Focus on Forgiveness

We are continuing with our sermon series entitled “Focus.” We are looking at the various aspects of God that we should focus on instead of having our focus on the ways of the world. We are having the Gospel of Matthew help us with this.

This weekwe are focusing on forgiveness. Our scripture comes from Matthew 18:21-35. The words will be on the screen.

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Please pray with me…

Faith and forgiveness are the two most important aspects of the Christian faith. It is through faith that we are willing to believe that there is a God. That Jesus came down to earth, That Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for each one of us.

It is through faith that we are willing to believe that God can and will forgive our sins. The forgiveness that God offers us is never ending. We are unable to live our lives without sin. Therefore, we need forgiveness by God repeatedly. We are blessed to have a God who is willing to forgive.

Our scripture for today has Peter asking the question, what about us? Peter understands that God forgives. The Jewish people received forgiveness through the sacrificing of animals to God and through the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement.

The forgiveness for those before Jesus was temporary. It was a constant reminder that they were not good enough. This createdguilt and shame. The understanding that failure wasn’t only expected it was guaranteed.

We on the other hand are forgiven through our willingness to believe that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins. Our firstreading informs us that we are “Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

We areblessed because we have been “adopted” by God. We are children of God the Father and brothers and sisters of our Lord and Savior. Adoption means that we receive all of the benefits of being a part of the family of God.

That would mean that we receive “wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will” We know the plan. We know how things are going to end. We are able to know that all things will be united both in Heaven and on earth.

We thatbelieve receive an inheritance. We receive the helper left for us by God, the Holy Spirit. We have God within us to help us to be the child that God wants us to be. We are able to be led and directed in such a way to allow us to live the best life we can live and serve those that God places around us.

God forgives all people who have the faith to believe in him. He forgives us over and over again. He offers us wisdom and grace. He loves us as we are but through the insights, we receive by God we are able to become closer to him each and every day.

We areforgiven but as children of God how often are we supposed to forgive? That isreally the question that Peter is asking Jesus. Jesus’ answer is 77 times or as some translations say it “seventy times seven.

The answer given by Jesus is simplistic in that it implies an infinite number of times. Seven symbolizes completion within Judaism. Jesus is saying that a person should never believe that they have forgiven those around them enough times. There is no limit on how much we should forgive.

God is willing to forgive us even though we are undeserving. Jesus is letting his disciples know that if we are going to be followers of God than we should be willing to do the same. We should always be willing to forgive.

In her book “Forgive Who?” Dr Susan K Williams Smith has as the subtitle “The Struggle to Obey God’s Awful Command.” We will be referring back to this book throughout our time together.

Her point by calling this command from God awful is that it is telling us that in the eyes of God there is nothing that someone can do to us or to those around us that we should consider to be unforgiveable. There isno action that we should not be willing to forgive.

It is through this lens that this becomes not just a difficult passage but a very difficult passage. Right now, in our minds, we can go through a litany of sins against humanity that we could easily view as unforgiveable. God says there is no action that should not be forgiven.

One of the great misconceptions within Christianity is that forgiving is not enough. We believe that God when he forgives us forgives and forgets. Therefore, some state that we need to follow his example and do the same.

No where do I find in scripture where this is stated. God forgives and forgets because he is almighty, he is all knowing, he is our God. We should not forgive and forget. First, it is impossible. Our mind was created to not allow us to forget harm done to us unless it is so horrific that we can’t live with it.

Second,it can end up causing us greater harm. Forgiving and forgetting can lead to abuse and mistreatment. It can cause people to remain in situations that will lead to greater harm and greater pain. God will not have one of his commands leave us in a place of harm and pain.

Forgiving does not mean that we have to interact or let that person enter into our lives that will be unhealthy for us. It means that we are no longer going to allow the pain to fester within us and hurt us.

