Clear the fields (Forgiveness)

Hey everyone, this is Charlie from Encounterchurch Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life and now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team.

I used to wake up in the middle of the night, riddled with guilt about one night at Fasterpasta

about 10 years ago. I was 19 and I did something that not just I regretted but it actually haunted me.

I made a disparaging comment about Tupperware Ladies in the presence of a Tupperware Lady.

I don't remember exactly what I said but I remember the response being but she's a Tupperware Lady

and then just dying inside and last year I was like enough is enough. This has been weighing on me

for 10 years. I need to put this right. I couldn't find the Tupperware Lady online so I reached out

to her partner who was there when I made the comment and said you know you might not remember

this it was 10 years ago but I do and I did it and I'm sorry and he never responded

but I've not thought about it since until I needed an example for a sermon.

We want things to be put right. We actually need things to be put right and we need to put things

right if we have wronged other people. Sure we can pretend it didn't happen or we can't tell

the self look it's been a decade. They probably don't even remember but but offences between us

those against us and those by us there's something in us that needs to put them right

and when they're not put right it creates all kinds of problems for us.

Today we are beginning a six week series on revival and if you're here and you're visiting

and you go to another church go back to that other church but if you're visiting and you

don't currently go to another church stick around for this six week series on revival.

That's my challenge to you six weeks it's nothing it goes like that stick around for the whole series.

Revival is the quickening of God's ordinary work meaning what God normally does slowly

sometimes imperceptively in revival he does suddenly and dramatically and God's ordinary

work is this he puts things right puts things right between him and people through bringing

people to salvation. He puts things right between people and other people by bringing them

into reconciliation. He puts things right with the poor and the marginalized through his righteous

justice. He puts things right by pouring out his healing on people's bodies minds and spirit. He

puts things right by setting people free from physical and spiritual oppression. He puts things

right by growing us into people of love. God is in the business of putting things right

and while he is ordinarily doing that slowly in his unfolding work to redeem and put right all

of creation you and me and the earth that's between our feet in revival there is an explosion of

things being put right. People who have been in bitter feuds for years are reconciled in an

afternoon. People who have encounters with God and come to saving faith in him not just in churches

but in fields and in alleyways and on the streets. People are set free from illnesses and

disease and oppression that has lasted decades in a moment. In revival a whole community is awakened

to the reality and the presence of God awakened to the reality of a God who puts things right

and this is what we want as a church as encounter church as encounter Henley. We want revival. We

actually need revival. We need God to come and put things right not just in the world out there

not just in our society but in our hearts in our lives in our innermost being in the deepest part

of ourselves. We need things to be put right and while it's God that puts things right and it's God

who brings revival God has made it so that we get to play a part in creating the environmental

factors that contribute to revival. Think of revival like a seed. A seed grows by itself.

A seed grows into a plant that can go wild all by itself but in order for it to grow and to go wild

there must be an environment that nurtures it. It needs to be empowered by but not burnt by the

sun. It needs good watering. It needs weeds that seek to choke it out to be uprooted.

And it needs the soil to be clear of rocks and debris. And this series at both Prospect and Henley

seeks to help us wrestle with this fact. We can want revival. We can have a meeting and call it a

revival meeting. We can want God to quicken his ordinary work. We can want God to put things

right in our lives and in this church and in the church and in our communities but desire alone is

not enough. Why would God bring revival here unless we demonstrate our hunger to see that happen

by cultivating the soil in the places he has given us to cultivate namely and first of all our hearts

and our lives. This is what I'm getting at. Revival is not going to happen in our community until it

first happens in our hearts. Until we cultivate the kind of environment in our hearts for God to

quicken his work with our interference. Why would he bless us with an awakening in Henley Prospect

than an Adelaide without that? And our prayer over this six week series is that we that it would

actually awaken in our hearts a hunger for Jesus to let that soul-sucking voice of reasonableness die

and to go after God not just with our words or our wants but with our lives.

Not just our Sundays but our Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Here are the environmental factors that nurture revival in our hearts. We must grow in the sun.

We must become antifragile. We must we we must water with tears. We must pray weeping tears for

our generation. We must weed our hearts. We must seek holiness and consecration and uproot

the sin in our lives and we must clear the fields. We must get unforgiveness out of our hearts.

And today we're starting with probably the most foundational factor and yet the one in our heart

of hearts that can be the least obvious but the hardest to me and that is forgiveness.

And yet here in our teaching text today Jesus shows us that forgiveness is actually non-negotiable

for his followers. In our teaching text Peter comes to Jesus like a teacher's pet.

How many times must I forgive? He asked Jesus seven times and Peter knows that the rabbis of the day

are teaching taught that you should forgive someone three times. So he thinks like I'm going to get

a scratch behind the ears for this. I've gone above and beyond the usual standard but Jesus says no.

No, not seven times. Seventy times seven which doesn't mean 490 although that is a lot like a

lot of times to forgive someone. It's actually it's a Jewish way of saying always. Never not forgive.

Always forgive everything always the big stuff and the little. Yeah always.

And then to illustrate it Jesus tells his story about a servant who has this enormous debt to a king.

And we don't really understand how enormous this debt is. The translation says millions of dollars

but contextually it's probably more like trillions. What he owes is like the equivalent of 60 to 100

million days wages. So you work a day you get a day's wage. So it's an unfathomable amount and you

know we're all shocked that this guy doesn't have the money lying around. He can't pay it back

and so the king goes to sell him and his family into slavery which won't pay the debt but it's in

some way settles it. So the servant begs he begs give me more time to repay it which is a hopeless

offer because even with more time he can't actually repay it. More time won't help him. Many lifetimes

of day's work could not pay this off and so the king has compassion on him shows him grace and

forgives the debt. A debt he could not pay. Now surely someone who's been released from such a heavy

burden would be you know live a life of humility and compassion and gratitude and love but he doesn't.

He finds a fellow servant who owes him a trifling debt a truly miniscule amount. He assaults him

and he demands his money back and the second servant responds in the same way the first

servant responded. He begs for more time to pay the debt but this time it's actually reasonable

that he could pay the debt with more time and does the first servant show him the same grace

and compassion he was shown by the king? No not at all. Throws him in prison and when the king

hears about this he's just beside himself. He says you evil servant you I forgave you that

tremendous debt because you pleaded with me shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant just as

I have mercy on you and then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid

his debt and this is what Jesus comments about this story that's what my heavenly father will do to

you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your hearts. Forgive Jesus says

everything always never not forgive. You know we want things to be put right and we need things

to be put right but here's the thing God has revealed his plan to the whole world and he has

begun to put the whole world right through Jesus and one day Jesus will come back and he will finish

that work and bring in a renewed and renewed earth but Jesus did all that through forgiveness.

Jesus took the sin of the world on his shoulders sin which is the debt between us and God

and us and others and all the things that we've done that have put the world and relationship

and ourselves wrong Jesus died with it to put it right. He forgave many lifetimes of debt on the

cross so that those who are united with Jesus through faith we are forgiven. You and me those

who have faith in Jesus have been have been and are being put right by God but it's all through

forgiveness and just as the wicked servants forgiveness of his many lifetimes of debt were

obstructed due to his unwillingness to forgive a trifle debt owed to him we actually obstruct

the forgiveness of God for us the forgiveness of an enormous personal debt one we could not pay

over many lifetimes when we don't forgive our enormous personal debt paid an enormous ultimate

and personal cost by Jesus we obstruct the forgiveness purchased on our behalf by the blood

of Jesus when we do not forgive our brothers and sisters in our from our hearts this is what Jesus

says when we won't forgive we step out from under the forgiveness of God and place ourselves under

judgment our unforgiveness can't cancel the forgiveness of God it flows from Christ like

torrential rain upon those who are in him but unforgiveness is like sticking up an umbrella

it obstructs the forgiveness of God it gets in the way it creates a barrier from the living

waters of God and it creates a legal right for the enemy to oppress us and these are big big

problems and it's a barrier that we must remove I know this might be hard to hear I could gloss over

this and just say you know forgive people and stuff but Jesus is giving us a warning hey look

you've been adopted into God's family you've been saved and you have the Holy Spirit and you get all

of that through God's forgiveness if you refuse to forgive you've refused to treat others how you've

been treated by God you'll be treated like that we could serve it and I have to take that warning

seriously because we want things to be put right we want revival we want God to put things right

quickly but sometimes we don't want to forgive and yet it's our unwillingness to give it or our

unwillingness to seek it that becomes like an enormous pile of rocks a pile of debris in the

way of what God wants to do in our lives and in our hearts and it's in our hearts where you want

to plant that seed of revival and so you've got to get unforgiveness out of your heart not just

because of Jesus' warning of the fruit of unforgiveness but but those offenses you've eaten

those offenses that you've dished out they stick you in those places I'm sure you've heard someone

speak about an old grievance an old offense that has been festering inside of them for decades

you could just try asking your parents or your grandparents to speak about their siblings that's

a good bet and if there's some unforgiveness you it'll come out you'll get the things they did and

the things that they said and the things they didn't do and the things they didn't say there was an

offense against them but what stands out to me when you hear someone share this stuff is that even

after decades tens like decades and decades and decades it is still fresh it's not an old like

an old scar well healed forgiven can't be forgotten and the body who has moved on it's like a festering

scab it's infected wound it's real it's there it's fresh and they are stuck there in that time

in that place the feelings they felt when they were there they can't move on they are stuck with

this infected wound because they won't forgive the offenses against them the Greek word that Jesus

used to forgive here is a fear aemi which literally means to to loosen to or to let go or to send

away so it's almost like to to not forgive is to hold tightly to the offense I'm going to hold on

to this this thing happened and I'm going to hold it and to be stuck there because you're holding

it unable to be moved on unable to move on that's a forgive is to release your hold on it to let it

go to move on and I just want to say because this is a whole another sermon you're not just releasing

