The preacher's Sunday sermon was Forgive Your Enemies. He asked how many have forgiven their enemies. About half held up their hands. So he repeated his question. Now about 80% held up their hands. He asked the question again. This time, everybody responded. Everybody that is, except one elderly lady.
"Mrs. Jones”, he said, “You’re not willing to forgive your enemies?" "I don't have any." she replied. "Well now Mrs. Jones, that’s pretty unusual. May I ask how old you are?" "Ninety-three." she answered.
"Mrs. Jones, if you would, please come down in front and tell the congregation how a person can’t have an enemy in the world." So the little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, turned to face the congregation and said, "It's easy, I just outlived the idiots."
When we think and speak about God’s grace, I think that the part of it that comes to mind most often is the way He forgives us of our sins. We know that to receive our salvation, we need that grace, that forgiveness; because we know that it is by grace that we’ve been saved.
Now, as Paul points out to us in Romans chapter six, grace and forgiveness is not a license to go on living a life of sin because we know that we have the grace of God to fall back on. There’s too much teaching in the Scriptures on that subject to think that such a lifestyle would ever be possible. If we’d try to live our lives this way, we’d be ignoring the truths of faith, obedience, and perseverance. To live in such a way that includes God only where He does the forgiving while we continue in unrepentant sin has nothing to do with faith, obedience, or perseverance whatsoever.
It’s like a story I read not too long ago. A young boy prayed and prayed for a new bicycle. He prayed for weeks. “Finally”, he said, “I realized that it doesn’t work that way. So I went out and stole a bike and started praying for forgiveness.”
We do need forgiveness. Not as a crutch to fall back on so we can go on sinning, but because we are an imperfect people; an entire being that’s fallen from sinlessness into sinfulness. And we absolutely need grace to be redeemed in the sight of God. And we should give God constant praise that He gives us what we don’t deserve.
In our text this morning, we see where Jesus gives us an example of how we should pray. We can see that he immediately praises The Father. “Hallowed (or Revered) be Your name”. And then prays for God’s will to be done. He goes on to ask for our physical needs to be taken care of. Then, before he prays for protection from evil, he says, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
One day while I was studying, I was reading this passage that a lot of people refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer”. I personally think of it as the Lord’s example prayer. My opinion is that this is an important lesson in the things that we ought to pray for.
But it was what Jesus said right after his prayer that really grabbed my attention. If we go back and read that passage, we see in verses 15 and 16, just as soon as he says “Amen”, he continues by saying, “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
What a truly ominous statement that is! For Jesus to say that the forgiveness of our sins depends on how willing we are to be forgiving of others!
Have you ever really let the fact sink in that if we’re to expect God to bestow His grace upon us, we need to be willing to not only accept it, but also allow this same grace to flow through us; to show by our faithful action that we are His people – His children.
If we take out our bibles and go to Matthew chapter 18 and read verses 21-35, we can see how Jesus illustrates this point.
Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.' And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
"But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
"So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
Thomas Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a "light bulb" and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You've probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. Did he do it himself? No! He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one.
Now Edison wasn’t a particularly religious man. But, his attitude in this particular situation points out to us that there’s no good that comes out of holding a grudge. You see, Edison showed his forgiveness of the boy by trusting him with the second bulb. I wonder how many people would have told him to just stay out of the way.
Mark chapter 11 records Christ’s Triumphal Entry and him driving the money changers out of the temple. I’m sure that most of us are familiar with those events.
But there are a couple of other things here that I’d like to point out. Verses 12-14 say this: “On the next day (after he’d entered Jerusalem), when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.”
Now, let’s drop down to verses 19-26. “When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."
And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."
Can you imagine Peter’s wonder at seeing this fig tree, alive and green when they passed it one day; now withered and brown, not just the leaves but the entire tree, the very next morning? That must have seemed incredible to him. He said, “Look at the tree that you cursed yesterday. It’s dead!”
So, Jesus uses this opportunity to teach these men, his apostles, another lesson.
First, Jesus starts by telling his disciples to have faith in God, because through faith, amazing things can happen. He goes on to tell them that if you pray without doubt and with confidence that, if its not a selfish thing, God can grant you anything that you ask for, and if you truly believe that you’ll receive it, you will.
Now, what he’s said to these men so far is in relatively general terms. He said, “all things for which you pray”. But look at where he takes us from there. From the general, to the specific. And what is it that he’s being specific about? “Forgiveness”.
Ask for whatever it might be that you desire, but make sure that forgiveness is included while you pray. And he’s not talking here about asking for our own forgiveness, which we most definitely need to do, but here his point is to be forgiving of others, so that, he adds, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
And then he finishes with this warning. “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
Let me ask you now, does that sound harsh to you? Does the fact that God holds us accountable for our actions seem like doing away with or lessening the effect of His grace? Hardly! In fact, this helps us to see how kind and loving God truly is. If we forgive others when we feel like they don’t deserve it, then we can have an even greater appreciation for the forgiveness that we receive from God.
Let’s think about that for a minute by putting it in this perspective: On any given day of your life, how many times do you have the opportunity to forgive someone? Some days are different from others, I know. But on the average, how many times in a day do you offer somebody forgiveness? Once? Twice? Five? Maybe up to seven times? And when somebody needs forgiven, do you do it every single time, regardless of what they’ve done?
Now, let me ask you this: How many times a day does God forgive you? Once? Twice? Five? Up to seven times?...Or is it more? Is it as many times as you ask? Do you believe that God has a set limit on how many times He’s willing to forgive you? That He’ll forgive me only so many times? That after He’s forgiven me “X” number of times then He starts withholding His grace?
I really want you to think about this. Is there any person that you haven’t forgiven of something? If there is, why are you withholding your grace?
A few years ago, there was a movie that came out called “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. It was a pretty goofy movie about two California high school kids who traveled back in time, in a phone booth, to bring back some historical figures like So-Crates and Sigmund Frood, so they could pass their final history exam.
Like I said, it was a pretty goofy movie, but there was one thing about it that’s wise for us to always remember. In the scene where they were taken into the future, the people expected them to say something. What Bill said has no meaning for us, but Ted’s statement was profound. He grabbed the hem of his denim vest with his right hand, as he felt a great orator would do, held up his left hand, and with his most dignified expression said, “Be excellent to each other”.
What an amazing concept! Be excellent to each other. But what does it mean, this word “excellent”? Well, according to the American Heritage Dictionary the definition is: Of the highest or finest quality. In other words, to be excellent to each other, we need to give to each other the best of ourselves. So, do you see that a part of this giving our best to others includes forgiving them when they might wrong us? My answer is “Absolutely”!
“Ok. But this was from a movie. A lot of things are said in the movies.” Well, that’s very true. But it’s still based on sound Biblical principles.
If we look at the first letter from Paul to the church in Corinth and pick it up at the end of chapter 12 and continue on a little way into chapter 13, we can see the very same ideal.
Beginning with 12:31 and going through 13:5 we read this: “And now I will show you the most excellent way.”
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
Did you catch that? Now listen! Not “A” most excellent way, but “THE” most excellent way. And what is that way again? Love!
Paul here tells us what love is and then what love does. And one of the things that love, the most excellent way, the way that we give to each other our best does is, it keeps no record of wrongs. It forgives and forgets the sins committed against us. The most excellent way.
As a Christian, do you accept God’s grace but refuse to be forgiving? Do you look at grace as just a “God” thing that you only receive but aren’t expected to give?
Before I end this morning’s/EVENING’S message, there are two things that I’d like to point out.
The first is the kind of relationship we have with God. It’s called a covenant. A covenant is an agreement or a contract. It implies that one party will do their part as long as the other party does theirs. That’s why James writes in chapter 2, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
Is he speaking here about the works of the law? No! It’s the work of the Spirit in us by faith! When Paul wrote to the Galatians about the Fruit of the Spirit, he wasn’t writing about a state of being. He was talking about intentional actions. He said, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Chapter 5) We choose to love. We choose to be joyful. We choose to be peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self controlled. And we have to live a holy, faithful, spirit-filled life for it to be a pleasant aroma to God.
Second is just a simple reminder of who we are. We are members of Christ’s church. We’re members of the body of Christ. We’re people who’ve made a commitment to God that we’d give our lives completely over to Him to use us as He sees fit. We’re people who’ve made a commitment to God that we’d do our best to live our lives in as excellent a manner as possible. We’re people who struggle for our spiritual survival because we’re at war with ourselves. We’re people who have our sins overlooked by living our lives in faith and obedience to the Almighty God.
**All printed Scripture is from the New American Standard 95 Updated Edition
