February 5th, 2007

Notes from the Pastor’s Desk – February 2007

Posted by Pastor Jerry in From the Pastor's Desk

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Blissfully Ignorant about Onions

I’ve never been much of a fan of onions. My mother would cook with them occasionally but not a lot, and I never really acquired a taste for them. There is one thing I do know about onions, however, and that is that they come in layers. Before you can use an onion you have to remove the outer layers. You have to peel away layer after layer of the outside to get what is the good part inside.

In January, Claire and I learned a little about onions. Well, we didn’t learn literally about onions, but we learned some principles about going overseas that were “onion-like” in character. We learned that when you go on a trip overseas to visit another culture, there are many layers that you have to understand.

When we first realized that God was nudging us to go and visit the Reformed Churches in East Africa in Kenya, we had no idea of what we were getting into. We thought we would go there and visit with some of the Christians, see the schools and students we are supporting and find out what we could do to help more.

In our orientation meetings in January, we learned about the layers of cultural awareness and sensitivity. We knew that African culture was different from North American culture, but we didn’t realize how important it was to be aware of those differences and how being unaware can undo the work of others.

We learned that there is a layer of the relationship that we have to be aware of in how we help and support the Christians there. Giving too much can upset a delicate family or community economy. It can also create dependency where it is otherwise not necessary.

We learned that to really make a difference and to really help our brothers and sisters in Kenya will take years not just a few months. We realized that to really make an ongoing difference, we need to work for a long-term strategy so that we can work with our Christian brothers and sisters there most effectively.

As we peeled off layer after layer, I must admit that it started to become a bit overwhelming. How in the world could we do all that in such a short visit. How could we make sure we lay a good foundation for whatever God may do in the future with and through our church?

Then at the orientation, we ended up reading an article that I had read last summer. The author of this article was encouraging leaders of North American churches to go to places like Kenya and just be with them.

So that is our goal once again. Our goal in going to Kenya from March 14-30 is to see our fellow believers there and to experience life as they experience it. Our purpose is to show them our love and support as brothers and sisters in Christ. And it is also our purpose to prayerfully be looking for ways in which we can work together in God’s great kingdom to build it more. There is much the Reformed Churches in East Africa can teach us and we are going to learn from them.

Our request is that you pray with us that God may use this very special opportunity to bless the churches in Kenya and to bless Faith Church as well.

Pastor Jerry

February 2007

February 5th, 2007

Sermon, 2-4-07: Sharing Our Father’s Forgiveness

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Luke 23:32-34

Rev. Jerry Hoek

Introduction:

This morning we begin a series of sermons in which we will be looking at the seven statements of Jesus from the cross. This morning we look at Jesus’ statement, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

The story is described by Lewis Smedes from a play by Michael Christopher. It occurs in France 30 years after the end of World War 2. A German general who had ordered the massacre of thousands of innocent people was released from prison after serving his 30 year term. One French journalist, whose family was wiped out by the general’s army, has been waiting for this moment. He has stirred up the people in the village near the place where the old general now hopes to live out his life in peace. These people now plan to kill the general and his wife out of revenge.

But before this happens the French journalist comes to the general because he wants to know why. How could the general do this? As he talks to the general, it becomes apparent that he is no longer the killer he once was. He is now a confused, tired old man and the French journalist takes pity on him. He tells the man the plot against his life and offers to lead them to safety.

The general agreed but on one condition: he insisted that this Frenchman forgive him. If the French journalist would forgive the things he had done, he would allow himself to be rescued. But the French journalist refused even though he felt sorry for him and pitied him. The result was that the villagers came and killed the general and his wife. The whole thing hinged on forgiveness.

What was so special about forgiveness? Why was it so hard for the French journalist to forgive? Why was it so important for the general to receive forgiveness that he was willing to die rather than not have it? We learn about forgiveness in this statement of Jesus on the cross. Read Luke 23:26-34 [pray].

I. The Setting of Forgiveness

II. Jesus Forgives

III. What This Means For Us

I. It’s important to first note something about The Setting.

This statement occurs right after Luke describes the criminals. Luke is saying that Jesus was considered to be a common criminal just like these two common criminals. Jesus died as a guilty person, a law breaker. He was viewed as no different than a common criminal.

