Full of Grace

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13, NIV).

God calls us to be as gracious and forgiving towards others as He is with us.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. No exceptions. No conditions. No loopholes. No small print. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

God’s forgiveness is given with the expectation that we will be forgiving to others. The two are connected together: God’s forgiveness, and a forgiving spirit. When the gift of forgiveness is given, a spirit of forgiveness is born and begins to bloom in the believer. The one always produces the other. Consider the following passages:

Matthew 6:14-15 (NLT) If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. In the Lord’s Prayer we say forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. There is a very clear line drawn there.

Matthew 18:21 -22 (NLT) Peter came to [Jesus] and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No!” Jesus replied, “seventy times seven.” That means there is no limit on our obligation to forgive.

Luke 17:3-4 (NLT) I am warning you! If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive him. Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him. When a person who hurt us asks for forgiveness, we need to give it. We aren’t supposed to put it off, put conditions on it, or justify our withholding it. Withholding forgiveness when a person has honestly repented is a sin.

At the end of Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35, Jesus says, Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart. How many of you know that you are not going to pay off a multi-million dollar debt making license plates for chariots in prison before you die? God expects that His forgiveness of us will make us disposed to forgive others.

There is an undeniable connection between God’s forgiveness and being forgiving. Jesus makes it very clear that being gracious and forgiving is not optional for Christians. In fact, forgiveness is an essential characteristic of the Christian. The old hymn says “They will know we are Christians by our love.” It is just as biblically true to say “They will know we are Christians by our forgiveness.”

Now I want to be very clear about this point. These passages are not teaching that your salvation is dependent on your being willing to forgive. We are not saved by our works, and that includes works of forgiveness. We are saved by grace. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9 says,

God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Salvation, God’s forgiveness, is not the fruit of a forgiving spirit, but a forgiving spirit is the fruit of God’s forgiveness of us. As the great reformer John Calvin said, “We are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is never alone.” Our willingness to forgive is one of the proofs of the Spirit’s saving work in us.

Another reason forgiveness is an essential characteristic of the Christian is because forgiveness is an essential characteristic of Jesus. Jesus is described in John 1:14 as being full of grace.

• When anyone asked for grace and forgiveness from Jesus He gave it. Even if you were a woman caught in adultery (John 8:11).
• When Jesus saw that someone needed grace and forgiveness, He gave it. It did not matter if you were Peter or a cheating tax collector (Luke 19:1-10).
• Even when He knew that people would reject the grace and forgiveness He offered, He gave it. As when He asked God to forgive the soldiers who were nailing Him to the cross (Luke 23:34).

Jesus embodied grace. He lived it. He clothed Himself in it. He was gracious to His friends, to His enemies, and to people He only met once in His life on Earth. He was full of grace.

A Christian is someone who is growing and changing to become like Christ. To love how He loves. To think what He thinks. To act like He acts. And a big part of that, means to forgive like He forgives. We should all be in the business of getting to the place where people say to each other when we leave the room, “That person is full of grace!”