Forgiveness...No Buts (Part 2)

Let’s pray.

Genuine biblical forgiveness is hard for us to give. Let’s be honest with ourselves. We can often say the words, “I forgive you”, but what remains in our minds and hearts is anything but. The hurt remains and it may be years down the road, but we can often still have those hurt feelings surface at a moment’s notice. It is so very easy to bring back a person’s transgression against you and throw it in their face in the heat of the moment – proving that real forgiveness did not happen at all.

We know that the Bible calls us to forgive one another. We know that God has forgiven us of much worse. We know that forgiveness is vital for our own well-being and mental health. We know these things, but it is almost like we are consumed and possessed, as if by a demon, and simply cannot fully let things go.

Even when we want to forgive completely, something seems to hold us back. Maybe we don’t want to put ourselves back in a position to be hurt again. Maybe we determined to not allow ourselves to be in a position of vulnerability anymore. Maybe we are trying to develop a thick and calloused veneer to be prepared for the next time. Or maybe, we simply don’t think the other person deserves to be totally forgiven. We may not state it like this, but maybe we are saying within that I’ll forgive you now, but I reserve the right to pull it back in the future.

Before we get back to our study in 2nd Corinthians in a few weeks, and the account of the man who had verbally attacked the Apostle Paul and eventually had the entire church discipline this man, let’s go to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6, starting in verse 27. After you find it, I would prefer that just listen to the initial reading instead of trying to follow along in your Bible. And I want you to listen with thoughts of love, grace, and forgiveness in mind, as I read.

The words forgiveness and grace do not appear in the text of the NASB, which I’ll be reading from. Love is obviously mentioned, as you will hear, and the word pardon comes in towards the end, which is a synonym of forgiveness, but you could easily read this whole section without even considering that forgiveness and grace are the main themes, along with love. So, look up here and just listen initially; you can look at your Bible as I point out a few things along the way after this first reading.

Luke 6:27-38

There are so many principles and applications in this brief passage, that I will only be touching on a few of the principles contained here as to not further break up the flow of this topic by not even completing what I sense God wants said this morning. I am afraid that at least some of the intended meaning of this passage has been missed, and sadly, other portions have been misquoted and abused – something that I have even done in the past. The Holy Spirit opened up some things to me as late as yesterday morning, that I had missed. Maybe you understood the context of this passage more than I have and should be preaching this morning in my place, but here is the fresh insight that I was given yesterday morning.

The passage is centered on verse 31 – treat others the same way you want them to treat you. You may have heard this called the Golden Rule. But even this verse has been misquoted as treat others the same way they would treat you, instead of the same way you want them to treat you; turning it into a preemptive strike instead of a means to control how you respond to others and how you treat others in a godly fashion even before they have interacted with you at all. Others have twisted and softened this principle by quoting it as “Don’t treat others in ways you don’t want to be treated”, and thus making it all about avoidance instead of proper response.

So, everything that Jesus says prior to verse 31 needs to be read in the context of verse 31, and the section after verse 31 also needs to be read in the context of verse 31. So, let’s see if that changes or adjusts how we have viewed these verses before today.

Luke 6:27-28

If you are like me, your focus has already drifted. Love, grace, forgiveness – treat other the same way you want them to treat you. Got it? Hang onto it. There is a divine progression in these two verses on how to practically love your enemies.

To “do good to those who hate you” is to love your enemies with your actions, and your enemies can even be someone that you normally love but have said or done something that has you angry at them. Respond to their unkindness with kindness, with acts of service and acts of love. Is this hard? Yes indeed, it is very hard – you must seek for the Holy Spirit to manifest the fruit of the Spirit in your life at that very instant to respond to an enemy or to someone who has wronged you or offended you, with love, kindness, and acts of service. Hard but not impossible.

To “bless those who curse you” is to love your enemies with your speech. Someone who curses you could include someone who just takes you for granted or who is selfish when it comes to you and your feelings, it doesn’t necessarily mean someone who cusses you out or publicly disparages your character. This is not empty flattery or tactfully employing sarcasm, this is being genuine in your words of blessing upon those who have harmed you and hurt you – and this includes how you speak about this person to others as well. You cannot bless the perpetrator to their face and then destroy their character to someone else. Again, hard but not impossible.

To “pray for those who mistreat you” is to love your enemies with your heart, asking God to rescue this person from their sin and their harmful ways. Praying that God would show them mercy and change their minds and hearts. Praying that God’s love would wash over them in such a way that they can only respond to Him in praise and repentance and respond to others with His love.

Taken together, our actions, our words, and our prayers form a divinely powerful response to the hatred and mistreatment of our enemies. Instead of responding to evil with evil we are triumphing over evil with good.

So, test yourself the next time someone hurts you or offends you or treats you poorly. Ask yourself what good you have done for this person AFTER they have hurt you. Ask yourself what words of blessing you have proclaimed over them AFTER they have offended you. Ask yourself what prayers you have prayed over them AFTER they have treated you poorly. This requires the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. And if you are responding as Jesus teaches us to respond in this passage, you will discover that you cannot long continue in your hatred while you are constantly praying and blessing and serving.

Love, grace, forgiveness – treat other the same way you want them to treat you.

Luke 6:29-30

Scholars, commentators, preachers, and casual readers alike have struggled with these verses through the centuries – and I don’t know if I’ll have the solution here, but I’ll try to help us understand within the context.

