Thursday, March 31, 2011
Why Should I Forgive, Part 14 of 34
TEXT: "And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him" (Luke 17:4).
IDEA: Repentance is an act based on a proper attitude about our sin and how it has affected others.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand what is involved in saying, “I repent.”
Jesus commands in Luke 17:3-4, “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him.”
I. How do we make confession for our sin?
C. S. Lewis, in Readings for Meditation and Reflection (Harper 1992, edited by Walter Hooper), gives us some help with confession made to God and others:
“It is not for me to decide whether you should confess your sins to a priest or not,” he wrote, then added, “If you do not, you should at least make a list on a piece of paper, and make a serious act of penance about each one of them. There is something about the mere words, you know, provided you avoid two dangers, either of sensational exaggeration—trying to work things up and make melodramatic sins out of small matters—or the opposite danger of slurring things over.
“It is essential to use plain, simple, old-fashioned words that you would use about anyone else. I mean words like theft or fornication or hatred, instead of “I didn’t mean to be dishonest” or “I was only a boy then” or “I list my temper.” I think that a steady facing of what one does know and bringing it before God, without excuses, and seriously asking for Forgiveness and Grace, and resolving as far as it is in one to do better, is the only way.”
Sometimes it helps to put into writing what you are going to say.
Always it is essential to name the sin that you have done in clear, unambiguous words.
II. True repentance implies a promise not to do the same thing again.
You feel ashamed of what you did and what kind of person you are that made you do it. You make a promise, either stated or implied, that you do not intend to inflict pain again by your sinful actions or hurtful words.
You can’t guarantee that you won’t do the sin again, but the person you have hurt has a right to expect a sincere intention at the very least. Otherwise, it is hard to believe that you have seen your action for what it is: a moral offense against God and against another person.
Review:
The first of four factors involved in true repentance is a change of perception.
The second is a change of emotion, growing out of the change of perception.
The third is that you confess that what you have done was sinful.
The fourth factor is that, implicit in repentance, you make a promise not to sin in the same way again.
