Don't Take This Personally
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Our sermon will be on Luke 16:14-17
We have a website: https://tahlequahworshipcenter.com/
We are going through the book of John on Wednesday Nights
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Heaven’s Jubilee
On Jordan’s Stormy Bank
Sweet, Sweet Spirit
In Christ Alone
Don’t Take This Personally
Don’t Take This Personally
How many of us has heated discussions or arguments?
It happens.
Usually when things get heated, we will devolve into name calling of some sort.
Like, “you alway’s do that”
Sometimes it happens by accident.
For example, I’ll say something in an upset tone.
Often, I’m upset, but not upset at the person involved.
That then escalates into an argument.
There’s also true circumstances that can cause us to be upset.
For example, a few days ago was St. Patricks Day.
I don’t know if you know this, but Patrick was actually English.
When he was about 16, he captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain.
He was taken to Ireland where he was a slave.
He looked after animals for 6 years before he was able to escape.
He heard a voice that he was going home and that his ship was ready.
He said that during his captivity, he was converted and drew closer to God.
When be got back to Britain, He became a Cleric.
The conditions that he was
What do you do when you are treated badly?
1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
You Will Be Provoked
You Will Be Provoked
Jesus says here in verse 1 that “It is impossible that no offenses should come.”
That means that we will be offended.
How many of you have been offended?
I had an Aunt that was very dear to Cristy and I.
She had a great capacity to love.
She also had a great capacity to stick her foot in her mouth.
And if you want to be offended, try being a pastor or part of a pastor’s family.
But, no matter what happens, we are to forgive.
When Jesus was teaching on prayer, he included this part: Matthew 6:12
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
and then in Matthew 6:14-15
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I want to make this clear: if we don’t forgive others, we will not be forgiven.
Chew on that for a bit.
In a parallel passage: Matthew 18, the context is that there was a child near him.
There could have been one here, but Luke doesn’t record it.
But what we do have here is the same warning: Luke 17:2
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
That is a dire warning.
In Romans 14, Paul is telling the romans, and us, that we are going to believe differently about different teachings.
He classifies these things “doubtful things”
He talks specifically about eating and drinking, and also different days, like feasts.
Romans 14:12-13
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.
So there are many things that we might argue about that are not explicitly taught in scripture.
For example, there’s not a “You shall not” in front of it.
Here’s the truth, others may provoke us, but ...
You Will Provoke Others
You Will Provoke Others
The short answer is that we all make mistakes.
Division is inevitable. Even Paul had some arguments with other Christians.
For example Paul divides with someone who up until then had been one of his closest friends.
36 Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”
37 Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.
38 But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.
39 Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus;
40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.
41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
God used them all in spite of this division.
Eventually, Paul forgave Mark. In 2 Timothy 4:11
11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.
I’m not even saying that Paul was in the wrong there. We don’t have enough info.
However, I know this:
You Must Pardon Others
You Must Pardon Others
In our scripture, it says: Luke 17:3-4
3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Remember what we read in Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Do y’all remember the Charleston church shooting that happened in 2015?
One by one, family members and church members forgave the shooter.
How is it possible to forgive someone that has done something as horrible as killing people just because of the color of their skin?
How could people that went through the holocaust like Corrie Ten Boom forgive those that did horrible things?
We want to hold on to those hurts. We want to keep them to ourselves.
It’s a poison that will kill us.
Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness. - Corrie Ten Boom
Eric Metaxas writes this in his book 7 Women:
In 1947 while speaking in a Munich church, a balding man in a gray overcoat stepped forward to greet Corrie. Corrie froze. She knew this man well; he’d been one of the most vicious guards at Ravensbrück, one who had mocked the women prisoners as they showered. “It came back with a rush,” she wrote, “the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man.”
And now he was pushing his hand out to shake hers, and saying:
“A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”
And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course — how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?
But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face to face with one of my captors, and my blood seemed to freeze.
“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard there… But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein” — again the hand came out —“will you forgive me?”
And I stood there — I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven — and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place — could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
The soldier stood there expectantly, waiting for Corrie to shake his hand. She “wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. For I had to do it — I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us.”
Standing there before the former S.S. man, Corrie remembered that forgiveness is an act of the will — not an emotion. “Jesus, help me!” she prayed. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”
Corrie thrust out her hand.
And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart.”
For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.
Do you have forgiveness like that?
We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness.
- Frederick W. Robertson
If love is a fruit of the Spirit, then forgiveness is a fruit of love.
I need to go back with what we started with. St. Patrick.
I told you that he escaped the Irish that had enslaved him.
The Irish were mostly pagan at that time.
Instead of staying away from his captors, he embraced them and loved them.
He went there and preached the word of God to them.
He forgave them.
By his death, all of Ireland had ended the slave trade.
If God has forgiven you then you can forgive others too.