A Tennessee man owned a small farm. He had a spring that came right out of the hills. Usually the water tasted great. But one day he took a drink that tasted just terrible.
The farmer went down to the spring house. He dug up the weeds, cleared away the accumulated trash, and even painted the outside. It looked better. But the water still tasted terrible. So finally, he called a repairman. This repairman went to the source. He found the decaying carcass of a varmint that had fallen into the well and died.
The Bible identifies the dead varmint in the well of human experience as sin. The selfishness that pollutes human relationships, the tragic twist that causes us to follow our own way instead of the way of God, the separation that we feel from God, the alienation that divides the human family, the greed that corrupts societies, the violence that rips the fabric of life -- the Bible looks at all of this and calls it all sin.
And it doesn’t matter how much you clean and paint the spring house. You won’t get good water until you or someone who cares for you deals with your dead varmints -- your sins.
It is not enough to deal with the surface issues of life. The early Christians knew that God goes all the way to the bottom of the human soul and deals with the stuff that pollutes the flow of life, freedom, and wholeness. So they wrote in the Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”
The real forgiveness of sins is the amazing claim of amazing grace in the Christian faith. You will not find assurance of real forgiveness in Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, or even Judaism. The promise of true forgiveness is unique to the Christian faith.
And for us to declare that we “believe in the forgiveness of sins” is for us to affirm that the God who keeps His promises forever, who always and only does what is right, will release us from the garbage we have built up -- not because of what we have done, but by his mercy realized through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God’s forgiveness of sins comes on two levels. It is both legal and personal. Both levels are essential if we are to enjoy peace with God.
The legal part is pictured in Jesus’ parable of the merciless servant in Matthew 18. In this parable, forgiveness is seen as the wiping out of a debt.
In this legal sense, Jesus wipes out our guilt. The penalty for your and my sin has been fully met by the death of Christ on the cross. The theological term for this level of forgiveness is expiation.
But expiation -- the removal of a penalty -- is not enough to heal a relationship. Healing also requires what is called propitiation. Propitiation not only takes away the penalty. It also takes away the feelings -- the emotions of anger and hurt.
Think of it this way. Suppose your neighbor is cutting limbs off a large tree in his backyard. Suddenly a large limb falls from the tree into your yard and smashes through your dining room window.
What has to happen?
Well first, there must be expiation. His tree and his carelessness have caused you monetary loss. Your neighbor or his insurance company must pay for your window to be replaced. That’s the legal part. That’s the expiation.
But expiation isn’t enough if the relationship is to be repaired along with the window. Somehow your neighbor also needs to remove the negative emotions from your heart. There are the angry feelings caused by the destruction of your property. There is the frustration from having to wait for the glass repair company to show up. There is also the fear: Just think! What if your child had been standing behind that window watching your neighbor work when the limb came through? Glass flew everywhere.
All these feelings must be propitiated. You neighbor must do something to fix the relationship -- a gift of courtside seats to the next Laker championship game in 2004 for example.
Expiation is the removal of the debt. Propitiation is the removal of the negative feelings. The Bible says that we need both. And the Bible also says that God provides both though Jesus Christ.
Sin is what comes between us and God. Sin threatens to wreck our relationship with Him. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God.” The Apostle’s Creed, however, affirms the central and joyous good news of the New Testament - that this barrier has been broken down by God.
It’s not easy and it’s not cheap. Real forgiveness is a costly and precious thing.
It is easy to pretend to forgive someone. You just paper over the cracks and ignore the real problems. It is easy to forgive someone for something trivial. Your just say, “No problem” or “don’t sweat it” and move on. But if a person has really wounded you, it is much more difficult.
Forgiveness is difficult for both the forgiver and the forgiven. For the forgiver it means trying to cope with the pain and offense. It means recognizing that the healing of the relationship is more important than the pain.
