His Promise to Repay

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| Forgiveness series |

• His Forgiveness: Pay It Forward
• His Promise to Repay
• How to Forgive

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Christ offers His account to repay us for the debts we forgive one another; an account full of peace and joy and love.

Last week we talked about the parable of the unforgiving servant.  This parable shows how the forgiveness we give to others flows from the forgiveness we first received from Christ.  There is another story in the book of Philemon (of all places) that brought this parable to life for me.  It honestly transformed my perspective on forgiveness.

The book of Philemon is a letter that Paul wrote to a Christian man named Philemon.  In it, Paul tells Philemon that he is sending a man named Onesimus back to him (he was previously a bondservant to Philemon).  Most likely, Philemon asked Onesimus to leave because of something he did.  Maybe he stole from him or neglected his responsibilities or did something even more personal and offensive.  Whatever he did it was bad enough for Paul to recognize that Onesimus was formerly “useless” to Philemon.  Onesimus likely became a believer after he left (verse 15) and eventually began to serve with Paul (verse 13).  I imagine that sometime after that Paul learned that they had parted on bad terms, and he wanted to help them reconcile.  Paul could easily be described as passionate and even emotional at times as he is urging Philemon to be reconciled with Onesimus: “I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. … I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.” Just a few verses later, Paul urges him to receive Onesimus back: “Receive him as you would receive me.  If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.  I, Paul, write this with my own hand:  I will repay it.”

Now on its own, this is a powerful story of reconciliation and forgiveness that paints a picture of how important these things were to Paul (and, of course, how important they are to God since it’s inspired text).  But imagine with me for a moment that this wasn’t written by Paul to Philemon about Onesimus.  Instead, imagine that this was written by Jesus to you about someone who has done you wrong.  Now listen to the words again as if Jesus were saying them to you now: “Receive him as you would receive me.  If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.  I, Jesus, write this with my own hand:  I will repay it.”  When I first read it that way, I couldn’t help but feel emotional.  I mean, Jesus I owe you everything!  You have given me everything!  Your account?!  Your account with me is so deep that it simply doesn’t matter what you charge against it!  It doesn’t matter what he owes me or how he has wronged me.  You have already paid it in full!  It’s forgiven – how could it not be?!

Let’s remember for a moment the crushing weight of the debt that we owed – the loneliness of being rightfully separated from Him, the shame of knowing the evil in our hearts without any other basis for our identity, the bondage to sin that slowly left us with less pleasure and more emptiness.  In an instant, this debt was forgiven!  In a moment we were given the Comforter and assured we would never be alone!  Immediately our shame was covered by His blood, and He gave us the identity of sons and daughters!  He set us free from bondage to sin and now teaches us what is good that we might have lasting joy!  What a gift!  To the One who has given me so great a gift, how could I withhold anything that He asks of me?  What’s more, I’ve always found that when I give Him what He asks, especially if it’s hard for me, it turns out for my good as well.  Such that even what He asks in return is still, in some crazy way, another gift to me.  I believe that, in this way, Christ offers His account to repay us for the debts we forgive one another; an account full of peace and joy and love.  So, when He asks us to forgive and assures us that He will repay it, let’s trust Him.  After all, we know that what He is offering in exchange is far better than the weight that unforgiveness represents.

Last week we discussed how God first invites us to receive His forgiveness before asking us to forgive one another so that we are empowered to simply pay it forward.  Taking these two lessons together, we can truly see the goodness of God.  He first deposits forgiveness in our account as a free gift so that we are empowered to forgive others when He asks.  But even when He asks us to forgive, He goes further to promise He will repay our account by freeing us from the burden of unforgiveness and refreshing us with His peace.