Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Good morning, Westgate family.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: We're glad you're here to join us. Would you stand and sing with us?
Sing it out.
Wandering into the night.
Wanting a place to hide this weary soul, this bag of bones.
I try with all my mind.
[00:00:33] Speaker C: But.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: I just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting vagabond.
Just when I ran, I broke I met man I didn't know and he told me that I was not alone.
You pick me up, you turned me around and placed my my feet on solid ground. I thank the master, I thank the Savior.
Because you heal my heart change my name. Forever free I'm not the same. I thank the master, I thank the savior I thank God.
I cannot deny what I've seen.
Got no choice but to believe my now some burning oh, like ashes in the wind.
So, so long to my old friends bye bye. Burden and bitterness, you can just keep them moving.
No, you ain't welcome here.
From now till I walk the streets of gold I'll sing of how you save my soul this wayward has found his way back.
Pick me up, turn me around and place my feet on solid ground. I thank the master, I thank the Savior.
Because you healed my heart and changed my name. Forever free I am not the same. I thank the master, I thank the savior I thank God he lost another one. I am free.
I am free. Oh, I am free.
Hell lost another one. I am free.
I am free.
I am free.
[00:02:56] Speaker D: Come on.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: He lost another one. I am free.
I am free.
I am free.
Hell lost another one. I am free.
I am free.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: We celebrate every win in hell.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: Lost another one. I am free.
I am free. Whoa. I am free. In hell lost another one. I am free.
I am free.
You pick me up, turn me around, you place my feet on solid ground. I thank the master, I thank the Savior.
Because you heal my heart you change my name. Forever free.
I think the master, I think the Savior. I thank God.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: We thank him for he is good.
[00:04:12] Speaker D: Amen.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: We are so glad you're here today. You can have a seat.
I just want to highlight a couple things. We are so glad you guys are here to join us both here and online on the live stream. We just want to welcome you today to Westgate Chapel. If you're a first, second, third time, ten thousandth time, we love that you're here with us. We have a great guest services program right outside these doors out here. If you have any questions, if you need prayer for anything you want to connect, another way you can connect is right behind your Pews. We have these connect cards. You can fill out that connection card. We'd love to that you're here with us. We'd love to know any needs that you have, any ways that we can be praying for you guys.
There's so many ways in this church to be connected.
And along with that, there's many ways that we walk alongside people as we do those things and pray for people. And one of those programs is a grief share program.
We have grief share program. There's 13 weeks starting August 5th through October 28th. Great program. Everybody here, I can say has been through grief of one point or another in their life.
And it's a great program that will help you walk through that and give you hope as you walk through that. You don't have to walk through that alone. It's a great program. There's a registration in there. There's a registration fee of $20.
You can join at any time. If you can't join for all 13 weeks, but you can go to griefshare.org groups, just search for our zip code, 43615 and our group will show up in there for you and you can.
[00:05:34] Speaker D: Sign up for that.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Along with that, we have many other service programs and service things going on within the community.
One of those we're going to highlight right now. If you would pay direct your attention.
[00:05:46] Speaker D: To the video here.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: The other day I was thinking to myself made a list of all my mistakes. Oh I wish I could have run to you and tell you all about my heartbreak.
And I wondered to myself wait a minute, am I even on the right path now? Had a couple wins but I got knocked down. But I know that you hear right now and you say sometimes you lose, sometimes you win.
You gotta get up, up again.
Keep holding on, it's not the end.
You gotta get up, up again. Get up, up again.
You can get up, up again again.
You can get up again.
And I guess not every little thing works out just the way you dream.
You can take a couple wrong turns still end up where you're supposed to be.
Even though in a moment I know everything can change.
Your perfect plans might fall apart. But the simple truth remains.
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win.
You gotta get up, up again.
Keep holding on, it's not the end.
You gotta get up, up again. Get up, up again.
You can get up, up again up.
You can get up, up again. Get up, up again.
You can get up, up again.
You can get up, up again. Cuz you only got one life and you don't know when it ends? You've only got one heart?
So get out there and live? Yeah, you've only got?
Don't let it get away?
Everyone falls down?
You can get up, up again?
You can get up, up again?
You can get up, up again?
Guess not every little thing works out just the way you dream.
You could take a couple wrong turns and I put you're supposed to be.
Yeah.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: This is our middle school group, and we partner with a church out of Warren, Ohio, Pastor Dan's home church when he grew up in Northmore church there. And I have Addie here joining me this morning, and I just want to ask her a few questions about what's going on with middle school serve and what they do there. So, Addie, what. What really draws you to serve and what keeps you going?
