Hope in God's Judgement

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0:00 For us, we're going to keep going in this reflection from drawing out of 1 Peter. Remember, Peter, the oldest, probably the oldest of the disciples, one of the leaders for the disciples. He speaks a lot for the disciples. If you think about Peter, remember he gets to go with Jesus up to the mouth of transfiguration. It's a really cool early in the morning up on the mouth of transfiguration.

0:33 Remember that Peter also gets to go further in the Garden of Gethsemane. I think that Garden of Gethsemane is so fascinating. It's one of the places I would love to visit. You can still walk through the altars of the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter was there with Jesus as he's sweating drops of blood. Then, of course, Peter draws the sword in the Garden and denies Jesus in the kind of Praetorium there where he's watching the scouraging and stuff of Jesus. Then, of course, miraculously, Jesus, as he's raised from the dead, he reinstates.

1:09 Peter sets Peter back to work. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. One of the reasons I have hope that the gospel is real, that Jesus has done something for me, that he has prepared an inheritance in fact for me, is the deep significance that Jesus gives to my life. That God is at work in the world through me, and I can feel the significance of God and the work that I'm doing. I love the realization that I am caught up in the work of God as I serve the people around me through whatever work God has given me to do.

1:42 He gives that for Peter as well. Then, of course, Peter at the giving of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit is released on humanity indiscriminately, young and old men and women, for the first time since the Garden of Eden have no barriers between them and the Holy Spirit. Peter stands up and preaches and thousands are converted. Then, we learn that Peter becomes a leader in the church, kind of a quiet leader relative to maybe Paul or some of the other folks that we see. But a leader nonetheless, and he has the realization that the Holy Spirit can go to the Gentiles, not just to the Jews,

2:18 that the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus is even more complete, more significant than they thought at first. Then, he starts writing letters in this letter that he writes towards the end of his life. He talked about how we think that maybe he was actually in-house arrest in Rome under the persecution of Nero, writing to the followers of the way of Jesus in that first century, and trying to give them a sense of perspective and advice on how they might live, especially under persecution. We talked about how we might have a tendency to think that because we're not under persecution, because there are not emperors burning Christians as lampposts,

2:56 because we are not having to worship in catechomes, that some of this message about persecution doesn't relate to us. But we talked about several weeks ago that when Peter says in 1 Peter, that you have a living hope that is prepared for you, imperishable, unfading, undefiled, waiting for you in heaven, that this is important for you and relevant for you, even though you're not under persecution, because if we believe that we have no suffering, we're sticking our head in the sand.

3:30 If we diminish the relinquishing of our dreams, the failure of our relationships, the confusion of our work, if we misunderstand or pretend that we don't have any suffering in our life, instead of clinging to a living hope, we'll end up diverting our attention with perishing hope. We'll end up maxing out kind of, I used to have a religious professor, he used to talk about the tendency to bliss out. We'll just bliss out on Netflix entertainment, comfort and isolation. We'll just divert ourselves from the struggling.

4:03 The better answer Peter says is to recognize that you are going through struggling and yet struggling and suffering, and yet you have a hope that is preserved for you, even in the midst of suffering, this living hope that the writer Peter says, but for the joy set before him did Christ and do it across the morning in exchange. So we've been thinking about how we might make a defense to ourselves and people around us for the fact that we have a living hope. And I did, I talked about one of the reasons I defend the fact that I have a living hope, even though life is hard and I do struggle,

4:37 is I've recognized the significance. A couple weeks ago Demetrius talked about that the presence of God, his provision and his protection in his life. I was listening to Demetrius's messages, I was running the other day and I was catching the stories he shared about the seeming supernatural provision at key points in his life. When he was young, as he was coming out of school, where reason for the hope is that he has evidence that God provides for him.

5:08 And I loved that. And last week we talked about this reality for me, one of the reasons I have hope that even though life is hard, that there is an inheritance waiting for me is goodness, I have experienced actual forgiveness, that allows me to leave behind shame and guilt, move forward with a full realization of myself apart from my basis instincts and worst desires, that I am not bound by nor defined by the sum of my choices, but I am constituted by who God called me and his forgiveness waits for me.

5:49 And I'm just trying, I'm hoping that over these weeks we might stack up little reasons that you could hold on to as well, that in the midst of whatever kind of suffering your life looks like, some of these you might latch on to and go, oh, I have also experienced the provision of God, that is a reason for my hope, though life is hard. Oh, I have also experienced actual forgiveness for my mistakes and mistakes, and that is a reason for my hope.

