The Gift

by: Peter Bunyard on: Sunday, 8th January 2012

Scripture: Matthew 18:23-25

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Key Scripture: Matthew 18:23-25 (Please read before progressing)

Do you have any unresolved hurts in your life that you need to find freedom from? Or do you have guilty feelings for things that you’ve done wrong in the past?

Have you had great difficulty in dealing with these issues and want to be free?

What do you think it means to be free?

The model that God has given for us to live by is one of forgiveness

What do you understand by forgiveness?

The gift we received from the Lord

We learn from the scriptures that the forgiveness God calls us into was first provided by God himself for the forgiveness of our sins in the amazing love shown by Jesus choosing to die for our sins on the cross. The central message of the Gospel was the forgiveness of sins and the freedom to no longer live in judgement for our wrong doings; to live freely in the love and mercy of Christ when we accept him into our lives.

John 3:16-18

Whilst the gift is free to us it cost God (Jesus) dearly in enduring the torture and humiliation of the cross and taking the punishment on himself for the sins in our life that we were powerless to do anything about. Having dealt with our sin, the Lord asks that we live in a new relationship with him, to return to him and ultimately through his power live an increasingly righteous life.

It is often said that those who have been forgiven much forgive much but we often forget just how much we have been forgiven as Christians. God makes no distinction between sins like people do: all of humanity (without the acceptance of Christ in their lives) can be found wanting and unworthy.

Romans 3:23: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Forgiveness in the Christian context is grasping the magnitude of the debts we have been forgiven and the paying forward the gift of forgiveness to others, in doing so we set ourselves free from the power of past guilt and hurts in our life.

Christian Forgiveness is:

1. A choice

2. A very powerful life transforming act

3. An integral part of the healing process

4. A necessity of our Christian Faith

5. Not something to be attempted in our own strength

6. A journey or a process to be travelled or worked through

7. The paying forward of the gift we receive from Christ

Scriptures to look up and read together:

Matthew 6:37-38; Matthew 5:43-47; Romans 12:17-19; Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus calls us into a radical life of forgiving, praying for our enemies and living as sinless life as possible. Importantly when we live this way we find that all of Heaven’s resources are at our disposal. We find help, acceptance, healing and the power to move forward to a better life with Christ. Importantly we hand the need for justice over to the Lord who promises to repay people for their evil doings. We have every right and expectation to seek justice here on Earth, but we do this from a position of healed through forgiveness rather than through the pain and hurt of unforgiveness.

Spend some time discussing what you heard on Sunday and what you’ve learned here. Are you in place where you can live in the radical way that Jesus (God) demands? If not, why not?

If you can’t, you won’t be the first and you won’t be the last and if you’ve genuinely tried to live this way then God in love and Mercy will not condemn you, but we have to make every effort to try.

Here are some practical tips to help you on your journey to forgiveness and healing, discuss them in your group and if anyone has any examples of times that have forgiven or been forgiven and the effect it had then please encourage them to share.

1. First understand the gift you have been given for the forgiveness of your sins and accept that gift. If you still struggling with this then perhaps consider the Alpha course or foundation courses running this year.

2. Make the choice to forgive and pay that gift forward

3. Seek God in prayer for the power to forgive

4. Pray for those who have hurt you and ask that God forgives them and that they come to know God for themselves

5. Confess to others that you need help in this area and get them to pray for you.

6. Understand that forgiveness is a process that needs to be worked on and prayed about constantly. Make a regular time each week where you will pray and work through this.

7. If people feel there issues are just too big to handle suggest that they take up the issues with Matt and Cate with a view to receiving extra pastoral care or seeing a processional councillor.