The Prayer of Release

Transcription

1 1 The Prayer of Release CONNECTING WITH GOD THE LORD S PRAYER PART 5 Matthew 18:21-22 Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, "... not seven times, but seventy-seven times." (NIV) Two of the greatest barriers in our lives that keep us from experiencing genuine peace of mind are guilt and resentment. We call them the misery twins. Guilt and resentment do more to mess up our lives than anything else. One of them has to do with when we hurt other people, then we feel guilty, (sin). The other one is when people hurt us, which produces resentment. The Lord s Prayer deals with both of these issues in a very powerful way. Last week we dealt with the prayer of cleansing ; forgive us our sins! Today we want to look at what we call the Prayer of Release, which deals with the other of the misery twins resentment. In the prayer of release, we ask the Lord to forgive us as much as we forgive everybody else. We need to take a serious look at this one. The reality of life is that we are going to be hurt by other people. Many, if not all of us, have been hurt over and over by others in the past, and we re going to be hurt in the future, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. If we don t learn how to release that hurt it s going to pile up in our lives. And just like garbage it starts stinking. If we allow resentment, grudges and anger to build up inside our lives, not knowing how to let it go, it ll poison our spirits within us and ultimately produce the root of bitterness, defiling ourselves and others in the process! It s one thing to forgive someone who has hurt you one time and that s it; but what about repeat offenders who keep doing it over and over and over again. They just keep hurting you and hurting you and hurting you. What are you supposed to do with those kinds of people? How often am I supposed to forgive somebody who continually keeps on hurting me? That s a good question. In fact, it was the question that one of Jesus followers the apostle Peter, asked Jesus 2000 years ago. We don t really know if Peter actually meant his brother who, by the way, was named Andrew. But the truth is about ninety percent of all resentment starts in the family. It is mostly the people around us, the ones we re the closest too, that often hurt us the most. Brothers, spouse s, children, parents, grandparents, precious family members that we are in daily contact with! Maybe it was something they said, something they did - physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse maybe they ripped you off, rejected you, lied about you etc. The Jewish law required that you had to forgive a person three times. After three times, tough luck buddy, I don t have to forgive you anymore! Peter knows that the Jewish law says you ve got to forgive three times, so he says in the above portion of scripture, I ll double it and I ll throw in one for good measure! That ll really impress Jesus. Hey Lord, how about seven times!?

2 2 Jesus answered Not seven times but seventy-seven times. Jesus is teaching us a powerful truth; He is saying you have to keep on. It s an unlimited amount of time! You have to keep on releasing the hurt and you have to keep on forgiving the offender. Why must we release those who have hurt us? The parable of the Unforgiving Servant, gives us compelling enough reason to release those who have hurt us. Matthew 18: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? 22 Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 The servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything. 27 The servant s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me! he demanded. 29 His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, Be patient with me, and I will pay you back. 30 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 Then the master called the servant in. You wicked servant, he said, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. (NIV84) God s Word gives us three reasons why we have to let go of our hurt and release it, why we have to forgive, why we have to not hold on to our resentment and not to rehearse it over and over. 1.GOD FORGIVES US. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 The servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything. 27 The servant s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. (NIV84) In this story, there is a man who owes the King ten thousand talents and in those days they didn t use rand s, or dollars, yen or euros, they were called talents - talents of gold! In today s amount, that would be equivalent to about twelve million dollars = (R ). This is no small debt, how he had operated in such mismanagement, we don t know. At that time, bankruptcy was very simple; you would be sold into slavery, together with your entire household, as payment for your debt. Even if he could repay the King, (master), 100 dollars a day, which he couldn t, it would still take him over 300 years to repay. This was an impossible debt for him to repay! However, he still asks for a little more time! This wasn t going to make any difference; he would never be able to repay the debt. The master took pity on him and forgave him and cancelled his debt and wiped the slate clean.

