Failure and Forgiveness

In Ephesians 4, we see a listing of some attitudes of the heart that we, through the power of Christ, can eliminate, as well as some traits we can adopt:
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Because we have been forgiven - greatly - we can adopt an attitude of forgiveness toward others. Jesus died for our sins so that they would not be counted against us; His blood covers our sin, and we receive God's forgiveness as we accept what His Son did for us on the cross.  When we fail, we can recognize that He loves us and will work by His Spirit to enable us to walk in a way that is more pleasing to Him - through a right relationship with Christ, we can receive the power of the Spirit.

+++++

We know that when we sin against God - and all iniquity is against Him - we can come before the Lord in true repentance, through a relationship with Christ, and experience His forgiveness.  Psalm 32 says:
(1b) Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

It's interesting how so much news breaks between the hours of 4 and 6 pm, which are the hours that The Meeting House is on the air.  Some I report, other news I don't, and then there are those you have to really think about and may end up being in a commentary some day.

The other afternoon, I caught the news reports out of Nashville that said the mayor of the city had admitted to an extramarital affair - with her bodyguard.   This is certainly unacceptable behavior for someone in public office, but I did have the thought: wasn't this the mayor that denounced Christians for the "Nashville Statement," which presented a Biblical definition of marriage and was affirmed by a number of well-respected Christian leaders?

I want to concentrate on the first two articles of the 14-article statement:

ARTICLE 1

WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.

WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.

This reflects a Biblical definition of marriage.  Now, let's move on...

ARTICLE 2

WE AFFIRM that God’s revealed will for all people is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.

WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.

The Statement continues to put forth principles of healthy, Biblical relationships, and concludes with a bold article about salvation through Jesus Christ.  To me, it's sound, Biblical Christianity - and our culture is need of clear boundaries and definitions about God's plan for sexuality.

Well, one of the high-profile critics of the Nashville Statement was, yes, the Mayor herself.  Her name is Megan Barry.  She tweeted out that the Statement was "poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville."

At the time of this proclamation, the Mayor of a major American city, a wonderful city, by the way, was engaged in an illicit relationship with her bodyguard, Robert Forrest.   David French of National Review, who is an insightful writer, with whom I will disagree periodically, had choice words not only for so-called "progressive Christians" who opposed the Statement (which he signed), but for Ms. Barry, who is married:

This statement is in many ways far more ominous than anything that comes from the liberal Evangelical world. The liberal Evangelical argument is one reason that the Nashville Statement was necessary. The authors and signatories expected pushback. Barry’s statement, however, is different. It’s not separation of church and state, it’s a declaration of state against church.

We are reaching a troubling stage of American politics when the reality of American pluralism is yielding to a demand for cultural and religious uniformity. Megan Barry is expected to have a position on civil rights and civil liberties, but that’s a far cry from stating that Biblical orthodoxy is incompatible with the “inclusive values” of a city that’s located in the heart of the Bible Belt. The Southern Baptist Convention has a headquarter building right in downtown Nashville. You can’t drive five minutes in Nashville without seeing a church that’s teaching exactly the values and beliefs contained in the Nashville Statement. Is Barry’s position that they should change their ways, shut up, or leave?

So, the Mayor is in trouble, and already the press is investigating whether or not the Mayor used taxpayer dollars to facilitate the affair.  After all, she seems to have traveled to a number of places around the world, including some instances where he was the only staff member with her - no chief of staff, no personal assistant, just a member of Nashville's police force.

And, just yesterday, the Tennessean reported:

In the last year, Barry and Forrest went together, without any other city employees, on nine trips around the country and the globe, according to travel, expenditure and scheduling records obtained by The Tennessean. That included trips to San Francisco, Kansas City and Athens, Greece.

On at least two of these trips, Barry and Forrest stayed beyond the time needed to attend the conferences upon which their travel was based.

It doesn't look good for the mayor's future.  But, she has indicated she would not resign and has asked the good people of the Music City for...forgiveness.  Yes, there is a faith angle here, according to Bobby Ross of Get Religion, who lauds the coverage of that angle, centered around this quote from the Tennessean:

"I know that God's going to forgive me, but the citizens of Nashville don't have to," Barry said. "My hope is that I can earn their forgiveness, and I can earn back their trust, and we can do the great work for this city that Nashville deserves."

The newspaper even ran a story by its religion reporter, Holly Meyer, on Barry's "faith" background and the concept of forgiveness.  Seems Barry had a faith problem during her mayoral campaign and actually enlisted the assistance of a local minister to introduce her at a local church in order to "quell rumors" that the mayor was an atheist.

Meyer interviewed "Robert Enright, a University of Wisconsin professor who pioneered the scientific study of forgiveness."  The story says, "If forgiveness is warranted and wanted, a person can start that process by looking at the mayor with a 'wider angle lens,' he said."

The story also says:

But if the affair caused an injustice to the people of Nashville, forgiveness does not excuse the behavior, and justice should come up alongside forgiveness, Enright said.

"Forgiveness is offering someone another chance, but it does not throw justice under the bus," Enright said.

To review, a few takeaways from this unfortunate series of events.  For one thing, we certainly need clarity on relationships.  And, I think it is important to recognize that God has a plan for proper male-female relationships - this applies to proper sexual behavior outside and inside marriage, as the Nashville Statement states, as well as the application of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Forgiveness is an important concept, and while it is true that God does offer forgiveness, there are conditions by which you receive His forgiveness.  We have to humble ourselves before Him and come into a right relationship through Christ - you can't presume to receive it without true repentance.  You can't just say you're forgiven and then live your life the same old way, and you don't continue in sin thinking that you can confess it and get rid of it - that is a corruption of the definition of grace.

And, finally, for the critics of the Nashville Statement, including the Mayor, inclusivity should go both ways - unfortunately, those who want to brand themselves as "inclusive" do not seem to want to include the Biblical perspective, especially on matters of sexuality.  And, for her, and for all those who are flawed, who sin, which really includes everyone, we can be motivated to extend compassion.  Even to those with whom we disagree, we can respond with Christ's love, with conviction.