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What question arises when you think of the concept of God forgiving you? There are two errors that I think we easily make that, if we are not careful, will warp our understanding of the grace of God. And if we mess this up, we will either find ourselves crushed with guilt or destroyed by presumption.

 

Consider the question of whether or not God should forgive you? If your answer is an automatic, “Of course God should forgive me,” there may be a problem. If you doubt even the potential need for forgiveness, there is a huge problem.

 

On the other hand, if your response is a thought that God could never forgive you, your problem is just as big as the person who thinks they need no forgiveness. And if you think that you have to do a lot of work to earn forgiveness from God, you are tragically misled.

 

Psalm 130:3-4

 

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared.

 

Look at these two verses from the Psalm side-by-side. They give us the balance we need. Verse 3 shows us how desperate we are for forgiveness. We are sinners. WE need grace. If God is not merciful to us, we are dead. There is no way out. We have no excuses we can make. Left to ourselves, we are without hope. WE must know this if we are going to get a relationship with God right.

 

But then verse 4 comes in and marks the forgiveness of God. He is merciful. He is gracious. He is willing, even eager, to forgive those who repent of sin and turn to him in faith. That is why he sent Jesus.

 

Put those two concepts together, and you will have a right view of our need for grace. WE are hopeless on our own. That keeps us from the presumptuous view that God obviously must forgive us no matter what. But the look at verse 4 shows us that God is merciful, which keeps us from the fear that we could never be forgiven, no matter what. That balance is key to right thinking. And if we get it right, we approach God humbly, confessing our sin, and seeking his mercy in Christ.

Sometimes, when we read the story of Scripture, we get caught up in the drama. We see events come to pass, and we feel the unfairness of it all. We bemoan the fact that wrongs are done, that corners are cut, and that evil things happen.

 

Reading through John’s account of the life of Jesus, I find myself reminded that Jesus did not have the cross happen to him. The Lord Jesus shaped his life and his actions to very intentionally go to Jerusalem and to the cross. Yes, he was treated wrongly. Yes, the Jews broke any number of their own laws to try him and send him to Pilate. Yes, Pilate pronounced Jesus not guilty on several occasions. But the Savior was in charge and he was not going to fail to get to the cross.

 

Consider this scene at Jesus’ arrest. Was the Savior taken advantage of? Or was the Savior in total control? Did the scheme of Judas catch Jesus? Or did Jesus do exactly what he had planned all along?

 

John 18:4-8 – 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”

 

Jesus, on the night of his arrest, already knew Judas intended to betray him. So what did Jesus do? He went to a garden that Judas knew well. He did not hide. And Jesus waited there until Judas and the soldiers arrived.

 

When the soldiers arrived, how would they identify Jesus? It was dark. There were at least 12 men in the garden, Jesus and 11 disciples. Judas had worked out a secret, sneaky signal. He would go up and greet his master with a kiss on the cheek as was common in that culture. But what does Jesus do? He walks forward, does not wait for Judas to kiss him, and he asks the soldiers whom they seek.

 

When the soldiers say they seek Jesus, he could have said all sorts of things. He could have said, “You know, Jesus was just in Jerusalem a little bit ago. Hurry that way and you might catch him.” Jesus could have tried to hide. But Jesus did not use any sort of subterfuge. Instead, Jesus boldly identified himself.

 

But Jesus more than identified himself. He used the “I Am” that points to his own deity. And when those words came from Jesus’ lips, the entire group of soldiers fell to the ground. Jesus showed that he was totally in control. He could flatten that group of armed men with a word and simply walk away.

 

But what did Jesus do? He asked the question again, insured his disciples could walk away, and went with the soldiers to the mockery of a trial that he was soon to face.

 

The point is that Jesus very intentionally went to the cross. He knew that his mission on earth was to go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and then rise from the grave. Jesus went to the cross because he was born to go to the cross. He was born to be the perfect sacrifice for all of the sins that God would ever forgive. Jesus came for that purpose, and he would not let anything stand in his way.

What does it look like to live as a Christian? Get practical. What does the week of a Christian look like? What do you do from day-to-day?

 

Years ago, that question was easily answered, though the answer could smack of a form of legalism or moralism. We all knew that good Christians went to church on Sunday morning and again on Sunday evening. They also would attend Wednesday night prayer services, and perhaps would meet with believers again in the week for fellowship, visitation, Bible study, or something else.

 

Today, many of our churches have thrown off that template of defining solid Christianity by attendance every time the church doors are open. And we must understand that there is a good to calling people to focus on their family lives and to freeing them from arbitrary, man-made standards of holiness. But, what have we lost in the process? What have we let go of when we threw out the old church schedule?

 

I wonder, if we are honest, if we have not let go of too much when we let go of the old-style schedule. Is it possible that, in freeing people from an arbitrary schedule, we have also, unfortunately, allowed ourselves to spend too much time in our given weeks apart from the people of God?

 

All of this hit my brain as I read through John 15, and as I repeatedly came across the word, “abide.”

 

John 15:4-6 – 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

 

Now, first-things-first, to abide in Christ is to live in faith and repentance as a child of God in Jesus Christ. This passage is about unity with the Savior and living life in him before the face of God. Yet, with that said, what else must be a part of abiding in Christ?

 

What I think we must consider is that God calls us to abide in Christ, to center our lives in Christ. We are to live each day focused on Jesus in much the same way that we live in our houses. The idea of living in my house but never actually being in it is silly. Similarly, the idea of abiding in Christ while only worshipping him or talking about him once per week is silly. If I am to live as a Christian, I must center more and more of my focus on the person of Jesus Christ. I have to make him my home from day-to-day, not merely as the point of salvation, but also as the step-by-step growth of sanctification.

 

Here is what I think we have lost. In doing away with the old church schedule, a schedule I’m not trying to reestablish, we did away with regularly meeting together throughout the week for the purpose of worship, prayer, study, accountability, and fellowship. And what Jesus wants us to know is that we cannot survive like that. Once per week is not enough to abide in him. We need to abide, to live in him. That includes daily time in the word and prayer. But it also must include regularly getting together with other believers to grow together. We cannot make it on our own. We cannot live this life in our own strength. We need each other to assist one another in abiding in Christ. And we need to make that community Christian living a high priority.

 

So, maybe you do not need a twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday schedule. But you do need more than once per week to live the Christian life with other believers. You need people to ask you hard questions. You need people to get into your life. You need people to tell you that an idea you are having is a good one, or a bad one. You need people to remind you to focus on living daily before the face of God. We must work and live together as we abide in Christ for the glory of God.

In John 14, the Lord Jesus told his disciples not to be troubled. He was about to leave them, to return to the Father, and to prepare for his church their eternal home. The disciples were not to be troubled because this in fact had always been the mission of the Savior. Without Jesus going to the cross, there would be no heaven for the children of God.

 

Jesus also told his disciples that they knew the way to go where Jesus was ultimately going. They knew the way to heaven. And that causes a bit of an odd question from Thomas. Thomas wants directions, since he does not think he knows the way. But Jesus has something far better than a map for Thomas.

 

John 14:4-6 – 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

What is the way to get to God? How do we become right with God? The way is Jesus. Verse 6, of course, is a verse that highlights the exclusivity of Christ. No person gets to God other than through the person and finished work of Jesus. And sometimes we focus on that aspect of what the Savior said so much that we miss the import of the first thing he said to Thomas. Jesus is the way.

 

How do you get to God? Go with Jesus. You do not need a set of directions. There is no series of ceremonies that you have to work through to make it to heaven. There is no secret handshake or mystery to unveil. No, if you want to be with God, you simply follow the way. The way is not a path, but a person. The way is Jesus. Follow Jesus, and you will arrive. Follow anything other than Jesus and you will miss.

 

How do we follow Jesus to heaven? We follow what he has told us in his word. Believe in the Lord Jesus in repentance to be saved. Believe that Jesus is the Son of god who lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, rose from the grave, and promises to return. Believe that he is your only hope for forgiveness. Entrust your very soul to the person and finished work of Jesus. That is the way to God. 

 

And once we are saved, we still follow Jesus as the way. He has shown us how to please the Lord. He has revealed himself and his purposes in the Scriptures. So we worship, we unite with the church, we serve the Lord, and we do it all based on the inspired word of God, the revelation of Christ to us. WE pray. We trust God to lead us through his Spirit. And we follow Jesus. We do not follow a map or a dead set of directions. WE follow the Lord, via his Spirit, through his living and perfectly inspired word.

It may be shallow of me, but there are times when I am comforted by the fact that I am not the only one with certain flaws. It’s nice to know that I am not the only crazy one in the world who makes certain mistakes. Is that true of you too?

 

Here is one that I found comforting while reading through Matthew. Jesus and his disciples were having a conversation. Of course, the disciples missed something that Jesus was saying, and they got worried. They thought he was rebuking them for forgetting to pack supplies for a trip. The Savior, of course, was talking about something completely different.

 

But in that exchange, there is a failing that the disciples have that I think we often have too. Look at the story, and see if you can find yourself in it.

