Forgiveness

Now what? (Psalm 119:14-16)

/ The Pastor

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. [Psalm 119:14-16]

Last night I made my appeal to God for forgiveness; something we all need to do on a daily basis and then some. I appealed to God’s mercy through faith in Jesus Christ and then threw myself at his feet. And then in the words of Romans 5:10-11 I heard that I am reconciled to God through faith in Jesus.

Praise be to God, but now what?

After we have made our confession; after we have appealed to God’s mercy through faith in Jesus; after we have thrown ourselves at God’s feet, what next? Of course we will hear a word of forgiveness, but after THAT; after the absolution of our sins? We certainly shouldn’t go away unchanged or unfazed. There must be something next.

And there is…

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
Take delight in learning God’s ways.
Take delight in knowing what God desires.
Take delight in following God in all things.

Take delight in God’s law, for in God’s law we see a holy wisdom that is far above anything of human understanding. God’s ways and thoughts are indeed above our ways and thoughts, so desire God more than all the riches ever known in the world and will ever be known.

I will meditate on your precepts
Don’t just read and study God’s law, but meditate on them. Think about them. Ponder them. Reflect on them. May they not be a passing thought. May reading God’s law never be cursory. May God’s law sink in and take up residence in your heart.

and fix my eyes on your ways.
And as you are walking with God; as you are meditating on God’s ways; fix your eyes on the object of your desire. When I take my wife out to eat, I am not staring and gawking at other women. That would be rude and unfaithful. My desire is for my wife and so I fix my eyes and attention on her. In the same way and much more, fix your eyes on God and His ways. Don’t be unfaithful.

I will delight in your statutes;
Delighting in God’s statues will only come through diligent study and appreciation of who God is through faith Jesus Christ. If your faith and trust is not in God through Jesus, then you are never going to truly delight in God’s ways. It’s only through understanding what God has done for you that you can appreciate what God is up to and wants for you and desires for you and commands you to do.

I will not forget your word.
Make your meditation of God and His ways a daily habit that you will not forget. Even one day off can cause our simple and weak minds to go astray. You may think you are smart and have a good memory, but when it comes to God we have the attention span of a flea. Mediate often and seek God continually.

But what if I fail?

You will fail.
You will fall short.
You will turn away from God.

Just don’t accept this sin condition of yours but rather keep running to God, for God’s mercy is great. His faithfulness is endless. His love is all encompassing. His grace is amazing.

Keep running to God and appealing to his mercy through faith in Jesus Christ, and start all over again; desiring to truly learn and desire God’s ways more than anything. Don’t take advantage of God’s faithfulness but desire God’s faithfulness with all your heart and being.

May God be praised in your learning and meditation of His holy Law.

The Pastor -|—

The Appeal (Psalm 51:1-12)

/ The Pastor

I appeal to Your mercy, oh God, through Jesus Christ…

[1] Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

I am a sinner, oh God, I am a sinner but I appeal to your mercy through Jesus Christ: Forgive me.

[2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! [3] For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. [4] Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

I deserve the full force of your wrath for I have sinned against Your holy law and commands but I appeal to Your mercy through Jesus Christ: Wash me clean.

[5] Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

I am a sinner through and through, even from my birth.

[6] Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Through You and You alone can I know the way of true Life. Teach me, oh God, that I may know true wisdom. Teach me that I may stay on the narrow path and not stray from You.

[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. [8] Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Restore me, cleanse me, wipe my slate clean. Oh God, grant me a second chance.

[9] Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

I appeal to Your mercy through Jesus Christ: Forgive me.

[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. [11] Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Place a new heart in me, oh Sovereign God as I appeal to Your mercy through Jesus Christ: Forgive me and grant me a joyful heart once again.

This is my confession; this is my appeal; this is my plea to you, oh God. I echo these words from the psalmist and seek to be placed back into a right relationship with you. So I lay it before you and wait…

[10] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [11] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10-11 ESV)

Through faith in Jesus Christ I am forgiven?

PRAISE BE TO GOD!
ALLELUIA!
AMEN!

