Healing From Forgiveness - Pt 3

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (Psalm 84:8-12 ESV). For the last few mornings we have been looking at the healing that comes from forgiveness. In order to experience the healing of God’s forgiveness, the first thing we ought to recognize is that we have been chosen by grace. Just as the Lord had chosen Israel and had rescued her from the Egyptians, the Caananites, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Samaritans like a stick is snatched from a campfire, so He has rescued us. Israel had done nothing to earn God’s favor. Their salvation was an act of His mysterious grace. So is ours. We live in a world of performance. In 1988, the Houston School District nominated bus driver Lillie Baltrip for a safe-driving award. As she was driving a busload of her colleagues to the awards ceremony, she turned a corner too sharply and flipped the bus over sending herself and sixteen others to the hospital. Now, do you think she still got the award? No! Even though she was accident-free for a whole year, she ended up with a poor performance. Most airlines will give you a free seat, but only if you earn the advantage miles. Universities will give out diplomas this month, not because they’re loving institutions, but because the students have earned them. The Boy Scouts of America aren’t in the habit of handing out honorary Eagle Scout badges. Our world is perpetuated by performance. Acceptance, acknowledgment and applause are earned through achievement. Satan uses that same mentality to accuse the Christian. He tries to convince us that God will only award those who perform well. Heaven is reserved only for the upper-level saints. And so, when we remember some past sin or present failure, we feel condemned by our own lack of performance. But the Scriptures say something completely different. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul writes that "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." In other words, salvation is a free gift of God, not trophy that we can earn because we do well in life. In 2 Timothy 2:9, Paul reminds us that God has saved us, not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. In Titus 3:5, we learn again that we have been saved, not because of any righteous things we have done, but because of the mercy of God. God didn’t chose any of us because of our accomplishments, our manners, our net worth, our intelligence, loving attitude or good looks. Rather, He chose us out of His grace. That is, we were destined for God’s righteous judgment but God chose to rescue us from His wrath. Every Christian is a burning stick snatched away by the righteous Branch. Mark Twain once wrote that heaven must be based on grace because if it were based on loyal performance, we’d be rejected, only our dogs would get in. So, when the Devil begins to accuse, remind him and remind yourself that you are a sinner. But just as your performance didn’t gain you a seat in heaven, neither can your failure cause you to lose what God has given by His wonderful grace.

Healing From Forgiveness - Pt 2

I have many hobbies taken up over the years. One of those is woodworking. There are many projects that I have finished and proudly displayed in our home. One of those is an antique finished cabinet made for Mary’s collection of TY Beanie Babies. Those who have seen it often lavish compliments on the workmanship and design. And, I am very grateful for their kind remarks. However, having built it myself, I know where all the flaws are located. Especially that one little corner that had to be puttied and filled to make up for the mistake of cutting the wood just a little short! Even when people marvel at this “masterpiece” I can’t help but remember the flawed corner. I think there is an important analogy here: Many people have mistakes in their lives that continue to come to the forefront of their mind. All of us have past stains or blemishes that remind us that we’re imperfect people. But, like two rough-cuts that seem to nullify an otherwise great job, past sin, even though confessed and forgiven, can haunt the Christian and overshadow an otherwise joyful and abundant life in Jesus Christ. It is one of Satan’s most common weapons. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12:7-11 ESV). Yesterday we saw in Zechariah, chapter 3, a very tender and encouraging passage. It looked at the very real strategy of the Devil to bring up "old business" in our lives and God’s immediate defense on our behalf. Today, I hope that we can learn how to reflect on the past, but not dwell there. In today’s verses, Satan is the "accuser of the brethren." That’s why he’s called "the Devil." The title means "one who accuses or opposes." His chief work in the life of the Christian is to remind us of past failure. He strives to overwhelm us with memories of sin. He puts us on the witness stand and then submits records and evidence to intimidate us. And, when the devil reminds us of that thing we did two years ago, or that habit that we’re still hoping to overcome or those bad decisions we made before we knew Jesus Chris. When the finger of opposition is put in our face, our spiritual momentum wanes. All kinds of feelings well up within us. We experience guilt, that painful sense that we’re unclean and unforgiven. Next come questions of doubt. Does God really love me? Is the cross big enough for my sin? Then comes fear. Maybe I’m not saved. God must be really angry with me. I’ve lost my salvation. Finally comes hopelessness, a discouraging sense of defeat. You and I know that, just like the Samaritan opposition of Zechariah’s day halted the building of God’s spiritual house in Jerusalem, so Satanic opposition can halt the building and growth of spiritual people today. Then, like today, the Lord comes to our defense. The Devil’s courtroom is not fair because he never presents all of the facts. His evidence is always weighted for the prosecution. Our defense rests in God’s grace in choosing to adopt us into His family, extending all the privileges and rights of true heirs to His Kingdom. We are fully forgiven and nothing can change that truth. In the next three days we’ll look in depth at some practical truths to use in answering the accusations of the devil. They are first, we have been chosen by grace; second, we have been cleansed of sin; and, third, we have been clothed with righteousness. Today, rest in His unchanging grace and tell the devil to take a hike!

