Sermon Tone Analysis
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| *Forgiving Others \\ * |
| A Pocket Paper \\ from \\ The Donelson Fellowship \\ *______________Robert J. Morgan \\ *Robert J. Morgan \\ ----
/See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many/ (Hebrews 12:15).
*I can't think* of a more unpleasant beginning to my message today than by describing a clogged-up commode.
Suppose you went into a restroom to find a commode had been used again and again without anyone having bothered to flush it.
It is filled with malodorous waste and filth.
A virtual roll of toilet paper has been dropped into it.
Suppose, being a brave (or a desperate) soul, you edged close enough to flush it.
But the drain was so clogged that the water backed up, spilling the entire mess across the floor.
That is a picture of a human heart that refuses to flush away its anger, resentment, and bitterness.
The unhealthy debris builds up and backs up until the person's life becomes toxic and repulsive.
Then it spills into other people's lives.
That's why Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you."
Colossians 3 says, "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice... Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Yet forgiveness doesn't come easy for us, and we occasionally come across situations in life in which we aren't even sure forgiveness is appropriate.
I have a friend who told me his harrowing experience.
He and his wife and daughter were at home one evening when a man burst into their house, waving a gun.
He robbed them at gun-point, then, with his gun pointed at the teenage daughter, he warned the father that if he tried to interfere his daughter was a dead woman.
Then, with his finger on the trigger of the gun, he raped the girl before fleeing.
Would you advise that family to forgive their attacker?
You can see that we are not dealing with an easy subject.
Yet the Bible deals with this topic in a sensitive and wise and comprehensive way.
A thorough study of the subject of forgiving others would take many weeks.
For today, I would like to share just three elements that help make up the chemistry of forgiveness.
*First, we must all learn that true love overlooks the many small, daily offenses that are bound to occur.*
Almost all of us have a few sharp edges here and there.
Most of us have some rough patches to our personalities.
We sometimes rub each other the wrong way, or we get miffed at each other, or we neglect each other, or we say something without thinking.
There are about 10,000 ways we can offend another person, and there are an equal number of ways in which we can get our feelings hurt.
It's especially true if we're a little insecure or if we have a low self-image.
We take things personally and become defensive and easily offended.
Roommates get out of sorts with each other.
Husbands and wives rub each other the wrong way.
Fellow-workers on the job take little jabs at each other.
Church members think one another stuck up or snobbish.
But as we grow in the Lord Jesus Christ, we increasingly tend to overlook small, daily offenses more and more.
Paul summed up his attitude in five little words: "But what does it matter?"
He said, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.
But what does it matter?
The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.
And because of this I rejoice."
Peter said, "The end of all things is near.
Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
Above all, love each other deeply, /because love covers a multitude of sins"/ (1 Peter 4:7-8).
Proverbs 12:16 is my favorite verse on this subject because it is so plain-spoken: /A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult./
And Ephesians 4:2 says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
The phrase "bearing with..." is a translation of a Greek word coming from the verb "to put" connected with the preposition "up."
It literally means, "to put up with."
I told one of my daughters recently that one of the most important techniques to learn in dealing with people is the power of a well-timed shrug.
Shrugging your shoulders is usually better than swinging your fists or wagging your tongue.
I've found that is no limit to the number of things I can shrug off.
Why?
Because true love flushes away a multitude of small, daily offenses and keeps the sludge of anger, hurt, and bitterness from backing up into the plumbing system of the soul.
*The second element of forgiveness involves more serious offenses.
The Bible teaches that when someone comes to us with contrite, repentant hearts, asking our forgiveness, we are obliged to forgive them just as we ourselves have been forgiven by God.*
The Lord brings this up at both the beginning and the end of his ministry.
In his first sermon, he taught us to pray, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us" (Matthew 6:12).
And near the conclusion of his ministry he broached the subject in greater detail.
He said in Matthew 18 that if someone commits a serious offense against us and we confront them and they repent, we should forgive them completely.
Peter asked, "How many times should we forgive them?
Seven times?" "No," replied Jesus.
"I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
Then he proceeded to tell Peter the parable of the unmerciful servant.
A servant owed the king a large amount of money, millions of dollars, and the king could have tried to extract the money in ways unspeakably cruel.
But when the servant cried out for mercy, the king forgave the debt.
Going his way, the servant was approached by a man who owed him a few dollars.
"Have mercy on me," said the man.
"I will pay you back when I can."
But the servant had the man thrown into prison until he could repay the debt.
Jesus said, "Then the master called the servant in.
'You wicked servant,' he said.
'I canceled all the debt of yours because you begged me to.
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed."
Then Jesus added these alarming words: /That is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart./
Corrie Ten Boom provided us perhaps the best and most widely-used illustration of this.
Corrie was imprisoned during the war years in a concentration camp, humiliated and degraded, subjected to strip searches, and forced to shower before the ogling eyes of leering guards.
Her dear father died at the hands of the Nazis, as did her beloved sister Betsy.
Corrie miraculously survived the holocaust, and after the war she became a roving missionary for Christ.
She preached and shared the Scripture all over the world.
Then on day, she was speaking in Munich.
After the sermon, she saw a man coming toward her with outstretched hand.
"Ja, Fraulein, it is wonderful that Jesus forgives us all our sins, just as you say."
She remembered his face.
He was one of the leering, lecherous, mocking SS guards who had humiliated and abused her.
Her hand froze by her side.
She could not forgive.
She thought she had forgiven, but she suddenly realized she could not forgive this particular guard, standing there in solid flesh before her.
She sent up a silent, urgent prayer, "Lord, forgive me, I cannot forgive."
Her hand was suddenly unfrozen.
The ice of hatred melted.
Her hand went out.
She forgave as she had been forgiven.
We have an obligation, based on the forgiveness of Christ.
It is by his grace that we have the grace to extend the grace of divine forgiveness.
/Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
/*The third element in the chemistry of forgiveness involves the impenitent* who offended us, hurt us, or abuse us.
They have never apologized, and perhaps they are even scornful of their high-handed evil.
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