To Be Forgiven
Click Here to Read the Texts (Ezekiel 33:7–9; Psalm 32:1–7; Romans 13:1–10; Matthew 18:1–20)
A watchman on the day of his death can truly rest. His/her vigilance will no longer be necessary. After years of watchfulness, years of being the first warning against danger, and the first guard against the forces of evil and darkness that lurk outside the camp rest will be welcomed.
This is Ezekiel’s role which was repeated to him (see chapter 3 specifically) through the first twenty-four chapters of the book. Now it is repeated again in reference to the sin of God’s people. There was an expectation placed upon national Israel that they would uphold their end of God’s covenant with them at Sinai when they said, “All of this we will do“. Well they did not do it. They were forcibly evicted from the Land. Now, though God has removed himself from the land, they desire to go back and Ezekiel has been placed among God’s exiled people to keep them honest. Ezekiel must remain watchful because the death of unforgiven people will be on his conscience. The proclamation of the word given to this prophet and watchman will be what leads to repentance and to the forgiveness of God’s people. God will always uphold his promises.
Psalm 32 turns into a song of thanksgiving but vv.1-7 offer to us discussion of repentance, confession, and forgiveness.
What does it mean to be blessed? To be contented in understanding that everything you have is gift. The person blessed in the truest sense is someone who has been forgiven. Why? Because if not all else is lost.
You can feel the weight of your sin. You can be crushed by it. You can be truly sorry. But if you are not actually able to confess what you do and have done as something that is against God’s will for you, then you are not actually seeing what your sin is. And if you cannot begin to see it for what it is then you are unable to repent.
What is the relationship between confession of sin to God and that sin being forgiven? This is a good question to take away from this text. From this text we can certainly say that confession is necessary for the one being forgiven. It turns us (repents us) not only from wrong action but also from our wrongful clinging to shame and guilt as our identity. The godly person in this passage is not someone who is god-like but someone who knows their place is with/in God and their true identity is found in him.
For you and me we know that we are in Christ. Though 100% sinners, we are also now 100% saints redeemed by Jesus.
We must say from this text that when our sin is brought before us, like what Ezekiel is meant to do and like what happened to David, we are being turned by God and shaped by him. We can fight the potter. We can break under the weight of it all and we could maybe even walk away and act as though the Word of God has not been placed in our ears. But the proper response is clearly to be repented.
Our Romans passage is a hard one for us. It is hard because governments are corrupt. All of them. From the highest to the lowest levels. So what should we do? Rebel? Maybe. In the context of our other lectionary readings however we do not want to simple talk about philosophies of how Christians interact with the government. We are going to look at the passage narrowly for the sake of confession and forgiveness and see what Paul has to say about our conscience.
We should not strain our conscience so it seems. We should remain morally upright in a world that is anything but. You can read this passage as ask, “Does my government reflect this desired way that God wants them to work?“ That is a good question. But here is where Paul takes in our topic.
[9] For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” [10] Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:9–10
If you have been turned from your ignorance and sin, what about your neighbour? Love would say that your neighbour also be moved from darkness to light by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word about Jesus.
Let’s keep it short on the Matthew passage. Humility. Being able to see yourself and your circumstances for what they are. In other words being able to admit that you need help and do not have it all figured out. To instead come to God with your hands out ready to receive.
What about sin in you own life. Be the watchman over your own soul which clearly cannot be informed by a word coming from inside yourself. The word the directs our action comes from outside and changes us. When danger comes…cut it off.
Did you know that Jesus is like that watchman. He is a shepherd who waits for you and comes after you. He picks you up and turns you around. Even when there are 99 waiting on him elsewhere.
And what if you brother sins against you? Allowing their sin to stand is against them. Is it also against you? Will you not go to them and speak words of truth and forgiveness as have been spoken to you?