I normally like to begin my sermons with a good story to grab your attention. Recently that has meant sharing some story from my childhood that we all laugh at. I do want to tell you a story today, but in my opinion it isn’t very funny. It begins on October the 10th, just shy of a month ago. My wife Jen sent me an instant message during the day with a question about dinner. We were supposed to being having tacos, but we needed a few things from the store. So we decided we would go to the gym before dinner and stop at Kroger’s on the way home to grab what we needed. I came home from work; we changed clothes to go work out and were at the gym by 4:45 in the afternoon. I normally don’t take my wallet when we go to the gym, with the exception of those times we are going to stop for groceries on the way home. So on October the 10th, I had my wallet with me and I placed it in the center console of my car before we pulled out of the garage.
I like to park kind of far away from the entrance because I don’t want other people to ding my car when they open their doors. As we came out of the gym around 5:30, we didn’t have any idea what had already started. We unsuspectingly made the walk out to my car. I had already unlocked it with my remote when the glint of broken glass caught my eye. I thought to myself, I didn’t see that before or else I wouldn’t have parked over top of it. I was right, I hadn’t seen it before and the reason was because it wasn’t there before. My eyes moved from the ground to the rear drivers’ side door where the window had been shattered. The shards of glass I found on the ground I also found in my back seat.
My mind began to quickly process the whole situation. I looked in my backseat which previously held a book bag and some dress clothes bound for the drycleaners. It was now empty except for shattered glass. I turned my eyes toward the front of the car only to find the center console open and missing one wallet. I opened the drivers’ door, opened the cup holder and to my relief my cell phone was still there. I grabbed it and my first call was to VISA customer support. (Let me suggest putting your credit card customer support numbers in your cell phone. Those numbers don’t do you much good at home in a drawer.) VISA asked for my credit card number which over the years I had memorized. But before I could even deactivate the card it had already been used several times.
As Jennifer went inside to get the number for the police, I called Asist, a medical interpreting agency I work for. You see for the last year I have had a bag just like this one in my back seat. Never did it occur to me that someone might think it contained something of value, but obviously on that day someone thought it was worth the risk. In reality it contained a bilingual medical dictionary, forms I use to interpret, ID badges that gain access to different hospitals, and a record of my mileage for the past year, both pastoral and interpreting. And so I called my agency because I wanted them to know my ID badges had been stolen.
Jennifer returned with the phone number for the police and I called and spoke to a recording. Lovely don’t you think? Where is CSI when you need them, come out here and fingerprint my car. I guess that’s only on TV and at Gatorland in Florida. So, this machine asked me a series of questions about the crime, I left all of the answers and Jen and I drove home where we could continue to make the appropriate calls. For the record we didn’t have tacos, we were surprisingly not hungry. As we drove I slowly realized all of the contents of my wallet:
• 2 Personal credit cards
• 2 Tarjetas de crédito personales
• Drivers license
• Licencia para manejar
• 1 Church credit card
• 1 Tarjeta de crédito de la iglesia
• 1 church debit card
• 1 Tarjeta de débito de la iglesia
• 1 church SAMS club credit card
• 1 Tarjeta de credito de SAMS Club
• Cash
• Efectivo
• 1 copy of my passport
• 1 copia de mi pasaporte
• 1 card naming my banking institution and checking account number
• 1 tarjeta con el nombre de mi banco y el numero de mi cuenta bancaria
We spent at least the next two hours calling all of the appropriate people: the credit bureaus, credit cards, our bank, and potential companies to fix the window in my car. I spent the majority of the following day setting up all new bank accounts, getting a new drivers license and wallet, and getting my window replaced.
In the last month we have spent too much time dealing with the effects of the laziness of someone else. We have had money laundered through our bank account. Stolen or counterfeit checks cashed in my name. When these checks came back as no good, our bank took our money out of our new accounts to cover the loss, so bills I had tried to pay were then not paid because our money was frozen. And the truth of the matter is that for the next several years we will have to pay extra special attention to our credit reports to be sure that no one is opening credits cards in my name or doing who knows what else.
And so I stand today at another of those crossroads that we face many times in life. The place where I must decide whether the Word of God will affect my actions or if I will simply respond how I like. I have every right to be furious with this person or people who have robbed me not only of material things, but of my time and my sense of security. I have every right to want to meet these people and punch them right in the face. But unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, when I became a follower of Christ I was asked to give up my rights. I was asked to give up my right to revenge and my right to a grudge. I was asked to give up my right to being angry with these people. And instead I was asked to forgive. And asked isn’t really the right word, I was instructed to forgive each of those involved in this whole mess.
You see forgiveness is an essential part of being a follower of Christ. I want us to look at three areas where forgiveness plays a role in each of our lives. Let’s begin with God’s forgiveness toward us. This is intertwined throughout the bible. From the very beginning we messed things up, but God began to work, he began to make a way for forgiveness. In the Old Testament that took shape in the sacrificial system. God gave the law to Moses and through that law the people understood when they had sinned and what the steps to forgiveness where. That meant sacrificing an animal, maybe a lamb or a dove for the sin that was committed. God has always desired to forgive us, because forgiveness brings the renewal of relationship.
Renewal of relationship was the central purpose of Christ’s life here on earth. The people were separated from God. They couldn’t be in a direct relation with him. The best they could do was to go through a priest and the priest would communicate with God for the people. But when Christ came his intention was to reconnect us with God. Adam walked with God in the garden. They walked together and talked together just like you do with your loved ones. Adam was connected personally to God. Christ walked each day with God. He was so connected with his heavenly father that each day he knew which direction to go. Ultimately that led him to the cross. His death there was the final step in bringing about the forgiveness of our sins, which reconnects us with God. Yet even in the midst of his death on the cross, what was he asking the father to do?
