WHEN LOVE CONQUERS ALL
Text: Matthew 18:21-35
At the age of nineteen, I got into writing a lot of poetry. After my natural mother had passed away, my poems became an outlet for my grief. Years later, I went back and looked at some of those poems. I was amazed to see that I had grown. Still, I was also amazed to see how much more I must continue to grow. The more I get to know about God’s love for us, the more I realize that God wants us to grow into His likeness.
When I wrote many of those poems, I wrote with passion. There was one poem that I wrote that weighed the pros and cons of what it means to love. I remember writing that love can be painful as well as inspiring. When there has been a conflict, a death, a time of separation, a break up, a tragedy that does not make any logical sense---love is painful, because these things are painful in the way that our relationships with others are involved. When there has been reconciliation, thoughtfulness, peace, and everyone seems to be playing on the same team---love can be inspiring. But, the greatest love of all is when we know that we are loved by God. The depth of God’s love was revealed for us on the cross at Calvary when Jesus died for our sins and conquered them. He died for our sins that separated us from God and from each other.
Forgiveness is perhaps the biggest part of God’s love. Why? The answer is because God chose to love us even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:8-11). Imagine that! God chose to love even those who were and are His enemies. God’s love is like a bridge that makes reconciliation possible. If you take away the bridge, the separation remains. George Herbert said, “He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass.” (T. T. Crabtree. Ed. The Zondervan 2001 Pastor’s Annual. Howard S. Kalb. “Forgiveness.” Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001, p. 306). The question that no one can escape answering is this: “How is your view from the bridge?”
NO ROOM FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS
One of our problems is that we like to choose who we will forgive and who it is that we will hold a grudge against. One thing is certain, if God held grudges, then none of us could stand (Psalm 130:3). When God forgives us, He casts our sins as far as the east is away from the west (Psalm 105:12-13). But, there is one requirement, we have to confess our sins to God (First John 1:9). Unless we repent of our sins, God cannot forgive us for those sins. Sin is what separates us from God and from each other. Therefore, we must confess and repent of our sins.
Jesus paid the price for our sins as well as the sins of those we call our enemies. Jesus paid the price for our sins in full (John 19:30) when he paid the price for our sins, He paid for all of them and not just some of them! The next time we think that we are better than our enemies, there is one thing that we need to remember as someone once said, “Jesus did not hang on the cross any longer for my sins than He did yours”. When we hear the truth of this statement, we have to ask ourselves this question: “How is my view from the bridge?”
FORGIVENESS BRINGS HEALING
One of our problems with forgiveness is that we sometimes slight its meaning. Forgiveness that has been bestowed upon one who is receptive to it means that he or she has a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). He or she has an authentic spirit of repentance wherein he or she is truly sorry and not sorry that he or she got caught. Jesus tells us to be merciful as God is merciful (Luke 6:36). So if God is merciful in forgiving us, then that means that we must also be merciful in forgiving others.
We will find that sometimes that there are people who have not been healed because they have not forgiven someone. A person who has not forgiven another could wind up being physically sick or sick in spirit and attitude or even both. There is the story of a young lady who had anaemia and the doctor who was working with her had tried to treat the illness for months without any success. Referrals were made to other doctors. Again, a blood sample was taken only this time, the results were different. The blood count had changed. Records were kept of every visit and every blood sample. Second guessing himself without finding an explanation to what was going on, he was puzzled that now the results of the latest blood sample were different. Procedure had been followed to the letter. The doctor was still trying to figure out if an error had been made somewhere. "He returned to the patient and asked her, "Has anything out of the ordinary happened in your life since your last visit?" "Yes, something happened," she replied. " I have suddenly been able to forgive someone against whom I bore a nasty grudge; and all at once I felt I could at last say, yes, to life!" "Her mental attitude was changed, and the very state of her blood was changed along with it. Her mind was cured and her body was well on the way to being cured". (William Barclay. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel Of Matthew. Volume 1. Revised Edition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975, pp. 327-328, paraphrased and quoted). This story proves how sometimes we cannot be healed because of our lack of being able to forgive another as God has forgiven us.
UNFORGIVENESS IS A SIN
When Jesus was hanging on the cross He said, "God forgive them for they know not what they do" (Matthew 26). God cannot forgive us if we refuse to forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15). Forgiveness sows seeds of reconciliation and love and we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:8). When we do not forgive we nurture and fertilize the seeds of hate. Hate is a weed in the garden of God’s love. We make it possible for these weeds to be there when we are unwilling to forgive.
There is the story of Simon Wiesenthal who was a famed hunter of Nazi war criminals. As a prisoner, Wiesenthal was sent to a labor camp during World War II. "He found himself on a work detail in a hospital where a young SS officer lay wounded and dying. The Nazi mad Simon sit and listen while he confessed a long list of atrocities, including burning down a houseful of Jews in Ukraine and shooting those who leapt from the window trying to escape. The officer, tormented by guilt, begged Wiesenthal, as a Jew, to forgive him. Wiesenthal stood, turned, and walked away.
"He survived the camp and spent over forty years tracking down Nazi war criminals. Still, he remains troubled by doubts about whether or not he did the right thing in refusing to forgive the SS trooper. The Old Testament speaks of mercy and forgiveness. It speaks of love of neighbor, and Wiesenthal had been unwilling to love and forgive.
"Jesus calls each of us to be concerned with others. Selfishness and failure to forgive inhibits love. There is no greater commandment than to love". (William P. Barker. Ed. Tarbell’s Teacher’s Guide. 87th Annual Volume. Elgin: David C. Cook Publishing Company, 1991, pp. 208-209).
Unforgiveness makes us prisoners of our own jail. Consider the parable in Matthew 18:21-35. It speaks for itself about what happens when we do not forgive as God forgives. Luke 6:36 says, "Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (NKJV). The Bible is very clear. If we do not forgive others of their sins against us, then God will not forgive us of our sins.
When I was going up for ordination of a Deacon, before the Conference Board of Ordained ministry, I was addressed by an Elder in the Conference who spoke about my sermon which was on this same text. In my sermon for ordination materials I had mentioned what the Bible said about how we must forgive with no exceptions referring to what the Lord’s prayer says about forgiveness. The Elder that addressed me about my sermon spoke about forgiveness in a way that compromised what the Bible says about forgiveness. Although I disagreed with him vehemently, I kept quiet. Maybe he was testing me. I do not know. All I could think about was how we do nothing but pull ourselves down and make ourselves prisoners when we hold a grudge against another. That grudge becomes a barrier that hinders us in our relationship with God as well as our begrudged.
When we are prisoners in the matter of forgiveness or the failure to forgive, there can only be two reasons. One reason that we are a prisoner concerning forgiveness is because of our feelings of guilt. Another reason that we become prisoners concerning forgiveness is our own unwillingness to forgive another while holding a grudge. God wants us to be better and not bitter. Out of His grace and mercy God forgives us and wants us to forgive others as He has forgiven us. Guilt and grudges are things that can imprison and burden us and keep us bitter and cynical. His grace can liberate us and make us better, enthusiastic and hopeful. “He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass.” (T. T. Crabtree. Ed. The Zondervan 2001 Pastor’s Annual. Howard S. Kalb. “Forgiveness.” Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001, p. 306). How is our view of the bridge of God’s forgiveness? Can we walk on the bridge?
