Forgiveness, Faith & Thankfulness Series

• Our aim is not to embarrass or hurt the person involved,

• But rather to encourage that person to repent.

• To realise what they have done, to be sorry and to stop.

(4). FORGIVE.

• Forgiveness is always hard because the offended person has to do the hard forgiving;

• And the guilty person seems to get away with it!

• Quote: Mark Twain (the American author and humourist):

• “Forgiveness is the scent the flower leaves on the heel that crushed it”

Ill:

• The only animal the grizzly bear would allow to eat with him was the skunk.

• This huge bear can fight and beat almost any animal in the West,

• But it lets the skunk share its meal.

• Because he knew the high cost of getting even.

• TRANSITION: When a person refuses to forgive,

• They pay a high cost!

• Forgiving someone releases the victim more than the offender.

• Forgiveness liberates the individual from negativity,

• Allowing him or her move on with life.

• It releases the individual from the trap of endless revenge;

• Into a world of increased joy and connection.

Notice:

• Just when you think you have got it; Jesus adds even more!

• He then speaks of continual forgiveness (vs 4).

“Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, “I repent,” you must forgive them.’”

• I think Jesus is using hyperbolic use of language in this verse,

• No-one is likely to sin against you that much in one day,

• So, this is exaggerated language and not meant to be taken literally.

• The point is if the person shows true repentance, then we are to forgive him.

Now this teaching is hard to apply and put into practice!

• No wonder some of Jesus' disciples replied, “Increase our love”

• Well, that is what you might have expected them to say.

• But they did not, they replied, "Increase our faith" (vs 5).

• That is the spiritual way to say,

• "This is too much for us. You will have to help us with this issue, it is beyond our ability."

• The reply of Jesus (vs 6) is interesting;

• The phrase he used has become a well-known quotation among Christians.

6 He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it will obey you.”

Ill:

• The mustard seed is very, very small,

• But it contains life and growth and therefore can produce fruit!

• The disciple’s faith might be very, very small,

• But it to can be living, it can grow and therefore it can produce fruit!

Ill:

• The roots of the fig-mulberry (Ficus sycomorus) are deep-rooted and hard to dislodge.

• The rootage of the sycamine was reckoned to be particularly strong;

• It was thought that the tree could stand 600 years in the earth.

• In other words, this tree was unmovable,

• Just like having to forgive someone at times may seem impossible,

• But with genuine faith growing deeper in in God,

• We can remove that impossible object.

(2). Faithfulness (vs 7-10).

“ ‘Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, “Come along now and sit down to eat”? 8 Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink”? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”’”