FORGIVE
AS THE LORD FORGAVE YOU!Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson; Romans 14:5-9
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 18:21-35
Sermon Text; Genesis 50:15-21
Our families are a wonderful, wonderful blessing and gift from God, our Father in Heaven. As I look out over this congregation, I see so many Christian families. And yet, we are all very, very aware (and sometimes painfully so), that Christian families are not free from trouble, nor are they free from sin. Let me give you two examples. Suppose that a Christian mom and dad have an only child, an only son. They love their dear son so much. And as he grows, a very, very tight relationship between parent and child forms. Their relationship is tighter than normal, because he is an only child.
When that son grows up and gets married, he maintains that very, very close, tight relationship with his mom and dad. In fact, their relationship is so close that his wife feels as though his relationship with her takes second place in his life. She feels like their relationship didn’t become a primary relationship in his life. He sins against his wife, because he doesn't follow scripture's command that a man should leave his father and mother, be united to his wife, and the two become one flesh.
She sees that and becomes resentful toward her in-laws. She begins to talk badly about them and doesn't want to spend time with them. So, she sins, because she is not honoring her husband's father and mother.
The husband, in reaction to that, decides that he simply cannot spend time with his parents anymore, for his wife's sake.
When his parents see that, they grow resentful. They grow resentful toward their daughter in-law, and in so doing, sin against her.
Christian families, as you and I all know, can have troubles and sins that entangle us. One sin builds on another, which builds on another. And, we can all relate to that.
Another example is a Christian father, who is struggling with the sin of alcoholism. He is trying desperately to rid himself of that sin. But, on occasion he falls into that sin and becomes drunk. Normally, when he is sober, he is a wonderful dad. He loves his children. He is dependable and he keeps his promises to them. But when he is drunk, he abuses them. He neglects them. He breaks his promises to them. He is not dependable to them and he sins against his children.
His young daughter sees that. She grows up and begins to believe that when it comes to relationships, well…you simply can't depend upon them. She believes you can't really trust the person that you are closest to.
So, when she gets married, she feels that way about her husband. She keeps a distance, emotionally, from her husband. By doing this, she sins against her husband, because she does not love him the way she should.
Her husband sees that and then he reacts. He begins to spend more and more time at work, because he is finding his self-identity there, rather than in his relationship with his wife. He sins against his wife, because he is not putting her as his first priority in his life.
And the children, who see their mother keeping a distance and their father keeping a distance, begin to resent that. They begin to rebel against their parents and they sin against their parents.
And so, we all know in Christian families, even though we are Christian families, there is sin. Sin can build and build, causing trouble and problems in our Christian families. And, we all know it! We all know that, (don’t we) because we all have experienced it in our lives, in one way or another.
Trouble and problems happen to every Christian family. Your family is not unique. And, I want you to know there is comfort found in scripture. God has, through His Word, let us know that Christian families do have trouble and problems. In fact, maybe the strongest Christian family of believers that we can think of, the founders of the Jewish race, Abraham, his son Isaac, and his son Jacob, had problems. I just want to touch the tip of the iceberg, here this morning, on the family problems that this Christian family had, as they sinned against one another.
Let us start out with Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race. God promised Abraham in his old age, and his wife Sarah in her old age, that they would have a son. However, as years passed, they didn’t have that son. So Sarah went to Abraham and said, "Abraham why don’t you have relations with my slave girl, Hagar and try to have a son through her?"
Abraham listened to her and so doing, broke his marriage vow to his wife. Hagar did have a son and she named him Ishmael. Later on, Abraham and Sarah did have the son that God had promised. And, they named him Isaac.
As those two boys (Ishmael and Isaac) grew, Ishmael began to rival Isaac. He began to make fun of Isaac and mock him. Finally, Abraham had to drive Hagar and Ishmael out of the family.
Sin came into that family. And you can see the trouble that had come into that family, because of that sin. What injury and pain sin brought into their family.
Isaac, the son, saw what his dad, Abraham, did. His dad had to make a choice between two sons. Was it Isaac or Ishmael? And, Isaac became the favorite.
When Isaac grew up, he perpetuated that same sin in his own family. He had two sons. One named Esau and one named Jacob. Esau was tough and rugged. Jacob was the "stay at home type". Isaac loved Esau more than he loved Jacob. He sinned against his sons.
That of course caused rivalry between the two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Jacob, the youngest, knew that God had promised that he would have the rights of the first born, but instead of trusting God, Jacob deceived his elderly father into giving him that birthright. And, he sinned against his father. Look at the sin that was in this Christian family.
That caused even more rivalry between Jacob and Esau. Finally, Jacob had to flee for his life. He fled to Laban, his uncle. There he fell in love with Laban’s beautiful daughter named Rachel. He made arrangements with Laban to marry his daughter, Rachel.
However, his uncle deceived him. On his wedding night, unbeknownst to him, Jacob received the older, uglier daughter Leah. So now, his father in-law had deceived him.
Eventually Jacob also married Rachel, the younger, prettier daughter. Now Jacob had a favorite. His favorite wife was Rachel. He sinned against those wives.
They began to compete with one another and have animosity toward one another. They sinned against one another.
From that family came twelve sons. One of those sons was named Joseph. The other eleven sons are the other tribes of Israel. But, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob. And, Jacob sinned against his other sons, when he chose a favorite.
Joseph had dreams. He dreamt that his brothers would bow down to him. And, he dreamt that his father and mother would bow down to him, too.
The animosity grew, when Joseph’s father made him a coat of many colors, and didn’t do that for the other boys.
Ultimately, those brothers sold Joseph, their own brother, into slavery. They sinned against their brother.
They took that coat of many colors and dipped it in goat’s blood. They deceived their father, and broke his heart, when they told him that Joseph was dead. They sinned against their father.
You think your family has problems! There were terrible problems in that family. That was a Christian family, which sinned against one another.
Joseph, who had been sold into slavery, eventually through the turn of events, became the leader of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh! Because of the famine, Joseph’s brothers came down to Egypt and rediscovered one another. The entire family (all of those brothers and Joseph’s father), moved down to Egypt.
Ultimately, we get to the passages printed on the back of today’s bulletin, in Genesis 50:15-21. Joseph’s dad had died and those eleven brothers were worried. They knew that they had sinned against their brother, Joseph, when they had sold him into slavery. They knew what they deserved, for that sin.
And there, we see a beautiful, beautiful lesson on how Christian families, even though we sin against one another, (and sometimes very badly) how Christian families should deal with one another. The first thing we see happening here is what these eleven brothers, who had sinned against Joseph, did. They didn’t go back to him and say, "Well, it is Dad’s fault, because he showed favoritism. And, you were so proud of your dreams, that we were finally driven into selling you into slavery."
They didn’t blame anyone else for what they had done. They simply came to their brother Joseph and acknowledged, "We sinned against you." They repented of their sins. They were sorry for what they had done. They knew what they deserved. They deserved to have Joseph treat them badly and hurt them, harm them and take revenge against them. They had done wrong, and they were acknowledging that, as they repented to him and pleaded with him to forgive them.
They also bore fruits in keeping with repentance. They wanted to show with their lives that they were repentant.
His brothers then came and
threw themselves down before him.
"We are your slaves," they said.
Because after all, what had they done to him? They had sold him into slavery. They were now saying, "We’d even show with our lives, we would be your slaves, but just forgive us. We are sorry."
That is very reminiscent of the parable that Jesus told of the Prodigal Son, isn’t it? As you remember, in Luke 15:11-32,
"There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance." So he divided his property between them."
The young son went to a far distant country and spent all he had on wild, riotous living. After he had spent his entire inheritance and was destitute, he took a job feeding pigs, and longed to eat the food those pigs were eating.
"When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men."
Isn’t that what Joseph’s brothers were saying? "We have sinned against you. We don’t deserve to be called your brothers. Make us like your slaves, but please forgive us."
How wholesome it is in Christian families when we repent, when we sin against one another! When we, as Christians sin against one another, we realize that, whatever I do to the least of one of Christ’s brothers or sisters, I do it to Christ.
When I sin against my family members,
I sin against God, Himself,
against Christ, Himself.
I know what I deserve for that. I deserve God’s punishment. I deserve my family member to take revenge on me and perpetuate that sin. But repentance is coming before that family member and God, Himself, and saying, "I am sorry. I know that I have wronged you."
A wife saying, "Husband, I am sorry that I have resented your parents. I know that is wrong."
A husband saying, "Honey, I am so sorry that I gave my parents first place in our relationship, rather than you. I am sorry. I know that was wrong."
Children coming to their parents saying, "I am sorry that I was rebellious. I know that was wrong."
How wholesome that is in Christian families!
In our text, what happened next, after the brothers pleaded with Joseph to forgive them? The Bible tells us, "When their message came to him, Joseph wept." He was moved by their repentance.
He was moved by their repentance!
The Bible tells us that he said to them, "Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You had intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." He reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
So, what did Joseph actually do? Joseph could have, by right, said, "You hurt me, you harmed me and now you deserve to be hurt and harmed." But in Christian love, he forgave the sins that his brothers committed against him. In fact, not only did he forgive them, but also part of forgiveness is to say, "I am not going to treat you the way you deserve to be treated. In fact, I am going to treat you kindly." Joseph said, "So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children."
And, that is like the parable of the Prodigal Son. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." That father forgave his son fully and freely, and showered him with blessings and kindness.
What wholesomeness it is, in the Christian family when those who have been wronged, forgive. But, why do we forgive those who wrong us? We forgive, as scripture says, because Christ, Himself, has forgiven YOU. He has forgiven me!
When we compare the sins that we commit against God, the sins we commit against our Savior, to the sins that others commit against us, what others do to us, we see that they are small compared to what we have done against God.
We have sinned against God many, many times throughout the day. We repeatedly sin against God. Our sins are like a HUGE mountain of sins against God. And God has every right to condemn us for all eternity. But what has God done for us? God has freely, (as stated on the back of today’s bulletin), freely canceled our debt! He has just canceled it! He tells us, "You don’t owe me, because you can never pay back the wrongs that you have done."
It cost God a great price to cancel our debt. And, what was the price?
The price was
His own life.
God took on
our sins.
He died on the cross
to pay for
our sins.
There on the cross, our sin, the great debt that we owed, was paid for by God, Himself. God has canceled our debt. We don’t owe a penny to God, by grace, for Christ’s sake! We are united to God. We are His sons and daughters! That forgiveness has brought harmony.
Scripture reminds us that because God has done that for you and me, when we are wronged, we should freely forgive the sins that are committed against us. We should freely, because Christ has forgiven us, say to our brother, sister, our husband, wife, and our in-laws, "I forgive you. I forgive you, because Christ has forgiven me."
Because He has forgiven us, how can we withhold that precious forgiveness from others? That forgiveness unites us, and it brings us together. It bonds us together as a Christian family.
Christian families are not perfect. Christian families are not perfect, but they are repentant and they are forgiving. What a blessing it is when dad says to his little son, "Son, I am sorry. I should not have been so angry at you." Repentance. The little son, that Christian son who knows that Christ has forgiven all sins, says to his dad, "Dad, I forgive you."
What joy that brings into a Christian home for peace and unity. God grant that peace and unity to all of our families, for Jesus’ sake. Let’s forgive others, the way the Lord forgives us!
Amen.
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