Its Friday, But Sunday's Coming

HT: Thom Rainer

Mark Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is Not

Earlier today I posted a section of Mark Driscoll's book Who Do You Think You Are? regarding what forgiveness is. Now we must discuss what forgiveness is not and again Driscoll is helpful here. In my work as a pastor and Christian, it is this question that is rarely given but often asked. "You mean to tell me I have to act like nothing happened?" is one variation of the question that comes when I discuss the radical, gospel-centered notion of forgiveness. This is why I find Driscoll so helpful here.

1. Forgiveness is not denying that sin occurred or diminishing its evil. In forgiving someone, we don't say, "Nothing happened," or that something was "no big deal." Instead, we say sin happened and that it was such a big deal that Jesus died for it.
2. Forgiveness is not enabling sin. To forgive is not to allow offenders to remain stuck in their cycle of sin, thus being complicit and enabling their continued transgression. We can forgive while still being truthful about someone's behavior.
3. Forgiveness is not necessarily a response to a repentant apology. Sometimes sinners will acknowledge their wrong and ask for forgiveness. Sometimes they don't. sometimes we don't even know who the offender is or how to locate him or her; other times the person is deceased. Either way, we're to forgive whether there is an admission of guilt or not. Christianity is unique in this way, as other major religions teach that you cannot forgive someone who hasn't apologized.
4. Forgiveness is not covering up sin committed against us. in fact, if a crime is committed, we can simultaneously forgive someone and seek legal action.
5. Forgiveness is not forgetting. It's commonly believed that we should "forgive and forget," which is impossible. When God said, "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more," he didn't mean he has no recollection, as that is impossible, because God is all-knowing. Instead, it means that God doesn't begrudgingly hold our sin against us and keep it as the basis of our identity and interaction with him. Furthermore, when we forgive someone, we're remembering the sin so that we can forgive it. To demand that someone completely forgive without remembering that he or she was beaten, raped, betrayed, or any other array of sinful actions is to demand the impossible and add burden.
6. Forgiveness is not trust. Forgiveness takes a moment, but trust is built over time. And once trust is lost through sin, it can take much time to be rebuilt.
7. Forgiveness is not reconciliation. It takes one sinner to repent and one victim to forgive, but it takes both to reconcile. Therefore, unless there is both repentance by the sinner and forgiveness by the victim, reconciliation can't occur, which means the relationship remains continually broken until reconciliation does occur. Your forgiveness is the beginning of potential reconciliation but not in and of itself reconciliation. (165-166)

For more:
Mark Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is
Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is Not
"Death By Love" by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears: A Review
Doctrine by Mark Driscoll
"Real Marriage" by Mark & Grace Driscoll
Religion Saves by Mark Driscoll
The Radical Reformation by Mark Driscoll
Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll 

Driscoll on Abortion
How Much Do You Owe?:  Mark Driscoll on Our New For Redemption
Churches Helping Churches: MacDonald Makes His Plea
The Myth of Adolescence: Mark Driscoll Weighs In
Does Satan Exist? Debate
Driscoll on ABC  
What Creation Reveals About God 
Driscoll Sermon: God the Creator 
The Church as Family     

Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is Not

"God's Hand in Our Suffering" by Mark Driscoll

Songs on Forgiveness

I'm sitting here in my office working on Sunday's sermon on Matthew 18:21-35 regarding forgiveness and have come across some songs on the topic that has enriched my soul worth passing along.

Sanctus Real - Forgiven




Matt Redman - Nothing But the Blood




Casting Crown - East to West




Chris Tomlin - Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)




Relient K - Forgiven




For more:
Mark Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is
Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is Not
"The Truth About Forgiveness" by John MacArthur
November 13, 2011 | Psalm 51: The Lord is My Salvation
June 13, 2010 - Matthew 6:14-15 - The Forgiven Forgive: The Inseparable Reality of the Gospel of Forgiveness
Some Light Reading: Books on Prayer and Forgiveness
Wax on Forgiveness
Colson on Forgiveness
"Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do" - A Lesson on Forgiveness

Mark Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is

From Mark Driscoll's book Who Do You Think You Are: Finding Your True Identity in Christ. In it, Driscoll dedicates an entire chapter to the subject of forgiveness beginning with the truth I Am Forgiven! There he clarifies what forgiveness is and is not. First, what forgiveness is:

1. Forgiveness is canceling a debt owed to you. When someone sins against you, a wrong is committed and a debt is accrued. In forgiving others, you relinquish your right to make them repay that debt.
2. Forgiveness is removing the control your offender has over you. So long as your offenders remain unforgiven, they continue to loom large in your life by maintaining an emotional presence. through forgiveness, you not only free them from their debt to you but also emotionally free yourself form them.
3. Forgiveness is giving a gift to your offender and yourself. Forgiveness includes the physical benefits of reduced anxiety, stress, and blood pressure; and the mental benefits of no longer obsessing over a person or act, freeing you up to move on with your life. Forgiveness also allows you to move from a life centered on pain to one centered on God and others as you regain emotional health, empathy, and perspective. This improves all of your relationships and is a gift to you, your friends, and your family.
4. Forgiveness is forsaking revenge. Romans 12:19 says, "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." When we seek revenge, we place ourselves morally alongside our offenders. When we forgive, we rise above them by grace and leave them to a perfect and holy God. Revenge may temporarily placate our rage, but it can never undo a wrong. By feeding rage, we become like the person who hurt us - self-interested and dangerous. This is why one ancient Chinese proverb says, "He who seeks revenge should dig two graves."
5. Forgiveness is leaving ultimate justice in God's hands. Sometimes forgiveness is difficult because it violates our sense of fairness and justice. But the Bible promises that god will deal with everyone's sins justly. For those who repent of sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ, justice came at the cross of Jesus, when our Savior suffered and died in our place for our sins. those who don't repent of sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ will have justice in the punishment of conscious eternal torments of hell. In forgiving, we don't neglect justice, but rather, we trust God for perfect justice and get out from between the sinner and God.
6. Forgiveness is often an ongoing process. In Jesus's time, a rabbinic teaching said that you only had to forgive someone three times, and after that no more. In Matthew 18:21-22 we read, 'then Peter came to [Jesus] and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'" A noted Bible commentator says of this, 'It is a way of saying that for Jesus' followers forgiveness is to be unlimited."*
7.  Forgiveness is wanting good for your offender. In forgiving our offenders, we change from wanting them to suffer and pay to wanting them to repent and change by God's grace. (164-165)

In short, live the gospel that saved you. Freely forgiven. Freely forgive.

I would also add that forgiveness is a one way street. Reconciliation, another aspect of the gospel, is a two way street. We are called to forgive and work towards reconciliation.


* Leon Morris, Matthew, 472.


For more:
Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is Not
"Death By Love" by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears: A Review
Doctrine by Mark Driscoll
"Real Marriage" by Mark & Grace Driscoll
Religion Saves by Mark Driscoll
The Radical Reformation by Mark Driscoll
Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll 

Driscoll on Abortion
How Much Do You Owe?:  Mark Driscoll on Our New For Redemption
Churches Helping Churches: MacDonald Makes His Plea
The Myth of Adolescence: Mark Driscoll Weighs In
Does Satan Exist? Debate
Driscoll on ABC  
What Creation Reveals About God 
Driscoll Sermon: God the Creator 
The Church as Family     

Driscoll on What Forgiveness Is Not

"God's Hand in Our Suffering" by Mark Driscoll

How the Cooperative Program Works

From the Kentucky Baptist Convention:

February 24, 2013 | God Hates Sin

We continue our series in Matthew Gospel but first we need some context. In order to understand Matthew 18:15-20 regarding church discipline, we must first survey what the Bible says regarding God's holiness, the nature and seriousness of sin, and God's love and pursuit of sinners. In the following sermon, we begin by looking at God's hatred of sin - including ours.




Audio
Notes


January 27, 2013 | Matthew 17:24-27 - We Are Free Indeed: The Glorious Truth of the Gospel
Matthew 18:1-4 | Children Only: The Secret to being great in the Kingdom of God 
February 17, 2013 | Matthew 18:5-14 - Primum Non Nocere: The Kingdom & the Treatment of Children

Leeman on the Five Purposes of Church Discipline

Sunday I continue my exposition of Matthew's gospel and find myself in chapter 18 verses 15-20. This is the classic passage where Christ lays out the role and responsibility of the church to discipline its members. Because this is such a controversial issue and so few churches practical it today, to our own shame, I am having to some extra study on the subject.

I have begun by surveying much smaller books on the subject to get a grasp of the issue and then will get to more theological and exegetical works. I began with the book Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus by Jonathan Leeman. In this short book, Leeman offers a chapter on the subject. Regarding the purpose of discipline, Leeman offers five.

First, discipline aims to expose. Sin, like cancer, loves to hide. Discipline exposes the cancer so that it might be cut out quickly (see 1 Cor. 5:2)

Second, discipline aims to warn. A church does not enact God's judgment through discipline. Rather, it stages a small play that pictures the great judgment to come (1 Cor. 5:5).

Third, it aims to save. Churches pursue discipline when they see a member taking the path toward death, and none of their pleading and arm waving causes the person to turn around. It's the device of last resort (1 Cor. 5:5).

Fourth, discipline aims to protect. Just as cancer spreads from one cell to another, so sin quickly spreads from one person to another (1 Cor. 5:6).

Fifth, it aims to present a good witness for Jesus. Church discipline, strange to say, is actually good for non-Christians, because it helps to preserve the attractive distinctiveness of God's people (see 1 Cor. 5:1). Churches, remember, are to be salt and light. "But if the salt loses its saltiness," Jesus said, "it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot" (Matt. 5:13). . . . 

The underlying purpose in every act of discipline, of course, must be love: love for the individual, love for the church, love for the watching world, love for Christ. (110-111)