As we discussed last week, this journey towards wholeness is meant to be a shared experience. Community is essential when looking at the picture of wholeness. As we continue to meet together, be looking for opportunities to get to know each other, become comfortable with each other, and if you feel the need or desire, pray for one another. If we can get this down, we'll be well on our way to understanding a large part of the point of church.
Rinse and Repeat
Remember the old Blond Joke: How do you keep a blond busy for hours?
Give her a shampoo bottle and make her read the instructions on the back: Rinse and Repeat.
Even a blond is smart enough to realize, at some point, that repeating the cycle over and over and over again is going to get her nowhere. And, pretty soon, the hot water is going to run out.
Getting stuck in a cycle is never fun. It's especially not fun when it feels like the joke's on you. You've tried a million times to stop sinning. Every time, you use the right formula: after you sin, repent. Yet, it still doesn't clean up the mess. Maybe it's time we looked at sin and repentance a bit differently.
Remember the big picture of salvation we saw last week?
We discussed how most of us have been taught a framework that focuses on only two aspects of the big picture: Fall and Redemption. Unfortunately, this leaves out that we were created in God's image and that there's a process of restoration to get us back to that image originally intended for us.
It's no wonder, looking at solely fall and redemption, that we expect a quick and easy turn around. I fall; I am redeemed. All done. Clean cut. Whew! Glad we got that out of the way!
Most times, however, that sin tends to pop back up and rear it's ugly head so that we feel stuck in a cycle of sin and repentance (fall and redemption). If I sin one day, and repent for my sin ("I'm sorry!"), but then turn around the next day and commit the same sin all over again, what good is it to continue saying "I'm sorry?"
Our focus has become fixing the behavior rather than examining how our motives and intentions line up with truth. Looking back at Eve from last week... Was the behavior, the deception, or the choice to believe a non-truth Eve's sin? She got off course, input the coordinates on the GPS incorrectly. In other words, the root of the problem wasn't that she ate the fruit. The root of the problem was that she got off the path God had created for her. She can apologize all day for eating fruit, but until she gets back on the path God created for her, it's not going to do any good.
Why then, do we expect that a simple "I'm sorry" is going to cut it? Why do we expect that since redemption exists, everything should be right with the world? We expect that a quick moment will erase all the damage that has been done, but we forget that we still need to reset the coordinates on our GPS and get back on the right path.
"Well, honey, I know we're not supposed to be driving through this desert, but let's stop in at the QuikMart and get a slushy. At least it'll cool us off!"
Obviously, if you're not supposed to be in the desert, a slushy isn't going to fix your problem. It's like treating strep throat with a cough drop instead of antibiotics. It might temporarily soothe, but the problem still exists.
Most of us have probably been taught that repentance equals saying "I'm sorry" to God, again and again. And if we didn't get it right the first time, we've got to try again, "one more time, with feeling!"
But, then, "Oops, I did it again!" and we're sucked back into the cycle: sin and repent, sin and repent, sin and repent... Wow, does that get tiring!
It seems that it's time, once again, to reexamine our coordinates...
What is repentance anyway?
The Greek word for repentance is metanoeo. It means:
to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction): a change in the way we think, perceive, or understand.
In other words... there's something in our framework or worldview that we're thinking about wrongly.
We can say, "I'm sorry for thinking wrongly." But it doesn't change the fact that we're thinking wrongly. The conclusion to be drawn then, is that we must change the way we think. This does not happen in a moment. Changing the way you think is a process of growth, awareness, perception, and understanding, among other things. It works itself out through life circumstances, counseling, community, etc.
Bringing us back around to that image of salvation... it's a lot more like restoration.
That's where God wants to lead us: towards a better way of thinking; towards wholeness.
Consider this:
If there's a destructive behavior in my life and I continue to say, "I'm sorry," that phrase loses it's meaning.
If you are the victim in an abusive relationship, after the first time your partner/abuser says, "I'm sorry," there's hope for change and improvement. Eventually, however, after you've been hurt over and over and over again, "I'm sorry" means nothing. At some point, there must be more.
Discussion:
Discuss your experience with or awareness of this cycle and what stirs in you when offered a different option for the word "repentance."
So... What's the Point of God?
Remember from last week:
It is not to systematically eliminate our sin so God will be increasingly pleased with us and so we can grow continually closer to Him.
If repentance is the process, then what's God's interaction with us?
Let's take a look at what Karl likes to call "The Sin Perception Dilemma."
(And now, my friends, I will attempt to become even half the artist Karl was on Sunday morning.... )
The Whiteboard
This is the framework most of us grew up with:
Here I am, trying to get my way to God.
Only...Ahh! Oh, no... Blam! Now there's a HUGE Pile O' Sin between me and God!
My job is to chip away at the pile of sin, so that I can get close to God. Only, anyone of us who has ever tried knows that the pile of sin is impossible to disappear. It remains a continual barrier between me and God.
Conclusion: I will never be close to God.
Let's take a look at another potential framework... How's this, instead?
That's God, with His arm around me, saying, "No worries, the cross has already taken care of the pile of sin. Let's work together to restore the way you think about Me, life, yourself, and others and get back to how I originally created you to live."
On the journey, God helps me in discovering how to achieve wholeness.
As whole people, we might still screw up and have behavioral issues, BUT we may be less broken, more honest and authentic, less fearful and full of shame, and more able to experience true community and relationship with God and others.
The pile of sin is already taken care of by Jesus' sacrifice, so repentance and restoration are about the journey to wholeness, not about my effort to eradicate my sin and reach God.
So, what IS the point?
To receive and embrace God’s Love, and in so doing, begin a process of repentance which will help us rediscover the Image of God initially formed in us.
It's God's patience and His kindness that lead us to a correct way of thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment