The Gospel Union: Forgiveness is divine

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Forgiveness is divine

Whenever I feel I’ve been wronged or somehow offended, I try to remember to ask myself how it compares to the wrongs inflicted on Jesus Christ. If we are to be truly Christlike, we have to ask this question, because it puts forgiveness in a whole new perspective.

Has someone hurt my feelings? How much more were the feelings of the Son of God trampled when His own creation rose up against Him and crucified Him? Has someone hurt my pride? Jesus moreso. God’s own Son, the Word made flesh, left his home in heaven and was made a little lower than the angels. Yet he took it honorably and without complaint. What in the world could I possibly have to complain about that compares to that? Not much, I figure.

You see, no wrong that we suffer here on Earth can possibly compare to what Jesus suffered in innocence--and innocence isn’t even something we can lay claim to when we’ve been wronged. Chances are more than good that there is enough fault to go around the table. And if we go by the Divine rule to let him who is without sin cast the first stone, I think we’ll all have to walk away from that table, stones still in hand.

But what about the person who doesn’t deserve my forgiveness? If he won’t even acknowledge that he’s wronged me, doesn’t that give me the right to withhold my forgiveness?

Nope.

Did you deserve to be forgiven by your Maker, or were you forgiven in spite of the fact that you didn’t deserve it?

Did you deserve to have sinless Deity take the punishment for your sins, to be brutally beaten and left to die on the cross?

I didn’t think so. Paul writes:

Colossians 3:13 - Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)

I know it takes the wind out of our sails to realize that the wrongs that have been done to us pale in comparison to the wrongs we’ve done to God, but as we ponder forgiving our brother, Jesus’ example is worth thinking about. If we have been undeservedly forgiven of so great a debt, shouldn’t we also forgive our brother, even if we don’t think he deserves it?

Paul seems to think so. Of course, that is the only Christlike action.

The greatest thing that God ever did was to forgive mankind and free him from his guilt when he least deserved it. That gift of Jesus Christ resonates throughout human history. It has provided the spark for more good deeds done in thankfulness to a gracious God than any of the good deeds that have been done out of guilt and shame.

The fact that we have been forgiven by God ought to heap coals of fire on our head, as the Scripture says. When we’re angry or resentful toward our friend, spouse, brother, or co-worker, remembering the gift we’ve been given should be a constant reminder of what we ought to give to those around us--our forgiveness. Yes, even if you don’t feel like they deserve it, and even if they never ask for it.

The parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18 tells the story of a man who was forgiven of his large debt by his master, but failed to forgive his own friend of the small debt owed to him. When the unmerciful servant is thrown into prison and beaten, Jesus says:

Matthew 18:35 - "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (NIV)

Our forgiveness should not just be in our words and actions, it should be from the heart. It should be real. We should “remember their sins no more,” because that is precisely what God did for us.

Hebrews 8:12 - For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (NIV)

The consequences of failing to forgive are disastrous for the believer:

Matthew 6:14-15 - For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NIV)

It’s time to stop eyeing our brothers to see if they’re within range of the stones in our pockets, and start working to make amends with them. Laying those stones at the foot of the cross will be a huge weight lifted from each of us, and will free us to actually do what may seem unthinkable right now—serve the person we just forgave.

Colossians 3:15 - Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (NIV)

----
Subscribe to site updates here.

Choice scriptures:

Romans 15:1-7 - "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up...May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
(NIV)

2 Thessalonians 3:1 - "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."
(NIV)

Romans 1:16 - "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
(NIV)

John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
(NIV)

Choice quotes:

Alexander Campbell - "We will not hearken to those questions which gender strife, nor discuss them at all. If a person says such is his private opinion, let him have it as his private opinion; but lay no stress upon it; and if it be a wrong private opinion, it will die a natural death much sooner than if you attempt to kill it."

Alexander Campbell - "But men cannot give up their opinions, and therefore, they can never unite, says one. We do not ask them to give up their opinions--we ask them only not to impose them upon others. Let them hold their opinions, but let them hold them as private property. The faith is public property; opinions are, and always have been private property. Men have foolishly attempted to make the deductions of some great minds the common measure of all Christians. Hence the deductions of a Luther, and a Calvin, and a Wesley, have been the rule and measure of all who coalesce under the names of these leaders. It is cruel to excommunicate a man because of the imbecility of his intellect."

Alexander Campbell - "Dear sir, this plan of making our own nest, and fluttering over our own brood; of building our own tent, and of confining all goodness and grace to our noble selves and the "elect few" who are like us, is the quintessence of sublimated pharisaism. The old Pharisees were but babes in comparison to the modern: and the longer I live, and the more I reflect upon God and man--heaven and earth--the Bible and the world--the Redeemer and his church--the more I am assured that all sectarianism is the offspring of hell; and that all differences about words, and names, and opinions, hatched in Egypt, or Rome, or Edinburgh, are like the frolics of drunken men; and that where there is a new creature, or a society of them, with all their imperfections and frailties, and errors in sentiment, in views, and opinions, they ought to receive one another, and the strong to support the weak, and not to please themselves. To lock ourselves up in the bandbox of our own little circle; to associate with a few units, tens, or hundreds, as the pure church, as the elect, is real Protestant monkery, it is evangelical pharisaism."

Alexander Campbell - "I have tried the pharisaic plan, and the monastic. I was once so straight, that, like the Indian's tree, I leaned a little the other way. And however much I may be slandered now as seeking "popularity" or a popular course, I have to rejoice that to my own satisfaction, as well as to others, I proved that truth, and not popularity, was my object; for I was once so strict a Separatist that I would neither pray nor sing praises with any one who was not as perfect as I supposed myself. In this most unpopular course I persisted until I discovered the mistake, and saw that on the principle embraced in my conduct, there never could be a congregation or church upon the earth."

Alexander Campbell - "I have no idea of adding to the catalogue of new sects. I labor to see sectarianism abolished and all Christians of every name united upon the one foundation upon which the apostolic church was founded."

The Gospel Union

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Forgiveness is divine

Miscellany

Last Ten Posts

Choice scriptures:

Choice quotes: