JANUARY 24, 2010
“BREAKTHROUGH TWENTY-TEN:
FUNDAMENTALS OF FORGIVENESS II”
Matthew 18:21-35; 2 Corinthians 2:10-11;
Ephesians 4:30-32
Whether we are talking about the earthquake in Haiti, the one that happened a couple of years ago in China, or even the great earthquake that rocked San Francisco back in the late 1880’s, there are always those amazing and inspiring accounts of people who were lifted free from the rubble after days of being trapped
Sadly, however, we will never know the number of people who died a slow, painful, and tormented death because they were trapped and were never rescued. I cannot imagine how frightening and awful such a death must be like.
Sadly, as well, are the people who are trapped under the weight of unforgiveness, pinned down by bitterness and buried by resentment. Hurt and in pain, spiritually and even physically they will die a slow, tortured, and needless death. I say “needless” because salvation, liberation, freedom, breakthrough, rescue, and new life are available to one and all through the power of forgiveness given through Jesus Christ.
Friendships, marriages, and family relationships often die a needless death for one simple reason: people refuse to forgive and therefore, remain buried, trapped, and dying.
In Jesus, as our Lord and Savior, we have the power and authority to forgive others, which as we saw last week, is the power to “lift off” the sin, bitterness, anger, and resentment and cast it aside in Jesus name. In doing so, we are breakthrough the rubble and “lift off” to new heights of faith, joy, blessedness, praise, and peace in the Lord.
When we “lift off,” we can then “lift off.”
We saw last Sunday in Fundamental #1, which I called the NASA Principle, that the primary word in the Hebrew that is translated into the English as “forgiveness” or “to forgive” was nasa. It literally means, “to lift off” or “send away.” So just as the Shuttle cannot lift off into space unless the scaffolding, hoses, and other attachments to this earth are lifted off, so also can we not get shuttled into higher orbits of glory unless we lift off the rubble that has been piled on us by the sins, hurts, and abuses of others.
To forgive is to lift off. To not forgive is to remain buried alive, dying a slow, painful, and tormented spiritual, relational, emotional, mental, and even physical death.
With forgiveness, there is breakthrough and there is lift off.
Fundamental #2 (Matthew 18:21-35) – Unforgiveness imprisons the soul and torments our body, mind, and soul.
On his show one day, Art Linkletter asked a certain boy if he had any brothers or sisters. The boy said that he had an older, big bother. Linkletter continued his line of questioning by asking if he had any problems with his older, big brother. The boy answered that he did have problems but couldn’t tell him what they were. “Why not?” asked Linkletter. “Because,” said the boy, “my brother is sitting in the audience.”
In this world, even back into our childhood, there have always been a bully. It may have been our brother, a neighbor, a kid at school,…and sometimes the bully was us.
Biblically speaking, unforgiveness doesn’t just bury us. It bullies us. It torments us. It picks on us and picks away at us – at our peace, security, joy, relationships, and so on.
In the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, Jesus did not use the word “bully,” per se. But he did point to it when He said in Matthew 18:34 that the lord of this servant “handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.”
Now, the word “tortured” as it was used here by our Lord, was not the word “bully,” but it was still a “b” word - basanistes. It’s the Greek word more accurately translated as “tormentors.”
Fundamental #2 is the Bully Principle.
When we have been forgiven by the Lord God of the insurmountable debt of sin that we owe Him and yet refuse to forgive the debts, trespasses, and sins of others against us, we will be handed over, by our Lord, to the bullies - the basanistes, the tormentors.
Unforgiveness torments us. It tortures us. Unforgiveness beats us up and bullies us. It spiritually stunts our growth, buries us in bitterness, poisons relationships with others, takes the life out of our worship, stifles prayer, flattens our faith, robs us of sleep, and keeps us on edge. We are never free when we have not forgiven.
Forgiveness creates a “Bully Free Zone” when it comes to the people in your life that you need to forgive because forgiveness lifts off the sin and bitterness. In doing so, disarms the tormentors. The enemy has no weapon to use against us.
When nasa, forgiveness, is not followed, the basanistes will follow. The tormentors follow us, kick sand in our face, and beat us up. It’s a spiritual law, established by God, confirmed through Christ and allowed by Him in order to get our attention and get us on our knees and get us to forgive from our hearts those who have sinned against us…in prayer, in His name.
So if we do not apply the NASA Principle when people sin against us, hurt us, and abuse us in word or in deed, then the Bully Principle will kick in…and kick you.
