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The school year is rapidly closing, which means graduation season is upon us! Join us Sunday as we celebrate five graduates in our church family, as well as take a moment to pray for them.
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This week in the News & Notes, Erin continues our In Christ email-only series by looking at a key Christian concept that can get quite personal. Hopefully it will help you worship God today, as well as improve your relationships.
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Forgiven in Christ
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I have created this opening paragraph four different times in four different ways. Yet each time, after getting the paragraph typed into the email creation page (even getting to two paragraphs twice), I have deleted everything I've written and started over completely from scratch. Why? Because today's topic is extremely personal for so many people!
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Today, as we continue our In Christ email series, we are talking about what it means to be forgiven in Christ. Two of my opening paragraph attempts were about historical events involving forgiveness (which lacked the "punch" needed to drive home today's point), while my other two attempts were of a personal nature that weren't quite the right thing for a public email.
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Yet the word "forgiveness" is thrown around regularly, especially in Christian circles. So why is this week's email such a slog to craft?
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Here's the problem: sometimes, when we hear stories of forgiveness, we think "oh, that's nice," and then move on with our day. We don't fully feel the pain, abandonment, or betrayal of the victim, so we lack an understanding of just how difficult it was for the victim to forgive the offending party. (This reaction reveals (often unknowingly) a lack of understanding of the power of forgiveness.)
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Yet when we are the victim of such "crimes," we don't want to give forgiveness, we want to get revenge! (Because revenge feels like justice.) Forgiving the perpetrator seems far too lenient for the harm they did to our heart. (This also unknowingly reveals we still don't understand the power of pardoning the offender.)
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So to grapple with this topic, let's do this: let's take a moment to first try to understand just how horrible our sin is against a holy God, and then we might be able to grasp just how remarkable forgiveness is.
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Forgiven from the Death Penalty
We humans usually rank sin. For instance, lying isn't particularly acceptable, but murder is far more reprehensible. And while stealing is frowned upon, sexual unfaithfulness is seen as much worse (depending on which subculture you are part of).
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Now, while I would much rather have you tell a lie to my wife rather than murder her, all sin is ultimately against a holy, glorious, pure God. And the pure holiness of God can't allow even the smallest speck of sin in His presence, for this would mar His perfection, even if it is just a "small 'white' lie."
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Because God is life, the very fact our human nature is born in sin means we are spiritually dead at the time of our physical birth. This spiritual truth means we are naturally condemned, separated from our holy, loving Creator. (This is why Jesus said in John 3:17 He did not come to condemn the world. We were already condemned by our sin nature!)
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Yet the gospel says the story doesn't end with our sin. Jesus, through His willing sacrifice on the cross, paid the penalty we should have paid for our sin to raise us from our spiritual graves and makes us alive with Him. In other words, our sin is forgiven "in Christ." This is why John the Apostle wrote:
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"I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake."
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It is for God's glory and joy your sin has been paid for and your spiritual debt forgiven. And when you realize just how awful your sin is against this grace-filled God, it should not only grieve you but bring you elation that His love led Him to forgive you, paying your penalty for you.
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Forgiving Others "in Christ"
When you realize through the gospel your sin has been forgiven by your Creator, it makes it that much easier to forgive your fellow sin-stained human. That's why the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote:
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"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
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But you are not expected to just forgive from your own willpower, strength, or wisdom. You are to forgive others with gospel motivation. The One and Only Holy God forgave you in Christ, so let His Spirit (which forgave you through your faith in Jesus) empower you to forgive others in Christ. And when you do so, you are saying you trust God to be a better judge than you, and you are freeing yourself from the weight of the other person's sin against you.
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See why this post was hard to write? It can be incredibly personal. And yet, knowing you are forgiven in Christ can be so freeing and joy-filling. So no matter where you are in your journey to forgive others, may you realize the forgiveness God has given you through His Son's incredible actions on a cross so long ago.
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Grad Recognition Day
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This Sunday during our Worship Gathering, we will have a special time of celebrating and praying over our Riverwood graduates. If you haven't heard from us yet, we probably don't have your HS/College graduate on our list, so make sure you get in touch with us before the weekend!
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VBS Registration Open
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Waverly Community VBS will be hosting STELLAR VBS on June 26-29 from 6-8pm at Life Church. Registration for kids entering K-5th grade is now open. You can also register to volunteer!
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Parent/Child Dedications
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We are planning some special parent/child dedications coming up soon on May 28 during our Worship Gathering. If you have been wanting to publicly commit to put God first in your family and dedicate your child(ren) to the Lord, please let us know via email.
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Just For Fun
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Is anyone else feeling the stress of May? Well, perhaps you might relate with this parody called Maycember: "all the craziness of December, without all the fun cookies and twinkle lights." (Although, I do have to see I'm enjoying this 70° weather!)
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