Lead Us, Deliver Us

January 23, 2011
Matthew 6:12-13
God's leadership

We began with a few "leftover comments" from last week's discussion on forgiveness.

• People who are working with non-Christians don't always see the results of their efforts. But God uses whatever we do to help them.
• Our sins put us in debt to God's justice. Forgiveness puts us in debt to God's mercy. In any case, we are indebted to God.
• When we forgive others, we express compassion for them. We can see ourselves in their brokenness.
• Do we wait until someone asks for forgiveness? No. The purpose of forgiveness is to free our own heart, not theirs.
• Forgiveness is not reconciliation. The other person may not even know that you've taken this step.
• Forgiveness puts the issue back in God's hands, so it does help the other person.
• Non-forgiveness may be an issue of pride.

Lead us not into temptation - And do not lead us into the place of testing where a solicitation to do evil would tempt us to sin (Expanded New Testament)

• Temptations are from within. See James 1:13-15. Sin starts with a thought, moves to imagination, then delight in that imagination, and finally consent to the idea. This demonstrates the power of initial decisions.
• "Be not a baker if your head be made of butter." Don't deliberately put yourself in places where you know you will be tempted.
• Hebrew thought: If God permits it, He does it. We (and New Testament writers) tend to think that "God permits" is different from "God does."

Deliver us from evil - A Jewish teaching says "Let it be thy good pleasure to deliver us from impudent men, and from impudence: from an evil man and an evil chance; from an evil affection, and evil companion, and an evil neighbour: from Satan the destroyer, from a hard judgment, and a hard adversary." (Today, impudent mostly means "offensively bold;" it used to mean "immodest," not ashamed of itself.)

"From evil" is actually the same phrase as in Matthew 13:19, 38. There, it definitely refers to "the evil one," as more modern translations put it in 6:13.

• 2 Peter 5:8 begins the passage where we are warned to resist the devil.
• Much of the North American church treats our spiritual life as separate from the rest of life. [Note from Dale: This year's missionary book on Africa showed that this is also true in much of that continent.] Everything we do is interconnected with our spiritual life.

All our discussions seemed to bring us back to God's grace. It calls us into a new life, and then empowers us to live it.

As We Forgive Our Debtors

January 16, 2011
Matthew 6:12
Forgiveness

We are to forgive others. What sorts of things might we have to forgive?

• Words that are bitter, mean-spirited, or sarcastic
• Deception
• Exploitation
• False witness
• Gossip (spreading unkind stories, whether true or not)
• Oppression (the example of children was given; they have no voice in what happens to them)
• Neglect (reminding us that some sins are what has been undone rather than what was deliberately done)
• Betrayal
• Intent (even if what actually happened wasn't so bad, the intent to harm needs to be forgiven)

The parable of the unforgiving servant was shared from Matthew 18:23-35.

• Keep forgiving
• You've been forgiven so much
• Cascading of forgiveness
• Don't keep track

We have been forgiven as a gift from God. Doesn't telling us we have to forgive make it sound like we have to earn our salvation?

• Forgiveness is an attitude of the heart. The heart must be changed. Penitence (including humility) is simply an evidence of the new attitude we've received.
• We can live with or without grace. But that grace works in both directions. If we've received forgiveness, we will be forgiving.
• Willingness to forgive others demonstrates God's grace at work in our lives.
• Sinners who recognize their own need of grace become forgiving.
• Do we have the faith of a servant or the faith of a child?

Before we forgive someone else, should they first ask for forgiveness? (We raised the question, but did discuss this.)

Does forgiveness mean you stay around for more abuse?

• We are to use the sense and wisdom that God has given us.
• Forgiveness is not reconciliation; the Bible gives instructions on how to confront those who need to be confronted.
• Forgiveness is not condoning, nor forgetting. But we should no longer feel (or cherish) the sting. We are not asked to become doormats; we are still challenged to create justice. And we are not to remain a victim.
• We need divine assistance to forgive.
• Forgiveness does not mean you go back completely to where the relationship was before.

Authentic repentance (on both sides of the issue) may restore a relationship.

David shared a fable from Lewis Smedes' Forgive and Forget. "Magic eyes" are needed to see how to forgive. Those eyes are a description of seeing the world from God's perspective.

Lack of forgiveness leaves us in bondage. Forgiveness, like faith, may need constant renewal.

A final example was given from a book by Morris Weigelt and Dee Freeborn, Living the Lord's Prayer. A couple was able to forgive the murderer of the wife's brother. The forgiveness made them able to adopt the murderer's child, accepting the child as their own.