Forgivness brings freedom
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning rivertree. It is such a joy to be with you this morning. If you are at cove or here downtwon we are thrilled you are here
If you have your Bibles go ahead and open up to Matthew chapter 6 as we continue our study of the Lords prayer together.
This morning I want to spend a few moments as week look at the Bible together to learn the beatiful truth : Forgivness brings freedom
As we get to this part of the Lords prayer I will acknowledge forgivenss is a wieghty subject. Whether you have had diffuculty forgiven someone who has wronged you or are still longing for forgivness for a wrong you commmitted contempletying and consdierng what the Bible says about forgivness is no small task.
and it’s not just weighty and difficult for us in this room or watching at cove today.
It’s been difficult for a long time.
St Francis of Assisi understands the weight of forgivness when he prayers
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
I think Lin manual Mirindia camptures the power and the struggle with forgivness in his brodway musical Hamilton
in a part of the musical where we are told the Hamiltons have expierenced marriage pain, the loss of a child and so much more hardship they move up town
In the song it’s quiet uptown Mirinidia caputres the beauty of forgivness through this line
There are moments that the words don't reach
There is suffering too terrible to name
You hold your child as tight as you can
And push away the unimaginable
The moments when you're in so deep
It feels easier to just swim down
The Hamiltons move uptown
And learn to live with the unimaginable
Later in the song he pens these words
There are moments that the words don't reach
There's a grace too powerful to name
We push away what we can never understand
We push away the unimaginable
They are standing in the garden
Alexander by Eliza's side
She takes his hand
It's quiet uptown
Forgiveness, can you imagine?
Forgiveness, can you imagine?
Mirinidia is quite remarkable capture the idea that there is freedom in forgivness and the longing of the Human heart to be forgiven.
This past week I saw one of our Elementary school kids and I was thinking about the idea of forgivness
so I Told her I was preaching on forgivness and asked her if she had even forgiving anyone? This 5 year old little girl looked back at me and said I forgive people all the time: Stop asking silly questions.
and I love for a child the idea that one wouldn’t forgive is forgieng but I know for many of this room there have been moments where we have withheld forgviness or it’s been withheld from us.
Thos are moments we push away. Those are moments that words don’t reach.
I am grateful when teaching people to pray Jesus teaches praying for forgivness is essetial to our prayer life
and it’s in the answering of this prayer we find real freedom
Let’s read
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This morning we are going to examine verse 12 and the application Jesus offers out in verse 14-15.
Last week we looked at verse 11 and saw how we are suppose to pray give us this day our daily bread
we learned bread was essitial for life
and by connected verse 11 and 12 we see not only is bread essital for life forgivness is just as essitial if we are really going to live.
In this model of prayer there are two areas of forgivness Jesus holds out for his disicples and encourages them to seek
the first is with God
and the second is with man
Jesus is teaching us forgivness which orginates from the God who is in heaven and comes to us on earth must go out from us to others on earth. This is not natural this is supernatural
forgivness is not just a psycolgical term to help us feel better within oursleves. Forgivness is a divnine Gift given by the giver of all good gifts
The same God who feeds us with daily bread offers us through the work of His son Jesus on the cross forgivness.
This my friends is a miricale in itself.
if bread is the physical reminder how needy we are
forgivness is the spirtual remoinder of how much we truly need grace and mercy from God
When we pray forgive us our debts
we are saying God we are daily debtors to mercy
we are daily debtors to grace
but a fare question to ask is why would Jesus tell people to ask for forgivness each day?
If we are truly saved by grace through faith so no one can boast as epeshains 2 says and if we have been justifed, reedmebed, robed in his reightousness, cleansed from all sin why would Jesus encourage us to ask for forgivness daily?
How do we reconcile what we see in
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
and
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
We want to live in the space between no condemantion and no seperation.
However, we still sin.
When Jesus teaches us to pray forgive us our debts
He is highlighting each day we need Gods mercy and grace. This whole prayer is framed within the context of a relationship with God the father.
WE have access to him becasue of Jesus work on the cross
This father who is in haeaven
This father whose name is to be hallowed
This father who is brining his kingdom to earth
this father who offers daily bread
is the one who brings us forgviness
when we sin we feel the fracture in our relatinoship with God our father. and like a good father he is wiating for us to come home.
forgivness is this leaving of home. This turning form the father and thinking our way is better. and yet it’s often when we feel the devestation and consweaqeunces of our own sin that thorugh Gods grace and mercy we realize we need Him
and it’s in our repntence and returning to God. Our asking for forgivness we find ourselves home again.
It’s what Luke teaches us in the stroy of the prodgial son. Something I know is true about God is he has never turned away someone who asked him to forgive them of their sin. That’s not in his nature. He is a God who as the Psamilst reminds us of in
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
He alone offers this kind of forgivness and it’s all because of What Jesus has done.
In coming home. In coming to him and asking him to forgive us of our debt daily we aren’t asking to be saved each day. We aren’t doubting the finished work of Christ on the cross on our behalf.
What Jesus is teaching us is when we say to God forgive us our debts
we our reminded of the beauty of the forgivness God offers us.
