Holiness – A Call to all Saints

If God’s people would, and if
you would bear with me, we are not in the Gospel of John this
morning. You would take your Bibles and
turn to the book of Colossians. And no, I am not starting our
study of Colossians yet. I purpose to get to this one
day. It’s kind of on my pastoral bucket list to preach through
Colossians in my day. We’ll finish John first. I purpose
to get to Colossians. I don’t know exactly when we’ll
take this up, but that’s my desire to get into Colossians. But I
figured today, on a day where we receive into membership, that
there ought to be some exhortation, some encouragement, some moorings. And really, just as I read our
agreement, our commitment to one another, I think in very
large measure, we also recommit ourselves to the teachings of
scripture in this regard. As members, we want to know what
the Lord expects of us. What does the Lord desire of
us? We preach through the book of
Romans. You might recall that there are 11 chapters of solid
doctrine. in Romans. And then in chapter
12 come these very practical rapid-fire applications. It just gets very practical very
quickly. In the book of Ephesians, you’re
familiar with those first three chapters, very deep doctrine. And then the latter half of that
book, chapters 4 through 6, are more practical and likewise in
the book of Ephesians or in the book of Colossians you have the
first two chapters are doctrine the second two chapters are practical
application of those doctrines so as you come into chapter 3
just keep that as your reference point and I want to go all the
way to the beginning of chapter 3 chapter 3 beginning in verse
1 And we’re going to course all the way down through chapter
or verse 13. Where Paul begins to apply the
great doctrines that he had articulated in the opening of chapter 2.
Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking
the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. Set your mind on the things above
and not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who
is our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with
Him in glory. Therefore, consider the members
of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is
because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon
the sons of disobedience and In them, you also once walked
when you were living in them. But now you also put them all
aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from
your mouth. Do not lie to one another since
you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put
on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according
to the image of the one who created him, a renewal which in which
there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man, but Christ
is all and in all. So as those who have been chosen
of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and
forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone. Just as the Lord forgave you,
so also should you.” Well, this is kind of Paul’s church meeting,
if you will. He probably had visited the Church
of Colossae numerous times. He knew them well. He not only
felt as if he could speak into their life, he took a very bold
opportunity to do so. What he speaks is the bottom
line of Christianity. What he tells them is very pointed. You can almost, we’re taken aback
a little bit as we hear these things because you can almost
hardly hear someone speaking to you in such terms. And so
Paul very boldly addresses the flavor of the church, the need
of the church, the nature of the church, and what his expectations
were of the church. And I want to speak in just very
plain terms this morning as Paul does. Paul is concerned about
the membership of this church. Paul is concerned about their
behavior. He’s concerned about their testimony. And so he speaks
very bluntly and plainly to them. But I want to take you specifically
to verse 12, and that’s where we’ll focus this Lord’s Day,
verses 12 and 13. And I really mean this by way
of encouragement, reminder, not as any particular rebuke of anyone,
although Paul likely had specific situations in mind, things that
he had been very concerned to observe. even when he spoke in
earlier verses, don’t lie to one another. He probably had
some very specific situations in mind. But here he says, look
at verse 12, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and
beloved, he doesn’t say whether they are chosen, but as they
are chosen. He doesn’t doubt their divine
election. He says, because of your divine
election, because you are those who are chosen by God, there
is a God-given design expected in your lives. It’s only reasonable. that if God had chosen them for
salvation, if God has chosen you for salvation, if He had
set them aside, likewise if He has set you aside, He has some
things by divine prerogative to speak into your life. He has
some expectations. If He has called you out of darkness
and brought you into the light by faith, then he has the divine
right, the divine prerogative to make very explicit demands
on our lives, doesn’t he? So he says, as those who have
been chosen of God, referring to their divine election from
eternity past, He points them to the very solemn truth that
they were by a very special work of God’s grace. We spoke of the
Holy Spirit in weeks past where we don’t ever ask to receive
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit simply begins
to move upon us and we find ourselves to be changed. We find ourselves
to be regenerated, reborn out of a state of deadness into a
state of life. We’ve been rescued. and now were
separated out from the world, called into God’s fellowship
and family. This immediately calls to mind
that as God’s elect, they were marked out from eternity past,
and as such, they were now to bear a special mark, a mark of
God’s character. Because the same God that had
chosen them in eternity past, the same God that awakened them
out of the sleep of death by His Spirit in time, is the same
God who is at work in them. We have the truth, this very
same truth paralleled in a passage in Ephesians. Turn to Ephesians
quickly since you’re nearby. Ephesians chapter 4, we’re not
going to be able to take time to do as much with this as I
would really like to, but I just want to call attention to one
verse in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, look at
verse 1. Therefore, I, the prisoner of
the Lord, implore you. This is no passing request that
he makes. This isn’t just, hey, if you
get time, if you don’t mind, if you get around to it, I implore
you, I use the strongest term possible to urge you to walk
in a manner worthy with which you have been called. That idea
of calling, that same divine calling in time, born on your
election in eternity past, but it happens, that calling happens
in time, and we are supposed to walk in accordance with that
calling. Now here in Paul’s epistle to
the Ephesians, he appeals to them citing his credentials as
the prisoner of the Lord. And he does that to stir their
hearts to sympathy with this great apostle, but he acknowledges
also his own privilege to suffer on their behalf and to suffer
for his Savior. He’s not going to ask anything
of believers that he isn’t willing to do. We talked about this the other
day. We have this tendency to say, do as I say, don’t do as
I do. But Paul had the temerity, he
had the boldness, he has the courage to say, watch what I
do and do likewise. That’s not arrogance. That’s
someone who’s following hard after God and says, follow me. And He simply admonishes them
here to walk worthy, worthy in worship, esteeming God, valuing
Him, that’s what worship is, esteeming, setting a value for
God and responding accordingly. Here, esteeming, valuing our
high calling in Christ and responding accordingly in the way that we
live. Back, if you would, to Colossians.
This appeal to walk worthy, this was at the forefront of Paul’s
mind as he dealt with everybody. He said it to the Colossians,
Colossians 1.10. Walk in a manner worthy of the
Lord. Set a value for what Christ has
done for you. And for those of you who were
there yesterday as we went into the Gospel of Mark, we saw the
incredible cost that was paid at our expense At Christ’s expense,
it was on our behalf that Christ suffered and died. To set a low
value of that to live your life in such a pitiful manner is unthinkable. Walk in a manner worthy of the
Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge of God. He said the same thing
to the Thessalonians. to the Thessalonians chapter
2 verse 12 walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into
his kingdom and glory that same idea of divine calling to the
Philippians he said the same thing 127 only conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ one pastor noted here
that the true test of our apprehension of the gospel, what kind of idea
do we have of the gospel, what worth or value do we set upon
the gospel, what sense do we have of the majesty of God, how
are we living? That’s what we think of the gospel. The way that we walk, the way
that we live, the way that we conduct ourselves, the way that
we treat one another, it’s all directly tied. to the value that
we have of Christ, the value that we have of His sacrifice
on our behalf, the value that we have of the salvation bestowed
to us. Because of that, we’re to walk
worthy, friends. We’re to walk worthy of Jesus
Christ, worthy of God, worthy of the gospel, worthy of the
salvation. Paul will spell this out as we get into it. But I
want you to look again at verse 12, the first part. So as those
who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved. These are additional
motivators to a faithful walk. And Paul lays upon these Colossian
believers these additional titles. And these were meant not to just
gloss over. These were meant to instruct
and remind them who they are in Christ. And these titles are
blended. They’re in harmony with the great
fact of God having chosen them, which he had just communicated.
But not only are they chosen, but as such, because of that,
they are now holy and beloved. It won’t take a long time, but
I do want to look at these terms. Holy regards, if you talk of
God and His holiness, we understand it in a twofold sense. He is
separated from all sin. He’s completely separated and
apart from it. God is pure. God is sinless. And in the case of the Colossians,
he says to them, you have been holy. You have been separated
apart from sin. You are set aside for God’s holy
purposes. The same word can only properly
be translated as saints. I tell people all the time because
they hear me say this and if they’re new to me, they hear
me call them saint, saint so-and-so. It’s not like You know, you have
to die and wait 50 years for this church anyway to refer to
you as what God would refer to you as. You’re a saint. You’re a saint separated apart
for his good use. That’s who God’s people are before
him. They are the set-aside ones.
They are His saints. They are holy ones, set-apart,
sanctified ones. The idea is that of separation. You’ve been called out of the
world. You’ve been set aside for a holy use, consecrated to
God. You’ve been free from blemish. And as we stand before God now,
we stand in the righteousness of Christ. Before God’s eyes,
you are saints. You are holy ones because he
sees in you only the righteousness of Christ. We spent no little
time these past few days recognizing that the whole idea of justification
by faith, which passage we read in Galatians a moment ago, that
our sin was placed completely onto Christ, but Christ’s righteousness
was placed completely onto us. That’s what God sees. He looks
at you and He doesn’t see the same old, ridiculous, sinful,
troubled person that you were outside of Christ. And I know
that some of that still remains, doesn’t it? We know that. But
what God sees is the righteousness of Christ. What God sees are
saints. Saints that are in process. Saints that need to continue
to grow in grace. But think of how this word rings
to the modern ear, right? You’ll regularly hear other denominations
refer to a very small group of special Christians by this term,
right? And in a sense, we’ve allowed
others. That’s why I committed when I
first thought through this years ago, I committed that I was going
to take back this word. Because in a sense, we’ve allowed
others to misuse this term and this terminology, and they’ve
effectively taken the word away from the church to make it an
unbiblical thing, but not Paul. To Paul, if you see this, he
says, we are holy ones. We are God’s saints. Everyone
who names the name of Christ, everyone who has come to faith
in Christ, no matter how young in the Lord they are, whether
they possess a long history of good works or not, if they have
named the name of Christ, if they have begun to walk with
Christ, whether they’re lepers or poor or rich, what have you,
they are saints of God. And as soon as the newest, most
obscure Christian heard this, can you imagine these words coming
to this little church of Colossae? Realizing that I am now considered
in God’s eyes a holy one, I am now set apart for His holy purposes? It must have made their hearts
swell, knowing that they were special, so special in God’s
eyes that He had set them apart for His purpose and His use.
But not only saints, He calls them beloved. This is a simple word, but he’s
not just using this as what we call a nominative. It’s not just
another name that he brushes past quickly. When he says beloved,
it’s Paul’s way of reminding them in a very straightforward,
very direct manner. Not only are they God’s chosen,
not only are they set apart, but he gives them the explanation
for that whole thing. They are loved. by God. What an incredible thing. This
election thing, sometimes it causes people to think almost
mathematically, coldly, about God. But if you think of it in
these terms, God set his love upon you. in the most practical
term. And from eternity past, He began
to work out His plan of redemption that now has embraced of all
people. You and I, we were no more deserving
than anyone. God reached into a cesspool of
humanity and He drew out a certain portion for His good purpose. This calling is so precious,
so high, so holy. that our response is to walk
as God would have us to walk. Our response is to live like
God would have us to live. And so he says in verse 12, as
those, not whether, as those who have been chosen of God,
holy and beloved, saints, set apart for His good purposes because
He so loved them, put on. You have this recurring image
that Paul uses in his epistles, this put off, put on. Put off
the sinful man, put on the new nature. Put off and put on. But
he starts, and we’re gonna go through these in rapid succession. He says, first of all, put on
a heart of compassion. To the Greeks, a lot of times
what we speak of as heartwarming, You know, that it touched my
heart. We speak in those terms. To them, the seed of emotions
was more in the tummy. I’ll put it that way. It’s the
organ of the seed of compassion to the Greeks. And strictly speaking, it could
be used to speak to a number of the organs, the heart, the
lungs, the liver. It’s not just talking about the
intestines, but it’s talking about the inward parts. generally
speaking. And what he points to here is
that what he wants from us in this heart of compassion is a
heart that is tender, the heart that is merciful, a heart that
is compassionate toward others. It’s a real affection for the
saints of God. It’s an unpretended love for
them. We are supposed to practically
sympathize with one another and love and care and take part in
them. This is where Paul’s coming from
in Romans 12 when he says, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep
with those who weep. And sometimes we do both in a
single day, don’t we? This word means to feel pity, to feel in
our inward parts what our brothers are feeling. And in the Gospels,
this word is so beautifully and so plentifully used of our Savior. Used of Jesus repeatedly. Remember, it’s used of Jesus
in the parable of the unmerciful slave. The king there which God
represents, he felt compassion for this slave. Used of Christ
in Matthew 9. He saw the people and he felt
compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited
like a sheep without a shepherd. He really felt for them. He really
recognized their needs. When the people all gathered
on the mountain in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 15, he felt compassion
for them because they were hungry. I told you about Matthew 18.
