Walking in the Light

Posted by Chris on April 1, 2007 under Sermons

God is light – light that shines in darkness. God’s light is true light which gives light to everyone in the world. The light is life. But what does this mean? It isn’t basic physics and optics. No, even John admits that there’s a problem with the darkness. The darkness did not comprehend the light. Those who were given life through the light rejected the true light. What does this mean?

Why all this talk about light and darkness? Why does John have to be so metaphorical and philosophical? Why can’t he just come to his point? Well, John’s gospel after all is a grand epic – an eyewitness spectacular of powers and signs that begins before the beginning and closes with that intriguing little comment about the world not being able to contain all the books that could be written. The gospel is a work of inspiration intended to inspire us to believe.

But the letter is the encouraging front porch conversation of “John the church elder.” He is unpacking for believers what it means for them to put this belief in action. And he knows they have been through some bitter conflict and there’s some hurt, and he intends to address it. So if the gospel is the keynote address sermon, the letter is a classroom talk for those who need to have confidence about eternal life and the practical implication of that eternal life.

Read 1 John 1:5 – Three pairs of statements explain what this means …

1:6-7 – If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

We don’t often tend to think of life in terms of light vs dark. We don’t see life as two ways. We tend to think of life as a series of one to one transactions. I sin, so I get forgiveness. This is a bogus legalistic system: Every penny on the sin ledger has to be accounted for. I am going to sin, so all I have to do is live long enough to get forgiveness. But what happens if you miss one sin on the ledger? What happens if we die before we get a chance to ask forgiveness? This turns a life of discipleship into a game. Jesus, the true light from God, as shone in such a way that he truly illuminates human life. (Magic shows.) Are we walking in light or darkness? We don’t live in haze. God is light and he purifies us from all sin. If you walk in darkness, you are heading for destruction and you just get further away from the light. If you are walking in light, the blood of Christ is purifying you. God is light and he purifies us from all sin.

Oh, so if we walk in the light then we’re without sin, yes? No that’s not what John is saying. He addresses that next …

1:8-9 – If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

The light of God illuminates the truth about sin in our life – in order to cure and heal. If we claim to be without sin, then we are just as far away from the truth as if we are in darkness but claim to know God. Sin is not forgiven through denial. There is no forgiveness if we continually try to manage our sin or deny it. It only ends up gaining power over us and we fall into self-deception. We dare not ignore our problems and claim we can stop whenever we want. It is a trap. But confession, as tough as it may be, sheds light on the darkness that has trapped us. It exposes the power and casts out the darkness. God is light and he purifies us from all sin.

1:10-2:2 – If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one …

If we claim we haven’t sinned – that is when we refuse to notice our sin, then we are indeed sinning. We aren’t allowing the word of God to work in us. We are resisting forgiveness. But we are urged to put up a front. Perhaps we think that people cannot be trusted. Perhaps we fear rejection. Perhaps we are afraid of not being in control of the way others perceive us. One of the things that unfortunately prevents people from walking in the light and experiencing the forgiveness of God is the self-righteousness of the people of God. We have to be careful with this.
We may think that walking in the light is prior to this fellowship with Christ and one another. We may think that walking in the light is a precondition or prerequisite to being purified from our sins. But John is in fact saying that the blood of Christ has purified us and his sacrifice gives us the option of walking in the light. Walking in the light is the result of Christ’s sacrifice.
This is what it means to have an advocate. He isn’t defending us from the Father. He is getting us back in relationship with the father – because we were in darkness. Let’s be very clear about the fact that we have a friend in a high place. We have someone who is pulling for us. Our advocate Jesus Christ – he is an inside track to knowing the Father. He didn’t just atone for our sins, he atoned for the sins of the whole world. The problem has been dealt with.

So what does this mean? It means that the light is on and we don’t have to stumble through the darkness.
So what does this mean? It means the path through this life is clearly lit – let’s walk like Christ. Let’s live the life he lived. That’s how we can be sure that we are walking in the light.
So what does this mean? It means we don’t have to manage righteousness the way we manage cash flow always wondering if we have enough income to cover all the expenses! Rather, God is light and in him there is no darkness. If you want to overcome darkness, then start walking in the light – and the blood of Jesus Christ, the righteous one who sits at the Father’s right hand is there for us. He atoned not only for your sins, but the sins of the whole world. I think that He can deal with our sin, right?

