A Word in Season: Forgiving One Another (Ephesians 4:32)

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Because saved sinners are sinners still, and because Christians are saved sinners, it is inevitable, especially when we're thrown close against one another in the body of Jesus Christ, the

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Church, that we will sin against one another. Now, not every offence is caused by sin.

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I might tread on your foot, I might accidentally jog you, I might speak carelessly and thoughtlessly and trouble you, and under such circumstances it might be right to say,

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I'm sorry that that happened, not my intention, the situation is resolved, and we move on.

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But where there is sin, it needs to be properly addressed, and the pattern for addressing it is the pattern that we find in God, in Christ.

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The Apostle Paul deals realistically with this when he talks to the Ephesians in chapter 4 about their spirituality with regard to speech, that the way in which they communicate with one another is not to grieve the

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Holy Spirit of God by whom we were sealed for the day of redemption, and therefore we're not to speak in a way that shows that we are working contrary to Him who is the

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Spirit of holiness and peace. So let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.

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And now the positive, be kind to one another, tender -hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

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And unless we as believers understand what it is to be forgiven, and understand then what it is to deal with sin, we will be divided from one another in the same way as our sin divided us from God, until through Christ Jesus the

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Lord is pleased to remove the offence of sin and to take it out of the way.

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So perhaps it will help to think like this. Sin is like a splinter, and when

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I sin against you, I'm putting a splinter into your flesh, and that splinter digs in, sometimes deep, some of the splinters may be bigger than others, it causes tenderness, it causes pain, it can become infected, and every time

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I'm around you, if I'm bumping up against that splinter, then it's causing you further distress.

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Now a lot of times, especially in some cultures, we just, oh no, it's not a problem, don't worry about it.

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We cover it over, but underneath the covering, the wound is still festering, and there's no resolution, and there's no reconciliation.

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In fact, what we ought to do when there is genuine sin, and again we need to be careful in making sure we don't impute evil to one another, is to identify it.

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You have upset and distressed me because of this particular sin. You have spoken or acted in a way that I consider to be sinful.

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And then if we're being gracious about it, we will consider that splinter of sin, and we will take the tweezers of repentance.

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And using very specific language, we will put those tweezers on the splinter.

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Will you please forgive me for the sin that I have committed in doing or saying this or that thing?

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And with the tweezers of repentance, we're trying to draw out the splinter of sin.

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Now, on the part of the person who has been sinned against, it's vital now that we allow for that to happen, that we are ready to forgive that person, that we'll let them draw out the splinter, and then we'll pour in the balm of forgiveness.

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We might need to clean out the wound to make sure there's nothing remaining. That can be painful as we deal with those things honestly and openly and transparently.

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But then we pour in that balm, that medicine, that cordial of forgiveness, and we wrap it all up in the bandage of reconciliation.

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And yes, the wound may remain tender for at least a little while, but the offence is removed, the wound is healing because of forgiveness, and God willing, before long, there is now no tenderness, no difference, no distance, no suspicion that remains.

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And we put it away. And we keep doing that, just as God in Christ keeps doing that to us.

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When God forgives in Christ Jesus, He takes away our sin.

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We repent toward Him, He removes the offence from His mind, and He does not deal with it again.

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He buries those sins, forgiving them absolutely and remembering them no more.

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And if we're to keep peace among one another as God's people, then we need to remember that gracious process by which we deal with sin, we forgive one another just as God in Christ has forgiven us.