Devotion.al

Tag: reconciliation

  • Lead In Love

    Mark 9:33–37, Acts 15:36-41, 1 Timothy 6:3–11

    It is an amazing fact that you might have learned yourself: people are different, and don’t always agree.
    There are various kinds of disagreements, and it is not necessarily bad to disagree. In fact, it is often through disagreements that better solutions, not just compromise, can be found. In our current political environment, compromise is now a bad thing, as members of both Republican and Democrat parties entrench themselves. While the President may be the focal point, the reality is people seem to have lost the ability to discuss hard things without devolving to calling and pointless posturing.

    The disciples argued with each other regarding who was first among Jesus’ disciples. Two of them, Peter and John, probably had the strongest claim (from what scripture tells), but that this argument appeared to be amongst all of them indicates that Peter and John’s “ranking” was not as prominent as we think. This would be a pointless argument. While figuring out who is the is often a good discussion at other times, their little group had a leader…Jesus.

    The “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas is one of the biggest examples that not everything went perfectly well and peaceful all the time in the . John Mark was the point of contention. What the exact issue was, both past and possible , we can guess. Neither leader (for both were leaders) felt they could compromise regarding John Mark. They separated after being together so long. They had some sort of later. This shows us that we can disagree well, and part ways. It doesn’t seem that either held it against the other for long.

    Paul understands that there will be conflict and arguments. In his letter to his protégé, Timothy, Paul doesn’t say don’t , but that people who seek argument are to be corrected. We all want to be right (and viewed that way), but most of us are aware of our limitations. We are able to be humble when wrong.
    As the world starts to stop talking and only yell, the church (with its many human failings) should show the way. As the church deals with uncomfortable topics, it should lead in . This starts right here with our .

    1) Have you ever had an argument which has been left unresolved, and thus straining or destroying a ? Was it friends, immediate , or was it framily? What can you do to resolve things?

    2) Why is it so important to understand that we don’t always agree and that it is okay?

  • Dancing Fools

    Psalm 148, 2 Samuel 6:12–22, Matthew 6:1–8

    Do or do not before others?

    David danced in all his during a massive 10 mile parade, taking the Ark from Obed-edom’s land to Jerusalem. He was the king. There were many sacrifices happening. There were all the musicians, followers and soldiers that would have been a part of this. What a spectacle that must have been! We see that the Bible specifically says that David was dancing before the Lord.

    His first wife, Micah, watched the parade from the city. His disgraceful behavior (from her perspective) tainted her views of David, and forever destroyed their . There is a strong sense that she feels that a “royal” person (especially the king) should more dignified before the people (and this would have political ramifications with any so-called nobility or courtiers). David’s is classic. He’s okay being undignified before God, because the people will recognize his “poor” behavior for what it is…worship of God. It would seem he was right.

    Jesus, on the other hand, was dealing with something that superficially the same. The rich and powerful trumpeted their successes, power, wealth, and pretend generosity. The people got on board and praised them for it all. The differences are heart deep. The rich and powerful really didn’t care as much about God, as they did about the wagging tongues of people. They cared about their power and influence, and what they could do with it. The people did what they did to survive culturally, socially, financially, and live. There was no or toward the rich and powerful.

    Often the words of Jesus are spoken to chide people from taking false pride and putting it on display. As Jesus said, that is their reward, with the implication being that they get the reward in this , and there will be no reward for them in next. Yet, it is not bad to take pride in public actions. If Generations Community Church were to help a working mother put a down payment on a house of her own, yes, it would be good to be public about it, but not to brag on it, or expect a reward for it. Now, notice that this applies to the , not to the individual. That would be a different story, maybe. Taking this working mother story further, it would be dishonoring of the woman to brag on the story, for then it becomes more about Generations than the of a woman.

    1) How does one and parade in front of God, publically, without being seen as one seeking the adoration of people?

    2) While you may not seem rich and powerful, how do behave like those like Michal, and like those that Jesus spoke against?

    3) Would you be willing to dance like a crazy person (before God) down the middle of Main Street?

  • Sin In The End

    Psalm 25, John 19:28–30, Hebrews 10:1-14

    The . It’s the end.

    has declared it so.

    What is the end? The remembrance of your sins.

    The beauty of the cross is that the record of our sins has been amended. While some say that they are wiped out completely, it is probably better to say they have been struck from the record. It’s not as if they didn’t happen (and God doesn’t forget); it is as if they didn’t happen. Is this a nuance, yes. Does it, at the end, mean the same thing? Yes.

    Yet, understanding that they have been struck-out helps us better understand some things. The measurement of the and the consequences in our lives of that sin remain. When we stand before the throne of God, sin after sin is struck through by the blood of Jesus. We still have to deal with it now. The penalty of separation from God is removed.

    There is another important piece, which is alluded to in Hebrews. The sins are gone (from a legal ). Stop guilting yourself about it. You confessed them (right?). You asked for God’s forgiveness (right?). Done. No longer carry the burden. Does this mean that there are not things you have to do? Sorry, you will still have some to do with , but with God you’re good.

    and shame can be the biggest barriers to the Very Good . Jesus got it.

    1) Have you ever had unrelenting guilt or shame? Are you still burdened with one today? Why have you not released it to God?

    2) There is a concern that we can keep committing a sin because God will always forgive us. How does a personal with God keep that from becoming an issue?

    3) Why is it important to understand that with God a sin’s penalty is taken away, while the earthly penalty remains?

  • Living After

    John 21:1–19, Isaiah 43:1–12

    We often stop with the of . That’s the big event. It’s understandable. It wasn’t the end of the bodily resurrection of . Often when we are stressed or unsure of ourselves, we return to old habits. Peter’s old habit was fishing (it was his occupation, too). It was quite simple, and probably even automatic, to go back to fishing. It was something solid, earthly. It was also something to do. Scripture implies that Peter wasn’t the calmest and person. It doesn’t take much imagination to Peter’s frustration and restlessness coming to a boil…, “I’m going fishing.”

    Next, we read a very similar encounter with too many fish being pulled up. You can easily imagine someone smacking their head when they make the connection.

    Then Jesus asks Peter 3 times about feeding his (Jesus’) . The context of taking care of those that followed Jesus was obviously important to Jesus. Jesus was important to Peter. The 3 times was both admonishment and intimate. Peter was, it seemed, the new servant-. Peter just wanted Jesus. Not that many days ago in Peter’s journey, he denied Jesus 3 times, fell asleep while called to pray with Jesus, left Jesus to die. There is something about this particular encounter that was much more than “just” the resurrection. This was restoration.

    Restoration is a common theme in scripture. Isaiah called on the people. Announcing that God would restore and reconcile. Granted, maybe not in the way they wanted. It is unlikely that Peter would have chosen to be reconciled to Jesus the way he was. can truly be extraordinarily painful. Peter experienced it. Israel experienced it. Yet, when we come to reconciliation we often flee the . Beyond the pain is a new .

    1) Peter ran away (and other stuff). The people of Israel were almost destroyed. Reconciliation was on the other side. What is different, and what is the same in these two different times?

    2) Theologians have vigorously discussed the 3 admonishments by Jesus to Peter. What do you think they mean, and why are they important?

    3) Sometimes people need space and practices to process what has happened to them. Do you ever need that? Do you know people who need that? How do you process events?

  • Surrender the Pain

    Isaiah 52:13-53:11, Luke 22:39–23:56

    You might wear a cross. You might have one on a wall in your home. You probably have one on your bible. Today the cross has lost much of its brutality and disgrace. Movies like the “Passion of the Christ” attempt to convey the brutality, but it is so very hard to convey and understand the disgrace of the cross. Especially on this day, you need to see the cross not as what it became, but see it as the people of 2000 years ago saw it. The day they saw it on Good Friday. It was disgraceful. It was ugly. It was the ruling powers’ symbol of might, conquest, and oppression. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that could be remotely good or positive about, and there could be nothing good or positive about the one on it. We are often tempted to diminish the cross, lightly saying we have a cross to bear. The cross is no burden.

    The disciples had a light burden. Accompany Jesus to the garden. And the succumbed to . The world is full of temptation. There are many things which seem good, and are, but become bad, as we follow them away from God. Especially in the States, we have a, “I can do it myself” mentality. There is also the ladder, of ever-increasing hours spent working. There are all the things that we are told we just have to have. Sometimes the temptation is to simply sleep, when God has told us to be praying, as what happened here with the disciples. Jesus wasn’t chiding the disciples for falling asleep, but for not praying when he asked. Temptation takes on many guises. Judas and Peter were tempted.

    Judas Iscariot will forever be known as the traitor. Peter will be ever known as one of Jesus’ closest followers. Yet, Peter denied Jesus to others. One of the biggest differences between Judas Iscariot and Peter is not their respective , for they both betrayed Christ, but that Peter’s was open to correction. Judas Iscariot took things, including his self-condemnation, without grace. Peter understood and accepted the unmerited grace of Jesus, but Judas Iscariot did not believe it applied to him. Instead of being forever the traitor, he could have repented, and been redeemed. Betrayal is not just turning Jesus over, or denying Jesus, but saying that Jesus offer of unmerited grace does not apply to you or others. Grace is the key to healing the world and reconciling it to God. However, the fallen human heart turns to violence instead.

    Violence is a cruel part of this world. Wars, robbery, school violence, abuse, bullying, anger, disrespect are all acts of violence. When we the word violence, we generally think of acts. However, Jesus tells us that violence is as much against the soul and well-being of the individual (both the perpetrator and the recipient), as it is the body. In fact, much, if not all of the violence that is physical done, at the root, is caused by the violence done to the soul and mind.

    Jesus spoke while on the cross, in the midst of pain, and the climax of abuse, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” The victim of violence, while being violated, asked for them to be forgiven.

