Regenerative Forgiveness

2nd Samuel 11:26-12:15; Luke 7:36-50; Galatians 2:15-21

Central Baptist Church - Lowesville, VA

17 June 2007

We celebrate Father’s Day, looking at father hero figures in our lives. We often look to those immaculate heroes with no stain of character or blemish as the ones worthy of our attention, love, and attempts at emulation. We remember the childhood dream of “growing up to become just like Dad.” In the same breath, we remember our own failings to measure up to the standards we place on our own living. Is there room in our lives for less-than-perfect heroes? Can we accept the contributions of heroes and fathers who have also lived with the need of God’s regenerating forgiveness?

We often look to the Bible for stories of faith heroes. We look to find people who stand out from the norm of society, as they serve God on a level above and beyond the rest. Sometimes what we find is not what we were seeking. David is just one of those examples. Sure, we have accounts of the young man trusting God and facing a giant who threatened the faith of Israel. We also find reporting of David’s moral failures and need for repentance. If we are not careful, we slip too quickly on the fact of David’s weakness and miss the lesson in his regeneration.

Given the context of his day, David’s actions up to the point of Nathan’s intervention are not very remarkable. The kings of the nations all around would have thought nothing of David’s adultery and murder. The power over the life and death of one’s subjects was a given. Our current concepts of the rule of law as wielding power over those in office just did not apply. In David’s narrative, then, he is just one more king who has arisen to place himself above the code expected for the conduct of others.

Enter the prophet Nathan. Our hero stands in disgrace, and now God’s truth-teller lies! Nathan spins a yarn about some poor man owning a single sheep that is taken by a rich man to feed a guest. On hearing the account, David becomes livid. He is incensed at the injustice and blinded to the character of his own actions. He falls for Nathan’s deceit and orders restitution. Only then does Nathan address his own façade.

“You are the man!” he says. He goes on to point out the gross injustice of David’s actions that fly in the face of God’s bountiful provision and blessing. He blasts David for having stooped to such base deeds. It is in David’s response, however, that we find him restored to his position as faith hero. “I have sinned against Yahweh.”

They are not heroic-sounding words. This is not the phrase we expect from our heroes. It is not what we look for when we classify one as worthy of emulation. It is precisely, however, this aspect of David’s character that allows his to shine as hero even after the gross character of his failure. It is also here that we see Yahweh’s redemptive character of forgiveness that regenerates and restores those we might otherwise condemn, punish, and cast aside as worthless. God restored David as he accepted his failure in humility. Are we willing to allow God to regenerate our own lives, transforming our failures into new beginnings?

David’s response was not what we would have expected. Saul had staunchly refused to entertain the notion of personal failure. He had set the pattern in Israel according to that of the neighboring kings. Saul followed the classic mantra of “The boss is right. The boss is always right. When in doubt as to whether the boss is right, the boss will decide.” As Nathan confronted him with his error, however, David stepped beyond Saul’s standards and those of the neighboring kings. Rather than insulate and protect himself, he cast himself at God’s mercy and grace. He thus allowed God to restore him, setting him once more as that hero of faith we had come to know. It is in his humble acceptance of his failings that David shines heroically. Are we similarly ready to accept our own failings rather than critique others for faults akin to our own?

A close look at Jesus’ attitudes and actions reminds us that God does not share our concern with criticizing those who do not meet our standards. That seems to be a much more human than divine trait. Jesus sits in Simon’s house, surrounded on all sides by people who do not meet God’s standards. Simon assumes a lesser standard that will condemn some and protect himself from condemnation. Jesus does not stoop for a lessening of standards. Neither does he preach condemnation. Far from such, Jesus speaks of a regeneration that restores and enables one to rise toward God’s standard of love.

The Pharisee was too caught up in protecting his own righteousness to recognize his own failings. The sinner we condemned was instead more concerned with expressing gratitude for God’s forgiveness than worrying with the status of others. It was in her humility that she found God’s regenerating grace to grant her a new lease on life. She did not need to fault others to feel better about her failings. Can we likewise cast our own failings on God’s grace to allow forgiveness to restore our own lives?

This Pharisee bought into our own ideas about righteousness, worthiness, and character. He was concerned with standing out above the crowd as one without blemish—a cut above the rest. He did not appreciate that in God’s judgment it is the humility of accepting one’s limitations, mistakes, failures, and sin that separates one from the crowd. We need not wear a mask of appearing to be righteous. We are all in need of grace. It is only in trusting God to accept us with our faults that we can be regenerated in forgiveness to live new lives.

Paul reminds the Galatians that our redemption is not based on being better than others. He reminds us that deeds do not make us good enough. We can never become good enough. Even so, we are all within the reach of God’s grace. It is this regenerating grace that we accept in confidence. It is the grace of God’s overwhelming love and forgiveness that becomes active in our faith, regenerating our lives with the power and presence of God living through us. Paul goes further, indicating that the living out of this grace is also not of ourselves. Even when we have come to God in faith, it is only as we allow Christ Jesus to live through us that we are enabled to be of any worth at all.

We enter salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ. We become faithful believers as the same Christ finds life through our living. This regeneration to new live is still grace through faith. It is not our doing at all, giving us no basis for measuring ourselves against others. Rather, it is Christ within who through us would accept others equally once more on the basis of God’s grace alone. Can we allow such regenerative forgiveness to flow through Christ Jesus in us?

As children, we believed our fathers always stood out above the crowd. As parents, we are too painfully aware of our limitations. As the Rodney Atkins' song “Watchin’ You”^[1] recalls, we don’t reach our own standards. Will we accept our failings and need to fall upon God’s grace? That is heroic.

—©2007 Christopher B. Harbin

¹ Rodney Atkins. “Watchin’ You” http://www.circularmoney.com/artistlyrics/rodneyatkins/rawy.html.