Abortion and Grace

“For all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God…” Paul to the Romans, chapter 3, verse 23

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life…” John the Apostle, chapter the third, 16th verse.

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I read a blog post yesterday that angered me. It pointed to a great problem, a great sin, then it stopped. It offered the reader nothing by way of a solution to the great problem, the great sin. I’d like to begin, sort of, where that post began and then finish that post by adding what was forgotten.

• It is wrong to steal.
• It is wrong to have gay sex.
• It is wrong to lie.
• It is wrong to cheat.
• It is wrong to fornicate.
• It is wrong to commit adultery.
• It is wrong to be racist.
• It is wrong to get drunk.
• It is wrong to be gluttonous.
• It is wrong to murder.
• It is wrong to get an abortion.
• It is wrong to lust.
• It is wrong to lie about the preacher.
• It is wrong to abuse your spouse or children.
• It is wrong to worship idols.
• It is wrong kidnap.
• It is wrong to disobey your parents.
• It is wrong to swindle.
• It is wrong to be greedy.
• It is wrong to rape.

Yes. Yes. I could go on and on and on. The post I have in mind was discussing abortion and it’s offensiveness. I agree with the post I read: Abortion is a heinous, despicable, vile, disgusting offense. Those things mentioned above are wrong too; they are sin. There is no debating this in my mind or in Scripture for that matter.

But abortion is not the unforgivable sin. Never has been. Never will be. In the crazy economy of the kingdom of God, a person could have 490 abortions in one day and repent and God, in his mercy and grace, would forgive that person because of Jesus Christ. I mean, why wouldn’t he since he expects us to do nothing less? I don’t think God expects people to do things that he himself isn’t willing to do. Thus, forgiveness.

Abortion is not an unforgivable sin.

None of the things I mentioned is the or an unforgivable sin.

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We have ample evidence in our world of all the things that are wrong with us and all the things we do badly and all the sin we have committed and all the idols we have worshiped and all the judgment we have invited into our lives and all the times we have crucified Christ all over again and again and again…

We have sufficient testimony to all the grievous destruction that our sin has wrought upon this earth.

We have enough people pointing out the sin that plagues the United States of America and Russia and England and Brazil and Antarctica and, well, you get the point.

But Jesus did not tell us to go around moralizing did he? (This is not rhetorical.)

I’m not even sure he told us to go around pointing out sin, although, when the Gospel is properly preached I think that sin will necessarily be a part of the discussion. After all, it is terribly difficult to call folks to repentance if some mention of sin has not happened.

Jesus did tell us to go and preach the good news, the Gospel. (Luke 9:1-2, and 6, among others). We have good news! We are told to preach good news! Why did he tell us to preach good news? Could it be that there are enough others preaching the bad news?

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“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.–Jesus, as recorded by the evangelist Matthew 11:27-29

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I want to find 100,000 ways to say: God forgives you in and because of Jesus Christ. I hate writing this post because some might conclude that I am not opposed to abortion, or that I think there are no consequences to our behavior, but that would be to miss my point. I am very opposed to abortion, but I also realize that people sin, do wrong, make mistakes and have otherwise poor judgment, and that it was the sick, weak, broken, hurting, desperate sinners, like me, like them, that Christ came to save, redeem, ransom, and atone for.

Jesus didn’t come to condemn; why do we think he has assigned us that role?

The author of the post in question did a great job pointing out a great sin, but the problem with the post is simple: While it gave us a great picture of a moralized America where everyone plays in an orchestra or knits flags and worships at the throne of conservative politicians, it did nothing to offer a solution to the real problem of sin. It’s a powerful picture, but it is not necessarily one Christ has drawn. It is a terrible problem, but there was no solution offered. What’s the point of ranting about the problem when there is no solution offered at all?

We didn’t get a picture of the Kingdom of God where forgiveness is free and we receive grace as a man filling a cup under a waterfall.*  We got a picture of a moralized America where there is condemnation for every perpetrator, but no hope whatsoever. If an expectant single-mother or a suddenly pregnant husband and wife swimming in debt is debating her/their pregnancy right now and read that post, she/they would be left despairing and hopeless; feeling nothing but condemnation.

The author would have us condemn all who have had abortions and reject them as mere weak Americans who lack courage and are interested only in their bank balance and credit card statements. Christ would welcome them into his kingdom as the very ones he came to save precisely because they are greedy, murderous, and lack the intestinal fortitude to be self-controlled–because they are sinners!

So here I offer what the post in question did not offer: Hope. It’s easy to condemn; much harder to think and believe that God is foolish enough to forgive us rebels just because he can and wants to.

