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Jesus
shows us the forgiving heart. We want to (1) release them through forgiveness, and (2) change
them through love.
Series: Just Like Jesus Series
Scripture: Colossians 3:12-3:14 (add scripture)
Tags: Forgiveness For Others, Mercy, Forgiveness (add tag)
Denomination: Independent/Bible
Audience: Believer adults
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Christian Cheong
Kim Tian Christian Church
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Rooted in Him
We have failed in many ways; we have done wrong countless times. Yet as imperfect as we are,
when we come to Him we know we will not be despised but accepted, not spurned on but loved.
This is the heart of Jesus we see in the Gospels. We saw it at its best on the cross when He
prayed for His enemies, "Father, forgive them!"
How do we treat those who have offended us or hurt us? People we find it hard to get along,
people we are stuck with?
This is what we want to cultivate - the heart of Jesus is a forgiving heart. A heart that is BIG
enough to accept the imperfections and the mistakes of others.
This is what the Lord wants us to be. Lets read Colossians 3:12-14.
Jesus puts it more blunt - Matt 5:44-45 "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."
The fact that the Bible says "bear with each other" means we will not always see eye to eye and
agree on everything. There will be "grievances against one another."
The question is not WHETHER people will step on your toes but WHEN. Those times will
surely come.
What do you do next? You have 3 ways to cope with it:
FLEE - you run as far as you can from him, you cannot even stand the look of him);
FIGHT - you go against him, you harbour resentment in your heart and seek for revenge, or you
choose to be more generous, you
FORGIVE - leave it to God to judge him and refuse to take it personally.
You are not solving the problem by fleeing and fighting. You get into more trouble and
experience greater stress.
This passage gives us an answer. We see here a picture of what we need to PUT ON (clothe
yourselves) and what we need to PUT OFF grievances. How? Do it through forgiveness.
To forgive is to release that which is holding me - resentment, hurt, revengeful spirit. I refuse to
take it personally.
So Id like to sum this up in 2 lines:
(1) RELEASE them through FORGIVENESS; (2) CHANGE them through LOVE.
Jesus says in Luke 6:35-36 "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to
them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and
you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Jesus offers us grace, before we even understand our need of it. Jesus offers us
mercy, before we even know how to cry out to Him for it.
Do what is right, do what we need to do, and leave the rest to God. God will show
up and do His part with "our enemies". Our part is to be merciful, kind, gracious,
and loving.
This is how people usually think. "He should be the one to say sorry; he is the one
who needs to do something, not me. I did not do anything wrong, I am not theguilty
one."
Perhaps you are not. You are really innocent. But so is Jesus.
Of all the men in that room, only one was worthy of having his feet washed Jesus. Someone should be washing His feet! He ought not to be doing that!
But He was the one who washed the feet of all the "undeserving" ones. The One
who is worthy to be served, served others.
So be like Jesus, we are not fighting for justice. We seek to bless. We seek to restore.
If someone has fallen, done wrong, we can to help them learn the errors of their
ways.
How? Love them. Love them back to God. Love them back onto His ways.
Release our grievances through forgiveness, and change them through love.
Embrace them first, and we will see Gods work in their lives.
Let me close with these 2 quotes:
Max Lucado: "Relationships dont thrive because the guilty are punished but
because the innocent are merciful."
Samuel Johnson (18th century British author): "The true measure of a man is how
he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.