Christ is Life Podcast

So earlier this week, I heard a story about a pastor who had given a message he had done a sermon on the importance of learning to forgive your enemies. It's, of course, an important topic. It's one that's found in scripture. But about a third of the way through the message, he decided to pause in address the audience, and he said, Hey, I'm just curious how many of you who are here today are willing to actually forgive your enemies. And about half of the people actually raised their hand and said that they were willing to forgive their enemies. And so he kept preaching, and he got through about two thirds of the message. And he does the same thing. Okay, now, how many of you are willing to forgive your enemies, and this time, about three quarters of them actually raised their hand and said they were willing to forgive, but he kept preaching, he finished the entire message. And he says, Okay, now that I've finished the entire sermon, how many of you are willing to forgive your enemies, and this time, every single person in the entire congregation raised their hand and said that they were willing to forgive their enemies, except for one elderly lady, and he was just flabbergasted. And so he couldn't let it go. And he kind of calls her out and just says, Can you please explain to me why it is that you are still unwilling to forgive your enemies? And she said, Oh, yeah, Pastor, that simple, I don't have any enemies. He couldn't let that go, either. I mean, he's just stunned by the fact that she had no enemies. And so he said, I've got to ask you, if you don't mind me asking you this? How old are you? She said, I don't mind at all. I'm 96 years old. But why? He said, So you mean to tell me that you're 96 years old, and you have no enemies? I like I've got to know your secret. Can you please tell everybody who's here today? How it is that you have absolutely no enemies in your life? She said, Oh, yeah, Pastor, that's easy. I simply outlive them all. Most of us can't say that. Most of us probably are not at the point in our lives, where we can say that we have no enemies. And with enemies in our lives, it's really hard to forgive people who are classified as enemies in our lives, that's a really difficult thing to do. Let's be honest, isn't forgiving people just in general, like a hard thing to do. I mean, even if they're not your enemy, I mean, it just, it hurts when people wronged you in some way, it hurts when people mistreat you in some way. And it doesn't have to be an enemy for you to feel that, right. I mean, the best friend forgets your birthday, hurts a church member, a brother or sister in Christ that you know, and then you love begins to spread some gossip about you. Maybe it was a prayer request that you shared. And all of a sudden, the next thing you know, somebody else knows about it. And it was spread, like gossip that that hurts whenever it's a brother or a sister in Christ, friend, someone that you love, maybe it's a co worker that you work with. And he seemed like you worked well together and you bounce ideas off of each other and, and you're always supporting and encouraging. And the next thing you know is that person used you to get a promotion in some way over and above you. I mean, that hurts, that maybe it's a mom or a dad who just kind of didn't support you and your career path. They kind of criticized the direction that you were going in regards to your career, or maybe the person that you were going to marry and you wanted to marry and you brought before them they just weren't real excited about and man, you were looking for that support and encouragement, it hurts. If you're a teenager and there's a friend or a teammate or a classmate and you told them something in confidence and the next thing you know, it's all over social media or something. I mean, again, it doesn't have to be an enemy for these things to hurt when someone Miss treats us in some way. We all feel it. It's kind of that gut wrenching pain that can hit some times whenever we've been mistreated and because of that, I mean it's really hard to forgive people just in general whether it's an enemy or not. And so a lot of times we don't we don't forgive people because we want them to be honest, just hurt because we hurt. We want them to suffer because we're so suffering, we don't want to forgive them, because cash, it just feels like they're gonna get off easy if we do that, and feel like we just kind of have to ignore the wrongs that they did. And so a lot of times, when we're faced with these situations, we don't end up forgiving people, we hold grudges against them. And yet, oftentimes, let's be honest, it doesn't have the intended effect that we hope it would have on them. But it has a lot more of a harm and an effect on us than we would have ever anticipated. I mean, when we harbor unforgiveness in our lives, and we withhold these kinds of things, it's kind of like carrying a huge weight around. I mean, you hold something heavy. And you know, the longer that you hold that thing, the heavier it gets, the heavier the burden actually is. And unforgiveness is like that. It's like a heavy weight. And the longer you withhold forgiveness, the heavier the burden actually gets with those things. It affects our emotions, it affects quite honestly, all of our relationships, not even just the relationship that you have between the person who hurt you. But people can pick up on how you've been hurt and how it's affecting your life. And then it affects the relationships we have with others. Or maybe you're always talking about it and that person who wronged you, and then they get tired of it, and it affects your relationship in that way. It can even affect our bodies. I mean, studies have shown that unforgiveness can cause stress and anxiety and depression and high blood pressure and physical back pain and neck pain and a number of other things. It's been said, I don't know who it was that withholding forgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die from it. It affects us oftentimes way worse than it does them. And so I wonder this morning, I wonder if there's a way to manage our hurts before they become hates?
Can we manage our hurts before they become hates? We started this message series last week called one another where we're looking at several love the one another passages we find in the New Testament pages of Scripture, there's 59 of them. We talked about that on our opening message last week, we're not going to look at all of those. But these are things that the Lord inspired the writers of the New Testament scriptures to make sure that we knew how we were to relate with one another how we were to behave. And if you were here last week, you know that we spent quite a lot of our time in the opening week in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians. Because what we really see there and and a lot of Paul's writings after Jesus's finished work on the cross was how he writes all of these indicative upfront all of these things that are true about who you've become in Christ, the work that he's done, the moment you put your faith and trust in Him for salvation, to make you a new creation in Christ. And then after making sure that we knew what's happened to us in the new person that we become, then he gets into the behaviors that line up with the new person that we've become. And so what we said last week is, if you're a believer in Christ, meaning you've put your faith and trust in Him for salvation, then God is commanding these one another's, because really, their descriptions of who you are their descriptions of who he's made you into, as a new creation in Christ. And so last week, we looked at one of the one another commands to love one another. After the apostle Paul writes all these things in the first three chapters about who we are in Christ and Ephesians four, he says, to love one another now, why? Because Christ has made you into a loving person, therefore, love one another. He went on and on about how we're united to the God of the universe, who, by the way, Scripture tells us is love itself. And if you're in union with the one who is love itself, then his love will get expressed through you in the way that you relate to one another when we trust and depend on him to be the source of our lives each and every day. Little bit later, in Ephesians. After Paul writes and tells us to love one another, and has told us all of these things, He gives us another couple of other one another commands, he says, Be kind, and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ. God forgave you. This isn't the only Wheat placed at the apostle Paul writes this in another letter to a different church in Colossae, he writes pretty much almost exactly the same thing to them. And Paul does the same thing in this letter that he does with them, you'll see a lot of the Indicative up front, and then a lot of the applications and the things on the back end of it, but he says this in Colossians, 313, bear with each other, and forgive one another. If anyone has a grievance against someone forgive, as, again, the Lord forgave you the same thing that he said earlier in Ephesians, chapter four. And so what we see in both cases, that we see this one, another command, he grounds it, in this phrase, forgive as the Lord forgave you, as the Lord has forgiven you. Here, in a little while, we're going to have the opportunity to celebrate the Lord's supper together. Jesus said that the bread when we come together and participate in communion together, that the bread represents his body that was given for us the juice represents his blood, he tells us this, and a number of places we see it in Scripture, when they write about Jesus's last night with the disciples, let me just remind you of one of them. Gospel of Matthew chapter 26, the night before Jesus went to the cross, while they were eating, while he and his disciples were eating, Jesus took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it. And he gave it to his disciples saying, Take any heat, this is my body, this represents my body that's going to be given for you, verse 27, then he took a cup, and when He had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for what, for the forgiveness of sins. In other words, the night before Jesus was headed to the cross, He foreshadows what it is that's coming on the next day. And he uses these elements to help begin to give them a picture of how his body was going to be given for them how his blood was going to be shed for them. Jesus was preparing to take all of the sins of humanity, all of the past sins ever committed all of the present sins that were being committed in that moment, all of the future sins that would be committed, and he was getting ready to take them upon himself. And Jesus could do that he could take them upon himself and pay the penalty for those because of who he was because of who he is. He was born into this world, fully God, he was born into this world fully man, he had no sin to pay for himself, and therefore he could willingly out of his love for you. And I take all of our sins that humanity sins that have ever been committed upon himself, to pay the penalty for them. And, of course, he did. The next day he went to the cross, we even know while he was paying for all of our sins, that he even makes this comment while he's on the cross. Do you just said, Father, forgive them referring to those who were crucifying Him in the moment, the ones who are responsible for him being tortured and in pain and suffering in those moments, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. We see the heart of our God and Creator, how loving and compassionate and how much of a forgiving God He really is. Of course, after he cried out this about those who were even crucifying Him in the moment and had taken upon all of the sins of the world, we know that he took his last breath and he cried out what it is finished, what was finished. The work he had come to do to accomplish the forgiveness of sins, his blood that he had referred to the night before that was going to be poured out to initiate inaugurate the new covenant, and to secure the forgiveness of all people and establish the new covenant had been accomplished. Of course, three days later, he rose from the grave defeating the power of sin and death forever and because of his finished work on the cross, the writers of the New Testament Scriptures could write things like this that we see in Hebrews, the author of Hebrews writes this in chapter nine verse 26, he referring to Jesus has appeared, how many times once for all, at the culmination of the ages, to do away with sin, how, by the sacrifice of Himself through the blood that was shed on the cross. Notice, again, it's a one time sacrifice for how many sins, all sins again, past, present, and future, all sins that had ever been committed, were being committed in the moment that would ever be committed later, Jesus was paying for them all. That's why I think this is huge. I think that's why the Apostle Paul could write this command. Why the Holy Spirit inspired him to say, Now forgive one another, forgive as the Lord forgave you. Why? Because you now have complete forgiveness. Now, I mean, this seriously, think about this for a moment. If you don't have complete forgiveness, you can't really forgive other people.
I mean, really, you if you don't have complete forgiveness, you have to hold on to what it is that the other person has done to you. Because now you have to justify yourself before a holy God and before other people. So you need to hold on to that offense to be able to compare it to other people to say, see, I'm not doing as bad as this guy. Do you see how they offended me? Do you see how they wronged me so that you can use it to justify yourself before God and before others if you're not completely forgiven, you can't forgive other people. But if you are, if you are 100%, already completely forgiven, which again, notice this is past tense, forgive as the Lord forgave, Oh, forgot to do a thing over here. As the Lord forgave you, right? That's past tense. Last time I checked my grammar in English, right, forgave you. He didn't say forgive as the Lord will forgive you when you sin one day. Completely already forgiven, right? You don't have to hold on to the unforgiveness to be justified because you're all ready justified in Christ, you're already made righteous in Christ. So now you're simply free to do what? Forgive one another. You don't have to hold on to the grudge the offense, the mistake that people make. So that's the first thing we've got to get. And it's got to be grounded in we've got to know we have complete forgiveness in Christ, which now frees us up to be able to actually do what we're being commanded to do. The next thing that this means, though, that if we are to forgive one another, as the Lord forgave you, then we go, how did the Lord forgive us? Completely? Oh, so that means I have to completely forgive one another, not just partially right. Well, I forgave him that one time, I forgive them seven times already, right? I mean, Peters, even asking about this to Jesus one day, like, How many times should I forgive, like up to seven? I mean, that's been pretty generous Jesus. He's like, about seven times. What do you say? 70? Yeah, it's like, unlimited amount that we're supposed to for give right? Now, listen, I don't say this to diminish. What's happened to you. For some of you. There's a good chance that right now the Lord's brought someone to mind that maybe you haven't forgiven yet. Someone that hurt you in a really not so good way. And it's been hard to forgive them. You haven't fully done so maybe yet. And I don't say these things to diminish what happened to you what the person did to you was wrong. I mean, really, it was wrong, they shouldn't have done it, it should not have happened to you. And I'm sure it caused a lot of pain, a lot of significant pain in your life. But what we need to see is that if the Lord is commanding us to forgive one another in the same way that he forgave us, and again, as we've already talked about how we're in union with God, he's never going to call us to do something that he's not going to empower us and enable us to be able to carry out Jesus will give you what it is that you need to forgive the person who has wronged you. Read a story about a tough example of this a good example of how Jesus can empower us to forgive in almost almost impossible situations, right? It was a story of a kid named John Claude, who was 11 years old when the Rwandan genocide happened in 1994. And there was this tribe of people in Rwanda that just began killing another tribe, people that were associated with this tribe just because of who they were. And this 11 year old boy was a part of the tribe who was being killed, who was being slaughtered, who were being murdered. I mean, just left and right. What happened during this time was on imaginable the things that they did to people the way that they tortured them, the number of people they killed in just a short amount of time, and John Claude began to watch all of these happen to his friends and his friends, families, I mean, it hurt deeply. And then one day, they showed up at his front door, and he had to watch as they dragged his father out of his house. And they began to use a machete to torture him and mutilate him and slowly kill him slowly killed him, brought tears, of course, to his eyes, unimaginable pain to see that his own father was killed right there in front of his eyes, and then they drag his mom out, and they begin to torture her in many of the same ways, fortunately survived. But she occurred or somebody injuries occurred, she never really fully recuperated from what had happened to her and had to live with major disabilities the rest of her life, that John Claude had to continue to see this happen not only to his own family, but again, his friends and parents, and it was just awful. Compassion International enters the scene after the Rwandan genocide, many of you are familiar with compassion, international, they do child sponsorships, through churches in different organizations and provide schooling and help meet needs for kids. And they share the gospel with them, Natalie, and I sponsor a child whose name is Samuel, he lives in South America. And we've had him since 2009. And got to know these pictures and kind of watch him grow up and how the little bit of money that we give a month goes to support him and his family and all of these things, incredible organization, but they they come in to Rwanda, and John Claude gets to be a part of this program. And he gets to go to school and never really gone to school before. And now he's got people that are pointing him to Jesus, and He accepts Jesus into his life and becomes a Christian. And then he begins to learn a lot more about Jesus as he's being discipled, and going to school and going to church. And he's learning about Jesus's forgiveness. He's learning about how not only is he forgiven, but Jesus died for all people, and how I even cried out on the cross, forgive those who were torturing him and killing him in that moment. And then even the scriptures that we've been talking about today, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And so now John Claude is faced with the impossible. God, you want me to forgive the people who murdered my father, and put my mother in the situation that she's in right now? Yes, John Claude, I want you to forgive them, let it go. I died for them, I will give you what it is that you need to forgive. And he slowly and patiently trusted Jesus with it, and says that eventually, he was able to forgive those who had done this thing to his family. Several years later, after he became an adult, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to start a ministry to Rwandan children. And a lot of the children that began coming were part of the same group that had been responsible for killing so many different people in his tribe. And then one day this little boy shows up. And guess who his father is? One of the men that was responsible for killing John clods own father. And so now he's faced with one of the kids, the family member of the person who's actually done this to his dad and going Jesus, I can't do this. You've called me to love and serve these people and point them to you. But I mean, this is the kid of the dad was responsible to for killing my own father, there's too much pain here. And he just felt Jesus comfort him in the moment that only way that only Jesus can do. I'm gonna continue to provide and give you what you need. And he was eventually able to trust Jesus with that and to love Him and serve Him in the same way that he was doing so with all of the other children, Jesus gave John Claude what it is that he needed. Forgive in love and serve in the most impossible one of the most impossible situations.
And he will give you what it is that you need to forgive those who have hurt you and mistreated you. In the same way he has a faithful God, you're in a spiritual union with Him. And so you have access to his love, you have access to his strength, you have access to his power, you have had access to his forgiveness, to be at work in you and through you. And for some of you, maybe that's something that just happened to you this morning on the way to church, right? Because that is the time where Satan attacks a lot of times when we're on our way with our families, and in the hustle and bustle for some of you, it may be something that happened a week ago, a month ago, a few months ago. For others of you, it may be something that happened a really long time ago in your own life. I had an older gentleman who if I remember right had to be in his early 80s came to me after one of my messages one time on forgiveness. And he had he had tears in his eyes. I mean, honestly, they were running down his face. And once he collected himself, he said, Jason, I have not spoken to my son, my own son in over 20 years. I said, Man, I'm so sorry. I can't believe that's what happened to you. But what is it that happened? What was it that caused this and I'll never forget it because he just looked at me with kind of this glaze over his eyes. And he said, Jason, I honestly don't even know. Like, like it was either so long ago that he didn't even remember what had happened in that moment. Or he never even quite understood what it was in that moment that had happened that had caused this. And now 20 years had gone by me, let's be honest, that's the thing. A lot of times things can happen that are so small, and are so incidental, they get turned into the biggest thing ever. And the longer they go, it's that weight and the burden and you make it and it just festers. And the next thing you know, it's like it's like 20 years, and you hadn't even talked to your own son to your own family, that maybe some of you have had something similar happen in your own life, maybe there's someone that you love a family member, close friend, maybe you remember exactly what it was that happened. Maybe you don't even remember. But it's been 20 years, it's been longer, you've never talked to him, You still haven't forgiven them. Maybe Jesus is saying today, it's time to let it go. It's time to let it go. Maybe it's time to approach them and tell them that you forgive them. seek understanding, try to talk through this with them. Which really brings me to one of the last things I want to say about this, when we're talking about forgiving one another. Guys, the ultimate goal is not just to forgive, but to reconcile the forgiving one another is the step towards Jesus wanting to reconcile and restore the relationship that was broken between you two when that thing occurred between you two? Now, sometimes that's not possible. It may not be possible because the person who hurt you in some way is no longer here. Maybe they've passed away. And of course, if that's the situation, you're not able to look towards reconciling with them, or maybe whatever it was that happened to you, and whoever it is that did that thing to you, it's unsafe for you to actually try to reconcile that relationship. Those would be exceptions to the rule. And of course, the other thing is even if the person is still alive, and and even if it's safe to pursue reconciliation, the person that you approach may not be open to reconciling in that relationship. Anyway. And of course, you can't do much about that, unfortunately. But it does not mean that you can't forgive them. It doesn't mean that you can't trust Jesus to quit holding that offense against them. And in those situations, I would encourage you to pray for them sincerely, and that God would open open up their heart and that you guys would be able to reconcile, and I would say secondly, to give them time. You can't go to someone in those situations say hey, man, I've forgiven you. I want to reconcile Hurry up Let's go get busy on this already said it was okay, right? You have to give people time you got to be patient, you gotta allow Jesus the time to do the same work that he's done in your life in what he's got to do in their life as well simply let them know that your heart is to reconcile and that you're there, if and when they are ready to talk. Now that can be scary. That's not an easy thing to do. As a matter of fact, the guy that came to me after the service, he was crying, I'd talked to my son and 20 years, that's what he told me. I encouraged him, I said, Ma'am, would would you be brave enough to trust Jesus to go to him and talk to him, I can't do that. I'm scared. I'm too scared to do that. And I had to say, Listen, Jesus will give you what it is that you need, if you'll trust him. With that. said, Now, if you do go, keep in mind, you can't go into one of those situations. And the best way to approach those situations is through humility, right? You've got to walk into that situation and say, Man, I'm not here to fight. I'm, I'm so sorry. For what happened between us. I'm here to ask for forgiveness. I'm here to seek understanding about the situation and what went wrong between us. I'm here to learn about whatever it is that I can do to help us work through this and maybe potentially just one day be on the other side of this thing. And if that's you, maybe that's how Jesus would lead you into that kind of situation as well. I'm so proud of him, because he eventually did take that step in his life. And it wasn't magic, they didn't become best friends, again, overnight. But again, as he made himself available, and walked in humility, and trusted Jesus with it, they did begin to take steps of reconciliation, he was able to restore his relationship with his grandkids and start to be in their lives again, before he eventually passed not too much longer, after these things happened. And so again, just know that you can't control what everyone else will do. But guys, you can trust Jesus to forgive others through you. So first of all, you don't have to carry around that big weight that gets heavier and heavier in the way it has so many negative effects on your own life. And trust that Jesus secondarily will give you what it is that you need to at least make yourself available to be a willing to restore, and reconcile the relationships when it's appropriate to do so. And so as we turn our attention to the Lord's Supper and the way we close our timeout together, today, I'm just simply ask you, is there someone that the Lord is telling you that you need to forgive today? Is there someone that he's laid on your heart is we're going to be reminded about the complete forgiveness that Jesus is offering to us? Was we look at the bread and we see the juice, and we're reminded of the sacrifice that he made for us. Is there someone that he's telling you, you need to forgive today? If so, when I encourage you when the elements are being passed out, and Emily's going to begin to sing this song about the blood and the forgiveness that we have, and you're reflecting upon those lyrics with you, go to Jesus, and ask him to give you what you need to be able to forgive them today begin to pray for them, and that you will be able to restore the relationship that Jesus has put on your mind today in if that's not you. There isn't any one in particular, than Would you just use this time to pray and ask Jesus to help you walk in forgiveness as offenses occur as mistakes occur, that you would be the kind of person that forgives quickly and looks to reconcile quickly each and every single time those things happen to you. And then finally, maybe you're here today, and you've heard me talk about all this complete forgiveness in Christ. And that's the basis for forgiving others. And you would say, Well, I've never yet taken a step of faith to receive Jesus's forgiveness in my life. And maybe that's what you need to spend your time praying about as these elements are passed out. Because Jesus accomplished all the work on the cross when He said, It is finished, right, the works finished and he offers that complete forgiveness as a gift. It doesn't cost you anything, but just like any gift, you have to accept it for it to be yours. And so would you accept that gift today by placing your faith and trust in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, however, Jesus is leading you to respond? You listen and trust Him and respond however he is leading to you are leading you to do so as the elements are being passed out. And as you listen to the song that Emily is singing, the deacons are You