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READ: Mark 2:1FF
CHALLENGE: Forgive
Mark 2:3-5 – Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
I want to focus on this phrase, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” What an opening salvo. Let’s talk about the significance of these words. Jesus said it and these words have great power.
- WE ARE ALL SINNERS
Jesus said, “Your sins”. This clearly indicates the man is a sinner, as we all are. We all wrestle with that reality on a daily basis. The struggle, the temptation, IS reality. We have a sin nature and we don’t want to fluff it off because the evil in this world will own you while telling you that sin doesn’t even exist. It’s like the crickets chirping to the hapless bug stuck in the spider’s web that there is no big fat furry spider coming along. It doesn’t change facts. Never slough off problems inherent.
(Trans.) What can we learn from this story?
- Sin Acknowledges that Right and Wrong Exist
The fact that Jesus called the man a sinner understands that certain words, thoughts, and actions are wrong. The Pharisees took offense to it because Jesus claimed ability to forgive sins. They did not take offense to the fact that Jesus called the man a sinner. The man seems to take no offense to it either. It’s accepted that there are things that are truly good and other actions that are truly evil. Pure evil. And that must be understood.
In our world, you might get lampooned if you call ridiculous behavior, ridiculous. There is always someone there to defend it. It’s like every preposterous idea must be embraced, coddled, appreciated, and accepted. However, when you acknowledge the existence of “sin”, you’re saying, that there are certain behaviors that are inherently bad and bad for you and others. So, there exists the concept of “no, you shouldn’t do that”. That’s bad. This will always be true!
I understand that a word like “sinful” does not fit the say YES to everything society, where you dare not say “no” to something . Jesus teaches that there are “no” things and “yes” things.
There was a building built at a great institution of learning where stairways went to nowhere and no rules were followed. They were super proud of it. One man asked, “Did you follow that same logic when you built the foundation”? Of course not, because there really are rules in building. Rules help our world from becoming completely meaningless.
Do you say yes to your kids on everything? No. God can’t say yes to every either because some things we do are bad for us. Society can’t say yes to everything either. Like doing 100 mph through town would be a bad, bad idea. One great thing the schools are doing is – no more phone use in school! This is the law and I applaud it. We’re waking up to the dangers of technology.
Using a word like sin understands a basic concept of right and wrong. Humanity has learned that certain behaviors are better for the preservation of the community than others. This has been true for thousands of years. The Bible has had it laid out for ages.
The 10 Commandments or the 10 Statements of Reality, do an excellent job of explaining how any community can get along. We don’t steal, lie, commit adultery, murder, or covet.
- Sin Is Failing the Standard
What does the word “SIN” mean? It comes from a Greek word, “hamartia”. In the original Greek the word meant to fail. Specifically, the word means “a failure to achieve a standard”. It’s kind of like when in school and you perhaps failed to measure up to the mark for passing. And many of us have been through a test and we may have failed to make the grade. You had homework, or a group project, or an attendance expectation. Did you live up to the standard or fail to do so?
God has a standard. To understand it better! We all live with standards either stated and even at times unstated.
Illustration:
If I don’t make the grade on my tone of voice with my wife, there may be larger ramifications. Like the possibility of being ignored for several hours. And I enjoy that as about as much as a puppy enjoys it.
Examples:
What is the standard by which we are measured. It’s God’s word. God lays out his word in the Scriptures and I must heed it. Sin is missing that mark. It’s considered doing what is contrary to the Word. Obedience is placing ourselves beneath the standard of God’s word and living up to it.
The 10 Commandments are a fantastic reference point for right and wrong. Christ’s Sermon on the Mount lays out great morals as well. And these are the things that we must live by. Just read the Bible.
- Sin Leads Consequences
Sin includes guilt. Guilt meaning shame and meaning consequences as well. You’re found guilty which opens you up to punishment. So, sin needs to be seen together with the consequences. You see it here – the sin and result in one scene of a man paralyzed.
Somehow this man missed the mark of what God intended for him and he paid the price. Let’s remind ourselves that there are consequences of sin and we’re naïve if we ignore that. He sees a paralyzed man and says, “Your sin” and not that all problems are due to individual sin. Sometimes we pay for someone else’s bad choices. However, this man is suffering the results of his own actions.
I remember one day that I turned the navigation on a Garmin to French. We were 2 minutes from where we were going. Next thing you know we were 10 minutes away because I obviously didn’t understand it. Back to English!! There were silly consequences from being silly. Where are my actions taking me? That’s a great question and if I do this what we be the results of it?
Go to the store. Nothing is free. All that you buy is coming with a cost and you need to be willing to foot that bill. If you put a bunch on the credit card, what’s that bill going to look like? Nothing is free. Buying into sin means that I’m paying for sin too.
This is why people need to understand sin in the light of consequence. Paul said of sexual immorality that you are sinning against your own body. You’re doing something that’s actually hurting you.
Proverbs talks about adultery like it’s scooping hot coals into your lap. How can you do that and not get burned.
