Sermon Tone Analysis

False Forgiveness

The things we do for love.

The things we do to be perceived as nice.

It’s ok, I know you’ve had a lot of stress lately.

It’s ok, she has been dealing with a lot of issues lately.

Excuses eliminate the need for forgiveness.

Nothing happened, it’s fine.

Denying is pretending something never happened.

It did,

I will not do to you what you did to me.

Refraining from revenge- That’s good, but it’s not forgiveness.

I’m going to let it go, but i’ll be watching to see what you do next.

Suspending judgment- I’ll forgive you this time, but I’m watcing you.

I’m forgiving you, but you owe me.

Weaponizing .

I forgive you doesn’t mean that, it means I expect a lot from you because of what you did.

Abandoning justice- false belief that we will move forward and allow the individual to continue the behavior.

Immediate trust- Just go back to things as normal without the individual admitting their wrong.

All of these do not deal with the internal problem of unforgiveness- what it does in us.

Pay attention to yourselves.

Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Bart Scott was on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Thursday and admitted that Ward got in his head from playing him over the years.

He jokes that it took five years of therapy to not punch Ward in the face.

It’s easy to be angry.... see Hebrews 12.15

We don’t admit how angry we are at people who wrong us.

Our image is that we need to be good people.

We say, we have forgiven and we mean we aren’t actively wanting to take out revenge.

We say we forget, but we are actually saying that we hope a brick falls from the sky to even the score for what has happened.

The writer of Hebrews says “see to it”.

To truly forgive someone, we must do it inside of ourselves.... three steps.

Recognize our shared sinful nature- that could be me.

Inwardly pay the debt

Will good for the wrongdoer

Recognize THat You Are A Sinner

shared sinful nature.

Reconciliation should happen, but it often does not.

Even if reconciliation doesn’t happen , we need to forgive in ourselves.

Jesus said we are to love each other, see 1 John 3.14

and Luke 10.25-37

The priest and the levite were those who couldn’t allow themselves to identify with the man in the ditch.

The samaritan did.

Inwardly pay the debt

forgive- aphiemi- cancel or remit a debt.

To forgive means we deny ourself revenge… see Romans 12.17-21

Will good for the wrongdoer

You cannot be free to will the good until you have done the first 2: Rcognize your own sinful nature AND Inwardly Pay the debt.

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If you want to forgive, but have a hard time wishing the best for the wrongdoer- you might want to check the first two.

If you don’t will good for them, you willnot be neutral- you will wish bad.

Vengeance is all about me/you.

It is not about the nonor of God or the good of the victim or the offender.

Christ calls us to utterly forgive on the inside so we can speak the truth to them in love on the outside.

Internal Healing

This is where spiritual growth takes place.

Inside- Mark 11.25

This does not say that if we don’t forgive, God won’t forgive us.

It is saying that our forgiveness needs to be as complete as God’s is- it needs to cover every place in our lives that we need to forgive, every person that we need to forgive, whether they request it or not because of what it is doing to us to be unforgiving.

External (relational) Healing

Outside- Matthew 18.15-20

Outside- Ephesians 4:15

Unforgiveness Is Spiritual Poverty and Leads To Christian Bankruptcy

Practicing Forgiveness- Real Luke 17.1-5

We read this: Luke 17 and we believe there is a conflict because Luke 17 says “IF he repents,” and that becomes our hook to not forgive.

But in Matthew 18, Jesus said the individula wronged is to seek reconciliation and then to forgive even if they don’t want to be forgiven or reconcile.! So , they are not in conflict, but ratherPRESCRIPTTIVE.

Note Luke 17.5

Spiritual humility- Ephesians 4.32

Look closely at Romans 12.19

bECAUSE ONCE YOU ARE FORGIVEN, YOU ARE FORGIVEN!

YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE...

Spiritual wealth....