Do you believe that university life is about more than classes, assignments, studying and weekends? Are you interested in finding more meaning and purpose in your life? Do you enjoy listening to and sharing ideas with others? Then, please join our weekly Bible discussion group.

Campus Bible Talk meets every Monday during the school year (except during holidays and during Reading Week Breaks) at Athabasca Hall, Heritage Lounge, at 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

You may also email us anytime at campus.bible.talk@gmail.com

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Forgiveness

Forgiveness was the topic of our discussion last Monday.  We looked at the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) for lessons on how God forgives our sins and how we should forgive the people that wrong us.  We studied the process of forgiveness and the steps that are necessary for a complete and true restoration of the lost relationships among people as a result of conflicts or disagreements. 


Please find below the notes from this discussion.



February 28, 2011

Forgiveness

Opening question: Tell of a time when you forgave or when you felt the need to ask for forgiveness?

No matter how hard we try to do the right things in our lives, there are times where we do not succeed.  There are times when we do the wrong things and we hurt the other people around us.  In such moments, we have to ask for forgiveness, for a second chance to make things right.

What does the Bible have to say on the topic of forgiveness?

1.         We serve a forgiving God

Let us go to the Gospel according to Matthew and read one of the stories that Jesus told his apostles.  It is found in Matthew 18:21-35:

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”  22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 

“Seventy-seven times” or “seven times seventy” means a great number, meaning without end, an infinite number.  Jesus is trying to teach his followers that they are to love one another and to forgive one another, since they are all sinners and they all, sooner or later, will sin and wrong one another.

In order for the apostles and for us to understand better this concept, Jesus uses a parable, or a story to illustrate his message.  Let us continue reading:

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.  25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.  26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’  27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.  29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’  30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’   34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

In verse 24 we see the first servant, who owed his master a large amount of money.  Ten thousand bags of gold or “talents” as other versions may have, is around a million dollars in our money today.  This means an extremely large amount of money that for most people it would be impossible to make, let alone repay someone else.  But the master showed mercy and forgave this servant all his debts, as we read in verse 27.

The servant, however, found one of his fellow servants, verse 28 tells us, who owned him a hundred silver coins, which is about twenty dollars.  A very small amount that has an almost inconsiderate value.  Something that you can live without.  But this servant did not show mercy on the other servant, but threw him in jail.

The master then become enraged and settle the account with the first servant, treating him in the same way.

What does this story teaches us?  Who is the master in this story?  Who does the first servant represent?  What about the second servant?

The master in this story is God.  The first servant is each and every one of us, who has been forgiven of all our sins, a great debt that we could not pay ourselves.  We should not be like the first servant and show no mercy toward the people around us.  In the same way that God showed mercy to us and is able to forgive our sins, in the same way we should forgive the wrongdoings of other people.


2.         We forgive because God forgave us

In Matthew 6:9, Jesus is teaching his followers how to pray.  He says:

9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  11 Give us today our daily bread.  12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’  14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Why is forgiveness important?

What will happen if we do not forgive other people?

Jesus says it clearly again that if we do not forgive others, our Father will not forgive us.

3.         Forgiveness is a process

Most often when we have a fight with someone or when we feel that someone has done something wrong against us, we tend not to want to see or be around that person for a while.  This is helpful in the short term; however, for the long run this situation needs to be addressed, for any relationship we had to be restored.

In Luke 17:3-4, Jesus talks about the steps in which the forgiveness process should take place.  He says: 3 So watch yourselves.  “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.  4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

According to this verse, what is the responsibility of a Christian when someone sins or does something wrong against you?

How are we to rebuke?  2 Timothy 4:2:  Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

Paul tells us that this rebuking needs to take place with great patience and careful instruction.  Because the purpose here is to restore the relationship and once again have what is lost.

What does it mean to repent?
To repent means to turn away from your old ways, to stop doing what you have done in the past.  Repentance is important so that forgiveness can be complete.  No matter how many times people have committed wrong acts against us, we are expected to forgive them, just as God forgave our sins.

Conclusions

We serve a loving and forgiving God.  He wants us to do the right things in our lives and He is always willing to forgive us if we truly repent and try to do our best to make things right.  We should do the same with regard to the people around us, forgiving them and moving forward to restore our good relationships with them.


Campus Bible Talk 2011

1 comment: