Have you ever played King of the Hill? That’s the game where you try stay on top of a hill while everyone else attempts to push you off. It’s not a game to play in your Sunday clothes. Nor is it a game for the faint of heart. It’s a game that usually ends in tears and fractured friendships. That’s probably why kids don’t play this game very often. It’s too hurtful.
Although we may not be in the habit of climbing every dirt pile we come upon and shouting: “I’m the king of the hill!” daring passers-by to challenge that claim, our life is a continuous game of emotional King of the Hill. Whenever someone slights us, whenever others make fun of us or fail to thank us, we feel as if we’ve been pushed off our perch and we don’t like it. We’ll either whip around and give a good shove back with a cutting remark of our own, or seem to bear the slight while we roll down the hill we’ve been shoved off of, picking up speed as we replay the hurtful words and actions in our mind until we fall to pieces when we smash against the rock of resentment. (adapted from Jonathan Werre)
There is another option: forgiveness. As we continue to work at guarding the good deposit of Christian teaching outlined in the Apostles’ Creed, we’ll learn that in the Third Article we confess: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” With those words we’re not just saying, “I believe that I am forgiven.” We’re courageously confessing for all to hear: “I choose to forgive as I have been forgiven.” The Apostle Paul teaches the importance of such an attitude when he wrote the following to the Corinthian Christians: “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:6-11).
Do you remember what we learned about the congregation in Corinth last week? We learned that they were a divided group. They professed their preference for one pastor over another and had forgotten that as members of the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints they were one people, connected by one bond, headed towards one goal. But that wasn’t their only struggle. This congregation had also failed to practice church discipline. When one of its members started to live with someone who was not his wife, the congregation turned a blind eye. Paul made clear that the way to show real love to that individual was to call him to repentance, and if he refused, to remove him from church membership. The congregation listened and excommunicated the individual when he ignored their calls to leave his sinful lifestyle.
The good news was that this loving action worked! The individual repented of his sin. However, the congregation was now slow to forgive and receive the individual back. That’s why Paul wrote: “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:6-8).
With these words Paul explains that forgiving is more than saying politely, “Don’t worry about it,” while we continue to stew over the sin so that it smolders in our heart threatening to ignite spiteful thoughts whenever we see the individual who hurt us. Instead, Paul explains, those who forgive are also to “comfort” and thereby “reaffirm” love (2 Corinthians 2:7, 8). The word “reaffirm” is a legal term. It’s what you do when you finalize a contract. In other words the congregation was to make it very obvious that they had forgiven the individual by the way they treated him with kindness and genuine love. They weren’t just to shake his hand when he came in for worship and then leave him standing by himself in the corner as if he was a sweaty t-shirt no one wanted to get near. When the congregation planned a get-together they were to be sure to include their once wayward brother. In this way they would follow the example of God. He didn’t forgive sins by saying, “Don’t worry about it.” God forgave our sins in a dramatic demonstration of love when he sent his Son to pay for them with his death on the cross. And think of how that same Jesus never shied away from showing love to sinners like dishonest tax collectors. He ate with them and even called one to be a trusted disciple. Just as God demonstrates forgiving love in obvious ways he calls on us to do the same.
“Yeah, well that’s why he’s God. He can love the unlovable. I can’t scrounge up feelings of love and forgiveness to those who keep hurting me.” When we think this way we would do well to remember what we confess in the Creed. We say, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” not “I feel forgiveness.” Forgiveness is a choice not an emotion. Go back to the introduction of the sermon. When someone hurts you, it’s like being pushed down a hill. You can choose to keep rolling towards the bottom as you replay the hurt in your mind but you’ll only end up crashing into the rock of resentment. Or you can choose to stop rolling. But how do you do that? Only with the help of the cross. When climbers slip and start to slide down the snow, they are trained to slam their ice axe into the snow and ice and then hold on to the axe for dear life as they hug it close to their body. This will slow and finally stop the fall. Likewise the only way to stop from sliding down the hill of resentment is to cling to the cross of Jesus. Instead of replaying the hurt, often in super-slow motion, change the channel. Think instead of that cross on which Jesus died to pay for your sins. Hold it close to your heart because when God caused that cross to be pounded into Mt. Calvary, it was as if he was putting up a “Trail Closed” sign. (Jonathan Were) The trail to resentment and anger over your sins is now closed forever to the divine. No matter how many times you lie. No matter how often you lose your patience. No matter how much money you stole, or how many hours of your life you wasted in laziness, God refuses to resent and punish you for these sins because he’s already punished Jesus for them. He has completely forgiven you. But listen carefully. The cross of Calvary signifies that the trail to resentment and anger is also closed to those who claim to be followers of Jesus.
Will it be easy to be so forgiving like this – to choose not to retaliate with a sarcastic comment when you’ve been slighted? No, it won’t be easy. Forgiveness always involves a cross. (Jonathan Werre) Our sins would not be forgiven if Jesus had not died on a cross to pay for them. And you will end up carrying a cross when you choose by biting your lip and telling your heart to let go of the hurt forgive instead of insisting on having the last word in an argument. But it’s worth it. Listen to what the alternative is as explained by Paul to the Corinthians: “Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow… in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:7, 11).
Refusing to forgive only leads to more pain and suffering – first for the penitent who needs to be reassured of forgiveness, but also for the one who needs to forgive. As Paul points out, it’s Satan, the Accuser, who wants us to remain at each other’s throats. He knows that a refusal to forgive is a sure way to strangle saving faith so that we end up joining him in the eternal fires of hell. That’s his scheme. It’s no secret so don’t fall for it.
God knows how difficult it is for sinners to forgive. That’s why he gives us the Sacrament of Holy Communion. As surely as you can taste the wine and the bread, so as surely you will receive Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. That forgiveness is so abundant that it can and will overflow through you to others. It gives you the strength to pick up the cross and slam it into the hill of resentment so you don’t slide all the way to the bottom. It gives you the voice to say: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins. I choose to forgive, as I have been forgiven!”
Although it’s been a while since I’ve played King of the Hill on a dirt pile, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m a keen participant in the emotional version of King of the Hill. I’ve seen you play too. May God the Holy Spirit keep reminding us that there is no need to play this game because there’s only one King of the Hill – Jesus. His cross crowns the hill and through faith in him we’re clipped into that cross – like a climber clipped into a rope anchored firmly at the top of a cliff so that he won’t fall to his death. No, I may not feel forgiveness, not even after I receive the Sacrament, but I believe it because Jesus says it’s there. And if I believe that my sins are forgiven, then I believe that with God’s help I can choose to forgive the sins of others, and so can you. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
What was the problem in the Corinthian church that Paul dealt with in this text?
How does Paul teach us that forgiving one another is more than saying, “Forget about it”?
What does it mean that forgiveness is a choice not an emotion?
When someone sins against us it’s like being pushed off a hill. How can we keep from rolling all the way to the bottom and crashing into the rock of resentment?
Forgiveness always involves a cross. How is this true in two ways?
How does Holy Communion help us to be forgiving?
