This message was shared with the Renmark West Uniting Church Congregation and The Renmark Town UC on 14/9/14
Passages read in service.
Bible Passages
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
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?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 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.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Romans 14 New International Version (NIV)
The Weak and the Strong
14 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Sermon
I think I have brought a message on forgiveness here before but I am not sure.
If I have some of this may be a bit repetitive.
It is a theme I try to get across to any who will listen.
Also in our readings today we have a passage about the Judgement Seat of Christ.
What is that all about?
Are we, as Christians, involved in that judgement?
So I am going to draw on both these passages read to us today and try to tie them together a little.
I have revisited a sermon I heard many years ago from a visiting preacher at our Church in Adelaide to help me in this message.
So a little bit about Judgements, a little bit about salvation and a little bit about forgiveness today.
When I say little bit it just means I don't have a lot of time today to enlarge on those themes but they are very important parts of the being Christian and living the Christian life.
Firstly I will touch on the judgement side of things.
And the first thing I would like to say is that our salvation is based on the grace of God, not our good works.
The Bible tells us that quite clearly our salvation is based on grace not works lest any man should boast.
There are steps quite clearly outlined in the Bible that enable us to come to Salvation by grace and we should makes sure we know those steps and have followed them.
If anyone here today feels that they don't really understand or know if they are saved I am happy to talk with you after the service or during the week even on the phone. You also have your Pastor to consult as well of course and any other elders in the church.
So as far as Judgements are concerned there are several mentioned in the Bible.
Some in the past and some yet to come.
Adam and Eve were Judged, the nation of Israel was judged,the Tower of Babel brought about a judgment where people were scattered and languages were confused,
in the days of Noah a judgement was carried out,the earth was flooded.
Sodom and Gomorrah were judged.
There is a future Judgement of Nations,
there is a great white throne judgement for unbelievers,
there is a judgement of the devil to come although he has already been defeated on the Cross.
This passage today is speaking about us.
The judgement of believers.
We heard the following read earlier.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
This Judgement seat of Christ, is not about our Salvation, this about what have we done with the gifts God has given us.
It has nothing to do with any so called rank we might have in the Church.
We may be people who have cleaned the kitchen taken part in committees, church councils, counted the money, been pastors or elders or counsellors etc. These are all things we humanly rank in order of importance but not so with God.
It is about how we have served God!
Was it so we could be patted on the back or out of genuine sense of service and humility before our God?
In 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 we read this
11 For no one can lay a ufoundation other vthan that which is laid, wwhich is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 xeach one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed yby fire, and zthe fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ahe will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, bbut only as through fire.
This is really talking about the Judgement for believers.The Judgement seat of Christ.
Notice that Gold and Silver and Precious stones is refined by fire or testing if you like.
The wood hay and stubble is consumed by fire and has no substance.
The wood, hay and stubble are the things we might have done ion our lives,having an appearance of Godliness, but really only for our own standing.
So someone might pat us on the back.
But notice this. "15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, bbut only as through fire."
We will suffer loss, but we will be saved!
We will not have much to wear at they marriage Supper of the Lamb.
To give you some idea of what that loss may look like or feel like I am going to read a poem by a lady called Martha Snell Nicholson.
It goes like this.
"When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me,
The Plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see
How I blocked Him here, and I checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will --
Will there be grief in my Savior's eyes,
Grief, though He loves me still?
He would have me rich, and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I cannot retrace.
Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With the tears that I cannot shed;
I shall cover my face with my empty hands,
I shall bow my uncrowned head..
Lord of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand;
Take me and break me, mould me to
The pattern Thou hast planned!"
Powerful words aren't they.
We should be reminded at this point we cannot undo things we have said and many things we have done, but we can press forward in the years that are left to us as wiser people and practice more of God's grace..
We have to leave the things we can't fix in Jesus hands.
We have to let Jesus mould us and break us to the point it is no longer we that live but Christ who lives in me.
Now taking up the verses we had before about forgiveness.
"32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
When you read this you might think that if I don't forgive my brother or anyone else, I might lose my salvation.
But salvation is not by works and this is a work that we have been found wanting in.
As outlined in the passage above about standing before God at the Judgement seat, I believe that this unforgiveness does not cause our salvation to be forfeited.
It does however, if we don't forgive from the heart,cut us off from fellowship with God,from having our prayers answered, from knowing freedom that only Christ can give.
We can walk around pretending we are happy and have it together, but if we harbor resentment and unforgiveness, we know in our inner being we are only fooling ourselves.
I would like to remind us all here that to forgive is an act of the will.
It is not a situation where I don't feel any love for that person therefore I cannot forgive..
It is an act of the will where we declare our unconditional forgiveness because that is what our Lord and Saviour has done for us.
We can be really helped in all of these things we should be doing as Christians by the fact that God never asks us to do anything that we cannot do through Christ who strengthens us.
Many words of the Bible sit in judgement on us because we cannot possibly meet the standards set out.
We say the Christian life is too hard and all theses things are the ideal way we should live but we can't possibly attain them.
BUT,
we can!
How then?
The commands and demands God makes upon us are not to us at all.
They are made to the life of Jesus in us.
If we latch on to this and make it genuinely real in our lives,
then the life God demands of us becomes surprising easy.
Most Christians receive very little teaching or instruction on
this wonderful aspect of Christian living.
It is "CHRIST IN YOU"
Jesus living His life through us.
This is the secret of living the Christian life.
If we are Christians the living Christ is in us.
He can empower us if we make Him Lord, not just our Saviour
A verse to finish to remind us of God's amazing grace.
8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.
At this point I read to the Congregation from a devotional book by Frank Hunting. A piece called "The Answer". I will add this later this week.
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