President Harrison, in his Little Book on Joy, says, "The Gospel of free forgiveness in Christ frees us to expect mistakes, forgive them, and to find the humor in them after the fact" (Little Book on Joy 69). We live as if everyone is always going to love us, improve their behavior, and grow in holiness to the point where they will stop sinning. I know, I know. We are Lutherans and we say that people will never stop sinning until they are dead, but we act like people should stop sinning at some point in their life. We expect people to be better than yesterday, sometimes by leaps and bounds. We expect people to like us more, act as we want them to, and make improvements in a certain timeline. However, Colossians 3 says, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all else put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." 

St. Paul bids us forgive each other, live in humility, and bind everything together in love leading to perfect harmony. In short, we are called to expect people to sin against us, to make the same mistakes over and over again, and to bear with our neighbor as they struggle with their transgressions. This does not mean that we excuse their sin and behavior, rather it determines how we act toward them. You don't let people continue in sin so that your grace toward them may abound. No, you continue preaching the law to them, the same way a parent disciplines a child in order to mold them into a person that isn't a complete jerk to everyone else. However, you shouldn't be surprised when people sin against you and make the same mistakes as they made 20 years ago. Jesus isn't surprised when you sin against him and continue to make the same sinful mistakes and have the same failures. He isn't surprised, and that's why He died on the cross. Jesus died on the cross because you make the same mistakes day in and day out and because you fail in improving. Jesus freely forgives you, in spite of your mistakes and failures. When we treat others this way it frees us from being angry with our neighbor and getting frustrated with all around us. Freely being forgiven in Jesus free us to see our neighbor as one who will habitually sin against us and in turn be forgiven by us. 

My friends, we should live in the free forgiveness of our sins and expect people to sin against us and make the same mistakes time and time again. However, you and I don't live in this forgiveness and we revert back to a legalistic system of judging our neighbor and expecting them to act like perfect saints all the time. It is in this mistake and this failure, the failure to recognize our own sin and the sin of our neighbor, that Christ comes and bears our sin for us. He takes this pharisaic lifestyle and puts it to death on Calvary's cross. Jesus knows you will sin, make mistakes, fail at improving, and break the law the same way you did 15 years ago. He doesn't excuse this sin, but bears it and paid the price for it by dying in your stead on the cross. Jesus paid the price so that He could call the shots when it comes to justifying you. Jesus takes your mistakes, your failures, and your transgressions against both God and neighbor and forgives them freely and sets you out in joy and peace. Jesus forgives you and loves you unconditionally, which means He forgives you no matter how many mistakes you make and no matter how many times you sin against Him. This is a free forgiveness that frees you in every sense of the term. It is a forgiveness that frees you from eternal death, from the worries of this world, from the condemnation of sin, and from the mistakes of your neighbor.

Peace be with you. May the devil be silenced, the world be hushed, and the Old Adam be drowned anew so that you hear only the voice of your Savior Jesus who says, "I forgive you. I love you. I claim you as My own forever," Amen.

Jesus' Sheepdog,

Pastor Hull