Can You Hear Me Now? Good! Week 5
“Anytime Minutes”
MATTHEW 6:12a, COLOSSIANS 2:13-14
INTRODUCTION:
Author Robert Jeffries writes about a couple who was going to dinner to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. As the husband was driving, the wife began to reflect on their early days and she said: “Honey, do you remember how it was when we were dating and then first married? It was so romantic. We used to sit so close together when we drove anywhere, and now look at us! .You’re on that side, and I’m way over here!” To which the husband smiled & replied, “But, dear, I haven’t moved.” So it is in our relationship with God. If you are not close to him, or have been and are no longer, it’s not because God has moved. He’s still there, still wanting to be close to you. But sin causes us to move away from Him. And that creates the deepest need of our hearts.. God’s forgiveness. As Roy Lessin writes: “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.” And that’s why our Savior, Jesus, included in His teaching on how to pray this petition... “Forgive us our sins..” This phrase is quoted a number of ways: “Forgive us our trespasses,” “forgive us our debts,” “Forgive us the wrongs we have done,” “Forgive us our shortcomings.” But no matter how it is said, it is still our greatest need.
As we surround our study with the theme of cell phones, we get the phrase “anytime minutes.” In the world of wireless that’s a phrase of freedom because with “anytime minutes” means you can use your cell phone without looking at the clock and without fear of any additional charges. Well, God really wants you to hear him now when it comes to His offer. He wants you to know that He doesn’t just offer free minutes, he offers a lifetime of freedom! You can be free of sin, free of condemnation and free of guilt. His forgiveness, His “anytime minutes,” are available without charge to you and without any contract. In fact, as we’ll see, these “anytime minutes” cost us nothing, but they cost our Provider everything. Because when God supplied His forgiveness He spared no expense, for it cost Him the life of His Son. So, let’s see the greatest “anytime minutes” we could ever have as we look at these dramatic and dynamic words, “Forgive us our sins.”
I. UNDERSTANDING THE PHRASE: “Forgive us our sins...”
Let’s briefly begin, as we have each week, by dealing with the phrase in its context because the two words that Jesus uses here, have an interesting etymology or origin. Both words “forgive” and “sin” are from a financial background.
That’s very obvious in the versions that translate “sins” with our English word “..debts.” Most of us, unfortunately, understand the concept of indebtedness. And the word Jesus uses here literally means “that which is owed..” William Barclay, a historian and Biblical scholar, writes, “This word is always used to denote something which is due, something which it is a duty or obligation to give or to pay. At its narrowest it is a money debt; at its widest it is any moral or religious obligation which a person under duty must discharge.” To put it in a metaphor that we understand all too well. It is our dreaded phrase.. “Insufficient funds.”I like the way Max Lucado in his book on the Lord’s prayer, The Great House of God talks about this metaphor. He writes, “Forgive me for broaching the issue, but I must. I realize the topic is personal, but it’s time we went public. I need to talk to you about being overdrawn at the bank. Your paycheck was late. Your landlord cashed your rent check too quickly. You were going to make a deposit, but your aunt called from Minnesota and by the time you got to the bank it was closed and you didn’t know how to make a night deposit. Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: Insufficient funds... In the gallery of famous phrases, “insufficient funds” hangs in the same hallway with “The IRS will audit your account,” “A root canal is necessary,” and “Let’s stop dating and just be friends.” You are overdrawn. You’ve spent more than you had to spend. And guess who has to cough up the cash? Not the bank, not the store, not your boss, not your aunt in Minnesota. In the grand scheme of things you can make all the excuses you want, but a bounced check lands in the lap of the one who wrote it...”
Jesus is saying here, “Pray: God, please cover my bounced check, please balance my account, “..Forgive my sins.” That word “forgive” literally means “to send away or wipe out.” Within the background of finances it denotes a balancing. But within the spiritual realm it is not merely a balancing. You see Biblically, God didn’t just balance what you owed Him.. He paid your debt Himself! Colossians 2:13-14 says that so clearly.. “When you were spiritually dead because of your sin..” Whoa, insufficient funds big time! Because of our sin we were the walking dead. We didn’t even realize how dead we were, because we were breathing physically, but spiritually because of our sin, because of missing the mark of perfection, we were dead. “...God made you alive with Christ, and. He forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow.” Unless you’ve kept the 10 Commandments and other rules of God perfectly, then you missed the mark Because you broke the rules, they figuratively gave you a record that opposed God. “He (Jesus) took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.” Our sin has been forgiven, paid for, balanced by, Jesus’ death on the cross. There was a moment for Jesus on the cross where He wore our sins, He paid our penalty, He balanced our being overdrawn!
