REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:7-13)
REVIEW:
We are owned by our Creator. We are his and all that He gives us is given on loan as a trust. The misuse or lack of use of all or any of our facilities engenders moral debt. Our sins, both sins of commission and omission, are a great accumulation of moral debt that is absolutely impossible for us to pay down. God is a forgiving God but the debt of sin must be paid. In order to remain just while forgiving us our debt of sin, Christ bore our sin-debt on the cross.
I. JUDICIAL FORGIVENESS AND PARENTAL FORGIVENESS
The forgiveness talked about here is not “judicial forgiveness.” People who pray this prayer are assumed to have received “judicial forgiveness” for they are calling God “Father.” The forgiveness focused on here is “Parental Forgiveness,” the forgiveness needed to maintain an intimate relationship between parent and child. Judicially we have been totally forgiven of all sins when we trusted Christ as our Savior. We need parental forgiveness of the falls we experience in our daily walk.
II. GOD’S WORD LAYS GREAT STRESS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness means to let go, to release, “to let the pot drop.”
Forgiveness is the “Master Key” to human relationships. Thus there is much emphasis in the Bible on forgiveness. In fact the Sermon on the Mount praises those who show mercy, the peacemaker, those who reconcile, those who love their enemy etc. As much as possible we are to live at peace with all people. We are never more like Christ then when we are forgiving.
We will not live happily in this world if we do not become great practitioners of forgiveness.
III. FORGIVENESS IS NOT EASY
ILL: In his book, Letters to Malcolm, C.S. Lewis writes these words, “Last week in prayer, I discovered, or at least I think I did, that I suddenly was able to forgive someone that I had been trying to forgive for over thirty years.”
Sometimes people won’t admit that they are wrong. Sometimes they don’t want our forgiveness. Sometimes our innate sense of justice makes us feel that they should not be forgiven. (Simon Wiesenthal, not being able to forgive the Nazi SS soldier who had helped massacre 300 Jews.) Sometimes what has been done to us engenders such bitterness and anger that we will not forgive.
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. Judicial Forgiveness & Parental Forgiveness
2. God’s Word Lays Great Stress on the Importance of Forgiveness
3. Forgiveness is Not Easy
4. People Will Wound Us, Will be Indebted to Us.
5. There Must Be No Limits on Forgiveness.
6. God’s Forgiveness of us is Our Motivation for Being Forgiving
7. An Unforgiving Heart Breaks Our Relationship with Our Father
8. God’s Forgiveness of Us is in Proportion to our Forgiveness of Others
9. A Forgiving Heart is the Mark of the Child of a Forgiving Father
10. How Forgiveness Works
FORGIVING OUR DEBTORS (Part 2)
IV. PEOPLE WILL WOUND US, WILL BE INDEBTED TO US
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Sin is rampant in the world. The hearts of humans are evil. People are going to sin against us and be in debt to us.
ILL: Mamie Mobley’s only son was visiting relatives and friends in Mississippi one summer in 1956. Outside a general store, with boys playing games on the front porch, eleven-year-old Emmett decided to go into the store and buy some bubble gum and some candy. As Emmett and some other boys came out of the store someone asked Emmett, “How’d you like the lady in the store?” Emmett whistled his approval. Someone nearby heard his whistle and did not like an African-American whistling at a Caucasian woman. At 2:30 a.m. the next Sunday two men stormed into the house where Emmett was staying and took him at gun point. Three days later they discovered his badly beaten body. One of the hardest things in the world is losing a child.
Years after the tragedy Mamie was asked, “Don’t you harbor any bitterness toward the two men?” Mamie’s reply reveals the depth of her faith: “From the very beginning that’s the question that has always been raised. What they had done was not for me to punish and it was not for me to go around hugging hate to myself, because hate would destroy me. I did not want to hurt them, nor did I wish them dead or in jail. If I’d had to, I could have taken their four little children and I could have raised those children as if they were my own and I could have loved them. I believe the Lord meant what he said, and [I] try to live according to the way I’ve been taught.” Through this terrible ordeal she can honestly say, “I haven’t spent one night hating those people.”
Most of us will probably never have people indebted to us because they murdered our child. But living in this world means that others will sin against us and be indebted to us.
