The Foundation of Forgiveness

 August 30, 2022

But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven, may your Name be kept holy.

May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:6-14 (NLT)

There’s been a lot of talk about forgiveness recently. Primarily, financial loan forgiveness in the billion-dollar higher education industry. This written offering will not tackle that issue.

What we do want to focus on is the term forgiveness. (Seems to be something a lot of forgiven prople have forgotten about...) It’s something we all want to take effect in our own lives but often redact from others. After all, to err is human, but to forgive - that’s out of the question!

In our text this week we see that forgiveness is the “bullseye” of this section of the Sermon on the Mount. Let’s take a quick look at this wonderful word.

The original word in Greek is ἀφίημι - pronounced af-ee'-ay-mee. It is properly defined as meaning “to send away, leave alone, permit.” If we were to do a word study of it we would find that aphíēmi is a compound word from apó, "away from" and hiēmi, "send.” Put that together and we have - to send away; release (discharge).

Literally, forgiveness means to release or discharge someone from something.

In Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance we find that "to forgive" is to send; to send forth; to cry, forsake, lay aside, leave, let alone, let be, let go, let have, omit, put away, send away, remit, suffer, yield up.

That’s a whole lot more than we bargained for huh?

When we speak of forgiveness it can be a tough mental exercise. Why? Because, when we look at the concept of forgiveness and then employ it in our lives, we have to do a quick (ok, sometimes long) inventory of what someone else has done to us. And that is exhausting.

Sure, it may make you feel good for a few moments to rant and rave about someone else’s shortcomings. It may give you a brief interlude of satisfaction to let someone know how you feel about what they said or did, or didn’t say or do. You might even feel a sense of revenge when you are able to hold power and sway over someone - simply by not forgiving them.

Thank God, Jesus doesn’t think or act like us. Nor should his followers.

Followers of Jesus should be committed to a life of releasing forgiveness into the lives of others. John Stott tells the story about Marghanita Laski, a well known secular humanist and writer. Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor on television, she said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me." Are you somebody who is willing to forgive others?

Followers of Jesus should be first in line to offer forgiveness. There's a story of a Spanish father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. Are you willing to not give up on those who have hurt and dissappointed you and offer forgiveness?

Followers of Jesus should be the greatest examples of releasing people from the prison of guilt. Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day! Are you willing to forgive so that another may be whole?

Followers of Jesus should be willing to forgive themselves. In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther's sins, and held it before him. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, "Is that all?" "No!" came the abrupt and loud reply. A second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third! But now the devil had no more. "You've forgotten something," Luther exclaimed with a barely noticeable smile. "Quickly write on each of them, 'The blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses us from all sins.'" Are you willing to forgive yourself the way Jesus forgives you?

It really is all about forgiveness. It is the foundation to everything. Otherwise, why did Paul write to the church in Romans 5:7-9: "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!"

So, the question really is simple: how strong is your foundation?