10 Things I Wish Jesus Never Said Part 10 The Freedom of Forgiveness 28 August 2016 Ross Lester

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1 10 Things I Wish Jesus Never Said Part 10 The Freedom of Forgiveness 28 August 2016 Ross Lester Proposition Statement: Christians experience forgiveness to the extent that they extend forgiveness. Intro: Welcome to week 10 of 10 things. Hope it has been helpful. Here is what we have looked at so far from the words of Jesus: o We have to come to him in full surrender if we want real life. o Our church community is our real family. o The persecuted are blessed. o We have to take up a cross in order to follow Him. o We cannot love or serve both God and money. o It s better to cut off our hands than to let them sin. o We cannot follow God unless we are committed to going his way. o We aren t supposed to display judgment of others. o We are supposed to love our enemies. Maybe you are starting to see why some people wanted Jesus dead. This sermon will be easy hard. Easy to understand what Jesus wants, hard to do. The biggest problem we have isn t in understanding what the bible means, it is doing the things that it obviously means. Passages: 21 Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? 22 Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 1

2 The context of this is that Jesus has just outlined how the church community should confront someone on sin. He outlines a process and then promises that he will be present to help with those situations. Peter then asks a reasonable question. Because the idea of confronting someone on their sin is that they repent and are forgiven, Peter asks how many times that should be allowed to repeat, and he goes with the most generous of the Rabbinic interpretations of his day. Jesus answer is annoying and alarming. The language literally suggests seventy times seven times, but is obvious in the original language that it is hyperbolic. Eg I have told you a million times. Essentially Jesus is saying there is no limit to how many times we should forgive. How on earth can he say that? Well, then he illustrates. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. Saying 10,000 talents is like saying a squillion. People listening to Jesus would laugh, but they would wonder how it would even be possible to go into that much debt. This means, and this is important, that the servants promise to repay is laughable and impossible. 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, Pay what you owe. 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you. Look at the pattern. It is same request, but for an amount that is 60,000 times less!!! 2

3 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. 1 Ah, what a cruncher of a landing. Just in case we think Jesus might be overstating the case here, look also quickly at the end of the Lord s Prayer in Matthew 6: For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 2 Main Points: 1. Forgiveness of Others is a Prerequisite for AND an Evidence of the Forgiveness of God a. These words of Jesus are tough. I wish he hadn t said them. b. He is saying if we want to feel and experience the fullness of Christ s forgiveness towards us, then we need to extend it to others. He is also saying that if we don t extend it, then we aren t really receiving it. c. Steve Timmis said: It is an immutable law of spiritual dynamics that a personal experience of grace will produce more grace. d. The converse though is also true as stated by JC Ryle: There are few duties so strongly commanded in the New Testament Scriptures as this duty is, and few whose neglect so clearly shuts a man out of the Kingdom of God. 1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 18: The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 6:

4 e. Because of this, there are some things that we need to focus on if we want to experience the fullness of God s forgiveness towards us, and if we want to be able to display that forgiveness towards others. i. We must consider our own forgiveness a. I am the wicked servant. I owed a squillion and still would if Christ hadn t paid that. b. Nothing that has been done to me begins to compare the sin and injustice that I have committed against Christ. c. Until I believe that, then I won t be able to experience the wonder and joy of that mercy. d. CS Lewis said: To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. ii. We must acknowledge the sin of unforgiveness a. We tend to think of an unforgiving spirit as a little less than ideal but understandable if someone has been through a lot. b. We need to view like the parable does, as ridiculous and scandalous sin. An unforgiving spirit might be one of the most serious sins we can commit. It is an ongoing refusal to acknowledge the mercy that we have and need in Christ. c. Look at what John of Chrysostom said: For a man when he has committed fornication, or adultery, at the same time that he has accomplished his lust, hath also completed the sin; and should be willing by watchful living to recover from that fall But he who is resentful worketh the same iniquity every day, and never brings it to an end. Okay, but what is this forgiveness and what should I do with it? Well, let me answer what I think you are really asking and that is what is forgiveness not? 2. Forgiveness is Not: a. Denial of sin 4

5 i. The fact that this instruction comes immediately after instructions on church discipline should tell us that Christ s command to forgive doesn t negate us calling sin, sin. We must and should. ii. Just like we seed two weeks on the text about judging, this doesn t lead us to a place where we can t have a moral compass. Some things are sin, that is why they need forgiving. It doesn t change that. iii. This is why real reconciliation and forgiveness doesn t really happen unless the sin is named. We need to know what it is that was wrong and what caused the offense or hurt in the first place. b. Permission for more sin i. Nowhere do I see that forgiveness needs to be permission for more offense. ii. Depending on the nature of the relationship and the nature of the sin, it might be the most Godly thing to forgive someone and to not allow them further access to your life. iii. If God forbid, someone were to molest my daughter, I would be compelled by Scripture to forgive them. That is clear. To leave them alone again with Katie though would be total folly. There is nothing in scripture that would suggest that I would need to do that. iv. I love what Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said at the TRC: Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering--remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened. c. The removal of consequence i. Discipline must follow if necessary so that restoration can occur. Relationships must change if necessary. Criminal charges must be filed if necessary to keep other people safe. Okay, so what it is? And what benefit does it have? 5

6 3. Forgiveness is Costly Sacrifice a. Forgiveness is not a flippant and emotive thing. It is not a small thing. We are in no way and Jesus is in no way making this small. b. I love what Dr Keller said:...god's grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver... From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can "just forgive" the perpetrator... But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly. c. It was costly for the master in the story to absolve the debt. It is costly for us to give up our right to revenge. d. So I know Christ is asking no small thing of us. 4. Forgiveness is a Path to Freedom a. It is not just sacrifice and payment though, there is also reward. b. The ability to experience our own forgiveness and the freedom that comes from that is on offer. c. The irony is that when someone sins against us, our lack of willingness to forgive them is what gives their sin against us ongoing power and influence over us. d. When we have been sinned against, the choice is forgiveness or bitterness. That is it. We feel like power lies in revenge and anger, but in fact the only freedom lies in release. 5. Forgiveness is a Witness to the World a. What better way for us to show a world needing forgiveness that it is on offer than by us being the most forgiving of people? b. And yet it isn t true for a lot of us and for us as a collective. c. I have been reading account of the TRC in South Africa. Usually when someone says I am a Christian, so I wince. But there are a few cases in the TRC where the aggrieved party said, I am a Christian, so I must forgive. That is witness. 6

7 6. Forgiveness is an Act of Radical Faith a. Luke 17:3-5. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, I repent, you must forgive him. The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith! b. I love what Victor Kuligin said: Christ says we must forgive. I must admit, at times that command is impossible to obey, at which point I am left with two options: ignore it or submit myself to it and seek the Spirit s miraculous power to overcome my bitterness and anger. Conclusion: Time of prayer. Lord increase our faith. 7