Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
We have been studying the message of length that we have recorded in Luke’s gospel account.
We must remember in the context, Jesus has just called the twelve.
He is speaking specifically to these men who have devoted their lives to Christ.
As his disciples, they will live with Him, learn from Him, grow into His likeness.
These men are the first Christians.
We today are to do the same thing.
We live with Jesus through His word.
We learn from Jesus through His word and through other Christians.
We are growing into the likeness of Jesus.
At the beginning of this process, Jesus is laying out his manifesto for the new Kingdom which they are now a part of.
These are the policies, the goals, the intentions, the motives of God’s kingdom.
One commentator outlines this section as the obligations of those that enter the kingdom.
Obligations may be a little strong but this is one way we might view it.
Out of debt of gratitude, this is how we are called to live.
Being thankful for the salvation we have been given.
If we live by what Jesus sets forth here, we have picture of what God’s eternal kingdom will be like.
Last week we looked at the first 3 of 4 imperatives given, Judge not, condemn not, and we began to look at forgive.
This week we will continue by picking up again a little more with the command to forgive and move into verse 38.
The call to forgive.
There is a story of a man who was having some difficulty communicating with his wife, and he concluded that she was becoming hard of hearing.
So he decided to conduct a test without her knowing about it.
One evening he sat in a chair on the far side of the room.
Her back was to him and she could not see him.
Very quietly he whispered, “Can you hear me?”
There was no response.
Moving a little closer, he asked again, “Can you hear me now?”
Still no reply.
Quietly he edged closer and whispered the same words, but still no answer.
Finally he moved right behind her and said, “Can you hear me now?”
To his surprise and chagrin she responded with irritation in her voice, “For the fourth time, yes!”
Hearing was not the problem, but taking the time to communicate well and to listen to each other was.
What a warning to us about judging!
Most of us criticize others to cover up for the same faults in our own lives.
The man was equally as guilty of not listening.
We also tend to find fault with someone when in fact we are the ones in the wrong, not the other person.
Jesus knew human nature well.
That’s why He said, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Judge not, and you shall not be judged” (Luke 6:36-37).
Don't be too hard on the person who sins,
For the yardstick you lay on another
May someday be used as a measure for you;
Oh, be gracious and judge not, my brother!
—Bosch
If we are looking for faults to correct, we really need to look not further than our own mirror.
Which is why the command to forgive that followed is so significant.
To be forgiving is to be Christlike.
As legal term, to grant acquittal, set free, release, pardon
to release from a painful condition, free
The word was used in secular Greco-Roman writings of discharge from the military, of release from jail or of setting a debtor free.
The NASB frequently translates the word release.
so the picture is that believers are commanded to "release" the one who sins against them.
The offender's sin is pictured as a "debt" that they owe us.
As Christ followers we are called (commanded and enabled by the Spirit) to release them from or to "send away" the "sin debt" they "owe" us.
When Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray he says “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors,”
In doing this we are asking God to forgive our sins according to the same standard we have used in forgiving the sins of others.
In that prayer, the most significant word in that section is the as.
Forgive us as we have forgiven.
When Jesus says “as,” he is setting up a comparison between the way we forgive and the way God forgives us.
This text says that we set the standard and then God follows the standard.
We establish the pattern and then God follows that pattern in the way he deals with us.
When you pray this prayer you are really saying, “O God, deal with me as I deal with other people.
Deal with me as I have dealt with others.”
We are virtually saying,
“O God, I’ve got a neighbor and I did some favors for my neighbor and my neighbor is ungrateful to me for all I have done.
I am angry at my neighbor and I will not forgive him for his ingratitude.
Now deal with me as I have dealt with my neighbor.”
It’s as if we’re praying,
“O God, that man/woman hurt me.
I am so angry I can’t wait to get even.
Deal with me as I have dealt with him.”
We set the standard and God follows our lead.
That is what we see expanded on in the second half of verse 38 which we will get to.
There really appear to be no exceptions.
Unless we forgive we will not be forgiven.
C.S. Lewis wrote
No part of his teaching is clearer: And there are no exceptions to it.
He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins providing they are not too frightful, or providing there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort.
We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated.
If we don’t, we shall be forgiven none of our own (Fern-Seeds and Elephants, pp.
39-49).
To refuse to forgive someone else and then to ask God for forgiveness is a kind of spiritual schizophrenia.
You are asking God to give you what you are unwilling to give to someone else.
The fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer tells us you cannot have it both ways.
Do you want to be forgiven?
You must forgive others.
Unless you forgive you will not be forgiven.
This is a radical mark of what it means to be a Christian.
This is why we are to be so different from the world around us.
Because the world holds grudges.
Keeps score.
Fails to forgive.
But in Jesus kingdom, it is different.
Forgiveness is commanded and expected.
Radical generosity.
A second radical mark of the kingdom is generosity.
Give, and it will be given to you.
This ties in directly with forgiveness because to forgive is to be generous with another person.
Jesus had just discussed giving in relation to possessions in Lk 6:30.
This is a command with a promised blessing.
Just as with forgiveness, it has an already and not yet aspect.
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