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On April 9, 2021 By In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

How Do I Forgive? (Part 1)

Unforgiven sin is a death sentence for a relationship. We were created to be in relationships that grow in glory, moving through changes–death–into new and deeper joys–resurrection. Living with unforgiveness is death that spirals downwards into greater death. To enjoy the abundant life that Jesus promised, we must image him in living lives of forgiveness with one another.

But how do we forgive one another? What does forgiveness look like? In this article and the next, I will address these questions.

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On April 4, 2021 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom, Worship

Easter: The Garden Feast

In the beginning, God gave man a project; he was to be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth and subduing it (Gen 1.28). To complete this project, man would be dependent upon God to give him gifts along the way. One of the first gifts God gave the man was the woman. She was his helper. His other gifts involved food. There was a multitude of trees that would provide food for man, but there were two special gifts of food in the middle of the Garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The man and his wife were invited to the Tree of Life to eat freely. There God would grant them the gift of life, confirming them in their relationship with him forever. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden at first but would be granted at a later time. They needed to grow up for a while before they could handle this “strong food” (see Heb 5.11ff.). This food would grant them wisdom and authority to move the dominion project forward. They weren’t ready for this food in the beginning. (For details on this, see Two Trees & A King.)

The man and woman disobeyed, ate from the wrong tree first. Their eyes were opened. God came in the “spirit of the day” to commune with them at the trees and uncovered their sin, pronouncing curse and promise. They were then graciously exiled so that they would not have access to the Tree of Life. Cherubim with flaming swords were stationed at the east entrance of the Garden to guard the Garden (the responsibility originally given to Adam).

God’s intention was not to keep man barred from the Garden forever. He wanted man to draw near to him, to live forever, and grow up to have authority over the creation so as to make it what God intended it to be. The only way for this to happen was for another Adam, a sinless Adam, to endure the flaming swords of the cherubim, eat of the Tree of Life, and then be granted the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil by the Father so that he might have all authority over creation to move it to goal.

Luke’s recording of that first Easter Sunday shows us how Jesus remedied Adam’s sin.

The scene opens with women, helpers, coming to the garden tomb. Jesus isn’t there. He is risen. Two men, whom we later learn are angels (Lk 24.23), are there with “lightning clothes.” They are the cherubim who guard the Garden. Even though they are terrifying to look upon, they are welcoming of the ladies. There is no reason to fear. The faithful Adam has passed through their fire, protecting the woman. Having endured the flame, he was granted the fruit of the Tree of Life. He is risen. He lives. He will live forever, confirmed in his righteous standing with the Father. In his one act of obedience in submitting to death, he secures the forgiveness of sins and access for his bride to the fruit of the Tree of Life.

But the story is not over.

On the same day, two disciples take a trip to Emmaus. One’s name is Cleopas, who may be the Clopas mentioned in John 19.25, the husband of Mary. It is quite possible that this may be a man and his wife on this road. Jesus joins them to walk and talk with them. Their eyes are closed. They don’t know who he is, neither do they understand what has happened over the past few days. Jesus leads them through a Scripture study concerning how Messiah must suffer to enter his glory, his reign as king. Their eyes are still closed. When they arrive at the house, Jesus sits down with them and, with an unmistakable connection to the events of the night of his betrayal, he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. When they receive the food, their eyes are open, not to see their nakedness and be ashamed, but to see and understand Jesus and his work. Jesus gave them the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was time.

But that’s not the end.

Their eyes are opened for a purpose. Jesus has received all authority over creation so that God’s original plan for creation can move forward. The dominion project will move forward now through the proclamation of the gospel that Christ died, was buried, and rose again. They must proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all the nations. Because sins have been forgiven, because sin’s power has been broken through the resurrection, we can now complete what God called us to in the beginning.

From the Garden man was cast

Kept from the Tree of Life;

The flaming swords he shall not pass

Because of his dark vice.

He grasped at wisdom’s vesture

So like God he could be;

Now subject to the serpent

He lives on beastly.

