Above and Beyond

I spent some time looking for a good example of atonement, this week. It was more difficult than I expected because so many of the examples I found equate atonement with forgiveness – synonyms. I have to admit, that I have thought of them as the same as well. But when I look at the description of the things that happened on the Day of Atonement, there’s something more going on there above and beyond forgiveness.

See, all the rest of the year (and even throughout the Day of Atonement) sacrifices were happening to forgive individuals of their individual sins – a person would bring his lamb to the tabernacle, lay his hand on the head of the lamb and confess his sin, kill the lamb and then the priest would carry the blood of that sacrifice into the Holy Place. Symbolically then, that’s where the sin of that person stayed, until the Day of Atonement.

On that day, the High Priest would offer a sacrifice to forgive his own sins and then he would do something very different.

 He would take two goats, present them both to the Lord at the entrance to the Tabernacle and then draw lots to tell which goat would be the Lord’s goat (the sin offering) and which one would be the scapegoat.

“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil … and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:15-22

What I learned this week is that the goat that becomes the Lord’s goat has not had any sins confessed over it and no hands laid upon it, so it is “sinless.” That way it’s blood symbolically cleanses away all of the sins that have been "piling up” in the sanctuary all year long.

Then all of those sins are confessed over the scapegoat, who is not killed but led out into the wilderness never to be seen again – essentially carrying with it all of those sins that had been in the sanctuary. So now, the sanctuary is cleansed of those sins for another year.

Atonement is not about forgiveness because those sins were already forgiven when the individual made his sacrifice. Atonement is something more. It’s erasing the evidence of those sins.

Here’s an example of what I’m trying to say from a book called, Temptations Men Face by Tom Eisenmann.

“Several years ago I heard Bob Sheffield of the Navigators tell a moving story … Before he became a Christian, Bob played professional hockey in Canada. He was tough, loved to fight, and found himself in jail one night after a barroom brawl. Later, Bob and his wife became Christians. They…accepted a temporary assignment with The Navigators…in the States.
“Bob had to apply for landed immigrant status, which would allow him and his wife to continue in ministry in the United States. But because he had a criminal record, his request was denied….They decided to apply in Canada for what is called the ‘Queen's Pardon.’ Following thorough investigation, the pardon was granted. Bob Sheffield received the following notice in the mail:
“Whereas we have since been implored on behalf of the said Robert Jones Sheffield to extend a pardon to him in respect to the convictions against him, and whereas the solicitor general here submitted a report to us, now know ye therefore, having taken these things into consideration, that we are willing to extend the royal clemency on him, the said Robert J. Sheffield. We have pardoned, remitted, and released him of every penalty to which he was liable in pursuance thereof.
“On any document from that time forward on which Bob was asked if he had a criminal record, he could honestly answer no. The pardon meant he was released from any possible punishment for the crimes, and the record of the crimes themselves was completely erased.
That is the kind of pardon we have in Jesus Christ. We are set free from any penalty or punishment. When asked, the answer is, ‘no record, pardoned by the blood of Christ.’[1]

So, since Adam and Eve believe the serpents lie and sinned in the Garden of Eden, the sins that Jesus died to forgive have been piling up in the heavenly sanctuary. But since 1844, Jesus has been going through the heavenly sanctuary and putting those sins right where they belong, on the head of Satan. Then during the thousand years when we’re in heaven, Satan will be wandering this empty earth, carrying the ultimate blame for all the sins in the entire history of the world.

What that means for each of us who have given our hearts to Jesus is, when our name is called and our file taken before the great Judge, instead of being so big it has to be brought in by the truckload, it contains one pristinely blank page to which God adds a giant WELCOME HOME stamp.

“For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

RefrainOh! precious is the flowThat makes me white as snow;No other fount I know,Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”[2]

You and I only have one responsibility in this process – accept Jesus’ sacrifice to cover our sin. I do – do you?

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[1] Tom L. Eisenman, Temptations Men Face (Intervarsity, 1992), pp. 21-22

[2] Words & Music: Robert Lowry, in Gos­pel Mu­sic, by William Doane and Robert Lowry (New York: Biglow & Main, 1876)

UNFORGIVABLE

Does anybody remember the call-in radio show with Dr. Laura? For a while, Laura Schlessinger had a very popular radio advice program where she told people exactly what she thought about their behavior and how they should fix themselves. She often didn’t let the caller get to the actual question before she started telling them how to fix themselves.

Anyway, I will never forget the day I heard her tell a caller that she didn’t have to forgive the person who had wronged her – that some things were just unforgivable. I guess I had never really thought about how I felt about forgiveness, but as soon as Dr. Laura told me what she believed, I knew that my belief was different.

I had a similar experience when I was teaching fourth graders. I was talking to the parents of one of my students and one of the parents said, “I’ve told [Tommy] that if anybody hits him, he’s to hit them back harder.” I don’t believe I had ever heard a parent make that comment ever before. I’m not sure I was able to completely hide the shock I felt at that moment.

I realize I have led an extremely sheltered life and it was good that my closed little mind was forced to expand to take in these other ways of looking and dealing with the world.

Given the opportunity to review my belief system alongside these other two philosophies, I still can’t fit either statement into the way I believe followers of Jesus Christ are supposed to live their lives.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

You’re right, Micah doesn’t say the word “forgiveness” in that verse at all. But try to picture for a minute what a person who is Godly, humble, merciful, and just would look and sound like. See if you can pick him out in this parable:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.” Matthew 18:23-30

Ellen White commented on this parable in the January 1, 1892 edition of Home Missionary.

“While we must depend so entirely upon the mercy of a sin-pardoning Saviour, shall our hearts remain hard and unsympathizing? Can any provocation authorize unkind feelings, or should it cause us to harbor resentment or seek revenge? Can we cast the first stone in condemnation of a brother, when God is extending his mercy to us, and forgiving our trespasses against him? Should God enter into judgment with us, our debt would be found to be immense, yet our heavenly Father forgives the debt. Men will be dealt with by God, not according to their opinion of themselves, not according to their self-confidence, but according to the spirit they reveal toward their erring brethren. We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive.” (Home Missionary January 1, 1892)

Is there anything that another human can do to us that we can, with good conscience, refuse to forgive? I could be oversimplifying yet again, I don’t believe so.

Now that doesn’t mean I always feel like forgiving. I haven’t gotten to the place where letting go of hurt is easy. Knowing what is right and being willing to do right every time are two very different things.

A friend of mine once defined forgiveness as “giving up the right to continue to punish someone for the wrong they have done us.” Using that definition, if someone has wronged us and we say that we have forgiven them, can we still go from person to person recounting the terrible thing they did to us? Can we still glare at them from across the room? Forgiving them says that we have decided not to punish them for what they’ve done.

Again, our example has to be Jesus. He has every right to punish each and every one of us, and yet he forgives us instead. He even goes a step farther and refuses to remember that we ever did anything wrong.

“He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19

I read a great story this week that illustrates this text.

“One old father was reading Micah 7:19 about God’s putting away of our sins by throwing them into the depths of the ocean. He rejoiced over it and shouted, ‘Glory to God!’ His unbelieving son did not like it, so he brought a scientific encyclopedia for his father to read instead of the Bible. After some time, his son again heard his father shouting, ‘Glory to God!’ The son came and asked his father, ‘What do you read here that you are so excited about?’ The father replied, ‘I read that scientists, even with the best modern equipment, are sometimes unable to go deep enough to explore all the depths of the ocean. It means that our sins are buried there, and no one can dig them up!’[1]

Jesus forgives us for the unforgivable every single day – He gives up the right to ever punish us for those actions. In light of that kind of mercy, how can we do any less than forgive anyone who has wronged us?

“How did the birth of Jesus change the world? Historian Rodney Stark argues that there was one huge factor that helped capture the attention of the ancient world—Christianity's revolutionary emphasis on mercy. Stark writes:
In the midst of the squalor, misery, illness, and anonymity of ancient cities, Christianity provided an island of mercy and security ….. It started with Jesus ….
“In contrast, in the pagan world, and especially among the philosophers, mercy was regarded as a character defect and pity as a pathological emotion: because mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it is contrary to justice …. [Thus] humans must learn ‘to curb the impulse [to show mercy]’; ‘the cry of the undeserving for mercy’ must go ‘unanswered.’ ‘[Showing mercy] was a defect of character unworthy of the wise and excusable only in those who have not yet grown up.’
“This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that … a merciful God requires humans to be merciful.”[2]

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

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[1] Jiri Moskala , The Lesson in Brief, Lessons 1–13, and The Learning Cycles 7, The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide

[2] Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity, (HarperOne, 2012), page 112

Tale of Two (?) Disciples

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, page 1.

“I am a follower of the Christ.  He called me; I left everything  and followed Him.  I went everywhere with Him from that day on.  He taught me and touched me.  I have seen Him heal the sick,  and raise the dead.  I heard Him speak the Words of Life to multitudes of followers.  I was there with Jesus, on the boat, when He told the wind and the waves to be still; I saw Him walk on the Sea of Galilee.  I have laughed and cried with Him and prayed with Him.  He is my Best Friend, my Brother, my Teacher.

“Unfortunately, though, I haven't always been the best friend He needed.  I have often fallen far short of Jesus' expectations and disappointed Him.  I could even say that I have broken His heart on more than one occasion.  In fact, when He needed me, I betrayed Him.