When we sin God doesn’t want us to be consumed by our failure and live in shame. He wants us to come to him pray foorgive us our debts. Reminding our selves even in this prayer of Gods goodness, mercy and grace in our life.
Because when we pray forgive us our debts we really confessing God you are the one alone who can forgive sins. And forgivness is what we need the most.
I’m learning I need forginvness as much or even more then the air I breath, the water I drink, the bread I eat
becuase it’s in forgivness that my soul is restored and my vertical relatinoship with God is made whole.
In Mark 2 we see a man who has been paraylazed since birth being brought to Jesus by 4 friends.
In his physically paraylzed state the friends bring him right in front of Jesus and everyone is waiting for another miricale. They want to see Jesus heal this guys condition .
but Jesus knows brining this man into a place our physical healing without healing his soul/without forgiving him would actaully fix nothing.
Look at what Jesus does
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Jesus did a bigger miricale then anyone expected that day. He forgave this mans Sin.
The miricale of forginvess is what we really need the most. I’m tempted at times to belvie if certain things in my life would change my I’d be ok.
but what the Bible teaches us is our greatest need is to be forgven by God for our sin. This is a miricale and only the finished work of Jesus on the cross can provide this.
and praise God when Jesus said it is finished, it was finished. Once and for all our debt was paid by Jesus.
So when we pray forgive us our debts we are reminded of this reality that is ours in Christ.
and this right relatinship with our father brings us freedom found in forgivness.
and if you truly have been forgiven the next part of this pray is not suprising.
As we forgive our debtors.
teacihng us forgiven people forgive. and at times this fells hard. As much as I want to belive my question about forgivness to the 5 year old at church this week was silly, in my own life forgivness can feel anything but silly.
At times even for me forgiven someone can be hard, difficulty, nouchend and even painful.
At times I have found myself in a postion where I really don’t want to forgive someone.
and what I’m realizing is when there is a lack of willingness to forgive people in my life it’s for a few reaons
first I forget just how much I have been forgiven. I forget how far the east really is from the west. IN some ways I think I wasn’t really that bad. I hadn’t done as much as some of the really “bad” people through history.
but James helps me understand my own sinfulness before I was saved in
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
and if I truly believe Gods word it starts to help shape just how amazing Gods grace, mercy and forgivness are in my life.
if that’s not enough Paul highlights in ephseisans 2 just how far gone we are before salvaiton
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Our sitituion with sin is diery but our saviour is greater then our sin
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and when I remember jsut how much I have been forgiven I can be like the women in luke 7
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
Her love for God and others was big becasue she came to understand the beatuy; of the forgivness she had recieved.
Through the forgivness she recived she was free to love and forgive others.
and When I have the right perspective on my own sinfulness(which forgive us this day our debts) helps with I am free to love others
and ultimently I realize I am free to forgive. So the next question is why can this be so difficult at times.
maybe it’s something we have in common this morning. Maybe there has been a time or you are currently in a time when you are having a tough time forgiven someone. and you find yourself in bondage.
I think a reason for this is a misunderstadning of what forgivness others really means.
It’s not just a feeling, it’s not always forgetting, it’s not a lack of consequences.
when we limit forgivness to those things we miss the realy beauty and freedom forgivness brings
because at it’s core real forgivness is divine. Real forgivness proclaims the gospel and real forgivness changes lives. When we forgive others debts as our debts have been forgivieng we are point others to gospel
We are telling the world we were so far gone, so lost, so hopeless but Jesus came. He died on the death on our behalf. He shed his blood so we could be forgiven. We show the world the cost of forgivness. The rpice that was paid. The love that is shown and the good news that’s procliamed
When we don’t forgive as Jesus highlights in verse 14-15 we are not acting like christians. and the reason he even states if you don’t forgive your father in heaven won’t forgive you is becasue he is highlighting just how connected being forgiving and forgiven others is.
It’s like breathing. you can inahle all you want but if you don’t exhale you aren’t really breathing. And when it comes to forggivness You can claim to have recived it from God but if you don’t forgive others you have to question are you really a christain?
and I know as you consider these words it would be far to raise some concerns. You may say Steven you don’t know what’s been done to me, you don’t know how painful it is. You don’t know what it would actaully cost me to forgive that person.
and you are right, I don’t know but God does and he cares greatly about those things and situations.
and he sees your pain, he sees your struggle and he sees the debt owed to you and he cares about those things. They matter to him. but he also knows something else. If you are unwilling to forgive there is damage and danger to your soul. He wants you to be free from this. It’s why he came. It’s why he took on flesh. It’s why he died in our place. and it’s why he forgives us.
So that we can forgive our debtors. ANd when the world ask why, and the world ask how? We get to tell them about a God who has forgiven us greatly.
Our focus shouldn’t be on the debt owed to us but the cebt that’s been paid for us by Jesus. Our focus shouldn’t be on the sin committed agaisnt us. Our focus should be on our Father who is bigger and greater then all sin
and when I do this i am learing forgivness is only possible thorugh God. When I try to do it on my own, When I try to do it to just move on I fail. But when I entrust myself to a god who has forgivne me. A Gods forgivness which is so much grader then my own things begin to change in my life and in my heart.
