Breaking Free
From
Guilt, Shame and Fear
Through
Accepting God’s
Forgiveness,
Love and Empowerment
Guilt,
Shame and Fear, Oh My!
2 Samuel 6:12-15
& Mark 6:14-29
Rev.
Dr. Will Baez
7/13/15
Has anyone
here ever done something that you’ve felt guilty about? Just
about anything I’ve done wrong I’ve felt guilty about. What’s the best way to not feel guilty? Don’t do something wrong.
When I
feel guilty it’s because of my conscience.
Our conscience is our measure of what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes when I’ve done something wrong and haven’t
come clean about it, I look back over my shoulder hoping nobody is on to me;
that I’m not going to be caught.
I remember
when I was in Junior High. I went
shoplifting with my Cousin Charlie. It
was the first time I shoplifted and the last because I got caught. How embarrassing! The police came and they took all our
information. They must have been pretty
busy because they didn’t call my parents until months later. I had forgotten about it and hoped they did
too! One day I was coming home from
school. My mother intercepted me on the way home and told me that she had
gotten a call from the police and my father was coming home early from work. Not only did I feel guilty, I felt ashamed
and was afraid of facing my father when he came home.
King Herod
in this story felt guilty. He had John
the Baptist killed to satisfy his wife and daughter and he knew he was wrong
for beheading John. I’m sure it’s
something that ate at King Herod because the things we do wrong eat at us. Our consciences bother us when we do wrong
unless we’re sociopaths or are in strong denial. We hope our wrong doings don’t catch up with
us, but often they do or if they don’t, they leave us feeling anxious. Herod
knew his crime had caught up with him.
In Jesus, John was raised from the dead.
Now, this
wasn’t literal. Jesus wasn’t John. It meant that the bill had come due for Herod
to pay the penalty for what he had done to John. The head that Herod had cut off had come back
to bite him in the form of Jesus. The
bill comes due for the bad we do.
There’s a price we have to pay.
I want you
to reflect on those wrongs that you’ve done and feel guilt for. Just for a moment. We’re not going to dwell on them. If you’ve been caught feel your shame for what
you’ve done and if you haven’t been caught I want you to feel your guilt and fear
of being caught. These feelings are
alive in you and me. They may be
conscious or unconscious, subtle or strong but we need to face them, seek
forgiveness and make amends. Otherwise
there may be hell to pay; that is we have the face the music. There’s no escape.
The tragic
thing for Herod is that he did everything he could to evade capture. Jesus was a threat to him. It was people like Herod, who misused their
power at the expense of others that were threatened by Jesus. But the wonderful thing for us is that Jesus
isn’t a threat to us. He is, instead. a
help to us. Rather than throw punishment
in our face, Jesus holds out promise. The
promise Jesus holds out to us is a gift from God. God has chosen us to receive this gift; a
gift of forgiveness and redemption. It’s
a get out of jail or hell card; a get out of guilt, shame and fear card. We receive this promise of redemption and
forgiveness through Jesus who gave his life for us and poured out his love for
us. This is less a bloody mess as it is
an act of love.
When I
went home to face my dad by the time I got home I didn’t need punishment. My conscience handled that for me. My entire walk home from school that day was
my punishment. Your conscience handles
it for you, too. We’ve done bad things,
but we’re not bad people. And overtime
we no longer feel guilty because we mature and don’t do bad things. If we were
bad people we wouldn’t feel guilty when we did wrong things. I’m glad my dad
knew that although he still took the belt out.
I wasn’t ever shoplifting again the moment I got caught, but I was not redeemed
until I faced my father. And the belt
was not needed!
Everyone
here has done something bad, but none of you are bad. But you have to humble yourself and face God
and admit to yourself what you’ve done.
It might help to confess what you’ve done to another human being;
someone you trust; perhaps a pastor, but someone. None of us are redeemed until we face
God. Then we find out that God isn’t
holding a belt, but open arms of embrace to welcome us back out of our guilt,
shame and fear into our identity as children of God, beloved by God, heirs of salvation
and of everything that is God; every quality and every power. And if you admit, right now, that you aren’t
perfect, you’ve sinned, you’ve fallen short of your values, you’ll feel yourself
included in and saturated by the pure and perfect acceptance and love of God in
Christ. You are loved, you are forgiven,
you are accepted, you are appreciated, you belong right here, right now in this
place, in God’s presence, in this body of believers, none of whom are perfect,
all of whom are forgiven and loved, all of whom belong together in Christ, all
of whom will ultimately realize their full potential and identity with Christ
as all grown up men and women of God.
This may
be the 1st or 2nd time you’ve been here; this may be the
thousandth, but the truth is that in hearing this message of truth and gospel
of salvation today, that the Holy Spirit is upon you, marking you, guaranteeing
that what you feel today you will experience completely in God’s good time,
when all have been offered this opportunity for a life of grace and unity of
God, where we experience our full capacity for love, peace, growth and full
capacity human being.
Soon, we
like David, will dance in joy, unashamed of our faith and full devotion to our
God who loves us and makes us God’s own, as was the plan from the very
beginning of life on earth.
You Can Be Forgiven and Loved
(Message for Youth and Children)
2
Samuel 6:12-15 & Mark 6:14
Rev. Dr. Will Baez
7/13/15
I want you
to know that that you are forgiven and loved by God. You might not know why you would need
forgiveness or what it means that God loves you, but I hope today’s message
makes it clearer to you.
Let me
tell you a story. There’s a boy I used
to know. He felt really bad. He was rejected by his family. He felt that no one accepted and loved
him. He felt so bad he would even hurt
himself. We used to try to show him that
we accepted him and loved him and didn’t want to see him hurt himself. He was treated so badly when he was young
that it was hard for him to stop hurting himself.
Do you
ever really feel bad, like nobody accepts you or loves you? Lots of people feel that way. If you don’t feel that way, and I hope that
you don’t, you know somebody who does.
Sometimes
people treat people badly; they reject them and hate them. They pick on people, say bad things about
them or bully them. And sometimes people treat themselves badly. It happens in homes. It happens in schools. It happens in neighborhoods. It happens in churches. But if we repent, if we change our attitude
and behavior, if we let God know that we’re sorry, God will forgive us. And the only thing that God wants in return
is for us to treat others well, and not only others, ourselves. What I want you to know is that you are
accepted and loved by God and Jesus exactly as you are and that God and Jesus
will help you be the best person you can if you let them. If we haven’t accepted people or loved them
or treated them badly, we can ask God’s forgiveness and God will forgive you. Or if you’ve treated yourself badly or hurt
yourself, you can be forgiven for that and God and Jesus can help you love and
accept yourself and help you become an even better person, more that you
believe yet.
Let’s pray
together. Repeat after me: God, I know
you love me. I’ve done some bad things, but you forgive me and love me anyways. You expect me to be even better than I am and
because you believe in me, I know I can be an even better me. Forgive me for the wrong I’ve done and help
me to treat everyone the way I want to be treated. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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