Friends, I’d like you to meet Lynne Ford. Lynne is a radio host for the WBCL radio network based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I had the privilege of being interviewed by Lynne last week on  her show. It seems my comments on forgiveness stirred up a bit of a post-show controversy with one listener. Here’s what Lynne wrote about it on her blog:

The Truth Will Set You Free . . .and Upset Some Christians

“I want to talk with you about today’s Mid-Morning,” began the voice mail left on my phone following Thursday’s show with Will Davis Jr., author of 10 Things Jesus Never Said. That type of statement usually means the caller appreciated the show and wants to tell me why.

This was not one of those calls. I could tell by her tone.

Bekah prayed with me (thank you, friend) and I called the woman – who left only her phone number, no name – back. She was surprised to hear from me, even though she was adamant about wanting to speak with me about the “horrible” show that “gave people permission to sin,” before threatening to pull her pledge, and then hanging up.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: Tell me what was said today that upset you.

Listener: That man said God knows all of our sins before we do them and that He forgives every sin.

Me: Do you believe the Bible says that?

Listener: Yes.

Me: Then why are you upset that Will said that on Mid-Morning?

Listener: Because he said that God knows all of our sins before we do them and that He forgives every sin.

Me: Do you believe that the Bible teaches that and that Will was telling the truth?

Listener: Yes.

Me: Are you saying we shouldn’t tell people about those truths on Mid-Morning?

Listener: No, but when you say things like that people will think they can just go out and sin

Me: Will talked about that, quoting Paul…that just because God lavishes grace on us, it doesn’t mean we go out and sin. In fact, God’s cross-love compels us to not sin…because we are so grateful for what He’s done for us.

Listener: Yes, but God is a jealous God and your guest didn’t mention that.

That’s when the Spirit turned on the light for me. This listening friend and I talked for quite a while beyond the conversation in this blog. What I heard in her voice was devotion to Jesus and a frustration with Christians who say they belong to Jesus but act as if they’ve never met Him. I get that. Truth be told, I sometimes feel that way myself. But what I also heard was fear. Fear to trust that God will do what He has promised: transform us by the power of His Spirit. All we need do is give ourselves to Him, moment by moment.

I grew up in a church that preached the saving love of God, but not the Father-fondness of a God that takes delight in me, is broken by my brokenness and wants me to know Him and rest in Him. Or to paraphrase Augustine (though this is pretty close to his original statement): Love God and do as you please.

The main message I received was, “You’re saved, now be good.”

That kind of Christianity sucks the life out of you. All these many years later – after much sinning, which I take full responsibility for, and a line-in-the-sand repentance moment – I choose to be hemmed in by God’s love, forgiveness and holiness, rather than my own rules, which will be too strident, stomping to death God-given  joy, pleasure and laughter, or too loose, allowing regular visits to the far country of sin.

Trust me, being hemmed in by God is like saying the continent of Australia is my home – and it’s not big enough for me. God offers freedom; sin enslaves us in a dark, cramped space.

I don’t know if my conversation with our listening friend changed how she feels about the straight-from-the-Bible truths Will Davis Jr. shared on Thursday’s Mid-Morning. When we re-air it later this year, I just may find out.

Thanks, Lynne, for a great blog.

So what do you think? Did I overstate the case? (You can listen to the full interview here) Does telling people that all their sins (even future ones) are forgiven give them a license to act any way they please?

Tell us what you think!

On Super Bowl Sunday in 1995, seventeen-year-old Brandon Blendon climbed into his pickup and went for a drive after the game. He had an open can of beer propped between his legs and two more in his front seat. At an intersection, Brandon rear-ended a car that had stopped for a red light. The impact crushed and killed a four-year-old little girl who was secured in her safety seat in the back of the car.