But Luke has made it clear that Jesus was entirely innocent. There was no guilt or sin at all in Jesus. Yet there He is with the criminals, sinners! Jesus was willing to be identified as a common, awful sinner in order to take our sins upon Himself.

Jurgen Moltmahnn writes, “The symbol of the cross in the church points to the God who was crucified not between two candles on an altar, but between two thieves in the place of the skull, where the outcasts belong, outside the gates of the city. It does not invite thought but a change of mind. It is a symbol which therefore leads out of the church and out of religious longing into the fellowship of the oppressed and abandoned. On the other hand, it is a symbol which calls the oppressed and godless into the church and through the church into the fellowship of the crucified God.” Jesus dying on the cross enables us to come to God. Moreover, Jesus speaks these words to those who are crucifying him. Jesus speaks His words of forgiveness to his executioners. This may not be limited only to those who did the actual crucifying. This statement was for all those who were involved in killing Jesus.

But the thing for us to realize is that we are also Jesus’ executioners. Becky Pippert tells of once meeting a woman who was overwhelmed with guilt. She and her boyfriend were once leaders of the youth group and were always telling them the importance of good Christian actions and living. The problem was that they weren’t doing it themselves and as a result she had gotten pregnant. They felt they could not tell the church about this because of their leadership position so she had an abortion. She told Becky Pippert that her wedding day was the worst day of her life and she had been miserable ever since. She couldn’t get over the fact that she had taken an innocent life.

Do you know what Becky Pippert told her? She said, “I don’t know why you are so surprised at your being able to do this! This is not the first time you’ve killed someone!” “Why do you think Jesus died? Was it for other sinners? No, we all condemned Jesus to death! It was our sin that nailed Him there.”

This morning, as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we come to confess the fact that it was our sin that led Jesus to the cross. And so when Jesus states His forgiveness, He is speaking to us.

II. Let’s look at how Jesus Forgives.

He says, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” He is asking His Father, the creator and judge of all, to forgive them. Jesus is asking God to blot out, erase the executioner’s sins. These people are committing a horrible act against Jesus and the first thing Jesus asks for is that they may be forgiven for doing it.

You may think, “How could God do that?” They are guilty! Jesus is praying that God may lead these people to a point in their lives where they will see the sins they have done and believe in Him. When that happens, then God can truly forgive their sins. Why does Jesus ask God to forgive them?

Because they are ignorant; they don’t really know what they are doing nor understand what is going on. The Romans, the Jewish leaders, the whole Jewish nation were all ignorant. No one really knew what Jesus was doing. No one really understood that Jesus was the Son of God. They didn’t know what they were doing.

Now we have to be careful that we don’t confuse ignorance with innocence. Several years ago, a young pregnant mother was killed by a drunk driver. She was walking down the sidewalk and was hit by the truck and killed. That driver was so drunk that he had no idea that he had hit and killed someone until after he was arrested later on. He was ignorant of what happened, but he was also very guilty.

If in our own actions, we unknowingly offend or hurt someone else, we may be ignorant, but we are not innocent. We are still responsible for what we have done.

Jesus looks at the people who have nailed him to the cross and He knows that they are terribly ignorant. They have no idea what they are doing, but they are still guilty. And that is why Jesus asks that God may forgive them.

In fact, quite possibly later on many of these people received this forgiveness. When Pentecost came, thousands of people began to learn who Jesus really was and came to believe in Him. People who were perhaps responsible for killing Jesus may have come to believe in Him. God then forgave their sins through the death of Jesus.

These words of Jesus reflect the first of two main themes that Luke develops to summarize Jesus’ mission to earth. Jesus came to earth, suffered and died, so that we could be forgiven. Jesus’ death means that it is possible to be reconciled with God. This request by Jesus is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12: “For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus interceded for us on the cross and asked God to forgive us. Now we can be at peace with Almighty God.

