The Forgiving Challenge: Sanctification

Issumagijoujungnainermik

The longest word in one of the native languages used by Alaskans is Issumagijoujungnainermik. Issu-magi-jou-jung-nainer-mik. 24 letters. There's a legend about Moravian missionaries who spent time in Alaska among the Eskimo Indians. In learning the Inuit culture and their language, the missionaries realized that the Inuit people had no word for "forgiveness". The missionaries latched on to Issumagijoujungnainermik as a way to think about forgiveness. That word means “Not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.” That is the essence of what it means to forgive.

We are finishing up our Forgiving Challenge this week. The last day of the Forgiving Challenge is this coming Saturday, day #40. We’ve been using the SCARS acrostic to help us memorize and contemplate what forgiveness means in the Bible:

Sin

Confession

Absolution/Forgiveness

Restoration

Sanctification

Today we’re at the end: sanctification. Sanctification is the natural flow from forgiveness. After all, forgiveness itself sanctifies. It cleanses.

Sanctification literally means:

• being set apart.

• being made holy.

• being purified.

• being cleansed.

When something is sanctified, it is set apart for holiness. The Scriptures tell us that when Jesus forgives us, he sanctifies us, he sets us apart as holy. He gives us his holiness, without which we cannot have a relationship with God. This is where we get the word “saint”. All of us are saints. We’ve all been made holy by Jesus in his forgiveness in his death on the cross.

The Bible also talks about sanctification in terms of our walk with Jesus. We have been made holy. We are being made holy. And again, it’s Jesus’ forgiveness that makes us holy. We don’t make our own holiness, we don’t contribute to our holiness. This is all God’s work.

But in our sanctification, as we are being made holy, we are pursuing forgiveness as a lifestyle. The key to becoming a forgiving person of others in this world is to first experience the forgiveness and freedom that God offers to you. Far more people have a harder time receiving God’s forgiveness than they do actually forgiving others. And so we’ve spent this series to help you and I understand forgiveness. This is for you. And for me. Not your neighbor, not your spouse, but you, to truly live in the freedom that comes from God’s forgiveness. This is what Jesus wants for us… to live in the freedom of his forgiveness.

Forgiveness as a lifestyle

What does it mean for forgiveness to be a lifestyle? What does it look like in our Christian walk, our sanctification? Let’s go back to the definition we’ve been using. We have talked about forgiveness meaning a couple of things:

Forgiveness cancels a debt

Forgiveness stops feeling anger or resentment toward another

Forgiveness cancels a debt. Forgiveness says “you don’t owe me anymore.” The second thing that forgiveness is… forgiveness is no longer feeling anger or resentment toward another person. This gets at the heart of what we’re saying when we say “you don’t owe me anymore.” What we are saying is not only “you don’t owe me anymore”, but also “I’m never going to hang this over your head.” “I will never hold this against you.” Forgiveness is the antithesis of the grudge.

Forgiveness doesn’t hold grudges.

The Christian walk that is characterized by forgiveness doesn’t hold grudges. The forgiving lifestyle is virtually drama-free. Not that there’s never drama in the forgiveness lifestyle… but there’s something about being a forgiving person that minimizes drama between individuals. Think about it… half the drama in a lot of instances is a failure to let go of an offense.

Peter and Jesus

We’ve been looking at one of the best illustrations of forgiveness in the Bible. The story of Peter and Jesus on the beach after Jesus’ resurrection. Peter had sinned. He denied knowing Jesus three times in a time where Jesus could have used someone to stand up for Him. Instead, he sat down by the comfortable fire and crumbled. Jesus dies. Jesus rises. Peter is one of the first to see the empty tomb. He’s there with the other disciples when Jesus shows them the nail prints in his hands and feet. And then he goes fishing. And Jesus shows up. Jesus shows up to have a conversation with Peter around a charcoal fire of fish and bread.

We read that story. All of the disciples around that charcoal fire, a fire just like the one where Peter denied Jesus. The elephant in the room is “what’s Jesus going to do with Peter?” It’s probably kind of awkward. The very thing that we would expect at this meeting is nowhere to be found. Jesus doesn’t make Peter recount what he did wrong. Jesus doesn’t bring it up. We would. Jesus doesn’t. We would want a reckoning. But the reckoning has already happened. At the cross. Jesus has forgiven Peter. Already.

Jesus not only forgives, but he restores Peter. He tells Peter to shepherd his sheep. Peter will shepherd Jesus’ flock. That becomes Peter’s mission in light of the forgiveness he receives from Jesus. But then Jesus says something very odd:

John 21:18-19 “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”

OK, that was unexpected. We’re expecting the passage to end with “feed my sheep”. But it doesn’t. Jesus is taking this shepherd thing to its intended end. Jesus said this earlier in John’s letter.

John 10:11 “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

If you’re going to feed my sheep then you will do what a good shepherd does… lays down his life for the sheep. This is what Jesus means when he says “someone else will tie you and carry you to where you don’t want to go.” Jesus literally had just experienced that in his brutal crucifixion. They dressed Jesus and led him to the cross. He knew this all too well. And while you would think this would be bad news, this is all part of the forgiveness for Peter. Jesus is very clearly giving Peter a second chance not just at his calling as pastor, but a second chance to do what he said he would do when he made the audacious claim that he would die for Jesus. He’s going to get that chance. And history tells us that’s exactly what happened with Peter.

