Luke 23:34
“Father, forgive them for they
don’t know what they are doing.”
A little boy was sitting on a park bench in obvious agony.
A man was walking by and asked him what was wrong.
The boy answered, “I’m sitting on a bumble bee.” “Then
why don’t you get up?” the man
asked. The boy replied, “Because I
figure I’m hurting him more than he is hurting me.”
It takes a toll on us when we hold unforgiveness in our heart to another
person. Unforgiveness is something
we all struggle with in life. Unforgiveness
places us in a prison, a dungeon of despair.
Jesus talked about forgiveness and unforgiveness.
In St. Matthew 18:21, Peter comes to Jesus and asked this question," Lord,
how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven
times?”
Jesus says, in verse 22, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” No
doubt Peter is being quite generous in offering to forgive seven times.
But Jesus answers, “seventy times seven.”
What does he mean? This isn’t the first time this phrase is mentioned in the Bible. Turn with me to the first book of the Bible, Genesis.
In the story of Cain and Abel, after Cain
kills his brother, God says that revenge shall be taken on Cain seven times.
Then, a few verse later, another man, Lamech, kills someone and God says
revenge shall be taken on him “seventy times seven.”
Unlimited revenge is taken upon primitive man and revenge continues to
grow and grow in the Old Testament.
Now, Jesus takes this phrase, “seventy
times seven” and turns it into unlimited forgiveness.
“Seventy times seven”—its not about
mathematics. We aren’t keeping
count, 455, 456, 457. . .
Jesus knew we would lose count. Seventy
times seven implies that we need to have the spirit of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is a lifestyle to live everyday.
Jesus illustrates what forgiveness and unforgiveness
are about in this parable. WE are the servants.
We are the ones who owe a great debt to the king.
We owe him, ten thousand talents. Which
is millions of dollars. It is a debt so large you cannot possibly pay it back.
However, our debt is not money. It
is sin. We are unable to pay back
for Christ has dome for us on the cross.
Then we read that we, the debtor, asks for more time. But it can never be paid back. The kings heart burst for compassion for you. No reason is given. Just pure compassion. Which spells pure forgiveness. God releases you from your debt of sin. The king takes the losses for the debt. Jesus Christ has taken the hit for you.
So what will happen when its your turn to forgive
others? For this parable is not over
yet. The Forgiven man goes out and
grabs someone who owes him two dollars. He
grabs him by the neck and begins to choke him.
This is unreasonable anger, unforgiveness, vindictive.
How quick we are to take the free gift of God and how slow we are to give
it to another. In the parable, the
king becomes angry when he discovers what happens.
He canceled the debt that he couldn’t pay.
When we don’t forgive, we live in the past.
It ruins our present and our future.
All our instincts say, “Go get them.”
We lie in the weeds and wait for our moment.
Revenge is on our hearts. Matthew
18: 35
says, “Those who seek revenge are the losers.”
People absolutely destroy themselves with revenge and unforgiveness.
What is forgiveness? Forgiveness
is not condoning, discounting, denying or saying, “It doesn’t matter.” Forgiveness
is first of all, a process. It
begins with prayer. Take a piece of
paper in your hand. Think of a
person you need to forgive. For the
next thirty days, pray for good to happen in their life.
Forgiveness is an act of the will. It
is a clear and deliberate choice. It
doesn’t mean that we feel better at first. Forgiveness
means that Matthew 18 says, “We release the
offender of what he owes.” Sometimes it takes time for our emotions to catch
up with our actions.
For some of you, it may take a heroic
choice to forgive. Do you have any
hurts from your childhood. Are you
holding onto unforgiveness. We are
counting on God to let go—will you let go?
What are the three marvelous and miraculous benefits of forgiving others?
1.
PHYSICAL BENEFITS
Psalm 103:2-3
says,
2.
MENTAL BENEFITS, your mental health
Forgiveness improves our mental health.
In 1973,
Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist wrote a book on psychology called Whatever
Became of Sin.
He believed that if he could help his patients receive forgiveness and
give it to others, he felt that seventy-five percent of his patients would go
home released of their mental torments. Unforgiveness
has a way of twisting our perceptions of reality.
Forgiveness is vital to good mental health.
That’s what the gospel is all about.
Isaiah 26:3
says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because
he trusts in You.”Our mental health is the second benefit of forgiving other
people.
3.
SPIRITUAL BENEFITS
John Wesley, the great American
evangelist had a church member come to him and say, “Mr. Wesley, I never
forgive and I never forgot.” To which Mr. Wesley replied, “Sir, then I hope
that you never sin.”
In the Lord’s Prayer, what
do we pray? “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”
In Colossians we read, “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the
written code, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross.” The cross is the perfect symbol.
The cross, an instrument of execution becomes God’s tangible love for
you and me. The spiritual benefits
are the greatest miracles of all.
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