The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 19](A)
Genesis 50.15-21 Psalm 103.1-13
Romans 14.1-12 Matthew 18.21-35
May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that
I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.
Outline of a
Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously
1) A story about forgiveness.
a) How we can rationalize wrong done by others.
b) How “cheap grace” can be a
trap.
2) Forgiveness is a word that we use
often, but how well do we know what it means?
a) In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask
that God may forgive us “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” How often do we stop to think what we are
asking?
i) “As we forgive.” We’re asking that we may be forgiven in the
same way that God’s Spirit allows us to offer forgiveness when we’ve been
wronged.
3) You see, in His parable of
the unforgiving servant, Jesus is teaching us more about how our lives together
must be founded on a right relationship with God.
a) What is it that the king in
the parable says to the one who does not forgive? “You wicked slave,”
and then in his anger he hands the servant over to torture.
b) In case we still don’t get
it, Jesus goes on to say, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of
you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
i) Jesus makes it clear that
what we do in this life has consequences in the next.
4) Is Jesus saying that
forgiveness is without limit? At first
blush He seems to say that, for He instructs Peter that a brother or sister is
to be forgiven not seven times but seventy-seven times.
a) But let’s be careful. Let’s look at what forgiveness involves.
i) Does this mean I am just
supposed to take it, to let a wrongdoer off with no consequence?
(1) There is a certain amount of
charity involved in taking one on-the-chin for Jesus, and the Bible does make
it clear that vengeance is God’s, not ours.
But that doesn’t mean being a Christian involves being a doormat-for-
Christ.
b) The key involves that we are
to forgive those who repent.
5) Jesus makes it clear that
there are limits to forgiveness. In last
week’s Gospel lesson He outlines how we are to seek reconciliation with a
wrongdoer, and that there are limits to reconciliation,
a) and in the seventeenth chapter
of Luke, when He says, “... if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he
repents, forgive him ...” (Lk. 17.3).
b) If he repents. In other words, we are to forgive those who
recognize that what they have done is wrong, admit their fault, ask
forgiveness, and intend amendment of life.
6) Let’s unpack that. You can take a look at the language used on
p. 447 in The Book of Common Prayer, in the office of Reconciliation of
a Penitent. When a person is making an
individual confession, he or she is to include the following elements in a valid
confession:
a) “I have sinned by my own
fault ...” In
other words, I am the offender; I was not made to do this. I don’t have an excuse.
i) This is not at all like
saying “mistakes were made” or saying there was “an error in judgment”.
(1) It’s personal. It says “I have done this wrong”.
b) “I am truly sorry.” What I have done is something wrong; it is
something I should feel sorry for.
c) “I pray to God to have mercy
on me.” Forgiveness is a gift; it is
not merited.
d) “I firmly intend amendment
of life ...” Recognizing
my wrong, I dedicate myself not to repeat this wrong.
e) “I humbly beg forgiveness ...” I am asking to be forgiven, knowing that forgiveness is a gift.
7) What does it mean if I don’t
admit fault, if I don’t recognize wrong and have real sorrow for it?
a) What does it mean if I don’t
intend to change, and to do something about changing, for example by offering
restitution for the wrong?
b) What does it mean if I don’t
ask to be forgiven?
i) It means that I have not
repented. I have not turned to the Lord.
(1) And absent repentance there
is no forgiveness.
8) But what happens when we do,
in fact, encounter real repentance?
a) Then it is not optional for
us to forgive.
b) Jesus makes it clear in
today’s Gospel lesson, if we are not prepared to forgive one who repents, we’d better prepare ourselves for Hell.
i) The hell in this life of
living in anger and of nursing grievance.
ii) And the Hell in the next
life of being cut off from God.
9) After the shootings at
Columbine High School–at which you may recall one of the girls killed died
because she said she was a Christian–there were students outside the school
holding up a sign which read “We forgive you.”
a) That got a lot of media
play, and it reinforced the idea that grace is cheap, and that forgiveness is
unlimited.
i) Well, grace is not
cheap. Christian forgiveness comes with
repentance, but not absent it.
(1) And remember, we are to
forgive the repentant person, not to condone the sin repented of.
ii) What about with God? Surely with God there is no limit to
forgiveness?
(1) Well, then, what about Jesus
telling us: “So my heavenly Father will
also do to every one of you ...”?
(a) You see, grace isn’t cheap
with God either. His forgiveness is not
earned by us; we don’t merit it.
(i) It’s not cheap. It is very precious, but it’s been paid
for.
1. Paid in the blood of our
Lord, given on the cross.
2. It is by His merit that we
are saved.
3. It is by His merit that when
we do repent we are forgiven, and by His merit that in striving to amend our
lives and to avoid sin the Holy Spirit is here to guide and comfort us, to
strengthen us so that when we say in confession “I firmly intend to amend my
life ...” that sometimes we can do it.
10)Remember, God never knew a
sin that He didn’t hate, but He never knew a sinner whom He didn’t love.
a) He loves us despite our sin,
that when we turn to Him it is His arms which reach out to us from the cross.
b) He loves us and
asks–commands–that we share this love with all who turn to Him, as we
pray: “... forgive us our trespasses, as
we forgive those who trespass against us ... thine is the kingdom, and the
power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.”
In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.