So Jesus says, “When you pray, include asking God for forgiveness. Because that is what God lives for.” And your relationship with Him will grow as you realize that He is willing to continually pay your debt.
II. ADMITTING OUR NEED: The seriousness of sin
Now, to completely comprehend the depth of God’s forgiveness one must understand the size of the debt we owe. If you owe someone $10 and they forgive it, you’re grateful. If you owe someone $100 and they forgive it you’re astounded. But if you owe someone $10,000 and they forgive it, you figure there’s a catch somewhere! Remember, the video we started the service with? The bank forgave the one guy $1000 and he was grateful. But when the bank said they were forgiving the Neely’s debt of $250k he couldn’t believe it! Well, when it comes to being indebted to God we owe more than can ever be imagined! He made us in His image, He gave the first people a perfect place to live, He lavishly gave us His love, His Son, His promise of protection. How did we treat Him? We disobeyed His wishes, we betrayed His love, we rebelled against His desires. And we will never understand the greatness of God’s grace, His unmerited favor, until we understand the seriousness of our sin. And in this area we make two mistakes:
(1) We think we are good. When it comes right down to it, most people don’t think of themselves as “bad” sinners. It is a mind set that essentially says, “I’m not ALL that bad! I haven’t killed anybody, I’ve never stolen anything big, I don’t cuss, I don’t chew or go around with folks who do..” Today’s society so emphasizes self-esteem that we have a hard time saying, “I’m a sinner.. I’m not good.” Yet the Bible teaches us that no one should call themselves good. Rom. 3:10-12- “As the Scriptures say,“No one is good - not even one.11 No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.12 All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong.”(Get this!) “No one does good, not even one.” Now, he’s not saying no one ever does good things. He’s saying, that compared to God’s goodness and in light of our failure to live up to His commands, no one is good. And I can just about guarantee you that line, “No one does good, not even one,” is not going to make it into any of the world’s self-esteem books! Because what those verses mean is that no one in this room today is righteous on their own. Compared to God’s perfection, no one can measure up! In fact, even the good things that we do sometimes have impure motives. I study hard to preach good sermons because I really want people to “Discover the One (Jesus) who changes lives for the better forever,” but I must confess to you that when I preach my ego tries to wedge in there. I want to preach good because I don’t want to be embarrassed, I want people to think I’m a good preacher. Isa. 64:6- “All of us are dirty with sin. All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth.” That makes us uncomfortable, we don’t like hearing that. So one of the things we do is we think of ourselves as being “pretty good people” and we don’t take sin seriously. That’s why many churches don’t talk about sin. I heard a preacher recently say, “We don’t talk about sin in our church because I never want anyone to leave feeling bad.” I thought, “Isn’t that special?” I mean, nice thought, but unless you realize you’re dirty you’ll never do anything to clean up. And unless you understand the gravity of sin you’ll never seek the remedy for that sin! So, we simply refuse to accept the fact that sin ruins life and will in the end separate us eternally from God by saying, “I’m basically a good person.”
The second mistake we make in this area is we don’t want to accept responsibility for our sin. Maybe we will admit we are sinners but we deny our personal accountability for our sin. Rick Warren lists 37 ways we lie to ourselves to avoid accountability. Here’s a few.
Projection- We blame others. That’s as old as time. Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed his wife and eventually God! “This woman YOU gave me..” Blame everybody else. “I went to my psychiatrist to be psychoanalyzed.. to find out why I killed the cat and blackened my wife’s eyes; He put me on this downy couch to see what he could find.
And this is what he dredged up from my subconscious mind:
When I was one, my mommy hid my dolly in the swings, So it now follows naturally I’m always stealing things. When I was two, I saw my daddy lie to our friend Ruth; And that is why until today I never tell the truth.
When I was three, I was teased by all my brothers; Now I know the reason why I poison all my lovers. I’m so glad that I have learned the lesson it has taught....That everything I do that’s wrong is someone else’s fault.”
Isn’t that typical? Today no one is at fault. It’s society’s fault, it’s your parents fault. You had too many twinkies or watched the wrong TV show when you were a child... project the fault to someone or something else.
Rationalization- When you rationalize all you’re doing is making up “rational lies.” Rationalize means to try to convince with your mind that something is right, when you know, in your heart it’s wrong. You’ll go through all kinds of mental gymnastics trying to convince yourself it’s OK.
