Love and Forgiveness by Amit Ghosh

Notes from a communion message, March 16, 2003.
All scripture references are from the New International Version (NIV)

I was born in India to Hindu parents. As I searched for answers in various religions, two things about Christianity were distinctly different:

1. In Christianity the responsibility for righteousness is placed where it belongs - that is with the individual. So one only needs consider one’s own thoughts and actions.

2. Throughout the Bible some core concepts are established in way of God telling us what he has already told us previously. For instance, throughout the Old Testament two core concepts are established:

· God is sovereign

· God always prevails,

Similarly, love and forgiveness are the two core concepts of all of Jesus’ teachings.

Recent events in the church have caused some of us to digress from these core concepts and that is why I asked to do the communion message today.

Let us start with John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

No matter how we feel about love, God outlines his expectations in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 as: Love is patient, love is kind, it does not boast, it is not proud, It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

Let us think of the scriptures above and below in tandem, as we think of how people have hurt us.

1 John 4:19-21 We love because first loved us. If anyone says “I love God” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

You are probably thinking, “How does this relate to the forgiveness we have received through Jesus dying on the cross?” This is one of the core concepts. \

Look at Luke 7:47 “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

And to Luke 23: 34 Jesus said “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

Was Jesus’ forgiveness conditional upon anybody’s repentance? As a matter of fact Jesus died, so that we could be forgiven, long before we ever considered repenting.

Here is the bottom line: Matthew 6: 14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you . But if you do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.

Let us pray.