“For one brief moment, I put aside everything He had taught me and did what I thought was best.  And at that moment, our eyes met and He looked straight into my eyes, into my heart.  The expression on His face stopped my heart and took my breath away.  He knew what I had done and His heart was broken because I had done it.  He wasn't angry.  He had tears of love and pity in His eyes, and I wished that I could run to Him and tell Him I how sorry I was – that I hadn't meant to hurt Him...and in that very instant, I saw that He knew all that was in my heart and my mind and He loved me.  Through His tears, I could see He still loved me.”

So, which disciple is it?  Which disciple failed Jesus the most?  Judas?  Peter? Who was the most evil disciple?  We all jump to say it was Judas don't we?  But when you think it through, every single one of the disciples failed Jesus in his own way, didn't they?  They all left him to be carried away by the Roman soldiers.  So why do we think of Judas as the worst?  I mean, at least, we could argue that Judas thought he was doing something to forward what he thought was the mission of the Messiah.  All of the rest of the disciples were just plain scared! 

A big question is, was Judas doomed from the very beginning?  Some of the articles I've read seem to say so.  That's really sad to think about isn't it?  I mean, Jesus had a choice but Judas didn't?  What kind of thinking is that?  Now, I had a thought while I was studying this, that absolutely nobody mentioned, but it kind of makes sense to me.  Now, this is just my thought, but could it have been that Jesus knew that one of His disciples would betray Him, but not which one.  That it could have been that any one of the twelve could have turned against Jesus...What do you think?

I have two reasons for asking.  One, because I believe that everyone has betrayed Jesus.  We are all capable of selling Jesus out for next to nothing, and have done so, more than once.  We betray Jesus every time we take our lives out of His hands because we're too impatient or too arrogant to wait for His timing and His wisdom.  That's really what Judas is guilty of, isn't it?

We betray Jesus every time we deny that we know Him because we're afraid that the people around us won't understand and laugh at us or think less of us because we consider ourselves one of His followers.  That's all Peter is really guilty of.

And that leads me to the second part of this question:  Could Judas have been forgiven?  Could He have repented?  Again, some of the things I read imply that He did repent and was denied forgiveness.  That doesn't sound right.  And, again, this is just me, but I want to believe that he could have repented and Jesus would have forgiven him...in fact, that Jesus had already forgiven him.  But that Judas did not accept Jesus' forgiveness. 

Because, if even one of us has been denied forgiveness, than salvation becomes the arbitrary gift bestowed by an arbitrary god.  And that's just not the God I believe in.  So what would you do if you got to Heaven and Judas was there too? (I'm not claiming to have any inside knowledge; I'm just speculating.) 

We have Jesus' promise; check this out: 

“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”  James 5:15 and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9

Spend a few minutes thinking what an amazing gift Jesus gave us when He spread His arms wide and took all of our sins upon Himself.

East To West

Casting Crowns

Here I am Lord,

And I'm drowning

In your sea of forgetfulness

The chains of yesterday surround me

I yearn for peace and rest

I don’t want to end up where you found me

And it echoes in my mind,

Keeps me awake tonight

I know you cast my sin as far as the east is from the west

And I stand before you now as,

As though I've never sinned

But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away

From you leaving me this way

Jesus can you show me

Just how far the east is from the west

Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been

Rising up in me again

In the arms of your mercy I find rest,

Cause you know just how far the East is from the West

From one scarred hand to the other.

I start the day the war begins

Endless reminding of my sin

And time and time again your truth is drowned out

By the storm I'm in

Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away,

From you leaving me this way

Jesus can you show me,

Just how far the East is from the West

Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been

Come rising up in me again

In the arms of your mercy I find rest

'cause you know

Just how far the East is form the West

From one scarred hand to the other.

I know you've washed me white,

Turned my darkness into light

I need your peace to get me through,

To get me through this night

Can’t live by what I feel

But by the Truth your work reveals,

I'm not holding on to you

But you're holding on to me,

You’re holding on to me

Jesus you know

Just how far the East is from the West

I don't have to see the man I've been,

Come rising up in me again

In the arms of your mercy I find rest

'cause you know just how far the East is form the West,

From one scarred hand to the other.

Soap Opera or Salvation?

So, many of the stories in the old testament, if you didn’t know where they came from and just heard them told out of context, you might think they were the story lines of soap operas.  And I would have to say that the story of Hosea and Gomer takes the cake in that category, wouldn’t you?  Hosea and Gomer is one of those stories that people would rather forget is in the Bible at all.

