Ditching Bitterness

Welcome

Intro

We are in a Christmas message series that's called Traveling Light.

What do we know?

We know that this world is not our home.

We are created for more.

The problem is, as we travel through this life, we often accumulate so much stuff that weighs us down, holds us back, and, ultimately, doesn't matter.

So far we Have talked about Not Being Owned by our Stuff.

Pastor Rustan led us through Ditching Distraction.

How many of you paid attention to your Cellphone Phone usage this week.

This week we are going to tackle another Fun topic Bitterness.

Turn with me to Hebrew 12:14-15

Body

Hebrews 12:14–15 NIV

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Let’s break this down a little Here.

Make every effort (Repeat)

to live in peace

With everyone.

Some people take a lot of effort…….

I could name just in the last week 5 people that have come to me with problems they think are something other than bitterness.

The truth is this is something we all deal with.

I have to be really careful that I don’t become bitter at your bitterness.

This is one of Satan’s greatest tools for destroying relationships and poisoning hearts.

The Good ole Root of Bitterness

• God wants you to love—Enemy wants to kill love.

• God wants you to grow intimacy—Enemy destroy intimacy.

• God wants you to trust—Enemy wants to steal trust and replace it with bitterness.

The enemy loves to plant a seed of offense which grows into a root of bitterness.

➢ Small—Follow someone Insta—Always like, Comment—Unfollow.

➢ Ignore your texts—Saw the bubbles.

➢ Christmas meal—Never bring food—Tupper wear.

This has been Satan’s tactic since the beginning.

To chain us to the root of bitterness……..

Free Will and Bitterness towards God……..

Begins to affect every relationship………

Lie to you—Deceive you—Talk bad about you.

Relative always critical (Parenting, Spend money, Faith/Church).

Takes advantage of you—Misleads you—Betrays you.

As we go through today’s message there is a common theme I want you to wrap you mind around.

You cannot control what other people do, but you can control how you respond.

This is the most wonderful time of year for Bitterness/ I mean Family….

It is a season where many of you will have the God-given opportunity to share his love with some of the most important people in your life.

It is also the time of year where Satan will do his best to try to plant seeds of offense that create roots of bitterness.

There are two problems with Bitterness.

Bitterness Has a Dangerous Root!

Let’s go back to our verse in Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:15 CSB

15 Make sure …………….. no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble……

So what do we know about the root of bitterness?

Roots grow underground.

Roots grow underground.

In other words—Bitterness is an underground job—beneath surface.

No one sees the root growing.

We love going to Caddo Lake in Texas because of the beautiful and majestic Cypress trees and the spanish moss. It is so beautiful….

So you can imagine our excitement when we bought our house that there was a large Bald Cypress in the back yard…….

There is a problem with Cypress Roots….They have Knees that pop up out of the water……

Well much to our surprise the pop up out of the yard too……

I recently cut down that tree but I had no idea just how far those roots extended into my back yard……..

That is until I mow and my mower or my foot keeps finding root knees.

This is the issue for so many of us.

You may have experienced a hurt, a disappointment, an offense…..

You may not even know that an offense has taken root.

This is why I said I could easily tell you of people I have encountered this week who are struggling with bitterness…..

But then as I thought about that I realize that their bitterness was creating an offense in my heart that was possibly causing me to become bitter……….

Jesus is the embodiment of the first person to become the Temple of the Holy Spirit…. He paved the way……..

This is why when we Make Him Lord 1 Corinthians 13 tells us Love keeps no record of wrong…..

But Bitterness keeps detailed records…….. It is like a court reporter with a little type writer…….

He hurt me—She misled me—He lied to me—She let me down.

You know the problem. Longer you allow root to live.

The more it spreads… The harder it is to kill.

Bitterness has a dangerous root. And secondly…

Bitterness Produces A Poisonous Fruit.

Hebrews 12:15 CSB

15 Make sure …..and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.

Bitterness is not just a root—It’s a root that produces bad fruit.

You’ve seen it all around you…

➢ A bitter person can poison a LG.

➢ A bitter person can make workplace miserable.

➢ A bitter person can divide a family.

Some of you are probably thinking—I hope so-n-so is listening!

They need this message.

Before you relax and point the finger

Remember—Bitterness one of the most difficult sins see in the mirror.

Why? Because when you are bitter—you feel justified in how you feel.

I’m only angry because of what THEY did!

If we aren’t careful, some of us will…

We will celebrate the love of Christ.

While Hating someone in our hearts.

We Receive God’s Grace

But withhold it from those around us.

Take moment to ask yourself honestly—Do you have a root of bitterness?

Are you holding a grudge? Carrying a hurt? Nursing an offense?

Brownnoser at work.                    Sick and tired of being criticized.

Boss doesn’t appreciate you.         Mad at yourself.

Friend takes you for granted.         Disappointed or angry at God.

Ok OK OK Pastor………

HOW DO YOU KILL THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS?

Ephesians 4:31–32 CSB

31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

We Kill Bitterness with Compassion.

Paul was giving direct teaching to the believers in Ephesus…

32 Be kind and compassionate to one another… Eph. 4:32

Paul taught a similar principal in Romans 12:21 when he said…

Romans 12:21 CSB

21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

This is where we go back to our theme.

You cannot control what other people do, but you can control how you respond.

I got to discuss this topic with my mental health coach….

Boundries and the Pendulm

We live in a world where everything must be confronted…..but mostly from a keyboard…….

Half the time the person we are confronting didn’t know or mean to cause an offense……

When I choose kindness and compassion I am choosing to believe the best about others intentions.

Jesus said it best… He said…

Luke 6:28 CSB

28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

One of  best ways to show compassion is to pray for someone who hurt you.

Pastor Craig Groeshel says it this way:

Your prayer for others may or may not change them

But it will always change you.

Kill bitterness with compassion (and)

KILL BITTERNESS WITH FORGIVENESS.

Pause and acknowledge… This is where it can get tense.

You. Don’t. Have. Any. Idea. What. They. Did. To. Me.

How do I forgive what seems unforgiveable?

Ephesians 4:31–32 CSB

31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

How do you forgive? You forgive just like Jesus forgave you.

(And) How did Jesus forgive you?

He forgave you:

Freely!

Generously.

Absolutely.

Entirely.

Unconditionally.

Do not let a root of bitterness grow up and hurt you and hurt others.

You can choose to Relive it and Rehearse it.

Or you can can chose to Release it.

Someone once said

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

Romans 12:18 CSB

18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

You cannot control what other people do, but you can control how you respond.

Bitterness is a Dangerous Root and a Poisonous Fruit.

We Kill it with Compassion and Forgiveness……

Ephesians 4:31–32 CSB

31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

As far as it’s possible with you—Live at peace.

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