God's Plan Of Debt-Forgiveness

There are things that happen in everyday life that remind me of heavenly truth. Sometimes, even things that are what some call “hot button issues” that often divide folks along political lines, can remind us of heavenly truth. For example, there is a lot of talk these days about "debt forgiveness" and other sorts of help for people struggling to survive. Some people are for these things and others against them. I'm not up here to talk about that earthly aspect but rather to show, how things many often see as secular issues, in fact, mirror spiritual realities. Regardless of what you think regarding the political side, the fact is debt-forgiveness is a spiritual reality that determines our eternity.

At Snow Prairie, being “protestant” if you want to use that term, we are non-denominational, so I don't really get into labels, I tell folks, we just try to follow Jesus. Still, if you want to get absolutely technical, we would be considered protestant. As such, we have differences in theology from Catholicism. Yet, I think Catholicism can teach us something that many protestants don't seem to get. I'm referring to the Catholic church's emphasis on looking out for the needy, placing strong emphasis as loving your neighbor as yourself. I was reading a Catholic article recently and came across this wonderful quote by Father Matt Tebbe from Indianapolis. He writes, "As Christians, we owe our very existence to debt forgiveness. Christ loved us by forgiving us the debt of our sins (1 John 4:10), and he commanded us to love each other in the same way (John 13:34). To love as Jesus loves us is to participate in the debt-canceling reciprocity of God’s kingdom economy. Jesus instructs us to pray that our debts be forgiven as we forgive those indebted to us (Luke 11:4; Matt. 6:12, 14), referring to what we owe each other economically and socially. Our modern, secular vision often (separates) the spiritual from the material. But in God’s kingdom, the social and economic dimensions are spiritual.”

He's spot on, in God's kingdom, everything is spiritual. He's also correct that as followers of Christ, our eternity rests entirely on debt forgiveness, a debt paid FOR US by Christ on the cross. The gospel, in a nutshell, can be summed up as debt-forgiveness. As I said last week, the concept of debt-forgiveness goes back to Deuteronomy where God said,

"You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must CANCEL ANY DEBT your fellow Israelite owes you. However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today....If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them." In the NT God says, "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." I John 3:17-18

If we see someone struggling to survive, trying their best but still in want, and we are able to help them, we're supposed to. In fact, God gives a rhetorical question that implies if we do not, then His love is not in us. Why is this important in reference to the gospel? Well, the passage from Deuteronomy is what theologians call a type. Typology in is concept in theology of relating OT and NT. Events, persons or statements are seen as types or pictures of NT realities. For example, Jonah may be seen as the type of Christ in that he emerged from the fish's belly and thus appeared to rise from death, Jesus referenced Jonah, as he was three days and nights in the great fish, that Jesus would be 3 days and nights in the grave. David, contrary to numerous books and sermons is NOT a picture of us and Goliath is NOT our problems. David is a type or a picture of Christ whereas Goliath is a type of of sin and Satan. David delivered Israel, just as Christ delivered us. The debt-cancellation in Deuteronomy is a type, a picture of our redemption, God canceling our sin-debt because of the cross!

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. He died to pay a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt to God we could not pay. So, God, in His love and mercy canceled our debt, by paying for it Himself by sending Jesus who,