21 January 2007

The Adult's Sunday School Class - Proverbs 22:7 Rich man...poor man. There has always been a tension between those who have and those who don't.

scripture reading: #653

Vesper's - a one hour study @ 5 p.m. on Sundays: Matthew 7:1 Go ahead and judge, it’s coming right back atcha!! 

 Wednesday, @ 7 - 8 p.m. A class on "Anger: the theological, psychological, emotional and social aspects of our temper."

Sins and scapegoats 

Lev. 16.20 "When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites--all their sins--and put them on the goat's head.

He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. 22. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.

Atonement has been made. Your sins are forgiven. Let it go!!

Years ago I preached a sermon entitled, "How flat can a dead cat get?" The essence of the sermon was how so many people get hung up on something and keep going over it and over it and over it...

It I could draw a picture to illustrate so many Christians in relation to the passage in Leviticus 16:20-22, it would have Aaron driving the 'scape goat' into the wilderness, but hooked to a collar around the goat's neck would be a long, long rope.

If you read this passage you'll see that Atonement had already been made, the sins imputed upon the goat, and the goat then driven way out into the wilderness, accompanied by a man for a distance to make certain the goat did not come back into the camp.

There are some folks whose sins have been 'imputed' who keep dragging the goat back for another visit. There are others who will go get someone else's goat...and drag it back to revisit.

Part of the communion of saints is celebration. There is to be a richness in our celebration. Our sins are forgiven. That which once separated us from God, and separated us from each other, has been forgiven. God hasn’t called us to one long goat-roast.

The psalmist said that in this forgiveness our sins have become as far from us as the east is from the west! The old songwriter said, "Gone, gone, gone - yes my sins are gone..."

Why would anyone want to drag back that old goat? I guarantee you this - their motivation was NOT good!

Frequently we drag back our own goat out of shame or guilt. Those are issues that can exist beyond our atonement. God can, and will, forgive me of my sins but He won't make me let go of my shame or guilt.

That separation I must do for myself.

Those who would get your goat and drag it all back into the picture again, aren't doing it to make you a better person. They are doing it to make certain you feel shame and guilt...and to try and look like a better person in comparison to you!

Regardless of how that old goat comes back...REFUSE its cargo of shame and guilt. Atonement has been made. Your sins are forgiven. Let it go!!

Celebrate! Let the goat go, quick backing up over that dead cat. Be free.

Romans 8:37 "...despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us. 38. For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away.

Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39. or where we are--high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean--nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us."