Comparisons. This is when we say, "I’m not that bad, not compared to so and so.” We somehow think God’s going to grade on the curve. "I’m no Hitler, no Ted Bundy, no terrorist." But God doesn’t grade on the curve. We’re judged next to His standard of perfection and none of us are perfect. The Bible says we all fall short.
Suppression. We just refuse to think about it. "I’m not going to admit my guilt. I’m going to push it down in my subconscious. I won’t dwell on it." I talked to a girl some time ago and asked her if she believed in God and Jesus and her answer was classic. “Oh sure, I believe but I’m not going to go off the deep end with it and let it take over my life or anything.” That doesn’t work. I said, “You know, I understand your answer but I hope you understand that it really doesn’t work that way. Sooner or later you must admit that your sin demands you have a Savior and He’s willing to save you and take over your life.” She said, “Maybe so, but I’ll think about that later.”
Distraction. We get so busy, tied up in our work, our hobbies, running the rat race. We’re so busy huffing and puffing and then at night we just flop into bed and sleep and get up and hit the ground running again. We take no time to be quiet, calm or contemplate. Because if we slow down for one minute we might just think of deeper things. So we keep running, moving, going and as long as a person is busy they don’t have to contemplate their lifestyle.
Spiritualization. We concentrate only on God’s love and acceptance. We never seriously consider His holiness, His justice. Or, we fashion God to be like a doting Grandfather who winks at sin.
But no matter what method we use none of the ways mentioned solves anything. The Bible says that one day we will be called into account. 100 years from now it’s not going to matter what excuses we made, the only thing that’s going to matter is did we have a personal relationship with Jesus, who died for our sin and promises forgiveness from our sins.
So, how do I become forgiven? You don’t have to beg God. You don’t have to say, "God, please, please, pretty please.. I’ll promise I’ll do better!" And you don’t have to bargain with God. "God, if You’ll forgive me this time, I’ll never miss church, I’ll never cuss again." Forgiveness is not based on performing a certain way or on a promise to be perfect. And you don’t have to try and bribe God. "God, if You’ll forgive me, I’ll read my Bible every day. I’ll give 20% of my income, I’ll work in Children’s Church for the next 10 years straight!" There’s an old Burt Reynolds movie where he’s drowning and saying, "Lord, if You just get me to shore I’ll give 90% of my money to the church." The closer he gets, he goes to 80%, 40%, 5%! No, you don’t have to beg, bargain or bribe. How? Well, it’s as simple as “A-B-C.” You admit your sin. You just say, "God, I’ve blown it. I’ve wronged you..” Call it for what it is. It’s sin. Stop trying to hide it. Be honest with God. Then you believe that God wants to forgive you. Believe that it is available because of what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross. It’s there and it’s free but it’s not appropriated until you accept it. I can hand you a check but it doesn’t become yours until you take it & cash it. Forgiveness of God does not become yours until you trust in Christ. Then C, come to Jesus. Don’t just say you believe, act on it. Make Jesus Christ Savior and Lord. He’s the One who died to set you free from sin. When you do you can claim Rom. 8:1 "There is no condemnation for those who live in union with Christ Jesus." (GN) A-B-C - Admit, Believe and Come and then you have your anytime minutes... forgiveness without charge that allows you to live a life of purpose here and unspeakable blessing in the hereafter.
III. APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE: Getting rid of guilt
So, let’s apply the principle of this phrase to our lives. Yes, we admit our need to be forgiven by saying “Forgive us our sins..” but what does that mean exactly? How does that effect me? Well, one of the things God’s forgiveness can do is relieve our guilt. In a couple of weeks we are going to spend an entire sermon on this subject. Because there are many people who live under a huge burden of guilt. You see, when it comes to guilt there is good news and bad news. The good news is that guilt can motivate you. One of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said in John 16:8 is “He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin..”(NIV) The Holy Spirit wants to use guilt as a motivator to righteousness and relationship to God.
But the bad news is that guilt can cripple you. Paralyze you.. Guilt will rob your joy and quench your contentment. David, the King of Israel, after committing adultery and murder said in Psa. 38:4- “My guilt overwhelms me, it is a burden to heavy to bear.”(NLT) So, how can we accept God’s forgiveness and thus keep guilt from crippling us?
First, understand that God wants you to accept His forgiveness. That’s why Jesus included this phrase in how we should pray: “This is how you should pray, `Forgive us our sins...’" How do you accept forgiveness and get rid of guilt? You ask God. You ask for forgiveness. But some of you are saying you do that but still feel guilty. Rick Warren feels that the problem is not that you don’t believe God forgives, you know He does. The problem is you don’t understand how God forgives. And I do think that when we really comprehend the way God forgives that it goes a long way in helping us accept what God offers here: complete freedom from sin and guilt. So, let’s close by seeing three ways God forgives.
