Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we talked about dealing with damaged emotions in our lives and finding God’s inner healing for our brokenness.

We ended by listing 6 steps to begin healing:

Face the hurt

Accept our Responsibility

Choose to be healed

Forgive everyone involved

Forgive Yourself

Let the Spirit reveal the problem

For many of you - you allowed the Spirit to begin a work in your life, but there might be something plugging up the process...

This whole process requires FORGIVING and EXPERIENCING FORGIVENESS!

without forgiveness there is a road block to God’s grace in our lives.

I mentioned that forgiveness is a process and often there are multitudes of people we have not allowed ourselves to forgive in life - and it may be causing hang ups to experiencing God’s grace!!!

Forgiveness takes time, so don’t get frustrated - keep on reapplying the principles of forgiving.

In addition I would also like to say that we need to realize and ask God to TEACH US TO FORGIVE WITHOUT RECEIVING AN APOLOGY!!

Just because the mouth forgives, does not mean the heart has...

FORGIVENESS is ESSENTIAL FOR BEING FORGIVEN and being FORGIVEN is ESSENTIAL to FORGIVING — it is cyclical!

This morning I want to talk about SPIRITUAL DEBT...

SIN creates a debt to the law of God!!! SIN VIOLATES GOD’s LAW and demands punishment or recompense — compensation .

That is why we say someone OWES US when they sin against us!!!

DEBT and DEBT COLLECTING!!!

When we feel the debt of our sin, our choices and actions, against God and others, we are left feeling IMPRISONED!!

The more we OWE, the more fortified the PRISON and length of sentence!

Realize that the words OWE and OUGHT share the same root — when we feel we owe or ought to do something it is because we feel indebted.

When we have been wronged we feel others OWE US, or are indebted to us - and sometimes the debt owed us gives us false security against the debt we owe others or God.

This sense of debt and debt collecting creates great emotional damage that leads to physical illness - in fact, one study said that 75% of physical sickness is due to emotional causes.

It comes down to 2 MAJOR AREAS:

Failure to understand and receive and live God’s grace and forgiveness

Failure to bestow it to others

TURN WITH ME TO :

1.

The Unmerciful Servant’s Mistake

Could the real issue in this story be that the unmerciful servant did not really understand the POWER of GOD’s GRACE and FORGIVENESS?

He was forgiven ALL, but somehow he may have left still feeling indebted...

When we still feel the debt of our sin and failures - it leaves us living indebted when we really have been set free!

The servant’s debt was 10 million dollars.

A massive amount of money now, but even more then.

In fact, the tax revenue of the five provinces of Israel combined came to about 800k!

That is not even 10% of the amount of debt Jesus attributed to the servant in this story.

An absolute IMPOSSIBLE AMOUNT TO EVER REPAY!

THAT IS OUR DEBT TO GOD — IMPOSSIBLE TO EVER REPAY!

Don’t forget that!

When the servant begs for mercy, the word in the Greek used is

MAKROTHUMASON - and it is a request for an extension of time, or a delay

So, what he was saying is show mercy by giving me time to repay you.

The King however WIPED OUT THE DEBT with NO EXPECTATION OF REPAYMENT

However, what we see in the servant’s behavior is the thought his debt was only delayed, not released!

Thus, he goes and tries to collect debt from his fellow servant - most likely to put toward the debt he still felt he owed.

When we do not allow ourselves to experience the grace of God - we hold others accountable for their sins against us!

SOMETHING THAT CONFUSES US are

Rules of nature

Rules of man

Rules of God

God may forgive our debt completely - that does not mean that the laws of man will or natural consequence to our actions will halt (Principle of reaping and sowing)

Committing a crime - the laws of man may hold responsible for even if God has wiped the debt clean

Committing some sins have natural consequence — in example - a sexually permissive life may result in STD’s, unwanted pregnancy, physical damage to not be able to become pregnant, etc.

These are laws of nature playing out… and/or laws of man --- they do not negate God’s forgiveness of an eternal debt.

I believe the servant in this story was experiencing condemnation for the great debt he owed - HE WAS SHOWN GRACE - but he was self imposing condemnation because he was not realizing that grace.

Instead he sensed guilt, resentment, anxiety, and a drive to seek to be free

When we are experiencing condemnation instead of grace the drive to come out from beneath the weight causes us to seek out the debts others owe to us --- we become unwilling to forgive hoping to hold someone else responsible so we can transfer their debt for ours!

This is one reason why so many are unwilling to extend forgiveness to others.

The more we fail to extend forgiveness to others, the more we feel our own debt because it is so great.

BLOCKS TO GRACE!!!!

YES - Christ has paid our debt already, but we have to receive that forgiveness through our repentance, and if we choose not to forgive others their debt to us GRACE BECOMES PLUGGED UP ALL AROUND!

We collect debt because we feel needy!

2. The Effect of Debt Collecting on Relationships

A. Marriages

Think we for a minute what we promise at marriage - to LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY

Many enter into marriage with wrong expectations.

They carry all their emotional baggage and look to their spouse to be the savior of all their issues.

They will accept me for all my failures and shortcomings and love me no matter what.

They may enter in like a tick on a dog - not a symbiotic relationship, but take, take, take

The greater problem is when both in the marriage are ticks and there is nothing to get from each other!

They just keep piling on the other’s failures of expectations and nobody is meeting the other’s needs because they are expecting their spouse to meet a need that only GOD CAN MEET IN THEIR LIFE!!!

meet the need

pay the debt

fill the emptiness

These are things only God can do in our lives

Without Christ as the center, and Jesus the giver of grace and forgiver, and experiencing that from Christ, we cannot bestow anything upon another...

We cannot offer unconditional love without experiencing unconditional love..

B.Friends and Family

We can also carry unreal expectations into friendships, or place them upon children with expectations and feeling that they owe us something.

When we are in a NEED TO DEBT COLLECT - those around us are at risk at failing to provide the funds!

C. God

Our relationship with God can become greatly affected when we do not receive the grace He has offered us, and treat the forgiveness He brings as a delay of time instead of a release.

3. The Tests of Needing to Forgive

There are three tests we can give ourselves to determine if we are in need of forgiving someone...

Resentment Test - Is there someone who is still not on the hook for what they have done to you?

You still resent them for their treatment of you or actions they committed against you.

Responsibility Test - Is there someone you hold at fault for the way you are?

You would be fine if this person or persons had not treated you a certain way or done a certain thing to you?

Reminder & Reaction Test - (Do you react against a person or persons because they remind you of someone who hurt you?

When someone reminds you of the pain another caused you are bound for conflict)

Do you have a loved one or even God on your hook?

Is your worst enemy yourself?

4. Dealing with Debt

First, you have to understand that God’s grace is 100% free - HE FREELY OFFERS IT TO YOU and you can freely RECEIVE IT!

God’s desire is to set you free from condemnation, the debt of sin, the bondage of owing for your wrongs...

He has a purpose for your life and He wants to work even the bad for good in you!

That includes the bad that has been done to you!!!

So, just as you want to receive God’s forgiveness, you must be willing to extend HIS GRACE toward others and totally release them from obligation.

Unforgiveness only holds YOU IN BONDAGE!