Sermon
Psalm 145:8-13 Romans 13: 8-12 & 14
“It’s All About Forgiveness”
How can we who have died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:2
“How can we who have been made right not live righteous lives?
How can we who have been loved not love?
How can we who have been blessed not bless?
How can we who have been given grace not live graciously?...
How can grace result in anything but gracious living?
So do think we should continue sinning so that god would give us even more
grace?...” (Max Lucado, “Everyday Blessings,” Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 2004. (September 9).
PRAYER
Last Sunday we talked about genuine love, found in Romans 12. Today we continue with the next chapter of the apostle Paul on being armed with Christ.
“If there is anything that followers of Jesus owe to any person, it must be nothing other than love… Love… can serve as an identity marker or description of the Christian community. As an identity marker, love defines the attitude, behavior, and norm by which the Christian community takes account of its life. This love… has two feet: love of God and love of neighbor. It is not that one must love God first in order to love the neighbor, but that the love of God is simultaneously inseparable from the love of neighbor, because God has become the neighbor.
The notion of neighbor should not be limited to a member of one’s faith community or the immediate neighborhood.” (We need to take into account the whole world). (Eleazar S. Fernandez, “Feasting on the Word,” Year A, vol. 4, pg. 38)
Let me read a few lines from the bulletin used at this morning’s 9/11/2011 Tribute on the common, Bridgewater, MA.
“On September 11, 2001, the peace and security of our nation was shattered by cowardly terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 innocent and brave people at the World Trade Center towers in New York, at the Pentagon and in the pristine fields of Pennsylvania. Although the terrorists’ goal was to tear the fabric of this nation, arising from the ashes of that tragedy came a remarkable spirit of unity, compassion and determination that will never be forgotten. We will never forget those who were lost and injured on that day, and those who rose in service during the rescue and recovery effort and in defense of our nation both here at home and abroad.”
If we can’t forget, can we forgive and let go?
The children of 9/11 are still coping today with the loss of their loved ones. What can we say to them? Mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, relatives and friends, cannot forget, they do not want to forget. Forgetting is like erasing the facts, the experiences, the pain, to ignore reality, to deny the sorrow, the loss, to pretend it’s o.k. or to pretend it did not happen.
Can we forgive our enemies? Is forgiving hard because we can’t erase the memories from our minds? Is it easier to forgive if an apology is given?
What is forgiveness, anyway?
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (NIV) Matthew 18:21-22
“This answer by Jesus makes it clear that forgiveness is not easy for us. It's not a one-time choice and then we automatically live in a state of forgiveness. Forgiveness may require a lifetime of forgiving... We must continue forgiving until the matter is settled in our heart.” www.ask.com
Paul is inviting the Romans, the Colossians and us to clothe ourselves with the armor of light, to put on the Lord Jesus, to put on the cloth of Christ.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe your selves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Colossians 3:12-13.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be
condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (NIV) Luke 6:37
“Why must we forgive?
Christ teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer, to forgive others as he forgives us our wrong doings. Why do we need to constantly ask for forgiveness to God? Because we struggle with our sinful nature, it gets in the way of who we really want to be; that is Christ like. Humanly we struggle for what we really want; meaning revenge, pay back, justice, and that we need to leave these to the law and to God.
“The good news is that all of us sin and fall short of God’s glory but that all are justified by grace (Rom 3). The good news is that our faith will be reckoned to us as righteousness, just as Abraham’s was (Rom 4). The good news is that in Christ humankind takes on a new identity and a new hope… (Rom 5). The good news is that, rightly understood, the law can be an invitation to daily faithfulness. Because of what God has done, is doing, and will do for us in Jesus Christ, we live with the possibility of genuine transformation (and forgiveness).”
(David Bartlett, “Feasting on the Word,” Year A, vol. 4, pg. 39)
We are called to live “the Christian life out day by day, with each day presenting challenges and each day building on the one before, as we journey towards being the people God has gifted us to be. This text lays out clearly the simplicity and complexity of that daily journey. Simply, love is the essence of discipleship, the basis of transformation. That love, however, involves all we are and do, individually and as a faith community, every day.”
(Rochelle A. Stackhouse, “Feasting on the Word,” Year A, vol. 4, pg. 42)
To put it bluntly, when we love our neighbor as ourselves, we are able to forgive others as Christ forgives us. Amen!
BENEDICTION
“How can we who have been loved not love?
How can we who have been blessed not bless?
How can we who have been given grace not live graciously?...”
(Max Lucado, “Everyday Blessings,” Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 2004. (September 9).
Let us go out into the world and love,
Forgiving and reconciling with each other.
Let us cloth ourselves with Christ. Amen!
