I’ve been thinking on hypocrisy, forgiveness, and Paula Deen.

Let me see if I have the situation right:   Paula Deen swore to tell the truth in a deposition for a lawsuit.  In her telling the truth, she admitted that she had used the “N word” at some point in her life.   She told the truth, then her world came crashing down.  The Food Network dumped her.  Her sponsors dumped her.  Some of her fans have dumped her.  Anchors on news shows and pundits are all dumping on her for telling the truth.

Would they rather that she’d lied?  After all, in America, lies are the new truth.  Or so it seems when you’ve done something you can’t go back and undo.  She spoke the word so she had two choices: tell the truth or lie about it.  There was no going back.

Consider the hypocrisy, though, of what has been going on by all the people talking about it.  Those who ought to respond with forgiveness to her truth and her apology are refusing to forgive,  because apparently to them, the “N word” is the unforgivable sin.

When the truth is told before the Judge of the Universe, I wonder how the anchors and the fans and the sponsors and the Food Network executives will answer these questions regarding their entire life:

1. Have you ever used the word faggot for any reason other than describing decorative stitching or bundles of sticks?
2. Have you ever said, “That’s gay” but not in reference to something very cheerful?
3. Have you ever called someone a “cracker” or a “geezer” or “ho”?
4. Have you ever used words that aren’t fit for me to print in regard to someone, besmirching his or her character, referring to one of several body parts?

Or the one that will probably be most important to the Judge of the Universe who said this:

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)

Deposition time, anchors and fans and sponsors and executives and Paula Deen and you and me.  Time to tell the truth:

Have you ever said “Jesus Christ” as an exclamation of frustration or said “Oh my God” without reference to Him at all?

The Judge will look at each of us, knowing the truth.

So here’s the question each of us should be asking ourselves:

Someday will I want the forgiveness that I am so unwilling to extend to Paula Deen?

So whether the “N word” is an insult or a word beneath your consideration; whether you’re tired of being called a ho and take it to heart or let it pass by, the person who spoke these will be accountable for his or her words.

But what about you? 

Your real question will be whether you will extended forgiveness to those who apologized

or whether in your hypocrisy, you withheld it. 

Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Forgiveness is one of the most lacking things in American culture.  We—in our proud independence—do not want to believe that we must forgive others for their offenses against us.  Grudges are easier than forgiveness.

Many people will never apologize for the wrongs they’ve done to others.   They’ll withhold remorse when remorse is due.  They’d feel better for being honest with themselves and asking for forgiveness.

Sometimes people go half-way.  They’ll say they’re sorry.  The words are there, but it’s a veneer of regret.  We’ve seen it in testimony before Congress or in tweets or e-mails.  It’s as if saying the words is all it ought to require.  But forgiveness is something more.  It’s deeper than mere words.  It needs to be a heart attitude that we adopt for ourselves and our benefit, every bit as much as we do it for others and for making peace with them.

We need to understand forgiveness and the high standard we’re called to observe.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 18: 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Verse 35 is a scary revelation from the lips of Jesus.  He’s completely serious that forgiveness needs to be from your heart—it’s a heart attitude.  And forgiving others as Jesus has forgiven us is a high standard indeed.  What do you need to forgive today?

Secure the borders!  That’s what so many people are talking about.  I am conflicted about this.  Does the Bible ask us to secure the borders?

Most Americans like keeping evildoers out of the country, establishing distance between us and terrorists, for example.  Most Americans probably cherish the idea of sharing freedom with the good people who want freedom and come to us for that reason, especially when there is no freedom in the country they’re fleeing.   Most Americans appreciate migrant workers who do the important work in the fields of the USA–work that many US citizens would refuse to do.

The question becomes “Will secure borders keep evildoers out and share freedom only with good people?”

Here’s a corollary question: Does building prisons for evildoers and lawbreakers increase the safety of the population at large?

I submit to you that it’s only to the extent we use the prisons for keeping all the evildoers locked up.  Yet plenty of criminals roam free because law enforcement has a monumental task and our judicial system is bogged down and often flaky in the decisions rendered.  Someone needs to determine who the evildoers are and someone needs to define lawlessness and evil.  Are Congress, the Department of Justice, and the US judicial system really designed to do this in an age of relative truth? Can an activist court overturn what the people say in direct votes, what Congress legislates, and what former Presidents sign?  This week should tell us “Yes, the Court can” and without really consulting the US Constitution above personal politics.

Secure the borders never means a moral fence which is what the Bible advocates.

Borders are morality neutral: A mere fence or a prison keeps those inside in and those outside out irrespective of biblical moral judgments.  Without morality, a fence imprisons.  The Berlin Wall and the Holocaust teach us that.

In the course of history, have prisons been used by evildoers to lock up political enemies?

One doesn’t have to look too far back in history to see that Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist China, and Iran locked up people whose greatest crime was disagreeing with the status quo or who held to different religious or political ideas.  One doesn’t need to go overseas to see that who goes to prison is tied directly to who judges what constitutes a crime.  Yanira Maldonados could tell you that in Mexico, you’re guilty until proven innocent.  Jon Hammar could tell you the same thing.  Edward Snowden is a flawed hero to some and an evil mastermind of treason to others.  Will he get a medal of commendation or a death sentence?  Who will judge him?  And on what basis when–and if–he returns?

Whether we clamor for secure borders or open borders, we still have a morality problem. 

Maybe instead of looking for blanket amnesty or blanket deportation, we ought to be looking for who, among the illegal aliens, has a moral core.  Let them have work visas and pursue citizenship like anyone else if they even want to become a US citizen.  Or let them work here seasonally on a visa.  But for those intent upon doing evil, deportation is in order.   Keep evildoers out. That is the goal of those who want to secure the borders.

So I’m conflicted.  I’d never advocate letting all the prisoners go free from maximum security prisons because one among them may be wrongly convicted.   What may be necessary for the one unjustly held is not appropriate for all.  Nor would I advocate locking all of us up to have security so that those in charge can monitor who should remain locked up and who can be paroled with a surge of patrol officers to watch us all with surveillance and drones.

Illegal aliens are not all the same.  Some are good-hearted, hard-working family types.  Some are evildoers.  If they are not the same morally, why are we looking to treat them with a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the very issue which concerns us all (including Hispanic citizens of the US)?

Evildoers exist within and without.  Should we secure the borders or commit instead to prosecuting all evildoers and insist upon valid visas for everyone who needs a visa?  Borders and fences are morality neutral.  Therefore, the danger when we secure the borders, as those in the former East Berlin could tell you, is that when enforced by evildoers the same secure borders that kept people out…can now keep people longing for the freedom outside…from escaping the bondage inside.

In trying times, resetting our minds becomes even more imperative.  Keeping Christ first in our hearts and having a Kingdom perspective will be sure fire ways to overcome the discouragement of the moment.  No matter what comes our way, when we know Christ, His grace will overflow, resetting our minds on what is truly important.

 America, how quickly we forget the cost.  Just sayin’…

As a Christian, I do not despair at rulings like today’s Supreme Court decisions regarding gay marriage.  I know who the real Judge is and I know what He says true marriage is.  God issued commands and we will have peace so long as we live by them.

 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Isaiah 48:18)

Controversial rulings on gay marriage by a U.S. Supreme Court

will someday come under real judicial scrutiny. 

Those in robes have been entrusted with upholding the law.  It’s a huge responsibility for which they will bear the consequences of their actions.  Those who ruled with justice and truth will be upheld for the righteousness they pursued.  Those who ruled by politics and pressure will find their judgments blown away like chaff.  Their robes will be taken away, they will be stripped of everything but shame, and then they will be held accountable for what they have done with the high privilege God gave to them.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (Galatians 6:7)

To the gay “married” among the world’s citizens, you will know what you accomplished with all your activism.  You may get every court among men to say you’re married just like one man and one woman, but when the Real Judge issues His ruling on gay marriage, you will know that God does not, did not, and will not ever consider you married.  Picket and protest all you want.

