Forgive

This week marks the beginning of a new sermon series that will be for the next 4 weeks here at Legacy Bible Church and that series is called, “Things Jesus Never Said”.

Things Jesus never said. As we go through this series we will be paying attention to the words in red. You know what I mean when I say that? Some of your bibles have the words of Jesus written in Red to separate it from some of the others.

This actually was an idea of a Lous Klopsch in 1899 who was a Christian editor who thought it would be a good idea to point us to the actual words of Jesus here on earth.

And it is good to know the words Jesus spoke on earth. But we want to stop short of saying that the words in red are more important than the other words. We must remember that the Bible is God’s Word and as

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

So we know that

The words of Jesus are really other wordly.

Sometimes it helps us to look at the words of Jesus but I think that there are also times when it might be advantageous for us to look at some of the things Jesus (pause) didn’t say, What he COULD have said, What I might have said.

Sometimes understanding what Jesus didn’t say helps us to understand the power of what he DID say.

So why don’t we get into this. and see what Jesus didn’t say about the area of forgiveness. Forgiveness.

How many people know someone really annoying on Facebook? Keep your hands up. If you don’t have a hand up… maybe it is you?

Jesus didn’t say Father forgive them, for they do not know what they post

He didn’t say fool me once and I will forgive you. Fool me twice and I will give you lice..

Jesus never said, “sorry, you’ve sinned too much for me to forgive you… I can forgive everyone else but you, you really get on my nerves?

These are definitely things Jesus didn’t say and this sermon series will help us because even though we know Jesus didn’t say certain things, our actions may be communicating something else.

We know Jesus didn’t say that he

How many people are happy this morning that Jesus has the grace and the mercy that He does to forgive you and me?

We will talk about something Jesus did say and we will look at while Jesus was giving the sermon on the mount, he was teaching the people and there comes a point when He talks about prayer and how to pray. He says in Matthew 6:9-11

If you need to know how to pray, listen to this.

Matthew 6:9–11 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread,

Jesus did not say. Did not say… Forgive our debts even though we still hold grudges. Jesus doesn’t say I will forgive you but you don’t have to forgive what someone else did. No, read what He says.

Matthew 6:12 ESV

12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

In in verse 14 He gives some Additional thoughts on forgiveness.

Matthew 6:14 ESV

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

Matthew 6:15 ESV

15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Did you just see that? Here is essentially what Jesus is saying here.

If you forgive you will be forgiven, if you don’t forgive then you won’t be forgiven.

This is crazy. This is hard. Trying to keep it real, though.

So this begs the question...

Anyone Holding a grudge this morning? Are you having a moment right now where God is speaking to you about a grudge you are holding over someone else? They hurt you, they betrayed you? And look, I understand that

And the emotion of what you are dealing with might be causing you to feel this way. You have been let down, you have been devastated, maybe someone took advantage of you.

And the emotion of what you are dealing with might be causing you to feel this way. You have been let down, you have been devastated, maybe someone took advantage of you.

Maybe there was someone who should have loved you and should have protected you but they didn’t. And here you are today still feeling the pain and the scars.

Listen, maybe there are so many things that have been wrong done to you, and That is painful, and it is difficult.

So this begs the question, usually this comes at the end but we need to get this out in the front of our minds right now. Is there someone you hold a grudge against? Is there someone in your life that when you think of them your stomach churns?

If you happen to drive by their house or their workplace, or a place where something happened between you and them and that feeling in the pit of your stomach kind of shows up?

Are you dealing with unforgiveness?

There is a lot of emotion attached to this subject. Right now someone, or I bet multiple people might be screaming in their minds, “but you don’t know what they did to me”. You don’t know what I have gone through, you don’t know how I have been wronged.” You don’t know how I have been misrepresented, you don’t know how disappointed I am.

And we have to acknowledge that pain. It is real, it can’t be minimized, it is very real and it is deep. We have to acknowledge that.

How do you forgive something that seems unforgivable? How do we live out what Jesus told us to do.

