Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - When Forgiveness Seems Impossible | No Offense: Part 4

Episode Date: October 17, 2021

Forgiving someone who wronged you can be hard—it might even seem impossible. We’re learning what can happen when we unlock the power of forgiveness.ABOUT THIS MESSAGEFrom the latest headline to social media comments, to the person who just cut you off in traffic—there are plenty of opportunities to be offended each day. But what if we decided to respond differently to those around us? Together, let’s learn how to live with No Offense.Learn more about No Offense: https://www.life.church/nooffenseWE’RE OPENWe’re continuing to monitor guidelines and best practices for gathering in a safe way. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And first of all, I want to turn to one of my favorite scriptures. I don't even know if you're allowed to have favorite scriptures. If not, forgive me, Lord, I do. And it's Colossians, chapter one. And Paul writes from verse 13, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness. We could stop right there and just say, praise God, and be encouraged for the rest of our lives.

He has rescued us. It doesn't say he will rescue us. He has rescued us. It's a done deal on the cross. And it says that, you know, in the Greek, the word rescue is the Greek erisato. And erisato literally means to snatch to oneself. And if you want an image in your head to go along with that translation, I guess there would be like a child running out in the street and there's a car coming.

And the parent, the mother or the father, will see the thing that is about to happen, will run out and snatch the child out of harm's way. That is what God did with you and me. He saw the harm that was coming and he snatched us out to himself through Christ Jesus. But you know what? It doesn't stop there. It goes on. He says, he has brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves.

Friends, we're not just saved from something, we are saved to something. We're not just being snatched out of the kingdom of darkness and then placed in some kind of spiritual no man's land awaiting heaven one day. You have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and you have been saved into the kingdom of his beloved son. Amen? Oh man, this is amazing. This is incredible. And if that's a fact, which it is, that you're already placed in Christ in that kingdom, then from now on, it's all about integration.

You know, when you move from one nation to another, it's all about integration. You need to learn the culture of the new nation. You need to learn the value system of the new nation, amen? You have to learn the language of the new nation. And if you don't, it's going to be problems. Amen? That's why the Holy Spirit is sent to help us come in line with the culture of the kingdom of heaven. To help us come in line with the value system of this brand new kingdom and help us start speak the language of this brand new kingdom. So we will become ambassadors of this kingdom.

And it's interesting the way it goes on. It says about this son whose kingdom this is, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. It's interesting that when Paul speaks about Christ and this kingdom that you are now saved into, one of the first things he says is that this kingdom is about forgiveness of sins. If we need to understand anything in the kingdom of God, first of all, we need to understand forgiveness. We need to understand the vertical part of forgiveness, which is God. forgiving us from our sins and we need to understand the horizontal part of forgiveness us forgiving

those who has trespassed against us amen because vertical and horizontal paints the picture of the cross the full redemptive power of Jesus Christ and when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray he told us to pray about forgiveness forgive us our sins the vertical part like we forgive those who have trespassed against us. The vertical and the horizontal, they connect, and they must go hand in hand. Now, the first thing we need to understand, in order for us to approach the theme of forgiveness is the perspective that releases forgiveness. The perspective that releases forgiveness.

And I want to read with you a parable from Matthew chapter 18. This is really Jesus responding to a question from Peter. And Peter is asking, how many times do I need to forgive someone? You just want to know the backstory to that question, don't you? How many times do I have to, in order to still be a disciple, do I have to forgive somebody who has hurt me or sinned against me? And as part of Jesus's answer to that interesting question, he shares a parable like he does so many times.

And he talks about the kingdom of heaven being like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had. and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all. And then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave his debt.

But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat. This is serious, saying, pay me what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, Have patience with me and I will pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. Now, we might read this story and we might get the basics. We understand there's a king must be representing God.

And the servant would be you and me. And we've been forgiven a lot. And then as we are hesitant and unwilling to forgive our fellow man, that really doesn't make sense. But the thing is, that such a great part of this story, such a great part of the punchline that Jesus is trying to make, is found in the currencies he's using. It's found in the meaning of the talents and the denari.

And of course, when we read them 2,000 years later, in another part of the world, where we normally don't deal with talents or denari on a daily basis, we risk losing that whole entire perspective. So I'm just going to try to explain this to you. And what Jesus is really trying to say, and I do pray and I do believe that this might well open your eyes and give you a new understanding of the perspective of forgiveness. Okay.

