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How Do You Plead?
How Do You Plead? 1 Corinthians 5:11-21
† In Jesus Name †
May you realize the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that mercifully and lovingly reconciles you and brings you back to our Father!\
The Plea
Two men stood in front of the judge and the jury, waiting to hear how their pleas were heard, and how their pleas for just would be answered. Whether they believed their pleas or not, their long struggle for the justice was about to be answered.
It was different this time, as I handed the bailiff the verdict, as justice was delivered.
In the back of my mind, I heard the words of Barry, one of my fellow jurors, CLICK
I would rather have justice, than the outcome of the law….
How I wish we could have had the time, and the opportunity to share with them the true nature of justice, that they could have heard that plea.
For that day, in the court room, the plea for reconciliation, the plea for true justice, was the furthest things from what occurred, the furthest thing from anyone’s heart.
And as everyone walked away from that courtroom in Norwalk, the verdict we had given was fair in our minds, but scripturally, it was far from just.
You see the wrong plea was entered… the plea should have been the pleading we’ve been given by Christ, as Paul wrote:
We speak for Christ when we plead, CLICK “Come back to God!”
Our Need For that Judgement
All over the news and the internet, people crying out for justice, crying out against what they perceive as injustice. If you talk to a judge or a lawyer, they can tell you the wait for justice can be three to five years. If you talk to those who are pleading for justice, their ideas differ. And a jury can struggle to determine what is truly just, for in a civil trial how can you put a price tag on it? How can you place a number of years in a criminal trial, that will bring to balance the injustice?
Even so, people cry out for justice, for things to be made right. We so want what we think justice is. But here is how God defines justice, (verse 19) CLICK
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them!
and
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
True justice, true righteousness is seen in the work that God our Father commissioned, the cost of reconciliation, of making people right with the Father.
True justice then, would have resulted in a friendship between the two men suing each other, and their ability to do so, knowing that Christ paid the price for both of their sins!
They could have known that, they could have known a kind of justice that would have healed the broken relationship that they had. For as their sins were counted against each other, as they were erased, what could separate them?
That’s justice, and it is so completely unexpected. CLICK
This is how Jesus saves us, this is how God planned for this, as we hear from Isaiah, whose words were written centuries before the cross.
5 But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. Isaiah 53:5 (TEV)
and
10 The LORD says, “It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed. Isaiah 53:10 (TEV)
In the very suffering and death of Jesus, we find all of us reconciled to the Father. That is justice. Being reconciled to God is the kind of Justice He seeks.
From my devotions yesterday, this quote explains it well, CLICK
But when a person has once met Christ, when a person has once seen Jesus and really learned to know him, then everything is changed. Then everything else is comprehensible and life is renewed. And you [priests] have really only one task: to present Jesus to all people in such a way that they see him and learn to love him.[i]
When God reconciles us, we are that new creation, as Paul says, the old life is gone, the new life, our new life in Christ has begun!
Everything has changed, the gift of God that is so incredible!
Our plea is different now…
As we look at what has changed, our plea for justice stands out. It is no longer a plea to some vague idea of justice that favors us over others, it is a plea for God’s justice, that they would know His love, that they would welcome His mercy.
It has changed as well from a plea to God for that justice, to a plea to those who cry out for justice, to hear God’s version of it, to be called back to God.
This is what the ministry is all about, this is what the Christ’s love compels us to do.
To share with each other, that in Christ, we have been reconciled to God. Christ’s work is so perfect, that there is no relationship that is beyond His ability to heal, as He brings us into Himself, as He makes of us, one family, one people. His people.
Reconciled to the Father, which is how we see each other. As His children, as those He died for, as those who no longer live for themselves, but live in Christ, who died and was raised for us. That’s why we plead, not to God, but with people to come back to God.
A plea that is an interesting word picture. We become their paraclete’s, the one’s that come alongside them, lift them up and lovingly carry them back to Jesus. If the word sounds familiar, it should. It is one of the names for the Holy Spirit. That is why our pleading is effective, for it is done in Christ, and by the Holy Spirit’s power!
What an amazing thing this message of reconciliation we have been given, this plea that God entrusts to us, to call out to others, to beg them to see the work of God, done for them, and to trust that God has reconciled them as well.
Two last thoughts about God’s Justice CLICK
When we love our neighbor, pleading with them to see Jesus, to recognize His work reconciling them to the Father!
And there is no greater testimony to God’s love and mercy at work in us, that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in us, than to plead with our enemies to be reconciled to Jesus Christ.
For it takes a level of peace to do this, a peace that goes beyond logic, that goes beyond understanding, a peace that unites all in Christ, where He guards their hearts and minds. AMEN!
[i] Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 191). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Lament and Prayer: An Option to Dealing With Others….
Devotional Thought of The Day:
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me! 38 And so your Temple will be abandoned and empty. 39 From now on, I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, ‘God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord.’ “ Matthew 23:37-39 (TEV)
14 “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. 15 I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. 16 When that day comes,” says the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’ Hosea 2:14-16 (NLT)
In the last few days, I have seen behavior that causes me to mourn. That needs to be rephrased, I see behaviours hat cause me to mourn, and indeed, cause me to want to pray.
It starts with someone who writes or proposes something that is heretical, or so close to it that it does not matter. In a couple of these cases, (there isn’t just one) it has been pastors or professors who have denied Christ’s existence. Yet would stay “in the ministry” because it is not about Him. It is about the people, he claims. Not about God and His people.
The pain they cause is real. Even from a distance, those who value their relationship with Christ, the hope gained by knowing and trusting Him, feel immense pain. The reaction is to strike out. We find ourselves judging such men, mocking them, condemning them in our hearts and attempting to in the court of public opinion. We feel their betrayal of God as a betrayal of all we stand for, and we do not know how to respond. I’ve even read of some praying, no, cursing them in the name of God.
So we meet evil head on, by doing evil in return. Like in days of old we symbolically rip our clothes, and consdier them dead to us. We shun them. Okay, really we don’t – we try to get close enough to “kill” them with our words, to do battle with their viewpoint and crush it under our superious knowledge, and if that doesn’t work, by our castic wit.
I have an option for dealing with our pain, with the betrayal, with those who have thrown away and tried to crush our Spirit.
Rather than react to them, I suggest we weep and mourn for them. We cry out to God the Father, just as jesus did! We need to lament and pray and intercede, that they would know God’s love, that they would find healing as the Holy Spirit comforts and strengthens them. In order for a person to come to a heretical position or notion, something has broken. Something has deluded them, something is holding them in bondage. Something they are most likely blind too, caught up in the darkness. To mock and curse them is like putting tripping hazards before a blind man.
It is a sin.
Can we mourn for them, can we weep and intercede fo them in prayer? Can we desire their reconciliation to God? Can we like Hosea’s chasing after Gomer, as the Father’s sending the Son to die, can we go beyond our brokenness to engage them, to confront them directly, in love?
Can we encourage those who would judge, mock condemn and curse them to pray for them, to be prepared to even sacrifice time to pray, and if led to , to lovingly confront those who are erring?
Which reaction testifies to God’s glory and action in our lives? Which option tells others of our confidence in the mercy and love of Christ?
We need to learn to lament, to pray, to plead for their souls…. and to love them. It is for this that we’ve been called, that we would walk in the steps of Christ.
AMEN.
Those People Sin? How Convenient! We Have Something in Common!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
15 Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One— 16 of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 (MSG)
367 Among believers ( original read Catholics) it might perhaps be that some have little Christian spirit; or so it might seem to those who have dealings with them at some particular moment. But if you were to be scandalised by this fact, you would show that you knew very little about human wretchedness and… about your own wretchedness. Furthermore, it is neither just nor loyal to use the example of the weaknesses of a few to speak ill of Christ and his Church. (1)
it is a rare day when looking at facebook and twitter doesn’t cause a bit of sadness. Simply put, a lot of those who count on God forgiving their sins, forget that it is God’s desire to forgive all sinners.
Yeah – it means those people we don’t just judge but those we condemn. Politicians, athletes, movie stars, our neighbors, ex-spouses, bosses, employees, immigrants, criminals, instead of fearing God’s wrath and repenting, they feel our wrath. And that is a problem, because if they feel our wrath, they won’t know the blessing of fearing His, of having the Holy Spirit cut their hearts open and bring them healing. They won’t ask us about the mercy of God, the forgiveness poured out in love. They won’t engage us in discussion, they won’t come into our homes or invite us into theirs.
There are a lot of religions out there, there are even some that have no deity, except perhaps one’s self. Reaching them with God’s love isn’t some kind of war, some kind of argument. Even Elijah’s “battle” at Mr Carmel wasn’t a head to head battle. It was, let’s see whose God will answer prayer, let’s see whose God will reveal Himself, not for the prophet’s and priests sake, but for the sake of the people God would make his own.
When we realize we are sinners as well, there are a number of blessings that come. The first is that we can hear that our sins are forgiven. The second is that once forgiven, we can still identify with those who struggle in guilt or shame, we know what it is to deny the truth, we know the brokenness, and can speak their language and point them to the hope we know, the mercy we’ve experienced, the love that brings us comfort, and heals our brokenness.
That’s what Paul is getting at, when he says his sins top all ours. (and no that is not a challenge) That is what St Josemaria is pointing to, when he calls to mind our own wretchedness.
We have been given hope, we know we’ve been delivered from the muck and mire of sin.
They need that – and yes sin can be confronted in a way that lays out hope – that takes them along the path we’ve been on, as we come alongside them. that works a lot better than lasso’ing them and dragging them into God’s kingdom, or just leaving them in their brokenness!
Lord have mercy on us, and teach us how to have mercy on others…..
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1683-1687). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Are Those Who Oppose Jesus, our Enemies? Or Those We’ve Been Sent to Love?
Devotional THought of the Day:
Now while he was at table in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 12 When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. 13 Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the upright, but sinners.’ Matthew 9:10-13 (NJB) 10
869 Those… who see adversaries where there are only brothers, deny with their works the Christianity they profess. (1)
I didn’t want to write this post, but as I see those who trust in Christ respond with what appears to be hatred and a desire for revenge, I can’t be quiet on this one. Not so close to Christmas, Not in view of how God treated those we would consider His enemies, His adversaries.
Don’t we realize that when we react to people, we either testify of God’s love for them, or we deny it? That when we wish evil, or retribution, or pain upon others, when we pray that their business goes down in flames, that they know misfortune, we aren’t loving them the way God loves them, the way He loves us? Don’t we realize the power and the need of the old Lutheran prayer, Lord, turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries toward You? Don’t we realize the truth of St Josemaria’s comment – that we deny what we profess, when we see these people Christ died for as adversaries, as opposed to those who need to be freed, and for God’s glory to shatter their darkness?
What will it take for us to turn the other cheek, to react the way Stephen did, the way Jesus did? When will we desire that they come to the transformation that God desires for them, that they would realize He would cleanse them of their sin – just as we count on Him to do for us?
Yes, a neighbor wrote a letter to someone complaining about Santa Claus (secular Christmas) and a ton of lights. Yeah, a guy gut suspdended from making money on television, yeah, someone didn’t like how agressive we were quote the Bible, or some religious book. That is no reason to wish them evil, to curse them or raise crusades against them.
Instead, it’s a reason to love them, a reason to pray for them, a reason to be patient with them, and reach out to them. Knowing that God has done the same for us.
We can stop the mad reactions against us… simply by loving them with Christ’s love.
Lord have mercy, and help us to desire what you desires for these our “adversaries”
Whether it is our response ot
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3556-3558). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Suck it up… and go talk to Jesus
Devotional Thoughts of the Day:
Psalm 32:1-7 (NLT) 1
When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude 5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude 6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment. 7 For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.
