Let’s talk about FORGIVENESS today. The Bible is full of forgiving, and loving, and being merciful. It talks about it all the time! I couldn’t possibly number the sermons I’ve heard on forgiveness. On putting up with a sinning brother’s faults. On remembering that you have a beam in your own eye. On showing Love to others. And you know what? EVERY SINGLE SERMON WAS DEAD WRONG!
That’s right. The Bible does talk a great deal about forgiveness, but odds are it DOESN’T mean what you THINK it means when it says “forgiveness”!
The Bible uses a lot of terms. Love, grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness, righteousness, judgment, etc. And these terms were translated from the respective Greek and Hebrew into English words about 400 years ago. But languages grow and change, and just because *I* use the term “mercy”, and YOU use the term “mercy”, it doesn’t mean that we are saying the same thing. For example, in England “a lift” means an elevator. Here it means a ride to town. So if you go to England and say “I need a lift”, they’ll try to sell you an elevator when what you ACTUALLY wanted is to hitch a ride!
It’s the same with forgiveness. When God says “mercy” in the Bible, He means something very specific, and very definite. And quite simply, the church needs a dictionary. A dictionary that defines words as GOD defines them, not as our language or our society defines them. Mercy, to us, simply means forgiving someone. “Letting go”, of a wrong that they did you. And this is very close to what God means - but critically different…
James 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Mercy rejoices against judgment. Mercy is excited and is happy and defeats Judgment. But mercy MUST be a step that happens AFTER judgment, because mercy can’t rejoice AGAINST judgment, IF JUDGMENT WAS NEVER MADE! Read the rest of this entry »