Anger, Speech And Forgiveness Series

Now what Ive just been speaking about, for some of you it is no problem. Youve been blessed enough not to have faced with situations where it is really hard to forgive. Others of you have had those situations of being badly wronged and yourve already worked through it and forgiven. But others here are still facing it the issue of bitterness and unforgiveness.

So how do we forgive?Well it tells us here. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Our model of forgiveness is the model Christ gave us. Now the word forgiving here is not the normal word for forgive. The Greek word here is charizomai. It is the verb form of the more usual noun charis. Charis is grace. It is the word in Ephesians 2:5 Eph 2:5b-it is by grace you have been saved. Charis grace - is the word used to describe what Christ has done for us. And part of that a major part - was forgiving us. And the verb of that being gracious I guess, is what is used here in verse 32, both to describe what God has done for us - just as in Christ God was gracious to you. Its on that basis that we can also be gracious to each other. And this includes forgiving. If God can forgive us of our sins, then we can ask Him to give us the strength, the ability to forgive others of their sins.

If we dont it actually impairs our relatinship with God. Jesus was pretty blunt in Matthews Gospel: MT 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Not forgiving others impairs God from forgiving us, which is a serious business, and therefore not forgiving others does us more damage than to the person you hold bitterness towards. Bad words, anger, discord between believers, also leads to a similar negative effect on our relationship with God. Verse 30 says 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit of God that is, God the Holy Spirit - we can grieve Him when there is discord amonst us. This is the same Holy Spirit who has sealed us for the day of our redemption. What is the day of our redemption? It is that day at the end our era, that day when we will live with Christ forever. That day when all our sins will be gone from us, when we will live in perfect harmony with both God and our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Holy Spirit has sealed us for that day. But if we are not willing to change, to speak good things to our neighbours, to be compassionate rather than angry, to forgive rather than be bitter, then that grieves the Holy Spirit of God.

So weve covered some hard ground today. Dont be angry but be compassionate towards each other. Dont speak bad words that pull others down - but speak good words that build others up. Dont hold bitterness - but forgive. Hard to do.But we have Christ as our example, who even forgave the soldiers who crucified Him.

And the whole thing is summed up nicely in 5:1-2 EPH 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.