 

Matthew 16:5-12 – 5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

For the purposes of this post alone, don’t think about the religious implication of the Pharisees and Sadducees here. Instead, look at the other failing of the disciples. They were worried about their bread supply. This worry comes even though the disciples have twice seen Jesus miraculously feed crowds of thousands with only food enough to feed one or two people. They have seen Jesus’ power. They have seen Jesus’ kindness. They have seen Jesus’ provision. But, when they are looking at a potential lack, they forget.

 

Forgetting the great faithfulness and provision of the Lord is something that I think is a common Christian failing. It is an ugly one, to be sure, but it is common. For some reason, we can see that the Lord provides for us at points in our lives. WE can rejoice in that provision. We can even tell others about the great faithfulness and power of God. But when the next struggle comes, if we are not careful, we will look like the faithless disciples wondering if we are going to go hungry.

 

Dear friends, let us not be like the disciples here. Let us not be like we often are. Instead, let us remember the faithfulness of god in the past. Let us remember his promises in his word. Let us remember how he has always cared for us. And let us trust the Savior, knowing that he will always accomplish his will in our lives for his glory and our good.

What Marks Us as Christians?What things should a church do in order to prove to the world that we are truly the people of God? How should we structure and shape the ministry of the church so that those who do not know God will recognize us as true disciples of the Savior? I would think these questions are important. If Jesus told us how to be marked as his, following that directive would be essential to our function as the body of Christ here in a lost world.

 

John 13:35 – By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

Jesus says to us that there is a way that the world will recognize and understand that we belong to Jesus. Note, however, that it is not what we see many churches making primary. In fact, if we are not careful, we will see that what Jesus gives us in this verse is actually something that many churches think of as a side ministry or simply take for granted.

 

Jesus says that we will show the world that we are his if we love one another. In the verse prior, he told us to love each other as he has loved us. That indicates a powerful, self-sacrificial commitment to the good of another. Jesus demonstrated his love for us by laying down his life for us. And we are to be that committed to each other in order to show the world that we belong to Christ.

 

So, Christians, stop and think. How are you communicating to the world around you that you belong to Jesus? If your answer to that question does not include a deep personal love for other believers and commitment to the local church, you are missing what Jesus shows us here is his way to prove that we belong to him. Yes, you will share your faith. Yes, you will worship the Lord. Yes, you will care for those in need. But the words of the Savior here in the upper room tell us that the real way that the world will know you are his, know in a way that Jesus promises, is if you are a Christian who loves the believers with whom you are connected. Love the people in the body of Christ, and you demonstrate that you are truly a follower of Jesus.

 

Loving one another cannot be a side function of the church. Loving one another cannot be something we do if we have time after all the other stuff, the important stuff. If we are truly people of Scripture, if we are under Jesus’ lordship, it would make sense that we would see to it that our lives are structured in such a way, even organized in the church, to be sure that we are loving one another as Christ has loved us. This will take time. This will take church resources. This may mean that we do not wear out the body so much in other events that there is no longer time and energy for events that focus us on knowing and caring for each other. How will the world know we belong to Jesus? They will know by how we love each other. Are we really ready to believe the Savior enough that we change the way we do things to make this as central as the Savior seems to make it right here?

The book of Lamentations is a poetic cry as the prophet Jeremiah watches the destruction of the city of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. It was a time of horror, of death, and of destruction. Jeremiah hurt, and he hurt deeply, personally.

 

Lamentations 3:1-3

 

1 I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his wrath;

2 he has driven and brought me

into darkness without any light;

3 surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long.

 

Jeremiah knows that he is suffering. And he knows that he is suffering because the Lord is judging Jerusalem. The prophet knows that the Lord is doing rightly, but that does not stop the pain.

 

Does the pain cause Jeremiah to turn away from the Lord? Will his suffering and the sufferings of his people lead him to hate the God who would judge them?

 

Lamentations 3:21-24

 

21 But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

 

Great is your faithfulness! Have you ever stopped to think that the hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” is based on a biblical cry from a desperately suffering prophet? Jeremiah does not declare that God is faithful only when things are good and easy. Jeremiah sees pain, sees no way out, sees struggles, and still knows that the Lord is his only hope. Only God is faithful. Only God’s love is enough to sustain Jeremiah, a love that never ceases.

 

Do you hurt? Of course you will in this life. Maybe this is an easy season. Maybe things are going well. But we live in a fallen world. We see evils perpetrated all around us. We are disappointed by friends and opposed by enemies. WE long for revival, restoration, rejuvenation. We want to see Jesus return and set right what is wrong in this world. And we still know that our job is to live in the here and now no matter how easy or how hard things get.

