Forgiveness

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

So we forgive because...

God has forgiven us!

Forgiveness is the very nature of God. It is His very essence and Paul calls us to be imitators of God. IMPORTANT! We are most like God when we forgive. We are most like God when we forgive. Take just a moment to think of the weight, the gravity, the completeness of God’s forgiveness for you.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The same mercy that has been granted to us; we should in turn grant to others.

Matthew 5:7 ESV

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

but,

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is right at the tail end of “The Lord’s Prayer”. Remember, as Jesus is teaching how to pray he says in verse 12...

Matthew 6:12 ESV

12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

How can we even begin to come before the Lord in prayer without forgiveness in our hearts?

But Nate, I just cannot forgive that person! They have hurt me way too much.

Our infinite Father in heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, has forgiven you. Or at the very least has freely offered forgiveness towards you. Christ left His place in heaven to come down to this lowly, sinful place; to be mocked and spat upon, beaten and bloodied, and nailed to a cross to pay for your sins. And then, He is lifted out of the grave and is at the right hand of the Father and has been given all authority on earth and in heaven and has forgiven us.

How dare you, how dare I withhold forgiveness from others. Do you see the importance and the necessity to forgive?

Remember our story about the employee and the manager? If we go to ______ we see a very similar story but with a very different ending. This one is a parable Jesus taught...

Matthew 18:21–35 ESV

21 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?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 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. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 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.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 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. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

We MUST forgive. It is a nonnegotiable part of our new nature in Christ. We must forgive because God has forgiven us.

So we forgive...

If it is God’s will, next week or some other coming week we will continue diving deep into forgiveness but focusing on the bondage of guilt and bitterness and how forgiveness sets us and those we forgive free.

Many of us struggle with sharing our faith with others. For some it’s easy and for others it’s one of the hardest this you can do.

But, our witness, the sharing of our faith, the sharing of the gospel is made manifest in and through our forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the greatest acts of love. And in John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

All people will see Jesus in the way you love each other and in the way you forgive.