Our college and careers ministry, Spectrum, is going through a series on peacemaking.
My leadership notes:
Conflict Provides Opportunities
Confession Brings Freedom
This past week’s lesson was on understanding the method of forgiveness, the result of forgiveness and the process of forgiveness to help us all more fully rely upon God's strength and not our own.
FORGIVENESS
Method of Forgiveness: Propitiation
Before we understand how to deal with the inability to forgive others we should first look at what has been given to us. The forgiveness that each and every believer in Jesus Christ has was given freely to us through the shedding of His blood. This is the method of our forgiveness or propitiation.Definition –
1) Atonement or Mercy seatLeviticus 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.2) JI Packer from Knowing God, "as that which quenched God's wrath against us by obliterating our sins from his sight"
2 Corinthians 5: 20-21
Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.Justin Holcomb from The Problem with Purity, “God sees us as perfect because Jesus did two things: he took our impurity and gave us his purity. In his death, Jesus took on the consequences of our impurities and sins. In his life, Jesus lived the pure life that we could not live. Jesus did for us the good we could not do…and then he attributed it to us. That is the hymn “Rock of Ages” says Jesus is our double-cure—he saves us from wrath and makes us pure.”
We have been clothed in the righteousness of the one that has made atonement for our sins. He paid the ultimate sacrifice, so that we would not receive the judgment we rightfully deserve. It was more than simply taking our place or covering our sin, the propitiations actions of Christ actually wiped out the debt that we owe. His sacrifice changed God’s view upon us as one of sin to one of holiness and purity.
Result of Forgiveness: Repentance
The initiator of our righteousness is God Himself and not us. That is why the result of the forgiveness that He has given us is our very own repentance. We turn from the evil and sin that wells up in our hearts and towards the holiness of our Creator, our Savior.Definition –
1) Change of Mind (Judas returning the silver)
2) Change of Purpose/Change of Heart (true repentance); turn towards God – away from evilHosea 14:1-2
O Israel, return to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you, And return to the Lord. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
SUFFICIENCY OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS
Romans 8:31-32, 38-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?John Calvin
v31 – “….”Paul bids the saints to lay hold, above all things, on the paternal love of God, that relying on this shield they may boldly triumph over all evils; … while God is propitious to us we shall be safe against all dangersFor I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
JI Packer, “[F]ear…effect[s]…one's fellowship with God, by overwhelming both reason and faith and so destroying sanity and salvation together. In an age like ours…all Christians… know something of this fear. It is the Christian version of the existentialist angst at the prospect of personal destruction.”
Calvin, v39 – “…the fountain of love is in the Father, and affirms that it flows to us from Christ.”
Despite these assurances of immense forgiveness and the resultant change in our hearts we will still continue to struggle to hold onto the adequacy of these promises. There will always be inner turmoil until that day we are fully reconciled to God by dwelling in His very presence. Paul invites these very penetrating questions in Romans, to charge the mind of his reader to rest in the sufficiency of all they have been given.
The question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” is more of a positive statement. God IS for us and even though someone is against you, it doesn’t matter because the focus is that God is on your side. You can rest in His assurances that he will give all things to you as needed.
So what do you fear that God is not sufficient to take care of in your life?
MEMBER GUIDE – Question 1
Steps to Overcoming Unforgiveness
1. Confirm Repentance
• Quick/Disingenuous Apology
• Opportunity for deeper explanation of feelings2. Renounce Sinful Attitudes & Expectations
• Offender must earn forgiveness
• Punish or make them suffer
• Guarantee it won’t happen again3. Asses Your Contributions to the Problem
• Failures to respond with love
• Remember your faults4. Recognize That God is Working for Good
• God is sovereign and you can trust Him
• Opportunity to mature, serve others and glorify Him5. Remember God’s Forgiveness
• When we kneel before the foot of the cross we are reminded of our need for repentance. It is difficult not to see our brokenness in light of His.
• Psalm 103: 10 “he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”6. Draw on God’s Strength
• Depend on God’s grace
• God changes our hearts
• “… [I]t is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges…” – Corrie ten Boom (nazi imprisonment camp survivor – upon encountering one of her former captives)
RECONCILIATION
Propitiation (method of forgiveness) =>
Repentance (result of forgiveness) =>
Reconciliation (process of forgiveness)o A process involving a change of attitude that leads to a change in the relationship
o To replace hostility and separation with peace and friendship
o Give repentant person opportunity to demonstrate repentance and regain trust. Repeat as necessary: Loving confrontation, Confession, Forgiveness
o Intentionality
MEMBER GUIDE – Question 3
What are the 3 levels at which you can pursue reconciliation through the replacement principle?
1) Philippians 4:8 – IN THOUGHT
• Deliberately pray for them
• Think on things that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy2) 2 Corinthians 2:7-8 – IN WORD
• Verbally reaffirm your friendship
• Sincerely build up the other person3) 1 John 3:18 – IN DEED
• CS Lewis, “Don’t waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did.”
• Actions communicate the reality of your forgiveness
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Meditate/Pray/Reflect upon God’s Forgiveness
Posted by price at October 4, 2005 12:15 PM | TrackBackBlessed Lord Jesus,
Before they cross I kneel and see
the heinousness of my sin,
my iniquity that caused thee to be
‘made a curse’,
the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.Show me the enormity of my guilt by
the crown of thorns,
the pierced hands and feet,
the bruised body,
the dying cries.Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God,
its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.
infinite must be the evil and guilt
that demands such a price.Sin is my malady, my moster, my foe, my viper,
born in my birth,
alive in my live,
strong in my character,
dominating my faculties,
following me as a shadow,
intermingling with my every thought,
my chain that holds me captive in the
empire of my soul.Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light,
the air supply breath,
the earth bear my tread,
its fruits nourish me,
its creatures subverse my ends?Yet thy compassions yearn over me,
thy heart hastens to my rescue,
thy love endured my curse,
thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths
of humiliation,
bathed in thy blood,
tender of conscience,
triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.Taken from
Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions