Forgiveness - Why?
sermon by Manfred Schreyer

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1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Mark 1:4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 3:3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.


When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free. <Catherine Ponder>

      One way or another we have to deal with forgiving someone else in our life.

      The concept of forgiveness is very difficult for many of us, because we have been hurt and in some cases we wish and hope that other person experiences the same pain we experience because the person offended us.

      Forgiveness in the bible is ALWAYS connected with repentance. (See Prodigal son, etc)

      I also want to make it clear that we should not forgive others for their deeds against others. Example: We should not forgive the deed of a person against another. If that is done it destroys the social responsibility. Example: I can not ask to forgive Adolf Hitler what he has done against all the innocent people who died from 1939 to 1945. I can't ask for for forgiveness for the CEO of Enron for the crime he committed against many innocent investors. They can forgive him individually or as a community, but I can’t forgive him.

      Forgiveness can only be given from one individual to another of from a community to an individual.

      What do we do with people who are not remorseful and do not understand they have done wrong against us?

      Mat 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Mat 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

      None of the biblical verses expects the offender to repent, but God asks us to set the offender free from our mind, because otherwise we become controlled in our actions against situations and that person.

       

Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges walked into the pages of American history when, on November 14, 1960, as a courageous six-year-old girl in New Orleans, she was the first African American to integrate an elementary school. Through her offer of forgiveness to those taunting her, she became a national symbol at a very early age.

"To forgive is to set yourself free, to acknowledge that it does no good to hate. Hate really, really destroys both the other person and yourself. That realization is what I think taught me about forgiveness, and so I try to live by it."

 

Forgiveness is not:

      Look at what a professor of psychology at Hope College says: "Forgiving doesn't mean ignoring an injustice or letting someone treat you badly. Remember that it's not a wimp's response. It takes a strong, courageous effort to make that move. Letting go of your grudges takes a great deal of moral muscle." (Charlotte vanOyen Wilvliet, quoted in Zest Magazine, (UK) October 2000.)

      Forgiveness is not about glossing over wrongs.
      Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "Forgiveness is taking seriously the awfulness of what has happened when you are treated unfairly. Forgiveness is not pretending that things are other than the way they are."

      Forgiveness is not amnesia.
      "Forgiveness does not equal forgetting. It is about healing the memory of the harm, not erasing it. The offense will still be part of your history, but it does not have to dominate your life.

      Forgiveness is not pardoning, condoning, or excusing: forgiveness does not remove consequences.
      Pope John Paul II forgave his intended assassin in a face-to-face encounter. He is currently serving in prison.

      Forgiveness does not have to include reconciliation; forgiveness is not the same as trusting.
      The injured party can forgive an offender even though the offender may never (or for safety sake, must never) be a part of his or her life in the future.

      Forgiveness is not self sacrifice.

You can not "put" a smile on you face and pretend. Forgiveness offers no halfway forgiveness. You either forgive or you don’t.

 

 Forgiveness is: 

      Forgiveness is seeing the world as it really is. It does not deny the facts, but it allows us to see how much not forgiving holds our life captive in and the consequence of not forgiving is tremendous.

      Forgiveness has to be personal

We can not forgive others who offended someone else. Forgiveness is personal

      Forgiveness is empathy.
      "I think it means...putting yourself in the position of the other person, and wiping away any sort of resentment and antagonism you feel toward them."

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States of America

      Forgiveness gives us new hope and brings self esteem

We are able to put the past into a proper perspective and we NO longer have to identify with our past. We can say: "I am tired of the pain and I am willing to be healed.

      Forgiveness is essential to recovery.
      "When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive."
      Alan Paton, author of Cry, the Beloved Country

      "Forgiving is an act of mercy toward an offender.

We are no longer controlled by angry feelings Forgiveness is a Choice

      Forgiveness is a journey to freedom.

      Forgiving has to do with understanding God’s forgiveness for us.

      No sin is too big for God to forgive

Think about this:

How can you live with salvation without forgiving others?


 

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