Sermon Notes, December 13, 2015
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Rev. McGlinchy preached the
third sermon in his third sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and
love. But the greatest of these is
love.” He has spoken of Faith
Redefined: Obedient; Miraculous; and Tested, and Hope Restored: Rest;
Submit; and Acknowledge. This series is
titled Love Revealed. The first sermon was Love Revealed: To Bring
Justice; the second was Love Revealed: To Give Life. The third is God’s
Love Revealed: To Forgive Sins.
On
October 2, 2006, the world turned its attention to a small community in
Lancaster County, Pa. A gunman broke
into an Amish school, killing 5 students and injuring 5 others before turning
the gun on himself. Six days later, the
world witnessed the forgiveness and grace of the Amish, when half the people in
the audience for the gunman’s funeral were Amish. The killer’s widow was visited and cared for
by the Amish in the weeks following this tragedy. Forgiveness is a subject that impacts each of
us. We all need forgiveness and we all
need to forgive. Powerful positive
emotions are stirred when forgiveness leads to reconciliation. Powerful negative emotions when forgiveness
is withheld and the relationship remains severed. Today’s scripture, Matthew 1:18-23, reminds us of the gracious gift of God’s
forgiveness in Jesus, as well as the waiting of God’s people for a definitive
word from God. We need to both seek
forgiveness and offer forgiveness.
Loving
forgiveness blends judgment and empathy.
Forgiveness is a kind of judgment, but it is not a condemnation. It’s a blend of judgment and compassion, not
to dismiss sin. God’s forgiveness is an
action that doesn’t leave people in their sins, but that identifies with us in
our weakness.
Loving
forgiveness creates vulnerability. (v. 18) Nothing in life is more helpless
than a newborn baby, completely dependent on others in order to survive. In the saving, forgiving act of God in
Christ, God took the form of a vulnerable baby.
God identifies with the forgiver: He is
the forgiver. The vulnerability of God
in the helpless baby, Jesus, helps us see the vulnerability, the exposure, the
insecurity we feel in forgiving others.
God doesn’t ask us to experience something He has not already
experienced. God also identifies with
the forgiven: when we admit our guilt we become defenseless, assailable and
vulnerable. In Jesus, God became
defenseless, assailable, and vulnerable as well.
Loving
forgiveness makes relationship possible. (vv.22-23) God wanted to be with us and came to be with
us in Jesus. God wants relationship—reconciliation—with
His creation. The stronger our
relationship with our Creator, the stronger our relationship with others. Satan wants us to be isolated. Just as Joseph could have rejected Mary and
Jesus, so we can reject the relationship God offers. Forgiveness does not create relationship; it
only makes relationship possible.
Forgiveness makes a relationship possible, but sometimes the
relationship is only possible in the future: sometimes we forgive someone with
whom a relationship is very dangerous and cannot be fostered in that moment;
sometimes we forgive others who have passed on.
In both these cases, forgiveness may still create the possibility of
relationship, but only in the future.
Receive
forgiveness. The message of forgiveness is not a general message. It is a specific message. Revelation 21:27 tells us that specific names
are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Have you received the forgiveness offered in Jesus? Offer forgiveness. We are to forgive specific sins performed
against us by specific people. The Lord’s
Prayer teaches us that God will forgive us as we forgive others. (Matt. 6:12) Just as God in Christ forgave you, so must
you forgive others and forgive yourself.
Many who looked on from the outside couldn’t believe how the Amish could
show such grace and forgiveness. But to
the Amish there was no other response that they could imagine.
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