“Total Forgiveness- Part 1”
Text: Ephesians 4:30-5:2
9-7-03
In the name of our Loving God, who Totally Forgives us ALL of our sins, Dear friends in Christ. Today we’re going to focus on a very, very important and essential doctrine of the Christian Church... Forgiveness. In fact, if you take away the doctrine of Forgiveness... is there really any reason for us to keep gathering as Christians?? I mean, that IS what we mainly come to this place to hear... God’s Word’s of Forgiveness, right? Take that a step further. If you take away the doctrine of Forgiveness is there any reason whatsoever to keep believing in Jesus Christ?? If you don’t want or need Forgiveness... then you don’t want or need a Savior who died to Forgive your sins. And if you don’t need a Savior, then you don’t need Jesus Christ.
But God HAS shown us our desperate need for a Savior. The Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to see our hopeless, sinful condition and it’s damning consequences. And He has led us to believe in Jesus who died so that all our sins and offenses could be Forgiven. That is beautiful and freeing news to people who have recognized that they were slaves to sin. The words from God that “You are Forgiven” lift a crushing burden from our minds and our souls. It reconciles us with our Heavenly Father and unites us with Him. Now we can live in peace with Him, knowing that we are not enemies of His anymore. And we have the peace of knowing that His wrath and punishment have been taken away from us.
That’s why I say that the doctrine of Forgiveness is so important and essential to us Christians. But Forgiveness is not just vertical between us and God. He makes it very clear in the Bible that His Forgiveness must also extend horizontally... between us human beings. I submit to you that THIS aspect of the doctrine of Forgiveness is probably THE MOST neglected and misunderstood doctrines in the Christian Church. This became clear to me when I recently read a book called “Total Forgiveness” by R.T. Kendall. You may not think that this is a subject that a Pastor struggles with, but I can tell you I was!! And R.T. Kendall is a also a Pastor who struggled with the same thing. Thankfully he pointed out the treasures of what God says about Forgiveness in the Bible... and I can honestly tell you it has helped me and changed me. And I want the same thing for you. Because if you will listen to what God says about Forgiveness, it will lift a burden from you and give you a peace that you’ve been missing out on.
Look at what St. Paul says in our Epistle Lesson. He starts off by saying, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God...” How do we “grieve” the Holy Spirit? Paul explains by giving us a list of things we are to get rid of in our lives: “bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Think about it for just a minute. ALL of those behaviors are the result of not Forgiving someone. And it grieves God to see us living this way. It grieves Him just like it grieves an earthly father when his children refuse to forgive and live in peace with each other. So Paul encourages us to get rid of that sinful behavior by being “kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Forgiveness will wipe out the mean and hateful attitudes in our lives.
I’ve got news for you. Forgiveness of each other IS NOT OPTIONAL for Christians!! It is a COMMAND from God. Turn to Matthew 6 and see what Jesus says there. He just gave His Disciples the Lord’s Prayer. In verse 12, Jesus says we are to pray to God: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Then in verses 14 & 15, notice which of the petitions He chose to elaborate on. Jesus says, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Whoa!!! Did you think about that the last time you said the Lord’s Prayer?? Or how about when you asked God to Forgive you at the beginning of this service?? If you are refusing to Forgive somebody, then you are basically asking God to treat you the same way!! Is that what you want?? Limited or partial forgiveness from God?? I sure don’t!! And I don’t think you do either. We want Total Forgiveness from Him... so we need to Forgive others in the same way.
Jesus put this doctrine of Forgiveness into perspective when He told the parable in our Gospel Reading for today. Peter had specifically asked Jesus about how we are to Forgive one another. And Christ explains that we ought to be willing to Forgive others... repeatedly... out of gratitude for the HUGE debt of sin that WE have been Forgiven of. That 1st servant in the story had been Forgiven a debt that was so large that he could never have repaid it. But his Master graciously forgave the WHOLE THING!! Sadly, that servant was not willing to treat his fellow servant the same way. His fellow servant owed him a tiny debt, and he refused to Forgive it. When the Master found out, He was furious. And rightly so. Jesus ended that parable with a warning, (35) “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
The application to us should be obvious. We also had a debt of sin to God that was so large that we could never have paid it. We deserved to be punished endlessly for it. But when we ask God to Forgive that Huge debt, He does!! He TOTALLY Forgives our DEBT of sin. So out of gratitude we ought to be willing to TOTALLY Forgive others for the tiny debt of sin they might have committed against us. If we refuse to... then like that servant, we’ll face the Master’s anger. In essence, He says, “How DARE you!?! I forgave you million times for millions of sins. So how DARE you refuse to Forgive others for the small debt of sin they might owe you!?!”