6:22 This one this week I was thinking about a reason for my hope, and it's a little counterintuitive at first. I realized it as I was weeding this week. I was asking the Lord, what is the actual reason that I have hope in the inheritance while I was weeding? Last summer, last summer, while we were stuck in houses, like that time where it was really like, hey, don't leave your house, we're not sure what's going on with this virus, don't leave if you don't have to, right?

7:02 I remember making a decision at one time telling Meghan I was going to get groceries, I was backing up, it felt kind of weird because you just didn't really know, like, we didn't yet know that it was in the aerosol, so you're worried about touching things and like, and she was like, well, I can go to the grocery store, and I remember telling her, I thought maybe we should just have just one of us weeding the house. I don't know if that's better or worse, but I'm already out there, I'll just be the one that leaves the house. And so I had to have this rhythm to my days to keep me from going crazy when we were all stuck in the house, I can remember.

7:33 And so last summer, I did have a rhythm, and part of my rhythm was I would work in the yard a little bit every day. And so right in the middle of the stay at home, in the afternoon, I would work in the yard, and I had the backyard looking as good as it ever had, we've been in our house 10 years. And then, well, we're all stuck at home, our drain field and septic tank have to be replaced, like, we're all stuck at home. You can imagine that the toilet gets used a little bit more when everybody's home all day, every day.

8:07 It's a bad time for the septic field to go out, but the septic field, the whole field has to be replaced, not just the tank pump. And so we scheduled it, they were pretty quick about it, actually, they said they were pretty busy during that time period. But they came in with a bobcat with zero regards for my 10 years beautiful yard and tore the whole thing up. And I was so mad, thought we'll never get back to it. Well, now, I was waiting last week and I realized we really unscathed it.

8:39 It's like at least five times better than I've ever looked at 10 years before. And I was out there, I got this section, I was so proud of myself, my parents live on five acres in Lake Mary, and they have this one section where all these spurns just take over. And so I just drove there and ripped a bunch of ferns out of their ground and planted them in my backyard. And they are a lot beautiful fern gully that require me to pull some back and thin it out.

9:10 And I was pulling some back and thinning it out and saying, Lord, where is the reason for my hope in you? What, tangibly Lord? What gives me traction in my faith? And this I'm telling is counterintuitive, but we'll get into it. I felt like it was like the judgment of God gives me hope. The judgment of God gives me hope. At three little places I want us to look for that.

9:41 The first one is in the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke towards the end, chapter 23. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans 1 and 2 Corinthians. Luke, chapter 23, we're going to verse 34.

10:12 See if we need to start there or back up. We can start at verse 32. Maybe if your translation has a heading on it, it says the crucifixion. Of course, all the Gospels record a story of the crucifixion. This is Luke's recording and there's a section here of some words that Jesus says as he's hanging on the cross that really stick with me. Verse 32, two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.

10:46 And when they came to the place that is called the skull there, they crucified him. And the criminals, one on the right and one on his left, it's worth noting that I won't get into the whole story of the crucifixion, but it's just worth mentioning here that they don't actually describe the crucifixion that much, which always surprises me. Because I had to read to find what a crucifixion is. Of course, the first readers didn't because crucifixion was like very common.

11:17 Like they saw a lot of crucifixion. You know, it would be like if you were in the South and they just said that they lynched somebody, you'd seen it. You knew. And they crucified the sky. Okay. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him. And the criminals, one on the right and one on his left. And Jesus said, father forgive them for they know not what they do.

11:48 And they pass lots of divided garments. And people stood by watching the rulers scoff at him saying he saved others. Can he save himself? This line, father forgive them for they don't know what they do. What Jesus, I mean, it's striking the depth of his compassion, first of all, right? That he is asking God the father to forgive these ones right here.

12:19 But I want the thing I want to think about is why doesn't Jesus just forgive them? Like there's something like Jesus is Jesus for one. But for two, why doesn't he just say, hey, I forgive you? Like there's something about Jesus where he even in the midst of his suffering and his deep compassion,

12:50 he does not take the role of the judge. It's not interesting. There's something about even Jesus, where though he had deep, he is moved, that the ones crucifying him would not be held accountable for the choices that they are making. That the forgiveness of God, the immersia of God would extend to these even as they are killing him.

