parables at the moment, and have been asked to speak on Matthew 18, the parable of the Unmerciful Servant.
Fortunately, I’ve already preached on this, earlier in the year, so have most of the talk ready. But I’ve been listening to some Tim Keller to help stimulate my thoughts afresh… by well of illustration he uses the story of Corrie Ten Boom, put in a concentration camp by the Nazis for sheltering Jewish refugees. She tells this story about forgiveness in her book ‘The Hiding Place‘:
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein. He said. To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
Well it looks as though the fuss over the Lockerbie bomber, Ali al-Megrahi is slowly dying down. But while it’s still in the news I wanted to pen a few thoughts that have been brewing over the last few weeks, that perhaps show some inconsistency and hyperbole in what’s going on:
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.” – Zechariah 7:9
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face – Psalm 89:14
The Mercy and Justice of God is most wonderfully displayed at Calvary… Jesus is crucified, he dies, taking the punishment for your sin and my sin – justice is served, but it’s also merciful, God pours his just anger at sin on himself, letting you go free into new life! Amen
“It aint about forgiveness, I’ve done that lots of times over the years, forgiveness is just a switch in the heart. But forgetting is different, and trust is different, there aint no short cut to them.” – Dot Cotton, Boxing Day Eastenders
I think I actually agree with her… forgiveness is a decision you make in your heart, in your mind. But, forgetting (the point where it doesn’t hurt?), and trust of people who’ve hurt you and just trust of other people generally… she’s right, that’s not a switch, something easy, it’s not a decision that can be made, surely that just takes time, and God’s grace to heal…?
Usually I cringe at the Dot Cotton ‘spiritual input’ into Eastenders, but I think she was fairly on the mark with this one.
I’m currently sitting in an executive pad in Bristol, it’s got a nice plasma TV and a comfy leather sofa with a bit you can recline on, it’s very nice. Anyway, this morning we visited a local church and was intrigued by the ‘Confession Prayer’, intrigued for two reasons…
First, it was all about Forgiveness, something which I’ve had to think a lot about recently and have consequently blogged on. Here’s the prayer:
Dear Jesus, it is hard to forgive people when they hurt us and our friends. We want to hit back – and sometimes we do. But You teach us to love our enemies no matter what they do. Forgive us Lord Jesus, when we do not forgive others. Help us to understand why people hurt others, and let our hearts be filled with love for them. Amen
I like the prayer because it’s simple, kids can understand it, but it’s also brutally honest about the reality of life and how hard forgiveness is, not just that but the sinfulness of not forgiving people.
Secondly, I was intrigued because it’s a really weird “Confession”… usually when we do corporate confession in church it’s a bit more general, we acknowledge a complete depravity in all areas of life and bring that to God… although in this the only act of confession is to confess our refusal to forgive others. So, great prayer about forgiveness… slightly strange as an act of corporate confession!
On a related thought… every so often for one reason or another I get the opportunity to visit other churches, and I’ve always thought it would be fun to do a bit of a ‘Mystery Worshipper’ thing, essentially to blog a review of the church service – how good was the service, coffee, how comfy the seat, how warm the welcome? This isn’t a new concept (see Ship of Fools), but that site tends to be a little disappointing in terms of the quantity and quality of the reviews there. Anyone interested in joining me in this??
Been thinking more about forgiveness and came across a great talk online…
When we strive against all thoughts of revenge; when we will not do our enemies mischief, but wish well to them, grieve at their calamities, pray for them, seek reconciliation with them, and show ourselves ready on all occasions to relieve them. (Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity, p. 581)
These are the thoughts of Thomas Watson commenting on the Lord’s Prayer – they were drawn to my attention by a talk by Paul Woodbridge at Oak Hill College. He’s speaking about stuff which I’ve been blogging about, obviously it’s a lot more coherent than me. The above is what forgiveness is, he goes on to speak about what forgiveness isn’t… if the issues surrounding forgiveness and repentence are real for you, then go and listen to this talk.
Interesting point about trust – 24 min.
It’s often said when talking about forgiveness, “forgive and forget”… and then if you’re in a Christian context you get a verse given to back up that sentiment, like…
Isaiah 43:25 - “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
This verse is the classic one that’s brought out to say part of forgiveness is forgetfulness… a few things to say in light of that:
That’s God. What does that mean for us as we try to be like him…?
