Simply Church: Dealing With Each Others’ Sin

We established that in the New Covenant Family we all still sin, this sin destroys the family, and our older brother, father, and their spirits are bringing us out of this sin. But we, as brothers and sisters, also have to deal with the sin of one another. Handling the sin of a brother against a brother is one of the most difficult parts of being a family. We do damage to our siblings. It’s intolerable that the family of God would do this, but it’s also inevitable.

It’s difficult to be a family. We hurt each other. Like our sin, this should never happen and it is bound to happen. We wrong each other in so many ways. We gossip with other family members. We lie to each other. We speak derogatory words to one another. We point out flaws in painful ways. We ostracize. We condemn. We judge. We ignore. We refuse to listen. We envy. We say the wrong thing at the wrong time. We’re all sinners (that’s who Jesus came to call after all). Sinners hurt people when they interact with them.

When we are sinned against, Jesus tells us, as a family, there is only one way to handle it:

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against your seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” (Luke 17)

These words are wonderful and frustrating. All of the actions of these two sentences are difficult (more on this difficulty can be found here).

It is often difficult to tell someone how we have been wronged by them because we have to admit that in some way our dignity was dishonored. We have to acknowledge that we were treated in a way that is embarrassing because we weren’t valued. Humility is required to admit we have been hurt. It is scary that our brother won’t acknowledge his/her involvement in this devaluing of our personhood because this affirms (wrongly) that dishonor is simply the way we should be treated. Rebuking someone about how they’ve wronged us is simply an uncomfortable thing to do. There are a number of things that make rebuking someone for their sin difficult, but it has to be done in a proper functioning family.

And then, the next part of this process is the person who sinned admitting their sin, being contrite for it, and turning from it back into right relationship. Who wants to admit they’ve done wrong? What if what we did wasn’t even technically wrong, it was just ignorant actions that unintentionally hurt?* As the person rebuking needs humility, the person repenting needs humility in relation to their siblings to, in a sense, put themselves below their sister in their request for their sister’s forgiveness. We need something from them because we want reconciliation with them.

Forgiveness is obviously most often the most difficult of all of these steps. Jesus’ words that we have to, essentially, always forgive a repentant brother or sister are especially difficult. At least for me, the reason it sucks so bad to forgive is simple and obvious, “They hurt me and they don’t deserve my forgiveness!” The exact reasons someone needs forgiveness are the exact reasons I don’t want to give it to them. When we forgive, we have to release the other of the wrong they did to us. The reconciliation of the relationship depends on us and we have to, in a sense, absorb the sin (I explain this quite poorly here). Forgiving is difficult, but absolutely necessary for our family to be a family.

Our older brother Jesus, a master of forgiveness and reconciliation, makes some pretty bold statements about these things. He claims that reconciling with our brother is more important than sacrifice for or going to a worship service for our Father. It doesn’t even make sense in our family to worship God our Father or make sacrifices to Him if we haven’t done everything in our power to make things right in our relationships with our brothers and sisters.

Jesus also says something surprising and frustrating about forgiving our siblings: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6). Pretty clear stuff. Unforgiveness makes no sense in this family because this family was started by the greatest act of forgiveness the world has ever seen. Our family began with forgiveness that allowed us to be reconciled with our Father and it continues with forgiveness that keeps us in intimate relationship with both our Father and our siblings. The only thing more unacceptable than sin in this family is refusing to forgive after all we have been forgiven.

Sometimes there is sin that is not directly against another person. Our goal in dealing sin like this is the same as our goal in everything else, how do we handle this like Dad would handle this? How do we handle this like our older brother would handle this? We do what families do, we love eachother. We give the sinner what they need. If it’s forgiveness, we offer it. If it’s a reminder of Dad’s love, we speak it. If it’s admonishment, we admonish. If it’s an embrace, we embrace. If it’s just to be there, then we just be there. We do whatever it is we have to do in order to love that person the way the Father loves them, all the while, with words and actions, pointing to the Father and our older brother.

*I’ve probably done this to you. And I’m so incredibly sorry. Help me change!

