Forgiveness One to One (Grandparents Day)
Call to worship:
L: O human tongues, sing praise to God!
P: O mountains, clap your hands!
L: O human souls, soar high with joy!
P: O rivers, rumble down!
A: Worship, world! O world, shout! Our God has bid us come!
Opening Hymn: How Great Thou Art #77
1 O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
consider all the *worlds thy hand have made,
I see the stars, I hear the *rolling thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee;
how great thou art, how great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee;
how great thou art, how great thou art!
2 When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze; [Refrain]
3 And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in;
that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
he bled and died to take away my sin; [Refrain]
4 When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
and there proclaim, my God, how great thou art! [Refrain]
Opening Prayer:
We judges now become silent in the presence of Mercy. We warriors now grow calm in the presence of Peace. We scoffers now set scorn aside in the presence of Love. O God, we await your revelation. Show your mercy among the unmerciful, your peace among the embattled and your love among the rebellious. In the name of Christ, forever more.
Epistle Reading: Romans 14: 1-12
¹ Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.
7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
Hymn: Take Up Thy Cross #415
1. "Take up thy cross," the Savior said,
"if thou wouldst my disciple be;
deny thyself, the world forsake,
and humbly follow after me."
2. Take up thy cross, let not its weight
fill thy weak spirit with alarm;
his strength shall bear thy spirit up,
and brace thy heart and nerve thine arm.
3. Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame,
nor let thy foolish pride rebel;
thy Lord for thee the cross endured,
to save thy soul from death and hell.
4. Take up thy cross and follow Christ,
nor think till death to lay it down;
for only those who bear the cross
may hope to wear the glorious crown.
Prayer of Dedication:
O lover of the unlovable, your voice soothes the trembling of lowly, forsaken spirits. Your fingers grasp the hands of desperate, lonely sinners. How strong is your love! How your arms long to pull us close in your embrace! Those who sorrow could weep there; those who are weary, sleep. Those who are silenced could speak there, those who are hungry, feast. Those who hate could find peace there; those who rejoice, jubilee.
You are the Creator of the beautiful, O God, for you have made us in your image. Let us mirror not only your image upon the world, but more importantly, your actions. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 18: 21-35
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Sermon Title: Forgiveness One to One (video link)
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Those words should sound familiar; they are the same words that we repeat every Sunday as we recite the Lord’s Prayer. These words, put in the order that they are, lead us to believe, rightfully so, that if we want to be forgiven by God for the trespasses that we commit; then we must be willing to forgive others their trespasses against us.
To forgive someone is to love them. We see this in Romans 13: 10, where it follows the commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and then states, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” To forgive someone their trespasses or indiscretions is love. Now this does not mean that they should get away with whatever they have done wrong; for it is also true that we must hold each other accountable as Christians. It must also be noted, though, that forgiving someone who has done you harm is not just for them. It is also for you because until you forgive them and deal with the pain, you remain a captive of the unjust behavior. You find the freedom that you need through forgiveness.
In today’s parable of the unforgiving servant, we find a story about someone who was unwilling to move on in any way, shape, or form. When the king wanted to settle his accounts, this servant was brought forward owing ten thousand talents. If you are wondering just how much a ‘talent’ is worth; it is 200,000 years of labor or 60 million working days. In modern money terms, this would be approximately $3.48 billion. Of course, this seems to be an exorbitant amount of money/time/effort, but this explains why the king, as a punishment was going to sell the slave and his whole family and all of his possessions in order to get some sort of repayment.
But when the servant fell on his knees begging for mercy and patience, telling the king that he would pay all that he owed, the king had pity on him and not only did he release him; but he absolved him or the entire debt. All ten thousand talents, or as we would put it today, three and a half billion dollars.
This would have been a great story if it had ended there – faithful servant, merciful king, debt forgiven, life restored – but that is not where it ended.
I can only imagine at this juncture, but that servant must have felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from his back. Not only was the debt erased, but he was able to stay where he was and with his family beside him. But the moment of shining light turned into shadow the minute he saw a fellow slave who owed him a hundred denarii. Now a hundred denarii is far less than ten thousand talents. In fact, at today’s currency rates, a hundred denarii would equal about $45 or so. But even as little as this amount was, the other servant could not pay it any more than the first one could pay the king the large sum that he owed.
But instead of acting as the king had - and forgiving this other servant for not being able to pay, he maliciously attacked him and had him thrown in jail. He showed no forgiveness to this other servant even though he, himself, had already been forgiven such a great debt.
Of course, as 21st century Americans, most of us think about things in terms of monetary value; so when we hear numbers like three and a half billions dollars, we wonder how on earth could someone ever be able to pay a debt like that.
And then we remember that we had a debt once; a debt so high that there was no way we would ever be able to pay it back on our own. We were doomed because we had sinned; sinned against God and humanity and even ourselves and the only way to pay these debts was with cold, hard death.
That is until God sent his only Son into the world to save us from those sins and to reconcile us back with him. So grand was this gesture from God that we expected Jesus to ride in on a white horse in the middle of a parade surrounded by musicians and dancers and all of the world’s best food on a stick for us to grab and eat. Ok, obviously that isn’t how it happened at all, but the gesture from God on our behalf is still huge and it’s still on the table.
Do you or someone you know feel separated from God? Do you feel like there is a huge debt hanging over your head? Then go to Him and ask for His forgiveness and He will erase that debt. But be warned; if you do not do the same for your brothers and sisters, your neighbors, your debt will remain.
Take an opportunity this week to think about the people who owe you something, whether it be money, time, apologies, or whatever; and forgive them that debt. Call them up, write a note, knock on their door – and forgive that debt. It won’t be easy, but the peace that you will come away with will absolutely be worth it. I pray for and encourage you to go out and seek this peace. And may God always be with you in your travels. Amen.
Closing Hymn: And Are We Yet Alive #5531. And are we yet alive, and see each other's face? Glory and thanks to Jesus give for his almighty grace!
2. Preserved by power divine to full salvation here, again in Jesus' praise we join, and in his sight appear.
3. What troubles have we seen, what mighty conflicts past, fightings without, and fears within, since we assembled last!
4. Yet out of all the Lord hath brought us by his love; and still he doth his help afford, and hides our life above.
5. Then let us make our boast of his redeeming power, which saves us to the uttermost, till we can sin no more.
6. Let us take up the cross till we the crown obtain, and gladly reckon all things loss so we may Jesus gain.