Creation over which he ruled

Is now bowed beneath the curse;

In hope it is subjected,

‘Til God assuage its hurt.

A faithful man takes up the task

To be creation’s king;

He passes through the flaming swords

Enduring sinlessly.

In death he conquers death

Forgiving Adam’s sin;

And eating from the Tree of Life

The world shall live in him.

The Father gives him wisdom’s fruit

He eats it for to reign;

Creation’s King is now enthroned

To free creation’s pain.

In bread and wine he shares

The fruit of both the Trees;

That we may live and reign with him

To see creation free.

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On April 3, 2021 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Holy Saturday: Wait

The nature of man’s first sin was impatience. He grasped for God’s promise of wisdom and authority before the time he was ready for it. The Father would have delighted to give his son, Adam, all that he needed at the right time, but if Adam didn’t grow to the place that he could handle it, eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would be destructive. And it was.

Patience. Waiting for the proper time. There are times that we are called to wait, to be longsuffering, to endure. God’s promise delays. We grow impatient. The pain. The injustice. The suffering. We thought that living in obedience would mean God would be quick to deliver. But he waits. We are not ready. There are lessons to learn. We must wait.

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On April 1, 2021 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Maundy Thursday: The Food of Love

On Palm Sunday, the anointed but-not-yet-coronated king entered the gates of Jerusalem to the shouts of “Hosanna,” save us, now, we pray, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” They were echoing the declaration of the Father at Jesus’ baptism and Transfiguration. Jesus is God’s Son, the last Adam, the king of creation, the one to whom the dominion mission was given. Unlike the first Adam, Jesus did not grasp authority ahead of time. He waited on the Father’s timing and the gifts that the Father would give him in order to fulfill his task faithfully. Also unlike the first Adam, Jesus began with a sin-wracked world that lived under the dominion of death without resurrection. The King’s mission was to provide the forgiveness of sins, which would release the world from the dominion of sin and death, granting it life, and then pick up the dominion project to move the world from glory to glory.

Forgiveness of sins is fundamental to the creation moving forward into the glory that God destined for it in the beginning. In order to get right what Adam got wrong, Jesus would have to go back to the two trees in the midst of the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He would have to eat from both of them in the right way and order.

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On March 19, 2021 By In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Pursue Peace (Part 2)

The goal of forgiveness is peace, the reconciliation of a relationship in some form, removing the enmity between two people, and having a healthy relationship in this new situation. Reconciliation post forgiveness may not restore the relationship to what it was before the sin occurred, but there can be genuine peace between the offender and the offended.

Offenses will continue to occur as long as we live in this mortal flesh. Consequently, forgiveness will always be a craft we must work at to pursue peace. However, pursuing peace is not limited to our actions after someone has sinned against us or we have sinned against someone else. We are taught to sing in Psalm 34 to “seek peace and pursue it,” a command echoed by Peter (1Pt 3.11) and Paul (Rom 14.19). As much as lies within us, we are to maintain peace in relationships by pursuing those things that make for peace.

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On March 11, 2021 By In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Pursue Peace (Part 1)

The best defense is a good offense. We often hear this in the world of sports, but it is also generally true in all of life. Proactively pursuing positive, productive disciplines is better than defensively sitting around telling yourself not to engage in this sinful activity or not to think about that sin. What happens when I tell you not to think about a horse? The image of a horse comes to mind. The more you tell yourself not to think about it, the more you find yourself dwelling on it. Instead of defensively dwelling upon what we are not supposed to do, we need to be offensively pursuing what is good, true, and beautiful.

This principle holds true in relationships. Being prepared to forgive is necessary because offenses will come (Mt 18.7). But there are ways to take preemptive strikes against the sins that would destroy our relationship. We do this by pursuing peace. In this article and the next, I will give you some ways to do so in contrast with ways to destroy peace.

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On March 5, 2021 By In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Why Must I Forgive?

“Why must I forgive? He did me wrong. He owes me. I deserve justice! It isn’t right that he sins against me, depriving me of my possessions and dignity, and then I am expected to cancel the debt. That’s not fair.”

