The Necessity of Forgiveness

                                                                          By Donald Williams

                                                          

                                                                              Sermon Text

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.Matthew 6:14-15New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

     

     Have you wondered why the Lord requires us to be forgiving people? Listen to the story of Ji Su, a beautiful Christian in Korea:

As Ji Su waited in the Visitor's area of a prison in Seoul, Korea, she remembered an ancient proverb her mother used to quote:

"Love is like living waters that nourish the deepest recesses of the soul. Forgiveness is like a healing ointment that soothes the bitter soul."

     Ji Su was at the prison to meet with an inmate who had been incarcerated for more than five years. The prisoner was serving a 20 year term for murder, murder of Ji Su's only daughter Yu na. You may ask, how can this possibly be? Why would a mother want to meet with the man who murdered her only daughter? You see, Ji Su and her husband were devout Christians who strongly believed in the power of forgiveness in accordance with the teachings of Christ. Rather than live in bitterness and unforgiveness, Ji Su and her husband chose to forgive the man who slew their daughter and teach him the way of salvation in Christ. Because of their extraordinary love, the man who slew their daughter had become a Christian and was studying for the ministry.

     In the beginning after God created the heavens and the earth, and the vast expanse of the universe, He embarked on His greatest achievement, His magnum opus-humankind. Beginning with Adam and Eve, the Lord created humankind in His own image, or as they say in Latin the "imago Dei".

     Out of all of His creatures, humankind was the only creature fashioned in the likeness of God. We were fashioned to be reflections of His divine nature, wonderfully reflecting his virtue, beauty and holiness. The Lord created us to be like himself, that the earth might be filled with His glory. The Lord 's forgiving nature is beautifully expressed by the writer of Psalm 103:

                                      The Lord is merciful and gracious,

                                      slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

                                      He will not always accuse,

                                      nor will he keep his anger forever.

                                      He does not deal with us according to our sins,

                                      nor repay us according to our iniquities.

                                     For as the heavens are high above the earth,

                                     so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

                                     as far as the east is from the west,

                                     so far he removes our transgressions from us.

Kind David, the writer of Psalm 103 reminds us that although the Lord is a righteous God who requires us to pursue justice and righteousness, His anger towards our sins does not remain forever. He calls us to repentance and is willing to forgive and cleans us from all unrighteousness. In his forgiveness, He separates our sins from us, as far as the East is from the West.

     In 2000, I was in the beginning of my long career in the banking industry. As an internal auditor for the largest bank in the Washington Metropolitan area, I was given great authority and responsibility. At the beginning of my career as an auditor, I worked with a young man named Brian who worked diligently to destroy my career. Things finally reached a point where I approached my manager and explained I couldn't work with Brian any longer. My manager assured me he would talk to Matthew and bring an end to the problem. Meanwhile, I committed the matter to prayer and sensed that the Lord was calling me to forgive my colleague and pray for him. Forgive him? That was the last thing I wanted to do! However, when I started praying for Brian daily, the bitterness in my heart thawed and turned into compassion. I looked for opportunities to be a blessing to him. When I forgave Matt for his sins against me, our relationship began to change. Ultimately, we became good friends.

     Our text today in the gospel of Matthew immediately follows Matthew's account of the Lord's Prayer:

 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;  but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 This teaching of Jesus contains one of the most challenging "conditional clauses" in the Bible. "If" we forgive others, then our Heavenly Father promise to forgive us. In other words, our forgiveness is predicated upon our willingness and commitment to forgive our brothers and sisters who sin against us. Jesus emphasizes the importance of this by also asserting that "if" we don't forgive others, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. Studying Matthew 6 in the Greek is especially illuminating in this passage. Forgiveness literally means to "send away, to leave alone" an offense suffered. When we forgive others, we literally send away, release the bitterness and pain caused by the sins of others against us. When we don't forgive, we hold unto the sins of others against us in feeble attempts to punish the other person. Too often , we are like jailers, holding onto pain. We guard this pain, like a prisoner in our control, never letting go or forgetting how others have hurt us. The irony of this behavior is that we become entrapped in the shackles of bitterness. The fruits of unforgiveness are, rage, violence, distrust, cynicism and self destruction. We lose our freedom to walk in love and the Spirit. Church, we need to cease being prison guards of pain and bitterness! We need to release all of this to our Savior.

     I would like to take a moment to clarify a few potential misunderstandings of Christian forgiveness. The Christian call to forgiveness doesn't mean that God calls believers to be doormats for abusive people to trample on. Christian forgiveness doesn't give the evil forces in this world license to abuse the righteous, with impunity. Make no mistake, God is still a God of justice who calls us to work for peace in the world. We must resist evil when we encounter it.

