Forgiveness: Self Awareness and the Cross

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Forgiveness: Self Awareness and the Cross

Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher

Focus: We will finally have the freedom to love Jesus and others when we realize how much forgiveness is offered at the cross. 

• Comparisons

• Self Awareness and the Cross

• Forgiven Much to Love Much

Luke 7:36-50

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Comparisons

Comparisons can be good for godly motivation or destructive separation. 

Comparisons provide godly motivation when they propel you to a greater love for Jesus and others.  

Comparisons are destructive when they produce judgments towards others giving you a false sense of superiority, value or worth.  

Jesus was providing godly motivation for the Pharisees by comparing their love to the gratitude of the sinful woman.  

He allowed no mention of the woman’s sin being greater than that of the Pharisees’.  

Christ is our standard for righteousness. 

The only person to whom we should ever compare ourselves is Jesus, who will be our ultimate judge (John 5:22, 23).  

In this we are both humbled and liberated knowing that Christ has come to be our glorious Savior.  

This allows us to relate with those who were formerly natural enemies and covenant with those who have been likewise redeemed, living now under the Lordship of Christ. 

You are Closer than You Think

“The reason there are so many exhortations in the New Testament for Christians to love other Christians is because . . . the church itself is not made up of natural “friends.” It is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together not because they form a natural collocation, but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance. In this light we are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake. That is the only reason why John 13:34–35 makes sense when Jesus says: “A new command I give you—Love one another as I have loved you.”’ . . . Christian love will stand out and bear witness to Jesus because it is a display, for Jesus’ sake, of mutual love among social incompatibles.“

-Don Carson

So again, it does not matter another’s income, education or achievement level - if you think yourself morally superior, then you’ve become their judge, and the poisoning of your relationship ultimately follows.

Beware the trap of the Pharisees. 

The Pharisees were religious, but their comparisons drove people away from God rather than towards him.  

So what can come against such a supernatural testimony and display to which Don Carson refers?

A lack of self awareness. 

Self-Awareness and the Cross

We all need a dose of self-awareness realizing that the cross of Christ is the great leveling agent of humanity.  

The self awareness that Jesus was bringing to the Pharisees was to result in a greater love for God and others on whom they would naturally place judgment. 

In the woman’s case above, Jesus was clearly placing a premium on humility, self-awareness and an indebted sense of devotion to God.  

We all need to have a greater awareness of our own sin. 

When we are truly walking in the revelation of the forgiveness of Jesus, an awareness of our own sin does not lead to further condemnation, but a greater sense of liberty and desire for obedience because of God’s grace towards us.  

As with the sinful woman, the kindness shown to us is what provokes us to love Jesus and others more out of great gratitude towards God.  

A greater awareness of our sin keeps the cross of Christ at the center of our thoughts and the joy of our salvation in our hearts.  

No one is too high and no one is too low to lack the need of the cross of Christ. 

Without an awareness of our common need for forgiveness, divisions abound in relationships and society at large. 

“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without overcoming this double exclusion—without transposing the enemy from the sphere of monstrous inhumanity into the sphere of shared humanity and herself from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. When one knows that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and imitate God’s love for him. And when one knows that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself . . . and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.”

-Miroslav Volf

Don’t forget yourself. 

The opposite of humility is self-righteousness. 

Remembering others’ sin but not our own is pride.

Self-righteousness is a sin which sets your internal estimation of yourself in superiority to those who surround you.

It leads to a vitriolic condemnation of others and cuts off our ability to appeal to them on the basis of the gospel of Christ.  

Never exalt singular issues or agendas over the gospel of Christ (I Corinthians 15). 

The reality is that we live in a fallen world and people will sin.  

The hope for the nations is to change hearts and not just policies. 

Our job is to remain in Christ and in a posture to love sinners, build bridges and bring them home to God through repentance and faith in Jesus.  

The Pharisees' lack of self-awareness prevented them from doing so with the sinful woman.  

So again, beware the trap of the Pharisees. 

The Pharisees were religious, but their lack of self-awareness built divisions rather than bridges between themselves and others.    

Forgiven Much to Love Much

We will love Jesus and others fervently when we realize that God has treated us undeservedly.  

Luke 18:9-14

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We are to fight the battles of the Lord, but realize that in any contest of ideas, both parties need to be taken to not only the judgment seat, but also the cross of Christ for an opportunity to find mercy through repentance. 

When I am emptied of self-righteousness, I can be filled with the love needed to lead others to such faith in Jesus.   

This love provides me the ability to speak the truth with Christ’s and others interests in mind, knowing that God will look out for and exalt me as I do so.  

I know that if I humble myself before God and in my treatment towards others, God himself will work on the behalf of righteousness in my situation.  

If I am godless or self-righteous in my treatment towards others, God will humble me and frustrate my cause.  

Proverbs 24:17-18

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

Again, beware the trap of the Pharisees. 

The above Pharisee was religious, but his self-righteousness brought the displeasure of God rather than his approval.  

There is a difference between confidence and arrogance.  

We should have great strength produced from our confidence in God.  

However, we want to forever make our boasts in Christ alone (I Corinthians 1).  

The closer you get to God, his purity and his holiness, the greater awareness you have of your own shortcomings and sin.  

Self-righteousness is a tell-tale indicator of one’s true proximity to God.  

We have the ability to walk in the freedom of forgiveness even when we don’t see eye to eye with others.  

Living a life of forgiveness does not mean that you agree about everything, but that you learn to live graciously and lovingly towards one another. 

When God has clearly spoken in his word, he demands obedience. 

Where there is Biblical silence, there is room for discussion based on the character, ways and heart of God so that we might be led by the Holy Spirit and find the mind of Christ.  

