Introductory Comments
1. This season we are to present Christ to the world. To remind them that He came and to tell them why He came. Some of us are able to do this through the gift of singing. Christmas songs that bring us back to Bethlehem itself. Some of us, including our Sunday School children, present programs and pageants to tell the old, old story of the child in the manger. The good news of Christ’s birth is proclaimed in sermons. There are advent wreaths and candlelight services. All proclaim - Jesus Christ is born!
2. He came to live amongst us men for our salvation. Proclaim it far and wide.
3. As we began to see last week, the call to present Christ is not just a call that occurs at Christmas. It is a call that is for every day of the year. And it is not just for those who sing, act or preach.
4. It is a call for each of us. We are to make Christ known. Have you made Him known? Have you presented Him to the world, at least to those whom God has put you in contact with?
5. Today we continue to see how we present Christ to the world. And as we do, let me tell you the importance of your doing this. For people do not come to know Christ through Christ pageants, but in seeing lives that have been changed, by seeing Him in us. As we said last week, Christians ought to look different that those who are not. And as people see we are different, they see Christ, for He is the difference.
6. Last week we saw how we are to clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. This week we see how we are to:
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
We see why this is important as part of our witness and how we are to do this.
Teaching
1. Our focus is on forgiveness, but first just a few words on the call to bear with one another. To bear with another is to put up with their faults or unpleasant traits. Things that irritate us about them. Things we dislike. Could be the tone of their voice, an facial expression or a habit like not putting the toilet lid down. Sometimes it might be because those traits remind us of someone from our past.
2. But we need to be aware of these things because they affect how we react to that person. In fact, this may be one reason why we find it easier to forgive some people than others. Two people may do the same wrong to us, but the one we find easy to forgive and the other almost impossible. And it might simply be that we find the one hard to put up with.
3. Paul tells us that we are to forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. When we forgive we present Christ to the world
4. For Christ’s birth is all about forgiveness. Zechariah, in saying how John the Baptist would prepare the people for Jesus, said he was to
give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
5. To know Jesus is to know that He came to bring God’s forgiveness. Even near His last breath on the cross, Jesus would ask those His Father to forgive those who were killing Him. The reason we want people to know Christ is so that they w ill repent and receive salvation, which includes the forgiveness of their sins.
6. Without the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, we do not even know why this season has any importance at all.
7. We can tell people that Jesus came to forgive them. But our message is lost if we bear unforgiveness in us. They really will not understand what we are saying. And those who hear us will not believe us. For we will be saying one thing, but as Christ representative, bearing His name, we will be doing just the opposite.
8. The strong witness of the early church was how the early Christians loved one another. When there is unforgiveness in a Christian or a church, then we are not presenting Christ. We can sing all the Christmas songs we want, but our presentation is shallow and unreal.
9. Forgiveness is a gift. It is God’s gift to us through Christ and it is a gift we are to give to others. The best gift you might be able to give someone this Christmas is to forgive them.
10. To forgive is to reveal why Christ came. To forgive is also to reveal the character of Christ. For to forgive is not something that comes natural to us. Someone has hurt us - perhaps even a parent, husband, wife, a brother or sister, a former friend, a former pastor. Perhaps it was a violent, reckless act. Perhaps something not done that should have been done. Perhaps something that was said. Perhaps something that took place over a number of years or happened in a moment. The pain is real.
11. We don’t want to forgive, we want to hurt them back. We avoid or ignore them. Forgiving is the last thing we want to do. W try to find loopholes or excuses not to forgive.
12. Christ does the opposite. Rather than seek loopholes He finds a way to forgive.
13. And that way is sacrifice and giving up our rights. Forgiving is willing to be humble. And that can come at a cost. To be humble means to be willing to be born in a manger and to die on a criminal’s cross.
14. And when we forgive, we do something that shows we are different. It shows that we have the character of Christ in us. That we have put on His righteousness. We reveal Christ.
15. We reflect God’s love. We show that the holy Spirit is at work in us.
16. Forgiveness is evidence of our salvation. And people see that we have been changed and they also can be changed.
17. Forgiveness also removes those things from us that prevent us from being a witness of God’s holiness. When we are unforgiving, we are angry and bitter.
18. There is also a cost to not forgiving someone. To trying to get even:
Dale Carnegie tells about a visit to Yellowstone Park where he saw a grizzly bear. The huge animal was in the center of a clearing, feeding on some discarded camp food. For several minutes he feasted alone; no other creature dared draw near. After a few moments a skunk walked through the meadow toward the food and took his place next to the grizzly. The bear didn't object and Carnegie knew why. "The grizzly," he said, "knew the high cost of getting even."
19. To hold on to this bitterness is unhealthy. It will paralyse us. David Benner says:
"Try a simple experiment on yourself. Make a fist and hold it tight. One minute of this is sufficient to bring discomfort. Consider what would happen if the fist were maintained in that state of tension during a period that extended into weeks, months, or even years. Obvious it would soon become a sick member of the body.
20. We may hurt a person by not forgiving them. We may feel some satisfying sense of getting even, but almost without exception, the hurt you do to yourself may be even greater. After a while you may not feel the pain of the clenched resentment in your soul, but its self-inflicted paralysis will have its effect upon your whole life.
21. And when that happens we create barriers that prevent us from effective prayer and spiritual vitality. DL Moody wrote,
I believe [unforgiveness] is keeping more people from having power with God than any other thing -- they are not willing to cultivate the spirit of forgiveness. If we allow the root of bitterness to spring up in our hearts against someone, our prayer will not be answered. It may not be an easy thing to live in sweet fellowship with all those with whom we come in contact; but that is what the grace of God is given to us for.
22. We cannot present Christ when we do not fell His presence in us. When we do forgive, we experience the transforming power of God’s grace. And as we forgive and share that grace, God transforms other lives as well.
23. There are a few things we need to take into account about our struggle to forgive.
24. True forgiveness results in a changed attitude toward another.Forgiveness has taken place when we can honestly seek good for the other person. It is when we make an effort to restore a relationship rather than avoid the relationship. Forgiveness has taken place when past actions no longer hold a present bearing. Forgiveness is real when hate is replaced by love.
25. True forgiveness takes time. Forgiveness is seldom a one-time affair. We have to consciously seek to forgive again and again. One moment we may feel we have let the matter go and in the next something stimulates a painful memory that must be dealt with again. The roots of bitterness go deep. The deeper the hurt, the more time may be needed for the difficult work of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a decision of the mind and the heart which must be reaffirmed over and over.
26. We can say, "I forgive you," But our hearts can remain angry or resentful. We still want to hear the story that tells me that I was right after all; We still want to hear apologies and excuses; We still want the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return-if only the praise for being so forgiving!
27. True forgiveness must be realistic. The act of forgiveness may not heal the relationship with the person who hurt us. The person we forgive may not even see anything they need to be forgiven of. It may seem that they are indifferent to the pain they have inflicted. Forgiveness may not affect the other person at all. But we must extend forgiveness anyway as an act of trust toward God. We must forgive because we choose to do what is right, not because of the response we hope to get from the other.
28. We also need to realize that we cannot wait for someone else to make the first move. We feel the person who offended should be the one to make the first move. However, the Lord gives us no such rule. The rule the Lord gives us is simply this: forgive as I have forgiven you. And, if you remember, God made the first move toward us.
29. True forgiveness involves forgetting. We've heard it said, and even said it ourselves: I can forgive, but I can't forget. Yet, what are we to make of the Biblical passages that tell us that God will "remember our sins no longer." There is a sense in which we must forget.
30. God is omniscient, knowing all things possible at all times and at every moment in time. God cannot forget our sins in the sense that he loses them from his memory. By forgetting then, he must mean that he sets aside the punishment we deserve when he forgives us. He holds the guilt of our sins over our heads no longer. So when we "forget" the offenses done to us, it means we will not in the future "use" the offense as reason to punish the offender. We will not raise it as an issue between us; not use it as a weapon in arguments. We will not continually remind third parties about it. And we will determine to work at not dwelling upon it in our own minds.
31. Friends, this season may we present Jesus Christ to all whom we meet. May we do so by being forgiving to others and by not having an unforgiving heart is us.
32. We may be angry at God for not answering the prayers we have asked for years - not in the way we wished they would have been answered. May be angry at government for creating havoc and uncertainty in our work. May be angry at ourselves for things we have done wrong. May be another person in this sanctuary. May God enable us to be healed of the hate and hurt we feel.
33. Still anger and hurt at FRC in regrads to a former pastor. My dream for healing to take place - 50th anniversary. Believe we are bound by past.
34. God, I find it so hard to forgive, please enable me to do so. So that I may truly experience joy of this season.