A judge sentenced Brandon to twenty years in prison and ordered him to pay $520 dollars in restitution to the little girl’s parents. Brandon has to mail a weekly check to the family for $1 for ten years, with a note in the memo line reading, “For causing the death of your daughter Whitney!” While Whitney’s mom has forgiven Brandon and even visits him in prison, Brandon will never be able to escape the reality of what he did. He has an ugly, weekly reminder of what his sin cost, not just him, but several other innocents.[i]

Too many Christians live with terrible guilt over mistakes made years, even decades before. They live in the shadow of what they’ve done, not who they are in Christ, and in essence write checks to God in some unhealthy effort to remind themselves of what they’ve done and how bad they are. That’s not what God wants. He sent Christ to the cross to free us from our pasts, not chain us to them. Seeking God’s forgiveness in your daily prayers helps you keep your slate clean before God. It makes your yoke easy and keeps your burden light, which is exactly what Jesus offered when he promised to give us rest.

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Despite conventional thinking, the concept that God helps those who help themselves isn’t a biblical one. In fact, it’s really the opposite of what the Bible teaches. Rather, the Bible teaches that God commands us to do the impossible, to become what we can’t, and then equips us by his grace and power to do and become what he expects.

The Bible’s line is that God helps those who can’t help themselves–that God helps those who seek his help. No matter how hard we try, there are just some things we can’t do without God. But as we lean onto the work of God’s Spirit, not on our best efforts, God works in and through us.

This is no small difference in thinking, and one we need to adjust our minds to it. As disciples of Jesus, we are dependent, not independent.

This was the subject of my weekend message at ACF and part of the Things Jesus Never Said series. Click here to watch or listen to the full message.

The theological concept of forgiveness is much more comprehensive than most of us realize. When God offers forgiveness through Christ, he doesn’t make a small or limited proposal. What God offers is a radical, sweeping removal of every sin you have or will commit. Several verses in the Bible teach this, but let me highlight just one of them.

In Romans 5, Paul taught that Jesus died for us even while knowing just how sinful we really were. He wrote, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8). Jesus wasn’t confused about his mission or the depth of need of those he came to save. He understood that his sacrificial death on the cross was for the sake of those who didn’t deserve it. He died for sinners—the worst of the worst. Jesus went to the cross being fully aware that he was taking the place of murderers, adulterers, liars, thieves, swindlers, rapists, extortionists, kidnappers, child-abusers, gossips, drunkards, drug dealers, prostitutes, assassins, terrorists, pornographers and dictators. Nothing—no sin—escaped his notice. Name your worst moment as a human. Name that time when you were most selfish, most sinful, most harmful to others. Or, name a time in the future when, God forbid, you might be even worse. In both cases, Jesus died for that sin. Past, present, future—Jesus died for it all. And because of that profound reality of his forgiveness, there’s no way we can ever do anything that will somehow shock or surprise God.

Click here to listen to or watch the full message at ACF.

Meet Clyde. Clyde is a fifty-two-year-old CPA with a wife and three kids, all grown. He’s been a Christian since he was nine. He’s a deacon in his church and once did a four-year run as his church’s treasurer. He has taught Sunday school and even participated in Monday night church visitation a few times. Clyde reads his Bible, prays regularly and rarely misses church. He doesn’t drink except for the occasional wedding and after the end of a really hard tax season. Clyde’s friends are also typically churchgoers, although few know Clyde really well. Most of Clyde’s clients know that he is a religious man.

On the surface, Clyde looks like a pretty good Christian. He appears to be doing everything right. But there is one major problem with Clyde’s faith, one kink in his spiritual armor–it’s fruit, or the lack thereof. The whole love, joy, peace, patience, etc., list that Paul offered as evidence of the Spirit’s presence in our lives (see Galatians 5:22-23) never seems to be on Clyde’s radar. It’s like he missed that memo. And even with all of Clyde’s spiritual and church activities, he can be downright mean. He’s short-tempered with his wife and yells at other drivers in traffic. He frequently snaps at his co-workers and has gone through some very bumpy seasons with his children. He’s even been in counseling with his oldest. To his credit, Clyde has worked really hard on being more patient, and sometimes he can have pretty good days. But when he’s tired, stressed or not feeling good, his patience goes right out the window. And when that happens, look out. Clyde can be extremely hot-headed and rude when he’s at the end of his rope.

Clyde has prayed about his anger issues and lack of patience, but they never really seem to get better. As a result, he has kind of given up. Heaven knows that he has tried really, really hard.

So what’s wrong with Clyde? Why can’t be gain control of his anger? Why hasn’t his hard work paid off for him? Didn’t God say that he helps those who help themselves? Then why isn’t God helping Clyde?

Friends, it is impossible to white-knuckle your way into righteousness and godliness. As noble as Clyde’s hard work is, it can’t address what’s really broken within him. Clyde needs healing, not more hard work. He needs grace, not a program.

What are you battling that you can’t seem to overcome? Is it an eating disorder, a drinking problem, a porn habit, a quick temper? Jesus taught that brokenness–sheer, raw, unfiltered desperation before God–was the first step to being godly (see Matthew 5:3). If we could be righteous by trying hard, Jesus would have given us a formula. But he didn’t. He said instead that if you want to be whole, you have to come to the end of yourself. You have to be broken.

As long as you think you can do it, you can’t. You’ll be stuck like Clyde. Why not turn your hands over right now and confess your desperation before God. He wants to transform you. Let him.

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In the early 1990s, while I was struggling with rampant legalism and hypocrisy, God introduced me to a man named Dave Busby. Dave was a well-known preacher who traveled all over the US and Europe sharing the message of God’s grace. I ran into Dave at a few events, got to know him, and I was fortunate to call him a friend. Dave had a wickedly funny sense of humor, and his messages were highly entertaining. But they were also powerful; or better–anointed.

Dave was born with polio. One hip was higher than the other, which made him walk with an awkward gait. He also suffered from heart disease, liver disease, diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Dave’s lungs were about 90% dead, so he had a terrible time breathing. On the outside, Dave was a weak shell of a man. But he was one of the godliest men I’ve ever known and by far the most powerful preacher of the Gospel I’ve ever met. Today, Dave lives in heaven.

God used Dave to help me begin to see the difference between trying hard and living out of spiritual brokenness. You see, Dave couldn’t try hard. He was doing good to just walk, talk and stay alive. Being a spiritual perfectionist and having a great spiritual resume just wasn’t an option for him. So he had to beg. He had to daily go before God and plead with him for the anointing and grace to do all that God had for him, because there was no way Dave could do anything on his own to impress God.

Dave used to talk about the difference between achieved righteousness and received righteousness. Achieved righteousness is what those of us who want to be in control of everything thrive on. It’s what Jesus rebuked in the Pharisees and condemned as being inauthentic and insufficient. Achieved righteousness is doing the best you can to be holy and then bragging about it. It’s superficial, temporary and it doesn’t get you one step closer to God.

Received righteousness is what the poor in spirit (Matt 5:3) have. It is righteousness that is a gift from God. It flows down from the Father and not up through the hard work of the sinner.  Received righteousness is the holiness of Christ extended by grace to any who ask for it. It’s not just the grace to be saved, but the grace to live righteously because you are saved.

God used Dave Busby to help me see the hypocrisy of my own attempts at achieving righteousness. During one particular church service where Dave was preaching, all my sin and failed attempts at pleasing God flashed before my eyes. I had been a Christian for nearly twenty years at that point and I was a seminary-educated pastor of a church. But I was a complete failure spiritually and a total hypocrite. During Dave’s talk, all that guilt and shame came pouring out. I was crying so hard that people around me started to stare. I was shattered, completely broken. In one frozen moment of time God showed me how upside-down my theology was. I was trying really hard and getting nowhere. I was very committed to a cause, but completely fruitless and ineffective.

