Take The Shackles Off My Feet So I Can Dance

Take the Shackles off my Feet So I Can Dance

PPT 1 Series Title

PPT 2 Message Title

This is our 3rd week on Mt. 6:12. In week 1 we talked about the notebooks we have on others. Love does not keep a record of wrongs done, but we often do. The Lord's prayer teaches us that if we want God to take away the notebook of wrongs we have done, we have to be willing to give Him the notebook of wrongs others have done. In week 2 we answered the question do people need to repent for us to forgive them. Using Jesus as an example we concluded the answer was no, they don't have to repent. I also used a spear to illustrate the hurts others cause, how we bind them firmly to us when we adopt a no repentance, no forgiveness theology, and also tried to explain the difference between forgiveness and a wound.

Today's text:

Mt 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Today's message is about getting rid of spiritual weights that can rob you of joy, peace, and a graceful spirit.

I want to begin this morning by noting something about the Lord's prayer that we hardly if ever take notice of.

Us, Our, We. These are all plural forms. Not one commentary I read mentioned the plural nature of this part of the prayer. In all honesty I myself never thought about it before preparing this message today. In today's message I want to talk about getting rid of all the notebooks of wrongs done by others we carry around. I'll explain more as the message continues. First up, I want to state...

1. We as humans have a sinful predisposition to get mad at others.

PPT 3 Text

Ps 15:1 (A Psalm of David.) O LORD, who may abide in Thy tent? Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?

Ps 15:2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.

Ps 15:3 He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

I want to draw your attention to the last part of v. 3. Taking up a reproach. In short I think it means you get mad at someone because of what they did to someone else. It happens all the time. Why do you think that is?

Paul said it this way, in my flesh dwells no good thing. There is a part of us that is like flypaper to the hurts and wounds that others receive.

PPT 4 pic of fly stuck to flypaper

The problem for us is that once it sticks to us, it can be difficult to remove, because among other reasons we gave it permission to land.

PPT 5 pic of lots of flies stuck to flypaper.

As if that isn't bad enough, this is what begins to happen over time. We allow nasty dead things to accumulate and attach themselves to us. Have you ever been to someone's house and they had flypaper up. Disgusting right?! Have you ever accidentally brushed up against flypaper and got some stuck to your hair? That is the way you need to think about conversations when someone tries to dump their offenses on you.

I have met people whose lives are full of the hurts not only done to them, but also they have taken up hurts that were done to others. There are 5 major tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. (Umami comes from Japanese and means delicious taste) I think in some ways all of us have a taste.

People with a lot of flies stuck to them are bitter. But even if the dominant aspect of your personality isn't bitter, it is a fact of human nature that we tend to take a perverse enjoyment in bitter things. Dark chocolate, and coffee are two examples of bitter things we like.

Jesus a told a proverb once that teaches that dead things attract other things that like dead things.

PPT 6 text

Lu 17:36 ["Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left."]

Lu 17:37 And answering they *said to Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said to them, "Where the body [is,] there also will the vultures be gathered."

It is a sad but true part of our humanity that our sinful nature is often drawn to and enjoys feasting on dead things in the lives of others. Hearing gossip often brings us the vulture side of our sinful nature. We enjoy it, we relish in it, we gobble it up greedily. Is that what we ought to be as believers, feasting on the dead things in the live of others? Yet, too often that is exactly what we do.