Title: Christ Jesus has forgiven you so that you too forgive!
The Lord’s Prayer: Fifth petition.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Text: Psalm 119:1-8
119 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
In the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer we read:
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look upon our sins, nor deny such petitions on account of them; for we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them; but that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much, and indeed deserve nothing but punishment. So will we verily, on our part, also heartily forgive and also readily do good to those who sin against us.
Heavenly Father, it is during this season of Lent that we ask that you would bring we, who are sinful and unclean to repentance so that by your Holy Spirit we might forgive others as we have been forgiven.
Christ Jesus has forgiven you so that you too forgive!
Ill.
A story is told in Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai. The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect. . . The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, [who looked like] human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: "No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness."
Sacrificial love has transforming power.
Don Ratzlaff, "The Christian Leader".
119 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
Forgiveness is a blessed gift. It transforms lives and restores peace. To be blameless though had a price and that price was the very life of the Son of God.
Jesus walked blameless in the ways of the Lord and kept perfect what we could not do. He did for us what we were unable to do and calls you and me, who have been forgiven to forgive other.
Christ Jesus has forgiven you so that you too forgive!
Oh how the old Adam rails.
Luther writes of this petition:
86] This part now relates to our poor miserable life, which, although we have and believe the Word of God, and do and submit to His will, and are supported by His gifts and blessings, is nevertheless not without sin. For we still stumble daily and transgress because we live in the world among men who do us much harm and give us cause for impatience, anger, revenge, etc. 87] Besides, we have Satan at our back, who sets upon us on every side, and fights (as we have heard) against all the foregoing petitions, so that it is not possible always to stand firm in such a persistent conflict.
It is easy to see our own failings. At times we hold a grudge and refuse to forgive.
Ill.
“I’ll never forgive him - never!”
“Never is a hard word, John,” said the sweet faced wife of John Locke, as she looked up a moment from her sewing.
“He is a mean, dastardly fellow, and upon this Holy Bible, I” –
“Stop husband! - John! Remember he is my brother, and by the love you bear me, [please do not] curse him. He has done you wrong, I allow; but oh! He is very young and very sorry. The momentary shame you felt yesterday will hardly be wiped out with a curse. It will only injure yourself, - O, please don’t say anything dreadful!”
The sweet face women prevailed – the curse that hung upon the lips of the angry man was not spoken; but he still said, “I will never forgive him – he has done me a deadly wrong.”
The young man who had provoked this bitterness, humbled and repentant, sought in vain for forgiveness from him, whom in a moment of passion he had injured, almost beyond reparation. John Locke steeled his heart against him.
Christian Treasury, Vol. 12 Pen illustrations from the Lord’s Prayer Pg 365
This can sound all too familiar many people. Anger boils in to fighting words, a slight of one’s dignity must be avenged … at any cost … even to the point of not forgiving.
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
Though we fall short daily God forgives us our sins and has paid the price to redeem us so that we can be spotless in his eyes and precious children.
4 You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
And though we continue to not do diligently what you have commanded, because you see us in Christ we receive the favor of God on Christ’s account.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
In you Heavenly Father, by the power of your Spirit, we can remain fix on Jesus, so that all of your statutes are kept by his perfect obedience for our benefit.
Christ Jesus has forgiven you so that you too forgive!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!
Dear friends,
You are not put to shame because of Jesus Christ! Having your eyes fixed on Jesus fulfills the Law – because Jesus came to be what you are not and in Christ his merit is yours! This allows a joyful heart that praises his righteous rules because you are not forsaken in Christ but made new.
Christ Jesus has forgiven you so that you too forgive!
Sacrificial love has transforming power.
The apostle John sums up Christ sacrificial love in his Gospel with the words of Jesus himself.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,] for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:12-15
Christ Jesus has forgiven you so that you too forgive!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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