Signs, Signs

And you thought this was going to be about the tornado. . .

Nope, they've done it again. There is a new billboard campaign. From the news story:

"[Pastor] Benke said it's important people understand what's contained in
Christian scripture.
'And then, quite frankly, the church gets that message
wrong, as well,' he said. 'But the Bible teaches there is no sin that isn't
forgivable in Jesus.'
Benke hopes his church's thought-provoking billboards
mark the beginning, not the end, of a conversation about forgiveness."

The billboards offer a website, http://www.whatsforgivable.com/, and the billboard connects to a sermon series starting soon.

At least this time around, the message is scriptural. In Christ, all sins have been paid for.

Here comes the question: will Jefferson Hills get the message right? Will they talk about all having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Will they talk about how we are all beggars before God whose only prayer can be, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner"? Will they address confession and repentence? Will they address the unforgivable sin and adequately discuss it?

I suspect that as good as this sermon series sounds, the point will be lost in the midst of people pondering the billboards and wondering in human terms what is forgivable, and miss the point that we are not the king who forgives the large debt, but we are the slave who finds it difficult to forgive the small debt.

I see it every time I drive past; I even look for it. There is a decrepit brick building on the side of I-70 when one is heading into downtown St. Louis. Graffittied on the uppermost point is a notice in an original font which reads "Red Fox 4gives you." I find this sign most mysterious.
First, who is Red Fox? Why is he--I'm making an assumption here--so magnanimous? What has the unspecified "you" done to wrong Red Fox? Is Red Fox speaking to a specific or general, singular or plural "you"? If the ubiqutious Red Fox is spreading around 4giveness to the general public, what makes him think the general public is in need of his 4giveness?
I suppose it's a purely human trait to rebel against forgiveness. For to assume forgiveness is to also assume wrongdoing. If Red Fox thinks we are in need of his 4giveness, he also believes we have transgressed him in some manner. That makes almost anyone bristle. "Who is this guy who thinks we did something against him? We don't even know what we did; who is he to 4give us? What makes him think he has the right to judge us? I don't need his stinking 4giveness."
Forgiveness (or, for that matter, 4giveness) is worth nothing when one does not know for what one is being forgiven. That forgiveness is also worth nothing when one does not know the party doing the forgiving. Law and Gospel must work together: for without the Gospel, the Law brings despair; without the Law, the Gospel either induces more Law [rebellion] or carries no meaning [I'm forgiven, so what?].
Red Fox may 4give me. . .I wonder why.

Trouble with Sin

The trouble with sin is that it's just too easy. Sure, there are times when one goes through a moral struggle; but there are so many other times we blunder into sin without a second thought or a glance backwards. We are so steeped in sin that sometimes we look at our sin and think, "well, that's life." Many people deny the doctrine of original sin, but we truly have to ask ourselves, do we always love God with our whole hearts? Of course the answer is no. We are truly selfish people who don't follow God's law.
There's a second problem. We believe we can follow God's law. Well, THAT'S not going to happen. Adam and Eve had one command: Don't eat that. We know what happened from there. How can we expect to have ten times that and follow them?
Here's a third problem. We become complacent about sin, and we rationalize that it is our life. There's that first commandment coming back to accuse us. We figure if it effects only ourselves, why should anyone else care? As Billy Joel says, "I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life; go ahead with your own life; leave me alone."
It truly is, however, just like mothers everywhere have said--It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Our own sins effect many people. Sometimes it's such a small way that we argue that is doesn't matter. Sometimes it's so huge that we can do nothing other than admit we screwed up. No matter what, someone always gets hurt, and it's always a big deal.
One can point out any number of examples in scripture where someone gets hurt due to sin. Adam and Eve hurt each other, all their ancestors, and even the animal who had to lose its life to cover their shame; David and Bathsheba and Uriah; the list goes on and on.
Someone greater did get hurt for our sin. Jesus, true God and man, the sinless one was the one ultimately hurt for our sin. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted; pierced and nailed to the cross; abused, injured, and killed; abandoned by God and suffered under our punishment. This is the payment for our careless sins, our self-aggrandizement, our lack of concern for anyone else, our original sin of "looking out for number 1."
Jesus has taken our sin, death, and shame upon Himself so that we can be free.