Three weeks ago we started a series which will run for the Summer break
which I've called Back to Basics. The
first week we looked at the truth that God has a unique plan for each of our
lives and He reveals that plan to us through Call. Last week we looked at the one thing Jesus spoke about more than any other, the
Kingdom of God. This week … well, I’ll get to that in a moment.
Christianity is not fundamentally about morality, and it’s not just a
system of ethics which dictate behaviour. If Jesus were merely another guru
telling us how to live better and more moral lives, with perhaps this or that
original flourish, I’m not sure how compelling I’d find his message. I
understand Christianity as a faith for those who can’t help but sin, ... Christianity
assumes our inability to be moral. And this isn't because we all fail to uphold
certain ideals on occasion, it’s plain and simply because we are sinners. Now,
if there is anyone here who is not a sinner ... feel free to throw one of these
stones at me. I stand before you as a sinner ... a saved sinner, but a sinner nonetheless. The church is not a gathering
of spiritually healthy people; the church is where the sick gather to be healed
from the disease of sin. John the apostle writes to the church and says to
converted people, saved people ...
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. (1
Jn 1:8)
From a survey of Christians across denominations in the USA, these
interesting statistics emerged: “Although
98% said they believe in personal sin, only 57% accepted the traditional notion
that all people are sinful and fully one-third allowed that they ‘make many
mistakes but are not sinful themselves.’”
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. (1
Jn 1:8)
What is distinctive about
Christianity is that, in the face of all this, it offers the promise of
forgiveness…. And this forgiveness comes not as a reward for getting our acts
together, this forgiveness comes despite
the fact we never quite get our acts together. Christianity says you are loved
unconditionally, loved before you deserve it – which you never really will,
anyway.
To be a Christian means most of all to understand that God forgives and
loves you in the midst of your brokenness, and to then live in the light of that love. As John puts it,
We love, because He first loved us (1Jn
4:19)
and flowing automatically from that, we forgive, because He has forgiven
us.
Hence my title for this Sunday:
The Forgiven, Forgive.
Anyone who is someone has said something on the topic of forgiveness: CS
Lewis
Augustine: "Resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies"
He importantly latches on to the truth that a refusal to forgive leads
to a build-up of resentment deep within. Augustine said this in the context of
forgiveness and resentment:
Whenever I preach on the need to forgive others, I am aware that I
am walking on holy ground .... your holy ground .... the holy ground, unique to
each one of us, that you have walked as you've journeyed through your
suffering, your pain, your hurt, your rejection at the hands of others ....
ground made holy because of the felt or unfelt presence of God in the midst of
your suffering. Suffering, pain, hurt, rejection that has led you to ask:
This is holy ground, and it is on such holy ground, your holy ground,
that Jesus speaks, when you and I, like Peter ask:
Then Peter came to
Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who
sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Nelson Mandela probably best sums up the meaning of this parable with
his words:
Our unforgiveness towards others .... imprisons us.
As you sit here, are you angry with someone?
Are you bitter about something?
Is there some resentment towards someone?
And there are degrees of these things – we might say “so and so is full
of bitterness” or “every now and again one senses such a bitterness in so and
so.”
Do you ever find yourself suddenly just erupting ... a volcanic eruption
of anger – Mt Vesuvius boils over at a peaceful tea party. And you or others
might say: “Wow ... where did that come from?” It often comes from
unforgiveness in your heart. There is someone you need to forgive.
There are a lot of nods/acknowledgements/smiles – you know what I’m
talking about.
You see it in others; you might even see it in yourself.
I call them the terrible, troublesome triplets: Anger, bitterness
and resentment, and you’ve heard me talk about them before. And in my
experience as I read, as I study, and as I have the privilege of ministering
into your lives (and that is a privilege and an honour that you give to me and
to Chris when you invite us to share your lives) in all these things I have
found that the terrible, troublesome triplets (anger, bitterness and
resentment) are conceived in us when someone sins against us, hurts us; they
come to term and are birthed in us when we harbour unforgiveness.
Unforgiveness is the womb from which anger, bitterness and resentment erupt.
An angry person is a tormented person.
A bitter person is a tormented person.
A person full of resentment is a tormented person.
So we use language like – what’s eating him up?
In areas of SA there is a problem with mosquitoes – I remember a holiday
at the seaside quite a few years ago and we got attacked – Battle of Britain in
our bedroom neow,
clap neow,
neow. We didn’t sleep the whole night. We probably fell asleep at
about 5am when the mozzies were called back to base.
And at about 5:30am Candice and Stuart came through – let’s go down to the
beach......I don’t think I was very gracious – I’d been tormented all night and
there was no way I was going to even consider forgiving my tormentors (and
mosquitoes are created by God and were just doing what mosquitoes do) and so I
was tormented all day, long after the mosquitoes had gone ... and I was
unreasonable all day.
A lack of forgiveness (even in my silly example) torments only us.
In verse 34 of Matthew 18 – after the master who has forgiven the
servant millions discovers that that forgiven servant has gone and demanded a
few pennies from another servant who owes him, when the master discovers this,
the KJV says he delivered him to the tormenters, the NIV says he delivered him
to the torturers.
The Greek word means torturers.
That’s what the master did to the one who refused to forgive.
Jesus is saying here that if you and I don’t forgive (and sometimes this
is incredibly difficult – but God knows that -- He knows what
forgiveness costs) ... Jesus is saying a lack of forgiveness in us, a refusal
to forgive, results in us being tormented.
We might say: That’s so unfair......but it’s the Truth ... if you are
harbouring unforgiveness, you are being tormented. It is not God who torments
you, your unforgiveness torments and tortures you. This is the truth. And
Jesus said something beautiful about the Truth –
He said: “The Truth will set you free.”
Maybe you’re in line for some freedom this morning.
Do you need to be set free from a jail of torment that has been erected
around you because of a lack of forgiveness towards someone else?
I hope not, but another truth is that if I were to ask everyone who
needs help in this area to stand, there would be few people left seated.
I asked you earlier – are you angry, bitter or resentful?
Now – do you need to forgive someone – might be someone else
– might be yourself
– might even be God who you blame for something
It’s not easy ... and I know that some of you have had the most dreadful
things done to you ... said to you. I know that my words may even have insulted
you ... you might think I am making light of your suffering in this area. I am
not ... I did say earlier that I am aware I’m walking on some very holy ground
whenever I talk on this subject.
1. Perhaps all that
will happen today is that the seed of forgiveness has landed in your good soil.
That is a good outcome, bearing in mind what Jesus taught us last week about
little seeds – if all you take home is the idea that you must try and forgive,
that’s a great beginning.
2. Perhaps you’re at a
place where you’re ready to pray – Lord help me to forgive.
3. Perhaps you’re
ready to say “I forgive so and so.”
Set yourself free –
forgive.
