Sunday, September 13, 2020

forgive


September 14  genesis 50:15-21  Ps 103  Romans 14:1-12  Matthew 18:21-35

 Psalm 103 vividly describes the character of God. It is both amazing theology and a song of praise. 

We know our God through His deeds--He forgives, He heals, He redeems, He gives life. He blesses us in abundant life. We must reject those negative images of God which generate doubt or fear. These verses also summarize the ministry and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels!

With verse six, the Psalmist turns to the Exodus story and God’s justice. YHWH hears the cries of the oppressed and delivers them and then He invites His people to walk in His ways as His beloved covenant people. YHWH revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6) with these words: The Lord! The Lord! merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love! These words will occur again and again in the Bible; they also illustrate Jesus’ ministry. Jesus calls God, “Abba, Father” and the words verse 13 demonstrate that He is a Father who loves, cherishes and forgives His children.

As forgiveness is at the heart of our relationship with the Father, it must be in our relationships with one another. Peter asks if we must forgive everyone, everything all the time? Jesus' answer is yes. Forgive. Everyone. Everything. Always.

What of those who do great evil or who have hurt us deeply? Jesus' answer is to look to the Father.

We owe God so much. We are in debt to God for everything. We cannot calculate all that He has done for us. Each moment of every day our debt of gratitude increases, but we take so much for granted that we complain and resent that things do not go our way. We love God, yet we often give Him the leftovers of our life. We are distracted in prayer and worship, reluctant to read His word and indifferent to the mission and ministry with which we are entrusted. We also sin, we knowingly and willingly choose to betray God and turn away. So, our debt is very large. Jesus calls it “ten thousand talents,” which is like owing a billion dollars on our charge card. Even millionaires cannot pay a billion dollar personal debt…

Jesus compares our debt to God with the debt others owe us. Five or ten thousand is a significant debt, but compared to what we owe to God, it is like nothing. The patriarch Joseph understands this. He learned this lesson and could to see that the mercy and grace of God in his life canceled out the evil intent of his brothers. He forgave them because God is good.

Perhaps you need a more compelling reason? See Jesus, in His agony, saying from that cross, "Father forgive them." Jesus wiped out our debt and asked us to do the same for others. Who can refuse? 


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