Forgiveness as the Foundation for Fellowship

I had the privilege earlier this week to hear a radio broadcast of Dr. Adrian Rodgers preaching on forgiveness. WOW! Later, I was discussing "things" with one of our pastors and we discussed relationships in the Association. I said to him, as I have often said to others, that the most hurtful thing in an Association of Churches is when angry church members leave one of our churches and move to another one of our churches without working through their anger and following biblical principles of forgiveness and restoration.

Sometimes, some members of the church they left do not want to participate in Associational events because "they" might be there; and others in the church to which they moved don't want to participate because some from "their old church" might be there! Guess what happens? Few people participate in Associational events and these Christian brothers and sisters are not reconcilled with one another.

No family, or family of Churches, can thrive under such circumstances. The Bible is clear about how to handle such broken fellowship. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:31-32, (ESV) "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." W.A. Criswell famously called this passage, "The sweetest passage in the Bible."
What does it mean to be "forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you"?

1) It means to be proactive! "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

2) It means to be willing to forgive in spite of remembering what was done to you!

3) It means to be willing to forgive in spite of the fact that those you are forgiving may not deserve to be forgiven!

4) It means to act toward them as if they had never sinned against you at all!

5) It means to allow your pain that they caused to be the payment for their sins!

6) It means to submit to and follow the biblically mandated process for reconcillation! (Matthew 18:15-20)

Some have said, "I can forgive, but I can't forget." Well, to be like Christ we must forgive in spite of the fact that we remember what was done to us!

Paul points out in Ephesians 4 that we are commanded as believers to forgive each other, and that not doing so "grieves the Holy Spirit". Because we are human, we are going to sin against our brothers and sisters, and they are going to sin against us. It is my sincere prayer that all of us will obey the Word of God and determine to live like Jesus Who forgave us our sins and behaves toward us as if it had never happened.

May God grant forgiveness and restored fellowship to all of our people and all of our churches.