June 26, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Forgiveness; Forgiveness is something for which everyone looks, but not everyone finds. Forgiveness is something for which everyone asks, but not everyone receives. Forgiveness is something that everyone hopes to receive, but forgiveness is something that is not always given. Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is hard, especially in a relationship that is tormented with past troubles. Forgiveness is hard in situations where trust has been lost, confidences have been betrayed, or one party feels that the other party does not deserve it, has not earned it, or will simply misuse it if they receive it. Forgiveness is hard and forgiveness often hurts. Forgiveness always costs because forgiveness is releasing another person from sin or guilt rather that demanding payment for wrongs done. Forgiveness is reaching out in love rather than seeking to extract revenge. Forgiveness is costly, because it is always given at the cost of something—the cost of tears, wounded pride, a broken heart, even diminished trust. Forgiveness has always been a costly gift for the one who is giving it, but it has never cost any of us as much as it cost the Lord our God!
Just think about what it must have been like for God, sitting there in eternity and planning his creation. He knew that satan would rebel against him. He knew that Adam and Eve would listen to his enemy and turn against him rather than remaining faithful to him. He knew the depravity into which the world would fall so that he would destroy it once with a flood and then finally, completely, on the Last Day. He knew all of this and he knew the cost he would pay with the life of his Son. Yet he still went ahead with it. He created the world. He allowed satan to tempt Adam and Eve. He allowed them to fight their own battle and even choose to turn against him. He allowed them to become unfaithful to him so that they and all the world would have the opportunity to marvel at the Lord’s Faithful Forgiveness.
Take a look at what I’m talking about. Take a look at Genesis 3:1 and see the beginning of how the Lord demonstrated his faithful forgiveness. Now, as you know the Lord had recently finished his work of creating. At some point after the sixth day satan rebelled against the Lord, tried to take over, was defeated by the Archangel Michael, and was cast out of heaven forever. At sometime after that, perhaps even the very next day satan shows up in the garden, determined to utterly destroy what the Lord God had created. Take a look at verse 1: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1, NIV84)
With these words Moses clearly assures us that this is, indeed, a real snake. It is not merely some symbol of evil or some kind of benign thought. It was a very subtle and crafty animal, as Moses tells us, which is something that could not be said of any other of the animals that God had created. Thus, by revealing this to us, Moses is in effect calling on us to pause here for a moment, and consider what is going on. A snake, a serpent, that is more than a serpent, a crafty and cunning serpent is speaking to Even in the Garden! Verse 1: “He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1–5, NIV84)
Just think about what’s going on. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. They were perfect in every way. Their thoughts were in complete and holy harmony with God’s will. They were not capable of tempting themselves into sin. Their temptation had to come from an outside, evil source, which is exactly what happened. Their temptation came from the master tempter and deceiver who enticed Eve into doubting God’s Word. He moved Eve from not even thinking about the fruit on the tree as food to thinking about it to the point that it was the only thing that she could think about. Verse 6: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:6–13, NIV84)
But before we go any farther, I have to ask a question. How often haven’t we been in that very same boat? How often hasn’t satan or one of his evil angels whispered in our ears or in our thoughts and subtly suggested that we not follow the Lord’s will in one way or another? How often hasn’t the siren song of certain websites, or certain Television shows, allured us away from work that had to be done, time that could have been spent with family, or time that needed to be spent with our spouse? How often haven’t we felt desire grow in our hearts like Eve did; desire for something we had hardly considered suddenly become so strong that we could not possibly live without it? How often haven’t we served as the tempter, as Eve did for Adam and drawn our spouse into sin with us? Or how often haven’t we gone along with our spouse, even though we knew that we should stand firm and not give into the temptation? How often haven’t we wagged our own tongues in order to point the finger at someone else’s sin in the hopes of hiding our own? How often haven’t little things like decorations, traditions, or personalities caused monumental problems in our lives or in our church? How often haven’t agreed with what Jesus said when he said, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” (Matthew 18:15, NIV84) But, as soon as we are offended by a brother or sister, we bring the matter up to the person who is just a little bit higher in the chain of command, so that now someone else will have to deal with it and we don’t have to go talk to the person? How often haven’t we allowed anger or frustration to fester and boil in our hearts until we are not able to even look at or be around the person or persons who either knowingly or unknowingly caused the hurt? How often haven’t we stood before the Lord like Adam and Eve did, blaming the Lord as the cause of our sins? How often haven’t we stood before the Lord expecting some form of punishment for our sins and finding ourselves once again marveling at the faithful forgiveness that he was so lovingly pouring out on us, even though we didn’t deserve it?
