Is Forgiveness Unconditional?

This past weekend I challenged my church with a very simple, yet (what I thought) profound question - Is God's forgiveness unconditional? I think scripture is very clear that His love is unconditional, but is his forgiveness unconditional? Or to put it in another way is there something we can do that would cause God not to forgive us? These are all pretty loaded thoughts and really hard questions. I do not claim to be an incredible theologian but I will try to answer this question the best way I can.
Lets first look at the scripture in question - MT 6:14 "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." The first place my eye goes to is to the word "For". For means that this statement is building upon something else and that something else is the rest of the verses in chapter six.

Chapter six is part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. At this point Jesus is talking about 'acts of righteousness'. He talks about giving to the needy and praying and how we need to do this in a way that glorifies God and not ourselves. He then discusses the Lord's prayer. Verse 14 is stated upon the shoulders of the rest of the chapter. It also rests on the shoulders of other scriptures as well. Especially the ones that deal with 'acts of righteousness'.

In Matthew 18, Peter has a discussion with Jesus about forgiveness. It is pretty familiar to us all. Peter asks how many times should he forgive someone and he answers his own question by saying 7 times. Jesus then changes everything and says seventy-seven times. Was Jesus saying that we should keep score on how many times we forgive someone. Not at all. He is actually confronting another 'act of righteousness'. The Pharisees and the law basically said that they were obligated up to three times to forgive someone for an offence and the fourth time they did it they no longer were required to forgive. Peter was actually trying to show Jesus (can someone say "kiss up") his generosity by suggesting seven when the Jewish law only stated three. Then Jesus turned the table and basically said - "You forgive however many times they need to be forgiven!"

As Christians, we need to get away from the legality of the law. I remember talking to teenagers when I was youth pastor and they would always ask the question when we talked about sex and dating "How far is too far?" Listen friends. If your desire is to please the Lord you won't be asking questions like that. You won't be asking questions like "how many times we should forgive someone" or "Is a tithe on the net or the gross?" Those are legalities and we sound like little children seeing how close to the fire we can get before we actually burn ourselves.

I am preaching through the Beatitudes right now and I am amazed of how much Jesus asks of us. He is not asking us to toe the line or fulfill some law. He is asking us to go so far as to follow him no matter the cost. He wants us to give our hearts to him so that we can see, feel, and hear the world the way he does. Forgiveness has to do with Jesus and his desire for us to live a life of meekness. Forgiveness is about meekness. Meekness implies freedom. Freedom from malice, selfish anger, and vengeance. Meekness causes us to have a true view of ourselves and how poor and broken we truly are without Jesus. Once we can embrace that then the question of forgiveness is easily answered. We forgive others because Jesus forgave us! Period!

Is God's forgiveness unconditional? If you ask God to break you, to make you desperate for him, to make your heart break for the things that break His heart, to live in utter humility before him and to hunger and thirst for things that are right and true then you will know the answer.

I know this is not the answer many of you wanted - you wanted a yes or a no. Well, I guess when it comes to the act of forgiveness it probably coincides with acts of righteousness. It is the attitude we must be more worried about. Do we have the attitude of forgiveness? Did Jesus have the attitude of forgiveness? Philippians 2:5 says "Our attitudes should be the same as Christ Jesus! 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Where is the balance?

It all started when I went to Zambia. I was mesmerized by the people - how little they had and how big their faith was compared to mine. It started me thinking. It forced me to look at my own life and ask the hard questions about my faith and my love for God. I am afraid God has spoken to me like he spoke to Belshazzar in the book of Daniel, "You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting". (NIV)

DL Moody said something that has rocked my life for years. Actually, it was something Harry Varley said to him that spurred on this thought. Anyway, Moody said, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man." I don't do well memorizing quotes but I had no problem remembering that one! It has been so profound and convicting in my life that, at times, it also drives me crazy. So what do I do with it? God must be nudging me toward something if it keeps popping up in my mind.

