-Comments about going over my notes for this sermon with my 7 year old daughter-
Rolling through my notes, and this is what the graphic looks like. I had her read a couple of verses. She did really well for a seven-year-old.
I said, what do you think I'm talking about tomorrow? She goes, forgiveness. I go, yeah, what do you know about forgiveness?
And her answer was, well, you know, when Luke hits me, or he throws things at me, and he gets in trouble, he always is told by you guys to say, I'm sorry, then I'm supposed to say, I forgive you. And I was like, yeah, that's right. That's exactly what forgiveness is.
And what does that teach us? Because, well, God forgives us, so we should forgive other people. And I go, you got it.
So I'm telling you, if a seven-year-old can get that concept, surely this is a thing that we've all mastered by now. We ended our little Bible talk last night talking about how sometimes the things that Jesus teaches us are super simple to understand, but sometimes they're really hard to live out. And forgiveness is one of those things.
It's easy for us to mentally register with what the Lord taught us about the idea of forgiveness, and that's easy for us to say, but sometimes it's really hard for us to do and actually live out. I've got a couple of verses for us to consider talking about the idea of forgiveness in our lives as Christians. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 32, Paul wrote these words.
We didn't quite get there this morning in Bible class, but we are almost there. Ephesians 4, 32. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
It's almost like the apostle Paul learned from Jesus the idea of reciprocity, the idea that Christ forgives us, so we ought to forgive other people as well. We read this in the model prayer, Matthew chapter 6 and verse 12. Part of that prayer is forgive us our debts or trespasses as we also have forgiven our debtors or those that trespass against us.
And then the conclusion to that model prayer ends with the lesson where Jesus emphasizes the idea of forgiveness, Matthew 6, 15. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. So to kind of hit home how serious and how important the idea of understanding and applying the idea of forgiveness towards one another, Jesus said that if we do not forgive others, our own forgiveness is called into jeopardy.
To talk more in detail about this idea of forgiveness, we go to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. In this context, we find Jesus in the middle of his ministry.
He's teaching the people, teaching his disciples, teaching the later called apostles about the idea of what do you do when it comes to relations with one another and the body of Christ. In Matthew chapter 18, beginning in verse 15, he talks about the idea of having harmony or unity between brothers and sisters in Christ. He says in Matthew 18, 15, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. I'd like to say that from my experience, that this is about as far as what we call church discipline goes. This is the idea of having a fault between you and somebody else.
Someone offends you, sins against you. If you just go to that individual, pull them aside and say, hey, the scariest words in the English language, can I talk to you for a minute? It comes out of your mouth.
Now, my elders know how to push my buttons by now. All my elders have to say is, hey, you got a minute to talk after worship this morning? I go, yes.
So I think of all the terrible things I've done in my entire life. What do they know about? What did I say?
What did I do? What did I didn't do? They go, I'm just kidding with you, we're fine.
I'm like, oh, okay, great, thanks, thanks so much. If you go and tell that person that's offended you or sinned against you what the issue is, usually that is enough, because you love them, they love you, maybe they were ignorant of how something was said or done, came across, and they want to apologize. They want to make things right.
They want to be in harmony once again. However, sometimes that's not quite how it turns out. If you want to escalate the situation, if he does not listen, meaning he's heard your complaint, he's heard the fault that was done, the sin that was done against someone else, he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Now, this is an ancient Jewish principle. If you go back to the book of the law, you read about the idea of a court proceeding back in the day, you would have the idea of two or three witnesses to establish that what was done is accurate and true. So the same principle applies here.
If you going to someone in love and highlighting a fault or a sin that was done against you does not convict them, if their heart is hardened to that concept, then sometimes it can be helpful to escalate just a little bit and bring two or three witnesses to establish that what you've said is true, that it was harming you, it was sinful against you, and by that, that should convict them enough to say, you know what, you're right, I am sorry, please forgive me. But sometimes, Jesus says here in this context, that's not quite enough. Someone has hardened their heart so much that they refuse to listen to a brother in Christ, ask them for forgiveness.
You have the establishment of the word by two or three witnesses, and sometimes even that is not enough. Jesus says if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. Now, keep in mind here the context.
We are in Matthew 18, not Acts chapter two. What's happening here is Jesus is talking about the protocol for the church before the church had been fully established in Acts chapter two. So he is looking forward to this union of Christ and believers in one body and how they have a rapport with one another.
