Forgive them Anyway

So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

This is a hard teaching. This is the only time they asked for more faith… when they were told to forgive ... basically unlimited times.

We will always have things come at us that will hurt and offend us. Some are small and some are big.

Small offenses come all the time through out the days and just keep coming. No single offense may seem too big, but it’s the small things that wear us down. When this happens, we can choose a response. We can either forgive or be offended.

But then there are big offenses that have hurt us. Maybe someone has lied to you or about you… has abused you… has tried to injure you… has abandoned you… has hurt you in some way.

If you are here this morning and you have been hurt by someone… offended by someone, we need to make this our prayer.

God increase our faith.

To tackle this topic of forgiveness, we have to understand what the Bible says.

What does the Bible say about Forgiveness?

Let me give you a quick test. You can put a T or an F beside each one.

True or False Forgiveness is a good idea only when someone deserves it.

True or False Forgiving someone includes minimizing the offense and the pain caused.

True or False If we choose not to forgive eventually the issue will go away.

True or False If we do not forgive each other, we will not be forgiven.

Now let’s go back over these one at a time and find out from the WOG what the answers are.

Forgiveness is a good idea only when someone deserves it. False

If we only forgave people who deserved it, we would never forgive anyone nor would God ever forgive anyone of us.

Colossians 3:13 NLT

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

It’s not what they deserve, it’s what we were given. God forgave us … probably more than we will ever have to forgive anyone else.

Write this down...

Forgiveness is freely received and freely given

Farmers use what’s called a seed sprayer. After you plow the land, you go out with a seed sprayer and the seeds go everywhere. That’s what forgiveness looks like.

Jesus has forgiven us and our tank has been filled with something we didn’t deserve. When you are spreading seed, some of it hits you too. Speaking for forgiveness, this illustrates that we have to forgive ourselves as well as others.

Jesus forgives us, then we have to forgive ourselves and then spread that forgiveness to others.

Hurt and pain are complicated and real. But this truth will help us to understand. We have been given something and we have to spread it to other people.

Next one…

Forgiving someone includes minimizing the offense and the pain caused. False

That’s false as well.

If you minimize the offense or the hurt, you are not acknowledging how bad the offense was… or how much the hurt was. You have to recognize the hurt and admit that it’s there, but then you reject your right for repayment.

Forgiveness is rejecting our right for repayment.

Any time there is a sin that occurs, there is a debt that occurs. Whenever there is a debt, it has to be paid. Our sin debt was too big for us to pay off so Jesus had to pay for it in our place. We can see that in …

Hebrews 9:22 NLT

In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Jesus paid our debt with his blood. It was a debt that we could not pay.

If someone steals from you, you have some choices. You can yell at the person… slander the person… get revenge… withdraw relationally from him… wish evil on them… until they have paid the debt.

The better choice is not to demand repayment. But there is still a debt. If someone took something from you, you still don’t have it. Someone has to pay for what was taken.

Tim Keller says

“Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering.”

Here is a truth. We are not in this alone.

2 Corinthians 1:5 NLT

For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

I may not have what was taken, but I am walking with Jesus and he is with me no matter what the hurt is. When we are going through times of hurt, Jesus is right here with us.

If we choose not to forgive eventually the issue will go away. False

Time does not heal all wounds. It actually makes it worse. The hurt or anger just grows and grows until it becomes bitterness.

If you want healing, write this down.

Forgiveness is our pathway to healing

Acts 3:19 NIV

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

It doesn’t matter how small or big the pain is… the miracle is that when we forgive, God sets us free from that bitterness and we experience times of refreshing.

Bitterness is a prison for our soul.

Unbroken - Luis Zampreni - olympic runner. Joins the military, involved in a plane crash where they floated in a boat 40 days and then is rescued by the Japanese where he is put in a prison of war camp and treated horribly. There was one guard in particular that was more cruel than all of the others.

When he was rescued from that prison, he said he left prison, but he never really left prison because of the bitterness and anger. He became an alcoholic and goes to a BG crusade and he ends up giving his heart to Jesus and in the next moment was able to forgive the guards who had mistreated him.

Look at this

“If you hate somebody, it’s like a boomerang that misses its target and comes back and hits you in the head. The one who hates is the one who hurts.

When you forgive, it’s like it never happened. True forgiveness is complete and total. It’s a healing, actually it’s a real healing…forgiveness.

Lewis Smedes says,

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Here is the next one,

If we do not forgive each other, we will not be forgiven. True

We have been given forgiveness, and God wants us to forgive others.

Matthew 6:14–15 NLT

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Jesus is teaching that we must forgive others. Holding on to unforgiveness is a sin in and of itself because of the destruction it brings in your spirit and it fails to reflect God’s character in our lives. So if you are refusing to forgive someone, you sin and in God’s eyes, it’s as bad as what they did to you.

This is not a Salvation passage. It’s a fellowship with God passage. Salvation comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus. But living in a relationship with God requires us to constantly come to God for forgiveness and refusing to forgive others reveals a lack of gratefulness for mercy received from God. We are all on common ground as sinners and none of us deserved to be forgiven by God. If you harbor bitterness towards someone, don’t expect to experience the presence of God or to have him answer your prayers. Mark 11:25

Mark 11:25 NLT

But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

Write this down.

Forgiveness is a requirement for Christians

We have been given something… forgiveness… and it is wrong at every level for us to not return it to others. God knows this is our pathway to healing.

Forgiveness is… Freely received and freely given. Rejecting our right for repayment. Our pathway to healing. A requirement for Christians.

We have presented the truth and hopefully built faith… Now let’s look at this next question.

How do we forgive?

Let’s look at Jesus and how he forgave.

Luke 22:41–43 NLT

He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.

1. Resolve to trust God.

That’s what Jesus did here. He trusted in His Father.

We have to trust God.

Testimony - Bible College professor who as a college student was kidnapped, repeatedly raped and tortured by someone who was going to sacrifice her to the devil. She almost died from blood loss. Now she has two daughters and is the most godly person you can imagine. Her students asked her, how could you release all of that hurt? She told them, it’s has never been what I released but who I grabbed hold of. She grabbed hold of Jesus.

God’s power is real and we can be set free from our pain but you have to reach out to the Lord and trust him in whatever the situation is.

Now Jesus is on the cross and said…

Luke 23:34 NLT

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

Jesus looked at the men who had just beaten him and nailed him to a cross to die, and asked God to forgive them.

2. Release unconditional forgiveness.

Unconditional forgiveness doesn’t require repayment. It’s like Jesus on the cross forgiving the very ones who killed him. We have a God who knows where we are and what we are going through.

Hebrews 2:17–18 MSG

That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.

Jesus experienced every temptation we have or will. He experienced every type of pain we will. His earthy father died while he was a teen. He probably had to help raise his younger siblings. One of his close friends died. He was challenged in his teaching. He was betrayed by friends. Judas turned him over to the Jews. Peter denied even knowing him. The others were nowhere to be found. Then he went through a fake trial and was murdered.

If Jesus can forgive the people who murdered him. We can forgive.

This is not about reconciliation. That’s different.

Forgiveness takes one… Reconciliation takes two.

Forgiveness carries with it the willingness to restore. It is not the action of restoration. You don’t let a tornado back into your life.

Forgiveness is not condoning what someone did to you and acting like it’s ok. But in the middle of this, we trust God and forgive. We release them from having to repay the debt they owe to us.

Who can I forgive today?

Here is some homework. Write down all the things God has forgiven you of. Do that list and then write out the list of who you need to forgive. When we forgive someone, we are the prisoner that is set free.

3. Return evil with good.

Jesus had every right to seek revenge. But instead, look what Jesus did. In the middle of his pain, he ministers to others. He comforted his mother, the other ladies and John at the foot of his cross, and look at this…

Luke 23:43 NLT

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It’s easy to return evil for evil. But Jesus said that when evil hits us, good comes out.

Romans 12:17–21 ESV

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is the only hope for the world. You overcome evil with good.

Vengeance is God’s. We need to let God be God and trust him to do what is the right thing that needs to be done.

Like I said, this is not about reconciliation. You need boundaries.

When we do this, we show the world the power of God.

4. Rely on God to redeem

We need to allow God to redeem it. When we go through difficulties, we need to allow God to redeem it.

Luke 24:46–48 NLT

And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.

Mother Theresa…

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

Prayer -

God increase our faith.

Salvation Prayer. Experience the love and forgiveness from the God who paid the price for your sin.

Prayer for those who want to begin the process of forgiveness. We acknowledge that we have been hurt but today we choose to, in the middle of that pain, to trust you. go thought the points.

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