As We Forgive Others

Forgive = apheimi = forgive, forsake, lay aside, let alone, omit, put away, remit, yield up

Debts = opheilema = something owed, a due, a fault, a debt.

If we think of debts in Old Testament terms, we need to think of a one for one exchange. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. If one is taken, one is replaced. We must always keep the balance through an equal exchange. But in a broken and fallen world, if we maintain this system of justice, we only end up with an eyeless and toothless society. We will never be able to offer an equal exchange for all of our wrongs. And so we end up with a debt. We owe more than we could possibly give. We owe more trust, more truths, more moments, more assurance than we could ever offer. We have offended more times than we could ever repay.

It sounds bleak. It sounds hopeless. We cannot repay what we owe, our fate cannot be good. And if we were left to our own devices, it wouldn’t be. If justice were executed based on a one for one exchange from what we can give, there would be no justice. We would be tirelessly working to set right our wrongdoings.

Fortunately, it isn’t left up to us. Instead, we have a benevolent and merciful God who looked down on the depravity of our situation and instead of feeling anger, God felt compassion. God saw how weak and inept we are and chose to intervene on our behalf. God, through Christ, paid the price. God paid the debt, so that we might be free to live in reconciled wholeness. God liberates us through Christ’s blood. The price is paid on our behalf. All of the eyes, the teeth, the truths, the moments, and the trust are restored through Jesus.

God empowered Jesus to pay on our behalf so that we might be free. Jesus offers pardon. He offers freedom. He lays aside what we owe so that we don’t have to be consumed paying for our sins. And so, even today, we turn to Christ for that freedom from sin. We turn to Christ for the payment of our transgressions. We turn to Christ for the power to forgive. And he offers it freely. But he doesn’t just offer it to us so that we might use it, but also so that we might give it. Christ empowers us to go and do likewise. We are called to action. We are called to forgive using the power God gives us through the blood of Christ.

God is ultimately the one who pardons us and forgives us. But scripture also tells us that Christ has the power to forgive and so do we. We have the power to forgive or to hold the debt. That power now lies with us and because of that we must use it. God has gifted it to us and we must use that gift.

We have the power to forgive! And as we look at the New Testament scriptures, we find that our forgiveness is contingent upon the forgiveness we offer others. “As you forgive, so you will be forgiven.” Whatever forgiveness we offer is the forgiveness we receive. That’s huge. And a bit uncomfortable. We want to be forgiven after all and we generally tend to think we are forgivable, but there are some folks who aren’t so forgivable. They have done horrible, ugly things that we see as completely unforgiveable. So how on earth can our forgiveness reasonably be tied to theirs? Forgiveness is a gift from God, a gift we are called to share and not to hoard. The more forgiveness is offered, the more it multiplies and can be offered. True freedom is not when just one has liberty to walk about and be in the world as they choose, but when all of us do. If all of us were imprisoned and only one were released, what would be their freedom? They couldn’t shop. Couldn’t travel very far (not without someone to drive the bus, or deliver the gas, or fly the plane). That person couldn’t have friends over for dinner, or enjoy a night at home with family. The enjoyment of their freedom is contingent upon the freedom of others. The same is true with spiritual freedom. If only one of us is set free, we cannot truly enjoy that freedom. For us to profit from the freedom gained, we must be freed alongside others. We must use our freedom to liberate them as well. We have the power, by offering forgiveness, to have other people join us. We can be selfish and hold onto our freedom for ourselves. But by holding onto it we will continue to be isolated and will fail to profit from the blessings of community and collaboration.

So, if forgiveness is such a blessing, why don’t we do it more often? Forgiveness is hard. Often our wounds go very deep. The hurt we feel or the shame we bear weighs so much that we can’t hardly move it to even place it at the foot of the cross. Sometimes, holding resentment feels good. We want the other person to be punished and so we relish the thought of their demise. Or maybe it’s personal and we can’t see anyway anyone could ever forgive us for what we’ve done and so we hold onto the shame we feel. We aren’t sure we want to be forgiven because we don’t believe we deserve it. Often fear prevents us from forgiving. We are afraid of being hurt again. We are afraid that if we give away what we have that there will not be enough left for ourselves. We hold back not knowing what the future will hold or what the consequences, for good or for bad, will be.

But the thing about the gospel is that forgiveness is possible even when it seems impossible.

Everyone has gone through something. We all have sins to forgive. We have been betrayed, disrespected, neglected, abused, abandoned, lied to, mistreated—for some it has been a coworker, for others their children, for others spouses, for others church members and for other friends. We have all been hurt by someone and they need forgiveness. They need pardon. They need to know that their misdeeds aren’t hanging over their head. They need to be free from the anxiety and insecurity of the relationship. And we can offer that to them.

And we need it too. We are not only the offended, but also the offenders. We have lied, been disrespectful. We have betrayed trust. We have neglected those we care about. We have been selfish and self-centered. It’s the nature of being human. We are broken and we sin. And we need forgiveness. We need to be free from the weight of guilt and shame. We need to be free from the anxiety and fear that our sins will come back to haunt us. We need freedom. We need forgiveness.

Sometimes we have people and situations in our lives that are impossibly hard to forgive. We are continually batted around or hurt and every time we feel close to forgiveness, something new happens. We are betrayed again, hurt again, rejected again. And we feel like there is no hope. It seems the person will never change and things will never get better. And when forgiveness seems impossible, we must remember that the power to forgive is not our own. The power to forgive comes from God. Yes, we are called to use it, but the source of the power is above us—beyond us and can handle the situations that are beyond us as well.

We are given the power to forgive not so we can be deemed merciful and generous, but so that God might be glorified. In simple situations, where we offer forgiveness, it can be easy to take the praise for being merciful, but when a situation is impossible, we have no choice but to thank God for the freedom and forgiveness we experience. To offer true and profound forgiveness we must turn to God as the source of all mercy.

If we need more forgiveness to offer, then we must go to the source. God will continue to supply grace, power and forgiveness enough for all of us. But we have to be willing to get it from God and share it with others. We must be willing to think outside the box, to risk losing in order for others to benefit. Like many things in our Christian journey, forgiveness only seems easy. It is simple in our heads, but as a lifestyle takes work and much practice. Forgiveness can take time. Some wounds may take years to heal, but freedom from guilt and shame and anger and resentment are available now. They are offered freely and abundantly through Christ. But we must accept it. And we must share it.

Our Father in Heaven

Memorization can be a good thing because when we memorize something it becomes natural and engrained in who we are. We can do it without thinking because it’s so much a part of who we are. It can be like tying our shoes, or riding a bike, or even driving a car. Remember back to when you learned to drive a car. When you first started driving you focused on every detail…every little thing you do has to be thought about. But once we have enough practice, we don’t have to focus on all the details. We can just drive and it becomes more relaxed, simpler. Right?

It can be like that with our faith life too, including this prayer. At first it can be awkward we have to focus on all the details and the exact words. It can be cumbersome and difficult because we have to focus so hard. But once we memorize the prayers and train our mental muscles, we can pray the prayer without thinking. It becomes easy and natural, second nature to us.

All of those are good things. The trouble comes when it is so natural that we never think about it. Think back to the driving analogy…have you ever been driving for awhile, or on the same roads you always drive that you can’t even remember driving a certain section of road or how you got from A to B? Your driving became so natural that you have no recollection of the details? It can be scary to realize that you have no idea where you just drove or what you saw…being an auto pilot is simpler, but not always safer…we need to be aware when we drive, right?

Well, we also need to be aware when we pray. We need to be intentional about talking with God. When our prayers are automatic, we risk losing sight of what we are actually praying. We can lose intentionality, focus, and meaning.

So, this month, we are focusing on the Lord’s prayer. We are going to go one line at a time to try and refocus on the words Christ taught us pray. My hope is that we will snap back to attention when we offer this pray, even when it is easy and natural, that we would still invest ourselves in speaking and meaning the words of this prayer.

Today’s line is: “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.”

The first word of this prayer reminds us of our communal life…Our. It’s not “my”. Simply by choosing “Our” we are reminded that we are called to be a part of community. We are able to have an individual faith, but we are always called to the collective life together. Does anyone remember why?

• Accountability
• Support
• Only way we can truly grow in love (we aren’t stretched to love or be patient or forgive if it’s just us)

The second word is “Father”—sort of obvious in the sense of a parent, a giver of life. But in the cultural sense of Jesus’ day, the father was the tradesman and the sons would learn that same trade. In essence, they were to grow up and do their father’s work. So, when we call God father, we don’t just think of a giver of life, but we also should see a role model who should be mimicked. In essence, we should grow up to do God’s trade, to do God’s work.

· Forgiveness

· Inclusion

· Justice

· Mercy

· Compassion

The last part of that line is: “who art in heaven”—this underscores where God is, and that God is distinctive from us. We dwell on earth, but God dwells in heaven. But heaven in this sense is both the ethereal heaven, and it is defined in the Greek as the gospel. In other words, God dwells in the good news…Gospel meaning Good news…the good news of forgiveness and redemption. God is present wherever there is Gospel. And in that sense, God is with us. God has a place in the heavens, a dwelling place distinctive from our own, but God also has a place in the midst of us….wherever there is Gospel…life, and truth, and compassionate community, God is there.

The next line begins “Hallowed”…which means to make holy, to purify, or to consecrate. When I looked up the Greek I was a bit surprised…I guess I have always heard “hallowed be thy name” as a statement meaning “your name is holy”, but in the way Hallowed is defined in the greek, it’s more like, “may your name be made holy” “may it be sanctified”. I don’t know if you hear a difference there, but what I hear is that we have desecrated the name of God and it needs to be redeemed. It reminds me of the third commandment, “thou shalt not take the lord’s name in vain”—that isn’t just a caution not to curse, that is a reminder that God’s name is powerful, and that that power should not be taken lightly. Like we shouldn’t shout “fire” in a crowded theatre, we should not call upon God’s name in frivolous or meaningless ways. So, when we pray “may your name be made holy”, I hear a reminder to us to honor who God is and to use God’s name with meaning, significance, and impact rather than in idle chatter.

In addition to simply understanding the meaning of the words, we also need to look at the bigger picture of this prayer. To start “Our Father in Heaven” helps establish a relationship between us and God. (*I feel like a need to do a side note here. We often use father language for God. And for many, that is difficult and challenging for their relationship with God. Not all of us have a healthy or good relationship with our Fathers. Some of us have been abused by our fathers, and so to call God father only reminds us of bitterness and hurt and for some, that may mean we want no part of a relationship with that kind of God. Which is understandable. I wish none of us had that kind of obstacle in any of our relationships, particularly our relationship with our father. But I also want to say, that even bearing that in mind, we need to be aware that “father” in this sense is meant to be positive. It is meant to reflect a loving and nurturing relationship, where we learn good habits and practices of love. So, if saying father is a barrier for you, think of a relationship that does signify love and care and a good model for you…whether that is mother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, best friend…and try and understand God in that way. It’s not about the word here, it’s about the relationship.

Together as the body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

When we live by the world’s standards, we constantly kow-tow to what is fashionable and popular. Anybody where poodle skirts? Bell bottoms? A bob? A beehive? Scrunchies? High tops? Leg warmers? Saddle shoes? Fashion is flippant. It’s always changing. And it’s often unforgiving. If you aren’t “in style” everyone knows it. And when we follow the trends, we are basing our actions on those of the masses. Our everyday choices are based on the whim of a designer, an athlete, a movie-star, or a model.

But when we choose to enter the world of faith—to follow Christ and to do God’s will, we begin to live by different standards. Rather than flippant trends, we seek I AM—the God of constant grace, of the past, present and future. The God who has our best interest in mind. The God who calls us beyond trends and popularity and into passionate living that fulfills our deepest longings and satiates the needs of the world.

When we live by God’s standards, we don’t change with every passing trend. Instead, our life’s path is determined by God, and when we live by God, we live as we were intended to be.

And God does that in abundant and marvelous ways. As Paul indicates here, gifts are distributed everywhere to all types of people. They are not limited to a select few.

One of the things I appreciate about being a United Methodist is our emphasis on lay leadership. For those that aren’t familiar with church lingo—lay people, or “the laity”, are all of you. Clergy are pastors ordained to ministry and laity are the people of the church. So to say Methodism emphasizes lay leadership means we believe you all are just as gifted, if not more so, to lead and minister for and with the church. Sometimes, with the pastor always in front, it’s easy to focus all our attention on the pastor and her gifts. But the pastor, by herself, is not the church, we are all the church together and we need each person’s gifts in order to be fruitful and grow in ministry.

Christianity has some ugly scars from its past: the bloody Crusades, the endorsement of slavery, racial segregation, the degradation of women, and imperialism. Imperialism is probably the most unfamiliar concept to most of us. It is often associated with missionary activity and bringing Christianity to new areas of the world. By crass definition it’s “we know more than you do, so we’re gonna lead and you’re gonna follow.” It’s an arrogant approach that places on group as superior to the other and often subjugates the other no matter what the cost. Imperialism negates the truth of this passage. Or maybe Paul had seen the early inclination toward such behavior and was responding to it. Paul reminds us that God works everywhere distributing gifts equally, sharing with all persons. We may make distinctions based on color, gender, age, nationality, language, class, or education, but God does not. God loves equally and gifts equally. In all places to all peoples.

We can’t live in the mindset of imperialism. If we do, we lose out. If we think we are the only ones with a message to share, a gift to use, then we will miss all the riches that God has gifted people of other nations, races and traditions. There are a wealth of gifts, throughout the world and we can’t concern ourselves with unnecessary debates over whose gifts are better or more important, they are all essential. Instead, we need to seek out the gifts of each person and empower them to use those gifts.

God gives a variety of gifts. Paul names a few here, but there are even more listed other places in Scripture. There are at least 31 spiritual gifts! 31!! That’s a lot of gifts! So we shouldn’t look for just one or two gifts in particular. We have to look for a variety of gifts--gifts that strengthen the body of Christ in worship, and in study, and in mission, and in administration, and in hospitality, in caring and healing. There are gifts to build up every part of the body. Our job is to seek them out, strengthen them, and use them. In the coming weeks, we will take a deeper look at some of the gifts so that we might better understand them.

For today, I want us to focus on the fact that each of the gifts comes from the same Spirit, the same God. And no matter which ministry that gift is used for, the ministry too is of the same God, through the same Spirit. In other words, there’s not a hierarchy. It’s not a competition for gifts. There’s no standard that healing is better than administration, or wisdom better than faith. Each gift is important and necessary. And each gift comes from God.

Today is the day we celebrate communion. We celebrate a common meal shared between Jesus and his disciples. It’s a meal of unity. It is a meal of reconciliation. It is a meal shared around the world in a way that connects us with people from all over…from Russia, from China, from South Africa, from Cuba, from France, from Israel, when we share this common meal, we are reminded of our unity. One spirit, one Lord, one world, one God. We all share together. We are one in the body of Christ. We are equally sinners. Equally forgiven. Equally gifted to go out and do the ministry of the church.

Today, as we celebrate this Holy Meal, we are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice…a sacrifice of love and humility that is meant to unite the world. And as we begin this month focused on spiritual gifts, we see that though our gifts are varied, we are still united by the Spirit of God. The spirit is our foundation, the fount of our blessings. We must stay grounded in Christ, focused on God, connected by the Spirit, so we can be strengthened in ministry to all the world.

Jesus is Lord

Last week we read the great commission “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.” We talked about the false notions we have about these words and phrases and tried to instill a deeper knowledge of the real meaning. We saw how Christ’s Lordship was one of choice, one where the Lord wasn’t dominating and controlling, but humble and giving. With Christ, we have a choice. We are not subjugated to his role as we would be to a dictator or tyrant. Instead we are invited to share in his kingdom, to be a part of his community. We like that choice. We like knowing we have some power, some say so, that we aren’t just forced to comply with the whim of the Lord.

We also learned more about what it means to be a disciple. We saw that it is like being an apprentice, that we learn from the master and that in order to become like the master, we must follow the master’s instructions…even when it seems repetitious or ridiculous. For it is only by emulating the master that we will become experts ourselves in their ways and practices.
Emulating the master is a choice we make. We are not forced to do what the master does. Instead we are invited to follow and to live like he lived. It may seem basic, or overly simple, but the reality is we have to make the choice. Jesus is a gracious Lord who offers us the choice, and we have to make that decision. We have to choose Jesus as Lord, which isn’t simply an affirmation of who he is, but it is a submission of our will to his, it is to follow him even when we do not want to go, it means mimicking his actions so that we might become more like the master. Choosing Jesus as Lord is something we must do over and over and over again.

