- A story or a fable - the Spanish fighter and patriot, Narvaez lay dying, his priest asked him whether he had forgiven all his enemies. Narvaez looked astonished and said, "Father, I have no enemies, I have shot them all,"
What is The defining moment in Jesus ministry
Birth/age 12 in temple/ announcing his ministry/wedding at Cana/ teaching and miracles/last supper/cross/death/resurrection
This moment on the cross screams to be considered for the prize
Not said in a pontificating manner....not offering peace to a love lost world...not like the Rio de
Janero statue...He is on the cross...
Forgiveness is pretty important to Jesus...from the sermon on the mount
But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins Mt6:14-16
Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins (maybe this goes to you yourself)
Forgiveness is unbelievable-what God can do in a person who is willing
When Allied troops liberated the Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1945, they stumbled onto the indescribable horror of the Nazi Moloch-machine in which 92,000 women and children had died. But they also came across signs of unquenchable faith. The following words were found written on a piece of wrapping paper near the body of a dead child:
O lord, Remember not only the men and women of goodwill, But also those of ill will.
But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us,
Remember the fruits we brought thanks to this suffering,
Our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, The courage, the generosity,
The greatness of heart which has grown out of all this.
And when they come to judgement, Let all the fruits that we have borne
Be their forgiveness. Amen, Amen, Amen
Forgiveness is point in time...you can decide
It is like pulling on the rope that rings the bell
Even after you let go, the bell rings for a while
It takes a while for the hurt to stop..but it will
it begins with a choice
When the pain goes deep the road to forgiveness is long
Disclaimer...you don't have to have them to your dinner table. But Jesus does
Forgiveness is more than just a point in time
Forgiveness as an on going state not a buy and sell transaction
Not thrown away after too man 7X 70
Matt 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.
Are we applying this in our marriages? Not that there isn't a time to give up, but too many people are throwing each other away for little of nothing
Nobel prize winner tells the story of a marriage that disintegrates over a bar of soap.
It was the wife's job to keep the house in order, including the towels, toilet paper and soap in the bathroom. One day she forgot to replace the soap. her husband exaggerated the oversight: "I've been bathing for almost a week without any soap." She vigorously denied forgetting to replace the soap. Although she had indeed forgotten, her pride was at stake, and she wouldn't back down. For the next seven months, they slept in separate rooms and ate in silence. Their marriage had suffered a heart attack. "Even when they were old and placid," "they were very careful about bringing it up, for the barely healed wounds could begin to bleed again as if they'd been inflicted only yesterday." How can a bar of soap ruin a marriage? The answer is actually simple. because neither partner would say. "Forgive me."
The one who loves little is forgiven little and reveals through self-righteousness the shallowness of grace in one's life."
To forgive a partner may be hard, but to forgive a partner is Holy
Christians are called to Break the cycles of revenge
Vengeance is mine says the Lord. I will repay
Judgement and condemnation are over...they are replaced by love
But you can break the cycle of revenge if you are willing to forgive"
Forgiveness is costly
I must die to my self..to my importance..my ideas, my pride.. I make another important I make a mean person important..I give up my place for them. This is love.
This story sound familiar. Isn't that what Jesus did
True forgiveness is hard to extend because it demands that people let go of something they value--not a piece of jewelry, but pride, perhaps, as sense of justice, or desire for revenge.
Or the desire to hurt back
forgiveness takes place when the person who was offended and justly angered by the offender bears his own anger, and lets the other go free. Either the injured and justifiably angry person vents his feelings on the other in retaliation (That is an attempt at achieving justice as accuser, judge, and hangman all in one) or the injured person may choose to accept his angry feelings, bear the burden of them personally, find release through confession and prayer and set the other person free. this is forgiveness.
Desmond TuTu tells the following story...A (man) had a particular besetting sin, and he used to confess it and God would forgive him. But no sooner had he been absolved than he would trip up and sin again. One day this happened, and he rushed back to Bod and said, "I'm sorry. I've done it again," And God asked, "What have you done again?"
There is an old story of a priest in the Philippines, a much-loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented by still had no peace, no sense of God's forgiveness. In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he with her. the priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, :the next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary." the woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, :well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?'
Yes, he did," she replied. "and did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?" "Yes."
"Well, what did he say?" "He said, 'I don't remember."
If you don't believe this then you are still trying to be good enough
You can't earn it - We are not forgiven because we are sorry for our sins.
- The only explanation for the forgiveness of God and the unfathomable depth of His forgetting is that we are forgive because of what Jesus did on the cross
- Our repentance is merely the outcome of our personal realization of what God has done in Jesus
- It is not earned, but accepted.
- The atonement is an act whereby God, through the death of Jesus, makes an unholy man holy. Oswald Chambers.
So what are we to do.....Story of the two wolves
An elder Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, :a fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guild, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride, and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. this same fight is going on inside of you and every other person, too.: the children thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, " Which wolf will win? the old Cherokee simply replied: Whichever one I choose to feed."
Goes with the wolf story-Which one of these two people would you be? A couple married for 15 years began having more than usual disagreements. They wanted to make their marriage work and agreed on an idea the wife had. For one month they planned to drop a slip in a "Fault" box. the boxes would provide a place to let the other know about daily irritations. The wife was diligent in in her efforts and approach: "leaving the jelly top off the jar," "wet towels on the shower floor," "dirty socks not in hamper," on and on until the end of the month. After dinner, at the end of the month, they exchanged boxes. The husband reflected on what he had done wrong. Then the wife opened her box and began reading. They were all the same, the message on each slip was, "I love you!"
Which spouse are you in this story
Love keeps on record of wrongs
Conclusion
Is there someone who awaits your forgiveness
Maybe it's you yourself
Jesus has set the example
To not forgive yourself is an insult to God , it is to say that God is stupid. He loves someone who should not be loved. He has forgiven someone who should not be forgive
So what to do
Extend a hug
Deliver love to those who hurt you
Remember Jesus who said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons and daughters of your Father in heaven.
We need to recognize a curious duality in Christian attitude toward sin, at any rate in the case of the averagely sensual human being. It is to hold that sin is on the one hand utterly abominable, serious to the depths, but on the other hand wholly understandable, ultimately even trivial, for God's ready forgiveness awaits us. On theone hand, you might appropriately get into - and stay in-- a great state about it; on the other hand, you should scarcely worry about it at all. It is not surprising that, historically, different parts of Christian tradition and different Christian churches have highlighted one or the other of the two sides which I have so crudely characterized. - Leslie Houlden, Truth Untold: Meditations on the Gospel (London: SPCK, 1991), 45.
