This week we begin a
new series called “The 7 Greatest Words of History.” Hint: All are spoken by
the same man in the space of 3 hours. In fact, taken together the truth of
these words alone can satisfy the deep needs of the human heart.
*****
There is nothing harder for us to have penetrate our minds
and our hearts than the unconditional, noncontingent grace of God. The truth is
that the Gospel of grace upends our sense of fairness and offends our deepest
instincts. We insist that reality operate according to the predictable economy
of reward and punishment, especially when it comes to those who have done us
harm.
Even those who have tasted the radical saving grace of Jesus
Christ find it intuitively difficult not to put conditions on it when we try to
communicate it to others—“Don’t take it too far; keep it balanced.” A “yes
grace, but” posture permeates the church today and perpetuates spiritual
slavery. The truth is, Divine Grace is radically unbalanced. It contains no “but”.
It is unconditional. It is uncontrollable. It is unpredictable, or else it is
not grace.
Years ago a dear, long-standing mentor of mine paid me the
greatest compliment I’ve ever remembered receiving. He said to another (who
reported it to me), “He gets grace!” I can think of no higher compliment, for as
Doug Wilson puts it, “Grace is wild. Grace unsettles everything. Grace
overflows the banks. Grace messes up your hair. Grace is not tame. In fact,
unless we are making the devout nervous, we are not preaching grace as we
ought.”
I once read of a woman who came to her pastor for a
listening ear after her divorce was final. She was consumed by anger at her ex-husband,
and it was spilling out into her other relationships. She had plenty of reason
to be mad. He had treated her terribly and then abandoned her at a very
vulnerable time in her life. Who could blame her for being angry?
After she had poured out the depth of her rancor he asked
her, “Do you think there’s any way you might forgive him?”
She replied, “Forgive him! He would never ask for
forgiveness! And unless he asks for it, I would never grant it. And even then,
I’d have to really believe him. I’d have to see some real change. After all, we
are only called to forgive those who have repented. That’s how God works.”
Oh really? What God is that? Now there are plenty of reasons
why she might not forgive or be able to forgive her ex-husband, but invoking
God as her example is not one of them. If God forgave only those who sincerely
repented and changed their ways, it would be a very short list! In her
victimhood and woundedness, this women had lost sight of the fact that God had
forgiven her—and continued to forgive her. In the midst of her sin and pride,
she had lost sight of the fact that if He waited for her to straighten out, He
would wait forever.
The same could be true for the disciples, the woman at the
well, the woman caught in the act of adultery, Zacchaeus, the thief on the
cross, the woman with eleven years of chronic bleeding, etc., etc. If any
single statement of Jesus proves the unconditionality of grace it’s Jesus’
first word from the cross, found in Luke 23—“Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do.”
In preparation for Sunday’s message entitled, “Father, Forgive
Them” you may wish to consider the following:
1. What did Don Henley say/sing about forgiveness? Do you
agree?
2. On what grounds does Jesus issue forgiveness?
3. Is there any significance to this being His first statement from
the cross?
4. How does Luke 23:34 square with all of the other times Jesus
issues forgiveness throughout His life?
5. What is significant about Luke’s description of the scene in
verse 32 and 33 as the context of Jesus’ statement?
6. In what form does Jesus speak the words of forgiveness?
7. On what grounds does He ask the Father to forgive “them”?
8. To whom to these words apply?
9. How wide is this forgiveness?
10. “God loves you as you are, not as you should be, because
none of us will ever be as we should be.” Do you agree? Do you think Jesus
agrees?
See you Sunday!