There was another quote that has had pretty much the same effect on my life. It is a quote by Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision. Appalled by the suffering he saw in his travels overseas he wrote on the inside of his Bible, "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God." I wrote this down as being my New Years resolution (if it can be defined as a resolution) and am finding that fulfilling this resolution is very difficult. I am having a hard time finding the balance between embracing the things that break the heart of God and dealing with people who don't have this same passion. I guess, those are the people that break the heart of God.

• How do I deal with my willingness to abandon everything for Jesus and, yet, embrace the responsibility of caring for my family, my friends, and His church?
• How do I live a life of passion for the poor and needy when I am surrounded by the apathy of believers?
• How do I have patience for people who don't share my same desires?
• How do I raise children who love God so much that they would be willing to bypass on the luxuries their friends have to help someone who struggles to meet just their needs?
• How do I inject the passion of DL Moody and Bob Pierce into an American Church that fights over the color of their carpet and whether they sing too many or not enough hymns?
• How do I do this without becoming misunderstood or getting people mad?

The answers (or the lack thereof) paralyze me. Why is that? Shouldn't it burn inside of me so hot that I am misunderstood? Shouldn't my passion (I am checking to make sure it is God's passion) get people mad? Especially if it causes them incredible discomfort and conflict in their own hearts? I want to have a faith that is desperate. I want to have a life that is consecrated. I want to have a heart that breaks when God's heart breaks. Is there a balance? I don't know if you can be these things and use the term balance. Maybe the church needs some "imbalanced" people because I don't know if the balanced ones have done anything of significance lately!

Well, enough looking at the man in the mirror. What about you?

Are We "Under the Law"

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”  - Albert Camus

Someone asked me this week if we are still "under the law". This is my brief reaction to this statement. I would appreciate feedback if you would like. Thanks for reading!

Dear ????,

Unfortunately this is a hard argument. There are right and wrong views on both sides. Most people who say that they are not “under the law” point to Jesus death and resurrection as being a turning point – that we are under a “new” law of sorts that centers on Jesus so-called redefinition of the law (ie – the antithesis in the Sermon on The Mount: “You heard it said… but I say!”)

It is also hard because if we say that we are still “under the law” but have, let’s say a tattoo (Lev. 19:28), then we are picking and choosing what laws we are following and which ones we choose not to follow. We end up being hypocritical in many people’s eyes!

Here is my take – right or wrong.

1) Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17-20)

This verse suggests that the law points to Jesus and is fulfilled in Jesus. This verse also goes onto to talk about how man’s righteousness is defined by his obedience (James 2:18-26). The verses that proceed Matthew 5:17-20 (oh, by the way this is part of the Sermon on the Mount) deals with being the light of the world and we know that we cannot be God’s light unless we are emulating God – how do we do that? We must obey His word! Also, when I read Jesus teachings I don’t ever find that his words contradicting the Law – if anything He raises the bar considerably. He ends up focusing on man’s heart. The Law can be fulfilled without the heart and Jesus knows this. So much so He says that he focuses on the heart by focusing on our love for Him. He says that our love for Him should be so strong that our love for others (our wife and family) looks like hate and we are love Him to the extent that we are willing to take up our cross and follow Him. (Luke 14:25-27).

2) As powerful as God’s word is at face value, we must still understand context.

If we are “under the law” then we must obey every law. Well, no necessarily. There are some laws that were given to define and seperate who they were to be as a nation – that differentiated them from other nations around them. Many of the verses people pull out have to do with pagan religious rituals that were practiced by people who lived around them. Tattoos, cooking a kid in it’s mothers milk, etc. Also, the concept of not eating pork had more to do with hygiene then anything. The Israelites were commanded to eat ruminant animals. These type of animals that eat plant based food and can regurgitate from their first stomach and re-chew it (cud) to break down more plant matter and aid digestion.

3) Just because it is stated in black and white in the NT doesn’t mean that it is not applicable to our lives today.