13:20 He has deep compassion and empathy, but he allows the decision to be God's. Father, don't hold their sins against them. Father, please forgive them. He makes an appeal to God the father and leaves the decision in God the father's lap. Fascinating to me. I never thought about it that way before, so I was out there pulling those ferns out of my beautiful fern golly

13:51 and say, they'll take over. They'll take over Melanie if you let them. And I was thinking, isn't it interesting that even Jesus, after like last week we talked about, the cross is this cosmic moment that happens inside of space and time, but also stands up outside of space and time. That is this fulcrum that all humanity is the crowning achievement of the Christ.

14:21 And even in his greatest moment of glory and exaltation lifted up on the cross, he doesn't take the seat of judge. He allows judgment to be God the father's, not his own. And he makes a heartfelt empathetic plea that God the father would be merciful in his judgment. Not only Jesus, look to the right.

14:52 Well, let's don't go to the right yet. Let's go back to the left to Matthew 18. I switched the order on you, on me. I switched the order on myself. Matthew, chapter 18. We're going to the left just a little bit. Matthew chapter 18, starting at verse 21.

15:23 I feel like if I got to pick any like, any type of writing in the scriptures that I had perfect clarity and understanding on, part of me would want to say the prophets because they're kind of enigmatic and I would love to know the one to one about what they're talking about. But another part would say the Psalms because they're so beautiful that I'd love to know more context. But I think if I got to pick a hundred percent clarity on only one type of writing in the scripture, it would be the parables of Jesus.

15:59 I just think the parables are amazing. I can't imagine that they just sprung out of his mind, these stories, that they're like deeper and richer, more fuller and life-giving and simple allegory, that they have a lot to learn from them, but it's not just like a moral, it's deeper and more beautiful than an ASOC fable or something. These parables are amazing. If I could just have perfect clarity on anything in the scriptures, I think I would pick Holy Spirit,

16:32 give me perfect understanding of Jesus's parables. Then I would write, no, you know what? I wouldn't write a single book about it. I would just tell you all, then you can go tell everyone. That would be fun. Matthew chapter 18 verse 21, here's Peter, God bless Peter, the one who speaks for the disciples. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?

17:13 Okay. I can understand this, maybe. Peter wants to know what would be a good amount of times to forgive the insolent pesti, whatever, arrogant, underpentant brother. How many times should I forgive him? And Jesus says as many as seven times. Oh no, Peter asks as many as seven times. There's some scholarship here that thinks Jesus, Peter is being very generous here.

17:46 The seven would be a lot in the culture. Peter is going above and beyond, which is great. Good job, Peter. And Jesus said to him, I mean, I will say to you seven times, but 70 times seven. This is a hard thing to translate exactly what it's saying there, but we know that like seven, Beverly and I were talking about seven the other day. Beverly is a big Bible project fan and they have some stuff on the number seven in the story of scripture, but the short version is seven is a number for complete.

18:18 Right. Seven days in creation. Seven tabernacle festivals. I mean, seven festivals. Seven these days. Seven is his number for completeness. And so Jesus is saying, man, don't quit forgiving. And then he tells this parable. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. And when he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.

18:49 Now, I've read this parable enough and listened to enough people talk about it that I know enough to tell you that this amount of money, 10,000 talents is more than he was saying. And so, I think that this is more than he was going to pay back in his lifetime. It's a like significant amount of money to be in debt. What I don't hear people talk about very much is how the heck did this guy get in that kind of debt. I think he probably made bad decisions to get in that kind of debt.

19:23 I think that this is a big part of the story, but he is not, when you're in that kind of debt, you're not a sympathetic character. You see, he has continued to over-loved rid himself against the king, thinking he can sweet talk his way out of it or scam some money somewhere else. This is an unreasonable amount of debt. And the guy is not a sympathetic character. We have a debt culture. We might immediately understand this guy and identify with him.

19:58 I want you to say, he is not intended to be identified with in this story. Because that's an unreasonable amount of debt. The first years might read this ago or hear Jesus telling the story and go, oh my gosh, what a fool. He's going to die in prison, debt is prison. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, see, with his wife and children and all that he had and paying it to be made.

20:34 Very reasonable. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him. Have patience with me and I will pay you everything. Now, while he goes on and out of pity for him, the master of the servant released him and forgave him the debt. I was thinking about this a little bit because, you know, if he had a real debt, somebody was making a business feel and out money.

21:05 It's not like if the king forgives this that somebody else is not getting paid what they're supposed to be getting paid for the work that they did. Now, maybe it was an unjust loan, but it's not nothing, I'm trying to say. It's an unreasonable amount of money for someone who should not have been in an unreasonable amount of debt. An unsympathetic character who made poor choices and the king decides to have pity on him and says, you know what?

