Last week the news broke that Dr. Laura Schlessinger is no longer a practicing Jew. Dr. Laura, the psychologist whose radio talk show is second only to Rush Limbaugh, is heard on 300 radio stations with an estimated 12 million listeners. She comes from a home where her mother was Roman Catholic and her father was a Jew. After many years of being an avowed atheist, she converted to Judaism about 10 years ago. She now says, “the spiritual journey [into Judaism] — as hard-core as I was at it — just didn’t fulfill something in me that I needed.” It may seem ironic then that after researching her new book: Bad Childhood, Good Life, she “is more convinced than ever that religion is the most powerful force in turning people’s lives around.” The answer is apparently a new spiritual direction in her life. According to WorldNetDaily, “Schlessinger said she has envied her Christian friends who talk about their relationship with God.” The inference is that even though she may not have completely stepped over the line into the Christian faith, she is seriously being drawn to Christianity because of her friends who talk freely about how they feel connected to, and loved by, God.
When it comes right down to it, this is the difference between Christianity and the other religions of the world. We have a God who confesses his love for us, claims he wants to know us, and expresses his desire to forgive us. We do not have a God who instills fear and dread, or who is distracted and preoccupied with other concerns. He is closer than our next breath. He could have remained distant, but chose to immerse himself in the world as a human. He came searching for us, declaring his desire to be in relationship with us. Instead of demanding that we bow down and kneel before him, he knelt before us and washed our feet. Instead of demanding our death, he died for us. The scripture that describes him best says, “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17). The apostle Paul wrote: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).
Christianity is unique in that no other religion of the world talks of a God who loves his creation and desires to have a personal relationship with them. This is the great Good News — what Christians call the “Gospel.” There is a God who loves us and wants to forgive us. The purpose of his forgiveness is that he might come near to us and know us, and be known by us. This is why I believe with confidence in the forgiveness of sins.
The first thing that it is important to point out is: We all stand in need of forgiveness. Whether our sins are seen by others as great or small, all of us stand in need of God’s forgiveness. Deep in every human heart is the desire to be forgiven and deeply accepted. In our honest moments we understand profoundly that we have a need for forgiveness. We feel alienated and separated from God. The Bible acknowledges that when it says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). The apostle Paul wrote: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). You will notice there are no exceptions in those verses. We deserve nothing from God, but he chooses to freely forgive. The Good News is this: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). My sins are not excused, but they are forgiven when I turn to God with confession that springs from a humble heart and genuine sorrow for my sin against him. The Bible says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). My sins are not excused or passed over, they are forgiven and taken away as though they never existed when I come to God with a proper attitude of the heart. I confess my sin, I no longer try to hide it.
The only people who cannot be forgiven are those who refuse to believe they need forgiveness. The self-righteous Pharisee who said, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men,” was not forgiven. Those who don’t care what God thinks are not forgiven. Those who sin arrogantly and whose world centers around themselves and what they want to do are not forgiven.
In the book of Jeremiah we read the story of King Jehoiakim. Jeremiah the prophet had written words of warning from the Lord telling what God would do if Jehoiakim, and the people of Israel, did not turn away from the great evil that they practiced and loved in their hearts. Included in the writing was God’s call to return to him and discover his love once more. The scroll, with the words of the Lord as they came from Jeremiah, was brought to the king. But as it was read the king was offended. Who was God to tell him what to do? It was treason to say that the country was no longer favored by God and that the king must listen to a higher authority. Jehoiakim believed that God would never do those things and so Jehoiakim cut off pieces of the scroll as it was being read and dropped them into the fire until the entire scroll was burned. He believed that he did not have to listen to God. But we know from history that was a serious mistake on the part of King Jehoiakim.
The second thing which is important to point out is that we are not only all in need of forgiveness: We are all offered forgiveness. No matter how great or small our sins are, there is no one beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness. Some people feel that the things they have done have put them beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness. They wish they could be forgiven, but don’t think it is possible. There is an interesting passage in First Corinthians where Paul says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” No surprises so far, but then he continues by saying, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). That is what they were, but now they were members of the Kingdom of God — the family of the forgiven.
