Forgiveness

Are there any bankers here this morning? I can understand why you might not want to own up to it at the moment. If you are a banker please don’t take any thing I’m about to say personally, but let me ask another question: Is there anyone here this morning who’s angry about what’s going on in the economy?

Don’t those terrible bankers have a lot to answer for? It’s bad enough that bank debts have just about collapsed the housing industry; bad enough that several major businesses have gone broke and lots of people have lost their jobs, bad enough that there just doesn’t seem to be enough money to go round at the moment.
But with that going on we don’t need to hear that the banks are sucking up public money with one hand and with the other hand they’re dishing out massive bonuses to their staff.

And on top of all that it really did take the cake this week to hear that one of the bankers who was fired for his role in creating the problem has been collecting £60,000 a month as a pension since he left the bank… It’s obscene isn’t it? His bank is laying off staff and making record losses, and he’s taking money for not working.

Doesn’t it make you mad? Doesn’t it make you angry? Don’t you want to take that money back?

And it’s not just the banks is it? There’s any number of things that make us cranky. We spend a lot of our lives feeling ripped off, or walked all over, or poorly treated and wishing we could get our own back.

And if that’s where you’re at this morning I want to remind you of one of the most basic lessons in the bible. I want to remind you because it’s part of the Lord’s prayer, so I take it Jesus thought we needed to be reminded. And if you’re hoping mad at the banks, or at anyone else, then that just shows that Jesus was right.

The lesson is contained in the forth section of the Lord’s Prayer – the request that God would forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. You’ll find it in Matthew 6:12. And if you’re still wondering what the lesson is that I’m going on about, well I can sum it up in three simple sentences:
1) We’re all guilty before God and we deserve judgement
2) God forgives us even though we don’t deserve it; and
3) Since God has forgiven us, we should forgive others.

Did you miss it – we’re guilty, but God forgives us, and therefore we should forgive others. Those three ideas are worth spending a bit more time on, so we’re going to look at them as our three points this morning.
So the first point this morning is that we’re all Guilty before God and we Deserve Judgement.

That’s the truth that lies behind the first four words in this prayer: ‘Forgive us our sins’.

Notice Jesus assumes we’re all guilty of sin before God. He didn’t say forgive those of us who have done wrong. He didn’t say forgive us for the mistakes we’ve made, or forgive us for the way we’ve inadvertently affected others, or even forgive us for our errors of judgement or our little slips. He simply says ‘forgive us our sins’.

The truth is we’ve all sinned. We’re all, without exception, guilty before God. We’ve said and thought and done things that we knew we shouldn’t do. And knowing full well that they were wrong we’ve gone ahead and done them anyway. And we’ve all failed to do, say and think things that we knew we ought to say, think or do. Knowing full well that it was the right thing to do we’ve decided not to do it. Each of us has made the choice not to do that right thing that we knew we ought to do and to do the wrong thing that we knew we shouldn’t do. And we’ve made that choice over and over again; we’re out of control, we love it. So, each of us, before God, is guilty.

And being guilty we’re all in line to face God’s judgement. God judges sin and He’s not embarrassed or uncomfortable about it. He made us with purpose and dignity. And he has the right to evaluate whether we’ve served the purpose for which we were made or not. And he reserves the right to hold us accountable for our actions. We have meaning because God cares what we do, judgement speaks of our dignity; but more pressingly it says we’re all in trouble. If God will bring every sin into judgement and we’re all guilty because we’re all sinners, then we’re all facing God’s judgement. And God’s judgement will be full and fair, and terrifying, nothing less than what we deserve.

It’s simple logic isn’t it? Before God we’re like those bankers we’re all so cranky with. We’ve bankrupted ourselves morally and spiritually. We’ve racked up massive debts to God and we simply can not pay him back. And one day he’s going to send the auditors in and they’re going to inspect the books and we’ll be found wanting. And then he’s going to make us pay back our debt in fearful punishment. God is as angry as can be about the way we’ve treated him and his world and his judgement will be fierce. This prayer is a sobering reality check. We’re guilty sinners and God judges sin, so we’re in line for his judgement.

I expect you’ve probably all heard that before. But, if you’re not a Christian I wonder what you think about that? Do you consider yourself a sinner, guilty of rebelling against God? Jesus does and he makes no bones about it – you are, whether you recognise it or not, we all are.