So let's make this very, very clear and visible right here. we have two relationships in this story. We have this one with the king and the servant, and there is a depth involved of 10,000 talents, which means absolutely nothing to most of us at this point, which is about to change. And we have also another relationship with that same servant and another guy, and there's a debt of 100 thenari. Now, how can we kind of translate the value of this money into something that we would even be remotely able to relate to. Well, of course, as the Bible translators are working, they will always avoid to include certain numbers.

Because if they were right so-and-so-many dollars, and then they would be like 10 or 20 years, and that number would be irrelevant because of inflation, right? And changes, financial changes. But there's actually one way for us to get hold of the estimated value of money, even though things change and we are on the other side of the world. And that's by using one day's wage. Because one day's wage, the average amount of money that you would earn in a day

would be about the same. Even though the sum would be different, the value would be pretty much the same. You understand? It would be pretty much the amount of money needed for you to pay off your mortgage a little bit, get some food on the table, buy a piece of clothes, whatever you need for a decent life. It will be included in one day's wage. Now, in Jesus' days, one day's wage would be one denarius, or translated sometimes as a silver coin. So one denarius equals one day's wage. Now, what about the talents? One talent, are you okay with a little bit of math? Okay, great, thank you.

One talent equaled 6,000 denari. That's 6,000 days of work. Okay? So what would that be, you know, what would be our modern day? equivalent of that. Well, I've did some research, and it turns out that in the United States of 2021, the average daily wage is $154.64. Now, there will be some people earning more than that, and some people earning less than that, but that is your national average. So that would be

like a modern day equivalent to that. One denarius would be $154.64.64 cents. So, one talent is $6,000, and one denari would be $154.64. means that one talent is $927,840. That is one talent, my friend. One talent. This guy owned the king 10,000 talents. This would be 9 billion, 278 million, $400,000. I want to know, how did he spend it?

What happened here? And how did he still stay a servant? I mean, what is going on? This is a crazy amount of money. And of course, that's the whole intention of Jesus. Why is he giving this crazy, like universe space amount of money? because he wants to tell his disciples that we all had a debt before God that we would never be able to pay back. Even though that guy, which is really pathetic in the parable, he says, just give me a little time.

That's male positive irresponsibility at its worst point. I'll figure it out. I'll find a way. No, you're not. There's no way you'll be able to pay back a nine billion. dollar debt. And we were in that same position. No good work, no religious deed could ever pay back our debt. That's why we needed a savior. And that's why God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Oh, I love that. So remember that. Nine billion dollars. Now, let's go over here. What is this step then? 100 denari. Well, now you know the basic of the math. 100 denari times $154.67, 64.64 dollars would make it $154,464 U.S. dollars.

Now, why is Jesus choosing that amount? You think he's got a point? I don't think Jesus says anything by accident. You see, $15,000 is a significant debt. $15,000 is a lot of money. Amen? I mean, if somebody owed you $15,000, and then one day said,

sorry, I can't pay it back to most of us, that would be a real problem. Most of us are not in the position where we can just let go of $15,000. The point Jesus is trying to make is that this guy really owned a lot of money. And maybe that's your situation. Maybe somebody owed you a lot of money.

Maybe someone did you wrong and it hurt. Maybe you got your heart broken. Maybe somebody treated you bad and there is no excuse for that. Maybe there is a considerable debt involved between you and someone else. And as long as you stay focused on the perspective of that debt only, those $15,000, it will look like a big amount. And you're technically right. But here's the point.

$15,000 is only a lot of money until you compare it to $9,000. $9,278,000, $400,000. And that's the perspective of forgiveness. Jesus is not saying that this amount over here is small and insignificant and can be easily forgotten, but what he asks us to do is simply take a few steps back and compare it with the debt that you have had canceled in your life.

And the more we look at this, the more eager we will be to let go of that. However, if we fix our eyes on that and that alone, we can say, I have the right. Maybe you do. But you're taking your eyes off of this. Now, if I was the devil, and I'm so happy I'm not, I would work over time to try to have you not see this.

Try to steer your mind away from this. Just focus your eyes on that debt, that $15,000 that somebody owed you, someone that did something bad to you. And I would just try to do whatever I could to bring your eyes away from the fact that God has forgiven you of so much more than that. And the main way he does that is through pride. pride that kills forgiveness. Because you know what?