Often Our “Good Intentions” Destroy Us

Posted by David on March 29, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

I am often grieved as I observe ungodly acts and deeds come from good intentions. That definitely includes my actions as well as others’! When we act in fear or give responsibility for our acts to others, we often commit ungodly acts with the rationale that we are acting “for godly reasons in God’s behalf.” When I think of things I did in “godly concern,” I shake my head in disbelief and thank God for His mercy. I also conclude we can justify almost anything we do!

Godly people justified killing God’s own son! When Jesus raised Lazarus, people who were “concerned for the nation of Israel” were deeply concerned!

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” (John 11:46-50)

Israel’s religious leaders were concerned about the nation’s future. Pilate was concerned about an extremely awkward situation. Rome was concerned about controlling the Jewish people at a volatile time. The soldiers were just following orders. Jewish mockers (Matthew 26:67, 68) reveled in seeing the miracle worker seemingly helpless. The twelve were concerned about the movement’s future-if Jesus died, was there a movement?

Ask them if their concern was “right,” and they would have said, “Yes!” Could God’s purposes be achieved if Israel ceased to exist? Could anything good result from a Jewish revolt? Would disobeying orders solve anything? Was not Jewish society better off without this divisive man? How could there be a movement if Jesus was dead?

The effect of seemingly legitimate concerns produced a single outcome-an innocent man’s death. We are deeply indebted to Jesus and to God for that death. However, the suffering and injustice was incredible! Only Jesus saw the true irony-they had no idea of what they did! God used it-no thanks to humanity!

Wonder how frequently God must act in our failure? Wonder how often the Christ still says, “They have not the least insight into what they do!” Wonder how often God says of us, “How do they think godless motives promote a godly cause?”

For “the name of God is blasphemed among the [godless] Gentiles BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written (Romans 2:24). Never deceive yourself: Godly results are never produced by ungodly motives. Be honest with yourself about your motives and acts.

A Sense of Privilege

Posted by David on March 22, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

When I think back to 1969 to my first trip out of the United States, it gives me “goose bumps” of embarrassment. To now realize how arrogant and naive I was then is incredible now! I actually thought everyone in the entire world was exactly alike in the ways they thought and reasoned, but they just spoke different languages. (We are not even alike in this country-just listen to our political wrangling, look at our divided congregations, and consider our divorce rate!)

To presume to tell other people how they should think and feel is arrogance supreme! To believe your way of reasoning is superior to other people’s ways of reasoning is horribly na?ve! Consequently, people look at us (not listen to us!), dismiss us with a wave of the hand or shake of the head, and mutter to their friends, “They are Americans.” If you wish to observe this phenomena, look at everything we do-from wage war, to seek treaties, to conduct international business!

I distinctly remember re-entering American customs in New York after living with my family for two years in West Africa. A huge American flag hung from the ceiling just past customs. Tears filled my eyes just to think of what was ahead. My first visit to a grocery store was an emotional experience. I had not seen that much food in two years-and it was so affordable! My first worship upon return was a jolt! A carpeted, air-conditioned room with padded pews after two years of split bamboo seats and dirt floors “in the bush”! Never had I appreciated life in this country as then! Never had I been filled with such a sense of privilege!

When we had guests from the population area in which we lived in West Africa, I was deeply concerned. How would they react when they saw the prosperity of American congregations? (At maximum strength, we had six families working together.) The comment of my brothers: “You people left this to come live with us?”

Hopefully, something happened in your life to make you aware of your privileges. Hopefully, something happened to make you realize that you enjoy what many never dream about (they have never seen it to dream of it!).

Do you realize the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ? Is that sense of privilege bigger than money? Bigger than possessions? Bigger than lifestyle? Bigger than social level? Bigger than health? Bigger than death? No matter how you live or when you die, do you count it an enormous privilege to know Jesus Christ?

Is it obvious you consider it the privilege of privileges? Is that privilege reflected in who you are and how you live? Is it reflected in how you treat other people-including your family whom you live with and your fellow workers with whom you labor?

We will never correctly reflect our God and our Savior unless we see each of them through eyes that see privilege! A sense of privilege must silence our complaints!

