Two Kinds of Forgiveness

TWO KINDS OF FORGIVENESS

I approached the end of the year here at Pilgrim preaching a series on forgiveness. Forgiveness is a constant continuing process in our lives. And as a church family we must understand the need to forgive one another and keeping the bond of peace.

Ultimately there are two types of forgiveness. Imagine with me that a relative has deeply wronged you in a way that could result in severe legal consequences. Although the one might fully deserves the full weight of the law to come down upon him, you choose because he is a member of the family, to release him from all legal liability. He is judicially forgiven, and the relationship between the two of you is clear of all legal impediments. That does not mean that problems do not exist between you. The issue may put a serious strain on your personal relationship, but they do not jeopardize ones legal status. Judicial forgiveness does not remove the need for relational forgiveness.

By God’s grace in Christ, we are the recipients of judicial forgiveness, which means that we have perfect standing with God. We are members of His family forever. But relational forgiveness is about my ongoing enjoyment of a warm, intimate relationship with others. For example, I love my boys and girls dearly and sometimes their actions cause a serious strain on our relationship. But nothing they do, no matter how bad, can make me disown them. But because we are sinners, things sometimes happen that damage our enjoyment of one another and that, left unresolved, could do serious damage to our relationship with one another. A healthy family relationship requires the consistent extending and receiving of forgiveness.

I think this same principal applies to our relationship with our heavenly Father. As our Judge, He pardoned us once and for all when we trusted the Lord Jesus. But as our Father He forgives us many times, as we deal with the sins that enter our lives. This distinction lies behind the often misunderstood words of the Lord’s Prayer:

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors

(Matthew 6:12)

We must remember that the so-called Lord’s Prayer is, in fact, a believer’s prayer, taught by the Lord to His followers as their distinctive prayer. We cannot view it as a generic prayer (which many often do) that could be prayed by anyone, regardless of their relationship to Christ. It is for those who have already been forgiven through faith in Christ. But we are still to pray for a forgiveness that is all about our fellowship with the Father. It stands to reason that, if I refuse to forgive my fellow-believer who is also a beloved child of the Father, I cannot expect my relationship to our mutual Father to be unaffected, any more than I would expect my dad to be unconcerned if I were in the midst of a nasty quarrel with one of my four brothers. My status in the family would not be at stake; my fellowship in the family would be.

Judicial forgiveness is unconditional, grounded on the finished work of Christ. It is once-for-all forgiveness. But just as the petition in the Lord’s Prayer is for daily bread, not a once-for-all provision of food, the petition for forgiveness is also about daily forgiveness as needed. I need forgiveness daily because I sin daily! And the forgiveness I seek is relational, not judicial. This relational forgiveness is conditional, based upon my relationship with others. And this is the challenge to every Christian, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, our Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15).

I share with you again the story of two brothers from a small South African Village. The older brother was tall, athletic, a good student and a natural leader. The younger brother was not. He had a back deformity and was very sensitive to that fact. However, he did have a wonderful singing voice. They both attended the same school away from their village. One night some older boys dragged the younger brother out and ripped off his shirt and made fun of the deformity in his back until he cried to his older brother for help. The older brother was there, didn’t try to help defend his younger brother or rescue him from an abandoned water tank they eventually place him in and forced him to sing. The younger brother was eventually rescued; he survived but was crushed in spirit. He returned to the family farm, lived a reclusive life, and never sang again.

The older brother was eventually called to service during World War II and had a dream in which he realized how much heartache he caused his brother. After getting out of service, he made the difficult journey back to South Africa and asked his brother’s forgiveness. Later that night in the dark of the night he heard a beautiful song – it was his brother singing a song for the first time since that awful night. And it was a song the older brother had written for him to sing when they were young boys.

Pilgrim this dynamic of forgiveness within the spiritual family is so important. In order that we may move forward together in fellowship, in the work of ministry, and in love – it requires forgiving one another.

How We Should View Trouble (James 1:2)

I’ve never liked riding roll-coasters. For me it was always an experience, even in my youth and adolescence, I hated. I would often take rides because of female friends that were thrilled by the coaster rides at the Mid-South Fair. While they would be screaming with excitement, having held hands in the air as the dips and turn took place, I would be holding on for dear life. I am thankful that I had enough tolerance to not get sick on the ventures. What a greater embarrassment that would have been!

Getting through a season of trouble is a lot like surviving a roller-coaster ride – except we do not volunteer for trouble; and trouble was never intended to be fun. Trouble is filled with stomach-wrenching drops, dips, and sudden curves. And just when we think we’ve caught out breath, we’re dropped again. If we didn’t know better, we might think that this roller-coaster ride is a random experience – that somehow the forces that lift us up and push us down are acts of fate. It is not a random ride at all. Those who understand the work of God, in and through our troubles, know that He does not abandon us to disaster. Rather, with all the strength of His character, He provides a well-engineered superstructure that supports the process along with a carefully planned set of tracks and guardrails. Even when the ride is hectic, unsettling, and too twisted for us to sense the presence of His support and guidance, He is still there. Our only hope is to stay in the car and find something solid to hold on to through every turn of the experience.

When trouble invades our comfort zone, two needs rise to the top: (1) The need for understanding (to find answers to the probing and disturbing questions that crowd our mind and souls) and (2) the need for healing (to feel better and to finish the problem). Of the two, understanding is the key to managing the problem effectively to its ultimate outcome. Without the understanding that produces the right answers, there is no sense of direction.

When James wrote, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials (Jas. 1:2 NASB), his choice of words was strategic. The Apostle James uses a specific word for trouble (trials) that leads to a helpful understanding of what trouble is. Barnes, in his notes, paraphrases James 1:2 by saying that when troubles come, “Don’t resist them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”

The Greek word for trials is a word that means, “To examine or test for the purpose of providing or revealing something about the thing tested.”Trials, then, is “a test that reveals something for a specific purpose. Of all the things we could say about trials – that they are disappointing, discouraging, humiliating, uncomfortable, painful, and disheartening – God sees them, among other reasons, as tests that reveal our true selves. In times of trouble the “real me” becomes apparent. So trouble is revelatory.

Trouble is one of God’s ways of examining our lives. When we are on “Easy Street” – and thank the Lord He lets us come up for air periodically – it is hard to know what we are really like. We can carry on a cosmetic existence, fooling ourselves and most people, about our true nature. But when troubles hit our lives, what we are really like is quickly revealed. Trouble shows our friends, our spouses, our children, and our acquaintances what we are like. Even more unsettling, it forces us to start seeing ourselves for who and what we really are.

So what good is trouble? Well, among other things, trouble reveals where I am in the growth process in terms of my conformity to the image and character of Christ. It gets me beyond assumptions to reality. Am I a forgiving person? Am I kind? Understanding? Just? Loving? Helpful? Patient? Or am I angry, slanderous, self-centered, inflexible, manipulative, weak and not equipped to respond to trials correctly.

No, I don’t like riding roller-coasters. And I don’t like the “various trials” which often enter my life. But because I know they have a unique purpose; and because I know Romans 8:28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. I’m willing to catch hold of the Master’s hand, hold tight, and ride out my troubles!

What about you?

Different Kinds of Wisdom (1 Kings 3:9-11)

I have always been taken by the scriptures which constitute Solomon’s request to the Almighty after he became King of Israel at such a young age. As I look about our church and community, wisdom is something which seems to be lacking, especially, among the young of this world.

According to Buddhist folklore, two traveling monk reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulder, transported her across the water, and put her down on the bank. She thanked him and departed. As the monks continued on their way, the hesitant one said to the other, “Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulder and carried her!” The other responded, “Brother, I set her down on the other side. But you are still carrying her.”

I believe the insight of the second monk raises an interesting question for followers of Christ. When the opportunity arises that we can help someone, someone who might not be connected to our faith, do we weaken the distinctiveness of our own faith? Does wisdom tell us to only deal with other saved folk? I believe the Bible commands us build bridges to those outside our faith, without compromising the distinctiveness of Christ in the process. In other words, we have a moral obligation to assist others, regardless, of race, religion or national origin. We are in the world but not of the world.

It is through wisdom that we should navigate our lives daily. Without wisdom we can be easily tricked by those who only want to take the advantage. This is the real test is today. Many individuals, especially young people, do not have the wisdom to see when others are taking advantage of their good morals and spiritual training which says, “We’re to be nice and be helpful” because that is what Jesus did. This niceness often results in unwed mothers; this niceness has caused some to get in trouble financially; this niceness has resulted in the destruction of entire families because of the cons who prey upon our “religious faith.”

Wisdom tells us to stop and simply think. Wisdom lets us know to every cause there is an effect. Wisdom allows is to know you can’t get something for nothing without paying a price, even if the price comes later. Wisdom allows us to look for the end results and not the excitement of the moment. Wisdom allows us to understand it takes time and hard work to acquire wealth, and a quick track to wealth is deadly. Wisdom allows one to know that all who grin in your face do not necessarily have your best interest at heart.

When I first came to Indianapolis, I was told that I needed to become “STREET WISE” because I was no longer in a country town. I was told that hustlers make their living hustling the church, church folk or anyone else that will give them an ear or audience. Well, I didn’t have to come here to acquire that knowledge. The only difference here is the scale is larger. So, like Solomon, “I asked the Lord for wisdom that I would be able to discern the things of God and the things of man.” And what I’ve learned is it takes wisdom to operate not only outside the church, but in the church as well. The church also has its share of cons, crooks, and those who use the church for selfish gains.

The Bible shows how to recognize (1) natural, (2) religious, and (3) moral insights in the world around us. More important, the Bible shows how these three kinds of wisdom can help us to see our need for (4) the redemptive wisdom of the cross.

Let’s stop being naïve and embrace wisdom. Let’s stop being players or being played. Wisdom will help us deal with others without diminishing our religious convictions. It will allow us to help others across the difficult streams of life without compromising. It will even help us lead others to a better life in Jesus Christ.