The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: Lent

March 17, 2015

Lent Devotional: Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21-35 (click here)
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

Reflection
How many times should God forgive you? Seven? That’s pretty generous number…right?

We laugh at such questions don’t we? I mean…we just assume that God should have this never-ending-forgiving-posture towards our never-ending-rebellious-heart…and he does!…not because he “should” or even because he “has to,” but just because he is that kind of God.

He is love. He is good. He is merciful. And so…he extends grace again and again and again. When such grace is experienced, it transforms the heart that has received it into a heart that gives it!

That’s Jesus’ point in the parable he tells Peter. Unforgiving hearts are, at root, hearts that have rejected forgiveness. If we are an unforgiving people, it is evidence that we have not received the forgiveness which has been offered us in Christ.

If we have experienced God’s grace, then Peter’s question to Jesus in verse 21 should seem just as ridiculous as the question at the beginning of this reflection. “How many times should God forgiven us…seven?” Should seem just as silly as “How many times should I forgive others…seven?”

We desire for God to forgive us, not seven times but seventy-seven times (not literally…this is figurative language for unending forgiveness). God’s desire is for our hearts to be transformed to do the same.

When we forgive like this, we point to the truth of how we’ve been forgiven. God’s forgiveness empowers ours. Our forgiveness reveals the reality of his. We are witnesses through our forgiveness to the truth of the Gospel. Through un-forgiveness, we deny the reality of the Gospel.

So how many times should God forgive you? How many times should you forgive others? The answer to both of those questions is the same.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 16, 2015

Lent Devotional: Matthew 5:43-48

Matthew 5:43-48 (click here)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Reflection
“But I say to you…”

Jesus is not correcting Scripture…he is correcting misinterpretations of it. Nowhere does the Bible instruct us to hate our enemies, but apparently certain teachers had twisted the text to suit their fancy. Perhaps seeing God pour out his judgment in various narratives, they thought they could share in his righteous wrath.

Whatever the case, Jesus stands in authority over every other teacher of Scripture before him or after him and authoritatively proclaims… “But I say to you!” The Word made flesh is the final authority for interpreting the Word written…and when it comes to our enemies, his word is this… LOVE.

We are to love our enemies! What does that look like? Well…Jesus helps us get started… it looks like praying for them. That is when we prove ourselves to truly be children of God. That is when we give evidence that we belong to Jesus, because like him… we pray, “Father forgive them…they don’t know what they are doing.”

Our heavenly father makes the sun-shine and the rain fall on all people. He expresses love for all people. Yes…in his righteous wrath he can pour out divine justice, but such an ability belongs to God alone. We are not to assume his position as Holy judge.

And…even though he has righteous wrath toward sinners, he also displays merciful love toward sinners. The sun shining and rain failing are just a few daily examples of such love poured out graciously upon all.

We are to be like our Father in this…we are to pour out love like the rain and shine forth love like the sun…even upon those whom we think deserve drought and darkness. If we belong to the Father as sons and daughters and have tasted of his love toward us, even in our sin…then we must likewise express love toward others even in their sin.

God commands us to love our enemies because he did it first…for he loved us (Romans 5:8).

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 15, 2015

Lent Devotional: Jonah 3:5-10

Jonah 3:5-10 (click here)
Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:8b-10)

Reflection
All are called to repent by a God who lovingly relents.

God is not required to forgive us.

Repentance is not a quarter that we insert into the divine vending machine in order to purchase the forgiveness we’d like to receive. That’s not how repentance works.

Repentance does not force God to do anything. It does not earn or purchase our forgiveness from God. No. Repentance is the God given means by which we receive the forgiveness that he has purchased!

God forgives because he is simply that kind of God! He is loving and merciful and kind. He is not required to forgive a sinful people…even if they repent! The fact that he does so just reveals his merciful heart.

Think of all the mercy we see in Jonah 3. God shows mercy to Jonah by giving him a second chance to repent and obey. God shows mercy to Nineveh by sending them a prophetic warning concerning the consequences of their sin (he didn’t even have to do that). God shows mercy again to Nineveh by relenting of his wrath and extending grace!

Mercy upon mercy upon mercy…grace upon grace upon grace. And God is this way toward you and me. It doesn’t matter if you are like Jonah and you have hardened your heart toward the Lord, or if you are like Nineveh, completely unaware of the Lord and just living a life of self-centered, sinful indulgence…either way, Jonah 3 declares to us that God is merciful toward us all!

We are all called to repent…to turn from ourselves and turn to the Lord. Will you repent? I’m not asking if you think it is possible, if you think you need to, or if you think you are too far gone… I’m just asking if you are willing to repent. Do you have a heart that longs to turn from trusting in yourself to trusting in the Lord.

No matter who you are…Nineveh or Jonah…God is a God of grace and will lovingly extend his grace EVEN to me and even to you.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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