So, as a sinner, have you considered the weight of judgment that God is preparing to bring against you, if you continue in rebellion against him? Have you thought for a moment that its only God’s ongoing grace that keeps you from facing him in judgement right now?

If those things are true – and they are – then you need to act fast to get out from under that judgement. Can I encourage you to listen carefully to Jesus’ words here and to pray the prayer that Jesus has taught us – asking God to forgive you your sins.

And you who are Christians, I hope you’re hearing this too. We know that we’re forgiven. But its good for us to remember the seriousness of our sin and the weight of judgement that we have stored up for ourselves. In the light of that serious judgment God’s forgiveness is seen clearly for what it is – not a small thing, rather a massive gift from God. And so we’re reminded to thank God for his generosity.

And it should make us stop and think: this world is facing the wrath of God. God is going to judge everyone and most people we know have no concept of the judgement that is coming against them. That’s an awful thought. But it’s true, so we best do something about it. So don’t give up on telling people about Jesus, He is the only hope they have. And don’t give up on praying for others because they face God’s judgement, they need his forgiveness.

So the first thing we ought to learn from this prayer is that we’re all sinners, we’re all guilty before God and without his forgiveness we’re facing his terrible judgement. All of which makes an offer of forgiveness very good news indeed. And that leads us to our second point:

2) God forgives us, even though we don’t deserve it.

Again this is assumed in the first four words of this part of the Lord’s prayer. Jesus instructs us to ask ‘Forgive us our sins’ – we’re to ask because forgiveness is exactly what God wants to give us.

God’s loves to forgive us. Listen to what Psalm 103, says about God’s character:

8The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 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. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

God loves to forgive us. And it’s no small matter for God to forgive sins. But he loves us enough to make it possible. He sends his son to stand in our place and take the punishment we deserve. So God’s forgiveness is a massive gift. On the one hand it rescues us from the most unimaginable, awful judgement, and on the other hand it subjects Jesus to that same awful judgment so that we can walk free.

God’s forgiveness is a gift that costs God dearly. He himself takes the punishment that we deserve.

This is one of the simplest and most profound truths in all the Bible. In fact it’s so good that God considers it his greatest work. When Moses asked to see God’s glory this is what God showed him: Exodus 34:5 says:

‘Then the LORD came down and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

God glories in his compassion, it’s his greatest boast. He wants us and the whole creation to understand that He’s a compassionate God, slow to anger and swift to forgive. He reveals his glory by forgiving us. God’s nature, his character, his person is revealed when he forgives us guilty rebels. God stakes his reputation on this: he is a God who forgives sins.

Do you see the magnitude, the greatness of God’s forgiveness? When God wants to display his goodness he doesn’t tell us to climb the mountain and look on the splendour of his magnificent creation. He doesn’t go all David Attenborough on us. He doesn’t say look at the Elephant, or the whale, the magnificent creature I have made. He doesn’t draw our attention to the Salmon swimming upstream or the lions stalking prey. He doesn’t say look at my power in the storm and the hurricane – consider the hail and the lightening, the flood and the earthquake. He doesn’t say see how big I am – go outside and look to the far reaches of the universe, consider the countless billions of stars and the unimaginable expanse of my creation.

All those things speak of God’s glory and his power, his creativity and his control. But those things can’t reveal God’s heart to us. It’s forgiveness that shows the depth of God’s love and mercy, and it’s here that we catch a glimpse of the fullness of the glory of God.

So here is good news. It remains true that you’re a sinner. You’re guilty before God and without forgiveness you’re facing the terrible reality of God’s wrath. But God has arranged a way for forgiveness to come to guilty sinners like us. God delights to forgive sinners, he glories in it.

So if you’ve never known God’s forgiveness Jesus invites you to pray this morning and to find complete forgiveness in him – Forgiveness that covers all of the things that you’ve done in the past, and all of the things that you’ll do in the future; Forgiveness that moves you out from under God’s judgment into the circle of God’s friends, God’s own family. That’s the best news there can be – don’t leave this morning without praying that prayer, or taking steps to find out if what I’ve said is true, perhaps by asking about a Christianity Explored Course, or picking up a copy of this booklet called ‘Why Jesus’ that will give you more info.

