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In Mt. 18:15, Jesus began a discourse on forgiveness. He illustrated a procedure for what to do when your “brother” sins against you. In short you address it privately with him and then if needed take 2 or 3 others with you and then if needed inform the whole congregation. If the individual won’t repent or ask for forgiveness then you are to sever all social relations with him.
Peter then asks the question, “how often shall I forgive my brother (who asks for forgiveness)… seven times? Jesus responds… seventy times seven times, which means that every time forgiveness is asked for… you give it.
Jesus then tells a story to illustrate the concept. A great King called a servant in who owed him 10,000 Talents. The servant couldn’t pay so the King ordered for him, his wife and his children and all that he owned be sold to pay the debt. The servant begged that the King have patience and he would pay it all. The King was moved by this and forgave the whole debt… the whole amount.
Nice story but it doesn’t end there. This recently forgiven fellow looked up a fellow-servant who owed a lot less… 100 Shillings and took him by the throat and demanded payment. This servant also begged for patience and he would repay it but no patience was granted and he was thrown into debtor’s prison.
When the King heard of this he took the first servant who was forgiven a great amount and delivered him to the Tormentors. Jesus summarizes the whole thing when he tells Peter… so shall my father do to you if you don’t forgive from your heart.
Get this… forgiveness is not an option for a Christian. A Christian must MUST give forgiveness if he is asked for it. And it can’t be pretend forgiveness it has to be from the heart.
Here’s what people do sometimes when they “forgive” people…
- They may say OK I forgive you but this is your last chance
- They may say OK I forgive you but socially it’s changed. The relationship is changed and for all intents and purposes you are forgiven in name only.
- They may say OK I forgive you but then they go around telling everyone what you did.
Folks who forgive that way are in danger of burning in Hell for eternity.
It’s not easy “forgiving from the heart”. Maybe it would be easier though if we considered the great debt that Jesus paid for with his life perhaps a debt worth millions of dollars or however much we value our lives. If we thought like that maybe it would be easier to truly forgive one of a hundred dollar debt.
We see a lot of Parvo virus in young dogs, frequently, every single day. Distraught owners will come in with pathetic little puppies ravaged by vomiting and diarrhea. I explain to our clients that I don’t have any medications that will kill the virus that our treatment is a supportive treatment to build the puppy up so its own immune system can fight off the virus. Hospitalized puppies who survive can be sick for seven days. Even with those meds and bills that can be over $1000 we can’t save them all.
Puppies are very susceptible because they have weak and developing immune systems. I’ve had families crying their eyes out over their sick pets. The sad thing about this illness is it can easily be prevented through relatively inexpensive vaccination.
I’m a keen observer of why people visit churches they’ve never darkened the door to. I’ve seen people come in who have a sick child with a poor prognosis. All of a sudden it’s time to find God and invoke his healing power.
I have also seen folks whose lives are a mess… marital problems, parental problems, etc. Again it’s time to find Jesus.
Many times when the problem goes away or calms down, so do peoples spiritual interest. They quickly revert back to the way they were living until the “problem” resurfaces again.
Folks, who are responsible purchase a new puppy, control their internal and external parasites, put them on a good plane of nutrition and don’t let that developing puppy hang out with other dogs until they are fully vaccinated. Those puppies rarely get sick.
Folks, who want to have good lives look for God early and develop a relationship with Him and with his people. They go to Bible classes and feed themselves spiritually, they limit their associations with people who might be bad influentially and they live according to biblical principles and generally they don’t get spiritually sick. Oh, Christians are going to suffer the same physical illnesses that everyone else does and there are going to be family problems too. But they have vaccinated themselves against Satan and their spiritual immune systems are strong enough to survive the fiercest attack. They have built a relationship with God who is carefully listening and eagerly waiting to answer the prayers of his true children.
Don’t be like that young puppy that may have only a 60% chance of survival. Be like that fully vaccinated and well cared for puppy that can live life to the fullest and bring many years of joy to its family.
Seek God early and often… he won’t fail you.
In Daniel chapter one, we read of four young Jewish men who were slaves to the Babylonian Empire. They were to be trained to serve the empire for three years and during that training period were supposed to be fed a diet that by Babylonian standards was the best and choicest food they had.
The problem for these four Jewish young men was that the Babylonian diet violated the food laws that God had set forth. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah knew that God’s food laws were given not just to be arbitrary but were given to promote good health… and so a trial was set forth, God’s diet vs. the Babylonian diet. Of course after a ten day period Daniel and his friends looked healthier in every measurable way. God wins.
Here’s the thing, even though we don’t live under the Mosaic Law and have food laws, God still wants his people to be healthy. God wants healthy (not handicapped) soldiers in his army to wage battle against Satan.
We no longer live under a law that regulates every aspect of our lives (including food) we live under a law that is full of liberty and freedom and choices.
Christians are responsible for making healthy choices so that we can be better servants to God.
I know of two former members who were diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and have since passed. I would go to the cafeteria with them after Sunday morning services and watch them load their plates with Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes slathered in gravy and macaroni and cheese. Of course I would comment to them… don’t you have CHF? And they would say, “yes but we want to eat the way we want to eat”.
They both left widows, children and grand-children and in my opinion short changed God in their responsibilities to Him both in their poor health and in their shortened lives. All, those years of wisdom that could have been shared shortened by poor choices and rejecting the advice of their doctors.
We can’t control everything in our lives in regards to our health but there are plenty of things we can control. Do your best in regards to your spiritual health and your physical health so we can be better servants to God.
Two rich men are introduced in Luke chapters 18 & 19. One was a Ruler of the Jews who lived according to the 10 commandments and as such was well liked and well received in Jewish society. The other was a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman Government. He, on the other hand, was hated because he worked for the enemy. In essence, he was stigmatized and ostracized by his fellow Jews.
The Ruler was living a righteous life and even Jesus recognized that. However, Jesus knew something that the Ruler may not have even known about himself… he loved his money and possessions too much. When Jesus told him to sell it all and distribute the proceeds to the poor the conversation ended and the Ruler walked away with great sadness. He loved his money too much.
The Tax Collector, like the Ruler, had heard of Jesus and when he heard Jesus was in town he climbed a tree just so he could catch a glimpse of Jesus. He wasn’t blind or crippled or in need of any miraculous healing from Jesus he just wanted to see him. And then Jesus did something that violated all the social norms of Jewish society… he noticed the Tax Collector and stayed in his home. You see the Tax Collector suffered from a non-physical malady he suffered from a love deficiency. He had all the money he could want but no one cared for him.
At Jesus expression of love the Tax Collector, Zacchaeus, was over whelmed and offered something the Jewish Ruler wouldn’t give… he offered to give 50% of his possessions to the poor and offered a four fold restitution to anyone who he might have over charged for taxes.
Jesus’ response? “Salvation is come to this house.”
The Jewish Ruler asked what he needed to do to be saved. Zacchaeus already knew the answer and with great enthusiasm offered the price.
How does a rich man enter the kingdom of God and how does a camel go through the eye of a needle? By understanding the true value of wealth and using it properly.
In Matthew 21:33-41, Jesus tells the story of a man who decided to build a vineyard and start growing grapes. He planted the grape vines then built a hedge around the whole place to keep out sheep and goats and other animals who might destroy the plants. He also built a tower with a hut on top to be able to watch over the vineyard and he dug out an area for a wine press to collect the juice from the grapes.
Once he had it complete he rented the place out to share croppers and left the country. When the time of the year came to collect his share of the crop the owner sent servants to get his share. The renters instead beat up and killed the owner’s servants. So he sent more servants who got the same reception. Finally the owner reasoned they will respect my son and he sent his son to collect his share. The renters schemed that this was the owner’s son and that if they killed him the owner would finally get the message that they weren’t going to pay.
The story ends with the question, what will the Lord of the vineyard do to these men and the answer is he will kill them and rent out his vineyard to other renters who are more righteous.