Damaged Goods – Theology of Sin

Posted by Chris on March 18, 2007 under Sermons

FOUNDATIONAL CORE

Damaged Goods: The Story

• God creates … and it is good, very good! (Genesis 1)
• God takes one day to enjoy it all (Genesis 2:1-3)
• God makes man and woman and they live together without shame (Genesis 2:25)
• God, humans, world – it’s all good!
• The lying snake (Genesis 3:1-4)
• Relationships
  • Humans and God: Damaged (Genesis 3:10)
  • Human and Human: Damaged (Genesis 3:12, 16)
  • Humans and Creation: Damaged (Genesis 3:13, 17-19)

A REAL PROBLEM: Sin, Evil, and Death

1. Elements of the Human Condition that need to be transformed. They are part of the biblical story. This is the problem of the good that has been damaged.
2. This Human Condition is a real problem and not some mere transgression of breaking the law
3. Sin is the result of the damaged relationship with God
4. Evil is the result of the damaged relationship with other humans
5. Death is the result of the damaged relationship with creation

SIN

You Are Truly Forgiven

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

In 1967, James Robert Ringrose had been on the FBI’s most wanted list for one year. He was wanted for writing bad checks. He had bounced his fraudulent checks all over the world. He was finally arrested in Osaka, Japan and spent time in a Japanese jail before being returned to the U.S. When he met the FBI agents who were transporting him back to justice, he told them that he had been saving an item for several years and now he needed it. He then presented them with the Monopoly game card, Get Out Of Jail Free.

Ringrose truly thought it was that simple, but you and I know that it isn’t. When a crime is committed, one has to pay. Unless of course you are pardoned. Most of us have heard the familiar illustration preached in many sermons about the prisoner on death row. At the last moment he is offered a pardon by the governor. All he has to do is walk out of his cell. He is free. That’s how pardon works. The illustration is meant to show us how God forgives and all we need to do is accept it.

Is it truly that simple? In the sense that God forgives us because of his mercy and grace and not because we merit it, then it is simple. But in the sense that God’s forgiveness is a legal transaction like a pardon or a Get Out Of Jail Free card, then no, forgiveness isn’t simple at all. You and I know that there’s much more at stake with God’s forgiveness.

In the case of the prisoner pardoned by the governor, such an act may be legally binding an effective, but the governor isn’t truly forgiving the prisoner. Governors and presidents pardon often pardon people they do not know. The pardon is not personal. The prisoner or accused has not personally offended or harmed the governor. The pardon isn’t even delivered in person. It is effected through the courts and the prison system. Think about it – when the governor pardons a death row inmate, does he come calling on that prisoner. Does the pardon mean that the prisoner may now come to the governor house and they can sit down to a meal together for the first time in years and put behind them all the hurts and grievances behind them. No, none of that happens. The governor isn’t truly forgiving the prisoner.

This is why you and I know that there is much more going on in true forgiveness. Jesus tells a story that describes what it means to truly forgive and to be truly forgiven. (Luke 15:11-32). It is a story about a man with two sons. The younger son was very disrespectful to his father. He was greedy and dishonorable. He asked his father for his share of his inheritance. Essentially, he was saying that he had no interest in continuing his life as his father’s son and wished his father were dead and that they were reading his will. The father had every right to beat this insulting child and throw him out of the house, but he does an strange thing. He gives him what he wants.

Now this dishonorable, greedy, insulting child leaves his father with his share of his inheritance. He takes the wealth that has been in his family for generations. He takes the money that his father has carefully saved and cautiously invested so that his son might have a future. He leaves the people who care about him and takes with him the riches that would save him in uncertain times ahead. He takes it and uses it to satisfy his basest desires. He pays for food and drink to make himself happy. He pays women to satisfy his lusts. He pays for others to be his friends. He pays for anything he wants, but when bad times come along he can keep nothing. And in no time at all his family fortune is gone.

So he takes work feeding another man’s swine. It sounds like honest labor, but it is the sort of labor that his family would find shameful. He’s not working for his family, he’s working for a wage among unclean animals. This isn’t the life he was meant to live. His father had provided for him to have a much better life than this – but that was before this son burned through half the family’s wealth. Back in his homeland where people had some sense of decency, someone might have taken him in and shown him some dignity, but in this faraway country no one wants to help him. And perhaps that’s because they know his story. They know what a reprobate he is. They know how shamefully he has treated his father and his family.

The son finally makes a decision to return to his father. He has hit bottom and he knows that even the hired hand at the lowest paygrade back on his family farm does better than he has done. He also knows that nothing can ever be the same between him and his father. He has brought such shame to his father. He has insulted his father and shamed his family. Everyone back home knows that he is a dishonorable, greedy, selfish person. Nevertheless, for the sake of survival he will confess his sin to his father and offer himself as a slave.

