Living In Forgiveness!

Sermon for September 11, 2005

1. Good Morning! Let’s pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

2. Opening Comments: Do you live in a state of Forgiveness? Do you know what I mean when I ask this question? Do you know what it feels like to live in a state of innocence – no guilt, no heaviness. A state of being in which neither God nor Man has anything against you?

Let me approach this question from another angle . . . Have you ever felt terribly guilty? Have you ever lived with guilt over a short or perhaps even over an extended period of time and then something has happened and you’ve been forgiven! Do you remember how you felt at the moment of your forgiveness?

Can anyone relate to what I talking about? I fear that some – though perhaps not in this sanctuary – might not be able to relate to this question because we live in a culture that denies any sense of shame other than the shame of not honoring the privacy and individuality of another person. “Political correctness” has institutionalized this relativistic mindset which often calls wrong right and right wrong.

The great tragedy of abortion in this country is a good example of this. Mother Theresa had this to say about this great tragedy:

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

Millions and millions of mothers have been allowed to kill their babies so that they “may live as they wish.”

Most of these women, we’re told, live with no sense of guilt at what they have done. But the truth of the matter really is that many are still feeling the guilt. They have lived for years with a terrible guilt but some of them have come to the God of all Gods – the King of all Kings - and have asked with broken hearts for forgiveness and they have received it and now they live in the wonderful springtime of God’s forgiveness!

Were I to ask one of them “Do you know what it feels like to live in forgiveness?” they would know what I’m talking about wouldn’t they?

Now that question may have touched some of us but all of us should be able to relate to a having experienced a sense of “guilt” at sin in our lives.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (Rom. 3:23) So the Bible tells us. All of us have sinned and will sin before we go home to be with our Lord. Sin unfortunately is part of our fallen nature – a nature though that is being sanctified by God’s Holy Spirit as we seek to follow His leading.

But sin is all too often an uncomfortable companion of ours isn’t it?

How many of us live with the constant nagging of guilt? How few of us live with an innocent conscience?

How many of us tolerate little sins in our lives and therefore live with the concomitant debilitating sense of “guilt?”

Do know what I’m talking about here? As Christians our consciences are made to be sensitive and when we sin we “distance” ourselves from our Lord and an empty, indeed, even sour feeling replaces that sense of joy and freedom we felt when we were close to Him.

Are you in a state of “sin” right now? Is there secret sin in your life right now? Is there unconfessed sin or sins in your life right now? If so then you know what I’m talking about – and God wants to say to you and to me – “I have come to free you from this bondage! I have come to break the bondage of your sins! Why? Because I love you!

This is what God wants to say to all of us this morning – “I have come to hear your confessions and to free you from the sins that have ensnared you so that you can be free – truly free to live in the springtime of my forgiveness!”

Now we must also consider the other side of this coin – The side we’ve been reflecting upon is our sin against God and God forgiveness of our sins - but what about when someone’s sins against us. Now we must reflect upon our forgiveness of others?

Has someone ever hurt you and never asked for your forgiveness? Or perhaps someone has hurt you terribly and has asked for your forgiveness but you have been unable or unwilling to forgive them – perhaps because their repentance is unconvincing or because you simply can’t find forgiveness for them?

Can anyone relate to this?

Being able to forgive someone when they have hurt you is very very hard. In fact, it’s quite impossible but for the grace of God – but for the gift of forgiveness from God!

I wonder how many of us this morning are carrying “unforgiveness” in our heart for someone?

And so this morning God wants to speak to us about forgiveness – His forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of another!

3. Focusing on Scripture: Let’s listen once again to our Old Testament passage from the Deuterocannonical book of Sirach:

Wrath and anger are hateful things,

yet the sinner hugs them tight.

The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance,

for he remembers their sins in detail.

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;

Then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Could anyone nourish anger against another

and expect healing from the LORD?

Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself,

Can he seek pardon for his own sins?

If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath,

Who will forgive his sins?

Remember your last days, set enmity aside;

Remember death and decay, and cease from sin!

Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;

Remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults. (Sirach 27:30-28:7)

In these sublime words God is reminding us to overlook other’s faults – to not hug our anger – to forgive your neighbor’s injustice - so that “OUR” sins will be forgiven when we pray! We must forgive so that God will in turn forgive us!

God’s forgiveness seems to be tied to our forgiveness of others!

Now before we go further we must remember that while this is true it is also true that Christ came to us when we were most awful and gave Himself up for us on the Cross. In other words it must be recognized that God is always and ever the initiator. But He wants us to understand that our forgiveness others seems to release His forgiveness of us.

If we are unwilling to forgive how can we expect our sins to be forgiven?

Do you harbor any unforgiveness against anyone? If you do – how can you expect your sins to be forgiven?

If you harbor unforgiveness against anyone then you’re living in your own unforgiven sins and since they’re unforgiven you will receive their due punishment.

You’re choosing death to sin over eternal life lived in that sweet sense of forgiveness!

I want you to think really hard now – is there any unforgiveness in your life? If there is, God is going to give us an opportunity at the end of this reflection to be rid of it once and for all!

Now we turn to our Gospel reading for today. In this pericopy Peter is reacting to Jesus’ thoughts on reproving a brother who sins against you. Peter thinks of a question to ask of Jesus. Please listen as we read what follows:

Matt. 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” This seems like a reasonable solution – forgive your brother 7 times – the perfect – the most complete number. Indeed it’s even generous!

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Wow! Not seven times but seventy-seven times – this response if way over the top isn’t it? It requires a readiness to forgive on a unlimited scale. To show that a calculating approach to forgiveness, such as Peter proposes, is quite inappropriate Jesus goes on to tell the long parable that follows. Look with me at verse 23:

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Now it’s important to understand that this debt is massive! A “talent” was the largest unity of monetary calculation at the time. “Ten thousand talents denotes an utterly fantastic sum - a sum way beyond repayment!

Reading on verse 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, (splagcni÷zomai: to experience great affection and compassion for someone — ‘to feel compassion for, to have great affection for, love, compassion.) and canceled the debt and let him go. The master’s compassion was wonderful. He not only forgave him but “cancelled the debt.” The man no longer even owes the Master anything. This is not only compassion but grand generosity! Now what should this have done to the servant? If someone forgave you all of your debts and all of your sins – what would be your response.

Listen now to what actually happened: Verse 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Let me repeat verse 35 once more:

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Forgive your brother from your heart! Forgiveness is a “heart” thing – it’s not primarily a “head” thing. Forgiveness – true forgiveness, comes from the heart!

Now let’s think about that shall we? Have you forgiven everyone in your life? Do you carry any – I mean any – unforgiveness in your heart?

This isn’t an easy question but it’s an extremely important question. I’ve asked Jimmy Miller to share a story that illustrates this point – Jimmy . . . .

Remember the passage from Sirach – it went like this:

Could anyone nourish anger against another

and expect healing from the LORD?

4. Application: Now it’s time to act – to bring to an end any unforgiveness in our lives. Please bow your heads and come gently into the Presence of our Lord . . . . Please pray with me. “O Lord, we want with all of our hearts to live clean in your Presence. We don’t want anything in our lives separating us from you. No unconfessed and sin no unforgiveness of others.

O Lord reveal any sins in our lives and certainly any unforgiveness in our lives. Now listen – wait – lissssssttttttteeeeeennnnnnn – what is the Lord revealing to you. Is it an unconfessed sin – a sin that’s become so much a part of you that you had forgotten it was a sin? Is He perhaps showing you that you’re still harboring unforgiveness toward another. Oh my dear sister – my dear brother – confess it to our Lord right now – do it – don’t hang on to it – confess it right now. Get rid of it.

Ask Scott Dawson to play some music to give all present a chance to make their confessions.

Invite them to come to the Altar and bow before it if they wish.

When all have assembled lead them in a prayer of confession and forgiveness. Amen and Amen!