Session 5
11-5-10
Man is meant to receive and walk in the love of God and respond to it in obedient faith in service and love to Him and each other, and the result is that we become all that we were intended to be.
Forgive as you’ve been forgiven. This is the threshold. This is the beginning of your life. Without this you are going nowhere. This is stuff the believers have to deal with. When we came to Christ, we also brought out of the darkness, a lot of darkness thinking- bitterness, unforgiveness.
We have been called by Christ and answered His call, but to complete and move toward this calling, we must forgive those who have wounded.
Some of us have been stabbed in the back… and we’re still bleeding. Bitterness is what the core is. All of the wrath and unforgiveness comes from it. 1 Peter 2: PUT IT AWAY. Behind that in the Greek the meaning is, so strong, DO IT NOW. Don’t you dare pray about! Put it away, now! Don’t put it off. We are to put away the whole family of bitterness. If you know you have this as a tendency, realize it, so you can cooperate with the Holy Spirit in working on it. Don’t deny it.
Bitterness is a state in which you think, the way in which your emotions live. It’s brooding. Not a thing. It is brooding about a wrong that was done to you. Something done yesterday, a year ago, 50 years ago. Brooding- you’re going to sit on that egg and hatch it. You’re gonna get your money’s worth out of this.
I have to set side the fact that I’ve been wronged. We can’t brood about it. We all have been wronged! What are we going to do about it? What sense is there in returning to the hurt again? It hurt so much the first time, why would we continue to hurt ourselves? Paying back? No… It is only joining the person that hurt you, either knowingly or un-knowingly, in a twisted way of hurting yourself.
You are a new man in Christ. Yes, true. But not perfect. If you have brought bitterness into the Kingdom of God, which is likely because we’ve all been hurt, then we are likely to keep that pattern of thinking and be bitter at new hurts.
Why would we do this? It all comes back to the lie. We’re supposed to be like God, right? So, therefore, vengeance is mine? I was powerless, now I regroup, I get even, and I am going to bind you with chains, to what you’ve done. You’ve hurt me and I’m not going to let you ever go from that and I will go out of my way to let you feel that. This is the beginning of murder. But for now, I am going to padlock you out of my life, out of my friend’s lives; I would padlock you out of the universe if I could.
Look at Joseph’s story. It wouldn’t have been there unless he had forgiven. Unless he had forgiven his brothers, he would have had a victim mentality. He would have died a bitter old slave in Potiphar’s House. Taken Potiphar’s wife’s offer. After all, He had it coming to him, right? He deserved it! After what I’ve been through, you expect me to live a successful life?
To forgive is the greatest step of faith. To forgive others the way God in His love has forgiven you. Col. 1:11- Strengthened (Empowered) with all power. Empowered? (Classical Greek uses the same word for Hercules.) Why? To go out and raise the dead? Well, not in this passage. It is to forgive. He forgave us and made us heirs.
The power of God is not always physical. Go beyond the feeling. It is a choice, PUT AWAY Bitterness. Do it now! It is a part of faith. We can’t completely do it of ourselves. We need the Holy Spirit’s help. So we go ahead and do it in faith.
Is forgiving letting them win? Is it admitting that the other person is right? Is it saying, “Oh, I’m such a good Christian, I will just let you go on down the road. I guess I over-reacted.” No, I was hurt! Get rid of all of that silly ‘Christian’ view that we don’t get hurt. Yes, we still get hurt. Part of being a Christian is what we do with that hurt.
What did Joseph do with it? After his dad died and his brothers come to him trembling, saying, “Well, dad made us promise we would ask you to forgive us.” He already had! Joseph actually wept at the pitifulness of it. He said, you meant this for evil. He admitted that he was hurt.
Forgiving is not absolving people’s sins. Who do you think you are? You can’t forgive people’s sins… unless the proper steps have been taken (1 John 1). When someone sins against you, they sin against the Artist who put you together. The fact is you’re made in His image. It is a dangerous thing messing with another human.
The only part I can play in this scene is to release you to God. This means that I have no personal vendetta against you. Joseph got this. “Am I god?” he says. He gave it to God. I release you out of my hands. The Webster’s definition is: to send away. We’re not saying how wrong they were. 50% or %100, I am no longer the judge. The reason God reserves judgment is, only He fully knows their heart. Now, I pray that their eyes are open to see that Jesus has bourn their sin. That they can turn to God and find the mercy that is there.
You say, “Wait a minute, I know God, He’s gonna let them get away with this! Somebody’s gotta pay for this!” Jesus says I have.
What about Stephen? As he’s being stoned, he prays, “Lord, lay it not to their charge.” Whose charge was it laid to? Who had it coming to them? It was laid to Jesus. He’s not saying that they’re getting away with it, but that love has wrapped up the loose ends and the price has been met by God. What happened with Saul? He was released to God and God was able to work in his life because of that.
But wait, Jesus paid for everybody’s sins but that thing that was just done to you?
1. So, first thing you must do is realize in your heart where there might have been bitterness and ask forgiveness for being bitter. Get forgiveness for yourself. I suggest you get alone, and list the people that have hurt you. Go as far back, let the Holy Spirit lead you, but go back. Admit that, “Yes, they hurt me, they HURT me. But God, I release them to You.” Then cross out their names.
2. If it is convenient, go to the person and tell them that you had bitterness towards them. I say convenient because they may not know, so don’t stir the whole matter up again with them. But if they know, then clear it up with them.
3. Go back and re-write the story of your life. You see, God was there all the time. He was loving you all the time. And you know what, He won. Out of the hell-hole that you called family, He got you. He won. Joseph did this. He never knew it at the time that God was with him.
You see, your memory of that event is the report of a 5 year old, or however old you were at the time. God bless him, but the little 5 year old didn’t know everything. Go back and see it through God’s eyes now.
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