 

So what do we do? We need to speak truth just like Jeremiah did. WE need to tell God what is on our hearts; he already knows anyway. We need to then speak words of truth about the character of God. His love never fails. His mercies are new every day. Great is his faithfulness. And the Lord, in his perfect character, is our hope. Speaking those truths and believing them is how we make it in a fallen world.

While reading through the Proverbs, I found myself thinking about modern methods of communication and even argument. Just for fun, then, here are a few thoughts that cross my mind, simply in verse order, from Proverbs 26 which I think could help me, and perhaps you, in our interactions.

 

Proverbs 26:2 – Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.

 

First we see this gem. In life, we will have people, from time to time, speak out against us, Perhaps we will have someone hurl an insult our way. The question we should ask ourselves before taking the insult to heart is this: Is it true? Is what the person has said about you accurate? If a person hurls an insult or curse your way, but in truth, the insult has no basis in reality, you should happily be able to let it go. It is like a bird that flies over your head and never lands. An undeserved curse does not come to rest.

 

Proverbs 26:4-5 – 4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

 

These two verses must be taken in tandem. If you look at them together, you see a problem. Verse 4 tells you not to answer a fool according to his folly. Verse 5 tells you that you must answer a fool according to his folly. Some try to read a difference in the two kinds of answers given. But I think that there is something simpler going on here. The Lord is telling us that there is often not a correct way to answer when a person is a fool. Fools put you in impossible situations. If you do not answer, they think they are wise. If you do answer, you end up being dragged into the mud.

 

In your social interactions, try not to be this fool. Try not to spout off and put people in the awkward position of having to weigh the pros and cons of correcting the careless things you say or post. The Lord does not want us to be foolish, and that is quite often the point of verses in Proverbs.

 

Proverbs 26:17 – Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.

 

It is almost never helpful to jump into a social media argument. The proverb here tells us that it is almost never safe to jump into anyone else’s argument. If a person seizes a dog by the ears, he is likely to find himself in pain. Similarly, when we jump into the arguments of others, we are likely to find ourselves attacked.

 

So, when living life, especially on social media, recognize that diving into a thread of conversation has a good likelihood of going wrong. In my own experience, I have seldom seen a comment thread that leads to people agreeing on a topic where they started off at odds. But I certainly have seen those threads get nasty and personal. So, the point is to beware. Don’t jump in without knowing the risk. And thus be sure that you know that you only jump in when it matters. Otherwise, see verses 2 and 4 above.

 

Proverbs 26:18-19 – 18 Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death 19 is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!”

 

Have you ever noticed how people today like to say insulting or harsh things and then think they can make it all OK by indicating that they are joking? Consider how many ugly text messages that you have received that end with “LOL” or some sort of emoji. This proverb says to us that a person who does such a thing is a person who does major damage. Do not shoot from cover, hurt people, and then think you are OK because you ended a nasty comment with a smilie. Be honest, and do not try to cover up your actions by pretending humor that is really not there. And be careful with humor, as it is extremely difficult to communicate your heart or your tone in writing.

 

We could come up with many more points for interaction from the Proverbs. IN fact, I could have written several more from this chapter alone. But Let us simply allow these cautions to lead us to consider well how we interact. Let’s be wise. Let’s confront when it is necessary. But Let’s also be gracious and take seriously how we speak to one another, even from a keyboard. Sometimes, ignoring a thread is better than jumping in. Sometimes a phone call would be better than a text that cannot communicate your heart. 

“La la la la , I can’t hear you!” I think we all have seen a child, or an adult being silly, pretending not to hear something he or she does not want to think about. But, I also think we all know that this does not work in real issues of real life.

 

In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, a king of Judah tried to play this game, not with an annoying advisor, but with the word of God. And the Lord let him know this would not work.

 

Jeremiah 36:22-30

 

²² It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. ²⁴ Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵ Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.

²⁷ Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” ³⁰ Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.

 

Jehoiakim did not like the word of God. Jeremiah had been inspired to speak the truth of the Lord to warn the people and to call them to repentance. Part of that truth was the fact that the nation would be taken by the Babylonian Empire for several decades. But since the king hated that word, he burned the scroll on which it was written in the fire.

 

But the Lord makes it abundantly clear that Jehoiakim cannot avoid the plan of God simply by ignoring his word. And, if we are wise, we will realize that we also cannot avoid the truth of the word of God simply by ignoring what was written. God is over all. God’s word tells us of the Lord and his ways. You can ignore that word if you wish, but you cannot change the truth of who the Lord is or what the Lord requires or what the Lord will do.

 

May we be wise enough not to pretend that we cannot hear the Lord. Instead, may we be honest enough to consider the word, submit to the truth of God, and surrender to the Lord and his ways.