Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. We're concluding our sermon
series focused on forgiveness. So we've taken
the month of July to unpack a number of different
parts of this sermon series, and our hope is
that just because we're concluding this teaching,
that it doesn't mean that we don't conclude our
formation in this important and essential aspect
of what it means to follow Jesus. As a quick
recap, let me go back to the questions that we
consider. The very first week, we looked at,
why should I forgive? What's the reason for me
forgiving to motivate me to forgive? In that
we answered that it's out of obedience because
we have received forgiveness for God, we give
it to others. The second week we looked at why
is forgiveness so hard? And for that we borrowed
a definition from a theologian who he says my
personal act, forgiveness is my personal act
to release the one. who sinned against me for
my personal right to collect a debt, a moral
debt, and to pay him back for his offense. Instead
of giving him back the pain he gave me, I absorbed
that pain into myself with God's help. Obviously
a very difficult task, something we have to have
that last piece about God's help. And then we
said, well, what happens if I don't forgive?
And this was last Sunday. Well, if I don't forgive,
resentment begins to build in me, which then
turns into bitterness, which puts these deep
roots deep down inside of me and actually strangles
myself. And in all of these different questions
that we asked, we could have done a long series
on each of those. So the very first thing that
I want to just call your attention to right now
this morning is as we have taken a very complicated
topic and put it into four weeks, if there's
anything in this series that you want to have
more conversations about and to wrestle through
with or things that were unsettling to you, please
come and talk with me after and I'm happy to
walk with you through those. Along those lines,
I want to invite us to pray and just ask that
the Holy Spirit would be doing what he does best
in this time. God, we are here gathered together
because of you. And we are gathered with you.
And we are gathered turning our attention towards
you. So I ask that the words of my mouth, the
meditations of my heart, that they would indeed
be pleasing to you because you are our rock and
our refuge as we declared. Holy Spirit, we want
to invite you to move in us through this time.
Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Ruptures all
over the place. Things torn apart, not as they
are supposed to be, right? And relationally,
we understand this. There's conflicts with different
people in this room amongst each other. There
are things within your own families, things within
the community around. There's ruptures with the
very world that we live on that we keep causing.
I want to turn to two different ways that we
often respond to ruptures. before we get to a
third way that Jesus often calls us to. One of
those ways, to borrow from Scott Hayden's words
for this, is to fake peace or to fake repair,
right? So there's those of us who may tend to
curate the world around us in such a way to make
it seem as though there's peace. As an illustration
for this, my family had the privilege of driving
up to Chiang Mai earlier this year. Eight -hour
drive, right? What could go wrong with three
kids in a car for eight hours? I had two choices
before me, two different vehicles that I could
use. One where all three of them were sitting
in the same row or another vehicle where I could
put each of them in their own row. What do you
think I chose? The second one, right? Such a
great father. So put them each in their own rows
that I can have peace as I'm driving all the
way up to Chiang Mai, right? This is a fake form
of peace where we kind of, separate ourselves
depending on how we feel, but we fake that there
is a sense of unity together. But there's another
side to it that we can force peace. And for this
one, I'm going to go back a number of years to
when I was just starting as a father. And there
was a friend of mine who had been parenting for
a while. And I was over at his house one day
and I said, what do you do when your kids are
arguing and fighting? And he said, by the way,
Let me say from the get -go, this is not parenting
advice. So please just leave it there. This is
to illustrate. So he said, what I do when they
are arguing and fighting with each other, when
there is tension, I get the shirt of repair out.
And I was like, what's the shirt of repair? It's
a single shirt that I put both kids in. And so
they wear this shirt for the rest of the day,
walking around in this, forcing them to reconcile,
right? So again, not parenting advice, but just
an illustration. We can fake peace or we can
force peace. We can fake repair or we can force
repair. But Jesus, like he always does, is going
to call us to a third way. Something that is
much more difficult. Something that actually
in our own ability is impossible. But it requires
him. And so we're going to ask this question
today. What is forgiveness actually for? Because
we've been talking about it the last three weeks.