If you have ever had an abortion or over-spent on your credit cards, if you have filed bankruptcy because you have no self-control, if you are a coward, if you are hopeless and think you are running on empty, if you have no where to go and you think you are out of options–there’s hope! There’s grace! There’s forgiveness of your sins! Christ has payed the price for your sins. There’s Good News! Christ has not rejected you. There’s still hope! There’s still a message of peace and forgiveness to you because of Jesus. Christ will take away your guilt. Christ will heal your wounds. Christ will save you from the hopeless, endless cycle of condemnation and death.

You can join us, all us sinners here, all us imperfect, unkempt, undone, depressed, forgiven-by-God sinners here. We welcome you to join in the story that Christ is writing and has written. We welcome you to taste and see that His Grace is Good. We welcome you to be forgiven in the Name of Jesus.

“…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.” The same Paul, to the same Romans, chapter 3, verse 24.

“…For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” the same John the Apostle, the same third chapter, the 17th verse.

On the Wayness

I’d like to share a thought or two on the subject of Christian Unity. I am a preacher by calling, and as such, lately, I have been preaching a series of sermons to my congregation on this ever so strange idea of Christian Unity or as I prefer to call it, essential oneness. I have been preaching this series of sermons because my congregation has been going through some difficult times lately and we needed to be reminded of what Scripture says about our oneness in Christ.

It’s no small thing for a church to be one in heart, mind, and ambition. If you think about what Christ did when he brought us together it is really quite remarkable. He pulls people together who are different races (although we all belong to the human race), people of different colors, people of different nationalities, people from different religious backgrounds, people from differing social backgrounds (‘rich’ and ‘poor’), men, woman, young, old–the list could go on–and he throws us all into one great big bag that he calls ‘church’ and says: “Find a way to make it work.” Find a way to make it work?!? Seriously? Seriously.

Jesus knew, knows, what he is doing; doesn’t he? I mean, no two people come into the church with the same history or motivation or even theological ideas. For that matter, no two people ever even retain those original theological ideas. As few as 10 years ago, I would never have considered an Anglican preacher to be among my best of friends–simply because of theological ideas. You know what, today I can; and I am glad for it. The problem we have, I think, is that we in the church are far too concerned about the baggage that people carry with them after they become Christians. We sort of seem to think they ought to drop it all right away and get on board the Jesus train. When it takes longer, we get frustrated, irritated, angry, and begin to lack patience; love might slip.

That is, we think that people need to be remade into our image. You know what I mean, right?

That’s when problems creep into the church–when we forget to love. So we believe things like this:

• Those people who are not maturing at the same rate as I am are bothersome.
• Those people who are not thinking like I am theologically are weaklings.
• Those people who do not see things the way I see them are troublemakers.

We think that anyone who is not ‘like me’ is, clearly, not a Christian at all. Or worse. You know what the problem with all this is? We are not being remade in the image of other human beings! That’s the glory of it all! I don’t have to stack up against other humans, because they are not the template; they are not the standard; they are not the goal. Jesus is. Paul wrote in Colossians 3 that we are being recreated in the image of our creator who is Jesus. And none of us is there yet. We are all still on the way. Only those who fail to recognize this ‘on-the-wayness’ lack the courage to be patient with others.

So, then, what does all this have to do with unity in the body of Christ? Well, consider these words from Paul’s pen to the Ephesian church:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.”

(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Be patient with others. Be humble–they may be more advanced than you think. Work at unity in the body. It won’t be easy: work at it. And here’s the thing, if we have a proper view of ourselves (humility) and a proper view of others (patience and bearing with them) then working at unity in the body will be our goal. But if we are not working at maintaining peace, then are we working at war? Even a casual indifference (not working towards unity) is an example of not working at maintaining unity in the body. We must work at unity in the Body of Christ. Work. We cannot afford to not work for peace in the Body because if we don’t work at it war will break out among us.

Growing up is the goal: the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Along with self-sacrificing efforts at unity comes maturity in Christ as we are patient with one another and understand that God has apportioned his grace to us. Unity in the body and maturity in the individual somehow go hand in hand. Then there’s that grace word again! It’s so intrusive isn’t it? So how do we ‘make it work’?

It’s not complicated. He says three times: Bear with one another in Love. Speak the truth in Love. Build up the Body in Love. Do you think we can overstate the case for how much we must love in the Body of Christ? Do we have enough room to love? Can we humble ourselves and love? For the sake of the essential oneness of the Body of Christ can we love one another? Can we recognize that all of us are ‘on the way’ and none of us has arrived?

dg

Can a Christian be Homosexual?

At another blog I write for, I made a post today where I bounced off some ideas that were posted by a man who is a homosexual and a Jesus follower. Wesley Hill wrote a beautiful essay about the struggles he encounters as one who finds himself living in both worlds (he is celibate though).