The only agreement that is imperative is agreeing with God and his word.  

And in this word we are commanded to be reconciled with God and one another through the cross of Jesus Christ.  

Why?

Because as Martin Luther King wrote, 

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power of love. . . .We can never say, ‘I will forgive you, but I won’t have anything further to do with you.’ Forgiveness means reconciliation, and coming together again.”

So let’s pursue love of both Christ and one another today being humbled by the cross and strengthened by God’s great forgiveness offered to us. 

 Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

Lent - Part 1

Our Trials

Show us our limits

James 1:1-11
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Our Temptations

Show us our need for Christ

James 1:12-25
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Our Target

Shows us God's trajectory for our lives

God's commands give us practical targets in life towards which we can aim. 

James 1:26-27
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017

Thankful

Thankful

Focusing on what we are thankful for should never be done just once a year.  Just as people are thinking about beginning new exercise routines after their Thanksgiving feasting, so we need to have a plan for how we will work out a heart of gratitude.  A heart of thankfulness should be seen as a muscle that must be developed in a lifestyle of worshiping Jesus.  Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a happy, healthy Christian and one who feels like they are barely making it?  Today we will do a little "C.S.I." work to uncover the keys in Christ-centered understanding of blessings, the importance of sharing blessings and the discipline of taking inventory of our blessings.  

Things are not always easy for us but these are things that Christians throughout history have learned to buoy their walks with God.  The more difficult your circumstance, the more this rings true.

Psalm 50:23
"The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

C.S.I. of Thankfulness: 

What separates a happy, healthy Christian from one who is embittered and struggling?

1) Christ-centered in their understanding of blessings 

They have their hearts set on the eternal.

Hebrews 12:27-29
This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. 

“Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.”
-AW Tozer

Hebrews 13:12-15
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 

In practice:
Exercise your faith by daily expressing a sacrifice of praise to God. Circumstances will come and go. Invite God into your daily existence through the exercise of a submitted praise that He might bring you into His salvation.  Jesus has and will continue to work on your behalf. 

“Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.”
—J.I. Packer 

2) Share their Blessings 

With possessions

Hebrews 13:16
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 

“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. Could you therefore work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it turns all that it touches into happiness.”  
-William Law in the 18th century classic, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

In practice:
Honor God with your giving and share what He's given you that others might honor Him as well.  

With parlance

Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. 

In practice:
Start and end every conversation with a sincere expression of that for which you can thank God. It will change your attitude, mood, the atmosphere of your surroundings and relationships. 

3) Inventory their Blessings

“Everything about God is great, vast, incomparable. He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forfeits His word.”
―Arthur W. Pink 

Psalm 103:1-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 

"In one 2003 study, gratitude experts Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami asked some participants to keep a record of what they were grateful for, while others were asked to list the hassles in their lives. After several weeks, those in the gratitude group had a more positive outlook on life, exercised more and reported fewer physical problems.

Emmons also has compiled a list of health data points from his and others’ studies on gratitude that show there are many emotional and physical health benefits of being consciously thankful. For example, practicing gratitude is related to 23 percent lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and led to a 7 percent reduction in biomarkers of inflammation in patients with congestive heart failure. There are studies that suggest gratitude led to reductions in depression and blood pressure and improvement in sleep quality among those with chronic pain and insomnia. In one study, 88 percent of suicidal patients reported feeling less hopeless after writing a letter of gratitude."
―https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/11/24/the-science-behind-why-you-shouldnt-stop-giving-thanks-after-thanksgiving/

In practice:
Start your prayer life each day with thanking God for all of the good that you can think of. Journal it and testify to God's faithfulness for your and others' future faith endeavors. 

Psalm 100:1-5
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. 

Understand that in addition to family, provision, health and friends, the greatest blessing for which we should give thanks is Christ purchasing our salvation at the cross.  Come to Him and rest in His salvation with a thankful heart today and always. 

“Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief.” 
—John Calvin

Second City Church: Thankful Sermon 2016

Body Talk: Part 3

Our Place in One Another's Lives

CHRIST CARES

John 11:1-16
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory ofGod, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 

CHRIST HEALS

"How can you cope with the end a world and the beginning of another one? How can you put an earthquake into a test-tube, or the sea into a bottle? How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that the fire has become flesh, that life itself came to life and walked in our midst? Christianity either means that, or it means nothing. It is either the more devastating disclosure of the deepest reality in the world, or it’s a sham, a nonsense, a bit of deceitful play-acting. Most of us, unable to cope with saying either of those things, condemn ourselves to live in the shallow world in between…
– N.T. Wright, For All God’s Worth

Fighting through very real hurts and disappointments

"Faultfinding without suggestions for improvement is a waste of time." - Ralph C. Smedley, Founders of Toastmasters International

Matthew 7:1-5
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

CHRIST CREATES COMMUNITY

God's design:

No one is an independent contractor. What I do affects my family (in Christ) and what my family (in Christ) does affects me. 

John 11:38-44
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 

Referenced this clip in the message. Listen to the podcast. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lCdY8xS_TGE

Ephesians 5:18-21
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

Proverbs 18:1
Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. 

Jesus is the one who miraculously raises dead parts of our hearts and existence to life.  He then commands that those in your church family help unwrap the grave's clothes and help you get released when you are stuck. The only way it doesn't work is if you don't submit (Ephesians5:18-21) or avail yourself (Proverbs 18:21) (picture Lazarus trying to hop away).  

Come to Christ and His cross to be transformed.  Engage His people to see the grave clothes come off.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Repentance and humility - choosing to do things His way will bring us into that life.

Second City Church: Body Talk Sermon Series 2016