This ought to humble us as Christians. It makes me ashamed to think of the sins that I have repeated over and over again. For the life of me, I can’t even begin to comprehend how God can be so patient and kind to me. But I have confidence that every time I ask Him to Forgive me... He does!! Without hesitation!! He Forgives me Totally out of His Divine Grace. So how can I even THINK of not Forgiving someone the way God has Forgiven me??
Now granted... none of us is perfect and holy like God. So we will always struggle with Forgiving others the way He has Forgiven us. But even though we’re imperfect at it, we should never stop striving to Forgive like God Forgives us. And I’m convinced that if we open up our hearts and let Him work in them, He can give us the ability to begin Forgiving others His way. What is HIS way?? Well, the Bible gives us plenty of clear instruction on that.
First of all, Godly Forgiveness is not necessarily Forgetting. The old saying goes, “Forgive and Forget.” But I don’t know if that’s possible for us sinful humans. Can we ever really totally forget when someone has hurt us... especially when they’ve hurt us deeply?? I don’t believe it’s possible. But it IS possible to choose not to remember that hurt or nurse resentments from it. That’s what God does when He Totally Forgives us. What does Psalm 103:12 tell us?? It says: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” God knows our many sins against Him. But He wilfully chooses to put them out of reach. And He promises that once those sins are Forgiven, He will never bring them up again.
Is it possible for us to do the same?? I believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we CAN choose to no longer remember an offense that has been Forgiven. I can tell you from my own life that this has to be a conscious effort where you turn to God in prayer whenever you feel those thoughts of resentment building up inside you. Ask God to take them away from your mind. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that this is what true, Godly Love does. He says “it keeps no record of wrongs.” Why would someone keep a record of wrongs?? Don’t we do this because we think we might just need to bring this list out someday?? We want to keep this list in our minds to use as a weapon against them if necessary. I’ve heard people with this attitude say, “I can Forgive... but I can never Forget.” Like I said, we might never be able to truly forget. But what this person is really saying is, “I Don’t WANT to Forget... and I’m not going to even try to put it out my mind.”
Friends, that’s not how God Forgives us. And that’s definitely NOT how He wants us to Forgive each other. He wants us to Forgive the person and wipe their record clean, so-to-speak. Maybe a real life illustration would help. A while ago, Gayleen wrote me a note, asking me to Forgive her for something. Actually, it was something minor. I did Forgive her... right away. But I hung onto that note. Don’t ask me why, but I did. Maybe it was that sinful nature in me, thinking, “I may just need to bring this up again and use it in the future.” When I saw that note sitting on my dresser a few days later, that passage from 1 Corinthians 13 came back to mind. I literally had in my hands a “record” of something my wife had done wrong. And I was VERY uncomfortable with that. I began to wonder what it would look like if God had kept a letter of apology for every time I had sinned against Him. There ain’t enough paper on the face of the earth to write all those sins down. So I made a Spirit-led choice. I took that note out to the trash barrel and burned it. I didn’t want to keep that “record of wrongs.” As I burned it, I prayed that God would burn the record of it in my mind also. Which I believe He did. God wants us to Forgive each other the same way... and it doesn’t matter if it was a minor offense, or if somebody maliciously has hurt you and hurt you bad.
I knew this was going to happen. I just knew that we wouldn’t even begin to scratch the surface on this very, very important doctrine of Forgiveness in such a short period of time. So I’d like to stop here for now. And I’d like to dig further into this next week with you. Trust me, I KNOW there are lots of questions and concerns that are rolling through some of your minds right now about Forgiveness. I promise you, I’ll do my best to get to them. In preparation, I’d encourage you to read over our Scripture Lessons for today, and aks yourself, “What is God teaching me here about how HE Forgives... and about how He wants ME to Forgive?” I’d also encourage you to read the Passages that I listed in the Bulletin for you.
Before we close though, I’d like you to notice something from our Epistle Lesson. St. Paul says we are to forgive each other “just as in Christ God forgave you.” God’s Loving Forgiveness is to be our model for Forgiving others. In fact, Paul goes on to say in Chapter 5 verse 1 that we are to be “imitators of God” in this respect. Like I said before, none of us are perfect like God is. But ever since He poured out His Holy Spirit upon us, He has been working to shape us and mold us to be more and more like our Perfect Savior, Jesus. He gives us the power to WANT to Forgive others... to TOTALLY Forgive them. And He can give us the power to put the memory of those sins out reach in our minds... so that we can live at peace with one another and with our Loving and Forgiving Father in Heaven. Amen.
