Video – What About Forgiveness and Repentance in Luke 17:3?

Posted on August 23, 2013 by tdillmuth

Forgiveness coming before repentance sounds good, but what about Luke 17:3?  Jesus said, “So watch yourselves.  If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.”  Pastor Tim explains that this was written in relation to those who are a part of the family of God.  And in light of Hebrews 6:4-6, it is apparent that when a Christian falls into sin it is a serious thing , so serious in fact that it is possible that they cannot be brought back to repentance.  Therefore, it’s not that you shouldn’t offer forgiveness to your brother until they repent, but rather that you do everything you can to bring your brother to repentance.

For all of the latest podcasts on Forgiving and Reconciling and on past Works of Mercy visit our Seoul USA Podcast Page!

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Should We Forgive the Unrepentant?

Posted on August 21, 2013 by tdillmuth

WLO_forgivereconcilePost by Pastor Tim – Most of us are more experienced finding “forgiveness loopholes” than in finding ways to practice forgiveness.  That is because we are challenged by 1) Difficult cases of sin, like I referred to in my last post, 2) Popular and even scholarly teachings on forgiveness from the secular world, which we implicitly assume must be compatible with the Christian understanding and practice of forgiveness, and 3) A general lack of agreement among modern-day Christian leaders on how, when, and why to forgive, each citing the Bible persuasively and conclusively in their teaching.  And not to be overlooked, of course, is our own sin-nature which fights against forgiveness every step of the way and deceives us into believing that we are well-served by finding loopholes rather than plunging through eyes of needles by the grace of God.

One of those complicated and recurring “forgiveness topics” that divides Christians today is the question, Which comes first: forgiveness or repentance?  (Just do a Google search and you’ll find a wide variety of opinions among notable Christian ministries.)  But  I think that Pastor Foley hit the nail on the head when he said that God’s forgiveness was actually offered before repentance.  In other words, we were offered forgiveness by Jesus giving his own life, while we were still sinners, while we were still his enemies.  Christ’s forgiveness paved the way for our repentance, not the other way around.

But how should this scriptural truth influence our day-to-day interpersonal forgiveness?  I love how the late Michael Spencer, aka Internet Monk, captured the practical, simple nature of our forgiveness when said,

If we are following Jesus through this world, every situation we meet is one where forgiveness is normal. There’s no need to get very technical about it. If you were hanging out with Jesus, you’d hear forgiveness announced all the time. While I am not Jesus, I relate to every person through him, his cross and through his forgiveness.

We can make a career of looking for the forgiveness loopholes, but our reliance on technicalities which exempt our own particular unforgivenesses from further scrutiny and resolution often takes us away the fostering of a personality of and predisposition toward forgiveness that we should have, independent of circumstance.

But what about those complicated situations where repentance is needed and hasn’t yet happened?  The Internet Monk continued by saying,

What about the person who won’t repent? I can still forgive them as Christ would. I can offer forgiveness and embody it. But without specific repentance, that forgiveness will be unilateral. Remember Paul’s words?

What were Paul’s words?  Paul said,

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

Repentance is important to forgiveness . . . extremely important.  But that doesn’t permit us to live our lives demanding repentance from others in exchange for our forgiveness.  Practically speaking, this means we should live our lives offering forgiveness to others in light of how God forgave us.  Getting someone to repent is not our job. We can’t force anyone to acknowledge their own wrongdoing and repent from it.  What we can do is to be predisposed to offer forgiveness to others, as an ambassador for Christ, imploring others to be reconciled to God.

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Yes, There Is Christian Persecution In America. No, It Does Not Look Like What Christians Worry About.

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Pastor Foley

SUSA-Korean“How can I prepare for coming persecution in America?”

Next to “How can I help the North Korean underground church?”, this is the most commonly asked question I receive these days. And just as with the answer I give about helping North Korean Christians, the answer about Christian persecution in America not infrequently raises an eyebrow.

Christian persecution in America is not a possible future event. It is a present day reality–if you are seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

I do not come to this conclusion after thoughtfully scouring Fox News reports or the claims of the myriad Christian free speech websites that trumpet every zoning citation as proof of their dire claims. Instead, I am merely quoting a Bible verse–2 Timothy 3:12–and taking it at face value:

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

It is worth noting that the Apostle Paul does not say, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus should prepare for possible future persecution.” It does not even say, “Everyone who does not live in a nation founded on Christian principles will be persecuted.” Rather, it says that in every age and place, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 

Period.

Many American Christians with whom I speak seem most worried that persecution will take the form of someone invading their home and preventing them from holding a Bible study there. What they want to be assured of–and what they are worried about losing–is the private pursuit of their faith. They do not want anyone to crash through their windows and yank the Bible out of their hands as they lead family devotions. (Oh, wait–they already voluntarily stopped doing family devotions. OK, personal quiet time, then.) They do not want to have their heads smashed like watermelons by government thugs wielding baseball bats and demanding that they recant their faith in the name of political correctness.

But Americans who fear this kind of persecution need not worry. The private pursuit of faith rarely raises the hackles of even the most restrictive governments. If Christians around the world would just act like American Christians, privatizing their faith, there would be a whole lot less persecution in the world.

No, the most common form of persecution does not involve home invasions and the roughing up of those who profess a personal relationship to Jesus. Instead, the most common form of persecution is something that, sadly, most American Christians would embrace as actually being quite reasonable and even preferable–certainly understandable at least. It takes the form of a government saying something quite reasonable sounding, like this:

“Religious violence is inexcusable. We may have different ideas about God, but God sure doesn’t want us killing each other. Therefore, we need to make some laws that govern how religions behave when they are out in public.” Yes, that is very true, thinks the average American Christian. Religious people shouldn’t be killing each other, you know. And so the government continues its pursuit of reasonability:

“No one should have religious propaganda shoved down their throats, after all. Let everyone who wants to, be able to freely seek out information about religions that interest them–on their own terms. None of this telemarketing-during-dinner type behavior with evangelists shouting at us on the streets.” Yes, quite right, thinks the average American Christian. Why should someone interfere with my freedom? If I want to find out more about a religion, I will Google it on my own time.

And so certainly it will strike many as reasonable that children should not have their parents’ religion shoved down their throats, either. Let the children choose for themselves when they are of age. Until then, the government will assiduously guard their right to, uh, freely not know.

See? No baseball bat anywhere in sight. No heads being bashed like watermelons. And even the average Christian nodding sagely that protecting rights means restricting rights. If you can’t yell fire in a crowded movie theater, you sure shouldn’t be able to share your faith just because you think I need to accept it for myself.

Or so the prevailing wisdom goes.

And this is why when people ask me, “How can I prepare for the coming Christian persecution in America?” I reply, “If you are not presently being persecuted, I wouldn’t worry about it a whole lot.” Because Christian persecution is not the result of state malfeasance. It is the result of seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

You may have read last week about our upcoming fall campaign, 100 Days of Worship in the Common Places, as the North Korean underground church teaches the rest of us a thing or two about how to get your government to launch a full scale persecution of Christians. (Make sure to check out our Facebook page to learn more about and sign up to join the campaign.) The essential point is this:

Today, persecution follows worship in the common places like day follows night. If you quietly, peacefully, insistently carry out basic worship (in the case of our campaign, we’ll be using a liturgy drawn from the Four Pillars of underground North Korean Christian worship) in the common places of life–home, work, front porch, school, coffee shop, store–you will be persecuted.

No, likely not with baseball bats. Reasonability is the far more popular weapon of Christian persecution today and, interestingly, always has been. You’ll be safe in your home with your personal (i.e., private) relationship with Jesus. But if that thought brings you relief, you may be safe and yet not be saved. That was what Wesley meant when he made his famous (and nearly universally misunderstood) comment that all holiness is social holiness. This is what Wesley said:

Directly opposite to this is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there. ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.

And this is the sad paradox about American religious life:

The private practice of religion according to the dictates of one’s own conscience is likely assured for Americans for the forseeable future.

But the private practice of religion according to the dictates of one’s own conscience is wholly antithetical to what Paul meant by seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

It would almost be easier to get Christians to respond if the government got out the baseball bats.

See you on our 100 Days campaign page on Facebook.

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