[00:08:50] Speaker C: I think my favorite part about serve is. This is a really hard question, but I think the night sessions and the worship were my absolute, like, favorite part.
Bethany did a phenomenal job with worship. And we sang a song called Gratitude by Brandon Lake. And one of the lyrics is, so I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. And it was just amazing to see all these middle schoolers with their hands up praising the Lord.
And Josiah also did a great job with the night sessions. He engaged with the students and did a fantastic job preaching the gospel.
Overall, that was my favorite part of serve and why I keep coming back.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. Tell us, for those that haven't been or don't know about a serve product, what kind of some of the products that you work on and what do you do?
[00:09:33] Speaker C: I was on blue team, and each day we would have two sessions of work, one in the morning, then we would break for lunch, and then one in the afternoon where we would work until dinner.
And for Tuesday, we worked at the church. We dug holes, planted trees, added dirt, mulch, and then moved these giant dirt piles from, like, the parking lot to the sidewalk. And then my team was in the sun all day, so we were trying to, like, rotate, taking breaks because it was super hot.
And then for Wednesday, we went to a few gardens and weeded more mulching and just anything that they needed help with around those gardens.
And one of the students from North Marr who was in my group, his mom brought us dip and dots to keep us cool.
[00:10:16] Speaker D: So that's you down with some dipping dots?
[00:10:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
And then later Wednesday, one of the ladies we were working at, like, her garden for, we got to pray over her. And I think that is so special because we have to speak Life over her. When the enemy is just constantly speaking lies, we just got to speak life over her. And, yeah, that was some of what we did.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a phenomenal trip. I've gotten to go on a number of these. And to get to serve the community in this way and pray over people that. That don't get to get out sometimes away from their houses and serve them in this way is incredible. And getting to have students do this is so much fun. Last question I got for you is, is there any God moments you had during this trip that really stood out to you where God was doing something maybe you didn't expect?
[00:11:00] Speaker C: When I was first sent these questions for the serve testimonies, I was thinking for quite a while, and I didn't think I had a God moment. And so I talked to my friend, and I was like, hey, I was sent this question, and I don't know. Like, I don't know what to say. And she said, pray about it. So I was like, okay, you know, I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna pray about it.
And so I prayed for a while and still couldn't find a moment where God was until I was hanging one day, and I was writing my notes for this, and I realized he's in every moment. He was there during the service project. He had his protection over us, keeping us safe. You could feel his presence during worship.
He was there while we were praying over service projects and the people we were serving. Like, you could feel the Holy Spirit moving through the speakers. He was in every moment. And I felt, like, so much guilt that it took me so, so long to see it.
And on, I think it was Tuesday morning, my. A couple of my friends who are also leaders, I was up early, and they were like, hey, go ahead and, like, do a Bible study or whatever. Do your own thing. You know, get into the Word until we have our session at 9.
And so I was like, okay. And so I went in my Bible and I was reading, and I found Hebrews 13, verse 8 says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will always be there in every single moment of every day.
[00:12:17] Speaker D: Thank you, Addie.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: If you guys give her a round of applause.
It's a phenomenal experience they get to do in middle schoolers and get to do and serve in these trips. So we wanted to give you a little highlight of that. But now, would you guys stand up? Would you take a moment to greet one another and maybe share how you stay cool this summer?
[00:13:26] Speaker D: Show up.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: He went home or what.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Worship again, Satan? To sing the song of ages. To glam.
And all have gone before us.
And all who will believe Will sing the song of ages to the land.
Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest.
Your name stands above the moon.
All thrones in dominions. All powers in positions. Your name stands above them all.
And the angels cry holy.
All creation holy.
You are lifted high.
Sing this song forever.
[00:16:09] Speaker C: To.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: If you walk in freedom, if you bear his name.
Sing the song forever.
Oh, we'll sing the song forever.
And the angels cry holy.
All creation Christ.
Holy.
You are lifted high.
Holy.
Holy forever.
Hear your people sing holy to the king of kings.
Holy you will always be holy.
Holy forever.
Oh, Jesus. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all.
Above all thrones and dominions. All powers and positions. Your name stands above them all.
Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all.
All thrones and dominions. All powers and positions. Your name stands above them all.
And the angels cry holy.
All creation. Christ.
Holy.
You are lifted high.
Holy.
Holy forever.
Hear your people sing holy to the king of kings.
Holy.
You will always be holy.
Holy forever.
You will always be holy.
Holy forever.
You will always be holy.
Holy forever.
He will always be holy.
Holy forever.
Sam.
Behold him now.
The king has entered in.
Behold him now.
The weight of glory here as he arrives in victory.
Open your eyes to majesty.
Behold him now.
Behold him now.
King of heaven, we bow in refuge.