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.” (1 Samuel 15:29)

We are told that the last days of earth will be characterized by people doing what was right in their own eyes.  I, for one, am not at all surprised by the Supreme Court.  Had they sought God, they’d know He will never change His ruling.  I won’t fight it.  I won’t be discouraged by it because I know the Real Judge Awaits…

Sunlight gets absorbed and bent as it passes through different colors of glass in a stained glass window.  We see a colorful pattern on the floor that resembles the image in the window.  Is it still light?  Absolutely!  Is it changed by the colors of glass in the window?  Yes.

Let’s say God sent the sunlight and erected the window. 

Who created the pattern on the floor: God or the window?

That’s how inspiration of Scripture works.  The window was necessary and only produced the pattern that the window was designed to give.  The human writers of the Bible are the window God erected to make the precise pattern on the floor God wants us to see.

God works similarly in the lives of people He calls.  Our personalities make a difference.  There’s a truth pattern evident, but the display is unique to each of us.  God uses each Christian’s life experiences to show the world God’s goodness and light through many colorful windows.

Now the difference between the truth shown through a stained glass window of Christian faith and colorful falsehood of the world is that the light is not evident in lies.  The liar’s “window” rather than translucent or transparent becomes opaque or cloudy or even completely blocks the light depending on how dark the person is in his or her heart.  It’s the difference between a stained glass window and an oil painting on the wall.  One lets light in.  The other blocks it out.  Both have colors, but one allows the light to pass through.

The Bible—and those who hold to it—let the light shine through.  Other books may be opaque or cloudy letting a bit of truth mix with whatever sells for the day as “self-help.” But keep this in mind:  Any book that does not point to the complete sufficiency of Christ and the total insufficiency of humanity is not telling you the whole truth, the full spectrum of light as presented in the many colors of glass in the Bible.

If anyone says he or she has never once doubted anything they’ve read in Scripture, I daresay they haven’t thought that deeply about it.  Only Jesus who has seen the Father could not possibly have doubts.  The rest of us, without firsthand experience, find ourselves like John the Baptist in prison (Luke 7:18-28) with periodic questioning of what we believe.

Doubts happen to anyone who thinks about things.  Doubting itself is not sin.  It depends on what you do with it.

Doubting that drives you to Scripture to dig and to learn and to ask Jesus to show you His truth is not sinful.  It’s humanity striving to understand something far beyond our comprehension.  Like Thomas in John 20:26-31  (comparing with Thomas in John 11:16), our life’s pains and disappointments can cause us to question what we believe.  But those of us who go to God’s Word in search of the Truth of Jesus Christ invariably find Him there and grow stronger in our faith for it.

The River of Peace by Barbara Shafer, preached at Advocate Condell 6.23.2013

When I was a child, one of my favorite summer memories was during the years I lived in North Carolina and developed my thick Southern accent.  Periodically, there are still words that bring it out, but mostly I’ve lost it.  But my favorite summer memory endures and involves my playing outside with friends—which is what kids enjoyed before smart phones, Wii and tablets.

We would hike through the woods to a secret opening along the river bank.

The river—more like a gentle stream…bigger than a brook…in a child’s mind as wide as wide could be so technically a river…but mostly the water was not so deep that it failed to leave exposed some big broad, flat rocks.  Sometimes we’d go fishing, but mostly we’d lay in the sunshine on the rocks or sit atop them, telling stories and laughing while dangling our legs in the stream.  It was peaceful, refreshing; and we could spend hours as summer drifted along without any cares.

Don’t you long for a place like that?  Youth is wasted on the young, I guess, although I think I appreciated it even then because it is such an indelible memory.  And yes, I long for a place like that in the hectic adult life we grow to have.

There is a River of Peace available to you today.  It’s available to me.  It’s found cover to cover in the Bible if we look carefully to see its flowing from page to page.

There is a River of Peace and it

1. Flows, bringing blessing 
2. Flows, supporting life
3. Flows, giving healing
4. Flows, producing fruit

There is a River of Peace that flows from God.

Come to the River and find peace for your souls.

Where is this river?  We see it first in Genesis:

Genesis 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground– trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Before sin ever entered the world, there was a River of Peace flowing from Eden—the place of God’s presence among His creation.  This River nourished the Garden and sustained all of life.  Trees that brought beauty and food.  And the River multiplied into four headwaters.  Although locations of Pishon, Havilah, and Gihon are unknown, the river clearly flows in many directions from the high ground of Eden…paradise…the place of God’s dwelling among Adam and Eve, the pinnacles of His creation.