Hill wrote:

I am drawn to these haunting confessions of Auden’s because I, too, am a homosexual Christian. Since puberty, I’ve been conscious of an exclusive attraction to persons of my own sex. Though I have never been in a gay relationship as Auden was, I have also never experienced the “healing” or transformation of my sexual orientation that some formerly gay Christians profess to have received. But I remain a Christian, a follower of Jesus.

The following paragraphs are the conclusion to the essay I posted across the way.

First, what are we supposed to do as Christians? Can we change people? Is it our job to change people? Can the blind lead the blind? Can the sinner cure the sin? Or can we, or shouldn’t we, love people and let Jesus do the curing and healing? Isn’t it better to recognize that we are all sinners, all in the same boat, all helpless without Jesus? What becomes of me when I think that I can solve the sins of others with the same tactics that were used to solve mine (as if they are solved!)? Do we not all take different paths in Jesus before we are fully healed? Truth of the matter is this: We won’t be like him, no matter how healed we are in this life, until we see him (1 John 3:2).

Second, yes, the Bible says ‘repent’ and ‘leave your life of sin.’ (The Bible even says that ‘that is what some of you were’ with the meaning that ‘that is not what you are now.’) But ironically, or not, these commands are never rescinded. We are called to them over and over again every day. We are called to abandon the flesh every day: take up your cross, deny yourself, follow me. We win. We lose. We succeed. We fail.  Jesus is not so naive to think we will not fail. If he was, I suppose there would be no need for grace, would there? If Jesus commands me and you, people who are incapable of forgiving once, to forgive 70*7, do we think he does any less for the person who struggles to live in the paradox that is Romans 7:14-25? We are not Christian perfectionists if we believe in the Bible’s teachings about grace. I don’t believe Jesus expects us to be.

Third, can a person be a homosexual-Christian? Well, ask yourself: Can a person be a (___)-Christian? It’s not a matter of practice, but a matter of identifying our weakness and living by faith that God’s grace is sufficient even when we fail, and continue to fail over and over again, and precisely because we fail. The question is not ‘How much can I sin before I am no longer considered by God to be a Christian?’ The question is, ‘Will I continue to trust in Jesus, put my faith in Jesus, trust that His grace is sufficient even when I fail? Will I trust God to forgive me? Will I continue to seek His face?’ Frankly, I think it takes a great deal of courage to confess our sins and live by faith. It takes a great deal of honesty to come before the Lord day in and day out confessing sins. But you see, this is what Jesus said too, isn’t it? It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Mark 2:17). It was the man who hid his face and beat his breast that went home justified before God when he prayed (Luke 18:9-14). It was the blind man who had his eyes opened (John 9:41). I think if we are not hyphenated Christians then perhaps we are not Christians at all.

I don’t happen to believe we will ever escape the duel identity of sinner/saint until the day when Christ comes and renews all things. We will always be hyphenated Christians until we see Christ in his fullness and He changes us. So I don’t think the point is that we need to try to imagine what the other person is like before we try to offer up solutions or ‘fix’ them because I don’t happen to think we have the necessary skill set required (i.e. miraculous powers) to fix anyone in the first place. What we have is love. (Only love?) What we have is grace. So we don’t need to imagine anything at all; we shouldn’t offer up any short or long term fixes. What we must do is consider Christ crucified and what we, each one of us, struggles with on our own sin before the hyphen.

Self-examination goes a long way towards not only being able to love others, but also towards practicing continuously loving others. Jesus didn’t tell us to fix people. He told us to love people. We can point in the right direction, but it seems awfully presumptuous to think that we have the solution to anyone’s problems. Living with a hyphen is the Christian’s way of visibly living in and trusting in God’s all sufficient grace.

Stop by Hill’s post. It is worth the read.

dg

We All Need Heroes

I was listening to one of my favorite bands, Foo Fighters, and their song My Hero came on…also one of my favorites…mainly because of the meaning of the song…that ordinary people can be heroic.

Everyone needs a hero. Someone to look up to. Someone to inspire you.

My Dad was my hero. He wasn’t afraid to take chances. He wasn’t afraid to put his heart out there. He wasn’t afraid to risk it all…and he did…a few times. He loved deeply. He loved unconditionally. He loved everyone. To me, he was the truest picture of Jesus Christ.

That picture was forever etched on my memory on the day of his funeral, when there were literally hundreds of people crammed into the little chapel to pay their respects to the man that had “touched their lives”, as many stopped to tell me.

He left a legacy. The legacy of a hero…an ordinary man, willing to do extraordinary things.

My Dad was my hero. He was the reason I turned to Christ. Because he lived his life in a way that when people saw him, they saw Christ.

Who is your hero?

Frozen in Time: A Reflection for Good Friday

Read the Biblical account of Peter denying Jesus here

I have a lot of moments frozen in time in my life. Some of them are fond memories. The moment my daughters actually came into this world, different memories from my wedding day. Graduating from college. I also have some memories that aren’t so good. The day my dad called to tell me that my mom had passed, my “big” car wreck. I’ll spare you all the gory details of my more personal failures and the frozen moments spent hurting people close to me.
Have you ever wondered about Peter? Seriously, have you ever wondered what Good Friday was like for him five years after Christ’s death? Did he have the moment frozen in time where he betrayed Jesus? Did it play in his mind, over and over again? He was human, it had to.

As I  age, I ponder the wisdom that comes with age and I realize the price that is often paid for it. I often find myself pondering the early church fathers, especially the disciples. We like to hit on Peter but the truth is they all denied Christ.  When they would take part in communion how did the movie in their mind go about the last supper? When Peter would hear whatever invectives he used to deny Christ was he instantly transported back to that dark night? Could he smell the fires that were lit around the court yard? Could he feel the bile rise in the back of his throat? What about when he went to put the clothes that he wore that night back on was he transported back to that moment?

Whatever personal regret and demons he may have wrestled with, it certainly didn’t stop him form sharing the gospel. They didn’t stop him from actively making the disciples of all men.  At the end, his fervent belief in Jesus as Messiah cost him his life.
Maybe that is the ultimate message of Peter’s life. He was a living illustration of the fact that we don’t have to live in our “frozen moments.” Jesus died and rose again so you and I can live with a hope. We can live with forgiveness. We can live in a right relationship with Him. We don’t have to agonize over past failures because He paid the price. The debt is paid. Christ conquered death. That is the beauty of this weekend. Jesus died and rose from the dead. His tomb is empty.

Because of that, you and I can live the lives He has called us to live today.  Whatever it is, that haunts you at night when no one else is around, whatever it is that you look back at with great regret, you can be free of it. Christ has paid for it. You’ll never be able to make up for it anyhow. Let it go. Jesus died to save all of you, He paid all of your debt. May you rest in that truth today as you celebrate Good Friday in your corner of the world.

A Christmas Revolution

“Two thousand years later, no one is singing songs about Herod or giving themselves to the kingdom of Caesar. Herod’s kingdom is dust, Rome is ensconced in museums, yet billions gather in the name of Jesus each week. No matter how many Caesars and Herods fill this world, they will never have the last word. The revolution of Jesus will see to that.” –Mike Erre, “Jesus of Suburbia”

Do you have a manager set up in your home or on your front lawn? Often we look into those manger scenes and observe what appears to be a tranquil and placid event. We look at the cherubic looking Christ child in the feeding trough and and we sing, “sleep in heavenly peace”. We call it a “Silent Night”. But it was anything but silent. The arrival of Jesus was anything but peaceful, quiet and subdued. It was a REVOLUTION!

The entrance of God into our world, wrapped in flesh, shook up the status quo. His arrival that fateful Bethlehem night shook the kingdoms of the earth off their fragile foundations. The arrival of Jesus ushered in a kingdom that declared war and stood in direct opposition toward the kingdoms of the day.

Too often we forget that Jesus incited revolution. We forget that his birth was in fact an insurrection against the establishment and “business as usual”. The Christmas Revolution started at the cradle but now that Revolution makes a call upon you and me.

When you are sitting behind another car in Atlanta traffic, you’ve probably seen this sticker on their bumper, “Jesus is the reason for the season” That’s incorrect...YOU are! YOU are the reason for the season.

Jesus came not because it would be cool for God to come in the flesh, but because it was absolutely necessary for Him to come in order for us to have peace with God. Jesus lived a perfect life – a life that you and I couldn’t live. And He paid the penalty of death that you and I should have paid by dying on the cross. What Jesus did on the cross was revolutionary. It allowed us, as sinners, to be reconciled again to a holy God who loves us so dearly.

We must remember though that coming to saving faith in Jesus isn’t so you can just get your ticket punched for heaven but then He doesn’t make any indelible mark on your life this side of heaven. Not at all! When the God of the universe comes into your life, He wants to bring revolution. Your life will get shifted around.

There will be shifts in your priorities. Shifts in your values. Shifts in your desires. Shifts in your heart. Shifts in your motivations.

But lets even get more concrete and practical: Shifts in the way you love your spouse. Shifts in your checkbook. Shifts in how you see and treat other people at work. Shifts in your thought life.

Jesus is a revolutionary. Let Jesus bring revolution to our life. Let that revolution overtake your life this Advent and Christmas season, and Beyond!