We are not forgiven automatically just because we are children of God. We are forgiven the sins that we confess. Amen? First John chapter 1 verse 9 says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanses from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Pride will have you think that, nah, there is no nine million. I'm not that bad. I'm doing quite well. And all of a sudden, you're playing down the fact that God has to send his son to die for your sins and mine, amen. And this is the very reason why God hates pride. Repeatedly in the Bible it says God hates pride. more than all the other sins. Why? Because pride will rob you of blessing. Pride will block our hearts

so that we don't see our own need of forgiveness. And because we don't, we will not be very eager to forgive others. Because everything we see is those $15,000 that somebody owed. Amen. And this is why we cannot stop speaking about sin. Amen? Because if we delete sin from our concept of Christianity, then we rob people of the blessing of forgiveness. Amen? Because it's only as we confess. And in confessing we are punching down our pride. We are saying guilty as charged. But we are also opening our hearts for the miracle of forgiveness. Amen. Sin is only a problem if there is no forgiveness. But if there is forgiveness and it is,

then me realizing that I'm in daily need of the grace of God and the forgiveness of God is the door opener to a brand new world of freedom. Amen. And you know, as we realize this, as I realize and as I'm constantly reminding myself of the $9 billion that we realize, God has erased from my debt account, then I become a different person in my mentality, in my perspective, and more than anything, there is a peace that comes, the peace that is found in forgiveness.

And I've seen that peace in my own life, and I've seen it in the lives of others. And I just want to share a story with you. Those of you've heard me before and know, it's always going to be a story about a young person somewhere in a pastor yorkan message and that's intentional and this time let me tell you about a girl called sarah now um i heard of sarah a number of years ago and she was just 16 at the time and like many swedish young people she was raised in a completely secularized environment no absolutely no influence of christianity or church or anything her parents were atheists And Sarah was raised without any concept of religion or the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But as she attended high school, she came in contact with a few young people from our movement. And they shared Jesus with her. And initially she thought they were crazy, but then she was really curious and really interested. And for weeks and weeks and weeks, she asked all her questions about God and eternity and purpose and forgiveness and all that. and eventually Sarah gave her life to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Sarah became a Christian, she became a girl on fire. She would, it was just like a revolutionary thing that happened in her life. She started sharing the gospel with everyone and their grandmother.

Every time she saw someone, she would share Jesus with him or her. She became known all over her school. This girl who used to be an atheist, started to run Christian concerts in her school and run major Jesus events that would share the gospel with so many in her school. And a major revival broke out in her secular school. So I haven't yet met her, but I'm hearing stuff about this girl. And she's just a few months old in her faith, but still, just going crazy for Jesus here.

But then all of a sudden I heard a different kind of news. I heard that Sarah had just been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. And that this diagnosed happened way too late. It had spread all over her body and left her hardly any chances of survival. And I got hold of Sarah's phone number. And as I dialed her number, this would be the first time I actually talked to her. So many thoughts were running through my mind. How is she coping with this?

She's brand new in the Lord. What's left of her faith? What's left of her fire and her seal and her passion. So I heard Sarah pick up on the other end. She said, hello. And I said, hey, Sarah, this is Pastor Joachim. And she went, Pastor? Oh, hallelujah.

the Lord, I can't wait to tell you what God is doing in my school. And then she started going on and on and on and on. And there were praise gods and hallelujahs and all kinds of things in there. And I was just thinking in my mind, is she in denial? You know, hasn't she really caught up with the news? And is she trying to just push reality away and covering up and saying things that she might think that I would like to hear. But then after some 20 minutes when she finally stopped to breathe, I said, okay, Sarah, that's amazing. That's beautiful. However, I heard and I just realized that you also had some really hard news. And she said, oh, you mean the cancer. Yes. As a matter of fact. And then we had a conversation. It turns out she knew about the seriousness of the situation. And of course, she had

her question marks. And we talked, but then she said this, Pastor, there's been a few Christian brothers and sisters of mine that's been saying things like God can heal people. And that'd be just great, if he would. But here's the way I see it. And I'll never forget the words that came out of her mouth after that statement. Here's the way I see it. I know that my sins are forgiven. And even if I die from this, I'm ready to go. I just have one concern, one thing that is important for me. and that is to bring as many people with me to heaven as possible. In the time that I have left in this world. Tears were just running down my face

because I felt that I was overwhelmed by the peace that came out of the life of a 16-year-old girl who just met with Jesus Christ a few months ago. The peace that wasn't connected to perfect circumstances rather the opposite, but the peace that was connected to the fact that she knew that $9 million had been canceled from her debt account. And whatever happens to me now will not ever change that fact. Whatever the devil would try to throw in my face can never ever change the fact that I'm forgiven.