I excused myself from the service and, like Peter when he denied Jesus, went outside and wept bitterly (see Luke 22:62). Later, when I was somewhat more composed, I went and found Dave. We didn’t really have a conversation. I didn’t need or want one. But I did need to say out loud what I was feeling. So I walked up and whispered in Dave’s ear, “Today, I am no longer a committed Christian. I am a dependent Christian.”

The difference between the two was now irreversibly clear for me. In all my commitment to Jesus and his cause, I had never learned to lean on him. I had never learned to come to him and drink from the springs of his living waters. I was beginning to see that, like Dave, I needed God’s grace to live every day for him. I needed a daily gift. I was as weak and desperate before God as Dave was, I just didn’t know it.

That was the turning point for me. I repented of my useless attempts to achieve righteousness and I embraced the gift of spiritual brokenness. I built into my life the daily, sometimes moment-to-moment practice of seeking the presence and power of God in my life. I learned to turn my hands over in prayer as an outward sign of my inward desperation. In the language of King David, I ceased striving and started relishing in the reign of God (see Psalm 46:10). I began asking God for the filling of his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). And soon thereafter, my spiritual joy returned, I began to see real fruit in my life, and my desire for the secret sins evaporated.

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Susie and I used to be part of a small group with several pastors and their wives. It was a very raw and honest group. We talked openly about our marriage strengths and weaknesses, and the pressures of being in ministry together. On one occasion, a pastor named Derrick decided to get very honest. He shared about a weekend when his wife had been out of town. The pressures of ministry and church leadership got the best of him. He bought a six-pack of beer and consumed most of it in one sitting. It was a major violation of his personal integrity and their collective marriage values. As Derrick shared the story, his wife sat next to him with a horrified look on her face. Derrick noticed her expression and said, “You remember when I told you about this.” It was a statement, not a question. The problem was that Derrick only thought he had told her. In reality, he hadn’t; and she was learning about it right then in front of five other pastors and their wives.

To say that all the oxygen left the room in that moment would be an understatement. Derrick’s wife turned away from her husband and started crying. Derrick muttered a quiet, “I’m so sorry.” And all the rest of us looked for a rock to hide under. It was a terrible, awkward, painful moment.

How do you forgive something like that? Should you? When someone lies to you, betrays your confidence, and then publically humiliates you, should he be forgiven? Does he deserve to be forgiven? Would you be wiser to keep your guard up with a person like that? So what if he’s your spouse or a close friend? He’s proven he can’t be trusted. To forgive him would be foolish. Right?

Question: Would you forgive your spouse under similar circumstances?

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I was blessed to live in the same house throughout all of my childhood. My parents owned a beautiful two-story home in a lovely, tree-filled part of West Austin. Our house included a large, two-car garage with a built-in tool closet. Curiously, the door to the closet didn’t work.

You know how you grow up just taking certain things for granted and believing that what was true for you was true for everyone else as well? That was my take on the broken closet door. I just figured that everyone lived in big, beautiful homes with doors in their garages that didn’t work. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how odd it was that we lived with a broken tool-closet door for the better part of 25 years.

Actually, the door wasn’t really broken, it just wouldn’t open very far. Either the concrete floor of the garage wasn’t level or the door had been hung crooked. Either way, it only opened up a few inches. So, if you wanted to actually get into the closet and grab a shovel or something else, you had to go into a silly contortion process just to squeeze your body between the wall and the closet door. The same process had to be repeated if you actually wanted to get out of the closet after you’d gotten in. I can’t begin to count the number of times I twisted and turned my body so I could get into that closet.

So when Jesus wanted to help his followers understand what life in his Kingdom was like, he began by talking about the door. He told them the door was designed in such a way that unless they conformed to it, they would never see the Kingdom. The door, simply put, required brokenness. You can’t enter God’s Kingdom with a proud and can-do attitude. Rather, the door to the Kingdom requires humility and desperation before God. It demands the same type of attitude that a beggar has. If you’re going to enter and live in God’s Kingdom, then you’ve got to know that you are in desperate need of a gift from God. If you’re going to enter and live in God’s Kingdom, then you’ve got to be broken.

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