Archive for the ‘forgiveness’ Category

Genesis 17:1

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

This was the confirmation verse (a verse given specially at the time when He publicly confessed his faith in Christ) for the first man at whose funeral I officiated today.

God speaks to Abram and says:

“I Am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.”

Most translations use the word “blameless” here.  The original Hebrew literally means “complete,” or “whole.”  Elsewhere in the OT this word is translated as “with out blemish” and even “perfect.”

We often read this as a command.  The God who creates this covenant with Abram declares his just requirement of those who would be his:  Be whole. Be complete. Be without blemish. Be Perfect.  This is God’s demand.  That we would be perfect in love for him and for one another.  But who among us (let alone Abram!) has done this?

The original language does leave room for this to be a promise–not merely a command.  “Walk before me and you will be: complete, whole, without blemish, perfect.”  How wonderful. How true.

For there is one (and ONLY one) who has truly been totally whole, complete, without blemish and perfect: Jesus, the spotless “lamb of God.”  This Jesus lived a perfect life on our behalf.  His own righteousness, his own perfection is credited to our account as we trust in him.  And our wicked thoughts, words and actions are given over to him wholly (along with the deserved punishment for these acts) through his death on the cross.

The end result is that all who trust in Jesus are counted whole, complete, without blemish and even perfect in the sight of God on behalf of Jesus. wow.

Not only that, but Jesus has promised to one day return and raise our bodies from the ground making them gloriously new. On THAT day–we will experience, not merely by faith, but by sight our own wholeness, completion and perfection in Him.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

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Judgment Day?

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I was also asked this question:

“If Jesus died for our sins, do we still have a judgement (sic) day with God when we leave this Earth? Or if you believe in God and have turned your life to him, are you just automatically forgiven and let into heaven?”

For those “in Christ” we already faced the judgment (in the sense of facing punishment for sin) at the very cross of Jesus. (read the description of Jesus’ death (in Matthew’s Gospel, for example, and note how “end times” it all seems with the darkness, earthquakes and the like) The believer shares in Christ’s own death and resurrection (see Romans 6:1-11). Our sins were judged in Christ on the cross, and there is no longer any condemnation (IE, Judgment) left for those who are in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:1ff). Believers in Christ die and are brought into the presence of God. On the day of Christ’s return, the souls of those with him will come back with him and be united with their resurrected bodies. (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)  On that last day, there is the great public judgment of all. Christians need not fear for their sins have already been judged in the cross of Christ.

Everyone faces the judgment. You can face it In Jesus at the cross–or you can face it alone at the last day.

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Are All Sins Equal?

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I was asked the following question.

“Is there a difference (between sins)? Are sins equal? I can grasp being forgiven for stealing a little easier than murder/molestation – but do they all rank the same?”
Here is my reply:
Yes…..and…….No. Helpful, huh?

It helps me to think of it this way: Vertical. Horizontal. Vertical is from God’s perspective, in respect to Him (issues of forgiveness, salvation) and Horizontal is from the human perspective with respect to each other.

Think of a box of used chalk. When one looks at the box from the top (“God’s perspective”) one sees only the ends–which are all basically equal and round. Sin is sin. Lying is just as damnable as stealing as murder, as molestation as disobeying one’s parents, as worshiping an idol, etc. Each (all) of these make one fall short of the glory of God and earn fully the wage of death.

Now lay the chalk pieces next to each other. One is tall. One is short. Several are in between. From our perspective, the sins have different “values.” Some are more serious in that they cause more damage to others. The sin in my heart, which never is known to anyone but me and God and never manifests itself outwardly–never hurts another directly, but is still damnable. However, Charles Manson’s sins affected several (even many) lives. There’s a clear difference there. Some sins leave more carnage, or pain, or confusion, or shame in their wake than others. In this sense there’s a real difference. Hitler’s sins are worse than Manson’s. (by degree and consequences of action) but each are as damnable as my own.

But Jesus died for ALL sin and ALL sinners and there is NO ONE that cannot be covered and cleansed in the blood of Jesus. If there were—then salvation would really depend on us (how bad or good we are) and not on the pure grace of Jesus.

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Faith

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

What is faith?

Faith is more than simply knowing facts about God.  James makes this clear when he says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that– and shudder.” (James 2:19) The demons know for a fact that God exists–but this fact brings them terror not comfort.  Faith is more than  simply knowing facts about God.

Faith involves three parts.  1) knowing facts about God, (namely, the account of Christ’s life, death and resurrection in our place, for the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation. )  2) assenting to the truth of those facts, (I don’t just know the story–but acknowledge it to be true history) and 3) trusting in the promises of God through Christ.  This means that I don’t just say that these things happened–but I rely on them and receive the promises offered by Christ.  This is faith that saves:  Receiving the forgiveness offered through the work and promise of Christ.

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“Your Biggest Problem Was Solved By Jesus.”

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

True confessions from a pastor-husband-dad:

Yesterday was a bad day.  And I didn’t deal with it well.

And yes, It was a bad day long before the Yankees lost in the 11th inning.  A Yankee win would not have salvaged the day.  I would still have been grumpy, irritable, irrational etc.  I won’t get into the things that I found challenging about yesterday.  You’d be bored and it wouldn’t be the point here.  The point is more to the reality that those things, as frustrating as they were to deal with, were all minor irritations in the face of eternity.   I often have that perspective.  Yesterday I did not.  And my attitude showed it all too clearly.  I was short with my wife and kids and just plain grumpy all the way around.

After a good 12 hours of almost constant grumpiness, I climbed into bed.  I sighed deeply and said something to my wife about how I was so frustrated that I had seemingly wasted so much time that day trying to fix some issues and that after all that work and effort, none of my biggest problems were solved.

My wife simply said:  “Jesus solved your biggest problem: Sin.”

My first reaction was a blasphemous desire to attempt to contradict her and wallow in self-pity.  But the Lord allowed me to simply shut up and sheepishly mutter something like:  “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”  With those words ringing in my ears, I had a far more blissful sleep and a much better outlook on today than I deserved.

My wife’s simple statement was both crushing law (quietly exposing my numerous sinful attitudes) and sweet gospel (reminding me of the forgiveness of Jesus–and even from my wife.)  This simple statement salvaged the day better than anything else could.

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Second Guessing Your Decisions?

Monday, October 19th, 2009

The Yankees lost tonight.  (That’s it.  Go ahead and smirk, Sox fans.)  Well, anyway, they lost after what seemed to be a highly questionable call by their manager to go to the bullpen instead of sticking with the guy who was doing quite well.  I didn’t get it at the time, and I SURE didn’t get it when the new pitcher gave up two straight hits to lose the game. (sigh.)

Ever second guess your own decisions? Ever do something really stupid that you desperately wish you could take back.  Sometimes we do not just stupid things but wrong things.  Things that hurt and wound other people.  Things that offend God.

While there may be very real, temporal consequences to our actions, I am so thankful that God is merciful.  He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve.  God sent His Son to die on the cross in our place, so that our sins could be forgiven.  Because of Jesus, God looks at us–and LOVES us!  Even when we mess up royally.  It may be hard to face the mess we’ve made, but it’s a lot easier to move forward without the crushing weight of guilt.  Thank you, Jesus.

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