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The Power of Forgiveness - Part 3
Why Forgive? The Rest
Of The Story
MAIN
POINTS & SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
I FORGIVE BECAUSE I WANT TO BE HEALTHY
I FORGIVE BECAUSE I NEED TO BE FORGIVEN
I FORGIVE BECAUSE GOD HAS FORGIVEN ME
LUKE 7:36-48
PSALM 86:5
ROMANS 3:10, 5:6-8, 7:18-24
EPHESIANS 4:32
COLOSSIANS 3:13-15
MARK 11:25
Luke 7:36-48 36 One
of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home
for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and
sat down to eat. 37 A certain immoral woman heard
he was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with
expensive perfume.
38
Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.
Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them
off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet
and putting perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee
who was the host saw what was happening and who
the woman was, he said to himself, "This proves
that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent
him, he would know what kind of woman is touching
him. She's a sinner!" 40 Then Jesus spoke up and
answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the
Pharisee, "I have something to say to you." "All
right, Teacher," Simon replied, "go ahead." 41
Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money
to two people--five hundred pieces of silver to
one and fifty pieces to the other. 42 But neither
of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them
both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose
loved him more after that?" 43 Simon answered, "I
suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger
debt." "That's right," Jesus said. 44 Then he turned
to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman
kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't
offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but
she has washed them with her tears and wiped them
with her hair. 45 You didn't give me a kiss of
greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and
again from the time I first came in. 46 You neglected
the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but
she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47
I tell you, her sins--and they are many--have been
forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a
person who is forgiven little shows only little
love." 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins
are forgiven."
I FORGIVE BECAUSE I WANT TO BE HEALTHY RETURN TO TOP
Healing can come from hurt.
Life can come out of death.
Growth and new life is possible even in the worst of situations.
Corrie Ten Boom, experienced the transforming
power of God's forgiveness in her own life. She
found that the Lord's forgiveness can heal hurts
as deep as her own imprisonrnent and deaths of
her father and sister, Betsie, at the hands of
the German Gestapo. In the book The Hiding Place,
she wrote:
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man
who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck.
He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that q time.
And suddenly it was all there -- the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of
clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing "How grateful
I am for your message, Fraulein, " he said. "To think that, as you say, He
has washed my sins away!"
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to
the people the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry,
vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ
had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed,
forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing,
not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent
prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.
As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along
my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while
into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our
goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to
love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself.
Forgiveness is GIVEN.
It's in the word itself. Given from a place outside ourselves.
Forgiveness is God's act working inside our hearts and shown outside in
our expressions and actions.
Is it possible to forgive life's deepest hurts?
The only requirement to forgive is to have already experienced forgiveness
yourself.
Psa 86:5 O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full
of unfailing love for all who ask.
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We
have the power to withhold forgiveness if we choose.
However, God's word requires forgiveness from God's
people.
Whatever I have not forgiven still controls me. Revenge boomerangs
back on the revenger.
Corrie ten Boom "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to find out the
prisoner is me."
The reason
to forgive others is not to let them off the hook,
but to free ourselves from the burden of hating.
People
who forgive get well. Those who do not, don't;
and we cannot have it both ways.
Jesus was the heathiest man who ever lived and hanging from a cross, He
said,"Father forgive them...."
When
I choose not to forgive, there are consequences.
• I am guided by my anger, pain, and
hatred.
• I am directed by my negative memories.
• I do not act freely
• I attempt to control situations and people to keep the offense from happening
to me again
• I live with tension and stress as my constant companions.
• My relationship with God has a big hollow spot
• My relationship with others is guarded.
• My life span is probably reduced.
I FORGIVE BECAUSE I NEED TO BE FORGIVEN RETURN TO TOP
We are both
good and bad.
NLT
Rom 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous,
not even one" RETURN TO TOP
We are both
good and bad. Image of God -
Rom 7:18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my
old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which
way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want
to, but I can't. 19 When I want to do good, I don't.
And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.
.. 21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I
want to do what is right, I inevitably do what
is wrong. 22 I love God's law with all my heart.
23 But there is another law at work within me that
is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight
and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within
me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! RETURN TO
TOP
We are both
good and bad. It is necessary for us to see ourselves
and others as both good and bad.
As
we forgive, we are in the process of learning to
love what is real - both the good and the bad -
in ourselves and others.
God
sought total relationship - not just association
with our "good side." That choice led Him to the
cross.
NLT
Rom 5:6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ
came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
7 Now, no one is likely to die for a good person,
though someone might be willing to die for a
person who is especially good. 8 But God showed
his great love for us by sending Christ to die
for us while we were still sinners. RETURN TO TOP
It
is easy to be committed to an idealized concept
of a person.
But when we forgive we recommit ourselves
to an imperfect, flawed person. It is a
modern day demonstration on earth of what God has
done for us even though we have repeatedly betrayed
Him.
When
we forgive a person, we commit to work on ourselves
and not on the other person. We leave it up to God
to work with the imperfections of others.
Four
Benefits of Forgiving:
- Forgiveness
frees us from judgement and from the role of judge.
- Forgiveness
frees others from our scrutiny.
- Forgiveness
lets go in order to let others go on.
- Forgiveness
is a great liberator when it becomes a central
element of our lifestyle.
If I don't
expect myself to be perfect, I don't hate myself
when I'm not.
If I don't
expect to be in complete control, I won't blame myself
when things go wrong. When I forgive myself and others
I am taking personal responsibility for my needs,
body, and choices.
Self
forgiveness is an act of faith. In doing so I release
myself from my own self-judgement and self punishment.
It is all
part of loving God Self and others. The first and
second greatest commands.
I FORGIVE
BECAUSE GOD HAS FORGIVEN ME RETURN TO TOP
When
we accept God's forgiveness we are moving form
a should system to a grace system.
We do not
want to be judged on the basis of a "should" system.
None of us want to reap what we deserve.
Eph
4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave
you.
Col
3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Col 3:14 And
over all these virtues put on love, which binds
them all together in perfect unity. Col 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
since as members of one body you were called
to peace. And be thankful. RETURN TO TOP
Like the
woman's costly perfume, God's mercy has been lavishly
poured out on all of us. Can we recognize it, receive
it and let it motivate us to be grace-givers?
You
will never have to forgive anyone for more than
God has forgiven you.
Besides
forgiveness is the only way the grace of God and
the love of people will ever get inside us.
Mark
11:25 But when you are praying, first forgive
anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that
your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins
too." RETURN TO TOP
According
to God's economy, we can never receive what we
are not willing to give.
Recommended Source Material for this Series: The
Power of Love by David and Janet Congo, Moody Press
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