Do Unto Others

“A hacked Sony e-mail posted by WikiLeaks … reveals that Ben Affleck demanded that the PBS show ‘Finding Your Roots’ remove the fact that one of the actor’s ancestors owned slaves,” reports the Boston Globe.

In a July 22, 2014, e-mail, the show’s host, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., asked Sony USA boss Michael Lynton what he should do about Affleck’s request: “One of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors — the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We’ve never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He’s a megastar. What do we do?” Lynton advised that the revelation be removed. “I would take it out if no one knows, but if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity then it gets tricky.”

In response to the leaked emails, Affleck apologized for having made the request and admitted that he was embarrassed by his slave owning relative and wanted to distance himself from him.

If PBS was to do a documentary on finding Jesus’ roots, what do you suppose they’d find? He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, so surely His pedigree is perfect, right? Wrong!

Rahab was a prostitute.

King David was an adulterer and murderer.

Truth be told, ALL of Jesus’ ancestors were imperfect, sinful souls simply because ALL human beings are imperfect, sinful souls.

What if this news gets out?! He's a megastar! It could ruin Him!

But Jesus wasn’t embarrassed by his pedigree. He didn't want to distance Himself from it. Rather, He embraced it, acknowledging that God uses imperfect, improbable, even undesirable characters to accomplish his purposes.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham …” (Matthew 1:1, ESV).

“Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph … “ (Luke 3:23, ESV).

What would your past say about you? And so we come to this truth this morning that everyone has a past that they are not happy about, everyone has a memory that they wish they could get erased and thrown away for good so no one is able to rehash or rediscover the horrible, embarrassing things we did or said, yet God makes it very clear that He forgets when we repent.

“He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.”

Micah 7:19

“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalms 103:12

A duck hunter was with a friend in the wide-open land of southeastern Georgia. Far away on the horizon he noticed a cloud of smoke. Soon he could hear crackling as the wind shifted. He realized the terrible truth; a brushfire was advancing, so fast they couldn’t outrun it. Rifling through his pockets, he soon found what he was looking for—a book of matches. He lit a small fire around the two of them. Soon they were standing in a circle of blackened earth, waiting for the fire to come. They didn’t have to wait long. They covered their mouths with handkerchiefs and braced themselves. The fire came near—and swept over them. But they were completely unhurt, untouched. Fire would not pass where fire already had passed.

Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the Law. The Law cannot judge what Christ has already forgiven.

One of the hardest things to do in life is understand God’s forgiveness, and this is said to be true and the reason behind this truth is not fully understanding God’s forgiveness is because sometimes we cannot understand God and the mercy He extends to those whom He has chosen to forgive, those that we believe don’t deserve forgiveness He gives and it baffles us, yet He gives us example after example why it is pivotal to forgive and forget.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.””