The Pastor -|—

Much Sin. Much Love

/ The Pastor

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” [Luke 7:47]

Your love of God is proportional to the sin that has been forgiven you.

If you believe your sins are not that bad or that someone else is a worse sinner; if you believe you are doing fine, then your love of God will be reflected in your faulty view of reality.

Very little love.

You will not obey as you should and you will not worship as you should. And it makes sense, if you think you’re not that bad then why would you need Jesus. Your thankfulness will be empty and your praise will be shallow and your worship will be silent.

But if you believe you have been forgiven much; that your sins are many; that you deserve the worse place in hell (if there is such a thing) then your love of God will be reflected as such.

Very much love

You will then be driven to obey and worship God. You will be driven to glorify God’s name and honor it. You will be driven to proclaim the name of Jesus through your words and actions. Which makes sense. If you believe you have received the best gift of all time, then there is no way you are going to keep it quiet AND there’s no way you’re going to turn your back on the giver.

But we do.

We turn our backs on God.
We don’t worship as we ought.
We don’t obey as we should.
We don’t proclaim the name of Jesus loud enough.
We don’t love much.

Miserable sinners that we are.

Oh God, forgive me.

Our sin is ever before us, our condemnation is just but God’s mercy and grace and compassion is endless.

Praise be to God!

We are in the midst of Lent; a season of reflection and self-examination. A season of remembering and contemplating our sinfulness. A season of repentance and drawing closer to God. So I urge you, brothers and sisters, to reflect on your sinfulness and the fact that you deserve hell. Reflect on your mortality and the fact that your bodies are decaying until death.

from dust you came and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

Remember your sin and then contemplate the cross; that Jesus died there and then rose from the grave that your sins would be forgiven. Accept the fact that you have sinned much but through faith in Jesus you have been forgiven much. Try to wrap your brain and heart around that and then worship and praise this awesome God of ours.

You are a sinner, but God our Father is our redeemer through Jesus Christ. Turn to Him and love much and praise much and worship much.

What an awesome God!

May you see your sin as filthy and therefore your sentence of death. May you see Jesus as your Savior. May your love overflow for the God of creation.

Have a great day worshiping God in every second of your life.

The Pastor -|—

A selfish prayer

/ The Pastor

Father God…

from the heart of this pastor…

I selfishly ask for healing for my little girl even though I know there are bigger issues in this world. She may only have a low temp but it still pains me that she’s not feeling 100%.

I selfishly ask that my little girl sleeps well this afternoon so I may have time to write a sermon.

I selfishly ask that this post may not come off as selfish (even though it probably does).

I selfishly ask that you may grant my requests so my life may flow more smoothly.

And…

I selfishly ask that you, O God, may forgive my selfishness.

I feel sheepish for even praying this (and writing this) but I can’t hide what’s on my heart; for you know all things. So I put this out there and ask for forgiveness.

(and of course, as I bask in the joy of your forgiveness through faith in Jesus, I continue to selfishly ask for my little girl)

Will I ever learn?

Oh God, may you be praised despite my selfishness. May you be praised despite my shortcomings. May you be praised despite my sin.

(and please, O God, heal my little girl)

And may you be praised despite the fact that I’m messed up.

Amen.

There I go again, O well…

Praise be to God!

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Unclean and then clean

/ The Pastor

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. [Matthew 8:2-3]

I love this interaction between this leper and Jesus; for here I see my own sinfulness but also the grace and love of God.

Here we have the unclean; humbly and faithfully and boldly, coming to Jesus even though it was not socially acceptable for him to do so. Actually, it was against the Law. This unclean outcast desperately seeking cleansing, healing and restoration. And he demands nothing but rather throws himself at the mercy of Jesus.

IF you will…

And before Jesus even says a word Jesus lets his actions speak love and mercy by reaching out to touch that which no one would have dreamed of touching. And after the leper feels the touch of Jesus he hears those life giving words:

I will; be clean

And that’s it. This outcast is clean and restored and healed and brought back into communion with God. I imagine there was much joy for the leper following this act of love and mercy…

…and GRACE.