Healing From Forgiveness - Pt 1

The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. However, it is very easy to quickly step over the dark ugliness of the cross as we recall this great victory. Without Jesus’ atoning death there could be no celebration. There is a healing we find in forgiveness. Today’s scripture begins taking us on a journey to discover that healing. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by. And the angel of the LORD solemnly assured Joshua, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.” (Zechariah 3 ESV). When Jesus encountered people in desperate need, he often linked healing with forgiveness – the woman taken in adultery, the man lowered on a pallet by friends, the woman with a jar of ointment, the man born blind. None of them came with a confession of sin. All came because of their raw need for help. All had been marginalized, if not outcast and stigmatized, because of their "impurity." Jesus responded to their isolation first, engaging them as humans who were neither better nor worse than others. Ann Lamott’s intriguing novel, Crooked Little Heart, is a contemporary story of repentance. In it, 13-year-old Rosie has been cheating on close line calls to win crucial tennis matches. Rosie’s shame grows, as she is unable to stop herself. She even hurts herself in a physical attempt to get her mother’s attention, but she is trapped by her compulsion to win. There is an ominous man, an outcast named Luther (!) who comes to every tournament, watching her, but she knows he will not tell. To simplify the story unmercifully, Luther finally invites Rosie beyond her self-absorbed guilt with his own confession: "I did what you did." "What do you mean?" "I cheated." As her secret becomes visible to both of them, Rosie calls herself a cheater. "No," Luther says, "you cheated." Then he tells her that other people cheat, too. By doing that, he invites her into the company of flawed humans. He also gives her a way to claim her identity as one that can make different choices, who can tell the truth. He makes room for her repentance to begin. Rosie begins to change. The sportsmanship committee reprimands her, but they allow her to continue playing. In the final game, she over-compensates; not calling points out because she wants to avoid the appearance of cheating. Then she finds the courage to call a long shot correctly and Luther stands up to leave. "Aren’t you going to stay and watch Rosie win?" her mother asks. "I already have," he says and disappears from the rest of the story. Whatever your sin today, “the Branch” has already come and made it possible for you to be free from guilt. Just agree with God today about your need for His forgiveness. He promises to forgive you of every failure. With Him there is no rejection! It is all of His grace!

Three Checkpoints - Pt 3

The past days we have been looking at the checkpoints of life. We saw the first two were to do justice and to love kindness. Today we see that we are also to walk humbly. Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote to the early church at Colossae: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17 ESV). Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all. It was John Riskin who said, “I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking his opinion. But really great men have a feeling that the greatness is not in them but through them; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them.” Andrew Murray said, “The humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him. He can bear to hear others praised while he is forgotten because he has received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not Himself, and who sought not His own honor. Therefore, in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ he has put on the heart of compassion, kindness, meekness, longsuffering, and humility.” There is perhaps no other checkpoint more difficult to travel through. I find in my own life that it is often easier to think about justice and kindness than humility. The very act of being just and showing kindness toward others is a tool in the hands of our enemy to tempt us toward pride and arrogance. The bane of many pastors are those people who do something for the church and then have their feelings hurt when they have not been recognized or thanked sufficiently enough. Real humility does not expect or demand recognition. The following true story illustrates this truth so well. One Sunday morning after having preached a message about grace and forgiveness I found an envelope on my desk in the study. It was plain, though I noticed it had more than just paper in it. I really thought it might have been some little gift for me made by one of the preschoolers in our extended session. What a surprise when I opened it and found a diamond ring with a note attached. It was obviously from a woman and the gist of the note explained that the ring was a tenth year anniversary gift and the only jewelry that she wore other than her wedding band. She wanted to give it to the church so that it could be sold and the proceeds applied to a building project we had going on at the time. And, it was unsigned! The story is long and somewhat complicated. In the end, however, this simple gift challenged everyone to pay off existing debt and build a wonderful Activities Center for use in the community! Though I later learned who the donor was, I could never break her confidence and publicly recognize her gift. I am confident she will be recognized someday by our Lord in heaven! That’s what happens when we practice humility. M. R. De Haan has said, “Humility is something we should constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have.” How’s your humility?

