Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Free to Please Our Savior

by Eldon DeBoer

It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” Galatians 5:1 (NASB)

It is not news that people love freedom. But, sadly, people often abuse their newly found freedom and end up hurting others, as we have just recently seen in the news. For those who learn the message of grace there may be the tendency to “sin that grace may abound” and flaunt freedom at the expense of others (Galatians 5:17-21; Romans 6:1ff.).

So what was Paul talking about in Galatians 5:1 where he declared, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free”? He was talking about freedom from slavery to the law. The false teaching that many of the believers of Galatia (now central Turkey) had bought into had brought them back into slavery to rules and regulations because it set forth that they had to keep on obeying certain rules and regulations to know or prove that they were secure in their eternal relationship with Christ. After presenting the illustration that compared the son of the slave woman (Hagar) with the son of the free woman (Sarah), Paul declares what God had done for them and drew attention to the freedom that He had planned for them in Galatians 5:1. God wants us to experience freedom from slavery to a set of rules that can keep us in bondage.

The apostle then explained in what follows in Galatians 5 that believers are free to walk by the Spirit and show the fruit of the Spirit in their life. Far from flaunting freedom, believers should reveal that they are of Christ Jesus by putting to death the old sin nature (5:24). They are now truly free to glorify the Lord in their life in the power of the Spirit. In another place Paul declared by the Spirit, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” Therefore, believers are free to be transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

Praise God! By His grace we are free to please and honor the One who has set us free, the Savior. When we know we are absolutely secure in our eternal relationship with Christ Jesus because of His promise (John 6:47), we are truly free to love others out of love for the Lord. May we keep on trusting in Him for the grace that is necessary so that our “faith [is] working through love” for the benefit of those around us that are in need.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Grace for Loving God with All Your Mind

by Eldon DeBoer

Then one of [the Pharisees], a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “ ‘
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40)

What did Jesus mean when He said, “On these two commands hang all the Law and the Prophets”?

True spiritual understanding and application of the entire Word of God that is acceptable to Him hangs on or depends on whether or not you continue to love God and love your neighbor.

In addition to loving with all our heart, soul and mind, Mark 12:28-31 states that we are to love God and love our neighbor with all our “strength.” Jesus is saying that we are to love God and love our neighbor with everything we have.

How do we love God with all our mind? Three answers to this question will be addressed here; Ponder truth, concentrate on the truth that is crucial to your life right now and be alert to the doublethink problem.

I. Ponder Truth.

This is something that Jesus did so that by the time He was 12 years old His questions and answers directed at teachers in the temple brought astonishment.

[Joseph and Mary] found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. (Luke 2:46-47)

If we are going to be like Jesus, we will make it a priority in our life to ponder truth. If we claim we love God, we will ponder truth.

2 John clarifies that above all we must make it a priority to ponder and know the truth of the Person and Work of Christ Jesus. Titus 1:9 teaches that leaders of the church should know the truth as taught by the apostles of Christ to the extent that they are equipped to counter false teachings (cp. Matthew 7:15-21).

II. Concentrate on What Is Crucial to Your Life Right Now.

We love God and our neighbors with all our minds by concentrating on the truth that is especially needful and applicable in our life right now. What is the crucial truth needful for you life right now? As stated above, the truth of Christ Jesus is always crucial and is clearly applicable in your life in your relationship with God and in your relationships with others (Philippians 2:1-12; cp. 3:8-10).

Many other truths may be crucial to your life right now. What particular area of Bible study is important for you to grasp at this time? What truth is of crucial importance in your life right now in order to love God with all your mind? Maybe its the truth related to worry. Or fear. Or forgiveness. (See the related articles about these teachings.)

If we are going to love God and love our neighbor with all our mind we need to concentrate on the truth that is crucial for application in our life right now.

III. Be Alert to the Doublethink Problem

The term doublethink was coined by George Orwell in his book, 1984. According to what he wrote in his novel double thinking is “holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them . . .”

