Sermon August 9, 1998 Forgiven Forgivers based on Luke 11:4

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

(NIV Luke 11:4) Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.

My family and I returned from our vacation this last week. Our vacation included a large number of miles driven. I try to drive the speed limit, but I find that many other drivers wish I didn't. There were those who got angry with me because I wouldn't drive faster. Drivers getting very angry at other drivers has been reported in the news as "road rage." They feel another driver has wronged them, and sometimes this rage ends with homicide. These people find it hard to forgive others who they believe have wronged them.

Each of us can come up with those situations where we find it extremely difficult to forgive another person. A husband or wife cheating on their spouse. A child telling a parent they hate them. A parent abusing a child. A worker cheating an employer.

Yes, we are a world full of people who love to hold grudges. We love to keep track of others wrongs against us and then get back at them later and to a greater degree. Where is the forgiveness? Where is the love for our neighbor?

Our God does indeed want us to forgive others when they wrong us. So, Christ taught us to pray in the fifth petition of the Lord's prayer, saying, "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." This is a request of God to forgive our sins. Connecting with it is the fact that we also are now forgiving everyone who sins against us. The Lord expects us to be forgiving. Not just some, but "everyone" who sins against us. Our Lord wants us to be forgiving of who ever sins against us.

"Everyone" is a big word, isn't it. What about those who won't apologize and ask for forgiveness? What about people who don't admit their wrongdoing? Both of these are included. Everyone includes those who don't believe they have sinned against you or won't admit it. Everyone includes those who don't really care that they wronged you. Even if they don't ask for forgiveness, God still wants us to forgive them. They are the toughest, though.

Other verses besides our text give even stronger language to God's command to forgive others. Mark 11:25-26 says "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." The strong language here says forgive other people, or you yourself won't be forgiven. This is strong law, which shows us our sins. It points us to our failures.

This statement of law says, if you expect to be forgiven, then you better forgive. And remember our text, forgive...everyone. When you line yourself up with this law, what do you find? Do you come up short? Possibly there are people you have trouble forgiving. Possibly there are some you would rather hold a grudge against. If you don't forgive everyone, then you fail at keeping the law. You fail, and you should not expect God to forgive you. You are dead in your trespasses and sins and that is where you will stay.

Each of us needs to evaluate our own works of forgiving others. Taking an honest look at yourself, you will find that you are not very good at forgiving everyone. You are a feeble forgiver. You fail at forgiving everyone who sins against you.

How can we feeble forgivers then ask for our sins to be forgiven? How can we pray the Lord's prayer? We don't deserve to be forgiven. We haven't earned it because we don't forgive everyone who sins against us.

How wonderful our God is...who comes to us with grace. See, even in the midst of our failure to forgive, He forgives us by grace. When we fail to earn forgiveness, it comes as a free gift, through our Savior Jesus Christ. Our forgiveness is undeserved, yet it comes by grace. Not based on what we do, but only on what Christ did. Not based on our feeble forgiveness of others, Jesus brings to us a formidable forgiveness, that surpasses our weakness. His forgiveness is complete, wiping out all our sins. It even wipes out our failures to forgive others.

Our sins, the offenses we commit against God, are forgiven in a unique way, a way that brings even greater offense upon God. God not only humbled Himself to take on humanity, but He also suffered for us, was crucified for us, and died for us. Then He rose for us. We humans committed terrible crimes against Jesus when He did not deserve any of it. For us, Christ endured humiliation and punishment due us for our sins. None of the grace did we deserve. That is what makes it grace, a gift. None of the punishment did Christ deserve. Yet He demonstrated His great love by sacrificing Himself for us. We are forgiven, because Christ went to the cross. As our reading from Colossians said, Christ nailed the law to the cross, specifically our violations of the law, our sins, are nailed to the cross, and so we are forgiven. And so we are made alive in Christ.

Martin Luther's Small Catechism describes this fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer this way:

We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that he would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

Knowing the forgiveness we have in Christ, our text gives us an opportunity to reflect that forgiveness to others. We can be mirrors of Christ's grace given to us, as we give forgiveness to others. And what a wonderful opportunity we have to release our destructive feelings and move on in our relationship with others. By the strength of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, we can stop holding the grudges. We can forgive those who sin against us. We can show others just what forgiveness in Christ is all about, by forgiving them. We can be a model or reminder to people of the formidable forgiveness of our Lord.

We ought not be left understand our forgiveness of others as earning us forgiveness. That would be trying to live under the law. Instead, as forgiven sinners, spared by the grace of God, we are also forgiven forgivers. We don't earn our forgiveness, yet we do respond to God forgiving us with our own efforts to forgive other people.

Again, Martin Luther put it very nicely in the Large Catechism, where he said:

Meanwhile, a necessary, yet comforting word is attached here: "as we forgive those who trespass against us." God has promised us the certain assurance that all is completely forgiven and pardoned, yet with the understanding that we are also to forgive our neighbor. For just as God in His grace forgives everything by which we sin much against Him every day, so we also must constantly forgive our neighbor who does us harm, violence, and injustice, treats us with abominable shabby tricks, and the like. If you do not forgive, do not imagine that God will forgive you. But if you do forgive, you have the comfort and assurance that in heaven you are forgiven. But you are forgiven not on account of the forgiveness you granted to your neighbor, for God forgives completely and for nothing, out of pure grace and because He promised it, as the Gospel teaches. Rather, God has linked our forgiveness of our neighbor to God's forgiveness of us for our strengthening and assurance, and as a sign alongside the promise..."

Thus this sign is attached to the petition so that when we pray we might remember the promise and think, "Dear Father, I come to You pleading for Your forgiveness not because I make up for my sins or earn Your forgiveness with my act of forgiveness, but I come because You have promised forgiveness and attached the seal to it so as to make it as certain as if You had Yourself audibly spoken the absolution to me."

Conclusion

It is our privilege and gift to forgive others. Yet, our forgiveness will be imperfect. We will fail. We are weak. However, the forgiveness Christ brings to us is perfect. It is complete. It is 100%. And it is given for nothing, out of pure grace and because He promised it. We are fully forgiven as we practice that forgiveness with others. Fully forgiven, working on forgiving others. We are Forgiven Forgivers. We constantly remind ourselves through God's Word and Sacraments how we are forgiven. Then God's example of forgiveness gives us the power to practice forgiveness with people. And in the process, we constantly turn to Christ for forgiveness. We indeed have a certain assurance that all is forgiven and pardoned through...Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.