Prayer Series
Part 8
Forgiveness Part 2
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
-Matthew 6
“And forgive us our debts,
AS we also have forgiven our debtors.”
“AS” = Does NOT mean
“In the same way” or we would all be trouble.
“AS” = Means “as we are in the process of forgiving others.”
It actually reads something like this:
Forgive us our debts,
as we also in the process
of forgiving our debtors.
- Matthew 6:12
We are asked to forgive because
God has forgiven us.
“Be kind and compassionate to
one another, forgiving each
other, just AS in Christ God
forgave you.”
-Ephesians 4:32
Keep in mind that it is impossible for us to forgive literally “Just as” Jesus did.
He felt 100% pain & Forgave 100%...
Forgiving others is HARD/PAINFUL work.
(Going to the cross was not easy for Jesus.)
It goes against all temptation to want the other person to experience what I call the
“Blood, Sweat & Tears” Principle.
We by nature want to see the other person feel the blood, sweat and tears that they have caused us.
Yet, Jesus was not that way.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain…7 He was oppressed and afflicted, YET he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…”
-Isaiah 53:3,7
Forgiving others is TIMELY work.
* It is always time to “Forgive” (don’t delay).
* And “Forgiveness” is a process that can take time.
It is always time to forgive,.
“Peter came to Jesus and asked,
‘Lord, how many times shall I
forgive my brother or sister
who sins against me? Up to
seven times?’ Jesus answered,
‘I tell you, not seven times, but
seventy-seven times.’”
-Matthew 18:21+
BECAUSE Jesus has forgiven us, we must always be in the process of forgiving others.
“The kingdom of
heaven is like a king who wanted
to settle accounts [Debtors] with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed
him ten thousand bags of gold
was brought to him. [An un-payable amount. “Billions of dollars”]
[Contrasted with 100 silver coins]
25 Since he was not able to pay,
the master ordered that he and
his wife and his children and all
that he had be sold to repay the
debt. 26 “At this the servant fell
on his knees before him.
‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will
pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity
on him, canceled the debt and
let him go. 28 “But when that
Servant went out, he found one
of his fellow servants who owed
him a hundred silver coins.
[Contrasted with ten thousand bags of gold that he was forgiven]
He grabbed him and began to
choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees
and begged him, ‘Be patient
with me, and I will pay it back.’
went off and had the man
thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw
what had happened, they were
outraged and went and told their
master everything that had
happened.
32 “Then the master called the
servant in. ‘You wicked
servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all
that debt of yours because you
begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your
brother or sister from your heart.” [Law]
-Matthew 18:23-35
Note: This is not to mean that “Giving Forgiveness” is a necessary “good work” for us to receive forgiveness from God.
“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourself, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
-Ephesians 2:8-10
“No one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin… All have sinned and fall short…and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus.”
-Romans 3:20-24
Three Steps to Forgiveness
(These 3 take time and hard work, but with God’s help, you can do it)
1. Give up your right to hurt them back.
“Eye for eye…Turn the other cheek”
-Matthew 5:38,39
2. Humanize them. (In most cases, they are not monsters).
3. Genuinely want good for them in the future.
Forgive and Forget.
Forgive and File.
Forgive and Properly File.
In most cases, we do not forget things that people have done wrong to us that really hurt.
So, rather than feeling guilty that we still remember
(thinking that we may not have really forgiven them),
realize that when God says that he remembers our sins no more, it means that he doesn’t remember them on our account.
He remembers them on Jesus’ account that was paid for on the cross.
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
–Isaiah 43:25
“Be kind and compassionate to
one another, forgiving each
other, just AS in Christ God
forgave you.”
-Ephesians 4:32
There is always freedom associated with forgiveness.