Asking God for a Fresh Start

Today we finish our devotional journey through the OT book of Lamentations in our series: Learning to Live in Lament and Hope. I particularly like the title of this series: Learning to Live in Lament and Hope.

Learning suggests that there are both things to unlearn and things to learn that will enable you to enjoy God and live a more redemptive life on this side of heaven. Lament and hope are in my estimation two “faith-life-skills” that when learned and practiced allow you to navigate the dark and hard experiences of life in a way that leads to life, rather than sucks life out of you. As we finish this series I want to add a third “faith-life-skill” to lament and hope and that is Asking God for a Fresh Start.

While I believe that learning to lament and learning to hope, via cold and broken hallelujah’s, are two basic skills for the God-formed life, they are incomplete without a third—and that is asking God for a fresh start. This trinity of lament; hope, and fresh start is in many ways the essence of redemptive living and all gifts of God by his Spirit to help us get on in this world.

Sermon was not recorded this week but transcript is available at the link below. Go to bottom of this introduction for link to the pdf file.

During the month of August we‘ve been looking at What is
the gospel? We‘ve looked at: Romans 5 [the gospel is: at
just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ
died for the ungodly]; the parable of the wedding banquet
[the gospel is: all are invited to a party with God; count
yourself in]; the parable of the unmerciful servant [the
gospel is: God‘s lavish generosity and compassion forgives
huge debt and invites us to receive and imitate that
forgiveness]; the mystery of the Kingdom—Christ in you
from Colossians 2 [the gospel is: you are accepted; you are
forgiven; you have authority to choose good over evil; you
are not alone].
Today we wrap up this series by asking the question what is
the point of the gospel? What outcomes does the gospel
envision? The answer is in the picture on the newsletter
and in this text from Matt 21: 12-15: Jesus went into the
temple and chased out everyone who was selling or buying.
He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the
benches of the ones who were selling doves.
13
He told them, “The Scriptures say, `My house should be called a
place of worship.’ But you have turned it into a place
where robbers hide.”
14
Blind and lame people came to Jesus in the temple,
and he healed them…the teachers of the Law of Moses
were angry when they saw his miracles and
heard the children shouting praises to the Son of David.

(Mike Nichols)

Find the written transcript of the sermon
here

Sermon was not recorded this week but transcript is available at the link below. Go to bottom of this introduction for link to the pdf file.

This month at Cap is about ―getting the gospel—about
embracing the radical grace of God. There are lots of
obstacles to overcome to get the gospel in our culture.
For example if you set out to teach someone who is an
avid TV watcher about forgiveness and conflict resolution,
what lessons would you have to unlearn from following TV
reruns: The Simpsons; The People‘s Court; One Life to
Live; Friends; 24;The Jerry Springer Show; Survivor? Hmm.
Then, which of the following myths would you need to
overcome– To forgive is to forget; or to forgive is to
tolerate. [If you can tolerate it, you don't need to forgive
it]; or to forgive is to say, “You’re forgiven” when the one
who wounds you says “I’m sorry.” [This is only a social
apology]; or to forgive is to help someone see the errors
of their ways, to help them him for their own good. [This
is social vengeance.] Hmm.
Then—what about learning the distinction between
forgiveness and reconciliation? Forgiveness is at its root a
person’s moral response to another’s injustice while
reconciliation is two parties coming together in mutual
respect. Hmm.
And, not finally, but we will stop here—what about
learning the Paradoxical reality of forgiving–It is the
foregoing of resentment or revenge and giving the gifts of
mercy, generosity and love when the wrongdoer does not
deserve them that heals us. Hmm.
―Getting the gospel is not so easy after all.

Find the written transcript of the sermon
here

As we continue in The Lord’s Prayer, we now get even more personal to consider the issue of forgiveness. Frankly, we need to be forgiven and to forgive as much as we need daily necessities like bread. This morning, our own Tyler Milley will talk to us about our ability to forgive others which comes as a response to our being forgiven. Stanley Hauerwas writes: [Forgiveness] is not so much an act of generosity toward our fellow offending human beings as an act of gratitude toward our forgiving God.”