I have to admit, once again, that I knew very little about this story until just recently.  I had heard that Hosea was married to a woman who kept walking out on him and that he always took her back.  But that’s pretty much it.  Wow, was I in for a shock!

Maybe some of you thought what I used to think of when I heard the story…     "That Hosea, what a doormat.  He needs to stand up for himself and quit putting up with Gomer’s games."  I was very young then.  I didn’t understand what the story of Hosea was really about – Redemption and Forgiveness.

When we remember that Hosea, like so many other Old Testament men, is a type of Christ, this story becomes the most poignant portrayal of our relationship with Jesus.  Watch Hosea struggles to hang onto his wife.  He gets frustrated and angry.  He threatens to disown her and humiliate her.  He weeps for her.  He follows her as she trails through the worst parts of society.  But then he finds her, redeems her with everything he has and then brings her home and loves her. 

We don’t often think of Christ like that.  Often we see Him as artists have portrayed Him – freshly washed white robe, neatly combed hair and an angelic, sometimes sappy look on His face.  Even on the cross, we see little or no strong emotion.  I mean, we don’t want to see anything too disturbing, right?

Remember when Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ came out, it was so controversial because of the graphic violence.  Um, what did they think the Crucifixion was?  An afternoon picnic?  It was a violent, ugly scene.  I just heard Bruce Marchiano speak at a church in New Zealand, I think.  He recounts things that happened during filming of the crucifixion scenes in The Gospel of Matthew. (I’ve talked about Bruce Marchiano before.  His is an amazing story.)  He describes how brutal just the filming was, and then he reminds us that he didn’t go through even the tiniest fraction of what Jesus went through.

If we thought about the things Jesus went through in his final days, and were really honest with ourselves, I think we would understand what our “harlotry” (as Hosea would put it) has cost Him.  It wasn’t nice and neat.  It was ugly, brutal, painful, and bloody.

Jesus struggles to hang onto us.  He must get frustrated and angry.  He weeps for us.  He follows us as we trail through the worst parts of society.  But then He finds us, redeems us with everything He has and then brings us home and loves us.  How is that possible?  My puny, little human mind really can’t wrap itself around that kind of love and forgiveness.

A friend once gave me a definition of forgiveness that, I think, is slightly different from the one most of the world lives by.  It’s this: “Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you back.”    Another author I’ve mentioned before, Richard L. Strauss, defines forgiveness as paying for “the other person’s offenses.  We will refuse to retaliate in any way to make the guilty person pay.  We will absolve him (or her) of all guilt.” Have you met many folks who use those definitions?  Wow.

That sounds a lot like 1st Corinthians 13:4-8:  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.”  (italics supplied)

Jesus loves us like that. Each one of us is Gomer to His Hosea, and His heart breaks every time we sin.  He tries to guide us into what’s best for us spiritually, emotionally, healthily (?), and we fight Him every step of the way.  Sometimes we run away altogether telling ourselves that His rules are too restrictive; we need to experience life our own way.

Ya know, several months ago we found a stray shi-tzu.  He was matted; he had a skin infection, and eye infection.  He smelled and looked absolutely awful!  But we brought him home and soon named him Rugby – because he sleeps all the time and looks more like a rug than a dog.  The funny thing is, this little guy was absolutely miserable because of his eyes, his skin and his matted hair, but as soon as we started trying to clip the mats, put medicine in his eyes and give him baths, this hairy lump of dog became a wild beast!  He wiggled and squirmed and bit whatever he could get his teeth around.  I still haven’t figured out how to clip his claws.

The point is Rugby reacts to me trying to make his life better almost exactly the way we react to Jesus trying to make our lives better.  We would rather be miserable that take what Jesus knows will make us better.  And yet, Jesus keeps trying and His heart keeps breaking.

One of my favorite Loma Linda Broadcasting Network preachers is Don Pate.  He has a weekly program where he discusses the Sabbath School lesson.  He also has a radio program called Between the Lines.  Well, he has had a series of programs this week on LLBN about Jesus’ second coming.  I unfortunately missed all but this last one.  But in this program he discussed a little bit about what Heaven will be for us and for God.  Hmmm.  Never really thought about what Heaven would be like for God before.  Anyway, the point he was making was, what the best thing about Heaven will be, and he quoted another one of my favorite songwriters, Annie Herring.  Unfortunately he didn’t say which of her songs this line was from, and I’m still looking, but the line itself completely took my breath away.

“The best thing about Heaven will be that I will never break God’s heart again.”

Forget everything else you have ever heard or thought about Heaven.  Forget all the reasons you thought you wanted to go to Heaven, none of it matters anymore, because that is truly going to be the best thing about Heaven.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned,…” John 3:16-18

Airing Our Dirty Laundry

Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for 5.14.11

Have you ever heard of an “Intervention”?  Wikipedia describes one like this:  

“An intervention is an orchestrated attempt by one, or often many, people (usually family and friends) to get someone to seek professional help with an addiction or some kind of traumatic event or crisis, or other serious problem. The term intervention is most often used when the traumatic event involves addiction to drugs or other items. Intervention can also refer to the act of using a technique within a therapy session.

“Interventions have been used to address serious personal problems, including, but not limited to, alcoholism, compulsive gambling, drug abuse, compulsive eating and other eating disorders, self-mutilation, tobacco smoking, "workaholism", and various types of poor personal health care. Interventions have also been conducted due to personal habits not as frequently considered seriously harmful, such as video game addiction, excessive computer use and excessive television viewing.”[1]

If you’ve ever watched the show, “Intervention” on the A&E channel, you already know that they often don’t end the way the organizers hope they will.  I’d like to point you to an intervention in the Bible (Yes there was too an intervention in the Bible…at least one, anyway),  that turned out exactly like the Organizer planned it.  In fact, it may have been the easiest intervention in history.  From what I can tell, interventions are usually a surprise event for the “guest of honor”, who might describe it more as being “blindsided” or “sucker-punched”.  I guess it all depends on your point of view.

Anyway, here’s the one I’m talking about:    

“The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, ‘There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
“‘Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.’
“David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’
“Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.  I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.”
“‘This is what the LORD says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”’”  I Samuel 12:1-12

Wow!   That is really direct and to the point.  Most interventions are very carefully worded.  They are filled with something called an “‘I’ statement”. (And no, that’s not a bank statement you get on the computer.)  An “I statement” is a way of helping people say things to each other without making accusations.  For example:  instead of “You never make your bed!”, you’d say something like this: “I get angry when I see you didn’t make your bed.”

That being said, Nathan and God did not worry about using “I statements.”  What Nathan did do though was start off with a parable to side step a lot of what would surely have been defensiveness and denial.  Using the parable also put David in a position to see what he had done the way God saw it.

The instant that Nathan said, 

“You are the man”, David;s heart was broken.  “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’
“Nathan replied, ‘The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.’”  I Samuel 12:13

Did you catch that?  The exact moment that David admitted his sin, God forgave that sin.  No dramatic music, no special effects, just forgiveness.  When David quit concealing his sin, his sin was covered.  One step, done.

We try to make things so complicated, and somethings are, but this isn’t. 

Here it is from David, himself:

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
“Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
“For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
“Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.
“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble   and surround me with songs of deliverance.
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
“Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
“Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.
“Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”  Psalm 32

David learned the hard way that having your sins hidden is not at all the same as having them covered by Jesus’ forgiveness.

The question we have to ask ourselves right now is, “What am I trying to hide from Jesus?”  Wouldn’t we so much rather have whatever it is covered by Jesus’ robe of righteousness so that we can stand before God with nothing to hide?

Me, too!

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[1] Wikipedia, “Intervention (counseling)”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervention_(counseling)

You have to step out of the boat if you want your feet on solid ground.

 Commentary on the Sabbath School lesson for 3.26.11

“How interesting, … that in recent years reputable studies are showing that those who attend and participate in church services (compared to those who don’t) on a regular basis are:    •less likely to suffer from substance abuse
•more likely to be sexually responsible•less involved in risky behaviors
•more likely to practice business and work-related ethics•more likely to enjoy a richer social network and group support•more likely to display higher levels of self-esteem and personal efficacy•more likely to cope better with losses (death of dear ones, calamities, health complications, and so on)•more likely to harbor positive emotions (love, forgiveness, contentment, and so on)•less likely to harbor negative emotions (guilt, fear, hostility, anger, and so on).”[1]

Does any of the information in that quote startle you? Not at all? Maybe a little?  Maybe for other churches but not for your own?  Truth is, those studies shouldn’t surprise any of us, because we know that the closer any one of us comes in relationship to Jesus, the more emotionally stable healthy we become. 

We have to be like Peter and step beyond what we know about what is possible and impossible and put ourselves completely in the Hands of Jesus, only then can we begin to become who  He wants us to be.  We can break down that process into several interlocking elements:  

“prayer, corporate worship and community involvement, forgiveness, service, and trusting God,”[2]

“Some things make you successful whatever path you take … You need to be with God daily. You need to be in constant prayer. You need to incorporate God's Word into your life, constantly evaluating your life to make sure you are following God's lead. You must be in fellowship with a body of believers with mutual accountability and genuine friendship.”[3]

Have you ever noticed that the folks who seem the most critical of what’s going on around them, are often those who are not participating fully with their community of believers?  The more we isolate ourselves from our brothers and sisters in Christ, the less satisfactory is the rest of our life in general, and the more difficult it becomes to remain committed to our mission (spreading the gospel).