And when the Bully Principle kicks in, we have given Satan the upper hand and the advantage in our lives, every time. That’s Fundamental #3.
Fundamental #3 (2 Corinthians 2:10-11) – Keeping people in a state of unforgiveness is one of Satan’s designs. Therefore, successfully breaking through must be seen as a spiritual battle.
One of my favorite stories is of a mama mouse who took her babies for their first adventure outside the nest. As they rounded the corner, they came face-to-face with a very large and hungry cat. The babies shuttered in fear while mama fearlessly stood her ground. She stood up on her back feet, took a deep breath, and proceeded to bark like a dog. Suddenly the cat turned tail and ran away. The mother turned to her babies and said, “That, my darlings, is why you need to learn a second language.”
Most of us have done well in learning our “first language” which says, “In Jesus’ name, I am forgiven.”
Many of us, however, have not taken the steps to learn and apply the “second language” which says, “In Jesus’ name, I am forgiving you.”
When we do not learn and practice this “second language” and forgive others, we not only surrender ourselves to the basanistes, the bullies. In failing to apply this “second language” of forgiving others, we give Satan the “upper hand.”
Unforgiveness gives the enemy the “advantage” in our lives and over our lives. It gives him ground, it gives him power, and it gives him access to harass and torment more and more areas of our lives.
How do we know this? How do we know that unforgiveness gives Satan the upper hand?
We know this because when Paul was writing to the Corinthian Christians, he used the Greek word pleonekteo which the NRSV translates as “outwit” in 2 Corinthians 2:11.
Pleonekteo literally means “advantage” or, in our venacular, the “upper hand.”
So Paul is saying that forgiveness is a spiritual battle we wage against Satan who always wants to get the upper hand over the children of God. When we forgive others because we’ve learned this “second language,” then we gain the upper hand over him. We “outwit” him, says Paul. In football terms, we hit Satan on his “blind side” when we forgive others. By lifting off the sin, resentment, and bitterness that buries us by granting forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ, we outwit the enemy and regain the upper hand. You might say that forgiveness is the “bark” that puts the bite into our faith.
On the flip-side, remember that when we do not forgive others, we give Satan the advantage. He gets the upper hand. And the result will be, once again, becoming subject to the Bully Principle. He’ll beat us up, torment us, and pick on us like a cat playing with a mouse he has caught until he decides its time for lunch.
So, with forgiveness there is breakthrough because you’ve gained the upper hand.
Fundamental #4 (Ephesians 4:30-32) – When we forgive others, we are participating in the supernatural power of grace, which was granted to us by God when He forgave
us of our sins.
In writing to the Christians in the Mediterranean city of Ephesus, Paul tells them that they should not “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” In other words, don’t bring pain and sorrow to the heart of God.
Do you know what breaks God’s heart and grieves the Holy Spirit?
Unforgiveness, bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and malice, lists Paul, are the things that break God’s heart and grieves His Spirit.
That is why Paul says to “put away” these things by not only being kind and tenderhearted, but also by “forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Now, do you want to have some fun?
The phrase, “put away” is the Greek word airo. Can you guess what it might mean?
How about “to lift away.”
In fact, airo is even more descriptive than that as it was the Greek word used in the time of Christ for lifting or weighing anchor so that a ship could sail away.
When we forgive others as we have been forgiven, we are weighing anchor. We are breaking through. We are lifting off. We are setting sail.
And we are giving to others what God has given to us…His amazing grace.
The words “forgiving” and “forgiven” as found in Ephesians 4:32 is the Greek word charizomai. It is a beautiful word that means “to grant as a favor,” “pardon,” and “to rescue.” It is the mild form of the Greek word charis which means “graciousness.”
God gave us grace. He forgave us. He lifted our sins from us so that we could weigh anchor and set sail. In other words, God smiled on you and gave you amazing grace. And in that forgiveness and grace, you have a peaceful, easy feeling.
But every time we grieve the Holy Spirit and fail to forgive others with the same grace we’ve been given by God, it’s like dropping the anchor all over again. Unforgiveness not only hands us over to the tormentors and gives Satan the upper hand, it also just weighs us down when God has made us for the open seas.
With forgiveness, there is breakthrough because you are passing on to others the grace that God has given to you. And in doing so, you will weigh anchor, the wind of the Holy Spirit will fill your sails, you’ll have gained the upper hand over the enemy and been released from the tormentors, and you’ll enjoy the fruit of forgiveness - that peaceful, easy feeling.