What about when something is not done just to you but to someone you love?

This takes us into a different realm of justification when it comes to holding a grudge. Maybe someone has hurt someone you love, or someone you are trying to protect. A child or a spouse, or a friend. That is even a different level of pain.

How do you forgive the unforgivable? How do you forgive someone who has wronged you or a loved one so brutally?

For the Christian, at this point this is when you have to ask the question, “what does Jesus say about this?” What does Jesus say about forgiveness?

What does Jesus say?

There is a clue as where to start in verse 9

Matthew 6:9 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Jesus is teaching on how to pray and notice what Jesus doesn’t say, Jesus doesn’t say “my father, which we might expect, no What does that verse say? He says “our father” He uses the word “our”.

Jesus does something incredible here. Those of you who have grown up in Christian homes might have a hard time getting this.

People didn’t look at God as a Father figure. They looked at Abraham, they looked at Moses to be a “father figure”.

We share in this heavenly relationship with Jesus when we look to God as “our Father”.

He is our father, we are his children, and our relationship with our siblings matters. And this matters to God. It matters to God how his children get along with one another. It really does matter how we get along with one another. Just like how it matters in our natural families.

I had two sisters, one older and one younger. I was the middle child, the only boy and there were moments when my sisters and I would not get along. Shocker right? Especially when it came to car rides.

I have a picture of the type of car we had growing up. This is the Volkswagen dasher. It was this color and the thing that I want to stress is that my family growing up, all 5 of us would pack our stuff for the week in the back and the three kids would sit together in that back seat. Wow.

We didn’t have a suburban, or a minivan, or anything like that. We had this little car and you had to get used to the leg being on the person next to you, if you were in the middle it would be on each side of you.

You know that sweaty leg thing? It’s sweating from the vinyl seats and its sweating from the persons leg leaning on you. I don’t think there was air. But try to drive to Ocean City, Md, which was at least 2 1/2 hours away. You can see where this is going. Three kids in the back.

My mom used to do this thing where she wanted us to sing so we would sing and then we would get tired of singing and then we would start to get on each others nerves. Been there?

We really did that thing when you rode in the car and created an invisible line not to cross. And of course you want to bend that rule as far as you can. Put your finger as close to them as you can without touching them. Dad, he touched me, No I didn’t, yes you did.

And it begins.

They touched me, they made a face at me, they are looking at me… And of course my dad jumps in with… “I will pull this miniature station wagon over right now” And there were times when he did.

If you happen to drive by their house or their workplace, or a place where something happened between you and them and that feeling in the pit of your stomach kind of shows up?

It’s funny, now I get to experience some of that. But listen, nothing is worse for Rachel and I then our kids fighting and not getting along. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it stinks.

Are you dealing with unforgiveness?

Now there is flip side to this. Just like we don’t like it when our kids don’t get along, Nothing brings us more joy than when our kids love and honor one another, when they genuinely enjoy one another. I will hear them sometimes when everybody is getting ready for bed and Rachel and I will hear the kids in one of the bedrooms just laughing and giggling and it is so awesome to hear that. It brings us tremendous joy.

There is a lot of emotion attached to this subject. Right now someone, or I bet multiple people might be screaming in their minds, “but you don’t know what they did to me”. You don’t know what I have gone through, you don’t know how I have been wronged.” You don’t know how I have been misrepresented, you don’t know how disappointed I am.

And we have to acknowledge that pain. It is real, it can’t be minimized, it is very real and it is deep. We have to acknowledge that.

When we pray Jesus says, Our Father. That means that those in the body of Christ are siblings and God is our father. We are in this together, and God’s children really matter to Him. It hurts God when His children, hold bitterness and unforgiveness towards one another. Maybe that is why Jesus said in

How do you forgive something that seems unforgivable? How do we live out what Jesus told us to do.

Jesus said this in

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Jesus is saying, “if you want to worship me and something is going on with one of your siblings. Don’t bother. Put that on pause and go and fix what is wrong relationally with your brother or sister in Christ first, then you can come back and you will be qualified to worship. That is how much it matters. We aren’t even qualified to worship if we have unforgiveness in our lives.