Simply Church: Two Things

The church is all about Jesus Messiah. The church is all about community with others. Jesus is the center. Community is the center. There is no gathering of the body of Jesus if there is no Jesus. There is no gathering if there are no others. This is church at its core. Jesus is the most important, obviously, but you can’t have church without others.

The nature of this reminds me of some things Jesus said. When he was asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus’ answer is twofold. He says that loving God with everything is the greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment is loving others. Of course loving God is most important, but unless you are on a deserted island, you can’t do that without loving other people. Insofar as you fail at loving others, you fail at loving God.* The two commandments, although one is greater, are interconnected at their core.

Church is kind of like that. Is it possible to have an individual relationship with Jesus that doesn’t include others? Absolutely. And it’s wonderful. And it should be normative for the believer. You can sing worship songs alone. You can pray alone. You can read Scripture alone. You can take the Lord’s supper alone. You can even preach alone. But you can’t have church alone. That doesn’t work. It’s not a gathering if you’re the only one gathering. Communal relationship with Jesus should also be normative for the believer.

You can gather together a bunch of people, even people who believe in Jesus, without having church. This can happen a lot. I am certainly guilty of it. It’s possible to get together with Jesus-followers without doing what Jesus tells us is necessary for His presence. Jesus says that “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Sometimes, we can get together like we’re a club, a philosophical discussion group, or simply partners in fun. I have far too often gotten together with others who loved Jesus and talked about nothing, watched sports, played video games, and the like without our togetherness being in the name of Jesus, in the very presence of Jesus.

It’s not like God’s omnipresence suddenly stops when people are gathered without gathering in Jesus’ name, but there’s something different when the gathering is centered around Jesus. Every moment spent with another who believes in and follows Jesus can be a moment spent experiencing Jesus in our midst. This is church at its most raw and fundamental. It’s Jesus’ presence in the midst of His body. Jesus with his people.

It’s beautiful the way church works. When we are together in the name of Jesus we can fulfill both of the commandments of Jesus. We can love God with our everything and eachother with concern for their welfare. In multiple places in Scripture, we learn that by fulfilling these two commandments, we have obey all of the instructions of God. Church is where (not necessarily a location) this happens. And through the love of God expressed to one another, the world around may see Jesus and know that we are His.

I kind of wish this was the last post in this series. But “Simply Church” isn’t so simple. And certainly not so brief. Help me progress!

*I need to use more “I”s and less “you”s.

Not My People

Everyone who accepted the invitation to write about Romans 9 and one of the prophets chose to not actually do it, so I’m going to finish off my little series on Romans 9. I still find the chapter and its interplay with the Old Testament texts interesting and refreshing. If you missed it, you can catch up here. These are some of my favorite posts.

Thus far in Romans 9, Paul has only talked about how some of Israel is excluded by not accepting the terms of the new covenant. He has shown in no uncertain terms that not all descendants of Abraham are Israel. True Israel is through faith. Paul’s use of the patriarchs, Exodus narrative, and Malachi primarily focused on providing Biblical justification of the rejection of some of Israel. His use of Hosea explicitly states what Paul has been implying throughout Romans and specifically in Romans 9. God has always been about Gentiles becoming full covenant members.

Paul says in verses 22-24 that Gentiles are part of the called and of the Gentiles some are objects of mercy. He then quotes Hosea twice to justify what he is saying and expand on it. His first quote is from Hosea 2, within which God says,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

And in the second verse from Hosea 1 God says,

“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

At first glance, these verses appear to be simple outright affirmations that God would include the Gentiles, those who were not his people, into his people. But, as we’ve been doing, let’s explore the surrounding context of Hosea.

Hosea is a prophet who was called by God to both prophesy to God’s people and be a metaphor for understanding YHWH’s relationship with his people (Expanded thoughts on Hosea). Hosea was called by God to marry a whore and have children of whoredom, because Israel was committing whoredom. So Hosea does what God asks, and Gomer (the prostitute and wife of Hosea) has children and they are named “No Mercy” and “Not My People.” These names are chosen because God has declared judgment on Israel, declaring that He will have no mercy on them and that they are not his people. That’s the basic story of Hosea that forms the foundation for understanding God’s prophetic words that Hosea speaks to Israel.

The first verse Paul quotes in Hosea is found in the context of a beautiful poem (or poetic prose) within which YHWH is speaking to Israel as if Israel is a whoring wife. In this story, God takes away the blessings He gave his whoring wife that she would know that He is the one who blessed her, not her other lovers. Then, when she realizes her mistake and has nothing left, YHWH woos her back. He buys her back. He removes evil from her and she again calls Him her husband. He makes a covenant with her and all nature, betrothing Himself to her forever. And then, after God does that, He “will have mercy on No Mercy” and say to “Not My People, ‘you are my people.’”

The second verse Paul quotes from Hosea actually comes before the first, but is basically speaking about the same thing. YHWH, immediately after telling Hosea to name his newborn son “Not My People,” talks of a time where God will call those who are not His people, “Children of the living God.” And during this time, his people will not only be reunited with him, but to each other because there will be one head over both Israel and Judah. Both the first and second verses are talking about the same thing. The verses discuss the day when, after He has disowned His children, YHWH shows them mercy and makes them His children again.

This day of redemption and reuniting of man and his wife is what Paul is referring to when he quotes Hosea. Paul speaks of these verses in Hosea as if they are being fulfilled. The Messiah has come, and YHWH is betrothing Himself again to His people. He is removing their idolatry and replacing the Baals with Himself. YHWH is bringing His kids back in through Jesus. Israel has denied their father, worshipped other gods, and whored herself to other nations, but God in His faithfulness is making the relationship with Israel right again. He is reuniting with His children Israel.

There are many parallels between what Hosea prophesies and what Paul says has happened and is happening. The story in Hosea includes a rejection of God’s people because of their sin and a reacceptance when they turn from their idols and put their faith in him. The book of Romans involves Israel being excluded from God’s people and reintegrated through faith in Jesus. They were declared not his people, but that is not the end of the story. Jesus’ advent involves judgment, but a betrothal and new beginning for those who would put their faith in him. What Hosea prophesied is happening anew.

There’s an issue with this I must mention, if you don’t see it yet, Paul says that God has called his people from the Gentiles to partake in His glory. Paul then evidences this by quoting these verses in Hosea. The problem is that in the surrounding context of Hosea, the book doesn’t seem to be talking about the Gentiles being those described by “not my people” who God calls his people. The book is talking about the Jews who were not God’s people who became God’s people again. I haven’t seen textual evidence that here Hosea is actually talking about the Gentiles and not the people of Israel (let me know if you see something different in the book). So, well, what do we do with this?

I have two thoughts on this. By God’s declaration that Israel is not his people, then they are not His people. By being not His people, they are basically Gentiles. We talked about this concept a little bit in Malachi. There is no point in having the law, the sacrificial system, the writings, and the beliefs of Israel if God is not their God. Because they are no longer God’s people, they are outsiders, just like the Gentiles. Therefore, YHWH’s betrothal with His people mentioned in Hosea is a betrothal to those who are not His people. Whether these people are ethnically Jewish or not, the reality is that they are spiritually Gentiles and outside of the covenant just like Gentiles. Because of these things, it doesn’t seem like a violation of the text to talk about Gentiles becoming a part of God’s covenant people.

My second thought is that Paul is bringing a new covenant understanding to old covenant words. While Hosea’s message was intended for the Jewish people and was about God calling Jewish people sons of God, in light of the coming of the Messiah Paul understands that what Hosea was talking about was more expansive than Hosea realized. Because Paul lived in the time where God was wooing His people and betrothing them as Hosea described, Paul realized more about it. By using these verses to explain that God is including Gentiles into the Kingdom, Paul isn’t changing the meaning the text, he is expanding it. This more expansive and inclusive understanding of the text is necessary because this Messianic Kingdom is open to everyone. Here in this place those who were once far from God are now His beloved children.