Jesus also came to enable us to live with Him forever. There is not only forgiveness now, but there is life for eternity after we die as well. That is something we will look at next time.

III. What This Means For Us

First of all let’s remember these words of Jesus are for us. Jesus is not just talking to the obviously sinful people of the world. He is not talking only to the drug dealers, neighborhood thugs or gang members. He is not talking only to dictators, war lords or international terrorists.

Jesus is speaking to us, forgiving us. We have the distorted impression that we are pretty good people. We don’t do the things that obviously bad people do.

We need to see that we are guilty of killing Jesus. If it were not for our sins, Jesus would not have to die. Throughout history, there have been those who have tried to blame the Jewish people for killing Jesus. Well, the Jews didn’t kill Jesus, we did; our sins nailed Him there.


Once we accept this only then we can experience the beauty of Jesus’ forgiveness. How does it feel to be forgiven by someone else? If you have done something that you know has hurt someone else, you crave that person’s forgiveness. One time, I did something in which I unknowingly hurt someone. Once I realized it, I apologized and tried to make amends. I remember vividly how much I wanted that person to say that it was O.K., I was forgiven and that it would not be held against me. Such forgiveness is very precious.

Once we confess that our sins nailed Jesus to the cross, Jesus forgives. He begins to restore the broken relationship with Him. That brings about a beautiful sense of peace and comfort.

And what we see this morning is that Jesus also forgives the worst offender. Jesus forgave those who literally killed Him! He will certainly forgive us if we accept Him into our lives and confess our sins to Him.

I wonder how many people today live with a tremendous burden of guilt. They have done something in the past that was wrong. They have asked for God’s forgiveness and have experienced it to a certain extent. It may have happened long ago, but the memory still lingers on and they often wonder “Does God forgive even this?”

We must remember that Jesus forgives whatever sin we may do. We must believe in Him and believe that His death was for us. And we must confess our sins to Him. But given that, there is nothing that you have done that cannot be forgiven.

C.S. Lewis had this to say about forgiveness: “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.” Jesus forgave His murderers; He will certainly forgive you.

And the final thing we must remember this morning is that we must also forgive. We have to admit that often we don’t like to forgive. If someone does something against you, you have an advantage. You may feel morally superior or better than they are. Forgiveness means that you are on common ground once again. We prefer feeling superior to others and so it is hard to forgive.

But that is what Jesus did for us and what he expects us to do as well. He teaches us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” God expects us to forgive others when they hurt us. We need to forgive and try to put it behind us.

In Charles Bracelen Flood’s book Lee: The Last Years, he tells of a time after the Civil War when Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky woman who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her home. There she cried bitterly that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Union artillery fire. She waited for Lee to condemn the North or at least sympathize with her loss. Lee paused, and then said, “Cut it down, my dear madam, and forget it.

We need to forgive the hurts, but often that is very difficult to do. When the hurt is so deep, it is hard to forgive. When the person who has hurt you is not longer alive or you can’t talk to that person, it is hard to forgive.

It is often hard to forgive, but necessary. Lewis Smedes has written a book called “Forgive and Forget.” It covers a wide variety of situations in which forgiveness is hard. But his point is that we must try to forgive not only because it is what God wants, but because we need to for ourselves. I urge any who struggle with forgiving others to read this book.

And for those who struggle with forgiving others, remember the basis for forgiveness. Louis XII of France treated his enemies in a very special way after he ascended to the throne. Before coming to power, he had been cast into prison and kept in chains. Later when he did become king, he was urged to seek revenge but he refused. Instead, he prepared a scroll on which he listed all who had perpetrated crimes against him. Behind every man’s name he placed a cross in red ink.

When the guilty heard about this, they feared for their lives. Then the king explained, “The cross which I drew beside each name was not a sign of punishment, but a pledge of forgiveness extended for the sake of the crucified Savior, who upon His cross forgave His enemies and prayed for them.” Forgiving others is difficult, but it is possible because of Jesus.

Jesus looks at His executioners and says, “Father forgive them.” Jesus looks at us and says, “Believe in me and I forgive you.” Have you accepted that? Are we doing the same for others? END