Spiritual Ponderings

Review (Matthew 18) Who is the greatest? Unless you humble yourselves and become like this little child... Clinging to offenses entraps us. Priorities about what is most valuable. Living independent outside of covenant. Seven Sevens in the Bible Then Peter came and said to Him, "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 . (Matthew 18:21-22) Just how many times are we supposed to initiate this process? How much effort must I put out to stay in this covenant relationship with those around me?” Just how valuable is the covenant to us anyway? If we think there is a limit to how many times we need to forgive, then we are setting artificial boundaries beyond which we will refuse to go in our little imitation kingdom . Living in this kingdom requires unlimited grace, unlimited forg...

I am grappling more and more with this issue of forgiveness and how it fits into the process of salvation. Maybe that is a mistake in itself as maybe I am trying to distill out a formula rather than allow that different people likely have to experience things from different directions. I don't know. But at least for myself I do find it helpful to organize ideas, to discover the alignments between them and the directions they lead me to help make more sense out of things. It is starting to appear to me that possibly forgiveness may be one of the very first steps in setting us on the path toward reconciliation with God. I am seeing that forgiveness is actually letting go of the resistance inherent in offenses, that the very act of letting go itself removes the greatest barrier that prevents God from drawing us to Himself. Since I have come to realize that it is not forgiveness in God's heart that we need – He is never holding any grudges against us and never has – what I ...

My own sermon yesterday is coming back to convict me personally. I presented strong arguments along the line of our need to fully reverse the curse with at least as much forgiveness as there has been offense. Forgiveness is the only solvent that can neutralize the hardness caused by offenses. The resistance to letting go of offenses is the greatest danger for our souls, for that very resistance if not released and flushed out of our systems will be the fuel for the fires of hell whenever we become exposed to the powerful current of God's passionate love and forgiveness. How is the Spirit applying this to my own heart? I have become aware over the years of the immense reservoir of rage that yet resides deep inside of me threatening at any provocation to burst out like a volcano and destroy my life, my reputation and my credibility as a truthful witness for the truth about God. I have long been intimidated by this reservoir buried deep beneath the surface of my adult life. So...

Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" (Matthew 18:21) What elicited this question from Peter? What compelled him to ask how many times he should forgive someone who offended him? Verse 15 is the exact corollary to this question of Peter. Jesus had just given detailed instructions as to how to relate to someone who has sinned against us. It involves a sequence of efforts to seek reconciliation starting with a private appeal, expanding to involving a few others to strengthen our attempts to win the heart of the offender and finally, if all other efforts fail to soften the heart and restore trust and fellowship, the case is to be brought to the entire body of believers still solely for the purpose of seek resolution, reconciliation and peace. If all of that fails yet to draw the disconnected member into fellowship again, their choice to demand separation must be respected and th...

Review of Matthew 18 thus far. Who is the greatest in the kingdom? Unless you are converted and become as little children you cannot enter this kingdom. You must humble yourselves as this little child to become the greatest. Converted means to reverse and is based on a word having to do with revolution. Discussion with Nicodemus about how to see and enter the kingdom. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves ; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself , taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death o...

Themes emerging from this chapter (Matthew 18) Who is greatest. The kingdom of heaven. One of these little ones. Humility. Offenses. Saved and lost. My Father in heaven. Covenant bonds. To be saved is synonymous with being humble, avoiding and resolving offenses, being child-like, and being in covenant bonds with those following the Shepherd. To be lost is to not be child-like, not willing to be humble, to offend and take offense, refusing to resolve them and to separate from the covenant bonds of those who are being saved like a Gentile and the tax collector. What are characteristics unique to Gentiles and tax-collectors that might give clues to important things in this passage? Gentiles are not in covenant bonds with God and His chosen people. Tax-collectors are always focusing on removing value from people around them. Tax-collectors were the ultimate offenders to a Jew. The Jews were offended by Gentiles but they were incensed a...