The statement, “Forgive us our sin, as we forgive those who sin above us” certainly teaches us that there is no such thing as ‘sinless perfection.’ The model prayer that shows us what we should be praying for every day tells us to be praying about our debts and the debts of others towards us.
Those who sin against us are in debt to us. If you are involved with people you will be injured and they will owe you, be in your debt. Here are some examples:
- Someone you thought you could trust hurt you.
- Someone said bad things about you to your face or behind your back.
- Someone took advantage of you financially. They didn’t care what hardship that would bring you or your family.
- A parent withheld the affection and blessing you desperately needed.
- A spouse left you or betrayed you.
- A co-worker took credit for your work.
You can only really protect yourself from injury and hurt by isolating yourself from other people. But then you will become a dried up, shriveled, twisted piece of humanity. You need to reach out in love to others, accepted the fact that you will be hurt and use forgiveness as your major tonic against all the hurt that comes your way.
V. THERE MUST BE NO LIMITS ON FORGIVENESS
In Matthew 18 Peter wants to know how far a person needs to go in forgiving another person so he asks, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Mt. 18:21).
The Rabbinic teaching of the day taught that if someone wronged you, you should forgive them up to three times. After that you could stop forgiving them. Peter wanted to play it safe and so he doubled the Rabbinic teaching and added one to make 7, the perfect number.
Jesus responded, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.”
Jesus is saying, “Don’t even count” and thus demolishes the Rabbinic counting system.
Jesus reverses the “Law of Revenge” given in Gen. 4:24, “Lamech said to his wives, . . . . ‘I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.’”
“No part of his teaching is clearer: and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated“. (C.S. Lewis)
QUESTION: The question comes, “Has God only forgiven us 491 times?” How many times has God forgiven us? Including both sins of commission and sins of omission?
The answer is “No, much more than that! I am unable to count all of the times.” And so it means that we are to forgive others without limit.
To determine the limit on my forgiveness of others I need to look at God and ask, “How many times has He forgiven me?”
ILL: Simon Wiesenthal never did his math before he walked away from the German soldier. You and I are like the servant in the parable Jesus told who was forgiven 10,000 talents. How far are you and I willing to go with this forgiveness business? You and I have been tooled around, we have been hurt. We have been wounded. In little ways, or in catastrophic ways. And deep inside of us, our gut tells us that there is a limit. There is a limit. There is someone this very day who needs to hear you and I say, ‘I forgive you.’ Not just with our mouths, but with our hearts. Simon Wiesenthal is someone who has yet to meet Jesus Christ, who has yet to know the utter joy of having an eternal, infinite burden of debt lifted off of his shoulders. But you and I, we are here because we say we know Jesus. We gather here on Sunday morning because we say we have surrendered our lives to him. (P. Yancey and also the Web)
VI. GOD’S FORGIVENESS OF US IS OUR MOTIVATION FOR BEING FORGIVING
READING: Have someone read the parable of the unforgiving servant (Mt. 18:23-35)
The main point in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18 is the disparity between the debts owed. Some commentators have said that the debt forgiven was equivalent to $25,000,000 whereas the debt not forgiven by the servant was the equivalent of $5,000 today.
“Since he was not able to pay (the 10,000 talents) the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.” (Mt. 18:25)
The slave who owed the king millions was released from his debt, given back his possessions and his freedom.
It would have been impossible for the unforgiving servant/slave to have paid off the $25M but the second slave could have eventually paid off his debt. It has been calculated that the unforgiving servant would need to work 150,000 days of hard labor to pay his debt to the king whereas the second slave’s debt amounted to 100 days of wages.
“The heart is deceitful about all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it” (Jer. 17:9 KJV) . . . God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us . . . For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of His son. . . . Romans 5:8, 10) “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags . . . ( Isa. 64:6)
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed …” (Lam. 3:22) “ . . . . . God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11) . . . “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men . . .” (Romans 1:18) . . . “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath . . . . “ (Romans 2:5).
When Jesus cried, “Father forgive them” while on the cross, who was He forgiving? Ans: the Romans, the Pharisees, the scribes, the soldiers, the disciples, the crowds who mocked him. And what about you and me?
TO THE TUNE: At the Cross
Alas, and did my Savior bleed?
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
At the cross, at the cross
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!
I see the crowd in Pilate’s hall,
I mark their wrathful mien;
Their shouts of “Crucify!” appall,
With blasphemy between.
And of that shouting multitude
I feel that I am one;
And in that din of voices rude
I recognize my own.
‘Twas I that shed the sacred blood,
I nailed Him to the tree,
I crucified the Christ of God,
I joined the mockery.
Yet not the less that Blood avails
To cleanse away my sin
And not the less that Cross prevails
To give me peace within.
Thus might I hide my blushing face,
Whilst His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes in tears.
I receive forgiveness constantly – – – daily, hourly, every minute for both sins of commission and sins of omission. This constant forgiveness should be the greatest motivation to make me a forgiving person.
VII. AN UNFORGIVING HEART BREAKS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR FATHER
Jesus is talking to people who possess the Kingdom of Heaven (5:3,10), who hunger and thirst after righteousness (5:6), who are called the sons of God (5:9), who are the salt of the earth (5:13) and light of the world (5:14) and who have God as their Father in a relational way (cf. the “your Father” statements in 6:1, 4, 6, 8, 9 and in vs. 14 and 15.) (From the Web
A child who sins is still your child even though the relationship is broken and clouded. You may want to take your name off of his birth certificate, exclude him from family gathering, never see him again but he is still your son.
When Christians sin our status as a child of God is not changed but the state of our relationship with our Father is changed. When that happens in the home there is a chill in the air and a quietness around the house. You may sit down and have a meal together but all can feel the tension and the barriers, the broken fellowship. The child will still say, “Dad, please pass the carrots” but the relationship is now clouded.
ILL: My experience at Grace Community Church. Bible Study leader influenced by teaching of Timothy George (extreme grace) and thus claimed that a person never need ask for forgiveness of God after they have become a Christian because sins past, present and future all are forgiven at the time of conversion. These folks taught that it is totally wrong to ask God for forgiveness after you have become a Christian because your sins no longer affect God in a negative way. They are all forgiven. They were confusing judicial forgiveness with parental forgiveness.
When I refuse to maintain my relationship with other believers it affects my relationship with my Father. It is not different from have two quarreling children at your family table who will not from their hearts offer forgiveness to each other. How does their stubbornness affect their relationship with you?
“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! …” (Isa. 1:15-16).
Max Lucado, “confession does not create a relationship with God; it simply nourishes it.” David prayed, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation ….” (Ps. 51:12)
READING: John Stott says, “One of the surest antidotes to the process of moral hardening is the disciplined practice of uncovering our sins of thought and outlook as well as word and deed and the repentant forsaking of the same.” If you don’t do that it will harden. I’ve seen Christians, judicially forgiven and eternally secure, who are so hardened, so impenitent, so unconfessing, so insensitive to sin, and so totally joyless, who didn’t even know the meaning of a loving intimate fellowship with God. They blocked it out with the barricade of their unconfessed sin. (From the Web)
“The channel of God’s grace is blocked from the human side. We are saying in essence we would rather harbor a grudge than experience God’s joy. (From the Web)
READING: Now some of you came to worship the Lord this morning but you can’t do it, you can receive instruction but you can’t offer God worship because He won’t accept it. You have come to offer God worship, you’ve said, Lord, I want You to know I praise You and I want You to clean me up today and … you’re going to go away just like you came because you’ve got relationships that are unresolved and you’re unforgiving in some situations, therefore, you forfeit true worship, leave the altar, go back, get that straight, and then come back. And so you really can’t worship today and you can’t have your sins dealt with but you can be instructed to begin the process that will make that a reality. (John MacArthur)
VIII. GOD’S FORGIVENESS OF US IS IN PROPORTION TO OUR FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS
Forgive us our debts, AS we also have forgiven our debtors.
SO WHAT???
1. Living in this world means that people will sin against us and thus pile up emotional and spiritual debt. They will owe us big time because of what they have done to us in large and little ways.
2. The forgiveness as commanded by our Savior is limitless. There are to be no limits on our forgiving others.
TABLE DISCUSSION: In what ways do Christians limit forgiveness? Share what you have experienced or have observed.
3. An understanding of the greatness of God’s forgiveness for us should be our main motivation in forgiving others.
TABLE DISCUSSION: What is it about God’s forgiveness of us that motivates you to be a forgiving person?
4. We can not offer worship, we cannot have an intimate relationship with our Father if we are living with an unforgiving spirit, if there is someone we are unwilling to forgive.