It is not the actual end goal. It's a means to
something much more significant. So what is forgiveness
actually for? A more serious situation that happened
in 1994. This spring, over the course of 100
days, in the country of Rwanda, 800 ,000 people
were murdered. Neighbors killed neighbors. Friends
killed friends. People from within the same group
actually turned on one another and killed them.
Now, the ruptures that had been the history of
this are long and complicated and tragic. But
it all culminated in one single time frame where,
think about the numbers of this, around 300 people
per hour were dying during these 100 days. I
want to ask you, though, when you hear that story,
what do you do? What goes on in your own heart?
My guess is that one response that we have is
to say, oh man, that's not the way things are
supposed to be. Which calls out to the fact that
we know that that's wrong and that repair or
a sense of wholeness is supposed to be there.
But perhaps another thing I want to have you
pay attention to is, do you relate or do you
push away from that? Do you hear this story and
say, what in the world would make them do that?
Because the story of scripture actually is going
to help us to see that you and I all have this
capacity ingrained in the very fabric of our
DNA. The same capacity that caused what happened
in Rwanda, you and I are capable of. This is
why when Jesus comes and he gives the Sermon
on the Mount, he doesn't say, hey, those who
are murderers, you go over here and the rest
of you, you check out. He says, nope, actually,
if you call a brother raka or fool or you have
contempt for them or there's anger within your
own heart, you're in danger of the same thing
that caused somebody to murder another person.
So we begin with what is forgiveness for? Can
it actually respond to the problem in Rwanda?
We're going to park that story. We'll come back
to it in a little bit. But instead, we're going
to turn to the larger story of Scripture, and
we're going to look at the big frame before we
get to the third -way passage that was just read
for us right in the middle. So as a quick summary,
Genesis 1 and 2, what does God do? God places
a man and a woman in a garden. He creates them
to reflect his very nature. They are supposed
to and designed to take what is good, what's
right, what's true, what's beautiful, and they're
supposed to multiply that in the world around
them, right? So the idea is that they're going
to multiply this and it's going to go out into
the world around. But a significant thing happens,
a rupture that completely severs that intimate
moment by moment relationship. Adam and Eve decide
to say, hey, instead of us having this repaired,
this perfect relationship, right relationship
with you, God, we're going to turn our attention
over to your enemy. And we're going to trust
him. And what the enemy does is he comes to steal,
kill, and destroy. And so the same mechanism
within us about multiplication, ends up becoming
us being able to have the capacity to kill, steal,
and destroy written within us. And that's what
scripture does. And you know what's incredible
about God's word? If I was writing a book trying
to convince you that I'm a good God and that
I want you to come back to me, I may polish over
some of the stuff that happens. I may not include
some of these harder stories. But God doesn't
do that. He does it as a warning for us to say,
hey, this is actually a part of our own existence,
our DNA, and we need help. So we're going to
look at somebody, King David, really briefly.
King David in 1 Samuel 13 is called a man after
God's own heart, right? So this is by many metrics,
one of the best leaders that ever was. He was
an incredible man. The Psalms are written by
him. These beautiful dialogue with God that gives
us an insight into what it's like to journey
with God through life. He's the one who actually
brought the nation together. But he has this
rupturing ability that shows up a number of times.
And potentially one of the most tragic stories
in scripture revolves around this man in 2 Samuel
13. You have one of King David's sons, Amnon,
who tricks and manipulates his half -sister into
the room and violates her. And then, out of disgust,
throws her out of the room and says, I want nothing
to do with you. Get out of here. So she leaves
with shame, and the rupture has already started
there. What does King David do in this situation?
This leader that we're supposed to look to to
say, okay, maybe there's hope. Maybe I can respond
in a different way. What does he do? He gets
angry, but he doesn't actually cause repair.
And instead, one of his other sons, Absalom,
ends up plotting the murder of Amnon and kills
his own brother. And then Absalom flees. And
David is just out of, he's grieving for the fact
that his son is now about rupture upon rupture,
right? Well, Absalom eventually comes back, takes
over David's throne, and David runs away. So
you've now had a coup that has happened in a
kingdom by a son against a father. Story we're
familiar with, right? Well, eventually David
comes back and Absalom is fleeing and David says,
hey, don't kill him, but he gets stuck in the
tree. Remember this story with his hair? Gets
stuck in the tree and he dies. And so now you've
got King David who is lamenting the fact that
this has happened within his family. But there's
seeds that are planted here that are actually
going to cause the division of God's people into
two nations that will never return until Jesus
comes back. That's the power of this multiplying
rupture that is written within your and my very
fabric. So what do we do? Well, You have two
different choices to look at. You can look to
humanity and say, hey, can you please solve my
problems? Or we can look to God himself who came
as a human and say, could you show me a third
way? Could you show me a different way forward,
Lord? I want repair. I long for it. I see that
I'm searching for it. Can you show me that repair?
So this is where Jesus comes. King Jesus steps
into the very mess of our reality and he brings
about a different vision. But it's tough. It
is really, really hard. And we're going to unpack
it here looking at the passage. Before we do
that though, because the very first aspect of
the passage that is necessary is for us to be
people who practice forgiveness. Then we're going
to look at the purpose of forgiveness. And then
we're going to look at a path towards reconciliation.
This is more of a review from the first service.
There's a practice that we engage in that we
saw from God in how he forgave us that we forgive
others, right? And the very first one is to name
the debt. As followers of Jesus, we don't put
things under the rug or simply forget them. We
actually name what has happened, the rupture
that is before us. And we say, this is what I
experienced. But we don't stay there. We turn
to the next one, which is about our identity.
And it is to say, Lord, I know that you have
given us this great gift of grace. And I need
to remember, as I'm naming the dead, I remember
how you have forgiven me. And then the third
part of it is releasing it and trusting our desire
for vengeance or the desire to fix things ourselves,
giving that back over to God. And this was review
from week one. So there's far more to this that
we unpacked there, and I would encourage you
to check it out if you missed that sermon. But
the practice of forgiveness is not all, right?
We still want to answer that question, what is
forgiveness actually for? What is both the purpose
of it as well as a path forward? And in order
to understand this, we need to look at one of
the first things that Paul says in this passage.
Go ahead and read it out. What does he say? Christ's
love, what does it do? Controls us. Different
translations will say compels or moves us. Why
would Paul start this whole passage about reconciliation,
about control? Well, because the way that you
and I are designed is we give our allegiance
to something. Everyone in here has given our
allegiance to something. And there is... all
kinds of different ways that we can give our
allegiance to that. And whatever we give our
allegiance to will end up controlling or moving
us in life. And there is currently, that has
been for some time, a worldview or a paradigm,
we might say, that comes at us, voices, over
and over and over again. And it's termed moralistic
therapeutic deism. So when you go to lunch today,
whoever you're having lunch with, you can just
sit across the table from them and be like, hey,
what do you think about moralistic therapeutic
deism? And on the other side, they'll be like,
can you pass the french fries? And then you'll
wonder the next week, why did this person not
want to go to lunch with me again? But this term,
although it sounds big, there's some components
to it that I think you and I might recognize.
The moralistic part is about me living a good
life. What does it look like for me to be a good
boy or a good girl in this world? What do I do
to live a good life, right? And the therapeutic
side is to say that my main goal is actually
to be happy. So I'm going to try to live a good
life and I need and I deserve to be happy. Does
it sound somewhat like from scripture? Yeah,
there's a little... bits and pieces of that.
I think God wants us to live morally, accurately,
according to the way he has designed. And I think
he also cares about our well -being, our wholeness,
and our healing. But this third part, the deism,
which is usually to say that there's some God
that's far out there. This God in moralistic,
therapeutic deism is basically there to help
me accomplish those two goals. So God, I come
to you when maybe I'm not able to be a good boy
or a good girl. And I say, help me with this.
Or I come to you when I'm not feeling happy and
I don't feel free. And so I say, hey, can you
help me with this? But the problem with this
is when that controls you and you face something
like the Rwanda genocide or something so significant,
like many of you have shared stories of incredible
rupture in your own lives. It only goes so far.
If it is truly about my own happiness and my
ability to cause things, I'm going to come up
short. So Jesus is going to say, hey, I'm going
to call you to a bigger vision, something even
more significant. And what is that bigger vision?
Well, forgiveness is more than moral improvement
or personal healing. It's something beyond that.
Here's what Paul says. So we have stopped evaluating
others from that human point of view. And right
now, that's the most common one we face. But
it's not the only one. There's been all kinds
of narratives that have caused us or called for
our attention. So whatever those are, we're not
going to evaluate people by that human point
of view. You see, at one time, we thought of
Christ merely from a human point of view. How
differently we know him now. He's not just there
to make me happy and healthy. He's there for
something much more significant. What is that?
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ
has become a new person. The old life is gone
and a new has begun. Now, the NLT translated
begun, which I love. And if you actually look
in the Greek, it is talking about it's not completed.
This is all of us going forward. This is something
that is moving within us. And Paul's going to
say, and all of this is a gift from God who brought
us back to himself through Christ. I'm going
to invite you to sit with me for a little bit
as we go more technical into this verse here.
And for those of you who are grammar people,
you may like this and enjoy it. For the rest
of you, there's a point to it that we will get
to. So just hold on a little bit, but do some
deep work with me. Here's what Paul is actually
saying in this passage. Who actually caused the
offense against God? You and I, right? Our ancestors
did and we've continued that going forward. So
it would make sense that we would be the ones
doing the initiating to repair. But the way Paul
packs in a theology in this section is incredible.
God, the one who is offended, is the one who
does the movement forward. And he does that movement
forward at a cost to himself as the very instrument
of fixing things. He becomes the means. And what
is the action that is happening? The action that
is happening is that he's bringing us back to
himself. He's repairing, he's reconciling. And
we, as the one who caused the offense, get everything
in the situation. What in the world? Nobody treats
us that way, right? This is... What grace is.
It's incredible. And Paul has packed this into
this verse here. And it reminds me of an important
art practice from Japan called Kitsuki. I have
a neighbor that actually practices this just
a few doors down. And what Kitsuki is, is it
actually takes broken pieces of pottery. So imagine
that you have your favorite mug or a bowl or
vase or something of that nature and you are
taking care of it and it falls and it drops and
it ruptures, it shatters. Now you normally, you
would look at that and you'd say, look at all
these pieces, there's maybe nothing I can do
to it and you kind of scoop it back together
and what would we think of doing? We'd probably
take it to the garbage bin, right? But God, In
such a more magnificent story, he looks at us
in that and he says, actually, I can take that
and put it back together. And the thing with
this art is that you take a glue, an adhesive
that is infused with gold. But his neighbor said
that actually that gold -infused adhesive is
toxic. And if you get it on your hands, you're
actually going to have a sense of like a rash
that's there where your skin is saying, hey,
I don't like this. Does it sound a little bit
like forgiveness? This comes at a cost to me
to put this thing back together. Not only is
this meticulous work of taking all of these pieces
and putting it back together, but the very glue,
the fabric that holds it together is toxic in
and of itself. That's what Paul is saying God
has done for you. And for me, this work of reconciling,
of bringing us back to himself. But God hasn't
just left it there. He's given us the task of
reconciling people to himself. He didn't just
put the bowl back together and say, all right,
we're done. He's actually called us to something
even more significant with that. So for God was
in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,
no longer counting people's sins against them.
And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
He finally ends it with this. So we are Christ's
ambassadors. Ambassador is like a representative,
somebody who speaks on or acts on behalf of the
one that they represent. God is making his appeal
through us and we speak for Christ when we plead
what? All together, come back to God. Again,
what? Come back to God. Brothers and sisters,
if there is one guiding vision statement for
your life, It is that you are helping people
come back to God. That is a great call that he
has called us to. So you look at the full story
and you see Christ coming in the middle. He does
this reconciling work, inviting us back to himself.
And then he sends us out to be people who cause
repair in the world around us. But it doesn't
just end there because we know in Revelation
21 and 22, it says that all things that were
wrong are made right again. And that God's very
dwelling is amongst his people. What was at the
very beginning, this perfect union with God,
has not only been restored, but like a beautiful
vase that has been recovered and repaired through
the artwork of Kintsuki, is actually more beautiful
than when it started. That's the God that we
serve. And he calls us to that very work in the
here and the not yet. And it is difficult work
of reconciling. So it is not your job to cause
reconciliation. It is your job to join God's
reconciliation. This is important because I will
get easily offended if I am running around and
I have. trying to reconcile things, either ways
that I have been offended. And I believe this
is my reconciliation that I'm trying to cause.
Whose reconciliation is it? It's God's. And I
partner with him in that reconciliation. So whenever
we have a conflict or something, we sit across
the table and we are both on the same side with
God doing that magnificent work in the middle.
But you might say, okay, Pastor Phil, this sounds
nice. But how do you actually do this? What does
that look like? Well, again, we could take a
long time going into what it looks like to begin
to collect the pieces of our own lives that have
been ruptured, of the lives of people around
us, of the lives of a community and put it back
together. How do we actually do that? For this,
we're going to look at a path of repair. And
it's long and it's complicated and it's an art
in and of itself. And I give you that as a warning
beforehand because if any of you think, okay,
all right, I heard that I'm supposed to cause
repair and I'm going to go out and do that. This
is something you can practice your whole life
and we're still going to need a lot of Holy Spirit
inspired wisdom throughout the whole thing. And
that's kind of the point. There's a picture that
was taken of my daughter and one of her friends
this past week. And as I was working on the sermon,
this picture shows up in my messages. and it's
from a local place here in Bangkok. And we think
about a rupture that is there. You see, when
we've talked about forgiveness, we've talked
about it being really an attitude that we have.
For the most part, it's an internal thing. It
can be expressed towards another, but it's me
and God doing work here. Reconciliation is different.
Reconciliation is me actually holding my hand
out, and there has to be a person on the other
side. I cannot reconcile when there's not somebody
on the other side. Forgiveness is a solo, as
they say. Reconciliation is what? A duet. It's
two people working together to do this. And this
is another important point. You cannot force
people to reconcile. This has to be the act of
God working within the two of you to come together.
And so this picture of reaching out your hand,
hold on to that as we continue going forward.
So what are the actual components of this? Well,
one of the first ones is conviction. I need to
know that I am capable of rupture. If you are
sitting here and you're like, okay, he's talking
about rupture and I know people who cause rupture
and your whole thought process is, Oh yeah, that
one. Oh yeah, that guy over there. You're missing
the very foundation of what needs to happen for
reconciliation. And that's that you and I are
able to cause, and we do cause, rupture with
our own lives, with the lives of others. We are
capable of committing rupture. That's the foundational
thing. So if you and I are dealing with some
kind of rupture, if I come into it thinking,
yeah, I don't really have a problem, that's all
on you. It may be, 5 % and 95%. I still have
a part to own in that process of reconciliation.
So I need to acknowledge it. The second one is
confession. Confession at the most simple sense
is to say, I agree with God. I agree with God.
Whatever God says is good, right? True and beautiful.
I agree with that. So if he says, Phil, you need
to live in such a way where the fruit of the
Spirit is evident in you. Love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self -control. Oh, man. All right, God, I believe
that that is correct. I agree with you. I confess
that that's correct. I acknowledge that. But
there's a second side to this. It's kind of like
two sides of the same coin. Repentance is the
other one. Repentance is a change of direction.
It's committing to do something different. Now,
as an illustration, I believe that the stage
has a drop -off here, right? So I can agree to
that in my mind. The stage has a drop -off. And
if I'm simply agreeing that the stage has a drop
-off, but I'm not doing anything about it, I
fall right off, right? This is God actually telling
us, hey, You can agree to something, but you
need to actually demonstrate a movement in a
different direction. Reconciliation requires
me to begin to show that movement. So if you
are reconciling with somebody and they stop at
the second one of confession, but you don't see
any changes within them, you're going to have
to go back to the beginning and work through
it again. Because this has to begin to change.
Now, a note, we do not change overnight. You
cannot simply say, anger, I want you to be done,
and it's gone. Anybody who works with counseling
will tell you that does not work to just say,
I'm going to try harder not to. I'm going to
force it to be gone. What's the next step? Restitution.
Paying back for something. Now, if I happen to
swipe a thousand baht out of your pocket, by
the way, I did not do that, just to be clear.
If I swipe 1 ,000 baht out of your pocket, how
do I pay that back? That's quite easy, right?
I need to take 1 ,000 baht and pay you back.
But I've caused a second form of rupture, which
is trust. You now no longer trust me. You are
walking around the church because the pastor
has been stealing and you're now keeping your
hands in your pocket. And the front row is wide
open and everybody's kind of sitting back there
because I've made a name for myself. Restitution
is an important part of actually working towards
rebuilding trust. I do what I can to pay back.
Now, the really difficult thing with restitution
is there are some things, some ruptures, some
ways that we hurt other people that we can never
pay back. But you still are grieved by it and
you help the other person know that this sits
with you and you do what you can to pay back
restitution. And then the next one is reconciliation.
This is the part where both of you, again, rebuild
trust together and it can take a long time. So
yeah, we've been talking about forgiveness for
a number of weeks. This is possibly the longer
work that goes on and it keeps going and going
and going. And it's a complicated path with different
pieces and components. And it's a lot of work.
So what do we often do? Go back. to either shoving
a shirt on a person and saying, get along, or
we just kind of, I'm just going to let that one
go. And I'm going to let that one go. And that
one as well. And we're going to fake peace or
force peace, right? But this isn't what Jesus
has done with us. And it is not what we are invited
into. There's such a bigger story of us participating
in it. And you know what? I'm going to unsell
the entire sermon with this statement. I've engaged
in paths of reconciliation many times. And more
often than not, they don't succeed. I'll sit
through conversations with others or I will participate
in them. And more often than not, we will not
get to that last one. So you might say, well,
then what's the point of all of this? The point
is actually that in and through each one of those,
the ultimate goal of life is being accomplished,
which is me increasing my awareness that God
is with me. So the more I don't cause repair
in the life around me, whether it's my own and
the community around, the more I'm going to say,
Lord, help, Lord, help, Lord, help. And in that
process, I'm actually learning to journey through
life with him again and again and again. And
ultimately, it's his job as well. So he will,
as we said, cause all things that are wrong to
be right again. So in this process, I'm simply
a steward of it as I journey forward. This is
why Jesus comes and he said, blessed are the
peacemakers. Not blessed are those who... experience
peace or blessed are those who force peace. He
said, blessed those who cause peace, who make
peace, who do the incredible difficult work of
peace. Now, if you look at the Beatitudes, Jesus
isn't saying, hey, here's ways that you should
and should not live your life necessarily. Some
are, some are not. But really what he's doing
is he's saying, these people, when you begin
to experience this, the kingdom of God. or them
being children of God is going to be evident
to them. Because the harder peacemaking is, the
more I'm going to end up spending time with my
heavenly father and looking and smelling and
acting and thinking like him. And that's what
Jesus is calling to say, blessed are the peacemakers
for they are going to look like children of God.
Brothers and sisters, that is the invitation
for us. We are called and commanded to forgive
and you are invited to a larger thing of reconciliation
together. So what is forgiveness actually for?
Forgiveness is not the end goal. Forgiveness
is a means to that end goal. The process of forgiveness
helps me to engage in reconciliation. And when
I engage in reconciliation, I am doing that all
with God himself. And in that, I am experiencing
the goal of life, which is to be with God. I'm
actually taking what is at the end, Revelation
21 and 22, and I'm bringing that into the present
as I walk around. I am becoming the bull that
actually is the picture of where all things are
going. So I'm going to invite you to answer and
to reflect on and think through a couple questions
this morning. Do you tend to fake or do you tend
to force repair? And again, this is God's work.
He knows it. Do you tend to fake or do you tend
to force repair? And a more important question
next to it is, what is God calling you to? What
aspect of repair is God calling you to right
now? Possibly it's your marriage. Possibly it
is a friend of yours. If you've got children,
possibly it's a relationship with one of them.
Perhaps it's somebody that's sitting in here
in a life group or something of that nature.
And know that, if God is calling you to that,
that he journeys with you and it is a complicated
process, but that's what God has done for you.
And as you participate with that, something even
more beautiful than at the beginning can start.
When my daughter broke her arm as a young kid,
there was the question, of course, as a father
to say, oh no, is her arm going to be weaker
from now on? And this doctor actually looked
at me and said, you know what is fascinating
about our bodies? is a broken arm that is healed
is actually stronger than when it first broke.
So when she goes through this process of having
a healed arm, she's actually going to be stronger.
In a similar way, relationships that go through
this process of reconciliation are far stronger
than they were before that. Returning to the
story in Rwanda. We know that that's a complicated
mess. How do you take a tiny nation where close
to a million people have lost their lives? What
do you do, right? Maybe you just divide the country
in half and you have people live in different
parts. Sounds like my van story, right? But the
church stepped in. They went into the prisons
and they practiced this incredible work of reconciliation.
And they started not by saying, hey, you need
to turn to your neighbor and say, I'm sorry.
They started by introducing the gospel and started
by going back to this story of us being forgiven.
And in that, there was repentance that happened,
a conviction that says, hey, I actually have
wronged. And in that, there was far more repentance
than had ever come out in just normal court cases.
They worked alongside the court cases, but people
came forward with things that were far more than
what happened at the beginning. And then they
invited them if they wanted. to be part of what
they called reconciliation villages, where you
could go and live with these people that had
caused you harm, but they had gone through this
whole process. And you begin to rebuild trust
in that space. And one of the stories that came
out of that, that helps us to just kind of land
the plane with this, is the following. There
was a mother from the Tutsi tribe. They were
the ones who lost the most amount of lives. who
had a young kid and she needed to head into town
and she was in one of these villages. And without
thinking twice, because this whole process of
reconciliation had happened, she turned to one
of her Hutu neighbors and said, hey, would you
mind watching my kid? Think about this. You're
turning to somebody that within two or three
years ago had actually been part of what had
caused all this pain upon you. But something
incredible had happened, which is that journey
of reconciliation, this redoing that is only
the work of God in and through that. And she
said, I realized at that moment that that process
of reconciliation in this relationship had gone
into its completion. It's a lot of work, but
it got there. I'm going to invite the worship
team to go ahead and come up. For the rest of
us, as we are waiting, I'm going to invite us
to think about the following. In the new heavens
and new earth, we get to be with God forever,
with him. But it's not just something we are
holding onto and waiting. You see, when Jesus
paid, when he was paying for our own sins, and
there was that restitution process where he was
being crucified on the cross, something else
happened at that moment. A veil was torn. There
was a curtain that was thick that you and I could
not tear apart that was meant to separate the
space of God's symbolic presence and our being
alienated from him that pictured that rupture
from the very beginning. And when Christ was
crucified on the cross and he cries out, he says,
it's finished. This veil tears in two, this curtain
tears in two, symbolically representing that
you and I now have access to God here. Not just
some far out thing that we're waiting for. We
get to participate in that now and that's great
news. We get to actually journey through life
with God and that's the actual point of forgiveness.
So would you join me in praying? Father, I thank
you for your great story. I thank you for all
the parts and pieces to it that reveal your character.
This morning as the prayer team was praying and
they... They sensed you calling us to have a
single -heartedness. As Jesus says, the pure
of heart. That we would be so fixated on the
fact that we are journeying through life with
you, God, that we don't shy away from the very
difficult journey of reconciliation, but that
we participate in that. And we do so with you
each step of the way. You are a holy God. completely
set apart, completely different from any other
way of trying to solve the difficulties in the
world around us and in our own lives. And we
look to you and we say, holy, holy, holy, you
are the one that we cling to and we long to be
with and thank you that we can be with you now.
We pray this in the precious, wonderful name
of Jesus. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to the
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