And you too, O sinner, are unclean. That’s right, I’m talking to you; the one reading this.
YOU are unclean.
YOU are a sinner.
YOU are separated from God.
And YOU are in need of healing. If you don’t agree with me then too bad, for you can’t escape this fact. But there is hope for there is Jesus. Just call out to God in the name of Jesus and you too will be cleansed.

So will you, O sinner, join me in calling out to God?

O God, if you will, you can forgive me. I am a sinner. I have hurt others and especially you. And I especially want to confess_________. Have mercy on me. Touch me. Restore me. Make me whole again. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

And now, O sinner, hear the words of God:

My beloved child, I am more than willing, you are forgiven.

O sinner, rejoice and be glad. Through faith in Jesus you are made whole.

Praise be to God and Amen.

The Pastor -|—

You got to want it

/ The Pastor

I am working on a confirmation lesson plan about confession and as part of that lesson we are going to be reading Psalm 19.

[Pause here and go read that 15 verse Psalm.  Cue Jeopardy theme…]

Did you read it?  Seriously…did you read Psalm 19 and meditate on it?  I could make life easier for you and just include the text in this post, but part of me is feeling feisty today so no easy way out for you.  I want you to actually open your Bible to read the scripture text.  Online or on your smartphone is fine, just read the text.

O.K…I’m ready to move on…

I read Psalm 19 yesterday and started jotting down some teaching points for the class.  I wrote a couple questions that I want to ask.  I mulled over how the discussion might go.  I started anticipating some questions my students might ask.  But I got stuck on what the psalmist was doing.  Not stuck on how I want to teach this Psalm and the topic of confession, but I got stuck because of what it was saying to ME.

[Scripture has a funny way of doing that sometimes.]

In verses 1 – 6 I hear the psalmist saying how awesome God is.  When you look around you can’t help but see the majesty of God.  You can’t help but see the awesome power of God; written in the sky and in all of creation.  God is so worthy of our worship and praise.  And this I know, but when someone makes you stop and pay attention; it hits you…again.

In verses 7 – 11 I hear the psalmist singing the praises of God for how awesome His Law is.  God’s Law is right and just and perfect and trustworthy and radiant and pure and righteous and sure and…(I’m sure we could go on and on).  God’s Law is precious and worthy to be followed and obeyed.  And this I know, but once again it is being held up before my eyes as I see it anew.

Last but not least, the psalmist confesses his sins in verses 12-13.  And in verse 14 I am captured by these words: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” A statement pointing to the psalmist’s humility before God.

Wow…is this where I am at when I come before God confessing my sins?

If God is not awesome and worthy in your sight what motivation is there to confess anything.  Confession can’t be a checklist item.  It can’t be something done out of coercion.  Confession of sins needs to be a humbling and heartfelt act of worship before a holy and gracious God.  If it is anything less than that we are just fooling ourselves (and definitely not fooling God). Basically…you got to want it.

The power of God’s awesome forgiveness can only be known through a heartfelt sense of our unworthiness and  sinfulness.  Look around.  God is everywhere.  God’s glory is being proclaimed through creation.  Meditate on that. Meditate on the fact that you do not deserve forgiveness, but because of Jesus forgiveness is offered.

Wow…that is amazing! That is Good News!

So…have you read Psalm 19 yet?  Do it.  Confess for your sins.  And know God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ our risen Lord and Savior.

The pastor -|—

Preaching forgiveness

/ The Pastor / 6 Comments

I am thinking and praying about forgiveness this week.  The text providing the backdrop is one I have always struggled with…

Matthew 18:21-35

This is the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.   It deals with God forgiving us such a large debt and us not being willing to forgive the debts/sins of people in our lives.

In the parable a king’s servant amasses a debt of 10,000 Talents (a debt that the servant could not even hope to repay even though he says he will).  The king threatens to sell him and his family into slavery but after some pleading for time, the king forgives the debt.

Wow!  That is grace!

Immediately after the immensely gracious act, the servant finds a buddy of his who owes him a few dollars.  When the buddy can’t repay, the servant throws him into prison until he can repay the debt.  The king then gets word of this ungracious act; becomes angry; restores the previously forgiven debt and hands the unmerciful servant over to the jailer to be tortured until he can repay (which he won’t be able to).

Jesus then ends this teaching with “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Ouch!

I can understand this response from God.  I mean, after all, who are we to think that people hurt us more than we hurt God.  Who are we to think that our debt to God is insignificant and not important.  True ~ if God forgives such a large debt that we have incurred through sin, then we ought to forgive one another.  But how does one preach such a message ~ without attempting to tip toe around God’s Word in an effort to avoid offending people.

The other interesting tid bit in all of this is that Sunday is the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (like you didn’t know that).  I didn’t choose this text but rather it is the one “assigned” in the lectionary.  Does preaching this message of forgiveness sound insensitive on the anniversary of such a tragic event?  What preaching points would you use?

Just throwing some thoughts and questions out there for consideration.

edh -|—

Book reports

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Ever since I bought myself a Kindle this past November I have been reading more than ever before.  And from what I have heard from others I am not the only one experiencing this “phenomenon”.  The ease of searching and downloading books has contributed to my increase in reading.  Being able to take my library with me to the coffee shop or while traveling is very appealing.  I was hoping that this Kindle would not be just a passing phase that I would get tired of.  So far I have a hard time putting it down.

So with that introduction (Amazon did not pay me to write this) I want to share with you a couple books.  One I have just finished and one I have just begun.  First…the one I just finished.  It is called 24 Hours That Changed the World by Adam Hamilton.  I would recommend this book right now to help you prepare for Holy Week.  This book takes a look at the last 24 hours of Jesus life.  Through reading this book I saw these hours in a fresh and new way.  One of the most powerful things I experienced in reading this is seeing myself in the various characters in the story.  It is easy for us to say that “I wouldn’t have crucified Jesus“, “I wouldn’t have mocked him“, “I wouldn’t have denied or deserted Jesus“…but not so fast.  It is amazing what we are capable of…and it is even more amazing that despite this God has shown us forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  I encourage you to check this book out.  I started using this book as a morning devotion but I later found that I had a hard time putting it down.

Second.

The book I am currently reading is called The Pastor: A Memoir by Eugene H. Peterson.  Many of you know Eugene Peterson as the author of The Message.  I have always found Peterson to be a very thoughtful author and pastor.  I have looked up to him for a long time.  I am only a couple chapters in but so far he is taking us through his initial journey to the vocation of pastor.  Whether you are a pastor or not I think you will enjoy this book.  His use of words and imagery is amazing and it keeps me turning those electronic pages.

Oh wait…one more book.  The Bible.  I have subscribed to a couple reading plans through my DroidX smartphone Bible app (now I can say that I never leave home without my cell phone or my Bible).  Every morning I log in and read what’s waiting for me.  It is always a joy to spend time in scripture.  Something I am doing different, though, is that each morning I am posting a Bible text from my phone straight to my Facebook wall.  I have been amazed at how many people comment or simply hit “like” on those posts.  Just another little way I can share the love of Jesus with people.

There…a couple book reports for you.  I normally don’t do this but this is what has been on my heart recently.  Are there any other books that you are reading this Lenten season that you would care to give me a report on?

O.K…I guess that is it for now.  I am off to read what else Eugene Peterson has to say.  May God bless your day 🙂

-edh-

Unbelievable forgiveness

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

This week I am continuing our Old Testament sermon series by talking about the story of Joseph and “unbelievable” forgiveness.

In Genesis, chapter 50, Jacob dies and Joseph’s brothers get nervous.  They are nervous that Joseph will unleash his fury since Jacob, the family patriarch, is now gone.  So they tell Joseph that their dear ole dad has said that he is supposed to forgive them the wrongs they had done to him.  The brothers then throw themselves down on the ground before Joseph and vow to be his slaves.

Joseph weeps.

