One Another (3)

Introduction: The last few weeks we have been exploring the Bible to discover how the church should treat one another. One common theme that we have found is that we should treat one another the way Jesus has treated us. So far we have surveyed the truth about encouraging one another, loving one another, and serving one another. Today we are focusing on forgiving one another. Turn in your Bibles to Colossians 3:12-17 as we read God’s word.

Colossians 3:12–17 ESV

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Background: By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul is writing to the church at Colossi. In this encouraging letter of thanksgiving he basically reminds the church of the identity of Christ, of their identity as Christ’s body, and then instructs them about how to get along. For example (Col 1:18)

Colossians 1:18 ESV

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Transition: We might summarize it this way; “Since the fulness of God dwells in Jesus Christ, so through His death, burial, and resurrection we can be raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God and therefore forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us.” For our time this morning we are going to focus mainly on verses 3:13. (re-read)

Forgive One Another

“as the Lord has forgiven you”

How has Jesus forgiven us?

An answer to this question is found in (Col. 2:13-14). Statement: When we were dead in our sin, God took the initiative to make us alive, to forgive all our sin, and to cancel the debt of our sin by nailing it on the cross. Follow with me as we unpack four specific answers to how Jesus has forgiven us.

Colossians 2:13–14 ESV

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

1. He took the initiative to make us alive when we were dead in our trespasses.

Once upon a time there was a man on death row, who was locked in a prison cell. The only time he could exit the cell was when the guard would come and open the door. One day the realization hit him that he was at the mercy of the judge who had sentenced him to death, and to whom alone could give the order to unlock his prison door. In a similar way, everyone of us are dead in our sin. We are imprisoned by our sin and the only way to be forgiven and set free from our prison cell is if the judge takes the initiative to unlock the door, to make us alive.

God has taken that initiative in His Son Jesus Christ. Who came to earth to die in our place and pay the penalty for our death sentence of sin. This is how God has treated us in Christ. He initiated our forgiveness by making us spiritually alive when we were spiritually dead in our sin. He didn't wait for us to ask for rescue, He rescued us by His own initiative.

Application: In order to forgive one another the way Jesus forgave us we should not wait for someone to come to us and say sorry. Initiate the conversation so you can forgive.

2. He made us alive by forgiving all our trespasses.

There was once a man named Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask him some questions. Their conversation is recorder for us in John chapter 3. But in the middle of that conversation Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. Well, this doesn't really make since to the religious leader so he asks how that is possible. While answering him Jesus says, John 3:16-18

John 3:16–18 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The point for you and I is that since we were spiritually dead, we must be given spiritual life. In our spiritual deadness we are “already condemned” and in order to be right with God we must be made alive! How does Jesus do that? Plainly, according to Colossians 2:13, he does so by forgiving all of our sin.

Application: In order to forgive one another the way Jesus has forgiven us we should forgive all offences. Don't hold back any hidden offences. Do we ever say, “I could never forgive you if you did________.”

3. He forgave all our trespasses by canceling the debt that stood against us.

Truth point: The reality is that without Christ we are guilty sinners who have sinned against a Holy God. Because of that we have a debt that justly deserves the wrath of God. However, in Christ that debt is paid in full. We are redeemed and pardoned and the sin credit against us is canceled and forgiven.

Application: If we are going to forgive one another like Jesus has forgiven us then we should cancel the debt that we may be just in holding against one another. In other words, if we forgive a person we do not simply shrug of the offence as if it didn't happen, rather we actively and readily cancel the idea of that person receiving repercussions for their offence. Basically, we make the decision to not bring up the offence any more. We cancel it!

As those who belong to Christ we have an enemy who loves to bring up offences that have been forgiven. He will often accuse Christians of former sins and try to heap upon us condemnation. However, the gospel reminds us that our debt has been canceled.

So too we will be tempted to bring up past offences against one another. For example: As a husband and wife you may have reason to forgive one another. Then a few weeks later you might be tempted to bring up that sin again, “You just did this same thing to me last week.” If I am forgiving like Jesus then that means I make the decision to not bring up that former sin because the debt has been canceled. We need to deal with the immediate sin, but the debt that is in the past should remain there. No doubt, we will be tempted to bring it up. But in Christ we leave canceled debts canceled.

Transition: Jesus forgave all our sin by canceling the debt that stood against us, but how did he do this?

4. He canceled the debt by nailing it to the cross.

How did he cancel so great a debt? Jesus died the death that we deserved. He nailed our debt to the cross by placing Himself on the cross. Jesus, the supreme creator of the earth, the perfect and sinless Savior took all of our condemnation. God placed the wrath of His judgment for our sin onto Christ when He was nailed to the cross. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This reminds us that our forgiveness is not accomplished by our merit, or righteous deeds, but rather because of the righteous atoning sacrifice of Jesus’ death on the cross.

Application: If we are going to forgive one another like Jesus forgave us, then we should place the sin that has offended us, where it truly belongs; onto the cross of Christ. Don’t try to be the messiah and bear the weight of what you were never ment to bear. When sin is nailed to the cross of Christ it can be forgiven. Un-forgiveness is often the result of misplaced sin. Am I secretly holding a debt against someone by trying to nail that sin to my own ability?

Closing Application: These truths about forgiveness have the potential of making us a very compassionate church that experiences the joy and freedom of our salvation. However, It’s one thing to speak of them in proposition but how does this truth impact our practice?

Transition: Which leads us to some concluding questions. How are we going to practice forgiveness? How is it possible?

Offer a final illustration to help us actually practice forgiveness. If we are going to treat one another as Christ has treated us and forgive one another, then we are going to need to put on Christ: Read 3:12 In the same way that you would dress yourself each morning in order to prepare yourself for the day, so to we should dress ourselves, put on, Christ. Consider offering a prayer each morning where you dress yourself with the compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience of Jesus. Throughout your day think about how Jesus has shown you compassion. When you are faced with the temptation of un-forgivness read about the humility humility of Jesus from Philippians 2. Before offering a complaint or perhaps when your being complained against; put on the same patience that Jesus has shown you. Dig deep in your Bible closet and pull out the old sweatshirt of kindness and wear it like its 1988 again! Ultimately, we can forgive one another because Jesus has forgiven us. So we close with these questions.

Am I forgiven in Christ? Am I forgiving others in Christ?

Closing with the Lord prayer. Matthew 6:9-13