Forgiveness (Part 2)

Hi, this is Dave Scherrerrer, and the last time we were together here at Kingdom Offerings, the podcast ministry of 100 Fold Ministries, we took on a difficult subject, and that was the discipline of forgiveness. And I'm not sure everybody thinks of forgiveness as a discipline. I call it a discipline in that we can improve in our heart attitude of forgiveness through disciplined practice. Like all of the Kingdom disciplines that we've been talking about these last few weeks, the more we practice these character traits, character traits like generosity, prayerfulness, fasting, gratitude, the more we practice them, the better, or I should say, the more authentically we represent our Lord in His Kingdom purposes on earth today, now. So let's get some doctrine straight before we turn our attention to how we might better actually be forgiving. So let's let's dive in. The word used most often in the Gospels and the New Testament letters is aphasis. It means to release as from a debt. That's the Greek word for forgiveness used so often. We referred to the parable that Jesus recorded in Matthew 18 the last time that we got together here at Kingdom Offerings when we were looking at the discipline of forgiveness. In this parable in Matthew 18, Jesus uses a judge who is forgiving a financial debt to make his point regarding the divine act of forgiveness. It's about mercy. It's about not collecting on a debt even though you have every legal or moral right to do so. That would be aphasis or forgiveness. The spiritual application that Jesus is making from this financial word picture is in regard to his forgiveness of us that we have in Christ over the release of our debt as sinners from God's legal and spiritual earned penalty. He has a right. There is a debt against God. But he gave us a blanket verdict of no longer guilty before the throne of God for our insults to his name and his character. He did that by Jesus, by his obedient sacrifice on the cross. That allows for the complete dismissal of all charges against us. Romans 8 says it so clearly in verses 1 & 2, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. The life of Jesus has set us free, has removed the debt of sin and death. I think in our 21st century our culture sees forgiveness almost as weakness or letting some undeserving person get off scot-free. We say there should be circumstances, bad behavior should be punished, or even worse things might happen. So there's a couple things for us to remember. First, in the case of our forgiveness before God, sin did not go unpunished or scot-free. There was a terrible payment for our sin. It's just that Christ made the payment in his blood and therefore sparing ours. So there was a price. And second, forgiveness isn't an emotional act as we sometimes see it presented in the movies. Forgiveness is an act of the will. Forgiveness isn't granted because a person deserves to be forgiven. No, no one actually deserves to be forgiven and forgiveness is a deliberate act of love and mercy. Forgiveness is a decision to not hold something against another person despite what he or she may have done to you. So let me make a doctrinal point of clarity because sometimes I think it feels a little confusing when we read some Bible verses. Our salvation isn't dependent on our ability to forgive others faultlessly or completely. Our inclination, if we get there, to generously forgive is a direct response to our gratitude for having been so lavishly forgiven by God ourselves. All right, well, we're going to continue on the next time we get together. But as I wrap up today, I want to reinforce that the discipline of forgiveness is unimaginably difficult, but it's also incredibly amazing and beautiful. I was reflecting on this that when I was younger, I actually had quite a hard time with forgiveness. I still do in a way. In the past, someone would come to me and say they were sorry in phrase, I need to ask your forgiveness. And I would very quickly say two words, oh no, that's okay. I would say that and then kind of move on with my day. But what I didn't realize at that time was that saying it's okay, isn't really the same as offering forgiveness. Saying it's okay is not another way of saying I forgive you. When you trade those three words, I forgive you for the words, no, no, it's all right, no harm done. It dilutes or minimizes the relational transaction that's happening in front of us. There's no debt being forgiven. It's just being put out of our minds. Because what is forgiveness really? Forgiveness says I will pay the debt for your transgression against me. So let's focus in here for a moment. If you borrow $500 from me and then say to me, come back to me and say, I'm so sorry. I spent that money on wild gambling and I can't pay it back. And then you ask for forgiveness of the debt. You would be meaning, will you erase my debt in your ledger? So that I think about it and then I say, yes. It's not that the debt goes away. I now have to cover the debt. I have to earn $500 more and put it into that account. Somebody, somewhere always pays for the debt. So forgiveness is not the same as a free pardon. That's not what it means. Even when we read that verse that says salvation is the free gift of God, not of works, we boast, which I love that verse. Don't deceive yourself into thinking that forgiveness is cost free. Forgiveness involves paying a debt. Forgiveness is free to us, but make no mistake, it was a costly gift. The most expensive and valuable gift that you've ever been offered. So forgiveness for us is free, but someone had to pay the debt. And in this case, it was our Savior, our King, Jesus the Christ. But there you see, there was an expense. There was a cost paid. And so you see, forgiveness is anything but easy. It's hard. The cost may be very, very hard for the debt that someone has in your life. It wasn't easy for God and don't think that it will be easy for you. God the Father had to give up his only beloved son. It wasn't easy for God. Forgiveness is unimaginably difficult. But here comes the incredibly beautiful part of forgiveness. The saying, forgive and forget, I think that phrase maybe has done more harm than good. I understand that scripture says that God remembers our sin no more. But this isn't an intellectual forgetting, like those nerve neurons going to that memory bank just don't exist anymore. No, it isn't an intellectual forgetting. This is a spiritual debt that he is erasing. God is all-knowing. He's not going to forget. I think a better way of putting what's happening here is, I remember your debt. God says, I remember your debt. I paid for that debt through my son. And Isaiah tells us that God forgives sin for his namesake. So God says, I remember, but once forgiven, always forgiven. If something is forgiven, it's in the past. It must stay there in the past. And so in that sense, God remembers it no more. The debt is erased. And so in our discipline of forgiveness, the beautiful thing that we get to do as a gift to those in relationship with us is to follow suit with God and not keep dragging up that sin, that debt, that broken part in our relationship with another person. Sometimes we keep dragging it up and holding that over somebody's head, and that isn't actually forgiveness. That's us trying to execute judgment. It isn't our job to execute justice. It's just not. For the wrong party, justice all too often comes off as revenge. You want them to know just how much they hurt you, and then and only then, when you felt like all your pain has been covered, you might decide to forgive them. But the bottom line is, is that if the appendant party has offered forgiveness, but you're asking for a repayment in some way, then that's not forgiveness. The beauty of forgiveness is setting equal now the relationship. The justice part is not up to you or me. It's up to God, and we don't need to worry, for God's justice is fair and full. That's the beautiful piece of forgiveness, relying on God's sense of justice. So I have a bit more I want to offer in our Kingdom Offering podcast, and we'll talk a little bit more about exercising or practicing the discipline of forgiveness the next time we're together. So we'll see you back here at 100 Fold Ministries in a couple of weeks. This is Dave Scherrerrer. Peace.