07-08-18
Matthew 18:21-22
Title: Forgiveness
I would like to share a Fishing Story with
you.
Through my years growing up as a boy, as a
family, we went fishing almost every weekend. We also ran a homebased fishing
bait store so we always had more than enough of bait.
On this particular weekend, we went to Kirwin
Lake and camped at Crappy Point. This was always a family choice because we
would catch a good variety of fish and had a lot of fun there. But as our
fishing adventures went, this weekend has to be one of the top few.
My oldest brother Tom came along with us and
he brought with him a map of the landscape of how it was before they built the
lake. It showed where one of the creeks was located and also a railroad bridge.
The plan was for Tom and I to get up early and go out on the lake in our John
boat with using Tom’s electric trolling motor and also his fish / depth find
and together, we would try to locate the rise of earth that we felt would still
be there right before the old railroad bridge.
We started out around 4 a.m., with a flash light
in my hand and Tom running the motor. Now this John Boat was only a 1 ½ man
size of a boat and although there wasn’t any other boats out at that hour, it
was still scary because with each larger wave, some water would always splash
in.
I am not for sure how, but we were able to
locate this small area of land where on both sides of where the tracks used to
run, it dropped off to the depths rather quickly. That is when I heard Tom say
a few words which made me test my faith. Tom said, “Dan, it is right here. Get
out of the boat.” It was then when I had a Peter / Jesus moment. “What, get out
of the boat? Are you crazy?” It was pitch black out, good size waves and my
brother wants me to get out of this tiny boat.
Well, I grabbed all of the courage as I could
and stepped out of the boat. It didn’t take me long at all to find out that I
had only about a 3’ wide area to stand before the knee high water quickly
became to depths of being well over my head. But there we both stood, on top of
this underwater ridge which ran for about 20 or so feet before dropping off
into deeper water.
We began to use different bait and it didn’t
take long to figure out that the White Bass were hitting on minnows. We would
cast out on the south side of the rise, let the minnow and sinker drop down and
then slowly real it back in. It was almost with every cast, we would have a
bite and we had lots of fun, just the two of us, reeling in White Bass after
White Bass.
When the sun began to rise back at the camp
site, some friends of ours, two sons my age and their father as well as our
dad, got into two more boats and came out to join us. So there we all were, six
of us, casting out and reeling in White Bass after White Bass. Even though with
having the bait business and such, we brought lots and lots of minnows with us,
I could start to see that the numbers of the minnows were beginning to get
fewer at what seemed to be an alarming rate. So I tried an experiment.
Instead of using live minnows, I began to use
dead minnows. Now it has been my experience, no matter how well you take care
of your bait, when fishing with minnows, you will always have some which die
within the minnow buckets so those are the ones which I began to use. Just as I
did with the live minnows as bait, I would cast out and allow the minnow to
drop to the bottom and then I would reel in the line. And with even using the
dead minnows, I was still keeping up with everyone who was using the live
minnows.
This is when I began to use partial minnows as
my bait. You know, when you reel in a fish, there always seems to be part of
the minnow left so that is what I began to use. Again, keeping the fishing
process the same, letting the bait fall to the lake floor and then reeling it
in, I still caught fish. And that is with using a dead – half minnow as bait.
So this raised my curiosity up some more. I
wonder what would happen if I used no minnow. Surely my catching fish would
end. So with an empty, bare hook, casting out my line, allowing it to drop all
the way to the floor and then reeling in my line, I still caught fish! It
didn’t seem to matter if we used bait or not!
That day will be one of the fishing days which
I will remember for a very long time.
Now I bet you are wondering, how will I use
this fishing story as a lesson plan, right?
But if we were going to say that the bait, in
this case, the minnow was temptation, what type of SIN could or would the full
live minnow be?
From just looking at the Ten
Commandments we have
·
False
Worship
·
Idolatry
/ Self Pride
·
Misusing
God's name / Leading others astray
·
Violating
the Sabbath
·
Dishonoring
Parents
·
Murder,
Adultery / Lust
·
Stealing
·
Coveting
·
Lying
/ GOSSIP
The devil is pretty smart on getting us to
bite on his sin. First he separates us from the Church body and also from God.
Then he throws his flashy - lovely – seductive minnow before us and he puts his
lie into action. He paints the illusion of our desires and then he dances the
lies before us to entice us to bite. And of course, after the first time, it becomes
easier and easier to catch us. He begins to use his less glamorous bait, in
this case it is the dead stinky minnow. And after we become a frequent sinner within
his lies, it is almost like we are in a trance. That is when he begins to use
his scraps and we jump at the chance to bite.
But what about That Bare Hook? Why in the
world would we want to bite on a bare hook? But I believe, it is this bare hook
which is the most dangerous of all of his sins!
Tell me – Have You ever experienced anything
like these situations?
·
Someone using
something of yours without asking first?
When
I was very young, back when it was a lot of work to wash clothes, when it took
like all day to wash clothes, well this is when this story took place. My Mom
was busy washing clothes, took a load out of the washer, but another load in
and she was taking this wet load outside to hang on her clothesline. This is
when she noticed that the neighbor was washing their laundry as well but
instead of using her own clothesline, she decided to use my mother’s instead.
Here Mom was, holding a basket of dripping clothes with no place to go. At that
moment, what were her choices?
§ Take the neighbors clothes down and rehang
them on the neighbor’s lines?
§ Take the neighbors clothes down and through
them over the fence on their side on their lawn?
§ Go over and knock on her door and ask what she
was doing on using Mom’s lines?
§ To go ahead and take the neighbor’s laundry
down, hang our laundry up and then keep their laundry?
§ Or go back inside, pray for the neighbor and
wait until the neighbor comes and collect’s her laundry before returning to
hang up our wet things?
·
What about if
someone who is very close to you was abused/misused by one of her family
members when she was just a child.
Being abused and/or misused by someone who is
very close to you and also a family member, someone who you are supposed to
love and to trust to keep you safe can really mess cause problems. Not only
will there be interacting difficulties and problems at that time but this type
of abuse runs problems down deep within you where they will surface
unexpectedly many, many years later. But again, what do you do?
·
Hold Hate for
that person forever and ever?
·
Or do you deal
with it, Pray through it and over it. And grow to forgive them?
·
What about if
someone who knew better put your family at harm and actually killed one of your
family members?
Shortly
after we were married, my wife, Cheryl and I became pregnant with Aubrey. And
on the way to work one day, someone who knew that should drive, drove anyway
and had a blackout due to their medical issues and crossed over the centerline
and hit the vehicle Cheryl’s vehicle head on. On that day, Cheryl was 5 ½
months pregnant and on the day before this, we both heard Aubrey’s heartbeat,
what an exciting moment that was. But, that was the last time we would hear it.
Not only was Cheryl injured, the pregnancy with Aubrey was over. My wife had to
go through delivering her still born just a few weeks later. So again, what
choices do you have?
§ To grow old with hate in your heart of never
forgiving him?
§ Or, live on through prayer and learn to
forgive and to forgive?
I do not share our personal tragedies with you
to gain your sympathy, nor to show that we have had such hard times in our lives,
nor to say that we are so special and perfect. No. I share them with you so it
may become easier for you to look back into your lives; to help you find and to
recall the time(s) when someone has done you so very wrong; to recall those
times when they have hurt you or have hurt someone who you Love so dearly.
We see that Bare Hook
·
Sliding along the
bottom
·
Through the moss,
and across the mud, the sand, and the rocks
·
We don’t run up
to it just so we can look at it.
·
We don’t just go
up to it to smell it either
·
We grab ahold of
it for Dear Life!
·
And we shove it
into our own mouths!
·
And we bite down
on it as hard as we can.
·
Pushing it Deep
into our gums
·
And we seem to
Just Love the Pain and the Taste of our own blood!
That BARE HOOK IS OUR, IT IS YOUR - Non-Forgiveness!!
Now - We know if we forgive, it will make us a
good person. But – I believe the real question is:
·
Do We Have To
Forgive Others?
·
What does God Say
about forgiving others?
·
And What is our
cost if we Do Not Forgive?
To find this out, let’s go to God’s Word.
Matthew 18:21-22. (ESV) “Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Jesus said
to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Just so we can understand this passage just a
little clearer, in Matthew 18:21-35, when it talks about the 10,000 Talents,
how much is that really worth?
- 1
Talent is equal to 20 years of a common worker’s wages.
- One
days wage of a common worker and with minimum-wage being $7.25 X 8 hours
for each day, that equals $58 daily wage.
- Working
6 days a week and allowing 20 days off for various holidays, the average
worker would work 293 days each year.
- 293
x $58 equals $16,994 per year.
- $16,994
x 20 years equals $339,880 per talent.
- 10,000
talents x $339,880 (1 Talent) equals $3,398,800,000.
So
10,000 Talents equals $3,398,800,000 (3.4 Billon)/ 6,000)
So how much is 100 Denarii worth?
- 1
Denarii (denarius) is equal to a common worker’s one day’s of wages so
with minimum wage being at $7.25 x 8 hours that equals $58. 1 Denarii equals $58.
So 100 Denarii equals $5,800.
OK – God wants us to forgive, and He says WE
NEED to forgive BUT - HOW DO WE FORGIVE
SOMEONE
WHO HAS HURT US SO DEEPLY?
Step 1)
FIRST - We need to know what Forgiveness is
NOT:
Forgiveness
DOES NOT Mean we will be FREE OF THE PAIN.
Forgiving Does Not mean that we will no longer
experience
·
The LOSS,
·
The HURT
·
Or EXPERIENCE the
PAIN.
·
& It is NOT
RECONCILIATION.
Forgiveness Does Not Mean that you will now have
to have a Relationships with the bad person. As If To Give them One more
opportunity to hurt you again.
Forgiveness Simply Means that we:
·
LET GO OF OUR
ANGER
·
We LET GO OF OUR THOUGHTS
OF REVENGE
·
AND We LET GO OF ALL
OF OUR BITTERNESS
So how do we do it?
1. We Give
It ALL To GOD!
2. And WE Trust God to deal with the people.
We Trust in God that He will take care of the
issue.
Forgiveness is Truly an ACT OF FAITH! Romans
12:17-19 “Repay no one evil for evil, but
give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far
as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will
repay, says the Lord.””
If we Do Not give this to God but rather we
hang on to it; we are actually telling God that we don’t trust in Him. Forgiveness
is letting go of the control! And then, truly trusting in God that He will take
care of everything for you.
Step 2)
Pray for those who have hurt you.
Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you – so that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven.”
When you have entered into this stage of
forgiveness,
You are now praying for them instead of
cursing them. This is when we begin to heal and we will not misunderstand God when
He begins to work within their lives as well.
See God is faithful to all and if we are into
this step as we should be, when God begins to move within their lives as well, and
He sends Blessings upon them, you will be Celebrating with them and God rather
than cursing God.
Proverbs 24:17 “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And let not your heart be glad
when he stumbles”
So we have:
Step 1) Trust God to deal with the people.
Step 2) Pray for those who have hurt you.
And now Step 3)
Stop Speaking Negatively About them.
This is the easiest way for you to tell if you
have not yet forgiven them. If your nature is still to speak ill of them, then
you have more work to do.
Let’s be Honest, when we are hurt and angry.
·
We want everyone
we know.
·
And everyone that
they know.
·
We want everyone
to know just how deeply they have hurt you!
But by doing this, ultimately, we are just
adding on more sin upon ourselves. We are talking poorly about their character
without them being present to offer their side which is in all accounts is sin.
James 4:11-12,
“Do not
speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother
or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if
you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one
lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to
judge your neighbor?”
Now I know that forgiveness is not easy, it
isn’t meant to be. Was it EASY for Jesus to Restore Heavenly order and to
establish our Bridge of Forgiveness with God the Father once again?
·
Jesus was
humiliated!
·
He was betrayed!
·
He was abandoned!
·
He was hurt!
·
And He was
executed!
Just For me and Just For You!
Forgiveness is Hard Because it is supposed to
be! But it is ALSO A-MUST-DO
For
us if we want to be with Him. Jesus points this out so well within His Word over
and over again so many times. Even just within the Words of the Lord’s Prayer
which we prayed earlier.
We Prayed:
“And Forgive Us Our Debts”
·
Forgive us of our
Sins
·
Forgive us of our
Trespasses
AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN our Debtors
·
As we Also Have
Forgiven those who have sinned against us.
·
As we Also Have
Forgiven those who have Trespassed against us.
Within The Lord’s Prayer we are Proclaiming Our
Faith
·
That we are
forgiven just AS we are Proclaiming that we have forgiven everyone.
Non-Forgiveness - always – IT Always only reflects back upon ourselves
and not onto the other person. When we choose to Not to forgive, We are ONLY
impacting Ourselves. No one else, just ourselves. We are telling Our Lord that
We do Not need to be forgiven. We must remember – Forgiveness is Not for the
Other Person.
Forgiveness is For YOU. It is a True Act of FAITH!
Amen
