Forgive Us Our Sins
(This sermon is a shorter sermon due to being delivered via Facebook/Live during the Covid-19 shutdown)
Today Pastor Karenlee will be reading from Matthew 18:21-35. When she reads it, it will not read exactly like the NIV which we usually use. She will be reading from the International Children’s Bible which is not a children’s story Bible but is an actual, authentic translation. I would recommend it for any child who is beyond the “story” Bibles and ready to read a real Bible for themselves. I would also be confident in saying that it could be used for daily devotions or casual reading.
But, before she reads today’s Scripture let’s take a brief review of what we have seen so far in the “Lord’s Prayer” found in Matthew 6.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed is Your name!”
- We pray to God alone …
- We come to Him in reverence and awe …
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
- God’s will is to be the highest priority in our lives just as it is in heaven
“Give us this day our daily bread …”
- God is the source of all we need; we should trust Him
- God provides our daily physical sustenance
- God also provides our daily spiritual sustenance through the Word of God and prayer
Today we arrive at, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven out debtors.” Matthew 6:12
Now, Jesus doesn’t just drop it at that point; He goes on to say in Matthew 6:14-15
“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
OUCH!!!!! That’s harsh!!! Does He REALLY mean that????
Imagine praying it this way, “My Heavenly Father … please forgive my sins in the same way and to the same amount that I forgive others who sin against me and I fully understand and realize that if I refuse to forgive others you will not forgive me.”
Would we ever be brazen and bold enough to pray that prayer?
What is our natural instinct? “God, You know what they did to me. Please make them regret it!” Now, we probably wouldn’t actually say that but we sure might think it, right?
But, really! How serious is the Lord about this forgiveness thing? Is He REALLY going to base my forgiveness on how I forgive others?
(Pastor Karenlee reads today’s Scripture - Matthew 18:21-35 ICB
Found on the last page …)
(Prayer for help …)
Sometimes this can be confusing because when we say:
- “Forgive us our debts” - (in at least 36 translations) we think of financial debts
- “Forgive us our sins” - (in at least 9 translations) we think of sins which we normally think of as sinning against God
- “Forgive us our trespasses” (not an accurate translation - only found in a prayer book from the early 1500’s and in a pre-KJV Bible called the Matthew’s Bible)
So, what was Jesus talking about, debts or sins?
From His follow up explanation He was talking about spiritual debts.
But, isn’t any wrongdoing really a spiritual debt?
If you borrow money from someone and purposely do not pay it back when you have the means to do so isn’t that stealing, isn’t that a spiritual debt? I mean, you could repay it but you refuse to do so.
If you borrow money from someone and purposely do not pay it back when you have the means to do so isn’t that lying, isn’t that a spiritual debt? I mean, you said you would repay it but you either had no intention of paying it back or changed your mind.
Stealing and lying are both sins against others and sins against God and we are charged by God to forgive them!
FORGIVENESS IS NOT ALWAYS EASY!!!
UNFORGIVENESS IS HARDER!!!!
Illustration:
Sin against you is a seed. With a seed you have a choice.
You can pluck it up and destroy it or you can bury it in your heart and water it and pull the weeds around it until it grows up into a giant, ugly tree of hatred that casts a shadow of bitterness and resentment over your entire life. You may want to get out from under the shadow and out into the sunlight but you can’t because you have to keep on watering and fertilizing and caring for the tree that darkens your life.
If that is the case in your life you need help. You need help from the One Who has forgiven you the most. You need help from the One Who said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” after they had nailed Him to a cross. (Luke 23:34a)
There is only one way to find true forgiveness when the seed of sin against you has grown into a tree that darkens every waking moment of your life.
That way is with the help of Jesus. And it can be done with or without the other person asking you to forgive them.
How can this be done with or without them asking you to forgive them? Don’t you want to retaliate? Don’t you want retribution?
--------------------------------------------------------
(Pastor Karenlee - outline)
Retribution and Vindication comes from the Lord
- Surrender the hurt to the Lord
- Trust the Lord to handle it
It all falls in line with the Lord’s prayer:
- Our Father in heaven, hallowed is Your name
- Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done
- Give us this day ….
-----------------------------------------------
What Pastor Karenlee has spoken of is essential to forgiveness!
But it won’t be instantaneous or easy …
Every time the devil brings up the sin that has haunted your life ask the Lord to help you to stop watering the tree of unforgiveness and ask the Lord to shine His healing light into your life.
This is NOT a one-time quick fix. This act will happen over and over and over and over until the tree starts to dry up and the leaves start to fall off the tree of unforgiveness and the sunshine of Jesus’ presence in your life begins to shine through the branches and grow brighter and brighter and brighter.
Eventually, the Lord will bring about a miracle that only He can do and that tree will actually start shrinking. Bits and pieces will be carried away by the wind of God’s Amazing Grace until eventually the tree is gone and that unforgiveness and bitterness that was a hallmark of your life will have been replaced by the joy of forgiveness made possible by our amazing Father who is in heaven, hallowed is His name.
It may take months or even years but the Lord will give you a life of joy and contentment where once hatred and resentment reigned.
Christians are called to be reconcilers.
2 Corinthians 5:20 says,
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
How can we try to bring reconciliation with God to others when we ourselves cannot or will not be reconciled to each other?
If we refuse to be reconciled with each other as much as possible we will not be reconciled with God.
How can this reconciliation with God and man take place?
(Talk about salvation – that is the start – HOW are we saved?)
This will result in FREEDOM!!!!!
What if you believe you are already reconciled with Christ?
Is there a test to see if you really are?
Can you pray, “My Father in heaven … forgive me my sin as I have forgiven those who sin against me?”
If you can’t pray that prayer the Lord will be faithful to point out the areas of unforgiveness in your life. And when He does He will not leave you to handle it on your own but will walk the path to forgiveness every step along the way with you.
If you are not willing to forgive, the Lord’s prayer is a dangerous prayer to pray.
Final thoughts and prayer …
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 18:21-35 International Children’s Bible
21 Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when my brother sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as 7 times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than 7 times. You must forgive him even if he does wrong to you 70 times 7.
23 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to collect the money his servants owed him. 24 So the king began to collect his money. One servant owed him several million dollars. 25 But the servant did not have enough money to pay his master, the king. So the master ordered that everything the servant owned should be sold, even the servant’s wife and children. The money would be used to pay the king what the servant owed.
26 “But the servant fell on his knees and begged, ‘Be patient with me. I will pay you everything I owe.’ 27 The master felt sorry for his servant. So the master told the servant he did not have to pay. He let the servant go free.
28 “Later, that same servant found another servant who owed him a few dollars. The servant grabbed the other servant around the neck and said, ‘Pay me the money you owe me!’
29 “The other servant fell on his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me. I will pay you everything I owe.’
30 “But the first servant refused to be patient. He threw the other servant into prison until he could pay everything he owed. 31 All the other servants saw what happened. They were very sorry. So they went and told their master all that had happened.
32 “Then the master called his servant in and said, ‘You evil servant! You begged me to forget what you owed. So I told you that you did not have to pay anything. 33 I had mercy on you. You should have had the same mercy on that other servant.’ 34 The master was very angry, and he put the servant in prison to be punished. The servant had to stay in prison until he could pay everything he owed.
35 “This king did what My heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