“In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell tells the strange story of Christopher Langan, a genius with a staggering IQ of 195. (For some perspective, Einstein's IQ was 150). During high school, Langan could ace any foreign language test by skimming the textbook 2-3 minutes before the exam. He got a perfect score on his SAT, even though at one point he fell asleep. But Langan failed to use his exceptional gifts and ended up working on a horse farm in rural Missouri."According to Gladwell, Langan never had a community to help him capitalize on his gifts.Gladwell summarizes the story of Langan in one sentence: ‘[Langan] had to make his way alone, and no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses—ever makes it alone.’”[4]

Sometimes we hold back because we think we can manage on our own; sometimes it’s because we get so comfortable that we don’t want to make any unplanned moves.  But what if Peter had stopped to think about comfort instead of stepping out of the boat to come to Jesus?  What if he had waited for someone else to go first to see how they did?  Being part of the community includes leaving our comfort zone.

Jesus and His disciples didn’t lead a comfortable life, even according to the standards of their day, but they did have everything they needed to be emotionally and spiritually stable and mature: “prayer, corporate worship and community involvement, forgiveness, service, and trusting God.”

The notable exception was Judas; he held back.  He didn’t really move beyond his own plans and ideas.  He never fully committed his life to Jesus.

I’m afraid that I’m hopelessly mixing metaphors here – stepping out of the boat and being an active part of the community of Jesus.  But I think that assumes that being a follower of Jesus will always be a comfortable experience.  I don’t believe it will be (and in some parts of the world, already isn’t).  We have to believe like Peter did:  If Jesus says I can walk on water, I can walk on water.  And that no matter how dangerous things look from our perspective, the absolutely safest place we can be is on our way to Jesus.

That’s something we need to remember as the time for Jesus to come gets closer, because we can’t really prepare for exactly how things will be.  We only know that we need to hang on to Jesus.

Mark Mitchell explained it this way: 

“Several years ago I ran a marathon. I trained hard to be as prepared as possible, but there's a part of a marathon that's always hard to prepare for. A marathon is just a little over 26 miles, but experts tell you not to run over 20 miles in your training. That means the last six miles of a marathon are ‘no man's land.’ You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You may hit a wall. You may have cramps. You only know that it's going to be tough. But you also try to believe that if you train hard enough, you will be ready and will be able to cross that glorious finish line.“We read a passage like Luke 21, and it's like we're reading about the last six miles of a marathon. We know it's going to be hard, and we know that there is nothing we can do now to replicate what it will be like then. But Jesus has told us what to look for and how to be prepared—how to cross the finish line. We prepare by being wise and discerning about the false claims of religious hucksters. We prepare by resting in the fact that God is sovereign and whatever happens to us is part of his plan. We prepare by trusting that he's creating opportunities for us to bear witness, and he'll give us the words we need when we need them. We prepare by learning to endure hardship so that when greater hardship comes, we don't fall by the wayside. We prepare by refusing to allow ourselves to buy the lie that the things of this world are the most important things. We prepare by praying each day for God's strength to face whatever the last six miles of life may hold for us.”[5]

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[1] Dan Solis, “Partnership with Jesus”, Jesus Wept: Adult Bible Study Guide, March 19-25

[2] Ibid.

[3] Kay Coles James, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 11, no. 2.

[4] Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (Little, Brown and Company, 2008), p. 115

[5] Mark Mitchell, in his sermon "Ready or Not, Here I Come!" PreachingToday.com

Guilty Refuge

Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson dated 1.29.11

Have you ever been caught up in some activity that you knew was not right, but you rationalized it somehow so that you didn’t feel guilty? Rationalization takes a lot of mental and spiritual energy to maintain, but most of the time, the guilt drifts back into your consciousness often enough that you might gradually start to believe that you can’t be forgiven for what you’ve done.

I remember several times rationalizing things that I was doing, trying to make them okay.  It’s kind of strange, but during those times, I still loved God and still prayed.  What happened, though, was that I started making these little rules for myself:  I could sing the song “Jesus loves the little children” but I wouldn’t sing “Jesus loves me” or any other song that expressed Jesus’ love for me.  When I prayed, I could pray for other people, but I didn’t allow myself to ask for God’s help for myself… and I certainly couldn’t ask for forgiveness! 

Maybe I’m crazy, but looking back, it almost seems like I was using my guilty conscience to keep God at a “safe” distance.  Kind of weird, I guess, but I think most of us, at some time or another in our lives, have tried to rationalize something away.  We realize we shouldn’t be doing whatever it is, but we aren’t prepared to ask for God’s help yet because we know that He’s going to ask us to stop our wrong activity… so we get caught in a loop of sinning, rationalizing, and guilt. 

