Back in 1980, I was a Teaching Assistant at Old Dominion University in the School of Business. And I had the opportunity to work under a remarkable professor, Dr. Greenberg. He taught
Marketing 353, An Introduction to Business Communication. And I remember him telling me that, when it comes to communication, there’s always three parts: the one who sends the message, the message itself and the one to whom the message is sent. Of course, that’s kind of a “DAH” statement. But as I remember he also said that the reception of the message was actually far more important than either the message itself or the intention of the one who sent it. In other words, if Debbie and I are having a conversation, what I want to communicate and what I actually say is really less important than what she hears, something I’ve learned from painful experience. Let’s just say, when she asks how a new outfit looks and I say “It’s fine,” well, what I intend is miles away from what she hears.
And I’ll tell you, that’s sort of what we’re going to be talking about this morning as we move forward in our exploration of The Apostle’s Creed. Of course, to this point, we’ve covered the following, and as we’ve done the last few weeks, would you say it with me?
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
Now, that’s what we’ve already discussed.
And this morning, we’re going to move on to the next affirmation: I BELIEVE in...the forgiveness of sins. And like I said, I think this is really a lot like the kind of communication we were talking about a little while ago. You see, to me, forgiveness is similar to the message, something that’s sent by God and received by us. And even though that seems pretty simple and straightforward, the process can sort of break down if our reception is a little off. In other words, we might completely miss this wonderful message of love if we don’t receive it in the way God wants us to respond.
And I’ll tell you, that’s going to be our focus this morning. Using some passages from the New Testament, we’re going to consider two things: how and why God has forgiven us and then how and why we can receive God’s forgiveness. And hopefully, by the end, we’ll have a better understanding of God’s intentions as we respond to this gift to us. Now that’s the plan.
And like I’ve already said, we’re going to start by focusing on how and why God has forgiven us. I mean, what was his motivation in doing this and what were his intended results? In other words, how and why did God forgive us, his children?
Of course, if you’re talking about how he did it, in my opinion, it really comes down to this: Because God loves us, he forgave us through Jesus Christ. You see, when you get right down to it, God was motivated by love; it’s just that simple. And I’m talking about a love that’s not based on how good or how spiritual or how loveable we are. Instead, it’s a love that’s grounded in the nature of God himself. And you know, I think that’s what Jesus was getting at when he was talking to Nicodemus. You see, right after telling him about the importance of being born of water and of spirit and how the Son of Man was going to be lifted up just like Moses lifted up the bronze snake on the pole in the Wilderness in order to “heal” his people, Jesus offered the reason God had done this in the past and was about to do it again in the very near future when he said this:
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! No one who has faith in God’s Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn’t have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God’s only Son. [John 3:16-18, CEV]
Now that’s what Jesus said. In other words, the reason God was going to do all that, I mean, the reason he was offering eternal life and salvation and forgiveness didn’t have anything to do with condemnation or retribution or punishment. Instead his motivation was love, love for this world that he’d made. And I’ll tell you, that’s exactly what he did, wasn’t it? Just listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians:
You were dead, because you were sinful and were not God’s people. But God let Christ make you alive, when he forgave all our sins.
God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross. [Colossians 2:13-14, CEV]
Now just think about this. Without our permission or help, Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and died for us. And I’ll tell you, that was grounded in God’s love, because on that same cross our sins were nailed and when he died, so did we. You see, because God loves us, he forgave us through Jesus Christ.
And as a result, as a result of that love and as a result of that death, we’ve been both freed and restored. For example, we’ve been set free, set free from guilt and condemnation. You see, God’s forgiveness has removed the debt and penalty of sin; man, it’s gone forever. And to make it even better, in the sight of God, we’re no longer held condemned for our past actions. Now that’s what I believe. And I’ll tell you, I think the Apostle Paul believed it too and that’s why he wrote this to the Romans:
If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ’s body to condemn sin. [Romans 8:1-3, CEV]
I’m telling you, we’ve been freed.
But that’s not all. You see, because we’ve been forgiven, we’ve also been restored, restored in our relationship with God. I mean, because we’ve been set free, sin will no longer get in the way. In other words, from God’s perspective, it can no longer separate us from the one who loved us before he laid the foundation of the universe. And for that reason, the possibility of a real and growing fellowship with God has been restored. And because of that, life can now have purpose and direction. And we can now live with peace and hope. As a matter of fact, because of God, we can experience what I think you could call almost a recreation right now, something that I think Paul described to the Corinthians when he wrote,
Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. [2 Corinthians 5:17-18, CEV]
You see, as a result of God’s love for us and as a result of Christ’s death on the cross, we’ve not only been freed, man, we’ve been restored. And I’m telling you, in my opinion, that’s exactly how and why God has forgiven us.
But remember, just like I said about communication, for as important as God’s intention is, how and why we receive it is just as important. I mean, I don’t think our response is going to be worth a hill of beans, if we disregard what it says in scripture and assume that God isn’t motivated by love and that the work wasn’t done by Christ alone; therefore, we’ve been freed from nothing and that restoration isn’t possible without us earning it ourselves. You see, that’s what we can hear. And if we do, we’re going to totally misunderstand God’s intention with forgiveness and his word to us. But let me tell you right here and now, based on what we already know, that doesn’t have to be the case.
I mean, because we believe that God has forgiven us, we can trust that it’s been given while also recognizing that it was needed. Let me explain. Right here and now, we can decide to trust that God really has forgiven us. You see, we can decide to trust that God loves us and Christ died for us. And we can decide to trust that through that love and death, we’ve been freed and restored. In other words, we can believe that Paul knew exactly what he was talking about when he wrote this to Colossians:
God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son, who forgives our sins and sets us free. [Colossians 1:13-14, CEV]
You see, we can recognize that God did exactly what he promised to do. But along with that, we can also recognize that forgiveness, man, this was something that we needed. I mean, without the love and the cross, we’d be just up a creek without a paddle, wouldn’t we? We’d be just a group of people bound to the past and wandering around, alone in the dark. In short, if God hadn’t forgiven us, man we’d be just a bunch of sinners: bound, gagged and powerless. As a matter of fact, we might actually be worse than just a mess of sinners. I mean, as John reminds us in his first letter,
If we say we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.
If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his message isn’t in our hearts. [1 John 1:8-10, CEV]
Now, left on our own, that’s what we are. But of course, as we’ve already heard, that’s not the case, because, as it relates to forgiveness, we can trust that it’s been given and recognize that it was needed.
And I’ll tell you, if we do, if we hear the message that God is sharing with us and if we accept the forgiveness that he offers, and if we experience the freedom and restoration forgiveness brings, my goodness gracious, I think it’ll change how we feel and what we do. I mean, give me a break, trusting that we’ve been forgiven my God, man that’s got to bring a little more peace and joy into our lives, and I’m talking about the kind of peace that comes from knowing that our past doesn’t have to hold us back or determine who we are and the kind of joy that we can carry with us as we move into the future and that will keep us going even when the journey becomes challenging and the way becomes a little bit bumpy. As a matter of fact, we might even come to the point where these words from Paul not only make sense but reflect what we feel.
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, we have peace with God. Christ has also introduced us to God’s gift of undeserved grace on which we now take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. But that’s not all! We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love. [Romans 5:1-5, CEV]
I’ll tell you, once we’re freed from the guilt we may have carried around for years and restored to a right relationship with God, how can it not change how we feel, you know, on the inside.
And on the outside, how can it not also change what we choose to do? I mean, since God has forgiven us, how can we not be more patient and forgiving with others? My gosh, if we really appreciate what we’ve received as a result of God’s love and Christ’s death and if we truly accept that, as a result, we’ve been both freed and restored, how can we not extend that same grace and mercy and compassion to others, and I include even those who’ve not been very good to us? In other words, how can we carry around bitterness and resentments when we trust that God has given us exactly what we need? As a matter of fact, how can we not take to heart what Paul told the Ephesians when he wrote this:
Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don’t yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ. [Ephesians 4:31-32, CEV]
You see, when we trust that God has forgiven us and recognize that this is exactly what we need, I believe it’s going to change how we feel and what we do. And for me, that’s exactly how and why we can receive God’s forgiveness.
Now, over the years, I’ve used a lot of the stuff I learned working with Dr. Greenberg. For example, when I’m counseling a couple, especially one that’s kind of struggling with communication issues, I’ll tell them about how the intentions behind the message sent and even the message itself are secondary to how the message is actually received. And then I help them learn to communicate with a little more clarity and to look for those signs that may show whether or not the message has been received as intended. Of course, we do that only if, after asking them, they both say “fine.”
But I’ll tell you, after reading what the Bible has to say, I don’t think we have to be so intentional in order to understand forgiveness. You see, I believe it’s pretty clear that God has forgiven us. I mean, because he loves us, God forgave us through Jesus Christ, offering us freedom and restoration. I also think it’s equally clear that we can receive God’s forgiveness. I mean, we can trust that it was given and recognize that it was needed, and we can allow that awareness to change how we feel and what we do. Now, for me, that’s the truth behind the words, I BELIEVE in...the forgiveness of sins.
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