To love and forgive

With personal relationships going sour in this increasingly madding world, words from the pulpit can help ease hurts and heartaches. The senior pastor of The Church of the Risen Lord  (University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City) Mariano Apilado, delivered  last week a sermon on loving and forgiving, which this columnist shares with readers. 

He began by saying “Goliath and other forms of disturbances and problems in the church can be defeated. David defeated Goliath. So, we can. And should. In our church. In our community today. In unity, let us declare our daring determination, and audaciously proclaim, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then beat these disturbances. Together let us defeat them. Demolish them. The biblical basis for such daring is divine love, the subject of our sermon.”

In our living together, Apilado continued, there are norms for good manners and right conduct. “In our living, worshipping and witnessing together, estranged relationships have no place. Such violations of right conduct and misbehavior when not corrected can cause estrangement or embarrassment. We must at once correct and defeat them.

“Where the Christian character, intellectual excellence and critical attitude are the standards, practice of intimidation, indifference, mediocrity, nonchalance, spiritual pride, sexual immorality, drunkenness, hatred, dissensions and disregard of Christian standards have no place.”

This misbehavior must be corrected at once, the pastor said. “Let us correct at once this misbehavior with love, described by Jesus Christ as, ‘A new commandment I give to you: Love one another as I have loved you.’

Also Jesus said, “Love one another … By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Apilado emphasized: The Bible teaches love as forgiving. Forgiving everyone. Giving the forgiven another chance. Rehabilitating the forgiven. 

He cited examples of loving and forgiving. Jacob was a deceit. Ran away for fear of brother Esau. Later, when he came back, Esau told him he had been forgiven. Had given brother Jacob another chance. A chance to get rehabilitated.

Moses was a murderer. Ran away. Was given another chance. God called him. Rehabilitated him. Appointed him liberator and lawgiver of Israel.

David was an opportunist. Called Bathsheba to sleep with him. Ordered Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, exposed in battle so that he would surely be killed. David was given another chance. Was rehabilitated. Became the greatest king of Israel. 

Said our pastor: “Let us be clear that God does not reward deceits, murderers, opportunist or sinners. God forgives. And gives sinners a second chance. 

“The Book of Hebrews summarizes God’s loving acts, thus, ‘n the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe, (through whom) the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.’ 

‘Yes, God is a loving God. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but shall have everlasting life.’ 

“Because God loves, he forgives. Gives sinners a second chance. A third chance. Several other chances. In tender love, God then rehabilitates. Provides greater, better and wider opportunities.

The pastor recalled the times he experienced failures. He failed the entrance examination for the Master of Theology course of the Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology. But two years later he finished the program, and became the first graduate in Asia of the Master of Theology degree.          

At Vanderbilt University he failed in his first try to pass the French exam. He was given another chance and after two years, he finished the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Religious Studies, the first Filipino Protestant to be awarded a doctoral degree in church history. 

In 1986, he failed to be elected as chairman of the General Assembly of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. But a greater position came his way in  1990, when  he was invited to be president of Union Theological Seminary, the main graduate seminary of both the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, serving there for 15 years.

He is not ashamed to admit that he is a failure. “Not ashamed because for every failure, God has taught me a lesson.”

“The important lesson is to depend completely upon God in order to succeed. I continue to depend on God. My inspiration is a God who is a loving and forgiving God, a God who is continuously rehabilitating and rebuilding me. God has continued to open for me greater challenges, has continued to improve me, has continued to give me another chance, and another chance, and another chance, improving my character, giving me better qualifications and providing me better opportunities. Indeed, God is a loving God. A forgiving God. A God who gives new and better opportunities. 

“In Philippine languages and Philippine society forgiveness basically means the restoration of relationship. Difficulties and other disturbances may remain and may be addressed later. The immediate concern is the restoration of relationships. Need I say more? Yes. I want to say more. At a crucial time, the Apostle Peter denied the Lord three times. Jesus Christ forgave Peter. Rehabilitated him. Peter became the stalwart of the disciples, courageously saying, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

“Paul persecuted the early Christians. Jesus called him. Rehabilitated him. Paul became the most influential Christian teacher and missionary of New Testament Christianity, second only to Jesus Christ, himself. Paul is the author of the powerful declaration, “Neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Reverend Apilado  spoke in passing of his church’s having members haunted by new problems, burdens, troubles. “I suggest we all accept the love of God. Really accept God as Savior and Lord. Offering true and total forgiveness. Yes, God is a loving God. A forgiving God. A rehabilitating God. Totally, a rebuilding God. A God continually calling and keeping us united, and to stay united.

“We can be a loving community. Forgiving and courageous. We can overcome misunderstanding and guilt feelings. Offer all these to God in prayer. When we love and forgive, we move on. United. Faithfully. Joyously. Lovingly. Upward. Onward. Together as one in the Lord.”

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