As the train of your own fills this temple.
As the train of your own fills this temple.
Behold him now.
The elder. Gather around.
We join them now laying down our earthly crown.
He is enthroned in victory.
We open our hearts up to receive.
O King of Hell Heaven. We bow in reverence.
As the train of your own fills this temple.
As the train of your own fills this temple.
Without oration we're pouring out our praises.
As the train of your own fills the.
You are.
You are holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
Holy.
You are. You are worthy, worthy, worthy Jesus.
Worthy, worthy, worthy.
Worthy.
Worthy.
Worthy, worthy, worthy.
Worthy of heaven.
As the train of your own is the same.
As the tree of your own fills the temple with battle we're pouring out our grace.
As the train of your own fills this temple.
As the train of your own fills this step.
King of heaven, be bowing reverence.
As the train of your own fills the temple.
As the train of your own fills the temple.
Creation, we're pouring out our praises.
As the Train of your own fills this temple as the train of your own fills this temple Let the train of your own this temple Let the train of your own fill this temple.
[00:26:42] Speaker D: Poor God.
Now we thank you for moments like this where we get to praise you and pour our gratefulness and thanksgiving for what you have done for us, who you are, what you have provided for us, and the daily breath that you give us each moment, each day.
God, thank you for hearing our worship this morning. Thank you for saving us, and thank you for this church body where we can come together to worship you together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Father, as we continue in worship, Lord, as we give of our tithes and our offerings this morning, God, we ask that you.
First off, we are thankful for the ways that you have provided for us. You continue to do so.
And at this time, we just give you praise. And we ask that you would receive what we offer this morning with our hands, with our hearts, with our voices as well. God, may it be glorifying and honoring to you. And for these specific tithes and offerings, God, may you use them for the growth of your kingdom, for people to come to know you, for mission trips like SERVE and Costa Rica and all those kids this morning that are worshiping you in Indianapolis at Life. God, may you be praised.
We thank you, Jesus. Amen.
Go ahead and have a seat. And as we do so, we're going to receive tithes and offerings this morning. So if you're in the middle, take those buckets, you can pass them to the outside. And if you're up in the balcony, go from the outside into the center, please.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Sam.
[00:29:13] Speaker D: All right.
Well, good morning, everybody. My name is Adam Juss. I get to serve here at Westgate as executive pastor of ministry. And today I get to share the word of God with you. We get to dive into God's word this morning on the 4th of July weekend. And so happy 4th of July weekend for all those that are fans of the Fourth of July.
Yeah, it's on this July 4th that we remember and celebrate our Independence Day that we as a country declared our independence and freedom.
And we do so in interesting fashion.
We like to sing a lot of patriotic songs together and we like to blow up things.
And we also like to decorate in red, white and blue. Many of you I see decorated thematically for this morning. So thank you. The red, white and blue, that stems from the colors of the Stars and Stripes, right?
Our flag, the red, white and blue.
And actually the red, white and blue is the stars and Stripes. There's a story behind all of that.
Back in spring break, I got to take our family. We went to Washington D.C. and got to visit one of the Smithsonians there that has like the Star Spangled Banner. And there's a picture there.
This is the flag that hung over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. And, and as this was hanging there, this is the flag that Francis Scott Key saw from a distance. And then after the bombardment throughout the night, it was still waving the next morning.
And you know, this meant wherever this flag goes, wherever this flag, you know, since then, gets planted, kind of indicates and dictates the values and ideals of our nation, of our country. And so what this stood for is like this freedom and freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of arms and everything else that kind of goes along with that. So that's what we kind of celebrate and we remember this morning. And we also recognize that came at a cost, right? Sacrifice. The freedom that we have and enjoy isn't free.
Likewise, the freedom that we have in Jesus isn't free as well.
But the idea of a flag, whether it's the US Flag or any other flag, the idea is where that flag is, where it's planted, where it gets set, where it flows, indicates the reign of the area, right?
So when that flag gets put down somewhere, it's saying that whoever's in that territory is going to hold to the values and the ideals under that flag.
Some other places that I think about where the flag gets planted and it gets commemorated is one this other picture from Iwo Jima, this is during World War II, and this is a monument to that. These Marines that on this Pacific isle of Iwo Jima, they were battling and they were wanting to bring what the freedom of the US Were trying to claim this territory. And so they finally won this battle and they claimed the flag and they planted the flag there. And to dictate wherever this was in that space and territory was now that of the US Another flag, a picture that kind of iconic that comes to mind was from 9 11. And many of you probably remember this one as well of the firefighters that act after there was the attacks of 911 and flew into the buildings, the twin towers, and they fell out of this rubble. It was significant to hang the flag, basically saying, hey, no matter what you're going to do, we're still going to raise this flag. This still is the United States and we're here ready to fight, and we're still upholding the values and ideals of this country.
So we're raising up the flag.
So what's the connection for us this morning? We have been going through a series called Teach Us to Pray, going through the Lord's Prayer.
And one of the big ideas of this Lord's Prayer is God, we want your kingdom to come and we want your will to be done.
And so everywhere that we pray, and we want God's will to be done, God's kingdom to come, we want God's flag to be carried and planted there.
So if I go to work, if I go to our neighborhood, if I go to the grocery store, if I go to a club, if I not club, like I'm going to a club.
I'm thinking, like, if you go to a social club, if you go to the disco, oh, boy.
If you go to Sam's club, there we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If we go to Sam's club, go to Costco, go to the library, go to the schools, your neighborhood. We want to walk in as disciples of Jesus and saying, this is where I am, and as a disciple, this is where the kingdom of God is. This is where I'm praying for the will of God to happen, and I want God to be king here.
And so we've been talking about this way of living as a disciple last week we go to each of these places with what? What do we need each and every day?
Daily bread, a daily reliance upon Jesus to have this happen because we can't do it on our own.
And likewise, if we are praying for God to be holy, may his name be holy, for his name to be magnified, his name to be glorified. And if we want his will to be done, if we want his kingdom to come, and if we want to be disciples, then I'm also going to ask for other things as well.
And so what does Jesus have us do next is for forgiveness.
So this next verse, this next petition in the Lord's Prayer, part of God's kingdom, part of planting the flag for Jesus in your life, is for forgiveness might not be. This is not easy. This is not an easy word. This morning we like bread better than forgiveness as far as giving.
So this morning we're in Matthew 6, Sermon on the Mount. And I invite you to stand if you're able to, again.
And let's just read and say the Lord's Prayer together. And I'm also adding verses 14 and 15, so it's after the prayer. But Jesus gives this addendum about forgiveness.
So let's go ahead and we're going to say and read this together, beginning with verse nine, words of Jesus.
This then is how you should pray.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
This is God's word. You can go and have a seat and you can sit for my words. That include clubbing, apparently.
So some context here about additional context about the Lord's Prayer.
Lord's Prayer is in sermon on the mount, Matthew 5, 6, 7. And it's also. Luke records it as an answer to a question of one of the disciples in Luke 11.
We're taking from the Gospel of Matthew here in chapter 6. Now Jesus gives this prayer. And it's not like in a cultural vacuum. Actually, in Jesus Day and disciples day, some 2,000 years ago, there is a prayer that Jews would practice called the Amidah, which is, if you want to write, it's a M I D A H. So in the Amidah is a Jewish prayer that kind of started in this second temple time, this intertestamental time, a couple hundred years before Jesus walked walked on earth. And in this Amidah prayer, they would say this morning and at noon and then in the evening. So three times a day they would repeat this prayer. And the Lord's Prayer that we have has seven like petitions, seven requests, asks, and the Amidah has 18.
Now, many scholars believe that in the same way for the Lord's the Sermon on the Mount, there are multiple places where Jesus says, you have heard it said, right? And then he kind of redefines re adds things multiple times. So in the midst of that, in chapter six, it kind of does make sense that maybe Jesus is taking from the Amidah and then also kind of adding or redefining this. And so you can find there are links between these seven and also with the Amidah there.
And so that's kind of some background. And as a disciple, you want to learn how to pray as best as you can to bring honor and to bring glory to God. So it was typical disciple. Well, okay, we have this prayer that we say, you know, three different times a day, lord Jesus, may you teach us how do we pray? And so Jesus says, pray in this way, but not all of them. So like One of the ones that Jesus doesn't include in the ami that's in the Amidah is, Lord God, Father of the universe, please help us to be prosperous.
Jesus doesn't include that.
That's something that's in one of the petitions of the Amidah. In the Amidah, there is a petition about forgiveness.
Okay. There is a petition about forgiveness. I want to read this for you.
And it reads, pardon us, our Father, for we have sinned.
Forgive us, our King, for we have transgressed. For you are a good and forgiving God.
Blessed are you, Lord Gracious One, who pardons abundantly.
Then onto the next petition. What do you notice different?
Maybe what's missing from what Jesus then says, forgiving others.
So Jesus not only says, father, forgive us our debts, as we also forgive the debts, our debtors, or the sins or the transgressions of others.
And I think that's the hard part. And it's not like Jesus isn't saying anything new. We can go back to the Old Testament and see even from when the law gets handed down to Moses that there is forgiveness of debts. We are to forgive of others.
And maybe in that time period, there wasn't that emphasis anymore. And so Jesus then is including the forgiveness of others, and then adds very severely, you better take it seriously.
So what Jesus says, forgives our debts and forgive. We forgive the debts of others. So there's two different directions that this forgiveness is going. The first is vertical, the forgiveness of the Father, and then to the horizontal. And so first we'll start with the forgiveness of the Father, this vertical forgiveness.
And we must understand this is one of.
This is one of our core foundational beliefs as Christ followers. Right?
Right. That there is forgiveness. That. And why do we need forgiveness? Because we have sinned, we have rebelled. We don't always listen. And ever since Adam and Eve in Genesis, that there has been a rebellion that has been happening and following along or not following along with God's will and desires for our life. And because of this rebellion, there is a separation between us and God. Because as we sang a few moments ago about the holiness of God, God is holy and cannot be in the presence of. Of those that are not holy.
And so the song that we sang, the Train of the Robe. And then we're like, what is this robe thing? And this is an Image from Isaiah 6 In this temple piece where Isaiah is actually, oh, I'm in the presence of God. I am unclean. And so he needs. He's aware of his. The separation. He needs to be cleansed.
And so for all of us, we are in this same place, we're in the same boat that we have sinned, that we are not clean before the Lord and we need God to cleanse us.
I need to affirmatively to say that there isn't anything that we can do on our own to make it right.
Nothing by our own work or effort.
We can't earn the forgiveness of God.
Thankfully, God loves us so much that he wants to provide a way for us to be with him forever. So there needs to be a way for us to be cleansed and that is through Jesus.
In the Old Testament, there's a bunch of different sacrifices and animals. They're never fully our representative. We know Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, can only be the perfect representation of who we are and take our place. Our sin upon him. And that happened on the cross, which Jesus speaks about in Matthew 26. And we'll revisit this at the end when we celebrate communion together.
But the words in Matthew 26, when Jesus is gathering the upper room with his disciples, he says to them in verse 28, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
These words he spoke to the disciples as they remembered that Jesus was very much aware that this was for the forgiveness of sins. His blood was needed to pour out forgiveness for us, to provide a way.
And it was his choice because he desires us, a relationship with us, loves us so incredibly that he gave of himself to provide a way.
If there was any other way that we could do it on our own, Jesus wouldn't have had to go to the cross.
It's only through him.
Paul and other apostles wrote about forgiveness as well.
One of those passages in almost each one of those letters you can find. But I picked out one from Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7, which again reminds us, hey, yes, we are forgiven.
So verse 7. Paul wrote Ephesians 1. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he has lavished on us.
These words of assurance are powerful for us to hear and to be reminded of that we are forgiven.
If we ever hear those little lies that we're not forgiven, then we have the assurances that we find in Scripture of our own forgiveness.
There's also a peace that involves us that we have a response. And John writes about this first John 1:9.
There's this piece of confession or acknowledging that we need the forgiveness if we confess our sins. He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us us from all unrighteousness.
So Jesus teaches us to pray. Father, I want your kingdom to come. Father, I want your will to be done.
So forgive us our debts.
Forgive our sins.
And a question for all of us this morning. What have you come in here with?
Is there anything that you need to confess to the Lord or to confess to someone else?
Maybe that's something you've never done before and you've never fully understood or heard about the forgiveness of God that's offered to all of us.
You are invited to pray. Father, forgive us our debts. Forgive me my debts.
So this is the vertical piece, this forgiveness, this grace, and it causes us to worship and to sing. And yeah, we could stop there.
We could.
But Jesus doesn't, and so we shouldn't either.
He goes on letter B. Forgiveness is extended to others.
I'm going to go ahead and read these verses again. So forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. And verse 14.
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
And I read that. I'm like, what?
And I can't get around it.
It's not like this is a single verse. It's in John, it's in Mark. And Jesus talks about it again later on in Matthew. It's in Luke as well.
This teaching that there's some sort of connectedness between the forgiveness of God and our forgiveness of other people.
And it really is that if I say, God, I want your kingdom to come, if I want your will to be done, then I want to receive your forgiveness. Then if I want to be a disciple in your kingdom, then I also need to be forgiving of others.
And in some way, if I am not yielding to this kingdom with God as my king.
It certainly seems that Jesus says, you're not in my kingdom.
If you're not willing to forgive, then you're not in it.
It's like the currency of the kingdom of God is forgiveness not only for us to receive, but also to extend and to give.
And I have a lot of questions about it.
Thankfully, we know a guy who likes to ask questions and often puts his foot into his mouth, but we're thankful for it. That's Peter.
Peter, this disciple, he just says it.