Sometimes people decide it’s just not worth the effort and walk away from God; sometimes we hide behind our guilt for so long that we just slip away.  We don’t feel like we’re good enough to go to church, so we start skipping out more and more often, until we realize we haven’t been to church in months.  And if nobody from church calls to ask if everything’s ok, we decide that we were right to stay away.

Eventually though, we have to make the decision one way or the other because we just can’t carry the guilt any longer.  A CBS.new.com article published an article that illustrates that point:  

“What’s worse than being trapped behind prison bars? Trying to live while avoiding capture.

"Sergei was a Latvian prison convict with ten months left to serve on his seven-year burglary sentence, when he decided to escape. But even after years of freedom, the escapee couldn’t relax. ‘Worry over being caught was proving too stressful.’ He worked several jobs and moved into an apartment with his girlfriend, but Sergei was constantly looking over his shoulder.

“In a move that surprised prison officials, Sergei showed up at the minimum-security facility and turned himself in five years after he first escaped.”[1]

Guilt is a tricky thing, isn’t it?  The world would tell us that if we enjoy something, we shouldn’t feel guilty about it.  Some Christians will tell us that if we’re experiencing guilt that our faith is not strong enough. Some Christians would have us believe that we are sinners and should feel guilty for that.  Who’s right?  Does guilt serve any worthwhile purpose or is it just a bothersome emotion that keeps us from enjoying life?

I believe (you might disagree with me) that guilt is not just uncomfortable, but motivational.  This discomfort can lead people to make a change in their behavior.  A FoxNews.com tells the story of John Jefferson who made a life changing decision because he didn’t want to live with the guilt any more.

“‘After I robbed the place I went to get some dope, and I couldn't even get high. I couldn't even enjoy it.’ These words come from John Jefferson, a man who robbed a Krispy Kreme Doughnut store in 1999 in order to support his drug habit. After robbing the Kingsport, Tennessee store, Jefferson moved to Kansas—but was plagued with guilt. So much so that he decided to confess.

“Jefferson called Detective David Cole of the Kingsport Police Department and identified himself as the robber. In an interview with the Kingsport Times-News, Jefferson explains: ‘I couldn't take it anymore. I was sick and tired of the way I was living. I didn't want to die in a crack house, and I didn't want to smoke crack anymore.’

After pleading guilty, Jefferson served 6 years in jail. Upon his release, he tried several times to return to the store and repay the money he'd stolen, but he kept turning around before he could get there. Finally, Jefferson called David Cole again and asked him to accompany him to the store. Though he'd stolen $300, Jefferson returned $400 in a check made out to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (at the robbery victim's request).

Afterwards, Jefferson told the paper, ‘I felt like a million bucks when I walked out of that place.’[2]

Which brings me to my next questions…Why would we waste even one second on guilt when forgiveness is so close, and Jesus is so eager to give it?

Look at this example of what just earthly forgiveness will do: 

“When Shannon Ethridge was just 16 years old, an act of forgiveness and love changed her life forever. While driving to her high school one day, Ethridge ran over Marjorie Jarstfar, a woman who was riding her bicycle along a country road. Marjorie died as a result, and Ethridge, who was found completely at fault by authorities, was consumed by intense guilt. She contemplated suicide several times, but she never took her life because of the healing response of one man: Gary, Jarstfar's husband.

“Gary forgave the 16-year-old and asked the attorney to drop all charges against her, saving her from a probable guilty verdict. Instead, he simply asked that Ethridge continue on in the godly footsteps that his wife had taken. ‘You can't let this ruin your life,’ Gary told her more than 20 years ago. ‘God wants to strengthen you through this. In fact, I am passing Marjorie's legacy on to you.’

Gary's act of forgiveness showed Ethridge the amazing love of God. Today, Ethridge is the bestselling author of Every Girl's Battle and Every Woman's Battle, and her recent book, Completely His: Loving Jesus Without Limits, helps women overcome guilt-ridden, wounded lives.”[3]

“I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’  Acts 26:17-18

Jesus promises to remove every speck of sin and guilt from our lives and fill us with the light of His loving forgiveness.  Amen.

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[1] Man Picks Jail Over Girlfriend, CBS.news.com (2-22-05); The Christian Science Monitor (3-14-05); submitted by John Beukema, Western Springs, Illinois

[2] "What Goes Around, Comes Around" FoxNews.com (12-21-05); submitted by Dana Beatty, St. Charles, Illinois

[3] Van Morris, Mount Washington, Kentucky; source: Kevin Jackson, "Christian Author Carries Mantle of the Woman She Killed," www.christianpost.com (6-21-07)

Are you hearing voices?

If not, maybe you’re not listening hard enough.  I think most of us “hear” two opposing voices all the time.  One of those voices belongs to the serpent who tricked Eve in the Garden, ruining God’s perfect world, and one is the voice of One who created us, loves us and died for us.  From that perspective, you’d think it would be easy to decide to whom we should listen, wouldn’t you?  But it really, really isn’t.  In fact, it seems like most of the time I find myself listening and acting on the wrong one.  In fact, I feel exactly like Paul describes in Romans 7:14-25:

We know that the law is holy. But I am not. I have been sold to be a slave of sin. I don't understand what I do. I don't do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do. I do what I don't want to do. So I agree that the law is good. As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in me that does them.

I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't. I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do. I do what I don't want to do. But I am not really the one who is doing it. It is sin living in me.

Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Deep inside me I find joy in God's law. But I see another law working in the parts of my body. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls the parts of my body.  What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? I give thanks to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

So in my mind I am a slave to God's law. But in my sinful nature I am a slave to the law of sin.

So, how do we learn to hear God’s voice over Satan’s?

In Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 52&53, Ellen White says that Adam and Eve weren’t taken by surprise by Satan, that “heavenly messengers” had showed them the war in heaven and had warned them that Satan would be out to get them, but that if they followed God’s rules, they would be safe from him.  “While they were obedient to God, the evil one could not harm them; for, if need be, every angel in heaven would be sent to their help.”  I hadn’t really thought about that before.  Another thing I just learned is that Satan wasn’t allowed to chase them around the Garden to tempt them; he could only stay in that one tree.  Thinking about it now, it seems like it should have been pretty easy to stay out of trouble…they knew what to expect and where to expect it, and they still walked right into trouble.  We haven’t gotten any better over the years have we?  God has told us in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  And what do we do?  We douse ourselves thoroughly with raw hamburger; walk right up to him and say, “Howdy!”  God must just shake his head, roll his eyes, and wonder… “What are they thinking?” 

He must cry as well.  Can you imagine the heartbreak He felt as He watched Eve and then Adam take bites of the fruit?  Sure, He knew they would, but when it happened for real, it must have torn His heart out.  I don’t think it gets any easier for Him as we trip, stumble, fall, crash into things and make fools of ourselves as we try to keep ourselves from sinning. 

It should be so easy!  You just tune your ear to God, and you’ll be fine.  Right?

Yeah, sure.  Six thousand years sinning have brought each of us to the point that it’s just easier to hear the lies that Satan tells, than the truth of Jesus.  Satan is free to chase us around and tempt us all the time.   We can be doing really well, walking in Christ, doing what we should be doing, and BANG!  Satan will put a thought in our minds that has nothing to do with anything, but we entertain that thought for just a micro-second…and  he has us.  Satan uses the same tricks with us that he used with Eve.  He takes the gifts that God has given us and uses them against us.  Satan appealed to Eve’s “physical, aesthetic and intellectual nature.”  He approaches each of us in the same way and because we have given ourselves over to those natures and forgotten our heavenly natures we almost can’t help but sin.

There is hope though.  God promised back there in the Garden that He would stand with us against evi,l that He would never leave us to face Satan alone.  Unfortunately, even though He never leaves us, we are always wandering away from Him.  Part of that is another inheritance from Adam and Eve.  After they sinned, they tried to hide from God because they had an “overpowering sense of sin and a dread of the future.”  So, they hid.  But they were also hiding from themselves.  When we sin we separate ourselves from God and from who God created us to be.  We, like Adam and Eve, try to sidestep the responsibility of our sin and place it on someone or something else because we are trying to avoid seeing how sinful we have become.  Amazingly enough, though, God knows, and He loves us anyway.  All He’s waiting for us to do is to turn to Him and ask for His help and forgiveness.  As soon as we do that He’ll wrap us in His arms and tell us He loves us and how much He’s missed us. 

So, whose voice are we listening for?  Jesus voice isn’t loud or pushy and so many things out there scream louder – work, school, radio, TV, newspapers, families, friends, shopping, even relaxing.  It’s really, really hard for me to turn all those things down so that I can hear “the still small voice” that I need to listen to.  I’m so glad that Jesus doesn’t give up when I don’t listen the first, or the thousandth time He tries to teach me.  I’m thankful that He’s patient, more patient than I deserve, when I fall over the same sin time and time again.  I feel blessed that He loves me so much that He gave up His life so that I could live with Him.  I’m looking forward to walking with Him through the heavenly garden like Adam and Eve walked through Eden with Him.  And, can you imagine, Jesus is looking forward to that too.  I want to hear Jesus talking to me face to face someday, but for now, I will listen to His still small voice – the Voice of Truth.