To choose Jesus as Lord is not simply to affirm him, but it is to submit ourselves to him, it is to become his apprentice and try and learn all that he has to teach. It is to imitate his practices until we have the same expertise. Becoming great doesn’t happen just by osmosis—it comes from practice—long hours of practice, day after day, year after year.

I will never be as gifted on the piano as Inah if I don’t practice—no matter how much I listen to her or sit by her side, her skills will not become mine. Her mastery will not be my own unless I take time to practice each and every day.

The same is true for following Christ. Listening to his words and knowing his message don’t make us Christ-like. Practicing Christ’s behaviors, his teachings, and emulating his example is what makes us Christ-like. It is in the doing, not simply the believing, that we grow in our discipleship and are transformed into the person God would have us be.

Being a disciple means taking the master’s guidance even when we don’t want to or don’t understand. Jesus tells us to forgive and most of us go “ok. I can forgive.” And then we get hurt again and we think, “Hey, I forgave you! You weren’t supposed to are that again! Jerk!” And then the master says, “Forgive again.” “Again?! No way. I did that once…look where it got me!” And the master insists…again. So we begrudgingly forgive again. And then we get hurt a third time and we think, “See, I knew I shouldn’t have forgiven again! He’s never going to change! I don’t know why you thought it would make him any different.” And the master kindly tells us to forgive again.

• “yeah right!”
• Yes, I am right. Forgive again.
• But it didn’t change him. Why would I do it again?
• Because forgiveness will change you. If you want to be like me, if you want to be great, you must forgive again.
• And just how many times are we going to do this?
• Until you perfect it. Until it becomes so natural that you don’t even have to think about it.

And sometimes, the practice hardly seems worth it. We don’t want to forgive. We don’t want to love our enemies. We don’t want to be stretched and transformed anymore. Which is why we can’t focus on the strain of the action itself, but must stay focused on the goal: to be like Christ.

In 1984, Karate Kid hit the theaters. In it Mr. Miyagi teaches a promising young man the art of karate. Daniel is already trained in martial arts, but it’s a violent, dangerous form and Mr. Miyagi wants to train Daniel in a better way. Daniel agrees, only to spend his first day waxing Mr. Miyagi’s car. Wax on. Wax off. Wax on. Wax off. Daniel is resistant to the chore, but still continues with the practice, hoping the next day he will be able to do karate. The next day he returns, only to be told he will have to paint the fence. Up down. Up down. Up down. Daniel is frustrated, tired, and sore, and still waiting for his chance to do karate. The third day he returns, ready for action, and Mr. Miyagi instead assigns him the task of sanding the deck. Sand the deck. Sand the deck. Sand the deck. Daniel is furious that all he is doing is Mr. Miyagi’s bidding…his chores, but he is doing no karate. Daniel almost leaves, but instead spends another long day working in the sun. Daniel is frustrated and sees himself as nowhere closer to his goal of being a karate great. Mr. Miyagi sees it differently, he knows that Daniel wasn’t learning to wax the car, or paint the fence, or sand the deck, he was training his muscles to respond and react in the motions of Karate.

Daniel learned the skills he would need to make him great, through days of repetition. He trusted the master even when the task seemed ridiculous and exhausting. Only through the repetition of the action the master instructed was Daniel able to perfect the real art of karate.

What was true for Daniel is also true for us. We will become expert disciples, true imitators of the master, not by sitting and listening to the message, or even by believing the greatness of the master. We will only become expert disciples through action. Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord is less about our words and more about our actions. Claiming Christ as Lord is not just an affirmation of who he is, but it is following him and doing his will in every area of our lives. We must repeat the simple tasks he gives us, over and over and over again, so that they become engrained in our muscles and a natural reaction to the world.

Claiming Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is a choice we make, one we are graciously offered by a humble Lord. And when we make that claim, we make it not just with our words, but with our actions. The only thing that will make us more Christ-like is repeated imitation of the master. We make Jesus our Lord not with celebration and words of affirmation. We make Jesus our Lord by submitting to his instruction and by living out his commands. My prayer this day is that our lives would be a reflection of who Christ is, that we would persevere through the tasks that seem mundane and unrelated, and come to be truly expert disciples, perfected in the ways of the Lord.