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by Logan Ames

One of the greatest poems of all time that exemplifies a foundation of our Christian faith is “Do It Anyway," which has been attributed to Mother Teresa. You can find it in its entirety here. I want to focus on the first line and the last line. At the beginning it reads, “People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway." The world asks why this should happen. Are they sorry? Did they ASK for forgiveness? Have they made the necessary changes in their lives? Have they suffered enough? These are the questions we might even ask if we are not focused on what God has done for us and the mercy he has shown us. After multiple similar lines in the poem it ends with, “In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."

As we continue this series going through the roots of our Christian faith as stated in the Apostles’ Creed, we arrive this week at a critical point for those who either call themselves “Christians” or want to know what it is that sets our faith apart from all others. The creed states that we believe in “the forgiveness of sins." We believe in refraining from seeking vengeance or getting even with those who have hurt us. To further understand what this means for us, we must accept a few things about ourselves.

First, we must accept that we NEED forgiveness. Forgiveness always involves wrongdoing of some sort. We can’t understand forgiveness or receive it if we don’t understand why it’s necessary. We must understand the problem of sin. In 1 John 3:4, the Apostle John tells us that sin is actually “lawlessness," and that everyone who sins breaks the law. But it’s not necessarily about driving over the speed limit, cheating on taxes, jaywalking, or even more serious and violent crimes. If we relied on man’s law alone to determine what is right and wrong, we’d be pretty confused. In my home state of Pennsylvania, there are dumb laws like the law that states ministers are not allowed to perform a wedding when either the bride or groom is drunk, and the one that says people are not allowed to sleep on a refrigerator outdoors. Clearly, human beings are not completely reliable in determining right from wrong. So, the law that John is talking about is not the inconsistent and sometimes absurd standard of man, but the holy and perfect standard of God.

The Apostle Paul talks about sin multiple times in Romans. In 3:23, he reminds us that ALL have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Then, in 5:12, he tells us that sin entered the world through one man (Adam) and that the result was that death came to all people because death comes from sin. The Greek word used there for “sin” is hamartia, which is an old archery term that means “missing the mark." Take a look at the image to the right. It does a wonderful job of illustrating what sin really is like for us relative to the bullseye that is God’s perfect standard of holiness. As you can see in the image, we’re not missing it by just a little bit. We’re actually not even hitting the big target! We’re coming up way short of the target that God has for us.

When God created Adam, Adam was perfect. He also had a mark to hit with the way he lived. God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed and more. He only gave them one rule, and that was for their own benefit – stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! It might look good, but it leads to nothing but destruction. But the devil came in and enticed them, and they chose to go against God's way, deciding their way was better. That's the essence of sin, deciding our mark is better than God's. It reminds me of the song “Long Black Train” by Josh Turner. You can find the full set of lyrics here. It’s a song about temptation and how wonderful and appealing sin looks, but its only destination is the middle of nowhere. Satan is driving the train and he wants to destroy you, so he tempts you in the most difficult ways.

Sin promises to make life better, but it actually dehumanizes us. How often do you hear someone brush off their sin by saying, "Well, I'm only human"? Many of you have even said it yourself, like being a human being gives us the right to sin. Let me tell you something, God created humans WITHOUT sin. So, to sin does not make a person more human, it makes you less human. To sin is not human, it's FALLEN. This is why we've got to stop hiding or justifying sins in our lives. Sin is dangerous and very deceptive. Ravi Zacharias reminded us, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay."

Many of us know the truth of that statement from Ravi, but the good news is that sin is not the end. A solution to the problem has been put forth. In Matthew 26:28, Jesus is having his last supper with his disciples and when he gives them the cup of wine, he says, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." That was quite a radical statement in Jesus’ day. In that pagan culture run by the Roman Empire, forgiveness was not virtuous. To forgive was to show oneself to be weak. This created a mentality within the early Christians that one could not be forgiven unless they were trying to make some sort of amends for their sins. That’s the difference between those who accept Christ’s sacrifice and those who don’t. If you don’t, you are still 100% responsible for atoning for your own sins. Stop and think about that. How long would it take for you in your life to get to a point where you could no longer atone for your own sins? I’m guessing it’d be a matter of hours, if not minutes.

That is why we can be thankful that forgiveness has nothing to do with how sorry we are or how much we can make up for it. 2 Corinthians 5:21 reminds us that “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus had never missed the mark. He hit the target every time and you could even say he was right in the middle of the bullseye every time too. Yet, he became the missed marks all across the world and throughout all time so that he would be the one to atone for our sins. The penalty was moved to his shoulders and he was pierced and wounded so that we could be healed. Jesus became what we were so that we could become what he was - righteousness.

What is your response to God’s forgiveness through Jesus? Some people arrogantly assume that God will always forgive them, so they might as well keep living in sin. If we truly understand what God has done for us, we would never assume it. If you assume it, then you don’t really WANT forgiveness, because a person who truly wants forgiveness knows just how deadly sin can be and knows they have no other way out of it, so a position of humility ought to ensue. Another possible response, especially if you’re struggling with guilt and shame, is to say that you know God has forgiven you, but you just haven’t been able to forgive yourself. If that’s you, let me just make sure you are aware that the reason you haven’t been able to forgive yourself is because you CAN’T forgive yourself. You don’t have that power and authority. Don’t give yourself more power and pressure than you actually have. Jesus has already paid the penalty in full and your only choice is to either walk in that reality or reject it and be responsible for your own sins.

Finally, some respond to the forgiveness of sins they’ve received by refusing to turn around and give it to others. Jesus makes it clear that if we want to be his followers, that’s not even an option. Matthew 6:14-15 tells us that our forgiveness from God is directly impacted by whether or not we forgive others. Quite simply, it’s arrogant to think God will forgive us even when we won’t forgive others. And here’s the thing, like Mother Teresa said, it’s not really between you and them anyway. It’s between you and God, and their sin is between them and God. You can choose to hold bitterness in your heart toward someone, but it will only affect YOUR standing with God, not theirs. No matter how much you hold a grudge, if that person has repented and asked God for forgiveness, they’ve received it. Living as if you have control over that would be just as arrogant as assuming God’s forgiveness for yourself. Believing in the forgiveness of sins means humbly receiving it and freely giving it. Today is the day to start both if you haven’t already.

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