Matthew 20, likewise, uses the same word that Jesus was moved
to compassion and touched the blind men’s eyes and they received
their sight. Used so frequently of our Savior. That’s what He wants from us.
It’s to feel it in the inward part. And we speak in these terms
somewhat. I have a gut feeling. That was
gut-wrenching. We would say it more commonly,
heartfelt. I feel it in my heart. But it’s
not just a feeling. It’s to have a legitimate care
and concern for someone. The tender mercies of God as
it’s translated in scripture, affection. The ultimate design of this passage
is to urge Christian unity but it starts here. It starts with
a legitimate care, a basic care for one another. Every believer should be bound in a very real
sense to every other believer. We should care for one another.
I’ve urged many times, just take up the phone book and pray through
the phone book, and you’ll be amazed what the Lord brings to
mind. By God’s grace, God’s children,
are to cherish one another. They’re to love one another in
practical terms. So he says, put on a heart of
compassion. Take the saints deeply into your
own heart and soul and care for one another. And if compassion
is the feeling, then what Paul does here is drive home this
next expression. It begins with compassion, but
it can’t stop there. I feel your pain does us no good,
right? Look at the passage, as those
who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart
of compassion, kindness. This is the expression of compassion. This, the sentiment, essentially
is worthless without an expression. And so to have compassion for
one another is only the start. Kindness will prompt us to come
alongside and to help as we are able. God doesn’t expect of us
more than he has equipped us to do. But we would also find
ourselves quite surprised at what we are able to do if we
but care. Kindness. this graciousness or kindness
is opposed to the severity that is so common to the world, this
kind of passing sympathy that looks with pity on someone lying
by the side of the road and then promptly moves on. Life’s busy. I’ve told you before, I don’t
particularly care for those traffic reports on the radio that tell
us about this gory accident that we want to avoid for our own
convenience, you know? It just, it just has a worldly
sense to it. So this kindness is a, it’s a
grace of God that pervades what we do, that it doesn’t stop at
compassion, but it looks for a way to relieve the suffering
of others. It’s serviceable. It’s useful. It’s practical. It’s not just
a warm feeling towards our fellow saints, but it is practical service
and kindness to them. Titus chapter three. Go ahead
and turn there just briefly, Titus chapter three. You talk
about practical kindness when God exercises kindness, you know
that it’s going to be infinitely practical. In Titus chapter three,
which verse was just preached here some time ago, Remind them
to be subject to rulers, to, pardon me. Remind them to be
subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for
every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle,
showing every consideration for all men. Now, he tells us that
we’re supposed to be nice to the rulers, to the people in
our city. And then he gives us the reason why. Look at verse
3. For we also once were foolish ourselves. disobedient, deceived,
enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life
in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. That’s who
we were. No wonder we ought to be kind
and merciful to those around us now. And that’s who we still
would be. I tell the story from time to
time of the dear pastor John Brown. John Brown was in a city,
a Puritan pastor, and what they used to do is march the criminals
through the town square to their hanging, to the gallows, and
along the way would be all the townspeople, right? All the townspeople
throwing tomatoes, which is a perfectly useful purpose for tomatoes,
throwing tomatoes, calling out catcalls, you know, belittling
this man on the way to his death. And? There stood John Brown,
unwilling to participate, unwilling to mock this poor man, unwilling
to be unkind to him. And when somebody questioned
him, Pastor John, why won’t you mock this condemned criminal? John Brown’s answer, you know
it there, but by the grace of God, go I. John Brown knew that
it was only the mercy of God that made him any different from
this felon. That’s exactly what you have in verse four. When
God’s kindness is shown, it is intensely practical. But when
the kindness of God, our savior and his love for mankind appeared,
he saved us. God’s kindness is intensely practical. It saved us from a life of sinful
wretchedness. And that kindness is not only
true of God, spoken of in Romans 2.24, do you think lightly of
the kindness of God? When we stand back and we look
at our life, what it was and what God has done with it now,
purely out of His mercy, showing us practical kindness, Can’t
take light of that. And so it should be true of us.