These thoughts have probably crossed your mind before when dealing with a painful experience of someone sinning against you. But you are a Christian, and the Lord Jesus commands you to forgive your brother when he comes to you asking for forgiveness. If you don’t forgive him, God will not forgive you. Indeed, he will reinstate the debt against you for not forgiving your brother (Mt 18.21-35).

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On February 19, 2021 By In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Forgiveness Is Not…

Most of us don’t like turmoil. When there is tension in our relationships, we want to resolve it so that we can live joyful and anxiety-free. To do that, there are times that we may be willing to short-circuit the process of reconciliation through not dealing adequately with sin. We have been told that, as Christians, we have the responsibility to forgive. Some trying to take this seriously, believe that this means that you release the person from all responsibility for his actions, the necessity for him to change, let him continue the way he is living, and you, being a good Christian, bear all of the scars and residual pain. Or maybe, because we don’t like the discomfort of the whole situation, we dismissively say, “I forgive you” to paper over the sin in the relationship so that we don’t have to do the uncomfortable work of working through it. However, if the goal of forgiveness is peace in a relationship–a healthy wholeness between individuals–then the process of forgiveness can’t be cheapened in these ways. As disciples of Jesus, Christians are called into a lifestyle of forgiveness which involves dealing appropriately with sin and seeking to restore a communion of peace with others.

There are some misconceptions concerning forgiveness that need to be cleared up.

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On February 18, 2021 By In Church, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

What Is Forgiveness?

Central to the Christian faith stands the images of the cross and an empty tomb, which is the end of our journey during this Lenten season. The breach between God and man created by the sin of the first Adam is remedied through the last Adam taking upon himself the burden of the consequences of sin so that all of creation and especially man himself might be released from sin’s penalty and power. In short, in the cross and resurrection, Jesus accomplished the forgiveness of sins. The message of the apostles was consistent that the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in Christ because he secured it through his shed blood and resurrection (cf. Ac 5.31; 13.38; 26.18; Rom 4.25; Eph 1.7; Col 1.14). Now, as we are baptized into Christ, Peter says, we are baptized for the forgiveness of our sins (Ac 2.38). Forgiveness of sins is central to the gospel of Christ.

Forgiveness is not only a privilege to enjoy, but, once received, it becomes a calling to be lived. As renewed images of God in Christ, we are to consciously take on the character of our forgiving God, learning how to practice the craft of forgiveness. Only as we live this way will we be able to live together as faithful people of God. In our present cultural climate where there is no forgiveness because of skin color, social status, or a myriad of other things, only perpetual guilt and division, it is incumbent upon Christians to learn of and practice the grace of forgiveness.

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On February 17, 2021 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Wisdom and the Craft of Forgiveness

Wisdom is the knowledge of how various things ought to fit together properly and the skill to make them so. Whether you are looking at Bezalel, an artist and master craftsman, who is given the Spirit of wisdom to construct the tabernacle (Ex 31.2-5), or the wise king, Solomon, who knows how to put people back in right relationship with one another–justice–wisdom sees how different parts of the world are to fit properly with one another and has the skill to make them so. Paul himself is a “wise master builder” who is constructing the church upon the foundation of Christ Jesus (1Cor 3.10). He knows how to put people together so that they can live the way that they ought to live. Wisdom takes all the tools of knowledge and logic and artistically works with different materials in diverse situations to make something beautiful even when there are no step-by-step, paint-by-numbers instructions. Life and relationships are not always that simple.

That is why we must become artists; craftsmen who have been trained thoroughly in the fundamentals who can then beautifully riff off of those fundamentals, staying true to them, while also dealing with situations for which there are no sets of rules. Like musicians who have learned scales and harmonies who grow into composers of beautiful music or engineers who have learned the science of structures who grow into designers of beautiful buildings, so all of us as Christians must get down the basics so that we may grow to be skilled craftsman, wise master builders, in relationships.

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