CANCELED DEBT
INTRODUCTION: There is a pro basketball player who started out strong but lately has fallen on hard times. Because of injuries he has played in just 10 games over two seasons, and I suppose is frustrated with his low pay since his over ten million dollar a year contract isn't cutting it. Currently, he is in default on a $575,000 loan that he made at a shockingly high 85% interest rate (which you would think was illegal…but it was made in Nevada). He owes $1.2 million to another loan service, has $2.5 million a year garnished from his wages to pay for alimony and child support, owes on most of his 12 cars including a Rolls Royce convertible & two Land Rovers.
According to the AP report, household expenses cost him $30,000 a month, while $17,000 a month goes out to family and friends, $1000 goes out to cable and satellite television, and for some reason $350,000 a month goes out to Juwan Howard. The seven footer has made $57 million over 9 years, but has had to foreclose on his Chicago mansion. Regardless of the amount of money this pro ball player makes, he will not be able to pay back his debt. A debt he can't repay.
As absurd as this person's story is, the reality is that's the boat we're all in; spiritually, that is. We 'accumulated' a debt of sin that cannot be repaid on our own. That's where Jesus comes in. He has the means to pay the debt for us; and he did. And when we received his 'offer' we had our massive debt removed; wiped clean; canceled. Okay, now what? There are two different responses we can have when our debt is canceled-a proper and an improper response. Let's take a look at them.
1) What do we do as an improper response to canceled debt?
Start accumulating more debt.
Think if the basketball player had the opportunity to have his enormous debt wiped out. Can you imagine how excited and relieved he'd be? Then picture him responding to that unbelievable gift by going out and continuing his foolish spending and accumulating more debt! But it happens. People claim bankruptcy and then go out and start racking up more debt. And then they claim bankruptcy again!
What does this behavior stem from? They claim bankruptcy and go right back to accumulating more debt. Why? Because they either don't know any other way to be or they don't care. They didn't learn the lesson that their poor choices got them into this mess.
It can be the same way spiritually. An improper response to having our spiritual debt canceled is to go right back to living how we always did. It could be because we know no other way to live so we're just acting according to how we always lived. But that's not a valid excuse because before we didn't have the Holy Spirit living in us enabling us to live the better way. Now we do and we are called to live according to our new nature. So it's a choice if we continue to live according to our old nature.
Or, it could be we don't care. We know the power is there but we just don't care to change. I would say this response is due to wanting to be saved but not wanting to change. We want Jesus to be our Savior but not our Lord. And that doesn't work; trust me.
Not being appreciative.
Luke 17:11-19, "Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
Here we have a group of Jews (and one Samaritan) who had leprosy; which meant they couldn't remain in regular society, they had to live in their own little area outside of the regular population. Which is why they addressed Jesus from a distance; otherwise they would've made Jesus and those with him unclean. Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priest, which is what one did if they thought they had been cured from leprosy.
I'm sure they were confused since Jesus didn't cure them first and then have them go and show the priests the proof, he told them to go and he cured them along the way. When they realized they were healed instead of responding with gratitude and running back and thanking Jesus, nine of them simply went on their way to do what Jesus said to do. One, however, rushed back to show Jesus his thankfulness before going to the priest.
Now, you might say, 'Perhaps the other nine came back afterwards to thank Jesus'. We're not told but the way the events read and how it highlights only one rejoicing and returning they probably just went to the priest and rejoined their families and went on with their lives.
That's what some people do spiritually. They get baptized but there isn't much of a spirit of gratitude. Perhaps there's no spirit of rejoicing and real recognition of what just happened. Therefore, they just go on with their lives as if nothing really special happened. If I'm not appreciative I'll start accumulating debt all over again. Recognizing the magnitude of God's grace is a key factor in me living a righteous life.
Titus 2:11-14, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
When I recognize the undeserved favor of God on my life, when I appreciate the magnitude of what was done for me it will provoke a positive response. You see incidents where someone's life was saved and the person feels totally indebted to that person. "I owe you my life", they would say. That needs to be our response to Jesus for what he's done for us. We owe our lives to him so how are we going to respond to that?
Think about it: you hear cries for help. You see someone being carried downstream in a raging river. They're flailing their arms, going under and coming back up; they're drowning. So you jump in, risking your life to pull them from the raging rapids. You're successful. You both make it to shore, breathing heavily. The person says, "Thank you so much; I almost died back there."
And then you see the person stand up and they run and jump back into the rapids! What would you be thinking at this point? First you're going to be in shock, wondering if this person is completely insane. Then you're going to be upset. "I just risked my life saving yours and then you turn around and jump back into the rapids!"