     Christian forgiveness also doesn't negate the need to an individual's right to be safe. As natural law philosophers have maintained for centuries, we all have a right to life, for protection against harm to our bodies. If you are in a physically abusive relationship, a victim of sexual abuse, take all necessary steps to keep yourself safe. The Lord desires for you to be safe, and to find comfort in the shadow of His wings. Please know that the Christian call to forgive does not nullify your inalienable right to be safe from harm.

     One day, the Apostle Peter asked Jesus how many times a day must I forgive my brother, seven times? Jesus, understanding the vital importance of forgiveness responded 70 x7. No doubt, you mathematicians have already calculated 490 times a day. However, the point of Jesus response was not to give a literal answer to the question, but to illustrate that there are not be any boundaries or limitations to our forgiveness.

     Jesus' commands for us to practice forgiveness do not diminish the significance of the pain that many of us experience in this life. Many of us have been wounded by others in this world. Some of us have been severely wounded by the pain of divorce and the betrayal of people that we once called friends. Yes, we bear the wounds of walking in relationship with others who have not treated us well. Thus, our Lord Jesus proclaims:

" Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

So I encourage you to bring your wounds before our Healing Lord in prayer. For the prophet Isaiah promises that we are healed by the stripes of our Jesus:

                                      Surely he has borne our infirmities

                                      and carried our diseases;

                                      yet we accounted him stricken,

                                      struck down by God, and afflicted.

                                      But he was wounded for our transgressions,

                                      crushed for our iniquities;

                                      upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

                                      and by his bruises we are healed.

Indeed, we are healed by the sacrificial work of our Lord on the cross. He died on a cruel cross that our sins might be forgiven by the Father. And so he calls us to imitate him in forgiving others in this life.

     The writer C.S Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia and many other Christian classics said this about forgiveness:

"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

This is such an exquisite quote about forgiveness because it echoes the words of the Apostle Paul when he commanded Christians in Ephesus:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling an slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another as Christ forgave you.

You might describe forgiveness as a high calling of the Christian as we are part of a royal priesthood, daily seeking to be conformed to the image of Christ. Although the Lord is the very essence of virtue and holiness, forgiveness is one of His most salient and important characteristics. Indeed, we are called to be forgiving people, just like our Heavenly Father.

     Here are a few practical steps we all can take towards forgiveness:

1. Ask the Lord to search your heart regarding unforgiveness and bitterness. Trust in the Lord to help you release bitterness and pain caused by those who have sinned against you.
2. Pray for those who have sinned against you, that they may come to walk in the light of truth.
3. Trust in the power of Holy Spirit to give you the strength to walk in love and forgiveness.

     When I was young man around the age of eight, my father abandoned my family after a terrible fight with my mother.  None of us saw or heard from him again for many years. My mom was left to raise four children alone, with no financial or emotional support from my Father. Young, intelligent and determined my mother returned to college, finished her bachelor's degree and went on to obtain two masters degrees as an educator. However, my father's absence left a huge void in our lives. When I became an adult I realized the significance effect my father's abandonment of his family had on my life. All of my negative associations with the word Father, made it difficult for me as a young Christian to believe that our Heavenly Father loved me. I also found it difficult to forgive the man who abandoned his family, while he traveled the world as a merchant seaman. So, I'm learning to forgive my father, who wasn't a real father at all. I recognize that often forgiveness is a long process that doesn't occur overnight. Sometimes I think of the ancient proverb Ji Su's mother used to quote:

                       "Love is like living waters that nourish the deepest recesses of the soul.

                        Forgiveness is like a healing ointment that soothes the bitter soul."

                       I also remember that the Lord our creator is the perfect model of forgiveness.

                        I remember that he calls me to forgive others, even my absent dad.

     In the beginning after God, created the heavens and the earth, and the vast expanse of the universe, He embarked on the greatest of all his creation-humankind. He has created humankind to be a perfect reflection of his divine image, the "imago Dei". We are called to be forgiving people, just like our Heavenly Father. Let us not forget the words of our Lord Jesus to his followers:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,

forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.

Lets pray:

Lord, this is a challenging word for many of us. Many of us have been wounded by others. We bear the scars of people who have failed us, betrayed us, sinned against us. Help us to forgive those who have sinned against us and caused us great pain. Help us to stop drinking the toxins of unforgiveness that only lead to misery. Father give us the strength to forgive as you have forgiven us and blessed us with eternal life. Help us to reflect your beautiful image of forgiveness and love in this world. Amen