Forgiveness Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• As we enter into week 5 of Fireproofing our Relationships, I want to talk to you about the second most important skill and action involved in successful relationships, friendships, and marriages. That skill is forgiveness.

• This may be one of the most difficult skills to posses because of the pain and hurt that that caused the need for forgiveness to be exercised in the first place.

• The truth about forgiven is… it isn’t easy. Because you never have to forgive someone for something that doesn’t matter. You never have to forgive them for helping you, making your smile or making you feel good. The only time you have to forgive is when you’ve been hurt.

• Have you ever known anyone who was so consumed by anger or hate that they couldn’t think rationally? It happens all the time.

• When we’re consumed by hatred, or even consumed by our hurt, Satan can outwit us. So I want to talk to you about forgiveness today.

• It’s been said that Adam and Eve were the only people who had a perfect marriage. But that was because Adam could never talk about the way his mother kept the house and Eve could never brag about all the guys she could have married.

• Jesus understood how important forgiveness was and to help us to understand, He shared with us the parable of the unmerciful servant.

• Turn in your bibles to Matthew 18:21-35

• We are going to look at this parable for the base of the message and we will build upon it.

• SLIDE #2

• Matthew 18:21-35(ESV)

• From this parable we see something very important to understand if we are going to be able to forgive others.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. We are not called to keep score.

• PETER WANTS TO KNOW HOW HIGH TO COUNT; JESUS DOESN’T LIKE IT WHEN WE KEEP SCORE.

• In verse 21 Peter asks Jesus a question about how many times he needs to forgive another.

• The Jews of that day taught that you could forgive a brother as many as three times for an offense, but after the fourth time, there was no forgiveness.

• Peter knows Jesus’ heart of compassion, so he doubles the number and adds one. “Is seven times enough, Lord?” He asks.

• Jesus says, “Seventy-seven times.” – It’s an allusion to a statement by Lamech in the book of Genesis 4:24 that Lamech would take vengeance not seven times on someone who had wronged him, but seventy-seven times.

• Since no one can keep count for that long, it might as well be an unlimited number. When it comes to forgiveness, Jesus doesn’t want us to keep score; He just wants us to forgive.

• I want to reflect on a few thoughts from the passage before we go to the next point.

• Here’s the second observation. The word Jesus uses for “forgiveness,” is the Greek word “macrothumia.”

• Macrothumia is a great description of what takes place in order to grant forgiveness, because macrothumia is a compound word. It’s a word made up of two words. You know the word “macro,” don’t you? If “micro” means “small,” then “macro” means….” “Big.”

• “Thumia” sounds a lot like some words we have that have to do with temperature.

• The thing on the wall that controls the temperature in our homes is called the…? “Thermostat.”

• So, macrothumia could be translated as, “big chill.” Probably the best translation for it would be, “to set aside your anger.” Isn’t that a good picture of what happens when we forgive?

• TO FORGIVE LITERALLY MEANS, “TO SET ASIDE YOUR ANGER.”

• When we forgive, we set aside our anger. TEXT STORY

• A TALENT = 15 YEAR’S WAGES. This is a big sum.

• A DENARIUS = 1 DAY’S WAGE.

• THE SERVANT OWED AN OUTRAGEOUS AMOUNT TO HIS MASTER.

• 15 year’s wages times 10,000 = 150,000 years worth of debt.

• NO ONE BORROWS 150,000 YEAR’S WORTH OF PAY. THIS SERVANT MUST HAVE BEEN AN EMBEZZLER.

• NOTICE THAT THE KING IS WILLING TO FORGIVE AN INCONCEIVABLY LARGE DEBT, BUT THE SERVANT IS NOT WILLING TO FORGIVE A RELATIVELY SMALL DEBT.

• THE KING IS MUCH MORE ANGRY ABOUT THE SERVANT’S LACK OF FORGIVENESS FOR A FELLOW SERVANT THAN ABOUT HIS SIN AGAINST THE KING.

• THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN MUST FORGIVE.

• This is why Jesus, in the Lord’s Prayer, instructs us to say, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

• When Peter wants to know how many times we should forgive someone, Jesus tells him a story to help him see the heart of the Father. The story is about a king who sets aside his anger at an outrageous sum that has been embezzled by one of his most trusted advisors.