The Apostle's Creed Series #10

"I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins"
Mt.18:21-27, Col.3:13

This morning as we draw near to the end of our look at the Apostle’s Creed, I want to focus on what may be the most important phrase of all: "I believe...in the forgiveness of sins." If that is not true, what does it matter whether God is almighty or Jesus Christ was born and died and rose again or that the Holy Spirit exists? Without forgiveness, these things would be just hollow beliefs. There is no article in the Apostles’ Creed that is more important for us today than this affirmation, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins."

As I thought about how to present this, I decided that this is a time to be very practical. After all, it surely comes as no surprise to you that we believe in the forgiveness of sins, and I suspect that you have heard over time more than one sermon on the importance and need for forgiveness. The problem with a creed is that the words are familiar and easy to say... too easy. It’s easy to say, "I believe..." without really meaning it. It is not until we start applying those statements that we find out how much we really believe them. "I believe in the forgiveness of sins," or so we say. Do we really?

You have perhaps heard these words before:"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Mt.6:12). Have you paid attention to what Jesus said only two verses later? "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (6:14-15). There is a burden to forgiveness that is hard to bear.

How many of you struggle with the issue of forgiveness? Perhaps right now you are harboring some resentment, anger or bitterness toward somebody over past actions. Perhaps a spouse has betrayed your love by seeking another person’s companionship. Perhaps a parent abused you as a child, or a coworker has been making life difficult for you. In almost every case we find that it’s much easier to talk about forgiveness than it is to offer it.

"I believe in the forgiveness of sins." Those are such easy words to say when they are allowed to stand alone with no real thought about how or when we might have to apply them. This morning, let us be honest. Forgiveness is rarely easy, and often not what we want to do at all. It almost always costs us something. And yet Jesus was clear: forgiveness is what we are to offer, because it is what was offered to us. Colossians 3:13 says, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." If we truly believe in the forgiveness of sins, we must be ready to offer forgiveness in a sinful world.

We are certainly not the first generation to struggle with this issue of forgiveness. In Matthew 18:21 we read about a time when Peter, one of the 12 disciples, came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" That seemed to Peter to be generous, perhaps even gracious, yet it still allowed for a definite end, a time when he could say, "Enough is enough! I will forgive you no more!" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven!"In other words, our forgiveness toward someone who seeks it should be limitless. "Seventy times seven!"

Then, as Jesus did so often to illustrate what He was saying, he told a story. That story is going to be the focus of our attention this morning. It is found in Matthew 18:23-35. Let’s take a look at it and see what we can learn. (Read vs.23-25) The reality of the situation was desperate. Somehow, this servant had accumulated a debt that was unimaginable at this time: "ten thousand talents," the equivalent of millions of dollars today. It was a hopeless situation. How a person could take that much money, how he or she could spend that much money, I don’t know. No matter how it had happened, however, it was gone now, and the servant had no ability to pay it all back.

Surely this servant had known deep inside that he couldn’t hide his transactions forever; that a day of reckoning would one day come. It did. The king conducted an audit and commanded that all debts be settled at once. When he discovered how much the servant owed, and that there was no hope of the servant ever being able to pay him back, the king gave the command that the servant had feared. He ordered that the man, his wife and his children be sold into slavery, and that all the man’s possessions be sold to help repay the debt. The servant had lived a good life, but now he was about to lose it all: his freedom, his family, his possessions. The way of life that he had chosen, though it had been fun while it lasted, had brought him to this dreadful day. No party, no matter how lavish, no home no matter how nice, no wardrobe, no matter how stylish was worth the punishment that he was getting ready to suffer. I think that we would be pretty safe to say that his situation was desperate. It is a picture of us, of how we stand before God with our huge debt of sin, unable to ever repay it.

In vs.25 we see that the king initially followed his natural, and rightful, inclination, and ordered imprisonment and full restitution, no matter how hopeless the situation. It is easy to understand, for it is a natural response, one that many of us are quite familiar with. Look, however, at what happens next.