Holding backforgiveness can actually harm us. It can be like a physical wound. It festers and if not treated it becomes an infection that becomes more dangerous and possibly invasive than the original wound.

Dr. Smith says that “a spiritual wound left untreated can kill our spirits, hope, joy, and desire to live.” What she is saying is that the place that the fruit of the spirit could fill our lives will be filled with the rotted fruit of hate, anger, resentment.

We havea choice we can keep the pain and the loss within us or we can release it to God. Dr Smith calls that justice. She defines justice as “letting God take care of God’s issues.” It is us choosing to set ourselves free from the negative traits that impact us when we choose not to forgive.

It is why we need to make the decision to let go and let God. It means that we need to have the faith to believe that God will take care of the person or people that have angered us. It is being strong enough to be willing to have these individuals not face the consequences that we believe they deserve and let God heap upon them what he believes they deserve.

Forgivenesscan occur in several different ways. One of the most important ways is that you may have to forgive yourself. It is possible that you have done something in your life that you regret and do not believe you deserve to be forgiven from.

If you have asked him too, God has already forgiven you. You have no reason to keep the guilt and shame you are feeling within you. It may be that you need to ask again but ask for forgiveness and then believe that no matter what you do you are forgiven.

You mayfind yourself in a situation in which you need to be forgiven by someone else. Unless it is a situation in which your presence will cause pain be willing to tell that person you are sorry for what you did and ask for forgiveness. It maybe that your willingness to admit your guilt will allow them to be able to forgive.

Let someone know you have forgiven them. You may be able to help someone forgive themselves by letting them know that you have forgiven them. But make sure that you have because it is possible that the person may believe they haven’t done anything that needed forgiven.

The lastis a need to be willing to forgive someone just on the basis that you have been commanded by God to forgive. Dr Smith offers us steps that we can take to forgive if we are struggling to figure out how to forgive someone.

The first step is to acknowledge our anger. The anger that we have will often not only be directed at the person we need to forgive but it also could be directed at God. We are blaming God for putting us into the position we are in.

Letting Godknow how we feel is often the first step. God can handle what we say to him. God will accept your anger. Cry out to him. Let Godknow how you really feel. Release your anger onto God so that you can go onto the next step of letting go of our anger at the one who hurt us.

We willoften have anger trapped within us. You may ask yourself the question, “why am I angry all the time?” It may be because you have anger so deeply trapped within your being that you are unable to release it. Therefore,at time it boils over into situations that have nothing to do with why you are angry.

We willoften hold our anger towards someone through what Dr. Smith calls a grudge. A grudge is our unwillingness to release someone from the pain that they caused us. She believes that “a grudge holds us in bondage to negative emotions.”

This grudge can cause the “spiritual energy that could be used to get us closer to God” to “fuel the grudge and keep it alive.” This iswhy it is important that we be willing to show grace to those that have hurt us. Grace is undeserved and unearned forgiveness. It is the same forgiveness given to us by God.

The parable included in our reading points this out to us. We have the master willing to forgive the servant an amount that they would have never been able to pay back. This is the sin that we commit against God. We could never deserve the forgiveness that God gives us.

The servant leaves and finds someone that owes him a debt that could eventually be returned. The servant is faced with the same situation to a lesser extent. Do I forgive or punish. The servant chooses to punish his debtor instead of forgiving him.

This willsometimes be us. It is not that what was done to us is small or doesn’t matter. What this is telling us is that you have been forgiven of many more inequities than you will ever have to forgive others.

The response of the master is anger and imprisonment for the person who owed the original debt. Our bondage will not be literal. We willbe holding ourselves in spiritual bondage. We will continue to use the energy that could be used for good holding ourselves in bondage through anger and hate.

Our Goddesires for us to be people that forgive. Let us be willing to remember the harm we do to ourselves and not to those that have done something against us. Let us find the faith to turn our anger over to God and forgive. Let go and let God carry the weight of the pain we have kept within us.

Please pray with me…