Since we have been talking about tithing let’s look at it more closely. Many people say that Jesus and NT don’t talk about tithing and that it just talks about giving. Let’s look at Jesus says about this. In Matthew 12, Jesus highlighted the giving of the women at the temple who gave over and above what was expected of her. Jesus endured his disciples to do the same. Jesus also had an interaction with the Pharisees concerning their lack of mercy, justice and faithfulness -

MT 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Although the emphasis of this scripture is to not be hypocritical by doing one thing and neglecting another we see Jesus actually stating that we should not neglect the tithe (tenth) while we are practicing justice, mercy and faithfulness. The reversal can be assumed. We cannot neglect justice, mercy and faithfulness while practicing our tithe. Unfortunately, when people talk about tithing they end up using scripture that is talking about sacrificial, generous giving instead of understanding that tithing isn’t talked about a lot because it was a given to most of the people in the NT.

To conclude, we are “under the law” but we need to understand the context of the law. Casual Christianity lends itself to embrace what someone says that scratches our spiritual itch instead of studying it ourselves. Maybe if Christians would take more time trying to understand God’s word and less time defending their own personal feelings about the subject then maybe we might be a little more cohesive in our thoughts.

I applaud you for wanting to study this more and I hope I have helped in some small way!

Hey, Christian! Get your foot out of your mouth!

I know that Christians aren't perfect. I know firsthand because I AM a Christian and I am not even close to being perfect. What drives me nuts and makes me extremely angry (Godly anger, I hope) is when Christians say things and do things without thinking about the repercussions of their words or their actions (or "Putting your foot in your mouth!"). I am not talking about accidentally speaking out of turn or even saying things in jest. I am talking about Christian leaders who have an enormous amount of influence making purposeful statements about world events that are inflammatory enough to drive people away from God.

Have you been listening to Pat Robertson lately? I listened to his statements about the people of Haiti and I believe that he is true in doing something for the suffering of the people in Haiti, but what good does it do for anyone for him to bring up this so called "pact with the Devil" the Haitians made to free themselves from the oppression of the French? I don't know whether they actually had made such a pact, but I do know that someone needs to pull Pat Robertson aside and inform him that he is not helping Christianity out by recalling such things. Really Pat? Did you really have to say that? Now all of the news agencies are taking your words and plastering them all over the TV, the radio, and the internet quoting you correctly but misconstruing your intentions. What you have done was create one more hill for us to climb. One more hill for those of us who are trying to show people that Christianity is the best way to live.

This is not the first time Mr. Robertson has done this. Remember the terrorist attacks of 9/11? He and Jerry Falwell decided that it was all the ACLU's fault and the "pagan's, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians" fault that terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center towers.

My friends, evil is all around us. We live in evil times. Evil things happen because we have made historically wrong choices. Everyone. It started with Adam and Eve and it continues in us to this very day. If God is punishing the world it is not about a handful of outright groups that promote sinful agendas. It is about our apathy, our slothfulness, our gluttony, our selfishness, our spiritual farsightedness that can only see the sliver in our neighbors eye while we have a log protruding out of our own. The blame for the unchristian character of our nation (or any other nation for that matter) does not lie on the shoulders of the unchristian - it lies on the Christian shoulders. It is our fault we are where we are today. We should not be surprised when bad things happen. Our selfishness allows them to happen. Maybe we need to stop trying to thrust our spiritual morals onto our government. Instead of trying to get Roe v. Wade reversed why don't we fulfill the Great Commission and shower individuals with so much love that abortion wouldn't even be an option. Instead of trying to write that marriage is between a man and a woman in our constitution maybe us Christians should have marriages that show the passionate and selfless love between Christ and his church (his bride)! Maybe Christians should stop getting divorces at the same rate as non-christians.

Maybe if we would just get back to the basics of loving God, loving our neighbors, and loving our enemies - maybe, just maybe, some of this evil will go away. So instead of pronouncing judgment, Christian, let us be agents of compassion and sincere love. It is time to shut up and be the church instead opening up our mouths and saying things that cause division and distrust among those who don't know Jesus.

So Mr. Robertson and my fellow Christian lets get our foot out of our mouth and be what God has called us to be!

Thinking of Haiti

It breaks my heart to hear about the earthquake in Haiti. It is bad enough that it is one of the poorest countries in the world now they have to deal with the devastation of a natural disaster. My prayers are for everyone who is effected by this horrible disaster.