But not only that. After this person foolishly jumps back into the rapids you hear them calling out to you for help again. What do you do? I know what my response would be. "No way, Jose, you find another way."
As foolish as this scenario sounds this is what we do to Jesus when we come out of the waters of baptism, having our lives saved and then we turn around and go back into a life of sin. Jesus rescued us from the chains of bondage and then we go back and put the chains on again. Jesus came to redeem us from a life of sin. He came to purify us; he came to change us. He wants us to live for him and be eager to do good deeds. Doesn't he deserve that much for saving our lives? How grateful are we?
Another quick scenario. You're out for a walk and you hear the drowning person's cries for help and you jump in and save them. And he was making his way to his car he had parked upstream where he had fallen in. So you say, "Hey, I've been walking a while and I'm pretty wiped after jumping into the rapids and helping you to shore. Could you give me a lift back into town?"
Now, I would think that would be the least this person could do, right? But he responds with, "No, sorry; I'm not going that way. See ya; have a nice day." I think I'd have some not so nice thoughts running through my mind at that point.
Again, this scenario sounds absurd but when we respond to our salvation by not being willing to do what Jesus wants us to do we are acting like this person. Or even if we do what Jesus asks but it's begrudgingly, with a miserable spirit; that's not much better. Where's the gratitude? Where's the thankfulness? Accumulating more debt and not being appreciative are improper responses to having our debt canceled.
If nothing changes things will get worse.
Matt. 12:43-45, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
When evil makes an exit we have an obligation-to replace. It's not enough to be swept clean; it's not enough to stop sinning we need to replace those activities with positive ones. Eph. 4:28 says that the one who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his hands. It's about filling the void and being about something worthwhile instead of destructive.
If we stop hanging around with certain friends who we sinned with we need to fill the void and develop new friendships with positive people. This makes living the new life a whole lot easier. If we don't replace we may get bored or antsy; lonely or depressed. And then, next thing you know, we are calling old friends or picking up old behaviors. All this is an improper response to having our debt canceled and our house swept clean. If we put as much effort into living righteously as we did living sinfully we'd have nothing to be concerned about. But, if we don't make that effort we risk ending up in a worse state.
It makes sense: we're held accountable with what we've been given. So, when we've been given a clean slate and the power of the Holy Spirit and we don't appreciate or utilize these things and we make the choice to go back to what we supposedly left behind, we're saying we would rather have the old life. That's worse than not having the chance to experience my debt being canceled or not having had the new life to compare it to. Plus, it will be harder to come back once I've made that disconnect. It's not impossible but it's certainly not easy. It will go much better when I focus on filling my life with good things rather than just leaving my house empty.
2nd Pet. 2:20-22, "If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
If I escape the world's corruption; if I break free and become born again I have a new lease on life. I have the opportunity to spiritually grow and bear fruit and be like Jesus. So when I choose to become entangled again; when I decide I'm going to become corrupted again, I am leaving the life of holiness and once again embracing the life of impurity.
When this happens it's quite possible that not much had changed since my baptism. I was washed but since I didn't develop new habits I ended up going back to my old ones. Since I didn't develop my new nature I reverted back to my old one. I got away from the vomit but I found myself returning to it. I was made clean but I eventually decided I wanted to be muddy instead.
What did I really appreciate? What was I thankful for? What was my level of devotion to the things of Christ? Did I just simply stop eating vomit and wallowing in the mud but nothing else changed? Did I start going to church regularly? Did I start studying my bible regularly? Did I start but not continue? Was I praying regularly in the beginning but lost interest? Did I start to build but stopped after a little while? Why? Have I forsaken my first love? Has the honeymoon stage worn off?
There are many things we need to be careful about. Usually the decline happens slowly and without much awareness; until we get deep into it. Then, next thing we know, small compromises turn into bigger ones and dipping and dabbing turns into full blown waywardness. Improper responses to our canceled debt.
Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. With forgiveness comes an obligation/expectation. Are we appreciative of our clean slate? Are we thankful that we have been set free? Then what will we do as a result? Will it be nothing or will we do everything we can to show Jesus that we love him and our new life in him?
A poor widow who lived in a seaport town supported herself by selling small articles. She was hard pressed for the payment of a bill, but had no money to meet it. She prayed God would send her relief. Just before the time came when her goods to be seized, she heard what she thought to be the footsteps of her creditor. Instead, it was a company of sailors, buying articles that amounted to the exact value of the demanded debt.
I'm sure this poor widow was sincerely thankful to these sailors. We have had a much greater debt cancelled. How are we showing Jesus our sincere thankfulness?
