LEARNING DAILY

Matthew 18:21-22, Then 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. (NIV) (Read Matthew 18:21-35 for the entire context of this message.)

Pastor Marquise Cox spoke at Community Bible Church this weekend about forgiveness. He said forgiveness is not a feeling. Forgiveness is not forgetting – forgiving when one forgets about what needs to be forgiven. Forgiveness is not fair – What if God gave you what you deserve? He said forgiveness is not reconciliation – it is one-sided, me forgiving you. “Forgiveness is not part of our culture. Jesus had a whole lot to say that was different from what culture says about forgiveness” (MC).

He defined biblical forgiveness as “the one-time and on-going decision to cancel the debt of someone who has wronged you and release them from what you believe they owe you.” “Forgiveness is required from Believers. The power to forgive in your [the Believer’s] hand; it is not based on anyone else” (MC). Peter asked Jesus how often he was to forgive the brother who sinned against him.  The standard Jesus gave him was not meant to be a specific number (seventy-seven or seventy times seven). Jesus’ reply of 49 or 490 times, depending on your version of the Bible, was not meant to mean after that number you could stop forgiving the person. No, Jesus meant that forgiveness was to be limitless; it was to be for a lifetime, a lifestyle. “There is to be no ‘I forgive, but….’ when you forgive another” (MC). The ability and the power to forgive like Jesus said comes through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the passage a servant owed what would be an impossible debt to repay to a king. The servant begged for forgiveness and time to repay the debt; the king had mercy and allowed him to be released. Consider yourself to be that servant whose debt is so great that you will never be able to make it right, to do anything that would cancel it. Your sinfulness, your disobedience, your self-centered lifestyle is so opposed to what God’s standards are; you will never be able to be “good enough” to clear yourself so you can enter God’s eternal kingdom. But God, in His great compassion sent His Son Jesus to take the debt you owe so that all who believe on the Son might have eternal life in His kingdom. When Jesus had been nailed to a cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Matthew 23:34).

The message for Believers today is to forgive those who have done something or said something to them that, needs to be forgiven. “Harboring unforgiveness results in a bitterness, a rage toward that person(s). It gives power to the person you refuse to forgive” (MC). Believer, you must not forget how much you have been forgiven. There might be someone you are struggling to forgive. Pastor Cox said this is different from refusing to forgive that person. Forgiving the person begins with remembering the debt God has forgiven in your life. Pray for the well-being of the other person and “stop keeping the receipts of those who have wronged you” (Take away statement on the Sermon Notes page).