On a public level would you venture to calculate how much ungodly resentment and hostility there is right now? In our own country the naysayer, the finger pointer, the accusers have been out in abundance since that horrible hurricane struck. They have been blaming left and right the failures and the sins made in the recovery efforts. Perhaps a thorough evaluation of our system has to be made in order to improve the response. But such ungodly resentment and hostility? How's that going to help right now? Oh, the amount of ungodly resentment and hostility that is here and in the whole world in regards to this and to so many other matters!
On a private level would you care to calculate how many desolate relationships exist? How many grieving marriages? How many cruel homes? How much sullen silence where there could be joy? What a venomous way we humans have picked to live!
At the bottom of it lies the fact that people have not learned to say 3 short words: I forgive you. They are short words to say, but not simple ones. If you have ever been horrifically hurt, viciously vilified, or maliciously maligned, you will never call them simple. They are words that do not come easily to our lips. To say that they do betrays an appalling ignorance of human nature. I forgive you are short words, necessary words, but not simple ones to say.
Still, there is a way to make them come a little easier: Review what God for Christ's sake has done for you and make it your own. Make it your own before you look at the shortcomings of others.
Almost hidden in a secluded corner of a cemetery stands a small gravestone polished smooth by the wind and weathered by many years. The stone bears no name, nor is there a date inscribed upon it. If you were to pass by, it would tell you nothing about the man, woman, or child that lies below. There is nothing except one thing. Still legible on the face of the fading stone, in letters that neither wind nor weather has been able to erase, is one solitary word – the simple word “forgiven.” Yet, could any epitaph be more eloquent?
To have found forgiveness at the hand of a merciful God – could anything be more glorious? And the person who has made that heavenly wonder his own will, as Jesus shows, be able to make the three short words, I forgive you, easier to say. You see, the simple truth of the matter is this: The Forgiven Forgive. Forgive- ness, there is nothing more glorious, more life-changing than that.
I. As you by grace have been forgiven…
Forgiveness – that's where it is at; that's the key element in our lives. In the Bible the gospel, the good news, is sometimes simply called forgiveness. When our Lutheran church fathers wanted to briefly state what the gospel is, they put it this way – “that God, for Christ's sake, freely forgives us our sins.” That is what the Bible is all about – forgiveness. That is what your real life is all about – forgiveness. That is what our relationships - with God and with other people – are all about – forgiveness. It's the key element in life and is the subject of this text.
It all began when Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother who was sinning against him. Willing to go the extra mile, Peter suggested the number seven. Would seven times be enough? Surely that would be a magnanimous gesture! It was over twice the number which the Jewish rabbis and scribes suggested.
But Jesus brushed it aside. He said, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Some Bibles translate Jesus' response as being seventy times seven. That would be 490 times. But a number isn't the thing that Jesus was getting at. He wasn't proposing a new, more generous number than Peter had given. Jesus meant that forgiveness is to be without limit, no boundaries, no thoughts of “well, I'll go this much but no further.” No, the number of times you forgive is endless in Jesus' eyes, and it is ongoing. That was the point of His parable that followed.
In it He doesn't start with us and our action of forgiveness; He starts with the heavenly Father, the king in the parable, and with His activity towards us. Only when we fully understand what has happened between us and the Father, how by grace we have been forgiven so much, only when we fully understand that will we be able to practice the limitless forgiveness Jesus proposes. So you see, dear friends, how many times we are to forgive does not ride upon a number; it rides upon God's activity in our lives and our awareness of what God has done for us.
What has He done? He has forgiven all sins, time and time again. He has washed them all away in Jesus' blood. He has removed them from Himself as far as the east is from the west. He has cast them into the sea and let them sink away into oblivion where He will never look upon them again, and He remembers
them no more (1 Jn1:7; Ps.103:12; Mi.7:19; Jr.31:34). He does that with every sin, every day, every year, every life. Out of sight, out of mind, forever, forgiven, forgotten.
And there is more. Because we are not the holy God, but are sinners ever since the Fall, we live constantly under God's forgiveness. There isn't a second that passes by in our lives when forgiveness is not needed by us and granted by God. Even at our best moments, there is nothing in us that is untainted by sin (Is.64:6). But God forgives. And how He forgives! Forgiveness is the very air we breathe. If it isn't, we're dead. Our own forgiveness from God goes uncounted light-years beyond what Peter suggested with the number seven.
