This week in our series Take a Vow, we are talking about one of the greatest restorers of relationships, forgiveness. Yes, forgiveness often goes against our human nature, but when we choose to offer forgiveness, even when it is difficult, we find healing for ourselves. We also often find restoration in broken relationships. As followers of Christ who have experienced God's grace and forgiveness, we are called to extend the same forgiveness and restoration we have been shown to everyone around us, including our spouses, for those who are married.
How does harboring unforgiveness impact us?
1. Read Ephesians 4:1-3. How do we, according to this passage of Scripture, live lives worthy of our callings as fully devoted followers of Christ?
Ephesians 4:1-3
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
2. Based on this passage of Scripture, what should be our motivation for being humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving?
3. Read Ephesians 4:31-32. Which of the descriptions of how we are to treat each other stands out to you the most? Why?
Ephesians 4:31-32
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
4. Describe God’s great forgiveness that He has shown us, which is our motivation for forgiving others.
1. Do you find forgiveness difficult or easy? Why or why not?
2. What is currently holding you back from extending forgiveness, and how is that impacting you and your relationships?
3. How does remembering God’s great forgiveness of you motivate you to forgive?
Forgiveness is not easy, and we cannot do it on our own power. We need God’s help to show the same forgiveness to others that He has shown us. Break up into groups of two or three. Pray for each other. Pray for the relationships where you need to extend forgiveness. Pray that God would give each one of you the courage to show God’s forgiveness, especially when extending that forgiveness is difficult. As you pray, be sure to thank God for the great forgiveness that He has shown you.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” God’s forgiveness, specifically the forgiveness He has shown us, is to be our motivation for forgiveness, and His forgiveness is extravagant. For the next few minutes, we are going to look at three ways that God forgives: He forgives completely, He forgives continually, and He forgets about sin.
When we turn to God for forgiveness, we do not have to wonder whether He will still hold the sin we confess against us. This is because when God forgives, He forgives completely. Because He forgives completely, we can walk in freedom, knowing that He has fully forgiven us.
1, Read Psalm 103:8-12.
Psalm 103:8-12
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. 10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. 11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
2. What does this passage of Scripture reveal about God and His forgiveness?
3. In your own words, summarize God’s message to us in verse 12.
4. How can we demonstrate this same forgiveness and fully forgive in our world today?
We human beings often have limits to our forgiveness. We may forgive once, twice, and maybe a third time. After some time, however, our patience falters and we refuse to forgive. This is not the case with God. There are no limits to God's forgiveness. Whenever we turn to Him and confess our sins, He will always forgive us. It is this example of continual forgiveness that God calls us to model, too.
1. Read Matthew 18:21-35.
Matthew 18:21-35
For 21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! 23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
For 21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! 23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
2. Based on this passage of Scripture, how are Christ followers to forgive?
3. How is Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness different from how the rest of the world thinks about forgiveness?
4. How can you specifically obey Jesus’ call to continual forgiveness today?
In their human nature, many people hold onto the wrongs others have committed against them. It is almost as if they have a mental list of all of the ways that people have hurt them. This is not the case with God. Scripture teaches that when we confess our sins, God chooses to forget those sins we have committed, no longer holding them against us.
1. Read Hebrews 10:1-18.
Hebrews 10:1-18
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. 3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. 6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’” 8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. 10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. 11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says, 16 “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” 18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
2. Why are sacrifices no longer necessary, according to this passage of Scripture?
3. What does this passage of Scripture teach about God’s forgiveness?
4. What does it look like in our relationships today to model this same forgiveness of God, who forgets our sins instead of holding them against us?
Let’s take a few moments to reflect on what you studied today:
1. In which way would you like to grow when it comes to forgiveness: forgiving completely, forgiving continually, or forgiving in such a way that we forget? Why?
2. Share one thing you can do this week to grow in that area.
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