The Freedom of Forgiveness

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. Matthew 18:32-35

There is a universal longing for forgiveness. Everyone wants to experience forgiveness extended to us by those we have wronged, to feel that forgiveness received.

As Christians, we think we understand forgiveness because we know that Jesus died so that we could be forgiven from our sins. But do you know what you were forgiven for?

You were forgiven for freedom.

In the story that leads to our verses for today, Jesus tells the story of a king who forgives his servant an insurmountable debt. This servant then, having been forgiven the equivalent of twelve million dollars, immediately goes out and begins to choke a fellow servant who owes him a few bucks, finally throwing him in debtors' prison until the debt is paid.

The other servants who witness all this are so disturbed that they report it to the king who then calls the forgiven servant back. The end of the story is worse for the servant than the beginning, for the king sends him to the torturers as punishment for his lack of compassion toward his fellow servant.

What drives the point home to us is Jesus' very last statement: We are the servants, He is the King, and if we do not forgive others then we will not be forgiven!

Jesus died so that we could be forgiven and free, but that freedom doesn't truly come until we forgive those who have wronged us. If we choose to be like the servant then we are in a prison-a prison of anger, hate, depression, resentment, and bitterness. We are a prisoner of war, missing in action, wounded in the battle.

God wants to set us free, but we hold the keys. Are you willing to forgive?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for the freedom You want to give me and for the forgiveness You have given me! I choose to forgive those who have hurt me and those I care about, no matter how terrible their actions were. I choose to let You be my Comforter. Please heal my broken heart!

Amen

Better Families

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray.’ Luke 11:1

What is the most important thing you want to teach your kids? What one thing do you want your children to someday take away with them?

Probably near the top of the list will be: Jesus is Lord of their lives, they maintain financial responsibility, they make it to marriage sexually pure, and other very admirable goals. All of these should be key targets in your parenting, without a doubt. However, there is one thing of utmost importance that is so simple that many of us might forget about it. That thing is prayer.

Did you know that the disciples only asked Jesus to teach them one thing? They never asked Him how to do the miracles-healing the lame, opening blind eyes, walking on water, calming storms, or raising the dead. Instead, they asked Him to teach them to pray.

That is maybe hard for many of us to imagine-actually wanting someone to teach us how to pray. Our picture of prayer is someone piously folding their hands in quiet personal prayer, but what we see in Jesus is quite different.

For one, He apparently would pray at times with all of His disciples there with Himanything but private. He wanted them to see how He connected to His Father and interceded for the things He was called to do. But this was no show; it was a demonstration so that they could repeat what they saw.

You see, prayer works hand in hand with our study of God’s Word. Hear me in this-we absolutely need God’s Word! However, it is all too easy for our study of the Bible to go no deeper than our intellect, which leaves our brains smarter but our lives unchanged.

It is impossible, however, to engage the Lord in prayer for very long without having to dig deeper into our heart. Try praying for longer than ten minutes sometime. If you haven’t practiced it, then you will run out of things to pray for very quickly. But then what to you do? Do you give up praying and go on with your day? Or do you keep pursuing God until you reach a new depth in your heart that you never knew existed?

Prayer reaches the core of who we are and is able to fill it with the truths from God’s Word. The question is whether prayer is a significant enough part of your life that your kids will see it and ask you, Mom, Dad, please teach me to pray.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I confess that I don’t really understand what’s so great about prayer, but I believe there is more to it than I know. Please teach me why You prayed and help me to pray the same way.

Amen

Gifts Onboard

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1

Everyone loves receiving gifts. And considering that giving gifts is one of the five love languages, it’s actually an important thing.

It makes sense, then, that God would partake in this important giving of gifts. Obviously and ultimately, the best gift that God has ever given us is Himself through the death of Christ Jesus on the cross. However, God’s generous nature did not stop giving gifts after He gave us His best. He continues to give us gifts through His Holy Spirit.

There are quite a few gifts the Holy Spirit gives us-administration, prophecy, miracles, healing, helps, mercy, and more-but before we say anything else about these amazing gifts, we should ask one vital question: What’s the point?

We need to understand the purpose of the gifts God gives us, and our verse today explains it for us. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts.

