Matthew 6.12
Debts
Trepasses
Sins
Forgiveness is one of the most powerful outcomes of love.
It is one of the most powerful forces on the earth or in Heaven.
It is part of God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven.
It is part of His Kingdom coming.
Forgiveness can radically change things.
Relationships
Families
Churches
Individuals and the paths of their lives!
J.C. Penney.
Corrie Ten Boom
It was in a church in Munich that I saw him, a balding heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear.
It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.
It was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown.
“When we confess our sins,” I said, “God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.”
The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. There were never questions after a talk in Germany in 1947. People stood up in silence, in silence collected their wraps, in silence left the room.
And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones.
It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were!
Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbrück concentration camp where we were sent.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “A fine message, fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”
And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course–how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?
But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard in there.” No, he did not remember me.
“But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein”–again the hand came out–“will you forgive me?”
And I stood there–I whose sins had every day to be forgiven–and could not. Betsie had died in that place–could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it–I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. “If you do not forgive men their trespasses,” Jesus says, “neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality.
Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion–I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
“Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!”
For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.
And having thus learned to forgive in this hardest of situations, I never again had difficulty in forgiving: I wish I could say it! I wish I could say that merciful and charitable thoughts just naturally flowed from me from then on. But they didn’t.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned at 80 years of age, it’s that I can’t store up good feelings and behavior–but only draw them fresh from God each day.
Maybe I’m glad it’s that way. For every time I go to Him, He teaches me something else. I recall the time, some 15 years ago, when some Christian friends whom I loved and trusted did something which hurt me.
You would have thought that, having forgiven the Nazi guard, this would have been child’s play. It wasn’t. For weeks I seethed inside. But at last I asked God again to work His miracle in me. And again it happened: first the cold-blooded decision, then the flood of joy and peace.
I had forgiven my friends; I was restored to my Father.
Then, why was I suddenly awake in the middle of the night, hashing over the whole affair again? My friends! I thought. People I loved! If it had been strangers, I wouldn’t have minded so.
I sat up and switched on the light. “Father, I thought it was all forgiven! Please help me do it!”
But the next night I woke up again. They’d talked so sweetly too! Never a hint of what they were planning. “Father!” I cried in alarm. “Help me!”
His help came in the form of a kindly Lutheran pastor to whom I confessed my failure after two sleepless weeks.
“Up in that church tower,” he said, nodding out the window, “is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope. But you know what? After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps on swinging. First ding then dong. Slower and slower until there’s a final dong and it stops.
“I believe the same thing is true of forgiveness. When we forgive someone, we take our hand off the rope. But if we’ve been tugging at our grievances for a long time, we mustn’t be surprised if the old angry thoughts keep coming for a while. They’re just the ding-dongs of the old bell slowing down.”
And so it proved to be. There were a few more midnight reverberations, a couple of dings when the subject came up in my conversation. But the force–which was my willingness in the matter–had gone out of them. They came less and less often and at last stopped altogether.
And so I discovered another secret of forgiveness: that we can trust God not only above our emotions, but also above our thoughts..
Joseph is another example. He forgave fully.
Genesis 50.17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
There was hurt over what they had done but he had forgiven them.
Genesis 50.15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
1. Forgiveness From Our Father in Heaven.
We all need forgiveness on a daily basis.
Forgiveness is costly. It cost the Father sending His only begotten Son.
It cost Jesus His Life.
What an example in His teaching, His Life, His death and His Resurrection He is.
He taught. Woman caught in adultery.
He lived it. He had all power. He could have destroyed cities that rejected Him.
Luke 9.55 But He turned and rebuked them and said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”
On the Cross, dying, we see Him offer forgiveness to the thief and to those who were responsible for His Death.”Father, forgive them...”
No wonder the Centurion cried out, “Surely this was the Son of God.”
He rose again and you never hear Him once refer to the injustices of His Trial! There were bigger issues at stake. Besides He had asked His Father in Heaven to forgive them.
Jesus sets the example for us in forgiving. He forgives us and we must to forgive others as we follow in His footsteps
2. Forgiveness For Others.
We not only need forgiveness but we need to offer it to others who sin against us.
This is huge to spiritual health. Jesus is teaching us to pray a difficult prayer Goes right against our natural self. The sinful nature wants to strike back get even settle the score is the way of the Spirit is peace joy love and gentleness in the Holy Spirit. To pray this prayer we must have the Holy Spirit. That is one of the reasons why I believe after Jesus taught in this prayer and Luke 11 He speaks about the Holy Spirit the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the Spirit is love our tendency is not towards Love. We are born selfish and if we do not have regular encounters with God then we will tend to move away from spirit. We need the fellowship with one another we need to be studying God’s Word we need to pray we need to confess our sins to one another so that we can become more like Jesus.
The benefits of forgiving others are numerous. First of all it’s good for us. Studies have been done about with bitterness could to the body and the soul in the mine. Not to mention the spirit. Forgiving others frees up their hearts to forgive us or to open their hearts to the Lord. We all fall short of the glory of God we’re not there yet. We see Jesus we will be like him. On this Journey it’s important for us to seek to be like him forgiving others is imitating Christ. Forgive as the Lord for gave you. Wow! That’s a full-time job. That is why Paul, the Apostle writes, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3.13 Sometimes it is a bear to forgive. We must do it. Pray that prayer every day for the same person until you forgive them.
3. Jesus Is Assuming That Followers of His Will Forgive.
We are asking God the Father to forgive us in the same way forgive those who have sinned against us.
We are warned about the consequences of not obeying.
That should sober us.
That should motivate us.
That should seal the deal.
How do you want your Father in Heaven to forgive your sins? Fully! Then forgive others the same way!
One of the awesome displays of the power of Christ is to allow His Spirit to flow through you in forgiveness!
Live a life of love, forgive every day!
