Sermon on August 11 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

Scripture: 1 Cor 13:5; John 18:15-18; 25-27

The taste of revenge can be sweet, right? Is there a way to stop licking resentment, and to love when it’s hardest?

When love is hurt:

1. IT NEVER FILES AWAY THE BAD!

‘Love does not reckon the evil ‘ (13:b) = It does not hold it to someone’s account.

• Unforgiveness is always more toxic than you think
  Neuroschientists have proved the emotional black holes that can result in the brain when you harbor bitterness

‘Love lets the past die. It doesn’t have to clear up all misunderstandings. Love prefers to tuck all loose ends of rights and wrongs in the bosom of forgiveness – and then it pushes us into a new start’ (Lewis Smedes)

• Unforgiveness is always more tragic than you can imagine
  Forgiving doesn’t mean that you ignore sin, or have no wounds.

When you are hurt, you can play the victim or be generous in forgiving as you have been forgiven
(Ephesians 4:31-32)

2. IT ALWAYS GIVES BEYOND THE LIMIT!

Could anyone hurt Jesus as much as Peter? John 18:15-18; 25-27

• See how many and how heavy your sins are
  Peter’s sin was not one sin, three times but many sins. Betrayal, deceit, using God’s name in vain, and idolatry.
  A Christian forgives because the infinite Son went to the Cross so we may receive forgiveness for all our infinite sins.
• See how graciously you have been treated
  Jesus won’t right Peter off as untrustworthy and undependable. He not only keeps no record, He loves him despite it.
  If Jesus deals gently as someone who has no logs in His eye, no record like us – how much more should we?

‘Love means to forgive the inexcusable in others, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you!’ (C.S. Lewis)

• See how wonderfully Jesus loves you (John 21)
  Forgiveness liberates to keep coming as many times as we sin, because we know what we will receive.
  Because Jesus won’t reckon evil to his account, Peter is not excluded from making an impact for the kingdom.

Remember! You are never more like Jesus than when you forgive the evil done to you and repay it with good.

‘God me learn how to forgive- the most difficult of all lessons. It didn’t happen in a day. It wasn’t easy but finally I got it.’
(Kim Phuc, after years of pain from injuries sustained through napalm bombing in Vietnam in 1972)

 

Photo credit FreeImages.com/Katherine Evans