Freed By Forgiveness

FREED BY FORGIVENESS

Mt. 18:21-35

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A story out of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, describes the power of revenge. Luciano Mare, 81 years old, caught a mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

2. He was burning leaves out in his yard, so he carried it out and threw it on the fire. According to Fire Chief Juan Chavez, the burning mouse ran back to the house and set the dry brush around it on fire. The flames spread and burned the house down. The inhabitants escaped unharmed.

3. The Chief replied that he’d seen a lot of house fires, but never one by a malicious mouse! Oh, the power of revenge! Which brings us to today’s scripture.

B. TEXT

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

C. THESIS

1. Coronavirus is having a second unexpected wave of contagion: with everyone under “stay at home” orders, spending months with each other, people are finding out they don’t like the people they’re living with. (The same thing happened in China.)

2. New Yorkers are flooding lawyer phone lines with divorce inquiries — with an avalanche of filings expected once the courts open. People are cracking under the strain of not having their job to run off to, and not being able to be selfish with their time.

3. Money problems are stressing everyone. There’s the threat of mortality. The kids are under their feet all the time. Many people have lost their jobs. People feel like they’re in a pressure-cooker! Emotions are raw; spouses tell of constant fighting.

4. It’s time we got on our knees and asked God for grace and for patience to love each other in spite of our differences! So today we’re going to look at unforgiveness: its symptoms, how it affects us, and how forgiveness frees us. The title is “Freed by Forgiveness.”

I. FIRST PROBLEM: DENIAL

A. ALMOST NOBODY THINKS THEY’RE UNFORGIVING

1. Whether it’s a blind spot, a quirk of human nature, or self-deception, almost no one thinks they’re unforgiving.

2. Researchers have discovered the “halo effect” — that most people see their good points and overlook their bad points. This gives us the misconception that we’re better than we really are. So we don’t notice that we ourselves are unforgiving!

3. We can easily see the shortcomings of our spouses, extended family, and work associates; so it’s easy to sit in judgment of them since they’re so much worse than we are.

4. But the truth is, the vast majority of people are pretty selfish, lie to ourselves, and most of us have some unforgiveness.

B. SYMPTOMS OF UNFORGIVENESS. YOU KNOW YOU’RE NOT FORGIVING WHEN:

1. You can’t think of a certain person without thinking of what they did in the past, even if it was years ago.

2. If you saw them in the store, you’d go the opposite direction or leave the store. You definitely wouldn’t want to make eye contact or shake their hand or speak to them.