Again, Paul would write in Ephesians 432, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other as God and Christ forgave you. So Jesus says, tell it to the church. If he does not repent of that, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector, so someone outside of God's grace.
That's how far this has gone. If we go over to Matthew chapter 18, continuing in verse 18, truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The idea of harmony among believers in the body of Christ being reflected in the heavenly places is seen here in this text. He continues, again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. The idea of harmony among brethren here on earth, being reflected in the dynamic between us and our Creator, is emphasized here in this text.
And then back in the proper context, we have this quote that we sometimes like to pull out and use in other applications. Jesus says, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. So again, the proper context here is the idea of this harmony and unity and someone sinning against another brother in Christ.
Know that when we deal with this kind of issue, when we are gathered together in His name, and we are trying to find peace and forgiveness and grace and harmony and the body of Jesus, guess who is right there with us? The head of the body, Jesus the Christ. If you for some reason think that the idea of having fault with one of your brothers or sisters in Christ is not a big deal, know that Jesus talked specifically before the church was established about the idea of Him being there to help reconcile two individuals, two humans, to find grace, love, and mercy and peace among them.
Then Peter came up and said to him, because of course Peter did, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I must forgive him? Good question. What's the limit of how much mercy I could have towards someone who sins against me?
As many as seven times? Because seven is the perfect biblical number, right? You get to eight, no more forgiveness, right?
Sir Peter wants to get to here in this context. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. So the idea of this grace and this peace and this forgiveness being extended to one another is unlimited.
As long as we have soft and tender hearts towards one another, we will want to have that unity restored and that peace be given. To emphasize what we've read here in this context, the protocol of how to seek peace with one another in the body of Christ, we continue our reading in verse 23. He gives a parable.
Literally the word parable means to cast or throw alongside of. So we have a spiritual truth, a principle. He's going to illustrate by a story or a metaphor that's kind of thrown alongside it to show some parallels.
So here in Matthew chapter 18 in verse 23, Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. He began to settle. One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
That's a lot of money. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant fell on his knees, begged him or implored him, have patience with me and I will pay you everything.
And out of pity for him, the master of the servant released him and did what? Forgave the debt, forgave the debt. Now that's the ultimate illustration of someone who owed so much to his lord and his master, he could not pay it, and so out of mercy and grace, the master forgave that great debt.
If we keep reading, though, in verse 28, when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, which, by the way, is next to nothing compared to ten thousand talons. Seizing him, he began to choke him, now this is a little bit funny, right? Come on, you got this servant about to be sold with all his family members to pay back a great debt.
He owes, or he finds a guy who owes him a hundred denarii, begins to choke the guy, he says, pay what you owe. His fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, I'll pay you. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
He refused, went, put him in prison until he should pay the debt. Well, a little ironic, isn't it? That's the whole point of the illustration.
Verse 31, when his fellow servant saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. Yeah, he's choking the guy to death. I mean, yeah.
And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?
In anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. Then here is the application from Jesus. So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother.
And then to make it even more complicated, from your heart.
The idea of us being forgiven from God brings us great joy and comfort. But sometimes that idea of forgiveness from our Heavenly Father, and then extending that mercy, extending that forgiveness to one another, is somehow much more complicated. And that's always been the case, hasn't it?
If Jesus had not known what it's like to be on this earth as a human, he wouldn't have given us such a perfect illustration, parable, metaphor, to illustrate, God has forgiven me of my great trespass and sin against him. If he can forgive me, surely I should be able to go and extend that forgiveness and mercy to my brothers and sisters in Christ, right? I won't call you Shirley again.
All right, moving on. I've got a couple of verses. There's like three people who might get that reference.
Airplane, all right, can't condone it, but it's funny. All right, Colossians chapter three, for your consideration. The apostle Paul, writing in verse 12, says this, Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.
I got a small illustration for you. Yesterday, we were at the house, and we had this jump rope. I don't know where we got it, but it's in our house.
But the problem is, you might have guessed, we've got one jump rope, and I've got two kids. And so, I don't know how, they tie this thing into a knot all the time. It's a nylon rope, so I have to get in there and finagle it and unravel it.
So there was one day I was doing that, this week, and Luke thought it was his turn to use the jump rope. Matty thought the exact same thing. It's my turn to use the jump rope.
And so I have to go in there and troubleshoot, because he's getting mad, she's getting mad. The jump rope is not the issue, but there's a problem going on. There's no harmony, there's no unity in our household, because whenever will there be unity or harmony with two kids in the house?
And so I said, what's the problem? Problem is he thinks it's his turn, she thinks it's her turn. I go, Luke, how many turns did you have?
Two. Matty, how many turns did you have? One.
Luke, who do you think's turn it is? Well, I had two, and she had one, and then these words came out of his mouth. Dave, you listening?
These words came out of my son's mouth. Well, Ms. Bev says that I should be kind to my sister in Bible class. I go, is that right?
You learned something from Ms. Bev. All right, what do you think, Luke, you should do? I think I should be kind and give her a turn.
It's my turn, but I'll give it to her. When Paul writes the words, have compassionate hearts. Be full of kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.
That's an important thing for all of us to apply to our situations in life. If one has a complaint against another, now I know that you wouldn't have a complaint about anybody else in the church here, I know that. But if you happen to have one or find one one day, forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Paul wrote those words from the instruction he received from Jesus the Christ. One more thing for your consideration, Romans chapter 12 and verse 16.
Live in harmony with one another. Don't be haughty or prideful, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Here's the part I love the most for some reason. Sometimes it's all or nothing with scripture.
Live at peace with all people, right? But here in Romans 12, we have one exception to that rule. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
You're not going to be able to please all the people all the time. But as much as you can do, as much depends on you and your heart, your words, your actions, try to be at peace with all people. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God because it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord, which, by the way, is just one of those lines that Paul pulls out of the Old Testament to prove that the wrath of God is still an existing thing.
The idea of God being the one who deserves justice is right there in that text. To the contrary, here's a quote, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Considering these words, the encouragement from Jesus himself about the idea of forgiving one another, knowing that there will be sins or faults that we have against one another, and being informed by the model prayer and by his parable that we ought to extend that same forgiveness that we have received, we're encouraged to know that none of us are perfect. One of the criticisms that I have heard often about why people don't want to come to church is that we are a group of hypocrites. Absolutely we are.
If anyone is perfect in our number today, you don't need to be here. We're all human. We're all fallible.
We all make mistakes. We all stumble. That's why we're here.
To praise God for His great mercy and grace by forgiving us for being fallible people. That's why we're here. If we can gather together in His name and praise Him for forgiving us of our great sins, we then too should be able to look among our number of human fallible sinful people and forgive them as we have been forgiven.
Here is what I want you to walk away with this week. What to put into practice. Number one, enjoy the forgiveness that God's grace gives to us.
Enjoy the forgiveness that God's grace gives to us. God has forgiven us so much more than we could ever forgive someone else in this world. Last night when we were going through this lesson with my daughter, she said, it's kind of like grace, isn't it?
I go, what do you know about grace? She goes, well, I know that grace is getting something that you didn't earn. She's seven years old, folks.
I'm like, yeah, you nailed it. That's pretty much it. We didn't deserve God's love.
He gives it to us anyway. We didn't deserve His forgiveness. He gives it to us anyway.
We praise Him. We give Him laud and accolation and praise and honor because He has this great grace towards us. Number two, understand that we reflect that grace to others through forgiving them.
If God can forgive us, we ought to be able to forgive one another. And finally, keep this in the back of your mind. If we fail to forgive as God forgives us, our own forgiveness is in question.
Jesus had those words there specifically to encourage us, to nudge us in the right direction, that this is not an optional request. It is a command from our holy Lord that forgiveness should be extended because He forgave us. Folks, the simple lesson, easy to understand, hopefully, sometimes very difficult to apply in our own situations, but a necessary reminder of what our Christian character should be like, full of grace, full of mercy, full of forgiveness, even for one another.
If you are in need this morning for the prayers of the congregation, something in your life is preventing you from being at peace or at harmony with one another or with our Lord in heaven, now is the chance you get to look inward and see how you can make that correction. If you have a need this morning to be forgiven or to give forgiveness, you can talk to one of our elders at the doors, or you can come forward and talk to me for a moment and have your needs met. If you do have a need, respond now as we stand and we sing.