Lord’s Prayer 11: Forgiveness of Sins
All his life, an old man had been a sceptic, especially about religion.
Now he was dying and his friends asked him if he would like them to send for the parish priest to minister the last rites.
'No,' he said, 'God will forgive me - that's His business!'
These words well reflect the attitude of many today who treat sin lightly, have trivialised forgiveness and, when they do think of it at all, regard it as inevitable.
Today we live in the heresy: Once you replace morality with the philosophy that says ‘if it feels good, do it’ - then there isn't anything to forgive.
Indeed if we still feel hurt by the behaviour of another, our culture suggests that we simply retreat into our own private world and pretend it didn't happen… we bury our heads in the sand!
In such a world, 'I don't need God to forgive me, and I don't need to forgive anybody else either'… a world of pure selfishness!
Such ideas are a far cry from the teaching of the New Testament.
In fact, it could be seen as a colossal insult to God, portraying Him 'not as a responsible Father, but as a senile old grandfather who not only does not treat our sins seriously, but does not even realise we are indebted to Him'.
Although many might condone the treating of their own personal failings lightly, they can be quick to blame others when things go wrong.
To hear some people talk, one would think that everything that happens must be somebody else's fault, we make excuses.
• The influence of psychotherapy can persuade us to blame our parents and our upbringing.
• The sociologist might blame it all on social class and the community in which we were nurtured.
• The economist might focus on the poverty of our background
• and, no matter what the problem, a cunning lawyer might want to encourage us to sue for compensation.
Sin has become what others do to us rather than what we do to them, and whether or not we forgive them will depend on how we feel… what a world and society we live in, no wonder everything is such a mess!
As we reflect on the Lord's Prayer, we discover a far more authentic and satisfying picture.
In the NT there is none of the superficial 'live and let live' philosophy which we call toleration which, in reality, is little more than apathy.
Nor do we run away from responsibility by putting the blame on to somebody else.
Instead we see that 'forgive us our trespasses', 'lead us not into temptation' and 'deliver us from evil' are all concerned, in an ascending order of complexity, with what still obstructs the coming of God's kingdom in all its fullness.
Such barriers are a very serious matter. They cannot be ignored or treated lightly since they limit God's will being done 'on earth as it is in heaven'.
Throughout the Bible, not least in the New Testament, we are held to be responsible for our behaviour and warned that eventually we must face the judgement of God.
Sin is treated very seriously and nowhere is forgiveness automatic.
Constantly we are reminded of the need to acknowledge our guilt, to take responsibility for our actions and to confess our need for God to forgive us.
We need to repent of our sins, which is much more than just feeling 'sorry' for them. It involves our willingness to turn right round and change the direction of our lives.
This is possible only because of what Christ has done for us on the cross where He takes our sin, breaks its power and pays the price of our forgiveness.
Through His resurrection He shows His victory over sin and death, enables us to experience forgiveness and enables us to live a new way of life.
This life is sustained and empowered by the Holy Spirit who guides, inspires and leads us forward in the pilgrimage of faith.
On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came with power, Peter preached a dynamic sermon, which obviously moved his hearers.
Afterwards some came and asked what they must do, to which he replied, 'Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 2:38).
Paul frequently speaks of our need to die to sin and be raised to a new way of life in Christ.
Indeed this picture of death and resurrection is the key to our understanding of both baptism and Holy Communion.
It is only as we are willing to die to a life of self-centredness and sin, and be raised to a new life centred upon God.
Determined to live in accordance with the teaching of Jesus that we are ready to receive the forgiveness that He freely offers.
Jesus was announcing God's reign on earth and although the people were looking for political and social liberation, He was offering something much deeper.
The prophets had always taught that the oppression of the people of Israel and their exile had been brought about by their sin.
'Son, your sins are forgiven, , said Jesus (Mark 2:5) when He healed the paralytic whose friends had lowered him down to Jesus through an opening in the roof.
The Jewish leaders were furious, for this was the height of blasphemy. Only God could forgive sins.
In offering forgiveness, however, Jesus was saying that the great act of liberation had arrived. The forgiveness of sins was actually happening now.
Then, whenever people did respond to His call, Jesus not only released them from the failures of the past but also taught them how to live in the present by a completely new set of values.
They were to be a cell of kingdom people. The past was forgiven, they were set free to live for God and their fellows.
But forgiveness is not simply God saying, 'There, there, it doesn't matter.'
Sin does matter and matters very much indeed after all, it cost Jesus His life.
Sin is, in effect, our declaration that we do not accept the authority of Jesus Christ as Lord, and that we do not wish to do His will but rather to do our own.
The great Scots preacher, James Stewan, called it 'a clenched fist in the face of the Father'… Sin is an act of rebellion, and a moral God in a moral universe cannot ignore it.
If a person we hardly know offends us, it is very easy to shrug it off after all the person concerned doesn't really know what they're talking about.
But if a friend or loved one betrays us, we feel deeply wounded. We trusted them, confided in them, and now they have let us down.
Having shared so much with them, we marvel that they could behave in such an insensitive way.
In short, the more we love, the deeper the hurt and the more costly the forgiveness.
The cross shows us how seriously God treats sin, and how far He was prepared to go to show us His love.
God offers us forgiveness and the chance to begin life again, but that offer cost Him His life, the life of His Son.
After a year in an evangelical Bible college, Jim went to serve as a lay pastor in a small mission hall.
Some months later, a friend from his college days visited him and was somewhat surprised to see a crucifix on the table at the front of the hall.
‘Why not an empty cross?' he asked. 'I would have thought that a good Protestant like you would want to emphasise the resurrection.
It's usually the Catholics who like a crucifix showing Jesus still on the cross.’
'No,' said Jim. 'I want the people to know how much God loves us, and how much it cost for us to know His forgiveness.’