"The servant fell on his knees before the king. ‘Be patient with me," he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’" (vs. 26) At that moment as he stood in front of the king and acknowledged the king’s authority, he rightfully fell to his knees. As he acknowledged the coming punishment, he begged. Perhaps he had been in the king’s presence before when similar punishment was handed out to other people, but the punishment had never been staring him in the face before. He had always been able to push it into the background so that he didn’t have to deal with it. Now, however, he could ignore it no longer. It drove him to beg for mercy and patience.

The servant clearly did not understand the immensity of his debt."I’ll pay back everything." It was a stupid promise. There was no way that he could pay the king back, but he didn’t understand this. He knew how easy it had been to get into debt, to commit the crime, and he thought that it would be just as easy to get out of that debt. He was wrong. He had no idea how deep his debt really was.

How like us. I suspect that one of the main reasons we as Christians do not live lives totally committed to Christ is because we fail to realize the immensity of the debt we owed before God forgave us. In Romans 3:11-18, God gives one description of what He thinks of us in our sin: "There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

You can put on a good show in front of the people that are around you, your family, your friends. You can say as so many people have said before, "My sin is small. I didn’t mean any harm. I don’t know why I did it." However, none of our excuses can change the one essential fact: our debt to God caused by our sin is truly immense.

The servant didn’t understand the immensity of his debt. Neither did he understand the character of his master. He apparently thought of the king as cruel, demanding and harsh. He didn’t know that the master was a kind man who ruled his kingdom with love, mercy and grace. Be patient with me,"he begged. That’s fine, but patience is not what he needed. The King could have had the patience of Job and the servant still would never been able to pay off the debt. The servant asked for patience when his real need was forgiveness. How many of us make the same mistake when it comes to our sin? "Lord, please be patient with me. I know that I am not where you want me to be or what you want me to be. But if you’ll be patient with me, I’ll get myself together and I’ll pay back everything that I owe." Friends, we don’t have to ask for God’s patience. God already is patient. "The Lord...is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance"(2 Peter 3:9). God offers us so much more than patience. He offers forgiveness.

The response of the king was unexpected. "The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go."(Vs.27) Look into the eyes of both of the men that were present on that day. What do you imagine in the eyes of the servant? I imagine fear. Wouldn’t that be what was in your eyes if you were facing what he faced? Now look into the eyes of the king. At first, you see anger and rightly so, because the servant’s actions were evil and deserving of wrath. But when the servant humbled himself, the eyes of the king changed. When that servant looked up to see how the king would respond to his request, he saw kindness and compassion and pity shining in the king’s eyes, and the fear faded away. Maybe you have been afraid to come to God for forgiveness because you fear that you will only see anger in his eyes. You expect God to be angry because you have messed up your life and your family’s life so badly. You expect God to be angry because you keep asking for forgiveness of the same sin over and over again. You expect wrong. When someone comes to God for forgiveness, God’s anger is replaced with compassion and grace.

The king released him from his debt. He "forgave" him. It doesn’t say that he lowered the man’s debt to a sum that he would be able to work off. It doesn’t say that he gave him a no interest loan. It says that he forgave the debt – completely. It was gone. He could leave the king’s presence a free, unburdened man.

The servant tried to come up with his own solution to the problem. His solution involved paying back the loan. His solution involved keeping himself under bondage, punishing himself until the loan was paid off. The king’s solution was for the loan to be forgiven. Which solution do you like better? Which solution would you like for yourself?

Which solution will you offer the world?

"I believe in the forgiveness of sins." This is at the heart of what God offers us, and it is the beginning of what we offer the world. Perhaps now is a time for you to seek God’s forgiveness for the sin in your life and to find peace and healing. Maybe it is time for you to lay your anger, your hurt, your pride, your righteousness at the foot of the cross and to ask God to give you the strength to offer forgiveness to the one who has hurt you the most. You too can find peace and healing.

Friends, I do believe in the forgiveness of sins. Do you?

Lord, give us an awareness that we are indeed your forgiven people. Give us the grace to be your forgiving people. We give you all praise and adoration. Amen.