You Don't Have to Keep Paying for Your Sins

Guilt gives people something to work with.

They know you haven't always done what you should. So do you. And if they can keep that in front of you, they can make it awfully hard for you to say no.

You ought to do more. You ought to give more. You ought to be more grateful. After everything we've done for you, surely you can do this one thing.

Except it never stays one thing. You can spend years trying to make up for being the disappointment they keep telling you you are.

That can happen in a family, a friendship, or a church. Putting God's name on it gives it an extra force. Now you wonder whether saying no to this person means saying no to God.

Colossians 2 gives us a reason to stop and ask what God has actually done about our guilt.

God knew what needed forgiving

Paul describes people who were dead in their sins. Then he says God made them alive with Christ, forgiving all their sins and canceling the record of debt that stood against them. He took it away by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13–14).

He didn't overlook a few things because the rest of the record was pretty good. He knew the record. He knew the failures, including the ones nobody else knows about. And He forgave them.

Paul's word for those failures is a catch-all. It really means every kind of screw-up, from a small accident all the way to the big, massive kind where everybody says, "Boy, you screwed up." You don't have to find a polite way to describe what you did before the passage can apply to you.

His word for forgiving has grace built into it. You know what it's like when you've sanded a nice piece of wood smooth and then put the stain on. The whole thing comes to life, every grain and knot, even the spots you thought were flaws. God slathered His grace all over our failures.

And Paul says all. When we feel guilty, we tend to imagine we've found the exception. Surely God can forgive ordinary people for their ordinary stuff. But what about this thing I did?

The cross wasn't God's response to an incomplete report. Jesus knew what our forgiveness required when He gave Himself for us.

A canceled debt doesn't need another payment

Paul uses the language of debt because it's something people understand. The record of debt is like mortgage papers, the stack they hand you when you buy a house, so thick you've got to be a bodybuilder to carry it out of the office. Ours was bigger than that. If I owe you money, you can ask me to pay it. If that debt has been canceled, you don't get to keep sending me bills as though nothing happened.

God has dealt with the debt of our sin in Christ. That's the force of the passage. He made us alive, forgave us, and removed what stood against us.

Then Paul says Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities and publicly triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15). The powers hostile to us have lost their claim. Jesus has won.

When I preached this, I told about the town marshal back home who lived to bust my little brother. He finally had him dead to rights, with the highway patrol standing right there, and he didn't have a pencil. He was too proud to borrow one, so my brother got off with a warning. In Christ, God took the accuser's pencil away.

So when somebody uses your guilt to tell you that you've got to keep paying, their demand needs to be considered in light of what Christ has done. They may sound spiritual. They may have a title. But they don't get to collect a debt God has canceled.

Serving at church, giving money, praying, helping somebody, or working hard to change can all be good things. None of them buys the forgiveness Jesus has already provided. Do them because you're grateful and because people need the help, not as another installment on your salvation.

What about the next time you screw up?

When I preached this passage, I asked a young man whether he thought he might sin again before dinner. He said it was possible. I told him I'd put money on it, because I probably would too. If you hold out till dinner, brother, you're strong.

That wasn't permission to make a mess of his life. We were talking about what happens when a Christian fails. If Jesus has dealt with our sin, does the next failure put us right back where we started?

God wasn't surprised by the sin you'll commit tonight. It was already known when Christ died for you. You haven't found a failure that needs an additional cross.

When you realize you've done wrong, it's right to tell God you're sorry and ask Him to help you change. You talk to Him like a person because He is one, and this is a real relationship.

But you don't have to approach Him as though He's forgotten Jesus and is deciding all over again whether He wants you.

Then you get up and go on. He's got you in His hand.

Forgiveness gives us a reason to be honest

Suppose you hurt somebody. You need to tell the truth about it. You may need to apologize, give something back, repair something you damaged, or accept consequences you can't undo.

That's part of loving an actual person. It isn't a way to purchase God's acceptance.

Colossians doesn't end with the canceled debt. Paul goes on to tell these same forgiven people to put away lying, anger, malice, and abusive speech. He tells them to be kind and to forgive each other. God's grace gives them a new way to live with the people around them.

Being forgiven ought to make it easier to admit what we've done. We can face a failure without pretending it means Christ has failed us.

When guilt runs your day

Maybe you've learned to feel guilty whenever you're resting. Maybe an unanswered request from church leaves you wondering whether you've disappointed God. Maybe you know all the words about grace, but your day still runs on the fear that you aren't doing enough.

Come back to what Paul says God has done. He made you alive with Christ. He forgave your sins. He canceled the debt.

That gives you a place to stand when somebody asks something of you. Saying no won't cost you God, so you're free to ask whether the thing is good, whether it's yours to do, and how to love the people involved.

God settled your acceptance at the cross, and nobody gets to send you another bill.

— tobe