253 That sick person, consumed by a zeal for souls, said: sometimes the body protests a little and complains, but I also try to transform “those moans” into smiles, because then they become very effective. (1)
A lot of people out there are paralyzed, not physically, but spiritually. Simply put, they know what they want to do, They have no strength to do that which they want to accomplish, they can’t escape the pain and the brokenness of their lives. They say they are believers, that they are Christians, they even may sit in church this morning. They may even say they have a zeal for souls, and give money to missions…
But can they love their neighbor?
Can they forgive their family?
Can they reach out, even as St. Josemaria describes, in their physical weakness?
Can they sacrifice themselves, so that they desire to see others know Christ can be fulfilled?
How much of their spiritual weakness comes from not dealing with their own sin, as the quote from the psalms describes? How much of it comes from hiding their guilt?
Why can’t they just suck it up, and turn to God, knowing His promises, knowing His love, knowing He has promised that He will forgive?
I am presently on a elders retreat – and it is amazing, as each leads a devotion, as we do our impromptu Bible Studies (go find a passage – and explain what it says to you) The theme for the retreat is that we are “sent”. But each section has shown us not that we are… but that we are sent from the place where God deals with our sin, with our brokenness, our pains.
It is from that place –quickened by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, made alive in Christ, freed from sin and delivered into a place full of joy and peace, that we find ourselves ministering to others without thought, serving others, sharing with others, with everyone, the glory of God in which we live.
So suck it up ( a phrase that was often used in past retreats – but the elder who used it has moved south) go to the Father… confess your sins… and go from there… and know He is God.
AMEN
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1241-1243). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Christianity is not “behavior modification”…yet…
As I read tweets and posts of people these days, as they attack or defend the actions of a corporate CEO, it seems what has gotten lost in the discussion is the message of the gospel, and the reason that Jesus came to earth.
There are times I think that we forget that Christianity isn’t in the “behavior modification” business, and I know for sure that many who are offended by those who read scripture plainly, think that is our primary mission and goal. They think most of us our out to modify their behavior – or that of those they care about – and love – while not confronting our own hypocrisy, our sins of gossip, or even.. our own sins in thought, word and deed of lust.
But the gospel isn’t primarily about changing people, converting evil sinners into well behaved saints as if by the flip of a switch. It doesn’t work that way – and its not about that anyway.
It’s about introducing people to a God who cares about the broken, those broken by their own sin, and by damaged equally or more by the sins of the world. It’s about bringing them the idea that God loves them enough to care for them in their brokenness, in their dysfunction, and reach to them, cleanse them, restore life to them.
All Christians are then, are those who are on the road to healing, as they deal with their own brokenness. Well – not exactly, We realize our brokenness, and our only way to deal with it – is as the blind men so long ago dealt with it, by crying “Lord, have mercy!”
In his letter to a young pastor named Titus, Paul reminds him of what life was like, prior to getting to know Jesus, the One who comes to the broken, and heals them. He wrote:
3:3 There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed, 5 it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit 6 which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life. 8 This is doctrine that you can rely on. I want you to be quite uncompromising in teaching all this, so that those who now believe in God may keep their minds constantly occupied in doing good works. All this is good, and useful for everybody. Titus 3:3-8 (NJB)
It’s probably a pretty needed reminder to the church today. We were sinners when Christ came to us, through the message of the gospel, and through that word and the sacraments cleansed us of our sin. We still struggle with it – from a behavior perspective we aren’t less sinners that those who don’t know Christ. But we know that we are being healed, being counted as righteous, and renewed. That God does the work, and if our behavior changes, if we realize sins power is broken when it comes to the control it has on our lives – He gets the praise…. not us… He gets the credit.. not us…
and when we see those still paralyzed by their brokenness… our attitude should be one of concern, and love, and bringing them to the only One who can bring them healing…. instead of lining up to crush them some more.
May we learn to cry “Lord have mercy!” for others, as well as for ourselves!