We see this same River also in Revelation.

Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Again we see this River of Peace flowing, bringing blessing, life, healing, and fruit.  It flows from the place of God’s presence, His rightful place upon His throne.  Don’t you long to come to a River like that?  A place with water of life, clear as crystal?  Refreshing, blessing, flowing, healing…

God desires you to come to such a River and to know the blessings of peace that He alone can give.

Where are you today?

Have you come to this River or are you in a place of unrest, worry, or pain?

The beautiful River of Genesis and of Revelation are one and the same River, but something happened between those chapters: something that causes unrest, worry, and pain.

Sin entered the picture.

* * *

I didn’t tell you the rest of my story regarding the river of my childhood. 

We stopped going to the river one fateful day. 

One day when a few of my friends and I were sitting on the big broad rocks, dangling our legs into the cool refreshing water, we saw a snake.  Whether it was just a water snake or an actual cottonmouth (otherwise known as water moccasin) who knows anymore?  We’d turned it into a cottonmouth by the time we jumped from rock to rock and ran all the way home…not that snakes can run…

To this day, I don’t recall whether our parents told us not to go there anymore on account of the cottonmouth or whether we just avoided the area because we didn’t like snakes, especially aggressive and highly poisonous ones (go figure!), but the result was the same.  We didn’t come to the river anymore.

Have unrest, worry, or pain kept you from coming to the River of Peace? 

Things that bring fear…including sin itself…have the effect of blocking our way to peace.

The peace of the river of my youth was disrupted by the cottonmouth…just like the peace of the river from Eden was disrupted by sin.  It blocked the way, making the river harder to access because we were afraid.  The river was still there.  But fear kept us away.

Even so, my memory is most often of the beauty and the peace, just like the Bible tells us that the peace God gives is still available to us.  It can be our best thought by day or by night:

Isaiah 48: 17 This is what the LORD says– your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

God does not desire our living in tumult and turmoil.  He doesn’t want unrest, worry, or pain to keep us from Him and the peace that flows like a river from His throne.  He desires to give us peace in the here-and-now–until Jesus returns and the new heaven and earth restore everything to the perfect way they once were.  The River of Revelation clear as crystal…

Until then, is that scene from Revelation only the stuff of dreams and visions?  Visions like Ezekiel’s:

Ezekiel 47:1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. 3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in– a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds– like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

Visions, yes, but this life-giving water is ALSO available to us today. 

How can I find the River of Peace, you ask?

John 7: 37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Isaiah 44: 2 This is what the LORD says– he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

In each of these Scriptures we’ve seen so far, the streams of living water, the quenching of the dry ground, the River of Peace: it all comes from God who gives us life.

We can come to the River of Peace—even today—by God’s own work of giving the Holy Spirit as a seal of redemption upon those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus.  He dwells in our hearts and His healing waters flow, ministering peace to our hearts even while our worlds outside may be poised to cause us harm.

It’s like God captured and removed the cottonmouth from endangering His children and by faith, you and I free to play on the big broad rocks.  We are free to enjoy the refreshing water, the flowing blessing, the fruit of righteousness, and the peace that surpasses all understanding.

By faith in Christ, we have been set free from the cottonmouth of sin.  We have received God’s forgiveness in place of our sins.  Indeed our sins have been washed away in this River of Peace—our sins are removed from us and are forgotten.  As believers, we have received the Holy Spirit and this is what Isaiah says (after discussing a world in trouble which is our life until…)

Isaiah 32:15 till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. 16 Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. 17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. 18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. 19 Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, 20 how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free

This is the River of Peace made up of living water that flows within– Living water that flows from the throne of God into the heart of every believer, sealed by God’s Holy Spirit.  So no matter where today finds you, you can come to the River of Peace where it

1. Flows, bringing blessing
2. Flows, supporting life
3. Flows, giving healing—sometimes now but always eternal healing
4. Flows, producing fruit of righteousness, indeed peace for our souls.

Come to the River of Peace…