In Orwell's work he presents Winston, one of his characters, and wrote of Winston and what he was thinking about:

[Winston's] mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully-constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them; to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, . . .

When it comes to loving God and loving one's neighbor here is an example of doublethink:

Jesus is my friend but I don't need to be too concerned about obeying His commands. But consider what Jesus said in John 15:10-14. He clarified that you cannot conclude that you love Him or that He is your friend if you are not concerned about obeying His commands.

If we are not making it a priority to take in His teachings from His Word can we really honestly say we are His friends? Or are we guilty of double thinking?

Here is another example of doublethink:

Everlasting life is a gift from God with no strings attached but I have to do more than believe in Christ Jesus to receive it, keep it or know I have it.

It seems to me (and I may be wrong) that there is more double thinking going in this area in Christendom today than in any other area of Bible teaching. But it seems to me that even when people are guilty of doublethink in this important area of Bible teaching, if they have believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and if they love God with all their heart, soul and strength they are pleasing the Lord and may be storing up reward for eternity. Believers may unknowingly be guilty of doublethink as related to everlasting life and may not be thinking in a manner that is consistent with the biblical teaching. However, the question remains as to whether or not they can truly love God with all their mind if when they are confronted with the truth that corrects their thinking they refuse to admit they were thinking wrongly. God knows their hearts.

None of us think perfectly about truth. It is likely, if not probable, that each and everyone of us is guilty of doublethink in certain areas of our understanding of truth. But if we claim to love God with all our mind we should want to keep on growing in our understanding of the truth of His Word and the application thereof. We should want to avoid the doublethink problem as much as we possibly can.

Keep asking God to bring to your attention any doublethink problem that you may have.

If we love God with all our mind we will ponder truth, concentrate on truth that is especially needful for our life right now and will want to be alert to the doublethink problem.

Keep on crying out to the Lord for the grace to love Him more with all your mind.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Grace for Forgiving from Your Heart

by Eldon DeBoer

Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?''

Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22

Peter probably thought he was being very generous when he asked this question about forgiveness. Certainly forgiving “up to seven times” goes beyond what God requires of us. Louis Barbieri, Jr., notes that “the traditional Rabbinic teaching was that an offended person needed to forgive a brother only three times” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, 62). In what follows in Matthew 18, Peter’s lack of understanding becomes obvious in the story that Jesus told about the king and his two servants. Apparently Peter did not realize the application of God’s forgiveness to forgiving others. It seems that he did not have much appreciation for the truth that the Lord had forgiven him a huge debt of sin. He did not apply the foundational truth that we all need to understand in order to forgive from the heart.

When Jesus told Peter that we should keep on forgiving up to 490 times, he was not saying that we should keep a ledger of the sins against us. The expression, “up to seventy times seven,” emphasizes that we should keep on forgiving and not keep track of the number of times someone sins against us.

The words of Jesus at the conclusion of the parable powerfully communicate the importance of forgiving from the heart. If we do not forgive from our hearts, we can count on being tortured. We should not be surprised when we experience emotional torture within because we have refused to forgive someone. The emotional torture from refusing to forgive can result in serious spiritual and psychological problems.

Jesus taught that refusing to forgive is itself a sin and breaks fellowship with God (Matthew 6:14-15). When a believer refuses to forgive, God will not forgive him until it is confessed as sin (1 John 1:9; Psalm 32:1-5). This is forgiveness for fellowship with God in this life. Every believer remains forgiven in Christ forever whether he or she forgives or not (Ephesians 1:7). The importance of forgiving others and the sin of refusing to forgive in Matthew 6 and 18 has to do with continuing in fellowship in a meaningful relationship with Jesus here and now in this life.

What does it mean to forgive someone?

When we forgive someone we put away the person’s sin against us. The word translated forgive (aphiemi) means to put away. When we forgive, as far as we are concerned, the person is no longer guilty of his sin against us. This is what Jesus did when He was being crucified (Luke 23:34). He put away their sin of crucifying Him and therefore they would not receive immediate judgment from God for that sin.

After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, He told them, “Loose him and let him go” (John 11:44, NKJV). “Let . . . go” is the translation of aphiemi. This provides a fitting analogy that addresses attention to what we do for people when we forgive them. When we forgive someone we no longer keep the person in bondage to the guilt of their sin. As far as we are concerned the person is not guilty. We let him go and he thereby is set free from his guilt against us. This does not mean that an individual should never be held accountable for his sin against us. At times justice must be applied. This will be addressed at another time.

Peter’s lack of understanding concerning God’s standards for forgiving one another is not unusual among believers. Many believers do not understand the application of this truth. But what is it that believers need to grasp in order to forgive from the heart? The parable Jesus told provides the answer.

Heart-felt Forgiveness Flows from Being Forgiven a Huge Debt

In this parable the king of the servant who has incurred a huge debt is God the Father Himself. There are a number of views concerning what a talent would be worth in today’s currency, but according to one source the amount equaled about 15 years wages. If you earned an average of $30,000 a year multiplied times 15, times 10,000, your debt would be $4,500,000,000. The main point of the Lord’s illustration is that since God has forgiven us so very much, we are to forgive others from our hearts. If you appreciate the huge debt of sin that God has forgiven you, you will keep on forgiving others who sin against you. This is precisely what the servant did not do. His lack of appreciation for how much his lord had forgiven him was expressed in his refusal to forgive a fellow servant of a far lesser debt of sin. Consequently, he was handed over to the torturers (cp. Hebrews 12:4-15).

Our sins are ultimately against our holy heavenly Father.

The two servants in the story Jesus told are both representative of believers in Christ Jesus. The wicked servant who refused to forgive had incurred a debt beyond his ability to repay. When we sin against our holy God, we should understand that we are unable to pay back the debt we owe due to our sins. We do not have the ability to repay our Lord for sins committed against Him. Our sins are too great. All the Father asks is that we go to him and admit our need of His forgiveness. God always treats us in grace and forgives us because our debt has been paid through the suffering and death of Christ Jesus. The wicked servant had been forgiven by his lord. But when he refused to forgive a fellow servant, he was turned over to the torturers because of his sin of refusing to forgive. We should keep in mind that ultimately our sins are sins against our holy God and only His forgiveness removes the sin and the guilt. David understood this and expressed his indebtedness to God. After he had confessed his sin of adultery against Uriah and Bathsheba, he said to the Lord,

Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight

That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. (Psalm 51:4)

David was well aware that he was worthy of death. And he knew that God could take His Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). (While this cannot happen to a believer today in the Church Age, it could happen to believers in the Old Testament. Believers today fully receive the Spirit when they believe in Jesus and He continues to indwell them no matter how sinful they might become.) When we sin against the Lord God we should understand that all sins, whether seemingly significant or insignificant to us, are offenses against our holy heavenly Father and are huge in His sight.

Yet some sins cause more damage than others. It could be that the wicked servant is an illustration of a believer who has received forgiveness for a sin that has caused a great deal of damage to others. Whatever the case, the teaching is clear. Believers should maintain forgiving hearts because the holy God has forgiven them a huge debt of sin.

Sins and offenses against you

When someone does something that hurts you, there are times when the person who has offended you may not even be aware of the hurt that has been caused. Then, to the other extreme, there are sins that obviously are motivated by maliciousness. There are offenses that are perceived to be damaging which may not even be sinful at all. Sometimes we can be too sensitive about what others do to us. Whatever the case, when we feel that someone has hurt us, God calls us to forgive them. When we have disagreements with others or complaints against others for whatever reason, the Lord says,

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12-13)

May we forgive from the heart because we appreciate that we have been forgiven a huge debt of sin by our holy God and thereby be free of the emotional torture that results from refusing to forgive.

Emotional Torture: A Result of Refusing to Forgive

Matthew 18:35; Ephesians 4:29-5:2; Colossians 3:1-16

Jesus warned those who do not forgive from the heart that they would be turned over to the torturers (Matthew 18:35). The heavenly Father will bring severe discipline upon those who refuse to forgive (Hebrews 12:3-15). Often this discipline from the Father includes emotional torture.

