Matthew 18 (reprieve) - forgiving one another

part 2 of my 2 part series on forgiveness yesterday. again, like last week, i had to change it up a fair bit. but that was a good thing, it meant it was fresh, and didn't feel like a recycled talk.

it was good to read the lead article in the catechist, on forgiveness in the face of unrepentance.

i think the issue is that we have one word, 'forgiveness', and we use it to cover two semantic fields:

1. forgiving the person who repents, holding no bitterness, no grudge, but freely forgiving as we have been forgiven
2. a readiness to forgive, to stand, arms outstretched, again holding no bitterness, but in the face of unrepentance, never shutting off the possibility of a reconciliation, although that is not at the present time a real possibility

thankfully there was a question in question time precisely on this, which meant i was able to draw the two threads of the talk together - both the readiness, as well as the actual forgiving.

a good case study is forgiving the dead person - you can't actually forgive them, in that a relationship is restored. but what you can do is give up the bitterness and hatred that would otherwise destroy you.

psalm 32 (reprieve) - forgiven by God

i had the privilege of preaching from Psalm 32 again on sunday just gone. in a preaching group at college i got some great feedback leading into it. in thinking about 'exegeting your congregation', it was a completely different congregation. from the north shore to a city asian congregation was in many ways a whole different world.
i think the main change was from challenging the average north-shorer's expectations of the good life, to what the psalm promises - freedom from guilt and shame.

i'm still struggling with the both-and of exegeting the passage and exegeting the congregation, but having the talk already (from 18 months ago) and then rethinking it with a different group in mind really helped me to hone the message.
perhaps preparing a talk for one group and then redoing it for another is a good way to check if you're on message (God's) or just trying to target what you see as the particular traps a stereotyped group fall into.


this sunday: i'm redoing matthew 18vv15, the same congregation shift. just rereading the talk means there's a lot of change to do!

sermon downloads a plenty

if you don't find my voice whiney, nasal, dull, or patronising, you may be tempted to listen to some of my sermons which are available to download.


09 Mar 2008 Grace that Works Philippians 2:12-30
    i particularly liked the way Daniel 12 helped us think through what this meant.

15 Jun 2008 Between A Rock & A Hard Place Exodus 16-17
    i tried something quite different here - i tried to start with the OT, jump to the NT and explain how that increased our understanding of what is going on in the OT. i wanted to get away from the 'here's the OT, but don't worry about that so much: here's where it points to in the NT' - as if there were no value in it of itself, as if the OT were only of value for showing us the NT. tell me if you think it worked!

20 Jul 2008 The King with Authority Luke 4.1-13
    how to do a sermon on Isaiah 61 without really going there properly

11 Jan 2009 The Blessing of Forgiveness Psalm 32
    interestingly, i did a sermon in October on Matthew 18 also on forgiveness (the guest speaker in the evening is the one who made the web page, mine obviously didn't make the cut), so i really enjoyed having a second dip into this really tough topic.

19 Apr 2009 The value of wisdom Proverbs 1-3
    an introductory sermon on the prologue to Proverbs, focussing on ch3

i'm also on tonight, talking about prayer as mission, but the boss is speaking (as i write this!) on the same topic: i'm assuming i won't make the cut, but thinking about how our prayers promote the gospel has been quite rebuking for me as i think through it. perhaps i'll post some thoughts on it sometime.

UPDATE:

24 May 2009 Promoting Jesus :: Our prayers Matthew 9:35-10:5
    trying to think through where prayer fits in in promoting the gospel. i wonder where you might have gone, what you would have emphasised, whether you would have done a bit more of a systematic theology of prayer.

to forgive is human, grace divine.

last week was the 2nd in our now annual summer series (well the 2nd of something makes it annual, does it not?), entitled the untouchables (check out wildstreet.org.au for further details); the topic this time was domestic abuse.

in thinking about what the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has to say on the topic, you would assume forgiveness would be one of the main things.
indeed, the gospel allows the victim of such a heinous thing as domestic abuse to offer forgiveness to their abuser.

however, the definition of forgiveness given in the talk was that for full forgiveness to be given, there needs to be repentance from the abuser: they need to recognise their evil, admitting their culpability; their repentance recognising any forgiveness they receive would be completely undeserved.

when pressed on this, the idea was that forgiveness is a motion towards reconciliation. further to this, the normal context of forgiveness in the Bible is in that of seeking reconciliation.


which of course brings us to grace.
grace, Biblically, is the idea that forgiveness and reconciliation are given, not because we deserve it, but in spite of ourselves, in spite of our unrepentant sinful hearts.
as Ephesians 2:8-9 so well puts it,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

indeed, a helpful book put out by matthias media, Forgiving Hitler explains, understanding that grace from God through Christ means we are able to give up our need for vengeance, to give up the requirement for the injurious party to seek forgiveness.


but still, after discussion, and in the case of domestic abuse, it was clear that without repentance there can still be only a partial forgiveness. the abused can never feel safe and secure in the presence of the abuser, the abuser in remaining unrepentant, only multiplies their gross sinfulness.


my question remained, "but can we not forgive with grace - not requiring their repentance?"

but that, it seems, is for God alone.
what in this case is impossible for man, ie forgiving and reconciling despite the enormity of the sinner's actions, is possibly - nay, is done, in Christ.

and for this we can give great thanks.

if you would like to do some more thinking on forgiveness, i can recommend byron's short series on forgiveness (1st post)