Wednesday, 10 June 2009
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Celebrate Recovery Teaching on “FORGIVENESS”
I presented the following teaching last night at our Celebrate Recovery meeting, much of which comes from the CR study guide that our lessons are based on. I included a couple extemporaneous personal stories as examples that are not included here.
Tonight’s teaching is on the topic of forgiveness. Principle 6 reads: “Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.” Step 8 reads: “We made a list of all person we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.” And Step 9 reads “We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”
Our lesson tonight looks at three kinds of forgiveness. To be completely free from resentments, anger, fear, shame and guilt, you need to give and accept forgiveness in all areas of our lives. If you do not, your recovery will be stalled and thus incomplete.
Our pastor Jerry spoke on this same topic on Sunday, so that’s a very hard act to follow, and I won’t even pretend to bring the wisdom that he brought to the topic. But I am going to start by sharing the passage that he spoke on, Psalm 32 and his closing 4-point challenge to the congregation. These same principles apply to us here in Celebrate Recovery. It makes it sound easy, with just four simple steps. We know they’re not always easy, but the blessings from giving and receiving forgivesness can be great and can be key to our recovery and serenity.
· Confess your sin
· Commit your ways to God
· Connect with God’s forgiveness
· Connect with others in forgiveness
As I read this passage from Psalms, take it to heart and put yourself in the shoes of David who struggled with sin himself and experienced the Lord’s forgiveness in great ways.
Psalm 32: 1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Our pastor also made reference to the verse from Romans 12 where the Lord says “vengeance is mine”. Let me read this passage to your from Romans 12: 17-21 as we reflect on how we can respond to those who have wronged us.
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Forgiveness can be one of the toughest spiritual disciplines to learn and practice. Our natural instinct is to hold a grudge if someone has hurt us in some way, or to want someone to apologize to us, or to not offer our forgiveness to someone who has wronged is in some way. It is a spiritual practice that sometimes takes work and proactively seeking out a person to make things right. Sometimes we talk ourselves into just letting something go rather than having to deal with it, but often that approach will just let the wound fester, or let the other person’s resentment toward us continue.
So tonight we look at three questions about forgiveness.
1. Have you accepted God’s forgiveness?
Have you really accepted Jesus’ work on the cross in your life? By his death on the cross, ALL of your sins were cancelled. I just read where someone was asked when they were saved. Normally we state the date or the age when we asked Jesus into our heart. But this person responded, in 33 A.D., when Jesus was nailed to the cross. That is really when we were saved and our sins were forgive, even before we were born or before we committed each sin.
John 19:30: “It is finished.”
Romans 3:22-25: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—“
2. Have you forgiven others who have hurt you?
You must let go of the pain of the past harm and abuse caused by others. Until you are ready to release it and forgive it, it will continue to hold you prisoner.
Romans 12:17-18: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. “
1 Peter 5:10: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
Note for abuse victims of any kind: (Read passage from pages 46-47 from book.)
3. Have you forgiven yourself?
You may feel that the guilt and the shame of your past is too much to forgive. This is what God wants you to do with the darkness of your past:
Isaiah 1:18-19: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;”
Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Peace,
Jeff
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