And I know where I'm going. it's my time. Now, praise God, Sarah survived. And I cannot stand here and say it was an easy route. It was 10 years of prayer and chemo and radiation and treatment. But you know what today, Sarah is completely cancer-free. She's married to a great guy. They're part of our church. They have been missionaries in Thailand for many years. they now adopted a beautiful little Thai girl as their own daughter. But you see my main point in this story is not only the fact that Sarah survived, but the fact that Sarah knew about forgiveness.

And that knowledge made her push through. Though her life might be short or long, that was secondary to her because she understood the peace that comes from forgiveness. And throughout her entire treatment, she kept. sharing Jesus with other people, with doctors, with nurses, and with basically anyone who came in her path. That's the peace that comes from forgiveness and the peace that God wants to give you whoever you are watching right now. In a location on your laptop or wherever you are, there is peace to be found, but there's only peace on the other side of forgiveness, of accepting the

fact that Jesus Christ paid the price for you and that whatever you've done cannot, isn't so bad that it will not be covered by the power of his blood. He is ready to cleanse you and he's ready to erase all those debts from your accounts. But before I pray for you, I just want to end with one more testimony. And I want to end with saying a few words about the power that is unleashed. through forgiveness. The power that is unleashed through forgiveness. Because you know what?

When you forgive someone, you have no idea what you put in motion. When you forgive someone, when you let someone go, even though they hurt you, you have no idea what kind of consequences will come out of that. A number of years ago,

this was in 2015, in February, a group of ISIS warriors, led 21 young Egyptian Christians down to a beach in Libya, northern Africa. These Christians were forced to kneel down, and the spokesperson of the ISIS made a statement that these people of the cross, how was the way he referred to the Christian young men? They were not worthy of living. and all 21 young Christian men were executed by the ISIS on that beach.

And the ISIS videotape this whole thing, put it on YouTube, in an attempt to scare Christians from staying in their faith. In an attempt to motivate them to leave behind that faith in the cross and hide under the darkness of terror. hide away from the impact of the strong and mighty ISIS. However, this thing had exactly the opposite effect. Because all over Egypt, it spread like wildfire. Even though Egypt is an Islamic nation,

everybody was concerned because these were Egyptian citizens. And they brought the mother of one of these executed young man into a TV studio just a week after this horrible event. It was the biggest talk show in the nation. And the talk show host asked her if you had these men that killed your son and his friends,

if you had them, and if you could do anything to them, what would you do? What punishment would be enough? And she looked into the camera and said, you know what? I only wish for all these men to find forgiveness in Jesus Christ. I only wish for all these men

who took the lives of my son and the 20 other Christian young men that they would know the love of Jesus Christ, that they would find true life and true forgiveness through faith in Him. That's my one desire. And her words spread over the entire nation. and shocked the entire nation of Egypt because it was clear to them what religion, what faith

that was strong enough to forgive even such a horrible crime. And it led to a national revival all over Egypt with tens of thousands of people coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And I had the honor of preaching down there just a few years ago. 10,000 young people. And this service was broadcasted live on YouTube. Two and a half million people. Two and a half million watched it online

and heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, a miracle that was unlocked by the power of forgiveness. When you choose to forgive, you have no idea what you put in motion. And you know what? I want to pray for you right now. Maybe you're out there and you're in one of the locations and you're struggling with someone that did something to you and you haven't yet been able to let it go. There was a debt of $15,000 and you've been looking

at it for a long time now. You know what? It's time to get our eyes on the $9 billion that God has forgiven us from. And right now, I do believe the spirit is calling your heart to let go, to be as generous in forgiving others that God has been in forgiving you. So right now, would you just open your heart and get ready to allow you to it. allow the spirit of God to move in to that dark area and set you free so that you can experience the peace that comes from forgiveness and also unleash the miracles that will take place as a result of you forgiving others like God has forgiven you. Father, we thank you so much in Jesus' name. We thank you for that depth of $9 billion that you cleared from our debt account. And we thank you

for forgiveness and salvation in Christ Jesus. Father, forgive us when we've been too full of pride, that we haven't acknowledged our own need for forgiveness. And because we haven't got the perspectives right, we have been less eager to forgive others who has trespassed against us. But Father, we let go in Jesus' name of the people who has hurt us, just like you were raised our sins and our debts. And Father, right now I ask for,

Anyone who makes that decision for the peace of God that passes all understanding to move right into their hearts and their souls. And I pray that many miracles, many healed relationships will be unleashed through the power of forgiveness. This we pray in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.