The local church is to be a living outpost of God’s kingdom, a colony of God’s New Creation in the midst of this current creation. This happens when the local church is a community of Jesus’ apprentices, learning together from him how to be like him.

In Colossians 3:1-17, Paul provides a local community of Jesus’ apprentices one of the best summaries of spiritual formation into Jesus’ likeness. There’s so much good material to mine from this passage. But one verse stood out recently.

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13

I think this is huge.

Here is a local community of Jesus’ apprentices. They’re learning to focus their hearts and minds on Christ, who is their very life (vss 1-4). They’re learning to kill everything that belongs to their corrupted earthly nature (vss 5-9). They’re learning to put on their new selves, which is renewed in the image of their Creator and clothed with beautiful virtues (vss 10-12).

In verse 13, Paul is telling them that as they learn to become like Jesus, there will be ample times when they will have complaints or grievances against one another. While learning to embody the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, they will still offend and be offended and need to forgive one another.

That’s liberating! No matter where you are in your journey toward Christ’s likeness, you’re going to offend others and you’re going to be offended by others. We’re going to mess up. There will be mistakes and conflict among Jesus’ apprentices.

In fact these moments become opportunities for transformation into Christ’s likeness as the community of Jesus’ apprentices learn to “forgive as the Lord forgave you.” As with all aspects of our apprenticeship to Jesus, Jesus is the standard. We are learning Jesus’ lifestyle and practices. We are learning Jesus’ perspective, character, virtues and faith. And we are learning Jesus’ forgiveness. We are learning to forgive as Jesus forgave us.

So how does Jesus forgive you and me? He forgives immediately. He already forgave you before you even asked him to. He forgives freely. You didn’t have to earn it. He forgives fully. He didn’t withhold anything from you. He forgives joyfully. Jesus loves to forgive you. He doesn’t do it begrudgingly. Like everything Jesus embodied and offers to teach us, his forgiveness is boundless and unrestrained because he lives fully within God’s kingdom and fully interacts with God’s limitless life and power. 

So to forgive as Jesus forgave you means learning to live like that as well. It is learning to pursue God’s kingdom and faithfulness, first and foremost, so that we are free of any self-concern (Matthew 6:33). Or as Eugene Peterson translated this verse:

“You know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

This is key to learning Jesus’ forgiveness. In fact, our forgiveness is a great barometer of how steeped we are in God’s life. Disconnected from a daily with-God life, our own forgiveness will run out quickly. You know when that happens. You replay conversations in your head, thinking of what you should have said. You’re easily irritated by the unrelated things that person does. You want to say or do something so they know how it feels to be treated the way they treated you. You can’t wait to tell another friend what happened, hoping to find validation. You lay awake at night replaying the situation. Hurt, irritation, anger, resentment. It’s all self-concern.

But a God-steeped life, a kingdom-seeking life, is connected to God’s unlimited life and power so it is becoming free of self-concern. That’s the life Jesus embodied. And his forgiveness is full of abundant love, joy, and peace. 

The writer of Hebrews says, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Do you know what the joy was that allowed Jesus to endure the cross? You. Me. Us. The very ones he forgives. The very ones he loves and delights in. The very ones he loves to call brothers and sisters and friends. And the very ones he wants to teach how to be like him so we can enter into the same rich, overflowing, and unrestrained life of God.

Filled with God’s life, Jesus’ lack of self-concern allows him to focus on us and to forgive us freely, fully, and beyond measure.