That’s where Adam and Eve found themselves. They were standing before their creator. They were standing before the God who had promised them that they would surely die when they ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, undoubtedly expecting that the worst was yet to come. But as Moses tells us in verse 9, it was the LORD God who called to them. It was Yaweh Elohim, who called them and before whom they were standing. Now, as I told you last week, Elohim is the word we translate as God. This is also the name that is most often equated with God’s power, with his righteousness, and with his holiness. The name Yaweh, on the other hand is translated as LORD. In your NIV Bibles this name is indicated by typing LORD either with all capital letters of the same size or with a large capital “L” and with smaller capitals for “ORD”. This is the name that is sometimes translated as Jehovah. This is the name that Moses received at the burning bush when the Lord declared “I Am”, and this is the name through which the Lord has revealed himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15 and Psalm 103:8)
Though Adam and Eve had been unfaithful to the Lord their God, it was the Lord, or Yaweh, or Jehovah who remained faithful to them, gave them his forgiveness and promised their salvation. Take a look at verse 14: “So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15, NIV84)
With these words the Lord God makes it clear that he is speaking to more than just a snake. He makes it clear that he is speaking to satan, a morally responsible creature, which again is something we learn from other parts of Scripture. Though satan seemed to win a victory here, it is only short lived, because God forgives Adam and Eve, removes their enmity with God and places it between them and satan, and delivers the first promise of the Savior. For with this promise God established an enemy status between Eve and satan by forgiving Adam and Eve. He would establish that same enemy status between her descendants—those who believed in the Lord—and satan’s descendants which would be those who did not believe in the Lord. Finally he would single out one specific descendant, Jesus, who would come to crush the serpent’s head and destroy the devils work. Though this would cause great suffering, pain, and even death as satan struck Jesus’ heal, by his death and resurrection Jesus would completely work forgiveness, destroy the power of satan forever, and cause us to marvel continually at the faithful forgiveness of our Lord.
Though we have been unfaithful, like Adam and Eve, the Lord has remained faithful to us. Though we have not deserved it, it was the Lord who has forgiven us for all of our sins. It is the Lord who has applied that forgiveness to us through the faith that he created in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord who has established enmity between us and satan, and between us and unbelievers. It is the Lord our God who has completely destroyed satan’s power over us. Though there are still times when our enemy gets the better of us, tempting us to sin, it is our God who faithfully calls us to repent, grants us the blessing of his forgiveness, and empowers us to forgive each other.
This is the faithful forgiveness that the Lord has shown in our lives. But the question is, do we allow that same forgiveness to show in our lives? How long has it been since you’ve let the faithful forgiveness of your Savior melt your heart into forgiveness for those who have wronged you? How long has it been since you let go of your pride, your frustration, your anger, or whatever it is that you are holding on to, and forgiven your fellow members, your pastor, your friends, even yourself for whatever wrongs might have been done? Are you still holding that grudge from that thing that happened so long ago that you can’t quite remember what it is, but you are still mad at a specific person and don’t know why? If you are still holding on to any past wrongs, I urge each and every one of you to let go and live in the marvelous forgiveness of your Savior, by forgiving those who wronged you in any way. Though I know that forgiveness is never easy and it will always cost something, can you imagine how amazing this place would be if we daily lived in the faithful forgiveness of our Lord! Can you imagine the joy that would permeate this house of worship because we were able to live together as God’s forgiven people because we had forgiven each other for whatever wrongs we may have caused! Can you imagine the blessings that the Lord would reign down upon us because there was finally room in our hearts now that we had let go of the sins, the hurts, and the wrongs to which we had once clung!
Though forgiveness isn’t always an easy thing to give away, it is the Lord’s forgiveness that enables us to give it away freely. Though forgiveness is something that will always cost us, it will never cost us as much as it cost the Lord our God. So as we bring this sermon to a close, take a moment during the offering to utter a prayer to the Lord. Release to him all your hurts, your heart aches, your frustrations, your grudges and ask him to forgive you for holding on to them. Ask him to help you to forgive completely those who have hurt you or wronged you in any way. Then with clear conscience, come forward and marvel at the faithful forgiveness the Lord has for you in the body and blood of his Son. If forgiveness is not something that comes naturally or easily today, then continue to pray to the Lord during this next week, until you find yourself able to forgive. Though forgiveness is sometimes difficult, though it is sometimes hard, though it always costs, continue to ask and you will receive it. Then, when you find yourselves living in forgiveness, able to forgive each other, go out and live in the faithful forgiveness of the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, abounding in love and faithfulness, the Lord who not only forgave our first parents, but also forgives us.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