Let's suppose for a minute that God treated us the way Peter suggested, and He put His limit on forgiveness, giving us each 7 chances, or 77 chances, or even 777 chances to be forgiven. Would that ever be enough to help us – we who daily sin much? How long would it take to max out our quota of forgiveness? At the rate of one forgiveness per day, just one, we would exhaust our supply in a little over two years.
Thank God that the blood of Jesus takes away all sin. Thank God that in Jesus there is no limit to forgiveness. Thank God that by grace we have been forgiven and that thrilling epitaph can be written on the tombstones of all who look to Christ Jesus. Through Him we have become God's forgiven over and over and over again. Such a great gift! Such a great God.
TR. And what do the Scriptures say about the gifts that God gives His people. Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Lk.12:48). Or, in application to our text, As we by grace have been forgiven much…
II. …So graciously we forgive much from our hearts. The Forgiven simply Forgive. There is no limit.
Jesus' parable that supports this tells the story of a man who owed his king more than he could ever pay back, roughly about 12 million dollars in our money. It was an impossible debt. The king ordered that his servant's entire assets be liquidated, his property sold, and the servant and his family be sold into slavery.
In fear and trembling the servant stood before his king – palms sweaty, mouth dry, knees buckling, heart pounding. He knew his moment of truth had come; his whole world had come crashing down around him. Suddenly, he and his family were worth less than nothing, doomed to slavery. No chance that he could make up the loss.
Yet, there was one chance. There is always hope when dealing with a great, powerful, and compassionate king. It was the only resort. He seized the opportunity and threw himself upon the king's mercy. The king looked down upon the crumpled form in front of him, hearing only his servant's cry for mercy, and he gave it. He reached out to his servant from his heart, set him free, and forgave the entire debt.
What a red-letter day it must have been for the forgiven servant! He had just gone through the most unforgettable experience of his life. He had just tasted the sweetest honey – total love, compassion, forgiveness. Or had he?
Hardly had he left the presence of his compassionate king when he found a fellow servant who owed him a few bucks, paltry compared to his debt of millions. His fellow servant pleaded with him with the very same words that he had used before the king just a moment before – but it was to no avail. Jesus gives the sad words regarding his plea for forgiveness, “But the servant refused. Instead, he went off and had this man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.” No compassion, no mercy, no love, no understanding of what had just happened to him, no forgiveness.
To whom was Jesus speaking? He was speaking to the Peter's of this world who believe in limited forgiveness. He was speaking to the so-called religious person who says, “I'll forgive but I won't forget.” He was speaking to the unforgiving forgiven. Could He be speaking to you and me?
We have lived through God's forgiveness. We have come away from God's throne of grace as bearers of His compassion. We leave the presence of our Lord in His most Holy Supper, assured we are forgiven in his body and blood and empowered to live for Him. Does all of that speak out in our own lives, we who have been given much? Do we forgive only seven times, or maybe not even at all?
Beware. The unforgiving servant in the end received the unforgiveness of the king. Because he had failed to show mercy, the king now gave him the punishment he deserved – prison, forever.
How could this happen? The answer is this - a short memory. Forgetting what the master had done for him, he could not do anything towards his neighbor.
Now, what does this say of us if we display a stubbornly unforgiving attitude towards others? The sad fact is that we could forfeit Christ's forgiveness if we do not repent. “Nurse your grudge against another,” Jesus warns, “and you're in danger. Repent! Return to your Savior for His boundless forgiveness, and from that moment on have compassion on your fellow sinner, even as the Lord has had mercy on you. As you have been forgiven much, so graciously forgive much from your heart. The Forgiven Forgive.”
Forgiveness is inexhaustible – whether from God or from His people. Forgiveness – it is the heart and the soul of our lives now and in eternity – from God to us and from us to each other. Forgiveness - what a beautiful word with great meaning for life. And if I understand what it means for me, I will be able to live it towards others.
God help us and give us His comfort and strength in this, for God's people can do nothing else – The Forgiven Forgive. God grant it to us for Jesus' sake. Amen.