CRCF””7/25/10
ME
Forgiveness is a whole lot easier to talk about than it is to do.
It seems I have a harder time with forgiveness when someone messes with someone I love. Oh, I can get mad and offended when people do stuff to me””don”™t get me wrong. But just mess with my wife or my kids or my really close friends, and I go from 0 to 60 with anger!
There have been two situations in the last year where people have done stuff to hurt my oldest two children. It is SO hard to forgive!
WE
When was the last time you struggled with forgiving someone? Go ahead””think about that person and the situation. Let”™s make this practical right from the start!
GOD
Practical Grace
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)
1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
The Message
1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
What does this look like practically?
Ephesians 4:30-32 (NLT)
30 And do not bring sorrow to God”™s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8-10 (NLT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Isaiah 53:5-6
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
Ephesians 4:30-32 (MSG)
30Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
31-32Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT)
43 “You have heard the law that says, ”˜Love your neighbor”™ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Slide re: Loving Unlovables
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
Romans 12:19-21 (NLT)
Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, ”˜I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,”™ says the Lord. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: ”˜If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.”™ Don”™t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
YOU
What difference does all of this need to make in your life and mine?
Piper
No one was more grievously sinned against than Jesus. Every ounce of animosity against Him was fully undeserved. No one has ever lived who was more worthy of honor than Jesus; and no one has been dishonored more. If anyone had a right to get angry and be bitter and vengeful, it was Jesus. How did He control Himself when scoundrels, whose very lives He sustained, spit in His face? Peter gives the answer in these words: “[Jesus] committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself . . . to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:22-23).
Right now, identify at least one relationship where you need to extend enemy-love to someone. And tell God silently, from your heart right now, that you are committed to do just that by HIS power!
Ward
We are most like beasts when we kill. We are most like men when we judge. We are most like God when we forgive. (Swindoll, 216)
Nothing shows others Who God is more than forgiveness!
WE
Can you imagine what our community would look like if we all practiced this kind of enemy-love?
Yancey
Grace is Christianity”™s best gift to the world, a spiritual nova in our midst exerting a force stronger than vengeance, stronger than racism, stronger than hate. Sadly, to a world desperate for this grace the church sometimes presents one more form of ungrace . . . How rare to find a church competing to “out-grace” its rivals. (30)
Lord”™s Supper
We come to the Lord”™s Table””the celebration of forgiveness! Every Sunday, we celebrate the fact that God loved us, His enemies, in the ultimate way””by giving His own precious Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sin. If we would celebrate HIS forgiveness toward us, we must, at the same time, celebrate the power His love gives us to extend forgiveness to others!