We will read in days to come in Galatians chapter 5 that one
of the fruits of the Spirit, part of the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. It’s a sign of your
Christianity. There’s another. as those who have been chosen
of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility. And it’s almost like you can’t
do one without the other, right? To show that kind of kindness,
you’re going to need humility. It’s not like, you know, one
comes first. He’s telling us we need to change
our life. It’s telling us that we have too proud a way of considering
and looking at our life. This word means a lowliness of
rank. It’s putting ourselves last.
It’s putting ourselves at the lowest place. That’s against
our nature, isn’t it? We don’t like to be abused. We
don’t like to be mistreated. But this idea of lowliness of
mind is really a result of Christ having touched us with the gospel.
No wonder one of the most powerful arguments for this is Philippians
2, right? Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also
in Christ Jesus. And then he goes on this lengthy.
Discussion, and he doesn’t even get to humility. So several verses
later, it’s humility that Christ most greatly manifested there,
taking on human flesh, ultimately going to the cross. Humility
is one of the distinctive marks of Christianity. As one pastor
said, it includes a low estimate of oneself. That would fix a
lot of things, wouldn’t it? A low estimate of oneself founded
on the consciousness of guilt and weakness and a consequent
disposition to be low, unnoticed, and unpraised. Well, that would
fix almost everything, wouldn’t it? When James talks about quarrels
that exist among you in chapter 4 of his Epistle, remember he
says that it’s basically this high opinion that you have of
yourself that causes all of these difficulties. It’s not that we
don’t care about ourselves. It’s not that God doesn’t love
us. It’s that we don’t think ourselves
better than our brothers. It’s all contrary to arrogance. haughtiness, thinking that we’re
better than we are, a conceit of ourselves. It’s a right view
of ourselves. God loved us, loved us enough
to send his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on our behalf. But we’re
no better than anyone. We’re no better, no greater than
anyone. Gentleness. The fourth feature
to which he calls us in a church. as those who’ve been chosen of
God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness. This is almost humility in action,
right? This gentleness is a meekness
towards others, and this doesn’t come naturally, especially to
men. King James translates it meekness, but it’s what one described
as a sweet reasonableness. This is not somebody who’s on
edge, who’s ready to go off at The first sign of offense. Considerate. Caring. Kind. Forebearing. Almost putting up with. Another
described it as the very opposite of self-assertion. This is somebody
who comes into the room and it isn’t all about them. How refreshing. How refreshing that is. One said
that meekness is that unresisting, uncomplaining disposition of
mind which enables us to bear without irritation or resentment
the faults and injuries of others. This is somebody who’s not easily
offended, not ready to go off, not ready to pop their cork simply
because somebody stepped on their toes. They’re receptive, they’re
welcoming, they’re warm. not only compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness, but even the outgrowth of those, patience. This is everyone’s
favorite, because I don’t have to wait in the line at the bank
for more than about 30 seconds before I begin to rock on my
heels, right? things to go our way. We like
things to be efficient. We like things to happen in an
orderly manner according to our timetable. Life doesn’t work
that way. People don’t work that way. People
don’t change as quickly as we would like them to. And this
kind of patience is a particular kind of virtue exercised by God’s
grace. It is as Juan described it, patience
under provocation patience under provocation which means that
you remember when I preach Romans and I started that section Romans
15 I said that we would be the greatest Christians the world
has ever known if it weren’t for people because they bug us
they they do goofy things and they they they make us do things
that we normally, well, we know that we don’t have to do them,
but we do them anyway. They make us to sin, and we blame
it all on others. This is patience under provocation.
This is exactly what the Proverbs so frequently speak of. A quick-tempered
man acts foolishly. Proverbs 14, 17. Proverbs 14,
29. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who
is quick-tempered exalts folly. This is long-suffering as opposed
to just an irritability ready to go off on somebody at a moment’s
notice, at the slightest offense. This is somebody who’s given
to bearing with people. Proverbs 16, 32, He who is slow
to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than
he who captures a city. God puts a premium on patience. Another described it as a disposition
which leads to the suppression of anger. Right? Remember when you were little,
mom taught you to count, right? Count to 10. That would do us
well, wouldn’t it? That’s the suppression of anger.