21:35 I'm just going to write it off. Now, it doesn't say how the king makes good on all the rest of it. It doesn't tell us why the king decided. It tells us that the debt is significant more than he could ever pay back. And he got in a serious kind of mess and it tells us that the king will handle it. It doesn't tell us why. It says he had pity and it doesn't tell us how he's going to solve or make it right.

22:07 It just says he's forgiven. The king alone makes the decision. Right? Okay. And since he could not pay, okay, the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the master of the servant released him and forgave the debt. But when the same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denieri and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, pay me what you owe.

22:41 So the fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, and I'll pay you. So the comparable debt is very small. The debt that's owed this guy is like minuscule compared to the debt that he owed the king. So the fellow pleaded with him, have mercy, have patience with me, and I will pay you. And he refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

23:11 Now what is going on there? Right? It could be that the dude is just a really crummy guy. I mean, it could be that he just is great. I got that debt light free, I'm gonna start building up my own. Storehouse is now, I don't even have to give this money that I'm gonna make off of this dude, I don't even have to give it back to the king. It could be that he's really terrible. That's an option.

23:43 Which is all the more question why the king would have forgiven him or had pity on him if he was that terrible. Most of the time I've read this, I thought I think that that guy didn't really believe he was forgiven. I think that that guy figured he still got to pay the king back. I think he figured there's no way that guy, I can't figure out how he's gonna make good on all that money.

24:16 And so he's gotta be making good on, so he's gonna want it back for me at some point, I've gotta start making it back. I won't be able to get all of it, but I've gotta get every penny I can and pay him back. I think the guy had trouble believing that he was actually forgiven the debt. Because he couldn't imagine how he could forgive someone that debt, that much debt. I think he was trying to imagine what he would do if he were king.

24:57 He's not. Also, he is trying to imagine what he would do as king and he does not sound happy in that role. Do you see? So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him. But when the servant went out, he found his fellow servants who owed him 100 Mary and seizing him began to choke him.

25:33 Does not sound like a content person to me. As soon as he gets out from being forgiven, looks for the guy who owes him money, seizes him, begins to choke him. And then I plead with him, have patience with me, and he refused and went out and put him in prison until he could pay him the debt. And when his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. Of course they were. I want you to see, I don't think it's working out well for this guy. Can you imagine how much better it would be if he had gotten out of there and realized, oh my gosh, this insurmountable debt has just been taken off of my shoulders, any kind of runs out in the streets and finds everyone who owes him gents that forget it.

26:09 Start over man. If he said, I don't understand how he did it or why he did it. I don't understand how he's going to make good on all the payments that he owes somebody, but that dude just forgave you 10,000 talents. Forgive your dinner, man. You know, I am forgiven. You can be forgiven too. The responsibility has been taken off of my shoulders. God bless your responsibility, but I don't know. There's something about allowing and believing that the one in the judgment seat, that their judgments are real,

26:45 and we don't have to understand them or make sense of them. That is beautiful. And I wish it would have been interesting for Jesus to give us two versions of this parables. Why? I wish I understood parables perfectly. I would love to see what would another versions of parable be like if the dude understood the forgiveness and received it. Right? Look down verse 30. He refused and went and put him in prison until he had paid the debt.

27:17 And when his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. And then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

27:52 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servants? I had mercy on you. And in anger, his master delivered into the jailers until he should pay all his debt. The king changed his mind. And extruded justice a different way than he had intended. Isn't that interesting?

28:26 I can do a lot of the reasons that might be. He might have looked and said, this old boy doesn't understand the forgiveness. He's living under the way that the responsibility anyway. He doesn't stop experiencing, believing, receiving the forgiveness. Let's just execute the judgment on him anyway. But I think even more importantly, he thought, I'm not going to have this guy out there terrorizing all those other people. Out of his own guilt, shame.

28:57 Out of his own sense of judgment, executing his own sense of judgment as though he knows. I'm not going to have that guy out there doing it. I'm pulling him back. He's going to pay for the choices that he made. I'm going to pay for the whole dear God. Don't let me be like that.

29:30 I would much rather have the forgiveness of God than the judgment. I would rather leave it up to him.

30:02 I don't know. I'm just glad I'm not the king in having to make that call about when to enforce the 10,000 and when to forgive it. Because I can't see. I don't know. I think that there is some great comfort for Jesus in pleading.