Forgiveness isn’t easy, it’s not free or even cheap, it shouldn’t be assumed, or taken for granted, it’s not about forgetting, or ignoring, or pretending things don’t matter, that they don’t hurt.
Forgiveness is hard, it’s costly, it’s a choice… what does it look like Biblically?
The master is within his rights to enslave the servant, that servant is within his rights to throw the other servant into prison because both are creditors (owed money). The master chooses to give up that right and forgives his servant – it is not free, the master bears the debt of the servant himself. That servant chooses not to give up his rights against the other servant, he chooses not to forgive.
This is what the elder brother in the parable should have done; this is what a true elder brother should have done. He would have said, “Father, my younger brother has been a fool, and now his life is in ruins. But I will go and look for him and bring him home. And if the inheritance is gone – as I suspect – I’ll bring him back into the family at my expense.”
……Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn’t mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting forgiveness.
Tim Keller, The Prodigal God (pg. 82-83)
“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
God’s forgiveness of us is not free, there is a heavy cost, the greatest debt to pay, the greatest sacrifice made, His Son.
At Word Alive this year, in his talk on Atonement (from Hebrews 9), Richard Cunningham (Director of UCCF) said: “God does not forgive sin, he only punishes it”. He also went on to concur with my thoughts on sin and sinners. This is a bold statement to make, but if true, I believe it cuts to the heart of lots of issues I’ve been blogging on recently; PSA, hell, depravity etc. This post has been sitting uncompleted in the WordPress system since coming back from Word Alive, unfortunately delayed due to more pressing things. In that time it’s been discussed elsewhere; by Cat and by a less supportive “Speaker of Truth” who accuses RC of heresy (now retracted).
Now the obvious thing to say is that this statement is clearly false, after all the Bible and creeds clearly state that God forgives sin. But is it that simple? What does Joshua 24:19 mean “..he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins”? What about those who advocate a PS (thoroughly Biblical) view of atonement – have we got it wrong? So what is forgiveness? I think part of the problem is that we may have a wrong view of what forgiveness actually is… generally the view seems to be of God ‘forgetting’ sin or simply saying it ‘doesn’t matter’ anymore. These are nice ideas, they make God sound like a big dad in the sky who really wants us to come and say sorry so he can simply ‘forgive’. Biblical forgiveness is not some kind of ‘cosmic insomnia’ but is administered through sacrifice, through blood. Not very popular, makes us sound ‘pre-Christian’! Whatever we think, the Bible states two truths – God forgives sin (1John 1:9) and God punishes sin (Gen 3).
Firstly (in response to Joshua 24), we know that God does punish the sin of the non-Christian, “the wages of sin is death…” Rom 6:23, sin has to be paid for, if all sin is forgiven then there is no punishment to face, no penalty to be paid - no hell – sounds nice, but that belief leads to Universalism, a heresy, the Bible teaches against that belief. But how is the sin of the believer dealt with? Yes, it’s forgiven, but what does that mean??
Biblical forgiveness is the diversion of God’s wrath, propitiation – it’s what we see at the Passover, the temple sacrifices and at the cross. Not diversion into some spiritual void, or diversion that just eventually fizzles out, but diversion in the full force of God’s wrath, his holy anger against sin being placed upon a substitute – a perfect lamb (Exodus 12). The overviews of the passages in ‘Pierced for our transgressions’ (Ex 12, Lev 16 and Isa 53) superbly present the case for God’s wrath being taken on the lamb (not hard as it’s a simple reading of the text) – Jesus our substitute.
And what about Hebrews 9, the text for this talk in question, what does this text have to say?
v.1-10 There’s a problem, despite all the ritual of the OT temple sacrifices, they “…were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.” , these ceremonies were a picture, waiting for the “new order”, for Jesus and his cross.
v.11-28 The blood of the goats is a picture of the blood of Christ, but Christ achieved far more than animal sacrifices ever could. He cleanses believers from sins and secures the eternal inheritance.
There are two key verse which help to answer our questions:
“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Heb 9:22
“so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people..” Heb 9:28 – it is the sacrifice that takes away (forgives) sin
So what?
How can sinful people come into relationship with a holy God? – our sins need to be dealt with, by God
How are our sins dealt with? – at the cross
What happened at the cross? – Jesus, the Lamb, took up the sins of his people and bore the punishment for them, he was our sacrifice and our substitute
Why did it have to happen like this? – God’s holiness and justice demands that sin is punished, Jesus was fulfilling the OT law, God did it so it was the best way
What does this mean for me?
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