And by the time you get to 10, most times you’ve realized, you
know what, I’m not really going to say that. Another described it as the forbearance
which endures injuries and evil deeds without being provoked
to anger or vengeance. Slow to anger, as the Proverbs
put it. This is a grace. This is a grace
that we have to pray for, appeal to God for, that when exercised,
it’s displayed among brothers. in Christ. It’s displayed in
the church, in the community of the called out ones, patiently submitting, patiently
bearing with, patiently loving one another. And please note
this. Verse 13 is basically a discussion,
a description, an application of patience. That’s all it is.
It’s not a new point at all. Look at the passage. So as those who have been chosen
of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and
forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone. Just as the Lord forgave you,
so also should you. Well, that sews it up, doesn’t
it? I see these bumper stickers all
the time. And this is not the same thing. When it says that
we’re supposed to tolerate as a, you know, I don’t want to
be tolerated. I want God’s grace to change
me. I want a brother to tell me that I’m wrong when I’m wrong.
When Paul says bearing with one another here, he doesn’t mean
that we don’t address one another’s sins. It means that we know that
We’re going to be around some quirky people. We know everybody
has some of these things. Well, everybody but me, right?
They all have these things, right? We’re supposed to bear with them.
We don’t tolerate their sin. We don’t ignore their sin, sinful
tendencies, even tardiness, you know, showing
up chronically late to meetings. I don’t always address that one.
Things happen. James 119 says it, this you know
my beloved brethren, but let everyone be quick to hear, slow
to speak, and slow to anger. You just bear with people and
their weaknesses. Bear long with their quirks,
their idiosyncrasies, their shortcomings. Proverbs, again, he was slow
to anger is better than the mighty. This is the one who looks and
very patiently endures with his brother’s weaknesses. But when
he’s offended, but when he’s offended, look
at verse 13, forgiving each other. We shouldn’t have to go through
this big lengthy process for somebody to finally come to their
senses, come to repentance, come to a place where they’re ready
to admit their fault and come to you and ask for your forgiveness.
and then wait and wait and wait for you to grant them forgiveness.
It shouldn’t be that way. We should be eager to extend
forgiveness. No sooner do they come to us. It refers to the times when others
have positively offended us. They said something or did something
that objectively was wrong and we’re going to be wronged. And
you look at it, to whom does this apply? Every single person,
whomever has a complaint against anyone. It doesn’t matter who
the complaint is against. It doesn’t matter who’s offended. But then he adds this little
argument, and there doesn’t need to be a long list of arguments
on why we should forgive other people. It’s an echo of the word
Lord’s Prayer. Just as the Lord forgave you,
so also should you. It’s exactly what Jesus said,
right? When he taught, I call it the
disciples prayer because he was teaching them how to pray. Forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And in Matthew 18, you’ll recall
that if we don’t forgive, neither will our Heavenly Father forgive
us. It just is an un-Christian attitude
to hold or harbor unforgiveness against a brother. One pastor put it this way, Christians
are to forgive one another because Christ has forgiven them. His
example has all the force of a formal command. They are also
to forgive one another as He has forgiven them. When was the
last time Jesus called you into account and read you the list
of all the things that you did as a reminder. But that’s what
we do. We forgive fully and freely as
Christ did once and forever not insulting him who was injured
who has injured them by the rigid exaction of a humiliating apology
or stinging him by a sharp and unexpected allusion to his fault
nor harboring antipathy but forgiving and forgetting as well. No indulging
of a secret feeling of offense and waiting for a moment of quiet
retaliation, but expecting every grudge from their hearts, part,
expelling every grudge from their hearts by an honest and thorough
reconciliation. We don’t harbor grudges. We don’t
hold these things against people. We don’t build up a list, bearing
with one another. forgiving each other. Whoever
has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord has forgiven
us. That’s the only way to keep a
church sound. It’s the only way to keep a church
unified, is to deal graciously and kindly with one another as
saints of God. Let’s pray. Our merciful King,
we humble ourselves in your glorious presence. We thank you for this
calling. We thank you for drawing us out
of a life of sin and bringing us in as children of light. Grant us the grace, Father, not
one of us is perfect in this regard. Grant us the grace to
walk with patience and humility with others. And when we are
offended, grant us a quickness to forgive, an eagerness to deal
graciously with those who’ve offended us. Grant us grace,
Father, to receive in these new members with eagerness and openness
of arms and heart. Lord, we rejoice in your goodness
and grace. We pray all of these things in
Jesus’ name. Amen.