Creation: The WTF of It All

I read through the first chapter of Genesis recently. What struck me about wasn’t i’s beautiful poetry. It wasn’t its consistent rhythm through repetition, flow of the writing, or the images it pictorializes. What struck me as I read through the chapter was a question: “Why the hell does this chapter even exist?”*

Seriously. Why did God even go about creating everything anyway? I think I’ve thought about that question before and I have some silly, insignificant, and inadequate intellectual answers to it. But I never really thought about how unsatisfactory my answers were. How unsatisfactory every answer seems to be. It doesn’t make sense to my soul.

From my highly limited human perspective (let’s remember I ultimately came from dust, whose predecessor was nothingness), I don’t see why God would have a reason for creating this universe, this world, these people. He doesn’t need it. It’s not like He’s bored. He’s infinite. It’s not like He’s lonely, He’s inherently communal and inherently adequate in and of Himself. There is not any sort of thing he is missing or lacking or needing or negative feeling that creating the Universe fixes. He’s perfect, complete, whole, and just peachy without this universe, this world, these people. But, out of nothing, He created it anyway.

It makes me feel really small. Not in a bad way, but in a true way. What a fleeting existence I live! Just a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. I live in a world where everything was created by a word and could disappear from existence for all of timelessness through another word. And I am just a microscopic part of this physicality. Whatever I do is quite irrelevant. It doesn’t really matter. I’m a small person in a small universe that exists because someone created it who has no need for it. Everything I do, everything I can change, and everything I can have a positive effect on are all things that don’t exist to fill any real need anyway.

But my logic is too twisted. I think that arising out of nothing with no need for our existence means our existence is meaningless. But I’m wrong. Because everything I do does have meaning. Meaning that transcends this small universe and yet is intimately related to it. It all has meaning because the God who created everything says it has meaning. He made life and He gave life real purpose. In Genesis we find that after creating everything, His special project was not the massive and beautiful universe, but humanity. Special life was given to humanity, God’s Spirit. Special meaning was given to humanity, doing God’s work on Earth.

Even though I think my existence is insignificant because we weren’t needed, God’s reason for creating is actually much more powerful because it comes from no need. He created because of desire. He wanted this universe, this world, these people. Only out of desire for us did He create us. That’s stronger than a need and more beautiful than an obligation or an accident. It’s so unnecessary for YHWH to do what He has done, and that is what makes it so incredible.

The most fascinating part about the Creation to me is what follows it. It is incredible that there is a God powerful enough to speak the world into being, but what is just as incredible is that a God that overwhelmingly awesome would also be so humble in his intimate closeness to humanity throughout the course of history. What follows creation is God relating with people. Frustrating people like me. Terribly naïve and shortsighted individuals and groups… like me. YHWH constantly interacts with messed up people who have a need for Him just to take their next breath, but they don’t desire Him. And a perfect God who has no need for the obstinate people He created, but He desires them anyway. I can’t communicate it, but the God I know is just unbelievable. But I believe and I’m alive.

*It doesn’t really exist for any reason related to hell.

Another Way To Destroy Your Relationship With God

Please read the addendum to the previous post.

As I was writing my last post on whoredom, I was thinking about a way that we keep ourselves from God by acting in a way that often feels like it’s right and just and what God would want. A friend who commented on my whore post cleanly summed it up, “I feel dirty.” It is true that we have earned death with our sin and that our sin has made us dirty and contemptible. This is not a bad place to be, but it is a horrible place to stay. Merry Christmas! The Messiah is here!

Jesus has come. This changes our very reality. Jesus has come to save us from our sins. Jesus has come to take away the sin of the world. Jesus has come to reunite us with our God by becoming sin on our behalf in so doing justifying us and through forgiveness, freeing us from the consequence of separation caused by our lustful betrayal. Jesus has come to purify us from all unrighteousness. Jesus has come to redeem our lost innocence, purity, and intimacy, bringing us back to the days when we walked hand in hand with God and returned His love in a world marked by the unadulturated goodness of God’s Kingdom.* Its freaking good news.