The Lord calls us to forgive as He has forgiven us in Christ.

Since God has forgiven us a huge debt of sin we are to forgive others. This is an important part of the Spirit of the Lord’s concern as He moved the Apostle Paul to write Ephesians. Having proclaimed the truth of the everlasting spiritual blessing of our forgiveness in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), Paul emphasizes the importance of forgiving one another:

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Forgiving one another is what accompanies being kind and tenderhearted. If believers prominently keep in mind the forgiveness that was bought and paid for by Jesus (Ephesians 5:1-2), they should keep on maintaining a forgiving heart. Notice that Paul points to God’s forgiveness as the basis for our forgiveness. The word translated forgive in this passage emphasizes grace in forgiveness (charizomai). We communicate kindness and tenderheartedness as we keep on forgiving others.

Our emotional vulnerability when angry

The fact that we should guard against not letting go of justified anger or righteous wrath before we go to bed is clear from what we are told in Ephesians 4:26-27:

"'Be angry (orgizo) and do not sin': do not let the sun go down on your wrath (parorgismos) nor give place to the devil" (note the root word orge found in parorgismos).

We should never go to sleep filled with anger, even though our anger may be justified because of the hurt and injury that someone caused. May we look to the Lord for the grace to put our righteous wrath to rest against those who have sinned against us or, possibly, others as well. This warning is accompanied by the real danger that even righteous wrath might turn to bitterness and sinful anger and that this may be used by the devil and his cohorts to bring us into spiritual bondage.

We understand from personal experience that often our emotions cause us to lose the ability to think clearly. When sinful emotions take over we are “in the dark” spiritually. God tells us we should be alert to this and we must draw upon His grace to overcome these harmful emotions.

Put away the emotions that torture you because you refuse to forgive.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Ephesians 4:31

At times, when we are reminded of the hurt that someone caused, bitterness and sinful anger apparently may overcome us. These emotions are often the torture that comes to us when we refuse to forgive. They are a huge part of the torture designed by God to get our attention. What are we to do about these sinful emotions? We are told to put them away or put them off (cf. Colossians 3:8). In Ephesians 4:31 “put away” translates airo which is also used in another place to explain how Christ Jesus came to taken away our sins (1 John 3:5).

When we do not put away someone’s sin against us by forgiving them, the Spirit of God is grieved (Ephesians 4:30). The fact that we are commanded to “put away” these sinful emotions tells us that by God’s grace, by the ministry of the Spirit through the new man, we can do something about them. We need not be enslaved to them. With God’s enabling grace, we can put a stop to these evil feelings.

Bitterness (pikria, Acts 8:23; Romans 3:14: Hebrews 12:15)) is the emotion that results when we dwell on how someone has hurt us and begin to think about revenge. We become self-centered and filled with self-pity. We can only think about ourselves or how we might vindicate ourselves. Wrath (thumos, Luke 4:28; Acts 19:28) and anger (orge, 1 Timothy 2:8; James 1:19-20) are expressed as we “clamor” for attention and speak evil of the offender. We begin to plan malicious acts against our offenders.

This was not true of Stephen (Acts 7). Stephen demonstrated the grace of God as he was being stoned to death. His final words were words of forgiveness and love for those who took his life. It seems that this left a marked impression on a young man named Saul. Saul came to faith in Jesus as his Messiah and Savior a short time later and became the Apostle Paul who wrote the letter to the Ephesians. Paul knew about forgiveness and deeply appreciated the forgiveness of God. He had experienced the grace of God’s forgiveness. As the “chief of sinners” who had persecuted believers in Christ, Paul became well aware of his need for God’s forgiveness (1 Timothy 1:15-16).

How do we put away the sinful emotions that torture us?