Among Christ’s followers, both then and now, are people who have committed every sort of sin, but they have had their sins taken away by a God who loves them and wants to live in intimacy with them. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah: “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18). God is saying, “Let’s be reasonable. Walk away from your sin and walk to me that you might be forgiven so you may live in freedom.”
Isaiah wrote thousands of years ago: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6,7). Here again is the Good News: We have a God who is approachable. He invites us to come near. We are sinful and he desires to remove our sin and shame. But in order for that to happen we have to be honest and face our sin.
This leads to the third thing which is important to point out: We must individually receive God’s forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is not automatic — that is, he does not forgive us whether we care to be forgiven or not. God does not just owe us forgiveness. There are certain conditions. These conditions are not difficult unless you are not ready to give up your sin or you are full of pride. The condition is that you want it. The condition is humility — the ability to see your sin and admit it to yourself and God — and if necessary to others. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God does not forgive us against our will, he forgives us only if we are willing to be forgiven. Being willing to be forgiven means that I have to turn from my sin and turn to God. It means that I become willing to live a life that reflects the forgiveness of God and indwelling presence of his Holy Spirit.
The Good News is that when we seek his forgiveness, we experience God’s embrace and a beautiful welcome home. God spreads a banquet before us and we experience the warmth of our eternal home. We are no longer strangers to God, but a part of his family. In talking of the what Christ has done for us, the Bible says, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:17-19).
You may have seen the movie “Antwone Fisher.” It is a true story of a young man who was abandoned at birth by his mother who was in prison. He was reared in abusive orphanages, foster homes and reform schools. He is anxious to get out on his own, so after his 18th birthday he joined the Navy. But his anger against the hand life has dealt him boils over into a rage. After many fights, the Navy orders him to receive counseling. His psychologist Jerome Davenport, played by Denzel Washington) counsels him to discover his family roots in order to begin the healing process in his life.
After a lot of work, he finally reaches an aunt and uncle in Cleveland by phone. After making arrangements, he meets them and is taken by his uncle to a falling down apartment complex where the mother that he has never met lives. She reluctantly opens the door, and when she realizes that Antwone is the son she gave up at birth she begins to cry and retreats into another room. It is filthy and reeks. Antwone is the one possible light in her dark life, but she cannot reach out to him. He asks for some explanation as to why she never came to find him and rescue him from the abuse he experienced, but she gives no answer. She stares blankly as the tears roll down her face. He kisses her on the cheek as if to say, “I forgive you,” but his mother is not able to respond. Antwone walks away from the apartment dejected, because even though he has found the mother he never knew, he has not found her love.
As he returns to his aunt and uncle’s house, he gets out of the car dejected with no hope of finding a meaningful relationship with a family. But as he enters the front door his world is about to change. Let’s look at what happens (show clip).
When Antwone gets out of the car and enters the front door, he is met with a chorus of greetings from a house full of people — all of them his relatives. Old and young, cousins, aunts, uncles greet him with smiles and warm words of welcome. Children hold signs they have made, and he is overwhelmed with hugs. In the next room he sees a great feast prepared. Piles of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fruit salad and every kind of dish is waiting for him. For the first time in his life he feels wanted. He now belongs to a family. And the party begins.
But silence comes as an elderly woman, possibly his grandmother, raps on the table to get Antwone’s attention. She motions for him to come near. Caressing his face, a tear runs down her cheek. Her old, raspy voice breathes out an all important word: “Welcome.”
So it is that God welcomes us into his family. The former things are forgotten as though they never happened. We are forgiven and welcomed into the family of God. God takes our face in his hands and says, “Welcome ” We experience his embrace. A banquet is spread and the party begins.
Rodney J. Buchanan
August 24, 2003
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