It’s intersting becasue people have struggled with forgivness for a long time. Even Jesus’ own disciples struggled with it.
Look at the question Peter ask Jesus in matthew 18
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
In other words Peter is saying surley there is some point I don’t have to forgive. Surley there is a limit to forgivness. Surley there is an out.
Maybe it’s something we have in common with peter in this moment
and Jesus as he so often graciful does answers peter with a story
Read Matthew 18:22-35
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
We see someone who was forgiven greatly fail to forgive. Jesus tells this story because it illustrates what often happens in a christians heart.
They have been forgiving of far more then they realize but then they fail to forgive.
Jesus says it shouldn’t be this way
In fact he says forgivnes must be from your heart.
A few years ago the Lord really began to work on my own heart when it came to forgivness. I started to learn and probably still am what true forgivness, biblical forgivness looks like
Looking at scritpure and with the help of a friend I realized I was holding onto some things and with holding forgivness from people.
Really I found myself bearing the conseuquences of their sin rahter then letting Jesus deal with it.
I am so thankful I had a faithful friend show me in scripture hwo to forgive from the heart.
It changed so much for me. Before I really considered what the Bible said about forgiviness there were certain people and certain offenses that I did not want to fogive
I can remember a friend once who had really hurt me. So everyday I would go to a track. Listen to the Rocky babloa soundtrack and when eye of the tiger started playing I thought to myself I will show him
I can remember someone who made me feel so stupid and ineedtiqute early on in ministry that I became bitter and avoid them completly. Instead of forgving them I wrote them of and did more damage to my heart and soul
I can remember someone question my motives in ministry about 15 years ago. Chewing me out and making me feel horrible. I just said they are a difficult person and they need help.
I needed help from God to forgive them
and perhaps one of the most challenging relationships in my life was with my own dad. For those of you not familiar with my story we dind’t have the best relationship there was reltation sin committed on both sides of our relationship. I caused much pain and sadness in my life for so long
There was a point in my early thirties I just thought I am better off without really dealing with him.
but becasue of my friend pointing me to Jesus and his wrods about forgiven from the heart I was able to forgive each and ever one of these people.
and I am so thankful
No longer did I expierence the ieght and the bondage of unforgivness. I found true freedom in forgive. Sure it was hard and difficult but God gave me the grace and mercy to forgive.
I was able to let go of the past and hold fast to God. And even at times when my grip was slipping I realized I had a God who would not let go of me
I as I prayed Lord I forgive this person for this offense a remarkable thing happened.
I expierenced intamcy with GOd in a new and fresh way. it’s why Jesus teaches us to pray this way. TO remind ourselves how much with have been forgivien and to remind us how much freedom we will find in forgiving others.
You know I came to realize my dad really did do the best he could with the tools he had. He wasn’t a perfect father(he wasn’t God)
There was a lot of pain in our relationship but once I chose to forgive and grab hold of God our relationship started to get better.
that was in 2019. I planned on going to see him in 2020 for the first time in 5 years but didn’t get to make the trip because the pandemic broke out. So I couldn’t make the trip to see him in Nebreska
then life got busy and it became difficult to travel. In Feb of this last year I got word he was in the hospital and wasn’t doing good.
on Valentines day I flew up and for the first time in 6 years I saw my dad. It was surreal in so many ways and I had so many emoitons. But the visit was good. And it was possible becasue fo the way God offers forgivness. There was a freedom to be with him. To pray with him. To read scripture with him
I wish I could say it was a perfect trip but it wasn’t. There well still some tough conversations. But GOd was still holding onto me.
I flew home and the next week I had eye sugery. Fast forward to may 14th Elizabeth and I were driving to chatanogga to clebrate our 18th year of marriage. and as we were passing the town of stevenson I got a phone call from my step mom that my dad had died suddenly
I could have never predicted that. I could have never imagined there would be no waring there would be no time to say goodbye. Of course there is still so much for me to process in his death but I am grateful for a God who saved me, showed me mercy and forgave me adn then through his grace and thorugh his word showed me how important forgiven others was. I wish I could have had more time to ocuntine to improve my relationship with my dad. But I am thankful during these last 2 years of his life I found the freedom only forgivness can offer.
Lin manuel mirindia was probably right when he penned the words
“Forgivness, can you imagine?”
and without the work and love of Jesus in our lives it’s hard to.
but becasue of what Jesus has done on our behalf. Because he went to the cross. Becasue he secured our salvtion, becasue we can have forgivness through his blood and becasue he is alive today we can imagine forgviness.
and maybe one day we will find such freedom in forgivness we could answer like my 5 year old friend answred me when asked abou tforgiven others.
We could say stop asking silly questions
or in other words the one who has been forgiven much loves much
let’s pray
If you have never expierenced the forgivness of God would you repent of your sin today and ask for it? would you beleive the gospel and be saved?
If so do that were you are
If you have been forgiven by God becasue of Jesus thank him for that today. reflect on how much love you’ve expierenced and the freedom this forgviness has brough you.
and if you have been forgien ask God to show you if there is anyone you need to forgive and do so.
Pray