Look at that verse and tell me, what actions are we supposed to take? We are to pursue love-to look for it, cultivate it, practice it, think about it, try it, live it, and give it. But we are only to desire gifts.

This is not to downplay the importance of spiritual gifts, because God wouldn’t give them to us if they were just some extra bonus of salvation. No, in fact they are a vital part of the body of Christ functioning properly. However, the gifts become perverted without love.

You see, the gifts are not about you. They are about the people around you. You might look at it this way-you being gifted doesn’t show how much God loves you, it shows how much He loves the people around you. The gifts are given for the sake of service, to be an expression of His love to one another within the body.

That’s why we pursue love, so that when God gives us the gifts it simply gives us a new way of expressing His love to the people around us.

So pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts. It is more than okay to want them, as Paul actually instructs us to desire them. However, they are still gifts. Put them on your wish list before God, then do your part and pursue love so you’ll know what to do when God gives you your desired gifts.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You give good gifts to Your children! I don’t always know what to think about spiritual gifts, but You say they are a good thing, so I desire them. And I pursue love so that I will know what to do when You give me Your gifts.

Amen

Money View

For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 2 Corinthians 8:3-5

Imagine with me that you are touring a house that you think you might buy. If you’ve been there before in real life, then you know what’s coming.

The realtor shows you the kitchen and the living room. Then they take you to the room that has the best view, maybe even looking out on the ocean. They walk to the window, and as they throw open the curtain, they say, This is the money view, right here.

Well, as we view our money, we will notice that it says, In God We Trust. In fact, this is even our national motto. If we really are trusting in God, then I need to share something with you-the money view of how you view your money. Ready? Here it is:

What I keep is all I have. Okay? What I decide to keep in this culture, in this world, in all that I work for, what I decide to keep is all I have. But what I give, God multiplies.

Now there isn’t a single person reading this who would not benefit from the multiplication of God that comes as we give unto Him. So this time for us, for all of us, is a strategic, money-view time. It’s time to make sure that it’s in God we trust where all of our living, giving, sharing, spending, and earning is concerned, because if we’re not careful in these hard times, then our hearts will grow hard, too.

That’s exactly what the devil would love to see happen to your heart, for it to grow tough towards tithing because times are tough.

What we need, then, is God’s Word poured into our lives so that our hearts remain tender towards the Lord, not tough, realizing that if I’m just going to hold onto all of this, if I’m going to hoard, if I’m going to clench real tight-it is mine, you know-then that’s all you’re ever going to get. But if you give, then God can bless, then God can multiply.

Don’t live in God’s kingdom and blind yourself to the best view in the house. Get the money view-what you keep is all you have, but what you give, God multiplies.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for multiplying whatever I give to You! I’m sorry for letting my fears get the best of me during this hard time. Please wash over me with Your Word and Your presence as I choose to trust You again!

Amen

Crossing Is Choosing

We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed 2 Corinthians 6:3

You got a skeleton in your closet? Of course you do. We all do. The question is what we do with them.

A lot of people just try to hide the skeletons in their closet, and I understand that. I mean, none of us want to broadcast our past failures for everyone in the whole world to see. But you know what I think happens if we never open that door up for someone to see? I think those skeletons start wanting to breed. You hear me? I’m saying that those hidden failures of the past want to lead you into present day and future failures if we’re not careful.

Because here’s the deal, Paul set our standard in our verse today that we would bring no offense to anyone, that there would be no scandal.

That’s why we have our church fully audited by a national firm of the most conservative type. We do it so that there can never be any question of where the funds are going, no doubt about who is tapping into the resources and why. Now, this is by no means either cheap or popular. But we do it for the sake of the gospel, that no one would have any reason to be offended with God because of us.

Can you say the same, that no one will be offended with God because of you? One of the scariest verses in all of Scripture, to me, is Romans 2:24, saying, For the name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you. Is the way you’re living-matching up with Christ crucified, or with the skeletons in your closet? It’s time for the actions of our lives to match the words of our mouths. If we preach it, then we’d better practice it.