Nice story, but this story isn’t about growing grapes. The vineyard is God’s people (Jews), God is the builder and owner. The renters are the High Priest, chief priests and Pharisees who ruled the Jewish nation. The servants who were killed are the prophets God sent including John the Baptist. The son of course was Jesus Christ. Because the Jewish leaders killed Jesus, God promised he would kill them which occurred (finally) in AD 70. The vineyard/kingdom would then be turned over to faithful men including Gentiles who would act more righteously.
When we eat of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday we recall that God gave up his only born Son for our sakes. Usually when we remember the death of someone we are sorrowful and sad and those are some of the emotions that we should have when we remember Jesus but paradoxically we should also be happy and glad because without God’s sacrificial gift we could not receive the blessings that we have as being God’s sons and daughters. We would be lost and without hope.
Don’t neglect the assembling with other Christians on Sundays to take of the Lord’s Supper… mourn but also rejoice… after all it memorializes God’s great and unspeakable gift to us. To do less would be shameful and insulting.
One of the problems in the church at Corinth was some of the members didn’t feel they were important. They thought that no one appreciated them.
The medicine for that problem was love. The other members needed to identify those members and apply that healing salve. That’s kind of a problem because generally those weaker members don’t just stand up and say “I’m weak”. So… the more mature members need to be on the look-out for signs of weakness. Keep their ear to the ground so to speak.
I knew a family many moons ago that thought that everyone else thought they were better than them… kind of had a chip on their shoulder. I also knew a fellow who really wanted to teach a Bible class but the Elders had decided that they only wanted professional teachers teaching those classes and said… no thank you. He was hurt by that.
1 Cor. 8:1 says, “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up.”
Knowledge might address the above problem by stating, “everyone is equal in this congregation” and “we want the very best teachers”. But knowledge doesn’t really solve the issue does it? In fact it might make it worse.
Love addresses the problem by acting like this family was the most important to them in the world… inviting them over for Thanksgiving, asking their opinion, seeking out their company , etc., etc., etc.
Loving Elders might say, OK you might have all the teaching talent in the world but we’ll never know unless we give you a try… have at it. Or ask them to team teach with someone else, or lead a home Bible study, etc., etc., etc.
As a congregation we need everyone looking forwards, not sideways and certainly not backwards. If our vision is distracted by ancillary issues our mission is also distracted.
Don’t tear people down with superior knowledge but make a few sacrifices along the way and demonstrate love, patience and understanding because after all that’s how God is with us.
There were a lot of problems in the church in Corinth, Greece. One of the big problems was that some of the members didn’t think they mattered very much (1 Cor. 12). There were others who were front and center in the congregation and who got a lot of attention and acclaim so they felt that in comparison they weren’t worth too much.
Feelings aren’t necessarily facts but if they’re your feelings they feel like facts. It’s a problem because if you buy into those feelings you can become non-productive in the Lord’s Kingdom and cripple the church.
Paul answers this by comparing church to a human body. Everybody understands that to have a fully functioning body you have to have all the parts that make up the human body. To run and jump you have to have legs and knees and toes. To climb mountains you also have to have strong arms and hands with all their fingers. To see, smell, hear and feel you have to have all of your sensory organs. Otherwise, you’re handicapped and crippled.
So too the church.
You can’t have a congregation made up solely of preachers or solely of song leaders or composed of only young people or only of old folks. You’ve got to have all kinds of people with all kinds of abilities. I’ve said before that I’m glad the church isn’t made up of people just like me. If it was I would probably go find somewhere else to attend.
The church needs all its parts and every different kind of member; families, widows and widowers, young people and old people, smart people and people who are not so smart, quiet people and people who are outgoing.
When a small member like the toe can say… I’m sure proud to be a member of a body that has such good eyes, ears, arms and legs, etc. I can’t do what they can do but I can do my part then as a church we can accomplish some things. Otherwise as a church we’re going to need a handicapped parking sticker and just putter along the road as others pass us by.
Let’s make sure we appreciate all our members and build each other up so we can accomplish great things!
