As we forgive others

Sermon Style Sheet

Write that down in your formation Journal

Illustration

Sermon Text

Sermon Text: Scripture

Call to Worship

Psalm 119:169–172 CSB

169 Let my cry reach you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word. 170 Let my plea reach you; rescue me according to your promise. 171 My lips pour out praise, for you teach me your statutes. 172 My tongue sings about your promise, for all your commands are righteous.

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Passage:

Formation Journal Page Number: 1:53-2:35 12:59??? interrupted 10:54-11:47

Matthew 6:9–13 CSB

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 18:23–35 CSB

23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. 25 Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. 26 “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. 28 “That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’ 29 “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. 31 When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. 32 Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

Opening Illustration:

Test

Photo of George Washington This is done on glass. In 1798 An american captain took a painting of George washington 100 Chinese artist used a special techinique he brought it back to America and when patriotism was high - 6 are known of today. 4 in museums. This guy had his in a storage unit.

{George Washington Photo}

No one can tell me what to do with…

It means that God owns the rights to your resentment

of your bitterness

[Forgiveness means giving up your RESENTMENT for the sins against you.]

When you’ve been hurt, how do you find the strength to forgive?

time

Getting into the Sermon

time

Matthew 6:9–12 CSB

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

living with unconfessed sin is living a lie and by confessing we are able to have victory of guilt and shame and walk with freedom, lightness in our step and a desire to share the goodnews to toher.

Here’s the difficulty we face, how do we find the power to forgive when you have been deeply hurt?

[Forgiveness is GIVEN - trust is EARNED]

the balance we have is that everything is alright on one hand and getting embittered on the other. On the one hand we can act as if we don’t matter on the other hand we can act like we matter the most!

Matthew 18:23–25 CSB

23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. 25 Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.

Denarius was $200 - a day’s wage

a Talent is a measure of weight but at the time it was roughly 6,000 times a Denarius - so think $1.2 million dollars

ten thousand - 12 Billion dollars. Roughly the GDP of the Bahamas!

Impossible debt

Every moment is owed to God is worship, obedience, and love so you can never bank extra.

Matthew 18:26–27 CSB

26 “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

So what does he do - he begs for forgiveness

The Gospel - {ABC’s of repentance}

Matthew 18:28 CSB

28 “That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’

That’s like 20k that’s not nothing It’s significant but its doable

Matthew 18:29–30 CSB

29 “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.

Do you see this? Instead of forgiveness he gives him punishment

Matthew 18:31–35 CSB

31 When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. 32 Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

God owns the rights to your resentment

And in that he calls on us to forgive. To recogonzie that he owns it and we live it to him.

All sin will be punished - it will either by Christ who pays or the sinner pays.

[Christians are marked by FORGIVENESS]

Matthew 18:33 CSB

33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

Here’s the deal, people will hurt us. And you can classify it this way.

You have been forgiven 12 billion dollars you are expected to forgive 12 billion dollars

See the world reacts usually in one of two ways- one way is to minimimze the wrong.

[Christians forgive MINOR offenses.]

You have 1-2 denarii offenses

Small offenses

Generally think about what punishment do you think the person deserves?

Went to a restaurant and didn’t get good service. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. I wasn’t super happy about it. I don’t want the person to get in trouble about it.

But even though it’s small doesn’t mean it doesn’t strike to the heart.

People who don’t forgive collect 1 to 2 denarrii offenses and they hold them in their internal bank until it because much much more valuable to them.

Christians forgive minor offenses.

[Christians forgive BIG offenses]

But then there are big offenses There’s 100-200 denarii offenses

When I was an accountant, there was a woman who sabotaged me and then I had to continue working with her.

Some offenses are big

Christians forgive big offenses

[Christian’s forgive LIFE-CHANGING offenses]

Then there are major offenses. There’s things that are life changing. There are things that are so profoundly hurtful that you don’t know what do with it. These are talent level offenses. Remember a talent is 6,000 times a denarii. They are huge.

Maybe you’ve been abused. You’ve been abandoned. you’ve been betrayed. And it cuts deep.

Think about Stephen

We try to forgive in our own power - just like you would make a sandwich, get a job, whatever

it’s a process - it doesn’t happen easily

even though it is a conscious effort to forgive - the power to forgive doesn’t come from your will, inside of you, it comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.

[We forgive with the POWER of the Holy Spirit]

they offered to let the dad go if he promised it anymore, I’m going to go right back to it.

Betsie Ravensbruck

{Corrie Ten Boom}

{Corrie Ten Boom Quote:

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ​“How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. ​“To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”}

[He gives us the command and he gives us the POWER.]

Forgiveness isn’t easy, its hard. He commands it to do it but he also gives us the power. Because our father, he remembers that we are dust, that we are weak.

I want you to be praying that you will forgive, that you will be a person who forgives. That doesn’t hold onto debts. That we restore most people but we have healthy boundaries.

Every church has a culture - and some churches don’t forgive well.

we’re building something new here. We get to set the culture you get to be a part of establishing what this church will be. Let’s pray that we will be a church that forgives each other quickly, fuly, joyfully. Remembering that we’ve been forgivin 12 billion dollars so we can forgive anyone else.

As a church, we want to be a place that forgives each other. We are going to offend each other. It is going to happen. But we want to be a place that quickly forgives, not by minimizing our value but better estimating our salvation.

Lord’s Supper:

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

Benediction:

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD makes his face shine upon you and be gracious to you:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.