Now the father of this foolish child sees him approaching the house. Tradition and decorum dictates that the father should regard the son as “dead to him.” But the father does something truly unusual and truly unconventional. He throws decorum and propriety aside and runs to greet his returning son. Men of importance do not run. He could at least let the son stew in his shame and teach him a valuable lesson before offering him forgiveness, but he doesn’t. He lavishes love on the son who has hurt his family so horribly. It is such an overwhelming display of forgiveness it borders on being shameful. The man had two sons, and his older son is dumbfounded by his Father’s softness. It is one thing to accept the young man’s confession of guilt, but is it necessary to celebrate? That’s the older son’s question.

The father knows what it means to truly forgive. He isn’t just pardoning the son. He isn’t just erasing his debt or overlooking his shame. He is truly forgiving all the hurt and shame so that he can have his son back. He is truly forgiving the son so that he can maintain a relationship with him. And the father would be truly happy if his older son would truly forgive his brother. Because in that way they can all enjoy being family again. We aren’t told how the younger son felt about being truly forgiven. It is probably the last thing he ever expected. Does the new robe around his shoulders feel heavy? Does he twist the ring around his bony finger? Does he wiggle his toes in his sandals (when is the last time he wore shoes?). Does he rub his cheek where his father kissed him? This son doesn’t know what it feels like to be pardoned or to get out of jail free. He only knows what it is like to be truly forgiven – and it is something he will live with for the rest of his life.

Forgiveness is not as simple as a pardon or reprieve. Unlike pardon, forgiveness seeks to reconcile the relationship between offender and offended. Forgiveness strives for love and fellowship

It is isn’t as simple as a truce or forgetting the past and ignoring what has been done. For if forgiveness is truly practiced, then the sins and injuries to be forgiven are on the table. Everyone shares in naming it, but they also share in the blessed work of renaming. The son confessed his sins and he named himself a slave. The father acknowledged his offense, but renamed him “son.”

That wasn’t easy. Forgiveness is costly and there is a good amount of time and effort that goes into the business of restoring relationship. That’s true of you and I when we forgive and reconcile. It is all the more true of our God who forgives us. He doesn’t simply announce a pardon or call a truce. God works through the cross and in our lives to forgive. And he works to overcome our very human resistance to forgiveness. Accepting forgiveness can make us anxious. We would rather deal with the comforting control of law or the neat simplicity of “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards. But God is forgiving us – he is truly forgiving us.

You are truly forgiven. We are truly forgiven. Can we accept that?

Note: In the preparation of this sermon, I have benefitted greatly from two works that deserve special mention.

Do You Fear Doing Good?

Posted by David on March 15, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

Peter made the first statement to a group that Cornelius assembled. Jesus made the second.

Were we in a situation for you to ask me questions, many would be answered with an “I do not know.” The longer I live, the more impressed I am with the enormity of evil, the enormity of caring people, the enormity of need, and the enormity of our mission.

Before you say, “You are weird!” let me confess at times I even think of myself as weird. Because I know specific individual Christians in struggling nations, I am troubled by a question. It is not, “Why do they have it so rough?” It is, “Why do I have it so good?” Some of them look at me as being powerful. I look at myself as powerless. Then I realize, “It is all a matter of perspective combined with need.”

It often troubles me to learn of others’ expectations and focus. Why? Because I remember when I had similar expectations and focus.

Perhaps I can focus you on this dilemma by challenging your perspective. Did Jesus raise every dead Israelite? Heal every sick person? Feed every hungry Israelite? Did every blind person he passed see? Did every lame person he saw walk? Did he come for a bigger purpose than raising the dead to die again, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, or curing the blind and lame? What about those who were NOT helped?

Can you personally teach every person who needs to be taught? Give guidance to every person who needs insight? Have the answer for every spiritual dilemma? Respond usefully to every situation? Solve complications created by poor choices? No!

Is everything just a matter of perspective? Or logic? Or “correct” responses? Or “sound” answers? If the destination is A, is it just a matter of plotting the human steps necessary to reach A?

If it is all up to us, why do we keep making messes? If it is not all up to us, how do we determine God’s role? Where is the balance between our efforts and God’s efforts?

You cannot do it all! You can let God work! How? By making sure you do what Jesus did-go about doing good. Let God use your good for His purposes!

