Fogiving and Forgivenes: The Greatest Gift Given or Received

Matthew 6:12, 14-15 The Whyness of Forgiveness.

I haven’t been here long enough to get to know enough of the people around here really know what the greatest problems are around here. But I do know what one of the greatest problems is in many churches, and homes and extended families. And I have seen this problem take down powerful people and once strong churches. Now if this does not apply to you, that’s ok because we still need to know the importance of the subject. Are you ready for the problem? People seem to want to hold on to old hurts and old grudges and not forgive a perceived or actual wrong done to them. When we lived in Arkansas the city of Bellefonte still held a grudge against the city of Harrison for siding with the North. I will tell you flat out that will destroy a family, a friendship, a marriage or a church. To be honest forgiving others is a difficult subject to talk about because it is a two edged sword. What I mean is when we begin to talk about forgiving others we begin to think of the wrongs done to us and often we relive what we are unforgiving about, even things that we thought we were “over”. So this morning I am going to ask you to do your best not to go in your minds to those events and hurts in your life and I will promise to try not to go there myself. Instead this morning I want us to look at the whyness of forgiveness. We will be in Matthew 6:14-15 along with several other passages that I will be referring to. So let’s pray that God will bless the reading and preaching of His Word. Let’s pray.

Remember in the sermon a couple of weeks ago we looked into what is called the LORD’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10-13 and I know that you all can recite the prayer. But in verse 12 Jesus laid the ground work for the verses we are looking this morning so I will read verse 12 of Matthew 6 then verses 14 and 15.

Read Matthew 6:12, 14-15 12And forgive us our debts,As we forgive our debtors.[1]… 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.[2]

Jesus really did not beat around the bush here but there are a few things I need to tell you before we go to the whyness of forgiveness. When we began to look into the Sermon on the Mount remember I told you that the purpose of the sermon was to let Jesus’ disciples know how they were to live in this world, what His disciples would look like. Some people try to teach that the Sermon on the Mount is a framework of how to gain salvation. If you live your life by the Sermon on the Mount or at least do your best then you can gain God’s grace and have eternal life. Some other organizations that call themselves the church believe that to true. The reason I brought that up is to say that Jesus is not talking about forgiveness towards salvation. If Jesus were saying that you cannot receive forgiveness of sin and receive salvation if you do not forgive others then there would be no hope for anyone. That belief is a works based salvation and Scripture is diametrically opposed to that. Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast[3]. I wanted to make sure that it is understood that if you refuse to forgive someone you will not lose your salvation as some teach. If you refuse to forgive others who have offended you then your relationship with God does not change but your fellowship with Him does. Let’s put this in terms of a husband and wife. If I forget to wish my wife a happy birthday like I did last Thursday and hurt her feelings, I am still her husband. If I do things like that too often I may not stay that way but for the time being I am, it does not change the relationship. I’m still her husband and she is still my wonderful beautiful wife. But when I forget to wish her a happy birthday and she is rightfully upset with me it has hurt our fellowship and something has to be done to fix that. This is what Jesus is talking about here. If you refuse to forgive others then the fellowship has been injured something has to be done to fix the broken fellowship. Before we go any further I feel the need to do a little more explaining. If you life exhibits a lifestyle of un-forgiveness towards everyone then I will be very blunt and tell you that you are most likely not a disciple of Jesus Christ, there is no relationship so there is no fellowship to be broken. If you have not received forgiveness then it is almost impossible for you to give forgiveness. If that describes your life then I invite you today to come to Christ.

So I will come back to the whyness of this forgiveness in a moment but first I need us to look at the nature of the true disciples forgiveness. Colossians 2:11-14 11In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Now I could stay on this all day long it is such an exciting truth. When you received Christ and your sin nature was forgiven it was forgiven completely. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that we are a new creation. Our sin is not forgiven just until the next time we sin it is forgiven completely without reservation, gone, disappeared, unremembered, I can’t think of any more words or phrases to explain it. The psalmist said in Psalm 103:8-14 8 The Lord ismerciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His angerforever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, Sothe Lord pities those who fear Him. 14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

The forgiveness we received from God is complete, it is gone, it is nailed to the cross. Since we now know the nature of our forgiveness is complete and final let’s look at the whyness of our forgiving others.

Ephesians 4:32 32And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Colossianss 3:12-13 12Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

We saw that we are forgiven completely and we are told to forgive just as we are forgiven by God through Christ. The first whyness of forgiving is to be like Christ. Remember the sermon on the mount is to tell His disciples what they are to look like, how they are to live. And how did He forgive? Completely. Even while hanging on the cross in Luke 23:34 He cried out Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing. And I need you to see this, not one of the people who beat Him, or who cursed Him, or who nailed Him to the cross is recorded as to have asked Him for forgiveness. Jesus’ forgiveness is offered completely and without request and to be like Christ that is how our forgiveness must be offered. I wish I had a nickel for every time I have heard someone say something to the effect: “If they would just come to me and ask for forgiveness or apologize I would forgive them”. That is not what Jesus did. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Is that plain enough?

1 John 2:12 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

Your sins are not forgiven because of your goodness, they are not forgiven because you deserve it, they are not forgiven because of what you have to offer God. Believe it or not they are not even forgiven because you asked. Your sin is forgiven for His names sake. It glorifies God and Christ Jesus for your sin to be forgiven. We have all heard the song that says while He was on the cross I was on His mind. I cannot say that that is not true to some extent but Jesus did not die on the cross because of your goodness or what you might bring to the table in being His. The only thing you brought to the table was the sin that required His death to pay for. Jesus’ death on the cross brought glory to His Father and you and I received the benefit. So the second whyness of forgiving others is that it brings glory to God. When you extend unrequested, complete forgiveness to those who have offended you it brings Glory to God because it is impossible to do that without Christ in you.

The first whyness of forgiveness is to be like our Master and the second whyness of forgiveness is to being glory to our Master. Now let’s look at Luke 6:37-38 and see the third whyness of forgiveness.

Luke 6:37-38 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

I almost skipped this passage because verse 38 is one of those verses that is used by either the name it claim it (blab it and grab it) group to show that the more your give to their ministry the more God will give you back or by preachers that are encouraging you to give your tithes and offerings, usually along with the phrase; “you can’t out give God”. I agree that you cannot out give God and there are blessings for being obedient to giving your time, talents, money and goods but this is not a passage that is talking about that. This passage comes from Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is schooling His disciple on the way His disciple will treat those who mistreat them, their enemies. “Don’t judge them, don’t condemn them, forgive them”. We tend to want to separate out the “give” part from the other part. But Jesus is talking about judging, condemning and forgiving. Since this morning we are talking about he whyness of forgiving let’s just look at the forgiving part. Give forgiveness and it will be given to you, good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For the same measure you use for forgiving will be the measure used on you.” How do you want to be forgiven; by God or by men? When I am forgiven I want to be truly forgiven, completely without strings attached. No “I forgive you buts”. When I am forgiven I do not want it held over my head and brought up to me every time something comes up that brings the memory to mind. If that is what I want, if that is my measure of forgiveness then that is the measure that I must use as a disciple of Christ. So the third whyness of forgiveness is there are consequences. How we forgive others determines how we are forgiven by others. Let’s look at what Jesus says is the consequences of not forgiving. Matthew 18:21-35 21Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” I am going to stop here for just a moment. The Jewish law said an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. So the Jew took that almost as a command when in actuality it was a limit. You could not take a tooth and an eye for a tooth. So the Jewish idea was not justice but revenge, get even, or maybe even ahead. So Peter was, according to the views of the day, being very magnanimous. 22Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.28“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29So his fellow servant fell down £at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you £all.’ 30And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother £his trespasses.” The measure you use to forgive is the measure that is used on you. Notice here that the master does not kill, or throw the unforgiving servant into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. He delivered him up to the torturers until he should pay his debt, and then Jesus says; “So My heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother.” Now I will tell you that I don’t believe a torture will come to your house and take you to the rack and stretch you until you pay up. But I do believe that the Lord God will let you keep your unforgiveness and let it eat at your very fiber. If you are so set on not forgiving then God will let you keep your anger, your resentment and your separation from fellowship with Him and others. You will grow bitter, cold and resentful of anything and everything that pertains to the Goodness of God because you have refused to accept that goodness. How many of you know people who are unforgiving? Aren’t they just the happiest people in the world? They are in the hands of the torturer.

The first whyness of forgiveness is to be like our Master, the second whyness of forgiveness is to bring glory to our Master, the third whyness of forgiveness is that there are consequences positive and negative. Now, for the final whyness of forgiveness.

Mark 11:25 25“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

The Greek word translated “forgive” literally means “to put it away” or to “get rid of”. In this case the word is in the present tense, active voice and the imperative mood. Let me put that in my translation; “You put your grudge away now!” The fourth and final whyness of forgiveness is; we are commanded to forgive. Let me be as blunt as possible the Bible is the Word of God and to disbelieve or disobey one word of it is to disbelieve or disobey God Himself”. Let me make this very clear, being obedient to God’s Word is enough of a reason to seek every opportunity to forgive. We really do not need anymore “whys”, God said it and that settles it. But there should, in the life of the disciple of Jesus Christ, be a great desire to be like Him, and there should be a great desire to glorify Him, and there should be a great desire to receive the positive consequences and avoid the negative consequences because all of these mean that you have been obedient to His command to forgive. When we give forgiveness we receive forgiveness. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 6:12). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 6:14–15). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Eph 2:7–9). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.