And in this practice, here’s the word for you-go bold. Be a standout. Don’t hold back because you think people will call you a hypocrite, because the only way you become a hypocrite is by talking one thing and doing another. Just be bold in letting your life match your words.

How, you ask? First, with God’s help. Romans 8:13 says that it’s by the Spirit that we put to death the deeds of our flesh. Second, with the help of fellow believers. Let these brothers or sisters into your life, open up your closet, and let them help to guard and strengthen you as you pursue ultimate victory.

Don’t let those skeletons haunt you anymore. Bring them to light instead by being filled with the life of Christ.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You are more powerful than the skeletons in my closet! I open up my closet to You and ask for Your help to make my future different than my past!

Amen

Head-On Collision

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

Have you ever been in a head-on collision? Probably not, because if you were, you probably wouldn’t be reading this, because most people don’t survive head-on collisions.

We can have head-on collisions in life, just as we can in driving, and no matter where or how they occur, they are equally devastating. One area of life where we especially need to watch out for head-on collisions is the area of authority and submission.

Authority and submission go hand in hand. You cannot have one properly functioning without the other also in place, and in the body of Christ, it is built in and based on love and service to God and one another. It is never built upon power, abuse, or control. If you use authority with these last three things then you are heading for a head-on collision.

My hope today is that you have a good example of someone in your life that uses authority the way that God uses authority. I hope that you can look at someone you know and see the love, the service, the heart to lift others up, to help others, to bless. Because the reality is that this is the way that Jesus uses His authority. He took His authority and used it to lay down equality with God, empty Himself, and become the sacrifice for our sins so that we could become children of God.

This is how authority works in the kingdom of God, because that’s how the King in the kingdom uses His authority.

And it is especially good to have someone in our lives whom we can imitate. Do you know why? Because imitation is a form of submission. We have to submit to the way they do things in order to be like them, using a choice of our will to place ourselves under their leadership and implement their ways into our own lives.

This is how we learn and grow, maturing and becoming more like Christ. This is also how we begin to carry authority ourselves.

Authority and submission really go hand in hand; you cannot have one without the other. If you want to do authority God’s way, then submit to someone who does it well and learn.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for using Your authority to serve others! I want to learn to use my authority the same way that You use Yours, so please bring someone into my life from whom I can learn.

Amen

The Losses of Lawsuits

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? …Do you not know that we shall judge angels? 1 Corinthians 6:1-3

How dare you?

Has anyone ever said that to you? It gets your attention, doesn’t it? That’s how Paul starts his whole discussion about lawsuits.

How dare you sue a brother or sister in Christ? How dare you drag the name of Jesus through the mud before an unbelieving judge? How dare you forget that you will one day judge both the world and the angels? How dare you?

This is strong language, so maybe you’re wondering what the big deal is. The deal is that your witness is at stake.

The world loves when the church airs its dirty laundry publicly. They love it because it gives them room to say, See, Jesus didn’t do anything for you; you’re just like the rest of us.

And you know the root of that, right? If they can imagine that we are just like everyone else, then there’s no reason for them to listen to us when we speak the gospel. There’s no reason for them to repent, to change their lives, to listen to God, to live for Him. If Christians act just as lost as the rest of the world, then why would the world see any need to believe in Christians’ God?

Before you know it, you’ve lost your witness before the world because, first, you can’t get along with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and second, when you do have an issue you look to the world for justice.

What are we supposed to do instead? Two things-first, on the occasion that you do have a dispute with a brother or sister in Christ, it is to be brought before fellow believers for justice. This is not a gossip group, but an elder with wisdom to issue a just verdict. Second, if there is no wise believer to whom you can turn, then prefer to be wronged. Yes, I said it, and Paul said it too; prefer to be wronged over seeking justice from unbelievers.

We need to realize that this shouldn’t even be an issue, that disagreements would be so prevalent among us that we would need to talk about this. But in the case that an issue needs solved, these are our instructions.

Let’s follow our instructions and preserve our witness.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You are our ultimate example of justice, forgiving us even as you hung on the cross. Please help me to follow in Your example, preferring to give mercy than to seek justice from unbelievers. Please also raise up godly, wise leaders throughout Your body to lead us in justice.

Amen