Personal Views

Forgiveness & Hope

Forgiveness

Jesus Christ offers us forgiveness.  Many times Jesus forgave people and accepted them.  It wasn’t just that Jesus forgives; he also gives us a relationship with God.  But what should we do?

Jesus tells a story which is found in chapter 18 of Luke’s Gospel.  It is surprising.  Jesus doesn’t write us off; but those who think they are OK, watch out!!  The Parable is of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector:

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed abouta himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Pharisee is someone who thinks, “I’m OK, thank you very much.”  In fact he thinks he’s rather decent.  The tax collector knows that he can’t even look up to heaven: he is so far off.  The tax collector acknowledges his situation – he has wronged not only himself, but also God.  He asks for mercy.

What does Jesus tell us? It was this supposedly irreligious man who was justified by God!!  Jesus tells us that this man was put in a right relationship with God.  God, who is rich in mercy, gave Him forgiveness by putting him in a right relationship with Himself.

Jesus told this parable so that we too would humble ourselves.  Let us ask for forgiveness: expand the words above, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” in your own words, and God will hear.

Hope

Jesus Christ gives us hope.  In one of the most stirring passages of prose ever written, the Apostle Paul, gets excited about the implications of the resurrection of Jesus.  Handel, in the “Messiah”, set parts of this passage to music.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul’s logic is faultless; his passion is contagious!

In effect Paul argues:

Paul starts his argument with some good news:

Jesus Christ rose from death to life
– According to the scriptures
– There was evidence for the witnesses

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importancea: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter,b and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Paul continues his argument by moving from the fact of the resurrection of Jesus to the effects/ implications of it:

Fact             Effects/ Implications

Paul starts negatively; you can’t argue with the logic:

If there is no resurrection, death is the end, so
– Christians are wrong
– Live life knowing death is the end

This is how Paul puts it; Christians are to be pitied, if there’s no resurrection:

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

But that’s not the end.

BUT Jesus Christ rose bodily to life from death

This is what Paul writes:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead

Paul then takes the rest of the chapter to show the implications:

Firstly, Christians will rise to life everlasting with a spiritual body.  He writes:

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

A little later he continues:

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”c
55     “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”d
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We therefore have hope for the future because of what has happened in the past.  Paul mentions another implication: work hard in the present because of what is coming! The future should affect how we live in the present.  He writes:

58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

And finally he continues, to talk about, can you guess? –  money! - how we invest it!!  He writes, at the beginning of chapter 16:

Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.

Jesus Christ is our hope.  His resurrection in the past gives us hope for the future and meaning in the present.

Copyright Mike Pearson, 2007.  All rights reserved.

All quotations from The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S.

a Or to

a Or you at the first

b Greek Cephas

c Isaiah 25:8

d Hosea 13:14