Sermon Tone Analysis
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RECAP AND INTRO
An elderly man took his little grandson for a walk around the local cemetery.
Pausing before one gravestone he said, “There lies a very honest man.
He died owing me $50, but he struggled to the end to pay off his debts.
If anyone has gone to heaven, he has.”
They walked on a bit further and then came to another grave.
The old man pointed to the gravestone and said, “Now there’s a different type of man altogether.
He owed me $60, and he died without ever trying to pay me back.
If anyone has gone to hell, he has.”
The little boy thought for a while and then said, “You know, Grandpa, you are very lucky.”
“Why?” asked the old man.
“Well, whichever place you go to, you’ll have some money to draw on.”
https://www.preaching.com/sermon-illustrations/illustration-forgiveness-debts/
We chuckle at this, but forgiveness can be a very hard topic for us, especially those that are followers of Jesus and slip into the trap that we couldn’t possibly need to forgive anyone.....Anyone know a person like that?
Forgiving a Concentration Camp Guard
After the defeat of Hitler’s Nazi regime in World War II, Holocaust survivor and Christian Corrie ten Boom returned to Germany to declare the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
One evening, after giving her message, she was approached by a man who identified himself as a former Nazi guard from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck, where she had been held and where her sister, Betsie, had died.
When Corrie saw the man’s face, she recognized him as one of the most cruel and vindictive guards from the camp.
He reached out his hand and said to her, “A fine message, Fraulein!
How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!
You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk.
I was a guard there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well.
Fraulein, will you forgive me?”
About this encounter, Corrie writes:
I stood there—I whose sins had again and again been forgiven—and could not forgive.
Betsie had died in that place.
Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to do . . .
I had to do it—I knew that.
The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. . . .
But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too.
Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
“Jesus, help me!”
I prayed silently.
As she reached out her hand to the former guard, Corrie says that something incredible took place.
She continues:
The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands.
And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!”
I cried.
“With all my heart!” . . .
I had never known love so intensely, as I did then.
But even then, I realized it was not my love . . .
It was the power of the Holy Spirit.
Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer, Thomas Nelson, 2020, pp.19-20.
“Forgive us” is the line in the Lord’s Prayer that has caused the most difficulty for Christians of the Holiness tradition.
Ritualized prayer is challenge enough!
We tend to shy away from ritual and liturgy, but there can be something powerful in that as we have observed about the Lord’s prayer throughout the last few weeks.
But the problem is that is a line that seems defeatist for people who champion entire sanctification.
- the second work of grace - God removing our bent toward sin.
- we still have free will -
This mentality has created its own problems, such as:
Projection
Rationalization
Denial
Perfectionism - we can end up with a bit of a Pharisee attitude if we do not stay humble - we have it together and you don’t....
How do we pray this prayer while maintaining a high standard of holy living?
First and foremost, we must remember it is a social prayer.
It doesn’t say me, it says “Forgive us our debts or trespasses.” - keeps us humble - keeps our focus on living out a holy, Christlike lifestyle
In real communities, trespasses are inevitable.
Our faith community as Christians includes and involves all who have gone before us.
Therefore, we all have a long history of trespasses.
The body of Christ spans generations, and we confess with—and on behalf of—those who have gone before.
We cannot ask for God’s forgiveness without extending forgiveness to others.
This is the only line in the Lord’s Prayer upon which Jesus immediately offers comment (Matthew 6:14–15).
For those who have been horribly wronged, this is obviously a difficult and sensitive subject.
Jesus makes clear that there is to be a communal, ecclesial context for forgiveness, restitution, and reconciliation (Matthew 18:15–35).
God places a radical priority upon forgiveness of, and reconciliation with, one another—it comes before worship (Matthew 5:21–26).
Elisabeth Elliott - Elisabeth and who would end up being her husband Jim both went independently to Ecuador to work with that Quichua tribe.
They married in Quito in 1953 and in January 1956, Jim and four companions were speared to death trying to contact the Huaorani tribe.
Fast forward to 1958 - There were two Huaorani women living among the Quichua (including Dayuma) and they taught Elisabeth and Rachel Saint the Huao language.
Dayuma returned to her tribe and created an opening for Elisabeth and Rachel to contact the tribe - the tribe that had speared her husband 2 1/2 years earlier.
In October that year, Elisabeth and her three year old daughter along with Rachel Saint.
Imagine what it must have taken to forgive the Huaorani people to not only forgive them, but to go live among them sharing Christ’s love to them.
It’s hard to imagine, but that is exactly what Elisabeth did.
Without forgiveness, there is no way that she would have been able to have any impact on the Huaorani people......
Are we willing to offer forgiveness to others the way Elisabeth Elliott did?
We must be willing to extend forgiveness as well as ask for it.
This is an area that many Christians struggle with and we need God’s help as well as the help of our community in holding us accountable - find someone to have that level of trust and relationship with.
Let’s ask God to point out where we may need to ask forgiveness from others as we sing.
CLOSING SONG - Living Hope
BENEDICTION - May the Lord our God make us into a community that is built upon love, forgiveness, and obedience. of having come near to the everlasting love of God.
create in us an eagerness to offer forgiveness to others.
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