And later on in Matthew 18, Jesus is talking about relationship. He's talking about forgiveness again. And Peter says, well, how often?
So we're going to go ahead and read Matthew 18, 21:35, and in your Bibles it'll have the title, the heading of Parable of the Like Unforgiving Servant or Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.
I like Parable of the Unforgiving Servant or Parable of the Unforgiving Church Member.
Ooh, that hurts me.
So we begin verse 21.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
Up to seven times. Up to seven times.
And Peter is asking in his day and time, in his cultural setting, the rabbinical teaching was, you needed to forgive someone thrice times thrice, you're right.
Three times, four times, you know, forget it.
And so Peter's like, I'm going to go above and beyond Jesus. I think the best number, holy number seven says seven times.
Jesus has this response, verse 22, I tell you, Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times.
Like 77 times.
That's a real random number.
And if you want to know why 77 times, we have to go back to Genesis chapter four. In Genesis chapter four, there's a guy named Lamech, and Lamech has some. Someone wounds him, someone does wrong against him, and he says so. And so Cain, he got vengeance seven times. I'm going to get vengeance and retribution 77 times.
So we think that Jesus is saying, pick the worst case scenario and my forgiveness and your forgiveness will cover it 77 times.
And all effect is really just keep forgiving.
Verse 23.
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king. Okay, so again, think parable. The kingdom of heaven is like this to be in the kingdom. We want God's kingdom to come. This is what it needs to be like, or this is what it is like.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him. Some of you might have footnotes or might say 10,000 talents.
Footnote says, One talent is like the average worker's 20 years of salary.
So take what the average person makes in one year, multiply that by 20, and then multiply that by 10,000.
According to my Google search, average in the US person makes 50 grand.
Multiply that out. This debt is about $10 billion.
It's not so much about the specific dollar amount, but just to really show you it's a lot and you'll never be able to pay it back.
It's so enormous.
Verse 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.
At this, the servant fell on his knees.
[00:55:16] Speaker B: Boom.
[00:55:18] Speaker D: Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything.
The point is, you can't pay it back.
It's an impossible figure. It's an impossible feat to happen.
27. The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt, forgave the debt, and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of so that Ends, part one, the vertical piece. Master, the King forgives this huge, enormous debt, impossible to ever repay. Back, vertical. Then we see this horizontal piece Jesus is talking about again. Forgive the debts of others. Verse 28. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver coins, which is slightly shy of like a half year of salary, which is still a lot, nothing compared to the other.
That's the point.
He grabbed him and began to choke him.
Pay back what you owe me, he demanded.
That's what he sounded like.
Verse 30. But he refused.
Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their Master everything that had happened. Because in the kingdom, the kingdom is of forgiveness. The currency is forgiveness.
Not only when the Master hears of this, but when all the other people hear of this, they're like, this is not how it works.
That's not the currency of the Kingdom of God.
So everyone's outraged.
Verse 32. Then the master called the servant in. You wicked servant, he said, I cancelled all that debt of yours.
I forgave all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on the fellow servant, just as I had on you?
Shouldn't you be like me, really, if you want to be a disciple of Jesus?
We want to walk and live like the King who has forgiven us an incomprehensible amount.
We have violated God to the nth degree.
It is only because of his forgiveness, his grace, his mercy.
Only because of that. That's it. There's nothing else.
Shouldn't we be like him?
Verse 34. In his anger, His Master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed, which he never will. Right?
This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you, unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
Goodness.
But if you're telling Me, if I'm not going to forgive, if I'm not willing to forgive, this is hard unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
So what have we learned from Jesus? His parable here?
[00:59:21] Speaker B: A.
[00:59:22] Speaker D: The pattern in the kingdom of God is forgiveness. I think we've already hit upon this.
The pattern of being in God's kingdom is that of forgiveness.
To live in the kingdom is to live with forgiveness, to be forgiven, and then to extend that forgiveness to others.
Letter B. Forgiveness.
I think we see four pieces in here. What forgiveness is.
One is naming and telling the truth.
It's not a hiding of what's happening. It's not like Adam, Eve trying to hide.
It's an awareness, it's an openness. It's an examination of man.
How have I violated God's law, God's ways towards the Lord or towards someone else?
And that gets named. And we need to be honest before God and before others. There's an honesty there.
Do we know our true debt?
If we truly know the debt that we owe, that changes our understanding of the forgiveness.
Number two, identifying forgiveness is identifying with the debtor. And this might be hard for many of us.
The King has pity in verse 27 on the man. This is compassion.
The idea behind pity or compassion is being able to look at someone else and and see the world through their life and their situation and their circumstances.
Not to look at someone else and view them as a villain, but to view them as another image bearer who God loves and God desires to redeem.
