Title/ Your Sins Are Forgiven Texts/ Luke 7:36-50 There lived a Korean pastor who was martyred during the Korean War, and his biography is known to the Korean Christians with the famous title of “the Atomic Bomb of Love.” Reverend Yang Won Sohn was a man of God’s love that deeply touches everyone’s soul. While he was doing his ministry for the abandoned lepers, he lost his first and second sons in one day during the communist attack in 1948. They were viciously killed by a young communist named Jae Sun Ahn, but Reverend Sohn did not try to repay his revenge. What this man of God did to him was simply beyond our common sense and imagination. He rather showed his enemy the unconditional love of God by adopting him as his own first son! Indeed it was an atomic bomb of agape, the love of our God who did not spare his only Son for us and adopted us as his dear children. When the minister was murdered by the communists in 1950, it was this adopted son Ahn who was wearing the family leader’s hat during the funeral. And later on, Mr. Ahn, who experienced the great power of the agape bomb, made his own son a minister succeeding the selfless love of God that was shown by his Christ-like martyr father. Forgiveness might be the most valuable gift that we have received from God. We know God did forgive our sins when he let his Son Jesus Christ be crucified on the cross, because the Lamb of God did “take up our infirmities and carried our diseases. (Matthew 8:17)” We Christians believe that we are forgiven by the precious blood of Jesus, and we can say that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set us free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)” We are never just, but the God of justice has justified us through the sacrifice of Christ. And we are never righteous, but the God of righteousness has covered over our many sins. Therefore, we need to realize that the forgiveness we might experience is not about how we are, but just about how He is. If we really appreciate God for his forgiveness, we must forgive those who don’t deserve it, for we have been forgiven in spite of our disqualification. It is said that God forgives our sins, buries them in the sea of forgetfulness, and puts up a certain sign. You know what kind of wordings are in it? Two words. “No Fishing.” We tend to go fishing for the minor memories that we did forgive someone, but we seldom want to be caught on the major memories that we were forgiven by someone. We certainly know that we have been forgiven by our God with his grace and love, but it is the inconvenient truth to say that it’s so bothersome to practice them in our lives. Isn’t that true? Nevertheless, my friends, we better remind ourselves with this; The only petition in the Lord’s Prayer that has a condition attached is the one on forgiveness. It goes “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” This phrase can be interpreted “Lord, please forgive us our sins now, for we already forgave the ones who have sinned against us.” Or “Lord, please forgive us, as long as we live out your forgiving love.” We cannot force or threaten God to forgive us unconditionally, while we do not respect or uphold the condition of his unconditional love. Don’t you think so? Today, we find the sharp contrast from the two different figures in today’s gospel of Luke. Simon the Pharisee versus a nameless sinful woman. Simon invited Jesus to his place for the dinner, and the woman who had not been invited gave Jesus a surprise visit. Simon did not give Jesus water for his feet while he entered the house, but she wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Simon did not kiss the Lord, but the woman kept kissing his feet. He did not put any oil on Jesus’ head, but she poured a costly perfume on his feet. And most importantly, Simon was arrogantly judging the woman and even the Lord, while she was humbly dedicating herself to Jesus Christ. We have to remember this. Anyone who confesses him/herself to be a sinner before the presence of the Lord is justified as his saints. Anyone who admits his/her own faults or weaknesses before God will be accepted as the blameless and spotless. Acts 2:21 clearly gives us an important guideline on salvation by saying “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” rather than “everyone who calls on one’s own name will be saved.” We are so weak, vulnerable and helpless that we are unable to deal with our own trespasses, so someone who is greater than us has to help us to do that, and we know it is only God’s business to forgive us, comfort us, encourage us and empower us to the full extent. Our duty or our business is just to follow the way that Christ has treated us in his unconditional forgiving love. Just as seen on the cross, the true Christian love bears and forbears, and it also gives and forgives. If you and I are true Christians, our love should be something bearing and forbearing, also giving and forgiving. How can we blame others for their shortcomings, when we live as Satan’s slaves? How can we judge our neighbours who live in their ignorance, when we are making use of it for our own benefits? Have we forgotten that we are ‘forgiven sinners’ who still deserve the spiritual death penalty? Where on earth this oblivion does come from? As the adopted children of God, aren’t we supposed to forgive, or try to forgive at least, those who gave us some pains and sighs? According to Jesus Christ from v. 47, whoever has been forgiven little loves little. On the contrary, we could say that whoever has been forgiven much loves much. Is that true to us too? If so, we should be grateful to God for forgiving our sins by saying “your sins are forgiven” which means “your debts are written off.” We cannot pay our debts to God with our own efforts, because they are enormously heavy. Therefore, we must thank God enormously, always thinking of his grace that came to us free of charge. And we must imitate His forgiving love towards the people around us. Dear Croxton members, our God is a loving and forgiving God. He forgives us everyday, and expects us to forgive others too. He doesn’t want us to be like Simon the Pharisee, but expects us to serve the Lord just as the nameless sinful woman did to Him. Give Him the most valuable perfume with the best fragrance. I’m not talking about your money. It is not about your talents, either. The most expensive perfume you might have is nothing but yourselves. Give yourselves to God and His people, and be used as a channel of God’s peace. Go and tell of His forgiving love to everyone, so that they accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ who declares even today that their sins are forgiven and will be forgiven. There are many kinds of sins in this world, but nothing can be greater than the love of God because it has no limit. Those who have faith in Jesus Christ can be saved, so my fellow Christians, let us live in the peace of Him who gives you heavenly joy. Then we will be able to say the Lord’s Prayer in a little more confidence. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Drop the atomic bomb of love wherever you are, and may God bless every step of your week ahead. Amen. (Jun. 16th, 2013 Sunday Worship)
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:55:26 +0000
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