So, although you don’t deserve it you whore, forgiveness, purity, redemption, love, intimacy, innocence, unity, oneness, freedom, trust, and a new life have been offered to you. All of these things are at our fingertips. God, through Jesus, has offered them to us. God has found us in our infidelity and wrapped us in his loving arms, asking us only to also wrap our arms around him. It seems like a no-brainer to accept these. Or, at least, decide that we don’t want to be faithful to God because He’s not our type, and live as unfaithfully as we can because we don’t think the relationship is worth it. Accepting or a flat out oppositional rejection both make sense. But people often do a third thing.

People often, after realizing the depth of their sin and its destructiveness and their disgusting lifestyles and how horrifying their infidelity is, respond with shame and sit in shame and live in shame. They go around feeling dirty all the time. Dirtiness is their reality. They talk to God about how dirty they are and ashamed they are and sinful they are. They talk to others about their sin and about how bad they feel about it. They understand the horror of their sin, which is awesome, but they stop there. They try to comply with the rules that they believe God wants them to follow as they feel ashamed of themselves.

You know what happens? Usually, they just sin more. People that feel ashamed and dirty rarely truly feel like it has much significance to do something shameful and dirty. If your hands are covered in poop, you’re not going to be very concerned about touching a pile of dirt. Then, they feel more ashamed and they go back to trying to make up for their terrible actions by complying with rules they think God has. They become unintentional Law abiders, defined completely by whether or not they obey the live according to God’s regulations.

You know what doesn’t happen? Intimacy with God. It’s really difficult to be intimate with someone when you’re trying to redeem yourself by following rules that can’t bring about redemption. It’s really difficult to be intimate with someone when you’re trying to earn their love when what you have earned their hate. It’s really difficult to be intimate with someone when you’re trying to deserve their forgiveness for something you can never deserve forgiveness for. You can’t be intimate with someone you are ashamed to embrace.

They also get a host of terrible advice. Here’s a small paraphrased sampling: “You’re a really good person and are awesome to be around, you don’t have to be ashamed.” “You have to learn to love yourself.” ”Everyone struggles with that, you’re fine.” “If you just were more obedient to God’s rules, you wouldn’t feel so bad about yourself.” “You need to learn to forgive yourself.” You can keep saying these things, but they don’t help. I’m all for encouragement, but those who will not accept what God has offered them need to know the following.

They are sitting in their shame because of their arrogance. Here’s an enlightening what if scenario about a familiar story. In John 8 Jesus keeps a woman from being stoned who was caught committing adultery and says that he doesn’t condemn her, telling her to go and live more faithfully. What if she would have walked away and started throwing rocks in the air and running underneath them as they fell so she was hit by her own stones? Her self-condemnation would not be admirable or pious, it would be foolish and arrogant. If Jesus does not condemn her, who is she to condemn herself? How incredibly proud would she have to be to stone herself when she thought she deserved it! She would be trying to get what she deserved instead of accepting the freedom through forgiveness that Jesus offered.

This is what people do when they live ashamed of their sin. They have made the decision that they will not accept the free gift that God offers and instead will try to deserve it or will live forever knowing they are unworthy, thinking that knowledge of unworthiness and not accepting undeserved forgiveness is somehow admirable or pious. The reason there is no intimacy in living ashamed of one’s own sin is because to live in shame is to reject God’s forgiveness, redemption, new life, and reconciliation into intimacy. While there are always a million other issues that play into it, at the core, it is always only hubris that keeps one, who knows they need God’s grace, from accepting His undeserved gift.

Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up. If you are not lifted, you are mistaking shame and condemnation for humility. Life that is truly life is at your fingertips if you would simply let go of your arrogance and accept what God offers. You don’t have to live in shame any longer. You don’t have to distance yourself from God. You don’t have to engage in self destructive behavior anymore. You don’t have to punish yourself, condemn yourself, ridicule yourself, or hate yourself. You don’t have to feel dirty anymore.

“You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Merry F-ing Christmas!