(1) God forgives instantly. Psa. 86:5-- “For Thou, Lord are good, and ready to forgive.”(NASV) God stands ready to forgive you. He forgives instantly, immediately, no delay. You know what? God is more ready to forgive you right now than you are ready to ask for forgiveness. Have you ever made anyone wait for forgiveness? You know, someone says they’re sorry and you say, “Okay,” but deep down you’re saying, “I’ll think about it." Well, God never makes you wait for forgiveness. His happens the moment you ask, without delay because your body was not designed to carry guilt. Since, that’s true, should a believer ever feel guilty? Yes, for about thirty seconds. That’s about how long it takes for you to admit a sin to God, confess it, ask Him to forgive you, and choose to change. He forgives instantly.
(2) God forgives completely. 1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.” When Jesus died for your sins, how many of them did He die for? All of them! That means not only all the ones I’ve committed in the past but all the ones I’m going to commit this afternoon, tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And since Jesus gave His life and He paid the bill for your sin how long should you remember what you owe? Well, how long do you remember a bill that you’ve paid? I forget it. The moment I write out that utilities check I completely forget it. God says, “I want you to know that I forgive completely.” The problem may be that you don’t really believe that God has completely forgiven you. That’s why every time you have a problem, an accident, a financial crisis, the death of a friend, you feel like God’s paying you back for the sin. That is not the way God works! He doesn’t carry a grudge once we come to Him in honesty saying, "Forgive us our sins..” He forgives instantly. He forgives completely.
(3) God forgives freely. It’s free? That sounds too good to be true. Certainly doesn’t sound fair. For me to do all of these things and then go scott free? Shouldn’t I pay for the wrong things I’ve done? Yes, but.. And here’s the great news! The bill has already been paid. 2000 years ago in a place called Calvary, Jesus Christ, paid for our sin. Why did He do it? Out of love. Romans 3:23-24- "All of us have sinned... “ Who’s all? The preacher, the Elders, the Pope? All. We’re all in the same boat. “.. yet now God declares us `not guilty’ of offending him IF we trust in Jesus Christ, who freely takes away our sins."(LB) You see, you can’t bribe God into forgiving you, you can’t buy His forgiveness, you can’t barter with Him for it. But the great news is you don’t have to do any of that. If you’ll just come to Him, you’ll find He’s just waiting to forgive. Please, please understand this: God loves you so much He’s rather die then live without you.. In fact, that’s what He did when Jesus Christ went to the cross. This morning he desperately wants you to understand that it doesn’t matter what you have done, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, He’s so ready to express His love for you by forgiving you of every sin.
In fact, I want us to close our time together by hearing from someone who understands just how ready to love and forgive God is.
A FAITH STORY OF FORGIVENESS - Melissa Fryrear
Oh, how I want you to know that what Melissa experienced, you can experience. If you have put your trust in what Jesus did for you then he will give you this free gift. Now, free does not mean inexpensive. It cost God a lot to supply these “anytime minutes” this absolute forgiveness. But Jesus’ last words as He hung on the cross were "It is finished." Not “He was finished.. It.” Isn’t it time you realized that you no longer have to bear this burden of sin. You no longer have to be separated from God? There’s a man, a perfect man, beckoning to you to come and be forgiven right now! It’s as simple as “A-B-C.” By admitting your sin, believing He’s already paid for it and coming to Him as Savior and Lord, by coming to Him and honestly say, Father, “Forgive me my sins..” Would you bow with me?
PRAYER:
Would you just forget that anyone else is around right now? Just block out any distractions.. God knows everything about you. He loves you, He still loves you. There are no secrets from him. He brought you here this morning so you could hear or be reminded of His love and so you could find some relief. No matter what you’ve done, you’re valuable to God and He wants to give you a fresh start. So, if you would, just repeat this silently to God:
“God, I know I’ve been wrong. I want to live in harmony with you. Forgive me my sins.” Now, listen... and hear God say, “I love you so... you are forgiven!” Maybe just as a symbol of accepting that forgiveness you would take a deep breath, let it out and say out loud, “OK.”
{Passages taken from the New Century Version unless otherwise noted}
{Video used before sermon is entitled "Forgiven Much" 4:00 minutes in length and can be found at www.sermonspice.com}
