Teachings of Jesus (Part 32) Forgiveness by Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=1921

Teachings of Jesus (Part 32) Forgiveness

Did you ever do something kind of foolish or stupid to someone else, and even though you tried to make it right and said that you were sorry you felt like you were never really forgiven? Maybe you messed up at your job, or did or said something that disappointed, or hurt a loved one or friend. I don’t know about you but I think it kind of hurts when you don’t feel or know that you were really forgiven when you really did your best to make it right.

I think it is interesting how in Luke chapter 17 Jesus warned His disciples about being a stumbling block, and possible causing another to sin; and then in the next few verses to follow He talks about the need to forgive.

Luke 17:1-5 says  “Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!””

The Biblical meaning forgiveness is “To free fully, to relieve, release, dismiss, or figuratively to let die, pardon or let go, to loose, send away, or liberate.
The effects of being unforgiving, can be hurt feelings, it can cause bitterness, anger, resentment, sometimes rage, broken relationships, broken homes, even division in the Body of Christ. For the one who chooses not to forgive it can destroy friendships. It can steal one’s joy. It may cause one to only focus on the past sin, and it can sap our energy to live in the present. It can even effect our prayer life.

In Mark 11:24-26 it says, “24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

When you forgive, you resolve to pardon the sin of the guilty one and let them go free. The one that forgives moves beyond the offence and they show that they care more about the person than the wrong he or she has committed.

Genuine forgiveness not only liberates, and frees the guilty person and allows them to live without the burden of guilt which comes from committing offence; it also frees the one who does the forgiving from possibly holding a grudge for years.

In Matt 18:21-35 says   21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

In this parable a king is settling accounts with his servants when he found one owing 10 thousand talents. The amount is so great that there is no conceivable way in which he could pay the king back. This amount he owed was at least equivalent to twelve million dollars or more in our currency.

It was 50 million denarii, and one denarii was a normal daily wage. What Jesus was doing was illustrating that our debt to God as totally beyond our ability to make it right or pay Him back.

The king decided to collect what he could, and ordered the man and his family to be sold. But the man fell on his face and begged the king for patience, promising to pay back everything.

And yes, he was forgiven his debt because the king was gracious and the man had a humble attitude. And even though he promised to do his best to pay the king back, the king probably realized there was no way he could. Here we see the example of the guilty being liberated; the King forgave his debt. This is Jesus’ illustration of how liberating it is to be forgiven of our sin by God.

But unlike God, human nature is prone to resent rather than release, to demand rather than to forgive. And Jesus goes and adds a new development to the story.

The forgiven man, who should have lived in gratitude and been more gracious because he was freed from his own debt, went out and met a man who owed him 500,000 times less than he owed the king. He demands payment of the money owed him. And even though the man who owed him money begged for patience, he forgot the grace shown to him earlier by the king and had this poor man thrown in jail until he could pay the debt.

His behavior was so disgraceful and ungracious his fellow servants were shocked at his lack of mercy and grace, so they reported the incident to the king. The king became so angry with this man he forgave he called him in and put the same judgement on him that he did on his debtor, throwing him into prison until he could pay the debt h owed. The point of the parable is that our heavenly Father will do the same with us if we do not forgive. We must forgive to be forgiven!!!

But what do I do If someone keeps sinning against me over and over? What do I do?
Look at what the Word of God has to say about this.

Luke 17:3-4 “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

An important thing to remember as a believer is “Forgiveness is the foundation for a Christ Centered Life”. Jesus came and was willing to die for each of us so that we could be forgiven for an untold number of sins.

But if a person does something to offend us it’s not inappropriate to confront them about the offence. Jesus said, “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them”
I think more problems can develop if there is a lack of communication, especially if you are upset with someone concerning how they may have wronged you and then don’t say anything.

Jesus addresses how to deal with offences amongst fellow Christian in Matthew 18:15-17. He said, “15 “If another believer sins against you,[e] go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.”

It’s not that we are not willing to forgive, but the church is encouraged to dis-fellowship the person with the hope that they will wake up and humble themselves and get back on the right track.

But even if the offender does not repent I believe that it is still wise if the innocent party learns how to forgive the person. Why? Because it frees their own heart and mind from potential bitterness and anger that may develop and fester if they don’t. We should not allow anyone to steal our joy and peace of mind that Jesus wants you possess; especially not because of another one’s foolish behavior.

Story of A Bitter Mother:
There is a story of a woman, whose daughter had gone off and married a man much older than herself. This had caused her mother a lot grief and sorrow, not only just because of the age difference, there were other things she disapproved of.

But, after some time, the mother had made up her mind to go visit her daughter and her new son-in-law. But, because of her own bitterness she wasn’t sure how to present herself at her daughter’s door. So being a woman of prayer she went to her local church, and asked the minister to help her find God in all this.

After some time of meeting with her, the minister suggested she go sit in the sanctuary in silence for a while. As she entered the sanctuary she looked at a stained glass window with the picture of Jesus on it and went and knelt down below it in silence.

As she was kneeling there she felt this overwhelming presence of God. It was just as if huge vacuum cleaner came down and sucked all the bitterness out of her, and she was at total peace.

Then through all of this the Lord brought to her a word of wisdom. In a thought, came these very clear words, “DO NOT LOOSE YOUR PEACE OVER SOMEONE ELSE’S SIN, BUT ONLY OVER YOUR OWN.”

The point of this story is that it was not just the daughters disrespect that was robbing her of her peace, but it was her own BITTERNESS that had robbed her of her peace and joy.

This doesn’t mean that we should not grieve because of a loved one’s sin, but we should not lose our peace. Remember the joy of the Lord is your strength.
1 Peter 3:8-12 says, “8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.””

So many times our natural reaction is to retaliate against those who have hurt us, but, look at what Peter says to do, “Give a blessing instead” (v.9). If you do, God will bless you.

Consider how to be a forgiving person in this life. I will help find peace and victory in your own life.
You may ask the question, “How am I going to live like this when people grind me the wrong way?”

Maybe the best thing to do is to do what that first guy that owned the King 10,000 talents didn’t do after he, himself was forgiven. Maybe we should first consider how much we have been forgiven.

How many times have you sinned against the Lord? If you are like me, more times than you can count. Yet He has forgiven you and me over and over, and over and over and over.

I have to admit; I almost never get upset on the road when people make stupid mistakes driving, like forgetting to put on their turn signal, or even pulling out in front of me. Why don’t I get upset? Because I know that I occasionally make the same mistake and so I therefore have not right to get upset with others who do the same. And because I do this I save myself the frustration of getting upset over their short comings and mistakes.

‘But to forgive them seven times?’ Jesus goes on in Matthew 18:21-22 to tell Peter this, 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times

77 times?? No wonder the apostle said, “Lord increase our faith.”

In other words, ‘Be a totally forgiving person.’

Jesus wants us to be the kind of person who is always ready to forgive.
Do allow another someone else’s weakness and sin to rob you or even destroy your peace, rather you can become stronger and victorious and more like Christ when you learn to forgive and let those things go.