Sermon Tone Analysis

Our focus this morning is “forgiveness”.

Both extending it, and receiving it.

The challenge in talking about this topic isn’t to find biblical references about it.

There are plenty, but it’s to get to what does it mean.

I think it’s a difficult topic, and I hope to shed some light on it this morning, but encourage you to take more time to dive into Scripture and consider what forgiveness means in our own lives.

We’ve been spending some time in the University of Prayer and studying how to pray as the Lord taught us.

Let’s refresh our memory of that text - that we all know so well:

And our focus this morning, is on perhaps one of the most frightening passages within our prayer.

Up until this time, we’ve been giving God the glory, praying for God’s Kingdom to come, asking for our daily sustenance, and now we’re at the point of a petition that has eternal consequences.

We all know the sin that is in us, we like David can pray:

We know we’re sinners and in deep need of forgiveness.

Well, at least theologically we know it, whether we know it deep in our souls is another question.

This week we’re focusing on Mt. 6:12

Over the past few weeks we’ve spoken about how memorized prayers, or prayers that are liturgical or rote can become less than heartfelt.

Our mind tends to be so focused on the next phrase that we miss the words that we’re actually saying.

We miss the trees because we’re thinking about the entire forest.

As I considered this passage this week, I put out the questions that I asked you this morning on Facebook: What does it mean to forgive?

What does it mean to be forgiven?

I asked these questions and I got more than 20 serious responses.

Very few of them were brief - again pointing to the difficulty in exactly defining what forgiveness is.

There was a lot about acceptance, and moving on.

There were many comments about releasing the wrong done to you for your own sake or the sake of the relationship.

And there were comments about forgetting what lies in the past and move forward.

Each of these touch on a part of forgiveness, but think about them in our relationship with God.

We’re forgiven

We, as Christians trust in, celebrate, and go forward in the knowledge that through Christ we are forgiven.

When we speak of forgiveness we have to first recognize there is a wound.

Wounds do not heal and leave no scar.

This is a truth that as Christians we tend to wash over.

Each one of us can look upon the crucified Jesus, seeing the blood the scourging, from the crown of thorns, from the nails in his hands and feet and say, “That agony, that blood, that scratch, that cut, that piercing was for my sin!”

Wounds do not heal and leave no scar.

In the resurrection, which we will be celebrating on Easter Sunday, April 21 - invite your friends - In the resurrection scene where Jesus appears to his disciples and when they are startled, what does he offer for proof that it is him?

His hands and feet.

WOUNDS DO NOT HEAL AND LEAVE NO SCAR

He shows them the scars.

Scars remind us of the wound.

Scars often have their own pain with them - think about your own body.

Speaking from experience I can tell you that my scars some of my scars are a constant reminder that they’re there.

So, we must recognize that forgiveness means the bearing of some scars, the bearing of some pain.

Debt - something owed.

We’re pretty good with that one.

Most of us owe something to someone - Our mortgage, car payment, credit card, utility bill, — and those are just financial.

Perhaps you owe a debt of kindness, a debt of gratitude, etc.

The point is you owe.

We owe God everything.

Literally everything.

That first breath you took today, and everyone after that.

The fact that your heart beats, your lungs inhale and exhale, that your body can process food, you can think, you can see, hear, taste, smell, feel.

That you can experience another’s presence.

That you can experience God’s presence here this morning.All of this is God’s work, it’s not because of something we are doing on our own.

Debt is perhaps the easiest of illustrations to use in understanding forgiveness.

Let’s look at another passage of Scripture that speaks of forgiveness:

The part I want to focus on here is that the servant responds with ways that he can pay the debt, we are not able to pay our debt.

Each one of us have sinned numerous times today.

Then we read v. 27

That debt that was owed, still left a dent in the master’s account.

Even though the master forgave the servant, that deficit did not magically disappear and his coffers magically refill.

So…what did it mean to forgive.

It meant that the master chose to take on that deficit, to take bear the scar to his finances, and to not hold it against the servant.

Now what we see in the rest of the story is that this servant did not behave in the same way.

And in anger the master threw him in jail, until he could pay his debt - which would be difficult if not impossible to pay from jail.

Now just prior to this passage, Jesus has a conversation with Peter.

Now according to Jewish law, three times was enough to show a forgiving spirit.

Peter’s suggestion is generous for sure.

Jesus response though leaves much more of a challenge.

The rule is not once, not seven times, but seventy times seven.

This phrase is a Rabbinnic phrase for ‘without limit’.

So, back to our questions:

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What does it mean to forgive?

What does it mean to be forgiven?

If we are to forgive someone, we must recognize that there is wound.

Yet in recognizing that wound we choose to bear the pain of that wound and not hold it against the other person any longer.

Wounds do not heal and leave no scar

It’s not forgive and forget.

God does not forget the fact that we have wounded him.

Jesus does not forget the holes in his hands, feet, and side.

There is one component that I’ve left out.

It is the component of repentence.

Matthew 18:15-20 speaks of what it means to confront a brother or sister for the sin they have committed against you.

It is how we should deal with such situations.

Yet, when someone repents and asks for forgiveness, we need to offer it up to them without limit.