The Gift of Forgiveness

This is the message given on Sunday, September 6, 2015 in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Joel 2:1-32.

            We continue our sermon series “Who Are These Guys”, looking at the Minor Prophets, with a look at the book of Joel.  Our best guess is that Joel lived in about the fourth or fifth century B. C., although some would say he lived earlier.  We don’t know anything about Joel—where he lived, what he did, any of that.  The only thing we know about him is that his father’s name was Pethuel, which we know because the first verse of the book says, “The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

            This was a fairly quiet time in the history of the Jewish people.  They were not free—they were a small part of the huge Persian Empire.  But they were not really enslaved, either.  Things are going kind of the way they go in our lives a lot of the time—not real great, but not real terrible, either.  Life’s not what you wish it was, but it’s not that bad.  Could be worse.

            We usually read from the book of Joel exactly one time each year, and that’s on Ash Wednesday.  Our traditional Ash Wednesday reading was part of what we read today.  Maybe some of you recognized it.

            And if we think about what we read today, we can see why it’s used on Ash Wednesday.  Because what Joel says is, you know how you’re thinking things could be worse?  Well, they’re going to be worse.  They’re going to be a lot worse.  Joel says the day of the Lord is coming.

            Now, maybe you’re thinking, what’s so bad about that?  After all, we’re Christians.  We talk about Jesus coming again all the time.  We think of it as a good thing.  The apostle John, at the end of the book of Revelation, prays, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”  Why does Joel say the day of the Lord is going to make us worse?

            Well, remember, we’re talking Old Testament here.  This all happened before Jesus came.  Joel, and the people he was talking to, were still operating under the system of Jewish law.  The way to heaven, in Old Testament times, was to follow the law.  And Jewish law was not being followed very well.  So the day of the Lord was not necessarily going to be a good thing for them.

            And also, the idea of who God was, was different then.  Not that God has changed, but the attributes of God that were emphasized are different.  We tend to emphasize God’s love, and God’s forgiveness and mercy, and those certainly are attributes of God.  But in Old Testament times, they emphasized that God’s power and God’s righteous and holiness, and those are attributes of God, too.

            And the thing is, when you emphasize God’s righteousness and God’s holiness, then you realize how far short you and I fall from God’s standards.  And when you think about how far short we fall from who God wants us to be, and then you think about how powerful God is, and how much God can punish us for our failures if God chooses to do that, well, then the day of the Lord is not going to be a very good thing for people who are not following Jewish law.

            That’s why Joel calls for the people to turn back to God.  The churchy word we use for that is “repentance”.  Now repentance includes asking for forgiveness, but it’s more than that.  For one thing, it includes doing things to show how sorry you are.  Remember, we read “declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly”.  “Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar.”  Those things were about demonstrating, in a real, physical, public way, how sorry you were.  Now, of course, it needed to be done sincerely, but the point is that repentance was not a private matter.  It was to be done in a very public way.

            And while you did this, you pleaded with God.  When you repented, you asked for forgiveness, but you did not just say, “God forgive me.”  You begged for mercy.  You said, please, God spare us.  Have mercy on us.  There was no thought that God’s forgiveness was automatic.  You had no assurance or even necessarily any expectation that God would forgive you.  You begged, you pleaded, and you hoped that God would forgive you.  As Joel says, if you do all this stuff, “Who knows?  [God] may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing.”  God may not do that, too, but maybe God will.  Who knows?  All we can do is ask and see what happens.

            And of course, in the second part of the reading, God does exactly that.  God takes pity on the people.  God promises them food and drink, promises to protect them from their enemies, and ultimately promises salvation for the people.

            So, does any of this apply now?  After all, we don’t feel obligated to follow Jewish law.  Our salvation comes from our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.  So does all this talk about repentance and begging for mercy apply to us today?

            Well, for one thing, God is still holy.  And God is still righteous.  And God is still powerful.  We may not emphasize those qualities of God today, but they’re still true.  And it’s also still true that you and I fall far short from God’s standards.

            But we say, well, hey, I’m not perfect.  God knows I’m not perfect.  God cannot expect me to be perfect.  God loves me despite the fact that I’m not perfect.  Like we just said, I’m saved by faith in Jesus Christ, not by being perfect.  So why do I have to worry about all this stuff?

            Well, God does know that we’re not perfect.  I suspect God knows that a lot better than we know it.  And God does love us despite the fact that we’re not perfect.

            But we call ourselves Christians.  We call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ.  We say that we do have faith in Jesus Christ.  If we mean that, then we’re holding ourselves up to a standard.  If we say we follow Jesus Christ, then we’re saying we’re going to do what Jesus told us to do.  That includes things like loving our enemies.  That includes things like praying for people who persecute us.  That includes things like forgiving people over and over and over again.  That includes turning the other cheek when someone strikes us.  It includes a whole lot of stuff that does not come naturally to us, stuff that you and I really do not want to do.

            When we think of all that, we realize that when we say, “I’m not perfect”, we’ve never made a truer statement in our lives.  I mean, let’s face it, you and I are not even in the same zip code as perfect.  From where you and I are, perfect would be a long distance call, and we may not even be able to get a signal.

            When we think about that, it makes us realize just how much Joel’s call for us to turn back to God, for us to “repent”, for us to ask for God’s forgiveness and mercy, still applies.  You and I need forgiveness at least as much as the people in Joel’s time did.

            Now, does that mean that you and I need to make a big public show of our repentance?  No, I don’t think so.  But we do need to be sincere about it.  And I think we do need to take some time with it.  I don’t think a perfunctory “God forgive me” is what God is looking for.  We may not need to make a public show, but I think we do need to do something to show, to ourselves as much as to God, that we really are serious about this.  We need to show that we’re not just saying the words, that we truly are sorry for what we’ve done.

            And I also think we need to understand that God does not owe it to us to show us mercy.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do believe that every time we go to God and sincerely and seriously ask God for forgiveness, God will give it to us.  But we need to understand that God’s forgiveness is a gift that God gives to us.  God is not required to forgive us.  It’s like we said last week—we cannot play God for a fool.  God knows whether we’re serious about this.  God knows whether we’re truly sorry for what we’ve done.  God knows whether we’re going to do something change, or whether we’re just saying the words.  We need to ask God for forgiveness humbly, recognizing who we are and how far short we fall.  We need to recognize God’s holiness and righteousness and power, while at the same time asking God to apply God’s love and mercy and forgiveness to us.

            In Joel’s time, God forgave the people and blessed them.  If we sincerely and humbly and seriously ask God for forgiveness, God will forgive us and bless us.  We don’t know what form that blessing will take, but we will get one.  And we’ll be a lot closer to being the people God wants us to be.