02/10/13

The first sermon in the series on God's forgiveness and love for us was pretty good, but this sermon actually rocked. Anthony J. posed the biting question: "Though we know God forgives our past sins, what about our future and present sins?" Forgiveness of our past sins came free-of-charge, so-to-speak, but does that mean that all of our sins forever are forgiven, or do we have to somehow achieve, or perfect, forgiveness post-conversion? If we die without repenting of this or that sin, will we have to go through some purgatory or even find that our redemption is bankrupt?

To answer this, he pulled our attention to Hebrews 10.1-4, a pretty great text, noteworthy enough to include: "For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." The old sacrificial system under Jewish law didn't get to the root of the problem, human sin, since offerings made year-by-year cleansed the sinner only of the sins built up over the preceding year. Sure, they may have had a blank slate going into the new year, but that wouldn't last too long at all, knowing the human condition. 

Skipping ahead to Hebrews 10.11-14, we find, "And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." 

Back to the main question: "Does God's mercy run out? And if and when it does, how do we get hold of more mercy and more forgiveness?" This kind of thinking has erected in western Christianity an unofficial sacrificial system: we sin, we work to get back in God's favor by Christian disciplines and behavior, we sin again, and we do it all over again, an endless cycle of striving for forgiveness and failing to live up to God's commands. This unofficial sacrificial system, like the official one under Jewish law, simply doesn't work. And even more-so, it's unnecessary. We strive to deal with our present and future sins on our own terms, and God's shaking his heads, probably thinking, Those dumbasses, because he's already dealt with ALL of our sin, past, present, and future, on the cross. Thus when I became a Christian, when I received forgiveness, I wasn't just forgiven for all the shit I'd done up to that point: Christ's sacrifice covered all the sins I would ever commit, unbeknownst to me, and by virtue of that I'm freed of having to strive and work to achieve constant and unfettered forgiveness. It's akin to me trying to dye my hair blond when it's already about as blond as it can get.

Hebrews 10.11-18 gives us a sweeping, panoramic overview of forgiveness and redemption. Christ did his work, and a fine work at that, and then he sat down. He sat down because the job was done, forgiveness was secured. The end result is that God no longer looks at our sin, at our guilt and our failures. He remembers them no more, a poetic way of saying that, quite simply, they no longer are. They're gone, extinguished, and we in turn stand before him as we truly are, not by virtue of what we've done but by virtue of what God has thrust upon us in forgiveness: we stand before him redeemed, whole, unblemished by sin. 

Really, it seems to good to be true, especially if we view forgiveness as a sort of business transaction. But the motivation for it, remember, isn't God's frugal business ethics but his undying love for us. This love, this grace, this mercy and forgiveness, it may seem too good to be true, but it's what scripture consistently testifies, even if we can't wrap our sin-warped minds around it. Forgiveness is all about God's love, and we are faced with the inability to describe it, only to witness its manifestations in the cross and resurrection, in forgiveness and redemption, in a certain hope and a promise. We don't have to constantly atone for our sins: God's pretty solid when it comes to figuring stuff out, and there's no reason to think he'd overlook present and future sins in his act of forgiveness. Indeed, the age of 70 times 7 has broken into reality: it's the age of forgiveness, an age characterized by unfettered grace and mercy and love, a forgiveness without limit. Our salvation is complete: it's been attained, accomplished, secured. Our future salvation, when we're made wholly new to live in a brave new world, is ensured. Coming to grips with that is tough, but it's liberating indeed.