Give Forgiveness
Matthew 18:21-35
For the last 3 weeks, we have been learning what it means to live for that which matters most. We have been learning to embrace each day, love with greater abandon and to seize every opportunity to speak words of encouragement and affirmation.
We need to be wise with how we spend our days. Today we are going to talk about forgiveness.
You've been released from God's judgment … CELEBRATE
We have lost the sense of God’s judgment for sin in the modern church.
According to the Bible, you came into the world with a heart pre-disposed to sin.
The death of Jesus was God's declaration "paid in full."
COMMUNION helps us remember the size of our debt and the price of our forgiveness.
There is a direct connection between your sense of being forgiven and your ability to grant forgiveness.
Release others from your judgment … LIBERATE
You will never have to forgive someone more than what God has forgiven you.
Proverbs 19:11 says, "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense."
Forgiveness is relinquishing my right to hurt you back for hurting me.
It is releasing you from my judgment and releasing you to God's justice.
Colossians 3:13 says, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Jesus’ challenges us to not only forgive, but to even bless those who have hurt us.
Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 6:27-28, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
In verses 35-36, he says, "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Release yourself to torture … DEVASTATE
Listen to these harsh words from Matthew 18:32-35,
"Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Resentment will not change the past and will not solve the problem of today. It will rob you of joy.
"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Hebrews 12:15
2 Samuel 2:26-27. "Abner called out to Joab, "Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?"
Joab answered, "As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued the pursuit of their brothers until morning."
Someone has to break the cycle. Someone has to have the courage to say ENOUGH. Stop the insanity and destruction. All we will gain is bitterness toward each other. It is time for some of you to speak up and to say "ENOUGH." To utter the words "I forgive you." "I release you from my judgment." It is time to put down the rock.