November 19, 2024 -- Amos 5:7 -- The forgiveness of Jesus lived out loud in believers
/O you who turn justice to wormwood
and cast down righteousness to the earth!
Amos 5:7 ESV
Perhaps it is important to start with an explanation of wormwood. The simplest way to approach it is to know that is can also be translated as “bitter fruit”. In his teaching on victim culture and how to overcome it, Michael Ramsey notes that many people pursue justice with bitterness. The result is when justice is achieved, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of all who see it. He accurately notes how many vengeance movies end with the victim rising and winning the day, the opponent is dead, and the now victorious victim says, “I thought I’d feel better”. When you pursue justice with bitterness, and justice is achieved, that justice is bitter to you and the people all around you.
Followers of Jesus Christ, when a man or a woman chooses to yield all of life to the care of God as He guides that person that person will be prepared to forgive as deeply and truly as Jesus taught believers to forgive. Consider this example. Two men, formerly the best of friends, have a falling out. One is so angry; his anger becomes resentment and rage. He rehearses and retells the story of all that was done to him until his soul is a hardened wall nearly impenetrable. By a wonderful act of grace, a friend of both the men convinces them to be reconciled. He helps break down the dividing wall of hostility and the men become civil towards one another. The man who’d rehearsed his resentment and rage may be reconciled, but he is still raging. Justice has become wormwood.
When believers forgive, as Jesus commanded His followers to forgive, there are a few things that happen.
First of all, forgiveness means that the love of Jesus and His work at the cross is in view. Believers in Jesus Christ know forgiveness came at the cost of the great treasure of heaven, the Person of Jesus. Forgiveness is never cheap or easy. All real, deep, true forgiveness is only possible because of Jesus’s sacrifice at the cross.
Second, as much as a sinner is forgiven by Jesus’s reconciling work, so much does that believer then long to express forgiveness to others. Love, the Father’s love expressed in Jesus, is ultimately the only motivation of reconciliation.
Third, if the love of Christ and His mercy is in view when pursuing justice, then when justice is achieved, what is left is the love of the Father, mediated through the work of Jesus, and such lovingkindness descending from above is kept in place by the Holy Spirit Who resides in believers. Believers do not, after reconciliation, fall back into old, bitterness and wormwood, because the justice of God has been achieved through the love of Jesus and the Spirit of God keeps that deep and profound love ever in view. That is why believers sing Psalms and hymns of praise, to be reminded forgiveness is never cheap.
Finally, forgiveness does not mean the consequences of sin are forgotten. When King David sinned against Uriah by sleeping with his wife and then killing Uriah, the LORD forgave David. But the child of David and Bathsheba’s illicit union died. Furthermore, as a direct consequence of his action, David introduced rebellion into his household and for the next part of his reign had to deal with sons who followed in the steps of his waywardness.
Ah, fellow believers who seek to walk in Jesus’s way of self-denial and cross-bearing, fix your eyes on Jesus Christ Who is the Pioneer and Perfector of all true believing. His Spirit will lead you deeper and farther into the immeasurable love of the reconciling love of Jesus so that all your desire is to be more fully known by and more fully know Him. In that quest, justice will never be bitter fruit, but in justice the fruit of the Spirit (which as Galatians 5:22-23a teaches is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).
Living so fully in the way of Jesus Christ will draw others to you, who wonder, how can you be so happy in Jesus when there is injustice all around you, or even when poisonous injustice is aimed at you? What a glorious opportunity for evangelism the Spirit presents to you. It is deep, true and authentic answering of genuine questions so that hearts which had been filled with wormwood now seek a cleansing which no earthly cure except Jesus could ever provide.
Father in heaven thank You for the riches of heaven given in Jesus so that wicked rebellious people are by Him brought reconciled and forgiveness to You. Father, I know the rebellious raging boiling of bitter fruit of wicked unforgiveness that wants to take control of my heart. I confess only Your Spirit can take that overheating pot off the stove and in its place bring the soothing fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Even as I pray this, it is impossible for me to achieve it. I submit myself to You, completely, unreservedly, so that the healing which the Spirit brings in Jesus is what I can receive as the real costly gift of the Father’s forgiveness. Then, as one forgiven, I will be strengthened to forgive and walk in the fullness of life God has ordained for me, so that what is flowing from me and overflowing from the life of others who believe will be the peace of Christ reaching to the four corners of the earth. Amen.
https://youtu.be/Tu2uA6U4Fxg?si=xmTzHEp369ciOXX1 And Can It Be?
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