The 180 Church Podcast with Dr. Sammy and Friends

Forgiveness is foundational to the Christian faith. Being a disciple of Christ means more than just accepting forgiveness for our sins because Jesus died on the cross for us; it means we also forgive others when they wrong us. But extending forgiveness to others doesn't come naturally, and when we're hurt or angry, we tend to revolve our lives around what happened instead of surrendering it and moving on. While forgiveness doesn't mean allowing others to continue hurting us, it also doesn't mean remaining captive to the past and our bitterness. When we forgive and surrender control over the situation to God, we become free from what has already happened and embrace the fullness of the future God has planned for us.

In today's success-driven society, we are pressured to be calm and collected no matter the situation, in effect repressing our emotions. However, doing so is not only difficult, but also dangerously unhealthy. In fact, it is perfectly normal, and even biblical, to express our emotions. That said, we should also avoid the other extreme and allow our emotions to run rampant. Instead, we should experience our emotions honestly, process them, and lay them before God. In doing so, we invite God to guide us through our emotions and towards a full and emotionally healthy life.

The Church is commonly seen as an institution for a community of believers with its own rituals and flaws. Sometimes we are blind to the true beauty of the church because we forget to see it as more than just an imperfect community. Instead, it is the bride of Christ, something Jesus was willing to die for, and indestructible throughout its many iterations in history because of its eternal character. When we understand how Jesus sees the church, everything with regard to our relationships with God and each other has greater significance.

Beneath the surface of our sincere and well-intended ideals also lies expectations. In the human experience, mismanaged expectations can often lead to disappointment, especially in the case of the church, where many of us hold unrealistic ideals of how the Christian community should be built. However, the church is not built by our ideals, but by the work of a sovereign God and the love of his son Jesus Christ. The Christian community, and the work done in us by the Father, deals with us as is - surrendered to grace and transformed by love.

The discipline of the book is essentially the discipline of learning. The Word of God, in all its forms, is not a relic of time long past but a living expression of the gospel and the enduring wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Following Christ means being formed in our new identity in Him and donning a new way of life, and therefore it's crucial that we learn and re-learn to wholly digest the gospel for our own lives. Furthermore, the transformation that results from developing habits of learning becomes a witness of itself to the true promise of the gospel.

Often in life we make mistakes, and when we do it's easy to fall prey to thinking that we are fundamentally inadequate and incapable of growth. However, we should not let our mistakes define us. Instead, we should rip down the harassing thoughts telling us that we cannot improve, work our thoughts back to Christ, and thus replace the harrassing thoughts with God's truths, because in truth, God has given us agency over our mistakes. By following this mnemonic (rip, work, replace), we will find that no matter how many mistakes we make, the peace of God will be with us and will enable us to become better than we could ever imagine ourselves to be.

When we’re trying to realize a God-given goal in our lives, we inevitably face resistance in the process of what we believe is God’s dream for us. Indeed, it’s difficult to cling on the promises of God when we feel like we’re suffering in vain. But when we look at the story of Joseph and his dream of becoming ruler of Egypt, we learn the journey isn’t only about the final outcome of realizing our dreams but how the journey shapes who we become through suffering and pain. If we care more about the sense of satisfaction at the end of a long journey towards our goals, then our goals tend to be more about ourselves. But the true value of the journey is how God can shape us to become deeper people who care more about the greater good of others.

In part two of the Forgiveness series, the late Dr. Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, drives home the point that forgiveness is granted before it’s felt and is a commitment to refrain from acting on vengeance. True forgiveness is expressed between one another and oneself through a commitment to extend reconciliation, in accountability to God and to each other. Dr. Keller offers us actionable insight and perspective to live a life that reflects the fruit of forgiveness paid in advance by the blood of Christ.

The late Dr. Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, distinguishes between a watered-down version of forgiveness and biblical forgiveness. True forgiveness is not simply ridding ourselves of our hurt to make ourselves feel better, nor is it a tool we wield to make someone grovel in repentance. Moreover, as Dr. Keller says, forgiveness is the fruit of the Spirit, and we see its significance when we look towards God: we forgive because the Father forgave us.

We may have many desires in life. We will realize some of them, but as desires depend on circumstances outside of our control, we will inevitably fail others. That is why we cannot form our identiy in our desires. Instead, we should form our identity through chasing Godly goals, which, unlike chasing desires, is completely within our control. Then, after having built a Godly foundation internally, we can, and indeed should, live out God's goals externally. Through doing so, we will find that even at times when our desires in life are torn apart and crushed, we will still be on track in God's plan, which in turn will lead to changes that are far better than any desire we can ever imagine.