    We hold our griefs, our pains, our anguish often so close to our hearts that God doesn’t come near. Not because God can’t, for nothing is impossible for God, but because God doesn’t want to be violent toward us. When we release these things, God steps in, joyfully, desiring to help us the pain that we hold onto keeping God away from us.

    1) What are your temptations that pull you away from God and God’s mission of reconciliation? Can you be honest with yourself and God that those temptations have been nailed to the cross, and that you will leave them there?

    2) Who has shown you grace? If you can’t think of anyone, then you have work to do. At some point in your life, someone gave you a lot of grace. What does God’s grace mean to you? What could God’s grace lived out in the world actually do?

    3) What pain keeps your heart from being fully yielded to God, and being God’s willing aide? Will you look at the nails of the cross, and leave that pain nailed there?

    May Jesus Christ, who for our sake became obedient unto , even death on a cross, keep you and strengthen you, now and forever.

  • Forgiveness Such As This

    Psalm 38, Leviticus 5:1–19, Luke 17:1–4

    “Already forgotten.”

    “Don’t worry about it.”

    We sometimes hear these words when trying to apologize or make amends for something we have done wrong to another. Sometimes the person says these words as a veiled acceptance for the apology. Sometimes it was so inconsequential to them that they spent little-to-no time thinking about it after it occurs. Forgiveness is often spoken of in churches, encouraging each of us to forgive wrongs committed against us. Much of the time it is forgiveness towards those we are distant from (physically or by , for example). Not that this isn’t good. The question is, can we accept apologies and repentance when given?

    In this passage in Leviticus, the phrase, “…without being aware of it, but later recognizes it…,” is repeated multiple times. How often have we done something wrong, and only later realized we did it? Sometimes we do something and don’t know that it is wrong, but we do we are to make amends once we realize it. This should be the state of our relationships with one another, if we become aware that we have offended, we make amends. The reciprocal of this is being -filled people. Often people will innocently and/or ignorantly hurt us. Often it is actually the remnant of an old hurt that someone has triggered, yet we hold this new person (and new offense) against the old pain. We then go down the grace-less path of thinking, “they should have known better,” or something like that. Or, if something is so obvious an offense, we are offended both by the offense and their ignorance (or we sometimes say their callousness). God doesn’t operate that way, which this passage in Leviticus shows. If God doesn’t behave that way, why would we?

    Yet, it seems that many people inside and outside of the are unable to forgive and unable to accept apologies and/or repentance. We can look at a lot of media stories where people said what is now viewed as stupid and harmful, yet at the time they said it, it was well within the norm. Take the show Seinfeld (proudly a comedy show about nothing). It has been running in syndication for years, but viewership is dropping. Millennials and Generation Z do not find the humor in much of it (granted, the humor was of limited appeal anyway), as much of the cultural language that was appropriate and even “sensitive” for the time is now inappropriate and horribly insensitive. Before you say, “they’re a bunch of snowflakes,” or “they need to stiffen up,” or “they need some thicker skin,” or “they’re just looking for something to be offended by,” think about your own response. Instead of feeling attacked or put on the spot, realize that you are behaving the same way they are…offended.

    There is a huge cultural occurring, and some of it, though painful, is actually good. Ultimately, we are headed toward a kinder and gentler (truly). It’s just that right now we’re using hammers and chisels on each other getting off the high spots, and it hurts. There are some exceptions to the general tendency towards kinder and gentler (and it isn’t just one name, either). The reality is that our cultural and generational language is getting a long-needed overhaul. Really, this is a good thing. What has happened, and many of us are unaware of it, is that offenses, abuses, oppression, suppression have become such a part of our cultural and generational language that we are often unaware what message we convey with the words we use. The reason this is important to truly understand is that while we go through this paradigm shift we are going to offend each other…a lot.

    This is why having a personal understanding and responsibility regarding grace, forgiveness, repentance, and is so important. We can keep being offending. We can keep remembering the hurts and offenses, or we can be like .

    When Jesus is speaking to the disciples (similar words can be found in Matthew 18:6–9, 18:21–22) there is an underlying question of, how much forgiveness is enough? When we ask that question we are speaking from the flesh (or sin) nature, rather than the saved (or sanctified) nature. John Ortberg (Pastor, Menlo Church) proposes that Christians use up more grace than “sinners” because grace is God’s power at work in us. So, use that grace with one another! God’s grace is unending! As long as you keep using it and keep asking for it, God will keep pouring it! Remembering who offended us and how is easy (and natural), it’s what we do afterward that shows whether it is us or Jesus who is the Lord of our lives.

    1) An unspoken part of Jesus’ directive on repetitive forgiveness is directed at the forgiver: accept and forgive wholeheartedly. Have you ever “forgiven” someone, but held back from wholeheartedness by saying (in effect), “trust but verify”? If you hold back on forgiveness by even the tiniest portion, have you really forgiven?

    2) There is always a balance of forgiveness versus safety. Is it really “versus”, though? In this context, repentance and forgiveness are tied . How does that work in your life?

    3) What does the passage in Leviticus show about God’s of nature?

    FD) What is the difference between apologizing and repenting?