You Are Forgiven

Posted by Chris on March 11, 2007 under Sermons

Join me on a journey of the imagination and let’s visit the temple in the Jerusalem of centuries ago. It is the tenth day of the seventh month. There is a somber mood to activity. This is no ordinary day; it is the Day of Atonement. The priest is making ready to enter into the sanctified, holy place wherein God’s presence dwells. He has observed the ceremonial rules, cleansing himself and dressing in special garments. This is the way it has always been done. All the way back to Aaron, Moses’ brother.

The priest has slaughtered a bull – praying as he slaughters it asking that the Lord will forgive him of his own sins. He takes the blood of the bull into the holy sanctuary along with a censer of burning incense. Now he enters the Holiest place where the Ark of the Covenant rests. This is God’s throne on earth. As he places the burning incense before the Ark his mind is repeating the words of Scripture: If he follows these instructions, he will not die. If he follows these instructions, he will not die. If he follows these instructions, he will not die. (Leviticus 16:13).

Now he sprinkles the blood of the bull before the Ark, the throne of God. He does it just as he has always done it; year after year on the tenth day of the seventh month. He has purified himself from his defiling sins. He has sanctified the holy, but still very earthbound, elements of the Temple. Only now is he able to begin the ceremony of atoning for the multitude of sins staining the people of God.

Just as it has been done every year on the tenth day of the seventh month, two goats are brought as an offering for the sins of the people. The priest slaughters one goat. He will take its blood do what he did with the blood of the bull. The priest takes the other goat by the head and he tells the goat all the horrible and wicked things that the people of God done. He tells this goat how they have missed the mark. He tells this goat how they have fallen short. He tells this goat how they failed to live up to God’s standards. And this is just in the last year, because the priest performed this ceremony only a year ago.

The goat, burdened with a year’s worth of the sins of the people will be led away into the desert. The people will curse the goat as it is led outside the city. They are cursing their sins. They know what they’ve done. They know how they have fallen short. They know how they have missed the mark. They know how they have failed to live up to God’s standards. They know that their sins are as brutal and ugly as the gore and blood of the sacrificed goat that stains the holy garments of the priest. They also know that there is this day for atonement. Yet, they also know that they will do this all over again next year, on the tenth day of the seventh month.

Meanwhile, back in our own day and age it is the first day of the week. The people of God assemble. This isn’t like any other day or time. There is a sense of meditation and reverence. The preacher has been praying all morning. He is aware of his own sins. He knows how he has missed the mark. He knows how he has fallen short. He knows how he has not lived up to all of God’s standards. He may dwell on it in prayer, but that will be enough until next Sunday. The people are gathered this day also aware of their sins. During the quiet of the communion and in their mental wandering during the sermon they struggle …

One man wonders if his baptism was done right. Should he be baptized all over again?

A woman is concerned that her baptism at such an early age might not be enough of a conversion to cover over the horrible sin she committed two years ago that she dare not tell anyone. This is all she has pondered every first day of the week for the last two years.

During the Lord’s Supper some feel unworthy to partake of the bread and wine. They focus on the blood of Christ and the tortured body of Christ. They know that it is their particular sins that have put Christ on the cross. They feel unworthy and ashamed to approach God. But maybe if they keep coming on the first day of the week they will somehow prove worthy.

There are some who plead for change, telling God how sorry they are – especially those who have committed the same sin week after week. They come on the first day of the week to curse themselves for they know how they have missed the mark. They know how they have fallen short. They know how they have not lived up to God’s standards.

After an hour or longer meditating on their sin and after the chance to confess and prayer, some will leave the assembly place hope that this has been enough. For this hour or so they have reminded themselves of their sins, they understand that they have missed the mark. They understand that they have fallen short. They understand that they have not lived up to God’s standards.

Perhaps they understand that they have been forgiven. Perhaps the preacher spoke it. Perhaps they felt it or hoped it when they ate the bread and drank the cup. Perhaps they prayed it as they wrote a check or dug in their pockets for money. Maybe just maybe God will forgive them this day – this first day of the week since they have been good and faithful. But they don’t want to get too confident because they know how easy it is to sin. And besides, they will be returning next week on the first day of the week when they will do this all over again.

