Pastor’s Thoughts – 07/20/2025
July 18, 2025Pastor’s Thoughts – 08/03/2025
August 2, 2025
“We tend to be far more ungenerous in forgiving others than God is in forgiving us. If God were to be as reluctant to forgive as we are in forgiving those who sin against us, we would be in serious trouble. As Christians we are forgiven people. We are likewise called to be forgiving people. Jesus clearly sets forth an ethic of charity in His teaching and in His behavior with those who wrong us. An unwillingness to forgive clearly has no place in the kingdom, and may in fact signal that such a one has not experienced the initial forgiveness of God in his or her life.”
R. C. Sproul
The necessity of forgiveness is at the heart of the biblical message. Without the forgiveness given us through our Lord Jesus Christ there would be no possibility of redemption and no possibility of a restored relationship with God. The forgiveness of God is intertwined with who He is. It is through His forgiveness we see His plan, His purpose, His love, His mercy and we could go on and on for forgiveness is attached to all the wonderful attributes of the Lord. No other book of any other religion approaches teaching where a deity completely forgives sinners. But for those who are in Christ, “God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). This forgiveness is so complete that the writer of Hebrews speaking for God says, “Your sins and your lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 10:17). Therefore, the idea of biblical forgiveness means to release a person from the debt incurred by sin. When it is forgiven by God even the guilt of the sin is also healed. The most common New Testament word for forgiven is “aphesis” which means “to be released.”
Forgiveness from God is amazing because He is holy. It is one thing for us who are sinners by birth to forgive one another, as we should, for when we forgive another person who has in some form transgressed against us, it is one sinner forgiving another sinner. God, however, is holy and completely without blame or stain in any way related to or touched by sin. Not only that, but all sin is a direct offense against Him who is Lord overall. We cannot sin without not only His knowledge of our sin, but by His glorious position His direct offense to our sin. Therefore, all sin is a direct offense before and against the Lord (Psa. 51:4). Our sins create a separation between us and God. As God is righteous, our offenses create two huge problems. The first is that sinning is judicial. No sin whether we class it as large or small can go without a means of propitiation before God in order to be forgiven. Sin must be paid, and the payment for sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Then as a result of sin, there is also a relational restoration issue with the offended. To compound this situation even more is the fact of the magnitude of our sins. Every person born under Adam has not just sinned one time, but our sins are so many and so great as to be incomprehensible to count before our holy Lord.
Over the last two decades there has been a surge in movie themes related to vengeance. The idea of vengeance, getting back at others or getting even, is very popular. This popularity coincides with the self-centeredness that is prevalent and popular in society. The mindset of those who openly express that they “Lookout for number one,” or live a mindset that the world exists for them is too common. This is the opposite of Christianity. Christianity displays itself in love and concern for others and especially the unlovely, the weak, the helpless, and the undeserving. We have in the Bible the glory of God seen by His sacrificial giving of His Son to die for His enemies (Rom. 5:10). This attitude of God is revealed in the humanity of Christ upon the cross. Even while under great pain and being reviled, what did our Lord do? He prayed while enduring the greatest of unjust physical suffering: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). That is God’s standard. Sadly, the popular, self-serving themes and worldly thinking of today stir self-importance so that to many people forgiveness seems weak and foolish. Forgiveness is unique in that it is not granted because others deserve to be forgiven. In reality, no one deserves to be forgiven. Instead, forgiveness is acting like our Creator. It is a deliberate act of love, mercy, and grace. And, importantly, it is commanded by God and therefore is an act of obedience to Him. Forgiveness is a decision to forgo our selfishness and not hold a grudge against someone no matter what he or she has done to us. Whenever we are offended by someone and hesitate in our forgiveness of them, we should bring to our remembrance God’s great and complete forgiveness of us through the innocent blood of His glorious Son.
From time to time, I have witnessed what I consider the loveliest of church going people becoming offended with one another. Sometimes the offenses grow so out of proportion that they cause upset within the church family where people stumble and leave. Much of this is driven by emotions. Regardless, what we should do is always seek the best interest of others for God’s glory. Our Lord said that we are to forgive seventy times seven, or to be infinite in our forgiveness. And even when we wrestle with the merit of forgiveness in difficult situations, we should recognize that because it is commanded by our Lord we are to trust God’s judgment. From my experience, I have seen people offend others when they were not even aware of their offense. This is the same with us before our God. We offend Him continually, and yet in Christ we are forgiven. I hope we all realize how important and necessary it is to have a forgiving spirit. Paul says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).
