Forgive Liberally

FORGIVE LIBERALLY Luke 6:37-42 March 21, 2021 The Stanford prison experiment is world famous. The original participants in the experiment were separated into either guard or prisoner by a coin flip. The guard selectees didn't have any unusual or identifying qualities. It was just - heads you're a guard, tails you're a prisoner. And yet, within 36 hours the experiment was completely out of control. Unlimited authority went to their heads, and they became cruel. Somehow, within a very short time, they came to believe they were ethically and morally superior to the prisoners. And, they believed that entitled them to be cruel. In a nutshell, that is Jesus' fear for his brand-new Apostles. Remember, this is the Sermon on the Plain. It is directly to the 12 men who have just been moved out of the Disciple group, and into the Apostle group. Two weeks ago Jesus told them it was a blessing to be selected by God to be an Apostle. But, it's a blessing that comes with poverty, hunger, tears, and suffering. Last week Jesus continued by telling the Apostles they must not retaliate against those who will persecute them. They must learn to love those who hate Christians. This week, Jesus is concerned that after he leaves, when the Church is completely in the hands of the Apostles, they may become cruel to Christians who haven't gone through what they're about to go through. You haven't suffered like me, so I can bully you. Jesus fears the tyranny of unlimited authority. Jesus tells the Apostles - do not judge, do not condemn, but do forgive. Which seems a little hypocritical, because in other places Jesus tells the Apostles you will be charged with the responsibility of judging and condemning.1 In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus tells the 12, look some people are going to cause trouble in the church. If someone creates conflict, go to them privately and confront them with their sin. If that doesn't work, take two others from the church and confront them. If that doesn't work, stand them up in front of the entire church and banish them until they repent. Clearly, Jesus is telling the Apostles they will have to both judge and condemn. In Matthew, chapter 7, Jesus tells the Apostles to look out for false prophets. Their actions betray bad character. Unlike you, they are immoral and unethical. And, they must be rooted out. Obviously, Jesus plans for the Apostles to judge and condemn. So, how can Jesus be a hypocrite here and say, don't judge, don't condemn, just forgive? In Matthew Jesus is giving directions for dealing with people that openly attack the church. In Luke, Jesus is talking about the permanent condition of the Apostles' hearts. The first deals with the character of the offender. The second deals with the character of the offended. Can you imagine what it's like to tell your faith story to an Apostle? I grew up in a wealthy family, I've been a Christian since I was born, my parents are loving and respectful and supportive. But, I wasn't voted homecoming royalty - just because I'm a Christian. And, Peter looks down at you and says - you call that suffering?!? You big crybaby, let me tell you about suffering. Let me tell you about being in jail. Let me tell you about being hated by both Romans and Jews. Let me tell you about being crucified upside down. You Christian wannabe. Jesus wants everyone to be saved. He wants everyone to be embraced, and educated, by the church. But, that will never happen if you feel continually judged, and found wanting. Have you ever been in a situation where your every move is criticized by a perfectionist? Where nothing you do is good enough? We learn very quickly, if everything I do is wrong, then why do anything? Doing nothing is a lot easier, and the consequences are the same. The most powerful evangelism tool in all history is to tell others, this is what Jesus did for me. Here is my story. But, if you are going to be judged and condemned when you tell your story, why tell it? Let someone else recruit new Christians. Jesus knows the church will never survive, if the Apostles embrace the Stanford experiment. In Christianity we talk all the time about mercy and grace. I'm not sure most of us really understand what those words mean with respect to faith and salvation. We are all sinners, and we all deserve eternal punishment. None of us has earned, or deserves, Heaven. Mercy is when we are not punished for the sins we have committed. Grace is when we are given the reward we have not earned. To quote the Newsboys - mercy is when we don't get what we deserve. Grace is when we get what we don't deserve. Darrell Bock is a New Testament teacher at Dallas Theological Seminary. He's written several books and commentaries on Luke. And, he expands on the definition of mercy.2 He says mercy is when you don't hold someone down, with your condemnation. You can correct someone, without destroying their self-worth and dignity. We can educate our church, without condemning our people. If people are trying to do the right thing, we must give them a little latitude if they get it wrong. Jesus reminds the Apostles - when you come up for judgement, you will want me to give you a little latitude if you get it wrong. You will want mercy yourselves. You are trying to do the right thing. Jesus tells the Apostles, instead of judging and condemning, I need you to forgive. Unfortunately, most of us are unwilling to forgive what we don't understand.3 Two children at school, child A and child B. They're standing in the lunch line. As they get close to the food, child A realizes they forgot to get lunch money that morning. So they ask child B to loan them money, and I'll repay you tomorrow. Child B says no. But, I thought we were friends. We are friends. Loan me money or I won't get lunch. No, I will not. Fine, we are no longer friends. What child A doesn't know, is child B lost his lunch money at the beginning of the year. And, his father wants to teach him responsibility. So, every day after school, he must empty his pockets and prove he hasn't lost his money. Otherwise the punishment will be severe. We have a hard time forgiving what we don't understand. So, Jesus issues the Apostles a straight-forward command. Just forgive. You don't need to know and approve every detail of someone's life. Just forgive. Do it. And, Jesus says, if you want to know what's in it for you, listen to this. If you give forgiveness, you will get back more forgiveness than you can handle. He uses an example from the marketplace.4 In Jesus' day you went to the marketplace to buy everything. If you wanted grain you went to the grain dealer. You asked for one pound of grain. He would show you his one-pound weight. You could pick it up and get a feel for it. You decided if the dealer was honest, and this was actually one pound. If you agreed, he put the weight on one side of the scale. Then, he poured grain on the other side until the scale was balanced. You got exactly what you deserved. You got what you paid for. Jesus says, here's what happens when you show forgiveness. You tell the grain dealer you want one pound of grain. You agree on the one-pound weight. The dealer put the weight on the scale. Then, he adds another 5-pound weight to the scale. He pours grain until the scale is balanced. Then, he winks at you, puts his hand on the scale and pushes the weights to the table, and doubles the amount of grain. He gives you so much grain, you lift up the hem of your robe to make a pocket, but you can't carry all of the grain.5 You have a superabundance of grain. But, you only pay for one pound. Jesus tells the Apostles, you have huge responsibility to build my church. You are going to make some huge mistakes. If you forgive those who come to you, I will give you a superabundance of forgiveness. We all find it easy to justify our mistakes and failures. We are much harder on others. To some degree we are all hypocrites. When I make a mistake I need understanding and forgiveness. When you make a mistake you need to suffer the consequences and learn a life lesson. The Stanford guards had no problem forgiving themselves for their behavior. And, they had no problem dealing out life lessons to the prisoners. Jesus wants the Apostles to be wary of the tendency to hypocrisy. He says to them, don't focus on the splinter in your neighbor's eye, when you have a log stuck in your own. If life lessons really need to be delivered, what do you deserve? Maybe forgive instead. And, Jesus is adamant, in this case you will be judged by your behavior.6 Give forgiveness, and I will pour out more forgiveness on you than you can carry. Withhold forgiveness, and it will not go well for you. I don't want lip service. I want you to actually forgive. None of us is perfect. None of us deserves Heaven. We don't deserve mercy or grace. We all need forgiveness. Jesus finishes the sermon on the plain by telling the 12, that includes you. Yes, you are Apostles, but get over yourselves. You have a lot of very, very hard work ahead of you. That does not give you the right to look down on anyone else. Do not judge. Do not condemn. Please forgive. Forgive liberally. One day, you're gonna be really glad you did. And, that's my advice to each of us in this room today. Forgive liberally. One day we're going to be really glad we did. 1 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1615. 2 Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 605. 3 Glenn Pettigrove, "Forgiveness and Interpretation," Journal of Religious Ethics, 35 no. 3 (September 2007), 429-452. 4 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 1758. 5 Bock, 608. 6 Joel B. Green, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 1865. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2