Two ages of God’s people, but the same problem: a constant awareness of sin. An opportunity for atonement, but a reminder that this atonement must be managed and handled again and again. I admit that there’s not a lot of hope in these scenes. However, perhaps you recognize the reality in these imagined settings. Perhaps the absence of hope and the chronic knowledge of sin and failure is too familiar. If so, I want to imagine a third reality. It comes from a sermon I did not preach. It comes from a preacher I don’t know. I don’t even know his name, but his sermon is so powerful that it was written into the Bible. You have heard some of the words of this sermon read in our worship today (Hebrews 10). I want us to journey to a hearing of these words …

I want you to hear the words of a preacher whose sermon was written into the Bible:
Christ did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. (Hebrews 9)
Do you hear what he’s saying? He is saying, “In Jesus Christ you have been forgiven.”

I want you to hear the words of a preacher whose sermon was written into the Bible:
God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. (Hebrews 10)
Do you hear what he’s saying? He is saying, “In Jesus Christ you have been forgiven.”

I want you to hear the words of a preacher whose sermon was written into the Bible:
Our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:12-14)
Do you hear what he’s saying? He is saying, “In Jesus Christ you have been forgiven.”

“And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.” (Hebrews 10:18). Why do we come together and before God day after day and feel that nothing changes? Why do we lose hope that our sins could be forgiven? Why do we keep dredging up our sin and letting it rule us?

We can criticize the old ways of slaughtered animals and confessing to scapegoats, but if all we’ve done is sophisticate the constant attention to our sin into a mental exercise rather than an ancient ritual, we are never going to live in the spirit of Christ’s forgiveness. “And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.”

Some concerned soul might say, “But people could get lazy and careless if they are too confident in forgiveness. They may not come back to church.” Maybe, but they will never BE church if they think they are always condemned and don’t know that in Jesus Christ they are forgiven. We will never BE church if we are hopelessly burdened with guilt that hinders our righteousness. “And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.”

If you’ve heard the words of this preacher today then you’ve heard an invitation to live in the spirit of forgiveness. If you have been baptized, then stop dirtying yourself with the sins that God has washed away. If you’ve been baptized, then you have new life. Quit shackling yourself to the condemnation of sin and guilt after God has already freed you.

All of us are invited to make this day a day of new covenant: “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

God is inviting us to forgiveness. Do you hear what he’s saying? He is saying, “In Jesus Christ we have been forgiven.”

Can we accept that?

Sometimes It Is Just Plain Difficult!

Posted by David on March 8, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

The struggle between the spiritual and the physical over control of our lives is real and difficult. In a society “hooked” on “quick fixes,” we discover there is no “quick fix” in this struggle. There is no pill to swallow, no immediate service to demand, or no “I will report you to your boss” threats. In fact, spiritual maturity intensifies the struggle. Spiritual maturity increases the struggle because it brings awareness and growth. It increases Satan’s problems. Thus, spiritual maturity focuses Satan’s opposition.

Some things cause Satan minimal problems. Words and the life of the human speaker are inconsistent. Judging is inconsistent. (We condemn and excuse for the same offense.) Rejection is inconsistent. (Some receive hate, and some compassion.) Satan easily points out the inconsistencies.

Words, judging, and rejection are of minimal threat to Satan. Even the immature can use words, judgments, and rejection. All three are real “turn-offs” to most people. All three make many Christians feel good about themselves [“I did my duty!”], but all three rarely touch the lives of people not in Christ.

However, godly examples cause Satan major problems. Consider the man or woman in Christ (1) who dares know his or her sinful weaknesses, (2) who acknowledges weaknesses, but (3) who is a constant example of grateful service to the God who saves. How does Satan discredit him or her? The influence of a Christian who forgives personal offenders, who loves the unlovable, and who is gracious to the undeserving is an enormous threat to Satan!

Consequently, the more Christ-like we become, the greater threat we are to evil. As we grow in Christ, we allow “God in us” to appeal to Satan’s subjects. The result: we increasingly attract Satan’s attention. God’s influence in human life has enormous appeal to those trapped by evil. Peace in Christ and hope through God are powerful forces!

Do not deceive yourself! You never escape [on earth] the struggle between physical desires that oppose God and spiritual desires to be like Christ! Satan is shrewd and vicious! However, never forget God is more than his equal! Good triumphs through God’s acts! Satan killed Jesus, but God triumphed!

As Paul said to the Galatian Christians, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 6:9).

Never tire of doing good! Travel to a place where we “fit” (Hebrews 11:14-16). Let’s encourage each other to be real and to walk together!