it into the ether or to the universe in forgiveness under Jesus you're releasing it to the internal

right justice of God you're releasing the offense to God you're not just letting it go that's another

sermon for another day I was stuck at 19 in Faster Pastor embarrassed that I had just made a

not just made a fool of myself but I possibly really offended someone who was exploring church

and faith and I actually can't remember I'm pretty sure they didn't come back after that

and I want my life and my actions to point people to Jesus not to push them away so I actually found

this devastating I had so much guilt about it so much shame that I'd wake up in the middle of

the night and I'd feel like I was 19 again at Faster Pastor it was all so fresh I could not move on

but I couldn't move on because I couldn't forgive myself for it and I couldn't forgive myself for

it because I hadn't sought forgiveness from the person or their family that I had offended

it the offense was there and the offense was fresh even after a decade and it wasn't until I dealt

with it I did what I could to resolve it and put it right that I could forgive myself and move on

and heal and what was you know if I'd left it another decade going to be a really infected

festering scab there's now a scar that I barely notice and that offense that I cause is now

something that does not keep me up at night and something I barely remember even though my apology

was not acknowledged I sought forgiveness I did what I could to seek forgiveness and I've moved on

except when I need so many examples these are trivial examples really and the reality of the

things you and I have to forgive or seek forgiveness for are often bigger harder and with more implications

but friends are principles of the same you might be sitting there thinking you know what it's easy

to say but hard to do you don't know what has been done to me you don't know the cost if I would

forgive or you don't know what I've done to others you don't know the implications of actually putting

it right you don't know what it would cost me to say you know what I did this thing and I was wrong

and I'm sorry and you're right I probably don't but get this Jesus does Jesus did not just take on

the trauma and torture and the offenses committed against him in his own life on the cross he took

on yours and mine too first Peter 2 says this he personally carried our sins in his body on the cross

so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right by his wounds you are healed everything

that has ever been done to us or by us that is an offense everything that has ever been put wrong

or will ever be put wrong Jesus took that he experienced it he took it on into his body

whatever offense has been committed against you was an offense committed against Jesus

and Jesus suffered that offense with you and whatever offense that has been committed by your

own hand you committed that not just against a person but against Jesus I didn't just assault

Tupperware ladies everywhere I insulted Jesus I know that the things that have been done to us

and the things we've done to others may seem enormous and unforgivable but my friends they

are trifling debts compared to the truly unfathomable debt that Jesus paid on behalf of every single

person who is in Christ by faith a debt that includes your own offenses and those who have

been committed against you and that debt was forgiven by Jesus you know they say that hurt

people hurt people forgiven people forgive people always and everything we have been forgiven we

must forgive we must seek forgiveness we are forgiven people we must become people of forgiveness

if we will not we take ourselves out from under the forgiveness of God and under judgment

if we will not we allow the festering infection of unforgiveness to grow into bitterness and

aplonks a great big rock in the way of the growth and the revival that we want to see in our own

hearts unforgiveness traps us in the past but forgiveness releases us to the future that Jesus

wants for us question that I have today what do you want what do you want do you want to hold tightly

to those offenses you've that you have committed unable to forgive yourself do you want to hold

tightly to the offenses that have been committed against you or do you want the freedom of loosening

your grip on them through forgiveness freedom to see God's ordinary work in your life and the world

come quickly freedom to see things put right it's time to clear the fields of the rock the rocks and

debris of unforgiveness we're about to baptize three people baptism is an embodiment of the

forgiveness we've received from God we go down beneath the waters like Christ going down into

the grave and then we are raised from the water the way that he was raised from the dead it is by

his death that our offenses have been washed clean and it's by his death that we have been forgiven

so we're going to we're going to we're going to see an embodiment of this today which is amazing

but before we do that we want to create a space and an opportunity for you and me to clear the

fields through forgiveness so it's hopefully someone's going to come and give everyone a

little piece of paper and some pens that is now going to happen which is great maybe I could get

the band up as well a little slip of paper and all it says on it is Lord I choose to forgive blank

for blank well I need to slaughter I need to seek forgiveness from blank for blank

we'll have some time as we sing and respond to search your heart pray right what is it and it

needs to be put right in your life and then you have a choice as we're singing you can you can place

it at the foot of the cross there's a little basket there as a way of symbolically handing your

the things you need to forgive over to Jesus and we'll just destroy whatever's in that basket

or you can take it with you as a reminder some of you have been holding on to things for years

it's time it's time to release those things to God to loosen your grip on them and to forgive

and some of you you've you've been awake at night thinking about the things that you've done

big or small things that need to be put right it's time it's time it's time to put them right

you know naming is half the battle but then you got to actually go and do the hard thing

and seek forgiveness from that person that's something that pastor takes a right can't do for

you you got to do it for yourself thanks so much for tuning into this week's message if you felt

challenged or need prayer we'd love to hear from you on instagram at encounter henley or if you're

interested in how you can support this ministry please go to our website encounteradelaide.com.au

thanks again for listening God bless you