First, based on the teaching of Scripture in many other passages in both the Old and New Testament, Jesus is not teaching that wrongdoing should never be punished, that you should remain in an abusive relationship, that you are to be a doormat for people to unjustly trample on, or to never defend yourself. So, what’s the context?

One aspect of the context that we did not read is from the previous verses. Jesus was preparing His disciples for persecution because of their association with Him. Being under the authority of Rome and the authority of the religious leaders of Israel, there were going to be times when they would face poor treatment and unjust persecution from such authorities that they would have no legal recourse against. That is one context.

Another context is the cultural sense of when Jesus was teaching these things. A slap in the face in Bible times was more of an insult than an act of violence. These slaps were almost always with the back of the hand and was thus done with less force that slapping forward with open hand. Obviously not always the case, but this was the cultural norm in that time. So, think more in terms of patiently enduring insults more than being a punching bag.

And the other context that we have been trying to keep in mind, is treating others with love, grace, forgiveness, and as we would want to be treated.

The primary point seems to be that we should be willing to be humiliated for the cause of Christ, to be willing to accept ridicule and persecution to maintain our testimony for Christ and our ability to influence others by responding as Christ would respond to such humiliation and persecution.

“and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).

Philip Graham Ryken writes, “Sometimes the attacks that we face come from people at work. Sometimes neighbors make snide remarks about our involvement in the church. Sometimes friends pressure us to compromise our commitment to Christ. Sometimes family members try to discourage us from walking in the path of radical obedience. But no matter what forms of opposition we face, Christ calls us to keep reaching out to our enemies—even if it means that we might get hurt again.”

I have already spoken to verse 31 somewhat, so let’s keep moving in hopes of briefly getting through the rest of this passage.

Luke 6:32-34

We have quickly looked at the concept of love, here is where grace comes in. In the NASB, the word translated as “credit” is the Greek charis. Charis is most frequently by a large margin translated into English as grace. From a biblical perspective, we know that grace is something that is 100% undeserved and unmerited. You cannot earn grace and if you extend grace to someone, for it to truly be grace is to extend it when the other person does not deserve it – if it is any way deserved or if you are expecting something in return for your act of grace, it isn’t grace at all.

In the three verses we just read then, Jesus is teaching that if we only love those who love us in return, we are not living with grace. If we only do good to those who do good to us in return, we are not living with grace. If we only lend to those of whom we expect to pay us back, we are not living with grace.

In each instance Jesus reminds us that without grace we are doing no better than sinners, or someone who has not been privileged to receive God’s infinite and abundant grace, and thus has no concept of what grace is truly all about.

Love, grace, forgiveness – treat other the same way you want them to treat you. Loving others, being gracious to others, and forgiving others based on what they deserve or don’t deserve misses the entire point of what Jesus is teaching in this passage.

Luke 6:35-36

Even before we get to the next verse where Jesus uses the word pardon, we have reached the third principle after love and grace – forgiveness. We do not have any details, but Jesus says that our reward will be great when we respond to our enemies and to those who wronged and offended us with love, grace, and forgiveness. Which on the contrary means our reward will not be great when we selfishly withhold such things.

Jesus also says that we will be sons (and daughters) of the Most High when we employ love, grace, and forgiveness, meaning that we will easily be identified as belonging to God because we are acting like God. I mentioned two weeks ago that we are never more like God than when we forgive, and that is the sense of these words here.

And that is affirmed when it also says that we are to be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:37-38

We now have a slightly different perspective on do not judge, and you will not be judged – it is tied into loving our enemies, to being gracious to our enemies, to forgiving our enemies, to treating others as you want them to treat you. But it doesn’t stop there.

Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. We often wonder why we are mistreated and spoken poorly of by others, and maybe this is not an all-inclusive principle here, but are we guilty of condemning others? Are we simply receiving what we have dished out in the past – even if only in our thoughts?

And how often do you pardon others? Jesus says to pardon, and you will be pardoned. Jesus is not placing a requirement of keeping your salvation with such talk, this about your interactions with other people, and especially with your enemies and those who have offended and hurt you; He is speaking to the principle of being such a forgiving and pardoning person that others will be compelled to forgive and pardon you.

And then Jesus says to give and will be given to you. And beloved, even though this principle is supported in other verses pertaining to your monetary gifts, the context of this verse has absolutely nothing to do with money. This verse is probably abused by preachers more than any other in Scripture by being ripped out of the context of the passage and bludgeoned over the heads of their congregations to get them to give more money to the church or to missions.

And beloved, concerning your giving of offerings to the church, the Bible is clear that God will always respond to our faith and generosity, it’s just not this verse.

What again is the context? Love, grace, forgiveness – treat other the same way you want them to treat you. As you give love, as you give grace, as you give forgiveness, all of them will be given unto you in abundance – They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

God loves us infinitely, God lavishes His grace on us infinitely, and God forgives us infinitely. God treats us the way we want to be treated. We have the principles, we have the example of these principles in Jesus, we have the power and the equipping of the Holy Spirit to live in this manner. We now know to love our enemies and those who offend and harm us by our actions, by our words, and by our prayers. We are thus left with no excuse, no rationalization, and no justification to hold a grudge and withhold love, grace, and forgiveness.

And, in a few weeks we will see how these principles apply to our passage in 2nd Corinthians. For now, you allow the Holy Spirit to apply these things to every area of your life that they need to be applied to.