But that’s also the lifestyle of forgiveness.

The lifestyle of forgiveness is at the heart of what it means to lay down one’s life for their friends. It means letting go of yourself and your agenda in forgiving the other person.

Here are some things we can say about forgiveness.

Forgiveness is letting go of self-salvation (Luke 23:37, John 21:17-19)

Forgiveness doesn’t try to preserve the ego. Forgiveness doesn’t try to save my feelings. There is no self-preservation in forgiveness. This is why it is so hard. We have a built-in mechanism to always win. In fact, the world tells us that we need to look out for #1. We need to make sure we’re never in a conversation or situation in which we are at a disadvantage. We’re always moving toward getting the upper hand. And if we get offended in the process? Forgiveness is for the weak. Jesus tells Peter… you’re forgiven… and from now on, you’re going to live a life of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the upside down life. It’s everything the successful world tells us we shouldn’t be. We live lives that are not about saving myself.

Forgiveness really is letting somebody off of the hook (Matthew 5:38-42)

The story has been told of the great leader of the Cree Indians, Maskepetoon. Maskepetoon’s father was brutally murdered by a rival Indian tribe. The chief hunted down the murderer and in a famous confrontation, instead of exacting revenge, he offered the man forgiveness. A few years later, he pursued peace with another rival tribe and was killed by the chief of the rival tribe because his forgiving lifestyle was considered a weakness.

Here’s what Jesus taught us in

Matthew 5:38-42 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

This is forgiveness 101. No longer living eye for eye. Instead, turning the other cheek. Going the extra mile for someone who means you harm. Letting people off the hook runs against everything we’re ever taught about justice and success. While there is a place for law enforcement if something criminal has been done, we leave justice up to the courts and to God in our personal relationships.

When someone does us wrong, we’re always looking for a pound of flesh. We want people to get their just deserts. It’s even better if we’re involved in giving someone our just deserts. Forgiveness says, “I’m not going to hold that against you. I’m not going to harbor anger and resentment toward you.” Turning the other cheek means laying down your life for someone who has done you wrong. We’re all about laying down our lives for the people we love. But all bets are off when it comes to laying down our lives for people that have offended or hurt us.

Why would we do that?

There’s the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and perfume. It’s at a dinner party. Jesus is there with religious leaders and a woman crashes the party. She shows up with perfume. And there’s a commotion. Comments are made. If only Jesus know the kind of woman this was, he’d be having second thoughts about having her wash his feet with her hair. But Jesus says this:

Luke 7:44-47 “Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Why would we forgive anybody? Why would we let anyone off the hook? Why would we go the extra mile for someone who has done us wrong? Because that’s what Jesus has done for us. Jesus let us off the hook. Big time. He continues to let us off the hook. Big time. We let others off of the hook because we know how much we’ve been let off the hook. We forgive because we realize and we know that our “many sins have been forgiven”, just like this woman.

You see..

Forgiveness from Jesus becomes paying forgiveness forward.

That’s the forgiveness lifestyle. We live lives of forgiveness in our sanctification because we have been given much, much forgiveness. An unbelievable amount of forgiveness. The hundreds, thousands of times that Jesus lets us off the hook when we offend him.

The great missionary Paul picks up on this when he writes to a church in the city of Ephesus, a gathering where there are a variety of cultures that do not necessarily get along. Here’s what Paul says:

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”

The reason we forgive, the reason we live lives of forgiveness in a culture that loves a good canceling, the reason we let people off of the hook in a culture that says “that’s weak” is because this is exactly how God forgave us in Jesus. When we don’t forgive other people their wrongs, what we’re saying is we deserve Jesus’ forgiveness. We’ve earned it.

There is no earning Jesus’ forgiveness. Jesus’ forgiveness is unconditional. It’s free. It’s not based on anything you and I do or say. Jesus’ forgiveness is grace. Favor that isn’t deserved. Our sanctification is nothing more than living the lifestyle of grace and forgiveness. That’s freedom.

Look, this isn’t easy. In fact, we can think we have forgiven and we haven’t.

When I was a kid living in Dayton, Ohio, one of the teenagers in our church youth group was shot and killed by a stalker. Her dad, who later became an assistant pastor in our church, paid a visit to the jail where the killer was being held and forgave him. That story always stuck with me as an example of true forgiveness. It came as a surprise, years later, when her dad told me that it wasn’t really until some years later that he truly had forgiveness in his heart. He realized, because of the bitter thoughts and anger in his heart, that he hadn’t forgiven the killer at the time.

It’s hard. It’s messy. Even the forgiveness we offer can be imperfect and come up short. I can’t say I always have forgiveness in my heart. No one here does. We’re sinners. That’s why we come here and receive forgiveness again and again. The forgiveness we receive becomes forgiveness for others, imperfect as it is sometimes. The lifestyle of forgiveness is totally backwards. It’s unheard of. It’s not of this world. Jesus forgives us, just like he forgave that woman. Just like he forgave Peter around that charcoal fire. Jesus forgives us, and we forgive others, knowing Jesus is always with us.

Let’s Pray.

This Table is where we receive forgiveness, a forgiveness that we pay forward with our lives. Here, Jesus is for us. His broken body and his shed blood are for our forgiveness. But their also for our life. There is life here. And we live that life, not for ourselves, but for others. Forgiving, even as we have been forgiven, begins right here.