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Lucas 23:24
Padre --dijo Jesús--, perdónalos, porque no saben lo que hacen
He was asking the father to forgive. Father forgive these people because they really don’t understand what they are doing. Without the forgiveness of our sins we cannot be in the presence of God, we cannot walk with Him daily. So the first area of our lives where forgiveness is essential is the forgiveness that God grants to us.
Hopefully this forgiveness that we receive from the Father is influential in our behavior towards others. Let’s look at some passages and see what else the bible has to say:
Matthew 6:12
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Mateo 6:12
Perdónanos nuestras deudas, como también nosotros hemos perdonado a nuestros deudores.
Matthew 6:14
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Mateo 6:14
"Porque si perdonan a otros sus ofensas, también los perdonará a ustedes su Padre celestial.
Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Marcos 11:25
Y cuando estén orando, si tienen algo contra alguien, perdónenlo, para que también su Padre que está en el cielo les perdone a ustedes sus pecados.
Luke 6:37
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Lucas 6:37
"No juzguen, y no se les juzgará. No condenen, y no se les condenará. Perdonen, y se les perdonará.
Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colosenses 3:13
de modo que se toleren unos a otros y se perdonen si alguno tiene queja contra otro. Así como el Señor los perdonó, perdonen también ustedes.
Jesus apparently thought that forgiveness was a pretty important aspect of our walk with God and with others. On the day the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray, part of the prayer he taught them focused on forgiveness, both asking for forgiveness and also granting it to others. He followed it up with a reinforcement two verses later when he said, if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. WOW, apparently if I would like to Lord to be gracious and forgiving to me when I mess up, then I should be gracious and forgiving to others.
The passage we looked at from Colossians mentions forgiving grievances against one another. We should forgive as the Lord forgave us. Maybe this is new to you today, maybe this is old stuff. But we have this amazing theme that runs throughout the bible. God desires for us to act like God acts. GOD DESIRES FOR US TO ACT LIKE GOD. The bible says we love others only because God first loved us. The only reason we know what love is, is because God showed it to us in what? When we were still sinners Christ died for us. The Lord also provides for each of us. He has granted us with many blessing. But what does He expect us to do? If I have two coats and you don’t have one, I act like God and provide you with one. The Lord has in his graciousness forgiven us. He has forgiven us a multitude of sins. We cannot even begin to understand how much the Lord has forgiven us. And so what does he expect from us. He expects us to behave like Him. When someone wrongs us, we forgive them because God has forgiven us.
So the first area of our lives where forgiveness is essential is Gods forgiveness toward us. The second area is our forgiveness toward others. Now this third area might not be as obvious in scripture, but I absolutely think it is essential to our lives as Christians. Let’s look at a few more scriptures:
Psalm 103:11-12
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Salmos 103:11-12
Tan grande es su amor por los que le temen como alto es el cielo sobre la tierra. Tan lejos de nosotros echó nuestras transgresiones como lejos del oriente está el occidente.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
I Juan 1:9
Si confesamos nuestros pecados, Dios, que es fiel y justo, nos los perdonará y nos limpiará de toda maldad.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corintios 5:17
Por lo tanto, si alguno está en Cristo, es una nueva creación. ¡Lo viejo ha pasado, ha llegado ya lo nuevo!
As humans we put different severities on different sins. We like to say that murder is a really bad sin, while lying is an insignificant sin. Two problems occur when we do that. One, all sin is equal with God, so sometimes we aren’t too concerned about sin we call small when God is very concerned about it. On the other hand, when we do commit one of those big sins, the Lord is able to forgive us, but sometimes we can’t forgive ourselves. Perhaps you are there right now, or just for future reference in case you find yourself in this situation where you can’t seem to let go of something the Lord has already forgiven you for. I would recommend remembering these three passages we just looked at. If you are in Christ you are a new creation, the old has gone the new has come. And if you confess your sin he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. And when he does so, he separates our transgressions as far as the east is from the west. Maybe that still isn’t enough for you, you find yourself stuck in the rut of inability, inability to move beyond a past failure. Let me remind you that we are to imitate God in our behavior; we are to act like God acts. Last scripture verse please:
Hebrews 8:12
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
Hebreos 8:12
Perdonaré sus maldades, y nunca más me acordaré de sus pecados.
The Lord himself wants us to move on from our failures. He wants us to receive his forgiveness and to forgive ourselves. Satan is the one who reminds us of our shortcomings and he does it to keep us discouraged. God wants us to forget them, not so that we fall right into the same trap, but so that we don’t lived a beaten, discouraged life.
Everyone wants God to forgive them. But we don’t always want to pass that forgiveness along. We want to hoard the forgiveness and keep it all for ourselves. We still think we deserve to be angry and resentful towards someone else. We still think we deserve or we have the right to revenge. In reality we have no rights. In reality we have no rights and hopefully that statement has grabbed your attention this morning. We have no rights because Christ gave up all his rights. And when we begin to walk with Him he asks us to do the same thing.
No wonder we don’t have more Christians in the world today. It goes completely against our nature. Our flesh desires revenge and the Lord says love them. We desire to pass judgment and the Lord says, “I think I am quite capable of doing the judging.” We desire to hold a grudge and be angry, but the Lord says forgive. FORGIVE. And don’t forget that I have forgiven you of much more than anyone will ever do to you. So don’t be stingy when it comes to forgiving someone. Forgive and you will be forgiven. And when you have humbly come before God with a broken heart because of your own sin, receive his forgiveness and be willing to forgive yourself.
