[Propertalk] FW: Sermon Resources for September 11 - Part 2

Wed Sep 7 23:33:14 EDT 2011

Forgiveness Written in Stone

A story is told of two friends who were walking through the desert. During
some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the
other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying
anything, wrote in the sand, "Today my best friends slapped me in the face."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a
bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started
drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from nearly drowning,
he wrote on a stone, "Today my best friend saved my life." 

His friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you
write on a stone, why?" The other friend replied "When someone hurts us we
should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away.
But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone
where no wind can ever erase it."

So real forgiveness keeps on leaving the sins of others and our hurts in the
past. Yet Jesus understands the difficulty of such forgiveness. To keep on
forgiving is a God-like characteristic. It is contrary to human nature. So
He gives a parable beginning in v.23 which will help us obey His commandment
to keep on forgiving.

Stephen Felker, How Often Should I Forgive?

_______________________________

Forgiveness Is an Every Day Reality

Some while back I visited an online greeting card website to send an
electronic anniversary card to some friends. As I was glancing through this
website's menu of choices, I noticed they had a separate category of cards
devoted to "Forgiveness."  Since that is a pretty vital theological
category, I naturally was drawn to check out those cards. Mostly they were
humorous intended to be used for relatively minor hurts. "Forget about it,"
"Don't worry about it" were the sentiments of two cards. Another expressed
forgiveness by saying, "Everybody is a work in progress." 

Strikingly, however, on this website, as probably in most Hallmark stores,
forgiveness cards were categorized right along with birthday and get well
cards. That is, they were what could be called "Occasional Cards." You don't
send a "Get Well" card just any old time, but occasionally you need such a
sentiment and that's when you purchase and send just such a card. So also
you may not need a forgiveness card very often, but once in a while such a
thing may be handy.  Seen this way, forgiveness becomes a "now and then"
matter.  No doubt this reflects the way a lot of people think.  But it cuts
against the grain of the New Testament and of a passage like Matthew 18
where the assumption of Jesus seems to be that forgiveness is an ongoing,
daily reality for each one of us.  Not only are we ourselves forgiven on a
regular basis by God and by others, we must then turn around and forgive
those who have hurt us.  It's not an occasional reality.  It's every day.

Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations 
__________________________________

The Danger within Us

French author Victor Hugo has a short story titled, "93." In the midst of
this tale a ship at sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the
waves, the boat rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears an awesome
crashing sound below deck. They know what it is. A cannon they are carrying
has broken loose and is smashing into the ship's sides with every list of
the ship. Two brave sailors, at the risk of their lives, manage to go below
and fasten it again, for they know that the heavy cannon on the inside of
their ship is more dangerous to them than the storm on the outside. So it is
with people. Problems within are often much more destructive to us than the
problems without. Today, God's word would take us "below decks" to look
inside ourselves concerning the whole matter of forgiveness.

Stephen M. Crotts / George L. Murphy, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost
(Middle Third): The Incomparable Christ, , CSS Publishing Company, Inc. 

_______________________________________

Debts in Roman Society

In the ancient world cruel treatment was practiced against debtors, often
without regard to the debtor's ability or intention to repay. In Athens
prior to the establishment of democratic rights, a creditor could demand
slave labor of his debtor or of members of the debtor's family as surety of
payment.

Roman law provided punishment by imprisonment to the debtors. The reason for
imprisonment and cruel treatment was to force the debtor to sell whatever
property he might secretly own, or to have the debtor's relatives pay his
debt.

The creditor would demand slave labor of the entire family so that the debt
might be worked off. There were legal restrictions to prevent extreme
cruelty, but in spite of the laws the entire system of debts and sureties
was recklessly abused in the ancient world.

The prophets frequently condemned violations of the laws.

James R. Davis, The Unmerciful Servant 

__________________________

Saved by Forgiveness

Since nothing we intend is ever faultless, and nothing we attempt ever
without error, and nothing we achieve without some measure of finitude and
fallibility we call humanness, we are saved by forgiveness.

David Augsburger

___________________________

Forgiveness Is Not Innate

William Willimon writes: "The human animal is not supposed to be good at
forgiveness. Forgiveness is not some innate, natural human emotion.

Vengeance, retribution, violence, these are natural human qualities. It is
natural for the human animal to defend itself, to snarl and crouch into a
defensive position when attacked, to howl when wronged, to bite back when
bitten. Forgiveness is not natural. It is not a universal human virtue."

Will Willimon

___________________________

Two Million Dollar Mistake

John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly,
Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One
day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the
man's enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and
the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his
path. One man didn't have any choice, however, since he had an appointment
with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into
Rockefeller's office. As he approached Rockefeller's desk, he looked up from
the piece of paper on which he was writing. "I guess you've heard about the
two million dollar mistake our friend made," he said abruptly. "Yes," the
executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. "Well, I've been sitting
here listing all of our friend's good qualities, and I've discovered that in
the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by
his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I
think we ought to forgive him, don't you?"

Dale Galloway, You Can Win with Love, in The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart,
Charles Swindoll, Word Pub., p. 215.

___________________________

What God Can Do with Forgiveness

By the grace of God we can use forgiveness as a positive, creative force
bringing light into a darkened world. Nobody does that kind of thing better,
of course, than God. Who could imagine 2,000 years ago that the symbol of
the Christian church would be a hangman's noose, an electric chair, a
guillotine? Those analogies may be necessary for us to keep from being too
sentimental about "the old, rugged cross." A cross is a terrible thing. It
was indeed a symbol of suffering and shame. Humanity nailed God's own Son on
a cross. What barbarity! What unspeakable evil! Yet God turned that cross
into the means by which you and I may find our salvation. That is what God
can do with forgiveness. What can you do?

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
<http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8CAwQKCwZRRAMCBEsDAABWWg%3D%3D
> 

___________________________

Forgiven: Too Poor to Pay

(A good sermon closer)

When the books of a certain Scottish doctor were examined after his death,
it was found that a number of accounts were crossed through with a note:
"Forgiven--too poor to pay." But the physician's wife later decided that
these accounts must be paid in full and she proceeded to sue for money. When
the case came to court the judge asked but one question. Is this your
husband's handwriting? When she replied that it was he responded.

The conclusion to this list and for many additional illustrations and
sermons for this week, including material addressing 9/11, can be accessed
at www.Sermons.com
<http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8CAwQKCwZRRAMCBEsDAABWWg%3D%3D
> .

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