And for those who are Christians, I want to remind you again how good it is to be forgiven. Some of us take it for granted, we need to remember what a gift it is. Some of us find it hard to believe. Writing this I was reminded of my best mate in high school. One day he told me that he had a secret that he knew God couldn’t forgive. Not long after he announced that he was gay and moved up to Sydney to get involved in the gay scene. And I was reminded of the girl I knew at a university church who secretly had an abortion because she was worried that her parents would find out she’d been sleeping with her boyfriend. I was reminded of another girl who was sexually abused and felt she was somehow unforgivable. They all carried a terrible burden of guilt and shame because they thought that God couldn’t forgive them.

In our society, and in our churches many people struggle with a guilt. If that’s where you’re at this morning you need to listen again to Jesus. He tells us to pray to our Father in heaven ‘forgive us our sins’. And he tells us to pray like that because he died to pay for our forgiveness, and because God glories in forgiving us. So won’t you trust him for forgiveness and pray that prayer today?

Finally we come to our last point – God expects us to forgive others:

We see this in the second part of the phrase we pray ‘Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us’; and just in case we missed it, Jesus emphasises it for us following the prayer – so look with me there:

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

It couldn’t be much more black and white than that, could it? If we forgive others when they sin against us, our heavenly father will forgive us, but if we don’t forgive others then God won’t forgive us. It’s pretty plain that we need to forgive others.

But is Jesus now saying that we need to forgive others before God will forgive us? Well, no, this is just what Jesus explained in Matt 18, the passage Andy spoke to us on a couple of weeks ago at the family service. Do you remember the unforgiving servant who had a massive debt wiped out by his master [Hold up the big bowl of money], but then refused to write off a very small debt from one of his fellow servants?

Before God we’ve wracked up debts that make HBOS and Northern Rock look like nothing. And he freely forgives us at his own expense. If we accept that sort of generosity from God and then turn around and demand repayment for every stray penny that someone else owes us, we’re well out of order, we show utter contempt for God’s generosity. Jesus is simply saying that if we respond to God’s generosity with greed and selfishness, we stand to loose that generosity that God has shown us.
The truth is that if we’re Christians we’ve been forgiven an enormous debt – The sort of debt that should normally fill us with deep, deep shame; The sort of debt that we could never have ever hoped to repay ourselves, even if we were to live several lifetimes over. And forgiveness like that ought to produce in us a deep gratitude and humility. We’ve nothing to be proud of, we’re morally, spiritually bankrupt, every one of us. When we’re hard done by, when we’re cheated and swindled, when we’re hurt or abused, we’ve no right to demand payment when we’ve received mercy. We’ve been forgiven, we need to learn to forgive others.

Some of you here this morning might have reason to think ‘well that’s all very well when we’re talking about small things, but you don’t know what I’ve been through’. Some things are so horrible that forgiveness is almost impossible. If that’s been your experience this might be hard to hear. Nonetheless, Jesus instructs us to forgive, no matter how great the sin, how big the debt that’s owed us. It may seem hard to imagine, but no matter how poorly we’ve been treated, we’ve treated God worse. No matter how great a debt we’re owed, we’ve been forgiven a far greater debt and God is right to expect us to forgive others.

I can understand that might not be much comfort if you’re hurting – so let me add that not only is forgiving others the right thing to do, it’s also the best thing for us. Hard as it may be to put into practice, forgiving others is the best way to begin the healing process when we’ve been wronged. I should also say if you’re hurting right now there are always people ready to pray with you down the front after the service, so if you’d like prayer to help with a situation where you’ve been hurt, or any thing else, do come down the front after the service and pray about it.

I need to conclude, so let me remind you of the lesson behind the prayer. Jesus teaches us to pray ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us because he wants us to remember that we’re sinners, all of us. This prayer pushes it in our faces and reminds us that we need forgiveness. Jesus wanted us to remember our sin and guilt. He wanted us to remember it so that we would rejoice all the more in our forgiveness, so that we would learn to love God with all our hearts for his amazing generosity to us… and so that we would remember to be humble. And he wanted us to remember the enormous generosity of God’s forgiveness so that we could learn to show similar generosity ourselves and forgive others who do us wrong. So if you’re angry this morning, whether with the banks or anyone else – if you’re holding a grudge, remember that you’re guilty too, but God has forgiven you, so you can forgive those who sin against you.

So when we come to God in prayer lets learn to be honest and to own our sin, to simply admit that we’re in the wrong and to ask God to forgive us. And having asked for forgiveness let us have confidence that God has forgiven us through Jesus, and be thankful. And then let that thankfulness well up into a deep love for God and a true humility so that we can forgive others who sin against us. And lets do that together now as I lead us in prayer…