3 3 Just as the master canceled the debt of this servant in the story, God sent Jesus Christ to pay for our debt. Everything you ve ever done wrong, every sin you have ever committed, has already been paid for so you don t have to pay for it. The wages of sin is death and Jesus Christ died for all of our sins. Romans 3:23 25a 23 Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God s glorious standard, 24 and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. 25 God sent him to die in our place to take away our sins. We receive forgiveness through faith in the blood of Jesus death (NCV) The fact is you and I owe an enormous debt to God that we could never repay. God has chosen to wipe out our debt. If you were this servant in the story, how would you feel if someone told you, you owed over rands, let s just call it even? It would surely mean such immense relief, feelings of great joy and gratitude. I would feel energized and free. I would feel like having a fat party. I would feel like being nice to everybody else, because somebody had just forgiven me and wiped out rands of my debt. But that s not what the servant did; he reacts in the opposite way! He walks out of the presence of the master who had forgiven him an enormous debt and finds a guy that owes him just a little bit of money and begins to threaten him, shows no mercy, and ultimately has him thrown into prison to be tortured until he pays back the money! Matthew 18:28-30 But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me! he demanded. 29 His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, Be patient with me, and I will pay you back. 30 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. (NIV84) Why would he behave like this? He was owed the equivalent of 17 dollars = R256.47! Some scholars suggest it s because he didn t really believe in his heart that the master had forgiven him! Because in his heart he could not believe that he would be let off the hook, that the master didn t really mean what he said, that he was not really forgiven, and would need to make some effort to pay him back. When you meet harsh, unforgiving, unmerciful, self righteous, judgemental and critical Christians, it s because they don t feel forgiven, they don t feel released from their debt, and carry the burden of guilt and so become resentful of those who have harmed them and want payback. They are unconsciously trying to repay God, and resent those that have harmed them. Because they don t feel forgiven they battle to forgive and release others. When you understand the debt that God has cancelled for you, you wont be so harsh on others! You will release them and forgive them as God has released and forgiven you your debt, (sins)! Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (NIV) You ll never have to forgive anybody else more than God s already forgiven you. 2. RESENTMENT IS SELF TORTURE Matthew 18:32-34 You contemptible and wicked servant. I forgave and released you and I canceled your great debt. Shouldn t you have shown mercy and release to your debtor just as I did with you? In wrath the king sent him to the jailers to be tortured in the torture chamber.

4 4 Unforgiveness and holding onto a hurt is called resentment, it is a self-inflicted wound. Whenever you re resentful, whenever you re holding a grudge, whenever you get bitter, it always hurts you more than the person you re bitter against, they re not even thinking about it. It torments your mind and it tortures your body, it eats away at you like a cancer. It destroys your peace and happiness. In a medical study published in Heart Circulation magazine, they reported that people who carry resentment are twice more likely to have a stroke, three times more likely to have a heart attack, or three times more likely to have bypass surgery, and four times more likely to have unhealthy levels of cholesterol. Job 5:2 To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do. (GNB) Job 21:23-25 Some men stay happy until the day they die... others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts. (GN) 3. I RELEASE THEM BECAUSE I NEED FORGIVENESS EVERY DAY. We cannot receive that which we are unwilling to give! One time a person came to John Wesley and said, You know that person? I could never forgive them. And Wesley said, Then I hope you never sin. The Word of God teaches us that we will be forgiven as much as we forgive. You need to forgive in order to get forgiveness. It s a two way street. Matthew 6:14-15 If you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NIV) HOW DO I RELEASE MY HURT!? 1. Leave it to God. Romans 12:19... Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it (LB) Forgiveness simply means that I relinquish my right to get even. I leave it to God, who can do a better job at getting justice than what I can. I m going to let God settle the score. Forgiveness does not mean the instant restoration of trust. Forgiveness is instant; trust must be rebuilt over time. Forgiveness is based on grace; trust is built on works. You earn trust, but you don t earn forgiveness. Forgiveness and the restoration of a relationship are two different things. Forgiveness is only on your part whether they respond or not, whether they ask for it or not, whether they even recognize they need it or not. You forgive for your sake. Restoration of a relationship takes far more than forgiveness. It takes repentance; it takes restitution and it takes a rebuilding of trust. 2. I heal it with grace. Hebrews 12:15 Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does there can very easily spring up in him a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself but can also poison the lives of many others. (Ph)

5 5 If you don t get God s grace in your life, life will make you bitter. If we continue to hold onto hurts from the past, resentment and unforgiveness, then the offender is controlling you. You don t forgive a person because it s the fair thing to do. You forgive a person because it s the right thing to do and you don t want your heart full of poison. You don t want your heart holding on to the hurt and the hate. It s the grace of God that gives me forgiveness. I don t deserve God s forgiveness, none of us do, but Jesus paid for it with His life. It wasn t fair that Jesus - the innocent, sinless, Lamb of God, had to die in my place and pay the debt for my sins. But it s not about fairness. It s about grace. 1 Peter 2:24 Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And you are healed because of his wounds. (NCV) 3. I need to nail it to the Cross Romans 6:6 We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. (NCV) This means my natural inclination to do the wrong thing. My natural inclination when you hurt me is to hurt you back. My natural inclination when you say something bad against me is say something bad against you and hold on to it and never forgive you. But, if I nail it to the cross I can be free from my bad self! I can be free from resentment and the hurts from my past because my sinful nature no longer has power over me! I m free to do the right thing, to act like Christ, to forgive and let go.