I have never really thought about why Joseph is weeping.  But now I am wondering if Joseph is sad because after all these years of providing for them in Egypt his brothers still believe Joseph doesn’t really forgive them.  When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers in chapter 45 he gave no indication he was going to lash out at them even though Joseph had the power to do so.  But Joseph told his brothers not to be distressed or angry with themselves; this was part of God’s plan.  Joseph showed nothing but love towards them by taking care of them through the terrible famine.  Now…after all these years…the brothers still don’t believe Joseph really forgives them.  If I were Joseph I think I would be sad as well.

I wonder if God weeps when we doubt his amazing forgiveness.  I mean…there are times when I wonder if God actually forgives ALL my sins.  Surely there is something that God holds on to.  Surely there must be a limit to God’s patience.  Forgiving ALL my sins?  That almost sounds to good to be true…almost unbelievable.

But God says, “What more do I need to do to prove it to you?  My beloved son, Jesus, died on a cross and rose from the grave to forgive your sins.  I would think that would be proof enough.”  And yet we have our doubts from time to time.  God’s forgiveness of our sins, at times, almost seems unbelievable…there must be a catch.

But there is no catch.

When we go to God in confession, through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness…period.  No strings attached. That, my friends, is pretty amazing.  Unbelievable?  Nope…it’s true.  Through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness of ALL our sins.

So don’t be afraid and don’t be distressed.  Go to God and know his amazing love for you…forever and ever.  Amen.

-edh-

Awesome worship (explained)

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

O.K…time to share with you what happened at worship on Sunday.

I said that worship was awesome on Sunday.  Two things contributed to that:  (1) My wife and her team of singers lead worship with the guitars (with me playing as well…which I really enjoy); and (2) continue reading below…

…The Gospel text was from John 6:1-14 (The Feeding of the 5000).  This is one of my favorite miracle stories (next to the Resurrection of course).  I talked about the miracle as something that the people (the 5000 present) did not really get.  I mean…after they had eaten and realized what happened they thought Jesus was the prophet who had come into the world.  They probably likened him to Elisha who fed 100 in 2 Kings 4 (the OT text on Sunday).  In any case they wanted to take Jesus and make him king by force, but that is not what Jesus came to do.  They missed the point…they did not get who Jesus really was.

From that I moved to talking about Holy Communion…another great meal that we a lot of times miss.  We come forward for Holy Communion in a ritualistic kind of way and totally blow off the words that are being spoken.  I mean think about it…Holy Communion is about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the promise of the forgiveness of sins, but how many times do you REALLY really think about that when you receive the bread and the wine?  I urged the people on Sunday to think about this.

Then I went on to say:
“When you come here to Salem on the 1st or 2nd Sunday of the month you expect to receive Holy Communion.  You know that Holy Communion happens towards the end of the worship service.  You know the liturgy and how to respond.  Well…I am going to throw you off guard today.  It may be the 4th Sunday of the month but we are going to celebrate Holy Communion right now.  I did not get permission from the altar guild, the worship/music committee, the deacons or the church council.  We are just going to do it.”
I did not use the “normal” liturgy…actually I didn’t use any liturgy.  I went on to invite people to come forward whenever they felt ready to encounter a miracle.  I urged them to listen to the words “The Body of Christ broken FOR YOU…the Blood of Christ shed FOR YOU“.  I urged the people to listen to these words and hear the miracle…the forgiveness of your sins.  I invited them to pray before hand and confess if they would like and then come forward.  There was going to be nothing that was ritualistic about this celebration of Holy Communion.

Everyone came forward (except for one person) to partake in this miracle.  And after the worship I got so many comments from people who were very appreciative of what happened in worship (Praise be to God!).  I think people liked it because Holy Communion was not ritualistic.  Maybe some people were hearing for the first time the miracle of this sacrament…I don’t know…but what I do know is that is was powerful for me (and for my wife who was helping serve communion and obviously for a number of others).

Worship was awesome on Sunday.  And all I can say to summarize it is:  “PRAISE  BE TO GOD!”

-edh-