This is to have compassion upon is trying to see that person as a fellow sinner, knowing that our sin to each other is nothing compared to our sin against the Lord.
I will say what it doesn't mean.
What it doesn't mean is that you're validating the sin.
So forgiveness doesn't mean that what has been done is okay.
That's not forgiveness.
Forgiveness is still acknowledging you have violated, you have wronged. There's been an offense, there's been a transgression, there's been a debt.
Certainly that's all true.
Forgiveness doesn't erase it.
Forgiveness is what we do for it.
Third thing, forgiveness is forgiving of the debt.
Verse 27, the king forgives the debt.
He doesn't forget it.
He takes that and he absorbs that loss.
Right? If Jesus could just forget our sin, he wouldn't have to go to the cross. He absorbed our sin and that sin was placed upon him and he died on the cross for us, for our sin.
So forgiveness isn't waiting around until there's many years that you finally forget what the person did.
It's not a forgetting, it's a forgiving. I'm not going to hold this against you. And it comes at a cost.
Forgiveness also, we see again in verse 47, is the servants released?
And there's an aim for reconciliation. There's an aim here for a restoration, as the king released the man. And I'll say this, there is a hope for reconciliation.
There is a hope for restoration.
I know when forgiveness happens, we know the relationship changes.
When we're wrong, the relationship. When we are wrong, the relationship changes.
We hope and pray for the grace and the mercy and the love of God to then bring a forgiveness and a repentance and then a restoration. And the relationship would, I think, grow.
In other cases, there is not a repentance, there is not a turning, there's not an awareness or confession.
And in many ways we still have to forgive. It doesn't mean the relationship remains the same.
The relationship is then different.
And for many of us, we might have had something done to us that we need to make sure that we have some protective boundaries or guiding guardrails for our own safety, for our own protection.
That's a piece. Forgiveness is a piece of all of this.
Third thing, letter C. Forgiveness is difficult for us to receive because we feel like again, we have to earn it, we have to do something about it. And I just want to, because when we hear these, what Jesus says, it starts with him.
Our forgiveness is given and received first. The king extends that forgiveness first. It was the servant that refused to extend it to the other.
I remember one of the. This is like one of my first memories about forgiveness. And it's a silly story, but I was probably 10 years old, out playing croquet with my neighbor, my buddy, and with his younger sister in the yard. You guys know what croquet is?
It's very festive game, especially around fourth of July. You play that in the yard? Well, anyway, I was not playing like how you're supposed to play croquet. I was playing it like I would a hockey stick.
And I was trying to hit the ball as hard as I could. I hit the ball and then swung around with my follow through. Nailed the younger sister in the head with the croquet mallet.
Just horrible. Just feelings of horrible.
She was okay. She had a big, you know, bump on her, on her noggin ice pack and all that stuff. But I felt so bad. I needed to show her how bad I felt, right?
I wanted to earn her forgiveness. And so 10 year old kid, what do you do to show someone that you're sorry? You go eat something really gross.
And so, so I went and like cooked up like this hot dog and put like peanut butter on it and maybe some like oregano or. I'm trying to think how else I could make this as gross as possible. And I went and I showed her. I am so sorry, please forgive me. I will eat this and ate this really gross, disgusting hot dog because I think there's something in us that feels like we have to earn it, that we have to earn God's forgiveness or the forgiveness from someone else.
Also in the process of forgiveness, do we ever hold a resentment until that person does stuff for us to show us?
Do we make people earn forgiveness?
Do we make someone you're sorry? Well, you better show me again. It's not how forgiveness works.
This is not how God's kingdom works.
If we had to show God how sorry we were and we had to earn that, then man, we'd all be stuck.
It's hard for us to receive. Likewise it's hard for us to grant. So letter D. Forgiveness is also difficult for us to grant.
Lacking forgiveness can lead to a spiritual and emotional jail of bitterness and resentment.
That servant got put in jail and many of us, I think we want to hold onto resentment and bitterness or vengeance or trying to get back at someone in our lives and in our hearts and we get held into a jail.
The whole idea of forgiveness is freedom.
I think our enemy wants us to stay in resentment and bitterness, broken relationships.
Sometimes it's just, God, forgive me, I'm bitter, I have resentment towards this person.
Help me to forgive, I forgive them.
And other times the process of forgiveness is. It might be multi step because as you forgive a person in one way, then the next day you realize, oh, I'm also hurt in this way. God, I forgive them for this. Oh God also I need to forgive them. This is why Jesus the model was. It was said three times a day and God made 3, 4, 5, 77 times or more. God, I forgive this person that just cut me off. Because they have no clue how to drive.
Forgive them for they know not what they do.
Letter E. Forgiveness requires a heart transformation and transformation. That's where he ends it.
The heart needs to be transformed. The heart needs to be in time with Jesus. Intimate relationship in his word, growing with Jesus, on your knees in prayer. God, change me.
And when we're in these places, God's transforming us and changing us. So therefore Then we can reflect out what we are receiving.
You know, we can't pour out of the cup what's not being put into the cup.
So if we're not having time with Jesus, then how can we be giving that out to anyone else?
A heart that knows the fullness of forgiveness and the greatness of forgiveness is the heart that has freedom with forgiveness.
So I'm encouraging all of us to make sure the flag of forgiveness, the flag of God's kingdom, is planted in our lives.
I like practical steps and I'm just going to end with these that are in your sermon notes.
This is from a resource that I have about forgiveness. It's just an exercise of, you know, maybe you're struggling with forgiving someone in your life. I encourage you to kind of walk through this and it might take a while. I remember the first time I had someone in mind that was. I was very hurt. It took probably a couple years for me to really be able to say all these pieces and want and to release this.
So step one is spend time in prayer and ask God to help you remember people who have offended or hurt you.
Two, in prayer, forgive that person for that particular offense or hurt.
Step three, ask God to help you release your feelings of bitterness and resentment and hatred.
Four, acknowledge that it's God's role, not yours, to judge this person on his or her actions.
Five, ask God to help you release this person from your judgment.
And six, if journal or if journaling is not your thing, somehow have a time of reflection.
Reflect about what happened when you used this practice, including your feelings, your insights, any freedom experiences that you get to receive from the Lord.
Thought it'd be appropriate this morning to end our time of worship and communion together.
So if you haven't had a, you can grab a communion.
Some elements, our ushers will come forward. Just raise your hand up if you don't have some communion elements.
Looks like we're covered.
Anyone need one?
[01:12:30] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:12:34] Speaker D: So as we enter this time of communion, it's an opportunity for us to remember.
We remember the cost, we remember Jesus and his sacrifice.
And as he says, it's forgiveness, forgiveness of sins.
So maybe here this morning and you need to get right with God and there's something you need to confess and ask for forgiveness for with the Lord.
Maybe it's with someone else, maybe it's with a spouse or a friend, a brother or sister or neighbor, co worker that you need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
Let's give all this to the Lord.
On the night when Jesus was Betrayed, he gathered in the upper room with his disciples and he took bread and gave thanks.
Then he took it and broke it, and then gave it to his disciples and said, this is my body which is broken. For you. Do this as often as you as eat of it.
Go ahead.
The body of Christ.
And in the same way, after supper he took the cup and giving thanks, he said, this is the cup of the new covenant shed with my blood for forgiveness of sins.
Do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me. Take and drink.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for your work on the cross.
God, we thank you that because of you all things are made new. And we are made new. Thank you for your forgiveness.
Thank you for your mercy and your love and how much it abounds.
As Paul wrote to these Ephesians, how it was lavished upon us my prayer for us this morning, that if we are feeling unforgiven for some reason or another this morning, God, that we would know this morning that we are forgiven.
When we are in you, we are forgiven. Jesus and Lord, we also ask God if there are others in our lives that we are having a hard time forgiving.
Lord, give us that grace.
God, help us to forgive.
God, we forgive those who have wronged us.
And as well, God, if we have done something that we know that we have wronged another God, we will go and seek and ask for forgiveness.
Jesus, we thank you. We love you and we want to sing about that.
We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
[01:16:20] Speaker B: You came from heaven's throne acquainted with our sorrow to trade the debt we owe your suffering for our freedom.
The Lamb of God in my place, your blood poured out, my sin erased. It was my death you died, I erased to life.
Hallelujah. The Lamb of God, My name upon your heart and my shame upon your shoulders.
The power of sin undone.
The cross for my salvation. Salvation.
O the Lamb of God in my place your blood poured out, my sin erased it.
Lamb of God, there is no greater love.
There is no greater love.
The Savior lifted up.
There is no great greater love.
There is no greater love.
There is no greater love than my Savior.
There's no greater love.
The Lamb of God in my place your blood poured out and my sin erased to us my death you died, I am raised to back.
Hallelujah. The Lamb of God.
The Lamb of God poured out, My sin erased my death. You died, I am raised. Praise to Hallelujah. The Lamb of God.
Thank you Lord, we thank you.
[01:20:15] Speaker D: Thank you for worshiping with us this morning. Next week we'll conclude.
Lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil.
As you go out this week, may you carry the flag of God's kingdom everywhere you go. Through the love of the Father, through the grace of the Son and through the power of His Holy Spirit, go in his peace. Amen.