Evil in the Bible is something that we have to warn people about so that they turn away. Why? It’s going to lead to problems. And it is unloving to say that? Ignoring sin is not the loving thing to do because it’s leading to hurt.
James 5:19-20 – My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
You want to speak the truth and prevent people from getting hurt. And ultimately, the worse result of sin is the penalty of eternal separation from God.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
So there are consequences and we want to be aware of that. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to sin no more. He did not condemn her but he did tell he to stop doing what she was doing and that was loving.
He told the one man that he healed, this, “Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)
There are consequences.
B. WE ARE FORGIVEN BY GRACE
He says, “Your sins ARE forgiven”. The tense of this verb describles punctiliar action. That’s like this. Take a pencil indicating time and put a dot on the paper. Take a pencil and draw a line as in a journey. Forgiveness in a moment. He was forgiven right then and there.
I’ve said this before, “I can forgive you in a heartbeat”. It’s a moment in time most times. I have had it be a process with my emotions regarding a hurt that didn’t quit hurting just because I said, “I forgive you”. But I wasn’t holding it against the person.
How could Jesus or anyone decide to forgive someone in a moment? Shouldn’t it be more of a wait and see? Like, “I’ll forgive you IF”. Let’s see if you behave and live up to the standard, then we can talk forgiveness. That’s not what Jesus did. He forgives him before he has a chance to remedy anything. The man is forgiven before he gets up and walks. Grace is a beautiful thing!!
Illustration:
When the criminal on the cross said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Wow! That’s hardly the sinners prayer. But it was a statement of faith. Implied is that you want forgiveness and needed it. He admitted that he belonged on the cross so he must have done some terrible things. Yet, Jesus said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise”. What did the criminal ever do to warrant that kind of forgiveness? He didn’t which, again, demonstrates that forgiveness is by grace.
Not all will warrant your forgiveness. Not all of them will understand what they did. Or quit what they’re doing. There are some who don’t even feel badly about it. Some hurters play the victim card so constantly that they can never see their own wrongs.
When Jesus forgave the people on the way to the cross did they seem pouty about what they were doing? Most likely not. Forgiveness is by grace.
The beauty with God is that you can find forgiveness right now by his grace. Ephesians 1:7 – In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
C. WE FORGIVE BY CANCELING THE DEBT
The great story about forgiveness is found in Matthew 18. A man owed the king a debt he could never repay. It was astronomical. The king decided to sell him and his family to at least get something back.
Matthew 18:26-27 – “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
He said that he would make it right but here’s the truth. An apology is never going to outweigh the damage done and sometimes there is nothing you could ever do to make it right. He walked away free.
He went out and found a fellow servant who owed him money and he demanded the debt be paid. That man begged just like he did but there was no mercy. He threw the man in jail and did not let him off the hook.
When the king heard about that, he threw the man into jail. Matthew 18:32-35 – “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
The point is super obvious. God has forgiven us a lot and we should forgive others. Forgiveness is like canceling a debt. You don’t owe me anything at this point. You don’t make them pay. When someone sins against you it’s like they owe you. Forgiveness is the willingness let it go. You don’t owe me anything. Forget about it. You move on. You cancel the debt.
Why would I do that? Why wouldn’t you want to? You want to be tied to things that have happened to you in the past? My one friend used to always ask, “Why give someone free rent in your head”. I’d rather not be thinking about it than to be consumed by it.
Forgiveness does not mean you forget. You cannot erase your memory banks. Typically for me, I know that I’ve forgiven when I can think of it and talk about it and there are no emotions attached to what happened.
Forgiveness does not mean you trust them. I’ve said it many times, “Forgiveness is granted but trust is earned”. Trust is based on track record. Someone told me one time, “You didn’t forgive them”. I said, “I forgave them in a heartbeat, I don’t trust them”. And these people would have allowed the person to stay in the position and do the same thing to other people all over again. I could not do allow that. Forgiveness doesn’t mean burying your head in the sand.
Forgiveness does not mean that you’re condoning what they did. You don’t forgive because you’re cool with it or that you think they deserve it. You forgive because you want to be free and it’s the right thing to do.
Forgiveness means that you don’t make them pay. And this means you don’t seek revenge. You don’t even the score. You don’t make them earn it. You let it go. We are supposed to return evil with good.
You shouldn’t be bringing it up all of the time. I’ve seen people where they clearly could not let it go. Reminding a repentant person what they already know they did is not helpful. Forgiveness doesn’t keep reminding the other person. I knew a man whose wife cheated on him. He never let her forget it and every day until his dying day he reminded her. That’s not what forgiveness looks like. You have to move on and heal.
This is not an easy thing to do. At times, it may seem nearly impossible. So you pray about it and commit to the Lord and work through it.
Ephesians 4:31-32– Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
This is how it’s done. This man got up and walked free because of the grace that offered forgiveness and allowed for change. We wouldn’t have to forgive if we were not going to encounter hurts.
Have you found forgiveness? Have you granted forgiveness?