God commands us to put away the sinful emotions that torture us. By the grace of God through the ministry of the Spirit working through the new man we can put away our sinful emotions. When the Holy Spirit convicts you about your sinful emotions confess them as sin. Then prayerfully consider the question, “Have I committed some sin that caused these sinful emotions?” Oftentimes it is the sin of refusing to forgive that has caused these emotions to surface. When the Spirit brings to your attention that refusing to forgive is the sin that is at the root of these emotional responses, then that sin must be confessed as well. Receive the forgiveness granted to you by God through Christ by admitting you have sinned (1 John 1:7, 9). Then remind yourself of the huge debt of sin that God has forgiven you in Christ. Ponder the wonder of His love and grace that He has expressed to you.

Putting these sinful emotions away is not easy. We may find that it is very difficult to completely let go of the offense against us. We forgive and let go and then we pick it up again in our thoughts. We find ourselves hanging on to it and we rework it in our minds over and over again. Very soon afterwards we are filled with bitterness and sinful anger. Hopefully we do not descend to the point of clamoring for attention by talking about it with others. May we stop short of seeking revenge. May we not carry out injurious plans for personal vindication (cf. Romans 12:14-21).

Thankfully, when we confess these sins and receive cleansing from God once again, we return to the high road of forgiveness in God’s plan for us. Our thoughts should then turn to Jesus and we should once again ponder the great debt of sin that we have been forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrifice in our place. Do we deserve to be forgiven? No. Does the person who has sinned against us deserve to be forgiven. No. Yet, God’s plan for our lives is that we forgive as He forgave. When we do forgive because we have been forgiven in Christ and maintain forgiveness from the heart, God will free us from the emotional torture of bitterness and anger. When we apply God’s Word by His Spirit, He gives us peace.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:15-16

Forgive and illustrate the grace of God.

We illustrate the grace and love of God when we forgive others. This is crucially important in the ministry of a church. By forgiving one another and putting up with each other, believers may powerfully communicate the love and grace of God shown them in Christ Jesus.

The chapter break is unfortunate at the close of Ephesians 4 because the following verses emphasize the importance of being like God in forgiveness and in the demonstration of love by Jesus Christ’s death.

Therefore be followers of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2

When we maintain hearts of forgiveness we demonstrate to others that we truly are followers of God. When we keep on forgiving we shine forth the light of the truth of Christ and are behaving in a way that is consistent with whom we are in Christ. We have received total and complete everlasting forgiveness in Christ. We are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8). When we keep on forgiving we are walking as children of light. We are behaving wisely by the power of the Spirit of God (5:15-21).

By the grace of God through the ministry of the Spirit through the new man created in the image of Christ (Colossians 3:10), we may overcome the emotional torment caused by refusing to forgive. We may express the love and grace to others that God has given us in Christ Jesus.

A summary of God’s provisions for maintaining a heart of forgiveness:

1. Remember that in and through Jesus Christ, God has forgiven you a huge debt of sin. Keep in mind that no one can offend you or sin against you to the degree that you have sinned against God (Matthew 18:27).

2. Ponder and dwell on the wondrous love and forgiveness God has granted to you through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:9-2:2).

Think about the awful cost of your deliverance by the Son of God Himself. Keep your eyes on Jesus (Ephesians 4:29-5:2; Colossians 3:1-16; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Hebrews 12:1-3).

3. Recognize that you cannot maintain a heart of forgiveness for the right reasons in your own strength (John 15:5).

4. Keep in mind the Lord’s command to not take your righteous wrath to bed (Ephesians 4:25-27).

5. Be on the alert for signs of sinful anger and bitterness (Matthew 18:35). Remain sensitive to the convicting work of the Spirit from the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 4:30-31; Colossians 3:8-10; Hebrews 12:15).

6. Confess to the Lord the sin of an unforgiving spirit when the Holy Spirit causes you to realize that this is the reason for the emotional torture of bitterness and anger (1 John 1:9; cp. Matthew 6:14-15; Psalm 32:1-6).

7. Cry out to God for the grace to keep on maintaining a heart of forgiveness so that your life will be a testimony to His love and grace (John 13:35; 2 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Your questions and comments are welcome at edeboer@tnics.com.