Torch, Fall 1989

orgive? I stood in front of the combined adult Sunday school classes in a highly– respected Bible-believing church. As the guest speaker for the day, I had just been introduced. After greeting the class and making some introductory remarks , I asked, ''What does it mean to forgive?" There was a long pause. Finally someone said, ''To forget. '' Another hand went up and a church officer commented, "Not to hold it against someone who hurts you.'' Then there was another long period of silence. I shifted gears. "Who do Christians have the hardest time forgiving?" Hands went up all over the audito– rium! An elderly man in the back said, ''Their children.'' A young lady on my left near the front said, " Church leaders.'' As one individual after another was acknowledged, I heard, "other Christians," "husbands," " wives," " pastors, " "parents," "the boss.' ' They were ready to answer that question! With effort, I turned their attention to a third inquiry. "Whom do you have the hardest time forgiving? Jot the initials of those individuals on a slip of paper where no one around you can see them.' ' (Reader, you might do the same thing right now.) Forgiveness is key in the Christian faith. Can you imagine going to a Bible-believing church for a preaching service and not hearing the word "forgiveness" in the message, the hymns , or a testimony? We hear it all the time, especially during invitations where non-believers are encouraged to ask Christ to forgive them of their sins and trust Him for eternal life. Christians are exhorted to confess their sins knowing that God will forgive (I John 1:9). The concept is so impor– tant that the Old Testament uses three different Hebrew words, and the New Testament uses four Greek words to describe forgiveness . To forgive means to pass over an offense and free the offender from the judgment deserved. Each of us has offended the holiness of a righteous God and deserves to spend eternity apart from Him, punished for our sins (Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:23). Because of the forgiveness of sin available to all through Christ's death on the cross as our Substitute, we can be saved from condemnation (Romans 8:1-4; 10:9,13) and be given the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:21-26; 10:10). When God passes over our offenses and releases us from the judgment they deserve, it is as though He says to us: 1. I shall not use these against you in the future. 2. I shall not talk to others about them. 3. I shall not dwell on them Myself. Do you also realize that forgiven people are to be forgiving? That' s what God says to us in Matthew 18:21-35! Look at Peter's questions in verse 21. ' 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? " The rabbis said to forgive three times, so Peter undoubt– edly thought he was being very spiritual by suggesting seven times! Jesus said to him, ' ' I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven" (v.22). Christ didn 't mean that we forgive 490 times and on the 491st time someone offends us we have the right to punch his lights out! He means we are to go on forgiving and forgiving! The disciples were incredulous! They couldn't believe it! Their response prompted Christ to launch into a story of a king settling accounts with a slave (Slave One) who owed him 10,000 talents and another slave (Slave Two) who owed Slave One 100 denarii (KJV "pence"). Most of us pass over the story quickly because the units of money mentioned don 't mean anything to us. The New Scofield Reference Bible, in a note on Matthew 5:26, explains that a Roman denarius represented one day 's wages for a laborer. A talent was a sum of money worth 6,000 denarii. Armed with that bit of knowledge, study the passage with a little help from a calculator. Verse 23 says that God's way of doing things ' 'may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents.'' "Put that in U.S. dollars," you say.