Gospel Centered Forgiveness Series week 3: Forgiving Others

#1) Forgiven people forgive people according to the words of Jesus! Matthew  18:21-35… Peter asks this question thinking he's being generous, but Jesus gives an answer that shows we really shouldn't be keeping count of how many times we forgive others. Then he tells a parable that illustrates why we should forgive others. This servant owed an unfathomable amount to his master and begged for it to be forgiven. His master forgave him. Then the servant goes to another servant who owes him a more manageable amount but refuses to forgive him. The master hears of the incident and withdraws his forgiveness of the debt because the servant didn't forgive the much smaller debt…. We can't pay back the debt we owe to God

#2) Forgiven people forgive people living out the will of Jesus! Matthew 6:9-15… The Lord's Prayer shows us that not only do we rely on God for our daily needs, but also for forgiveness of our sins, and it links that forgiveness to our forgiveness of others. 1 John 1:5-6 also shows that we should be reflecting the character of Jesus. Part of that character is forgiveness. We should desire to be like Jesus. Paul also tells the churches in Ephesus and Colossae. 

#3) Forgiven people forgive people to show the love of Christ ! 1 Peter 2:9-10… As Christians, we represent Christ on Earth. We are to show His love to others. Part of that is showing mercy and forgiveness. Just as Christ has shown that same mercy and forgiveness, we should show it to others. By doing so, we also show them His love.

Sometimes we know that our sins are forgiven but we have trouble forgiving ourselves. 

8 Truths of why we can forgive ourselves of the shame and guilt of our past sins (and an item to help us remember it):

#1) Chains - Foundation of God's forgiveness … When we receive forgiveness from God, we are set free  from the chains of our in. 

#2) Map - God forgives our sins and forgets them (Hebrews 8:12; Psalm 102:10-12; Micah 7:9) …As far as the East is from the West, that’s how far our sin is taken from us. They are cast into the depths of the sea. God doesn’t hold our sins against us when he forgives them. 

#3) Heart - Character of God (1 John 1:9) … God is loving, forgiving, kind, just, and all good things. We are made in the image of God and have the capacity to reflect or emulate those same qualities in our lives. 

#4) A picture of Jesus - Imputation of Christ (Romans 3:21-22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:13-14) … Jesus’ righteousness has been transferred to those who put their faith in Him. We could not achieve righteousness on our own because of our sin, but Jesus took on that sin debt and gave us His righteousness. 

The first 4 are all about what God has done for us. The next 4 are our responsibilities and how we should respond to what God has done for us. 

#5) Backpack - Shame and guilt we carry (John 8:44, 36) … We all carry around some shame and guilt due to our sins. God may forgive and forget, but Satan doesn’t, and he uses those sins to weigh us down with shame and guilt, constantly reminding us of it. Satan wants us to be weighed down, but Jesus says we are free. 

#6) To-do list - Remembering sin can be good (Psalm 51:1-3, 10-12) … We learn from our past mistakes. Often we learn more from failures than from successes, and sins are certainly failures. It’s good to remember how bad sins make us feel so we avoid them in the future. Remembering our sin also allows us to remember God’s grace and how we have grown as people since those sins have been put behind us. David sinned plenty of times and he never forgot it, nor did he ever forget God’s goodness in dealing with him. It helped him to grow and become a good king. 

#7) Mask - We distance ourselves or act fake (Ephesians 4:15-16; Philippians 2:19-20) … We’re called to be the body of Christ and do life together. Satan, obviously, doesn’t want that. Satan wants to distance us so we can’t support each other and help each other grow. 

#8) Family photo - Our life is on display (1 Timothy 1:12-16) … We may not realize it, but our lives are always on display. People watch us to see how we act and respond in different situations. We can help influence people with how we live and even use our lives as ways to bring people to Christ. It’s not always words that convince. Many times, it’s actions. 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

At the heart of the gospel, is that God offers us forgiveness of sins. That message is evident through the life and preaching of Jesus Christ and is evident in the early church. Paul reminds us not to forget the gospel.

1. Paul reminds them of the centrality of the Gospel (v1-2).... Life gets messy sometimes, and it's important to remember that the Gospel is to be the center of our lives. The Gospel isn't something we just receive and are done with. It continues throughout our lives. When we receive it, we are saved, which is sometimes referred to as Justification. We stand within the Gospel which makes us better, known as sanctification. And we continue to be saved by it into the future where we will be with God in Heaven, known as Glorification. 

2. Paul reminds them of the content of the Gospel (v3-4).... Paul explains the key components of the Gospel here, breaking it into three main parts. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was buried. And He rose from the dead….. We have all sinned and deserve death, meaning we all need forgiveness. Christ died in our place so that we would have a way to be saved and forgiven. We are called to repent and change our lives by following Jesus to receive His forgiveness. We don't have to be perfect to be forgiven. That would make it impossible. There is no way we can become perfect on this Earth, but with Christ we can grow towards perfection and reach it in Heaven. 

3. Paul reminds them of the confirmation of the Gospel (V5-8).... Paul points out that many people saw Jesus after His resurrection. Why is this important? Because the resurrection is critical. So it's important to show that it really happened and the best way to do that is to point to all the people who saw Him afterwards. 

4. Paul reminds them of the calling of the Gospel (V9-11).... Paul reminds the readers of his past, that he had persecuted believers before he was one, and yet he was called to salvation. The calling isn't just for salvation, but also to be an ambassador of Christ, to serve Christ. It's a call to a new life, a call to life in Christ.