30:41 Because Jesus is so acquainted with the scope, depth and reality of forgiveness that all those be forgiven. I think there's some beautiful rest that comes in not being the one who has to make the call. Because as much as I want to be forgiven my 10,000 gallons, I don't want someone out there taking the forgiveness of God and brutalizing the world.

31:18 Taking the forgiveness of God and leveraging forgiveness to brutalize harm and ruin people in their wake. There's something beautiful about the prerogative or the depth of insight, the wisdom in the judgment of the king that says, if you'll receive my forgiveness and be an agent of forgiveness in the world, then God bless you. But if you'll receive my forgiveness and go and be an agent of terror in the world, then come on back.

31:51 I'm going to execute punishment on you. Because I can't have you out there terrorizing the world. We don't need one more terror in the world. I'm like weeding my little fern gully, taking care of my little domain. One of the things I started to do, these ferns will grow really tall and I don't want them really tall. Because I don't know, I don't want them tall. It's too much.

32:26 So I was thinking at first that I would just hack them off as they got tall. I thought that looks bad. Then I decided, you know what? They're growing taller because they keep getting denser. This one's got to get even higher to get to the sun. And so then when they get denser, then they get taller because they're fighting to get sun out from the density of the ferns. So what I started doing is about every two weeks, I go in there and I just thin it out.

32:59 Because it's my place and I know how it could work. They don't have to make the call. I make the call. Because I can see the whole thing and I know how it goes. I was sitting out there reading and I thought, oh, praise God, judgment is yours. Not mine. I don't have to sort out whether people are good or evil. I don't have to weigh out whether they've actually received your forgiveness, your healing, and are moving into new life or clinging to their own anxious fears or anxieties.

33:40 I'm going to sort it out. I can receive your forgiveness and be an agent of your forgiveness, not because evil is okay. Wounds are bad and should go unpunished, not as though there is no punishment for wrong, as though there is a world where there is no justice. Of course there is, but it's not mine to meet out. I like living in that world where there is a God who sorts it out for me.

34:14 I can wholeheartedly receive forgiveness and live. Look with me at the last little passage. I was going to take you earlier, take you earlier by that saying, Acts, chapter 7. Go to your right. Acts, Romans 1st St. Corinthians, Acts 7. Oh, boy, Stephen, Stephen, one of the leaders in the 1st century church, right there at the very beginning.

34:49 Chapter 7, he gives this like amazing sermon to the church leaders. They arrest him because he's out there preaching the way of Jesus. And they're like, dude, we have built this whole edifice of structure that allows us to perform all of the right things, make all the right payments. We feel like we're making good payments, right? We probably almost paid off our debt. We keep doing the saddest thing the right way, keep doing the sacrifices the right way, keep translating the money.

35:19 Not only does it hold us in a position of power, but we feel like it probably makes the king. We're almost paid off. And all these followers of the way are in here stirring up trouble and breaking down our systems of power and control. And we can't handle it. So they call one of the preachers in Stephen. And if you read Acts, chapter 7, he like runs through the whole history of people. I don't know. Somebody must have wrote that thing down or the Holy Spirit inspired someone's memory because it's really accurate.

35:50 So right at the end, he's a mouth. Oh God bless him. He sounds like Jesus doesn't need it because the real thing turns into a person like that. And even though he has a vision of the person to say here, he does not say, hey, you all forget your name and I don't want to get it. He says, hey God, in your wisdom, deliver mercy to these ones because even as he's dying, there is comfort and leaving judgment to the God.

36:20 We have a God who will execute just, wise, generous, merciful judgment on our behalf. Wrongs will be set to right. Right? Evil will be punished. Mercy will be delivered. Forgiveness will be celebrated. We don't have to walk around in the world. Judging right from wrong, determining who is good and who is evil.

36:52 I have known in the gospel about because I have experienced the benefit, the lifting of the weight of judgment off my shoulders. And the rest that comes in the deep confidence that the good God will execute good judgment on my behalf and the behalf of all humanity. We'll do it for you. We love those who hurt you and those who bless you. God will judge you better. We give you two of them too.

37:27 I mean, you're pregnant and you're not even going to make me mad. Hey Lord, give us a name to receive your forgiveness and leave you in the judgment seated as your job. We trust your good judgment this morning. And in our snow, in faith with that trust.

38:02 And we come on the hearts to receive your forgiveness. The aging of your mercy.