10.17.2010 Forgiveness - Helping it to Happen
31st October 2010
10.17.2010 Grace Summit Sermon - Forgiveness - Helping it to Happen from Grace Summit on Vimeo.
10.17.2010 Grace Summit Worship after the Sermon from Grace Summit on Vimeo.
Lord, You are stronger than our sin and shame. May we make ourselves available that You may work in our lives and touch our hearts. Let us hear the message You have for each of us today. May Your Word move in our lives. Your Spirit is present – You live in our lives and we want You to do Your work. May we be ones who recognize Your forgiveness and are able to forgive others.
We have been looking at the area of forgiveness. We will look at Matthew 18:21 – this is a centerpoint of being forgiven and able to forgive others.
Matt. 18:21 Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus ^said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
I shared this last week – if you weren't here – for the Jews, from the writings of the rabbis, we know that if someone sinned against you three times, you would forgive them – and after that - no more. When Peter says – up to 7 times – he thinks he has it all together – like, hey - that is more than double! Jesus' response is unique – up to seventy times seven – or if you have an NIV – seventy seven times – the point is that you don't keep count – you don't keep score.
Jesus is sayting that forgiveness has no limit. Do we believe that? We are not to keep count? The reason Jesus says this – it is how He is!
2 Cor. 5:18 Now all [these] things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
There is no longer any counting – he doesn't sit up in heaven saying – that is one, two, three – your forgiveness is complete – you can sin all you want! But if you love Jesus, you won't do that – but theoretically, you could!
Jesus tells them a parable to explain what He just said. I'd like to give you this passage in another context. I encourage you to bring your own Bible to church – you may have a different translation and that is a good thing. But I talk about this a lot – we need to look at things in their context. This has a context -
Matt. 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
At that time...
Relationships within the new community – what should they look like and what does it mean to be part of this new community we call the church.
In verses 1-6 He talks about humility in relationship with one another.
6-10 – He warns against offending other disciples.
11-14 – Talks about what to do in the community with lost disciples – what is our response when one goes astray – and He tell a parable about a shepherd having 100 sheep and one leaves.
15-20 – He talks about reconciliation when one has been offended by another – how should the community respond?
Then – in 21 – the key ingredient to making the church work. If these relationships are going to work, you need to be able to forgive your brother! At the end of this discussion, Peter says, How many times?! Jesus says – I want you to be committed to the end to these relationships. How many times? 7? No, a whole lot more. For the community of the church to work, forgiveness will need to be continual and unlimited.
23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 "And when he had begun to settle [them,] there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 "But since he did not have [the means] to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 "The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.' 27 "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
Notice – he says – the Kingdom of Heaven – we take this back to Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes – a characteristic of a disciple of this Kingdom – He or she is able to forgive. You must be able to express this type of forgiveness to those who have hurt you. Otherwise, you are not functioning properly. If you fail to forgive or to be forgiven, you are not functioning properly.
How many of you followed the miner saga? We turned it on right as they were putting the first rescue guy into the cage – and THAT took an hour – then in the morning – you turn it on – and as we watched it – as each one came up – they would cheer – and wouldn't it be cool to be part of that culture? We saw Chile at its best. The church is at its best when the church is able to forgive – and when the world looks in – that is what will attract them – when the wounded and the wounders are forgiven by the community for their offenses. That is when the church is at its best.
The first man owed 10000 talents – someone calculated – if gold is 1000/ounce – not that I have any – this would be worth 12 billion dollars today – or at 1300/ounce – it would be 15 billion. No one can pay it – (unless they are the government) – it is unpayable.
He says – I will pay you – and the response is basically – no, you won't. He is unemployed. He pleaded – be patient and I will repay. He had compassion and released him – he sent him away with the debt canceled. The king looked down and said – should I send this man and his family to jail? I think the King put himself in the other man's shoes. You cannot forgive someone if you don't feel compassion for them. Cindy talked about this last week – she came to a point – her mom had never received forgiveness – so she was unable ot give it. In order to forgive, we need to put ourselves in the position of the one who needs to be forgiven, and that is hard.
Something is not connecting here...
28 "But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and [began] to choke [him,] saying, 'Pay back what you owe.'
This is more like the size of a car loan (compared to 15 billion dollars!)
29 "So his fellow slave fell down and [began] to entreat him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.'
Those were the exact words he had used.
He did not appreciate what the King had done for him.
30 "He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
The first man owed 600,000 times more than the fellow slave's debt. There is a significant difference, isn't there?
31 "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 "Then summoning him, his lord ^said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?'
What he is saying – forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtor. As Christians who are forgiven – we SHOULD forgive those who wound and sin against us – because we have been forgiven a much greater debt. God calls us to forgive others – because He has forgiven us.
34 "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 "So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
3 statements before we move on to communion.
We forgive because we have been forgiven.
The man did not experience his own forgiveness – if you struggle forgiving someone – you may not fully understand what Christ has done for you.
The debt that we have been forgiven is infinitely greater than the debt we are asked to forgive.
Do you believe that? I think the problem – a lot of times, we don't believe that. We don't believe it is 600,000 times greater. It is exponentially greater.
God invented forgiveness as a remedy for a past that cannot change and cannot be forgotten.
There are things in our past that we can't go back and change – we have sinned and it has disrupted lives and we can't go changing that. That is why there is forgiveness. That is all that can be done in that situation is forgiveness.
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We are to forgive in the same way we have been forgiven.
Eph. 4: 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
How has He forgiven you? He has forgiven it all. Jesus paid it all – all to Him I owe. All these songs we sing – do you believe it? It is the gospel – that simple message that Christ died on the cross for our sins – that means that all of your sins have been nailed to the cross forever! He didn't die for you because he thought you were pretty good – He died for you because you were like that helpless slave who fell at the master's feet, saying Have mercy on me! The only payment you could make would be eternal punishment – but He took it upon Himself. He sent it away – to the deepest part of the sea! As far as the East is from the West – it is gone. That is the celebration – the reason I can forgive.
Let's pray – and then I'll explain the communion.
Sins have been washed – by You -
Forgiveness into action – we are going to be celebrating what Jesus did for us – we have been forgiven a great debt -
If there is something in your life that you have had a hard time moving on – this is just a symbol – but it might help you – it doesn't have to be specific – but that is what happened – your sins have been taken to the cross.
The second thing – if there is someone who has sinned against you – and you have had a hard time forgving someone – you can put that there too.
No one is going to read them – this is between you and God and you and God only – you can fold it so no one sees it. It is an opportunity for you to send it all away. You may need to do this in your heart over and over again.
Finally – you can come up as you wish – to take communion.
As you are singing – when we are done – if you want to fellowship go downstairs – We will be up here if you need prayer.