Ernest Hemingway starts his short story, “Capital of the World” by describing Madrid Spain. He says, there is a Madrid joke about a father who took out an add in a local paper which asked his son, Paco, to meet him in front of the newspaper office. And told him that “all was forgiven”. According to Hemingway’s story, the police had to be called out because some 800 Pacos answered the add.
The idea of a father and son being reconciled might be joke for Hemingway but I know of another Father, a perfect Father, who has sent news that “all is forgiven”. And for centuries people have turned out to see if the news is true. I couldn’t believe the news when I first heard it. And after it became a reality in my life I still could hardly believe it. But it’s true. It’s absolutely, 100%, true. And the release from our past mistakes, crimes, sins, and errors may be the number one need we all face in this life.
I want us to understand what a powerful phrase is before us today. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” We may have learned the words debt or trespasses but the meaning behind both is “sin”. Take these words of Jesus and compare them with how the King James translates Romans 5:18-20. Three places in these verses the phrase “free gift” is used to describe our salvation through Jesus Christ. Does it bother any of you that on hand Paul says our salvation, the grace we’ve been given is “free” and at the same time Jesus makes our salvation conditional on our forgiving others?
I’ve read a lot of commentaries on this part of the Lord’s prayer and was amazed at how some would try all sorts of things to get around the clear statement of Jesus. Let me suggest that the real problem isn’t with Jesus’ words but with the way we have latched on to the idea of “free” salvation. First of all our salvation is NOT free. We may not have to pay for it but someone did. In fact, there is nothing more expensive in all of creation than our salvation. It cost Jesus’ his life. It cost God the uninterrupted intimacy he had with his Son, when God had to turn His back on Jesus while he died. To say salvation is free is to cheapen it.
What I think is often mistranslated in the KJV as “free” is the idea of “gifted”. The Greek root is “to give” and it’s pretty easy to understand it as “free” because we’re talking about “gifts”. After all you don’t pay for a gift. Let me suggest that for us, as the recipients of God’s grace it is free. Free because we can’t and don’t earn it. Free because we can’t pay God back for it. Not free because it doesn’t cost anything.
This gift is offered to us. It is after all a gift not a summons. Years back when we I was cleaning out one of the closets in Hawthorne I came across a Christmas gift for Phyllis that I had forgotten I had hid there. Here it is months after Christmas and I come to here with this jewelry case. Even on the top shelf of the closet, behind the other stuff it was a present; but Phyllis couldn’t receive it because it hadn’t been given to her. Yet even after I gave it to her she had a choice to either open it or leave it wrapped and untouched.
God’s grace is given to us to open and use. It doesn’t automatically overrule our lives and change us. It’s not some universal force that invades us when we sleep. It’s a gift and we are free to ignore it, forget it, or even toss it out. And many people do just that.
Here’s where we begin to understand how these two passages relate. It is when we open it and make this gift our own that the conditional part of forgiveness comes into play. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior you do not have to treat others as you’d like to be treated. It’s still a good idea but it’s not part of the commands that God has for us. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior you do not have to pray without ceasing, love your enemies or have your life transformed. You can live like most of the world does, but, as my poster says, “If you’re living like there is no God you’d better pray your right.”
It is only after someone has realized that their life is in need of a makeover and that only God can do it do we become subject to the various commands of Christ. Is that because he’s mean and doesn’t want us to enjoy life? No it’s because he knows what it takes to make life worth living. He knows what a life that knows God looks like.
Remember the children’s sermon? Anyone out there want to drink our soda/milk? We cannot receive forgiveness if there’s no room for it in our lives. If our lives are filled up with grudges against others, with hard feelings about the sins we’ve suffered, or with a sense that we’re the victim and it’s all their fault we will never know a sense of forgiveness for our sins.
The New Testament describes this as “putting on” a new set of clothes. We “put on” the armor of light and the full armor of God. We “put on” the new self that is being constantly renewed in knowledge and which is created to be righteous and holy like God our creator. Likewise we are to take off the old self and our old ways. I don’t want to be accused of a “wardrobe malfunction” but I want to demonstrate what it is like for us to seek God’s forgiveness without first forgiving others. [Get into a set of waders while wearing my robe]. It just doesn’t work and even if I did get it on it just isn’t right.
Forgiveness is to release, to let go, relinquish, get rid of sin—ours and those we’ve been victimized by. Dr. Lewis Smedes, one of my professors at Fuller wrote about what forgiveness is not.
· When you forgive a person, this does not mean you are immediately healed.
· When you forgive a person, this does not mean you are going to be buddy/buddy.
· When we forgive a person, this does not mean we surrender the right to restitution or justice when appropriate.
· When we forgive a person, this does not mean that we trust them, yet.
· When we forgive a person, we are not avoiding pain, we are opening the door to healing.
· When we forgive, we take the journey at the pace we are able to handle...the deeper the hurt, the longer the journey.
So if you need forgiveness in your life let me suggest some staring places for us to consider where we might need to forgive others. First of all take an honest look at yourself. Who is it what you may need to forgive. Maybe it’s a person, a family, a company, a nationality or race. My grandmother couldn’t stand native Americans because of the fear that was drummed into her living in Indian territory at the turn of the last century. Maybe you have a problem with a deep-seated hatred for someone that you need to forgive. I want you to notice that I didn’t say anything about whether or not they had actually sinned against you? That fact doesn’t matter to God.
Next we release these sins to God. Do you know why the fact that they hurt you doesn’t matter to God? It’s because Jesus died for their sins at the same time he died for the sins you’ve committed and that are lodged in the throat of other people.
To release these sins is to let go of any right we have to vengeance or pay back. We share with God our choice to let Him have our hurt and the sin that caused it. You may pray something like, “God, I have kept the sins of others in my heart. I have harbored grudges and hatreds. I know that if I hold on to these I can never fully experience Your love for me. I let these sins go and pronounce forgiveness on them. By the power of Your Spirit make this a reality in my life now. Amen.” Understand that you may not feel like you’ve forgiven them.
Lastly we live in Freedom that is ours in Jesus. We thank God for what he’s done for us and in us. We recognize that our forgiving others is an ongoing part of our life. So we may have to return to this prayer over and over again but eventually as you do this the time will come when you see the person and you don’t cringed or become angry. And in this freedom we not only are free from the self-pain our grudges cause but are free to experience God’s love in a deeper and deeper way.
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COPY AND SET IN TEXT FRAME EQUAL TO 5.5 X 11
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us. WHAT???
How can we possibly do this?
Honesty look at ourselves
· Who do we harbor sins against—people, race, company, etc.
· Why? We were hurt, embarrassed, want to teach them a lesson etc...
Release the sins to God
· Use the prayer below to give God control of the sins and grudges we’ve been holding onto.
Live with freedom
· “If the son shall set you free you shall be free indeed” Thank God for the forgiveness you have received.
· When you feel the old grudges coming back in go to the prayer again.
· When you feel like you can’t be forgiven start taking a look at your life again
Remember this is an ongoing
process not a one way journey
“God, I have kept the sins of others in my heart. I have harbored grudges and hatreds. I know that if I hold on to these I can never fully experience Your love for me. I let these sins go and pronounce forgiveness on them. By the power of Your Spirit make this a reality in my life now. Amen.”
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