Checkpoints in Life

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:17-32 ESV). Yesterday we began to look at the three checkpoints of life. The first of those was to do justice. Today we see that the second is to practice kindness. Alexander Maclaren said, “Kindness makes a person attractive. If you would win the world, melt it, do not hammer it.” Mamie Adams always went to a branch post office in her town because the postal employees there were friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait on line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. “I know,” said Mamie, ‘but the machine won’t ask me about my arthritis.” I wonder how many people just like Mamie Adams are in our circle of acquaintance and travel each day. Someone once said that we ought to be kind to everyone we meet since we may be entertaining angels unaware. I found the following recently. Perhaps it will serve as a reminder and encouragement to you as much as it did me. Just for Today ...Smile at a stranger ...Listen to someone's heart ...Drop a coin where a child can find it ...Learn something new, then teach it to someone ...Tell someone you're thinking of them ...Hug a loved one ...Don't hold a grudge ...Don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry" ...Look a child in the eye and tell them how great they are ...Look beyond the face of a person into their heart ...Make a promise, and keep it ...Call someone, for no other reason than to just say "hi" ...Show kindness to an animal ...Stand up for what you believe in ...Smell the rain, feel the breeze, listen to the wind ...Use all your senses to their fullest … Just for Today!

Faith or Fear? (Pt 1)

In the book ¬Hell’s Best Kept Secret, by Ray Comfort, there is a true but tragic story. It seems a woman was once walking along a riverbank with her child. Suddenly the child slipped into the river. The mother screamed in terror. She couldn’t swim, and besides, she was in the latter stages of pregnancy. Finally, somebody heard her screaming and rushed down to the riverbank. The utter tragedy was when they stepped into those murky waters to retrieve that now dead child, they found that the water was only waist deep! That mother could have easily saved her child but didn’t because of a lack of knowledge. In today’s Scripture we will see the same kind of reaction from fear and Jesus’ encouragement to face life with faith. One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25 ESV). There are at least two important principles of truth to be gained from this passage. First, the disciples did not deny the reality of the danger they faced. Luke said it was a “fierce storm” and “they were in real danger.” It is important to recognize that mere whistling in the dark will not keep us safe from harm. Satan’s efforts to harm us are very real, however, so is the promise of God. There are so many times in the Bible when our Lord has promised to be with us that we hardly may number them! And, that brings us to the second principle: the disciples did not recognize the power of Jesus. They had no faith in either who He was or what He could do. They were in real danger, but they were not going to drown! It is the knowledge of who He is and what He can do that is the basis of our faith response to the attacks of Satan designed to rob us of our joy in life. We’ll see that vividly illustrated tomorrow as we continue this passage in Luke. Jesus’ casting out the demons from the man in Gerasenes is such a clear example of who He is and what He can do. Today, however, rest in the knowledge that He can calm the storms in your life. The preacher once said, “A wise bird knows that a scarecrow is simply an advertisement. It announces that some very juicy and delicious fruit is to be had for the picking. There are scarecrows in all the best gardens. If I am wise, I too shall treat the scarecrow as though it were an invitation. Every giant in the way which makes me feel like a grasshopper is only a scarecrow beckoning me to God’s richest blessings.” He concluded, “Faith is a bird which loves to perch on scarecrows.” Come with me the garden of God’s rich blessings! Whatever you are facing today, as real as it may be, deliver your future into the hands of the One who can speak and “even the wind and the waves obey”!

A True Story of Courage and Grace

So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:1-8 ESV). The following story comes from David L. Kuzminski. It is a wonderful example of both courage and love: Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia in 1977, I saw a water puddle ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water and mud. As I reached the puddle, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack was so unpredictable and from a source so totally unexpected. I was startled as well as unhurt; despite having been struck four or five times already. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Instead of attacking more, he hovered in the air on graceful butterfly wings in front of me. Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing, but I was unhurt, it was funny, and I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly! Having stopped laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He rammed me in the chest with his head and body, striking me over and over again with all his might, still to no avail. For a second time, I retreated a step while my attacker relented in his attack. Yet again, I tried moving forward. My attacker charged me again. I was rammed in the chest over and over again. I wasn't sure what to do, other than to retreat a third time. After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. This time, though, I stepped back several paces to look the situation over. My attacker moved back as well to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying. She was beside the puddle where he landed. Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it upon himself to attack me for his mate's sake, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her. Now I knew why and what he was fighting for. There was really only one option left for me. I carefully made my way around the puddle to the other side of the path, though it was only inches wide and extremely muddy. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety justified it. I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the puddle. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed. I left them in peace for those last few moments, cleaning the mud from my boots when I later reached my car. Like this courageous butterfly, the children of Israel were facing what they considered to be “giants” as Moses gave them the wonderful promise in our Scripture reading today. There are “giants” that all of us face in our lives also. The message of Jesus’ competed work on the Cross is that we need fear no enemy. We, too, need not fear, He will not forsake us in our reaching and taking possession of the Promised Land. It only requires that we face the challenges with faith in the love of our heavenly Father and courage to go forward.