 

*All of these concepts deserve books. But, as you know, sloth and apathy are the other lovers I am prone to embrace. I embrace them now by not writing multiple books.

You’re Not Hosea In This Story

One of the most powerful images of God’s love in Scripture is found in the story of the prophet Hosea. For me, it is one of the most emotionally poignant concepts in Scripture. It strikes my soul. It has transformed and continues to form the way I conceptualize reality. Perhaps telling you why will tenderize you the way it softens my stony heart.

Hosea was stupidly faithful (stupid in a good way). YHWH told Hosea that he was to marry a woman that God knew would be unfaithful to him. God knew that this woman sold her body and would continue to do so even while she was married. Hosea married her. She cheated on him repeatedly and consistently. She even had kids that Hosea named as his own, but would really have no idea whether those kids were his or some dudes that she had an affair with. People Hosea knew talked to him about the sexual relationship they had with his wife. Hosea was betrayed over and over and over by his unfaithful wife and yet He took her back and loved her again and again and again. Why did God want Hosea to do this? He wanted to demonstrate how Hosea’s relationship with his wife was a microcosm of God’s relationship with His people.

I get this, it connects with me. This story hurts me. I feel Hosea’s pain. I think that all people, even if they haven’t directly felt the pain of having a significant other cheat on them, have some understanding of how it feels to be betrayed by someone close to them. I think all of us have some experience of what it is like to feel someone relationally significant to you treat your trust and the relationship flippantly. Betrayal is the second worst feeling in the world.

The worst is feeling the pain that comes from realizing that you have betrayed someone you love and treated the relationship flippantly. You know who wants to feel that? No one. I’ve avoided it myself and watched so many others do the same. Listen to how most people talk about their sin. People talk about it like it’s bad, but not a huge deal because God has forgiven them for it. Or they talk about how it’s human to sin and everyone sins and that’s why we need God’s grace. Maybe they mostly talk about the sin of others and do this sick comparison thing where they perceive others are worse than them so that they can feel better about themselves. People tend to treat sin as inconsequential because it just plain sucks to acknowledge you are the betrayer.

But sin is not inconsequential. It is as destructive to our relationship with God as an act of infidelity is to a marriage. Our sin is absolutely disgusting and it destroys intimacy with God. Our choices of sin are acts of betrayal and infidelity and they hurt God in the way that a husband who catches his wife cheating on him with another man is hurt. We are violating God’s trust, abusing his forgiveness, and showing with our actions how meaningless our relationship with God is to us. Our sin is disgusting and destructive.

It is only when we realize how terrifically horrifying our sins are that we understand and appreciate God’s mercy. It is only then that we can be intimate. If a husband offers forgiveness but an unfaithful wife thinks that what she did was an insignificant act that isn’t really a big deal, how close to you think that couple will be? The wife has to admit that what she has done is terribly destructive, have an appreciation for the forgiveness of her husband, and rebuild trust with her husband through a life of faithfulness or else there is no hope for the relationship. There will be little intimacy for those who make excuses for their destructive behavior. There is no way that you will ever see God’s love for what it is if you do not first see you for what you are.

You are the whore. God has taken you as his bride. You have whored yourself to people that matter little. God has reaffirmed his love for you. You display your shameful infidelity with pride. God shouts his love for you from the rooftops. You have broken all your promises. In His faithfulness, God’s wants to renew his vows. Your heinous acts have destroyed your most important relationship. God wants to restore Himself to you. Your prostitution has left your life in ruins. God wants to rebuild it with you. You have run from him into the arms of many other men. God waits for your return with open arms. You are a dirty, betraying whore. God loves you and wants to make you pure and reconcile with you.

Addendum: It has been brought to my attention that all of the yous and generalized way of speaking about the text disconnects me from the story and it feels like I’m talking from a place of authority to a reader. I just wanted to say that most of this is me trying to make the story hit you in a way similar to how it has hit me. Let me be clear about this: I’m the whore too. We have all been the whore. That’s what’s so amazing about God’s love and infinite mercy. Let’s live to reflect and honor both.