But forgiveness is also hard for the forgiven. For the forgiven, it involves admitting that you’ve done something you need to be forgiven for. Nothing is more offensive than having someone say they forgive your when you feel that you haven’t done anything wrong. But knowing that we need forgiveness means coming to terms with the considerable hurt we may have caused someone else. It involves humility and repentance and a willingness to try to avoid causing such hurt in future.
Humility is the key. This is especially true in your walk with God. For the cross is both good news and bad news. It is the good news is that we have a Savior. But it is also the bad news is that we really need a Savior. It is the good news that God gave His Son on the cross. But it is that bad news is that it was our sin that made this necessary -- that Jesus was up there because of us. And until we know that, we know neither the cross nor our relationship to it.
Many people find forgiveness and being forgiven difficult! But it brings renewal of a relationship which would otherwise be lost. And once we put aside our pride and attempts at self-justification, forgiveness of sins is great good news.
Or at least it’s good news until I learn that it is not enough to for me to say, “I believe in the forgiveness of my sins.” I also have to affirm, “I believe in the forgiveness of your sins.” And beyond that, I have to be prepared to forgive peoples sins against me. That is part of the package. Jesus says flat out in Matthew 6 that God’s forgiveness of our sins depends on our forgiving those who sin against us. Colossians 3:13 says we “must forgive as the Lord forgave us.” For the Lord doesn’t just want me. He wants me with you and you with me. That won’t happen if we don’t forgive each other.
This true story by a nurse named Sue Kidd appeared in Guideposts a few years ago: “It was a cold and snowy night in January. On the floor of the hospital where I worked, thing were pretty quiet. I stopped by Room 712 to check on a new patient, Mr. Williams.
“Mr. Williams had been admitted with a heart attack. He had seemed restless and anxious all evening. He perked up when the door to his room opened, but then looked disappointed to see me walk in. As I checked Mr Williams chart and asked about his condition, I sensed that he wanted very much to ask me something.
“Finally, with tears in his eyes, Mr. Williams asked me to call his daughter and tell her of his heart attack. She was the only family he had left, and he seemed very anxious that she know of his condition. I promised to call right away. Before I left, Mr. Williams asked for a piece of paper and a pencil.
“When I reached Mr. Williams’ daughter, Janie, with news of her father’s heart attack, I was startled by the her reaction. Janie screamed, ‘No!’ In a panic, she asked, ‘He’s not dying, is he?’ She blurted out that she and her father hadn’t communicated in a year. An argument over a boyfriend had led them to close off communication with each other. Janie’s last words to her father had been, ‘I hate you!’ All this time, she had wanted forgiveness.
“After reassuring Janie, I hung up and began to pray. If only God would allow Mr. Williams and his daughter to reconcile! My heart was so burdened by her phone conversation that I felt an urgent need to return to Mr. Williams. I arrived just as he coded.
“As I performed CPR, I sent up a desperate prayer to God that Mr. Williams wouldn’t die before he found peace with his daughter. But no amount of medical attention would re-start his heart. Mr. Williams was dead.
“In the hallway of the hospital, I saw a doctor talking with a young woman. It was Janie. I ushered her into a lounge area and tried to comfort her. “I never hated him, you know. I loved him,” the young woman said. Although I thought it unwise, Janie insisted on seeing her father. As she leaned over his body and sobbed, I glanced around the room.
“I saw a piece of paper on Mr. Williams’ night stand. I picked it up, glanced at the name on top, and handed it to Janie. She read it aloud: ‘My dearest Janie, I forgive you. I pray you will also forgive me. I know that you love me. I love you too. Daddy.’
“Where grief and shock had contorted Janie’s features and filled her eyes, now there was only peace. I slipped out of the room and quickly headed to a telephone to call my own father.”
You know, if we could go back in time to Jerusalem and gaze on the cross that held Jesus’ dying body, we would see a sign mounted above His head. On it we would read, “The King of the Jews.” But if we could read the back side of the sign, we might find these words, “My dearest [and there our name would appear], I forgive you. I know that you love me. I love you, too. Jesus.”
For “This is my body broken for you. This is my blood, shed for the forgiveness of your sins.”