That is one of the reasons why sometimes I will say during communion, “if you have unforgiveness against someone, make that right before you take communion. Make it right before you try to worship God because God wants us to forgive one another.

So

Think about it this way. Ask this question: Who does unforgiveness hurt? Unforgiveness hurts God. It actually hurts God because we are his children, we were designed to live in unity with one another, we are made to get along. Unforgiveness hurts God.

Who else does unforgivness hurt? It the person who is unforgiving! Nothing at all. I cant believe they did that to me. I cant stand them. Oh they make me so mad! So mad I could just spit! Ah!

It the person who is unforgiving. Nothing at all.

Ever been there? Ever drive your car and think about that person that wronged you and you are just mad? Your heart starts pounding? You get miserable? Your soul is poisoned.

The one who offended you don’t even know what is going on.

You may be living in a prison of offense. Someone could have hurt you years ago and you are in a prison of offense. Forgiveness is the key that sets you free from the prison of offense.

I just heard a story about a pastor who had blessed someone by selling them a car that they were getting rid of. They needed money and there was a man that they knew who had a need for a car, they worked out a deal. The pastor and his wife even said that they would carry the note, the man didn’t have to pay any interest and would pay the car off in 3 years.

The guy made one payment and took off. Left the area, didn’t tell anyone where he was going. Took the car. Never made a payment again. The pastor was very angry as you can imagine but his wife said something to him that was just incredible. She said, let’s not let him steal it, lets give him the car. Let’s just give it to him.

They took a situation that was out of their control and in their minds they could have seethed, they could have worked night and day trying to find this guy. But they just forgive him, they let it go.

One of the definitions for the Greek that we see here in the sermon on the mount is the word Aphimi, which means to release.. a release from obligation.

Matthew 5:23–34 ESV

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

That is what Jesus is saying when he says to forgive.

And you may say yeah, get it. I am supposed to forgive my brother in christ my sister in christ. I sure am glad you didn’t say, non-Christian offfenders. I sure am glad you didn’t say those who aren’t in Christ.

Let’s look back a little bit. Same sermon from Jesus but just a little bit earlier.

Matthew 5:43–44 ESV

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Aphimi means to release.. a release from obligation.

Remember that the culture Jesus was preaching to were eye for eye people.

Look what Jesus says here. He is saying pray for those who persecute you, pray for your enemy.

If you wait to pray for your enemy til you feel like it, you will never begin. Pray now for your enemy. Regardless of how you feel. Regardless of your hard heart. Pray for your enemies that God would come into their lives and do something dramatic.

Over time, your heart will begin to get soft where your heart will change. Youyr prayer for those who hurt you may or may not change a person but it will always, always always change you.

It starts with prayer. At some point, you realize that “I have been forgiven, I should also forgive”. How do we do this? I am not saying it is easy, but we still do it.

Colossians 3:13 ESV

13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

How do we do this when things have been so bad? You forgive as the Lord forgave you! In the same way God gives us what we don’t deserve, we forgive the same way those who hurt us we forgive.

Listen to this quote by Andy Stanley… “In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness seems like a reward to my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another”

We don’t earn forgiveness, that is God’s gift to us that he wants us to give to others.

What would it look like if we forgave those who have offended us? How many of us could be free from that prison of un forgiveness?

David Willis said this, Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong it makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak, It sets you free.

Jesus did not say ‘I will forgive you but you don’t have to forgive others.’

You can treat people how ever you want and we are okay.

He says

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Forgiveness empowers you to set the prisoner free and that prisoner is you.

15

Lord there are folks here to have been abused horribly. There are injustices that have been experienced here by these people sitting in these seats.

if you forigve

God you can do amazing things, you can make miracles happened.

Some of us have realized this morning that they are holding a grudge. Doesn’t make us bad people but we are broken people.

Lord, do a miracle in us. Help us to understand your desire for us to forgive.