[Propertalk] Fw: Sermons Resources for Proper 19 - September 14 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:



Sermons for Proper 19
 
Matthew 18: 21-35– “Forgive Us Our Debts”
Matthew 18:21-35  –“Seventy-Seven”
 
Matthew 18, the sermon title “Forgive Us Our Debts”   
 
As with so many of thestories of Jesus, the parable of the debtors arose out of a question that wasposed to Jesus. Simon Peter said to him: “Master, if my brother sins againstme, how many times should I forgive him? Seven times? Even as he asks thatquestion my mind cannot help but think about children and how they willsometimes confess something they do wrong expecting to get praise from a teacheror a parent because they were so honest.
 
In the same sense, SimonPeter by asking this question is not expecting rebuke but praise. He isexpecting Jesus to say: “Excellent Peter. You go to the head of the class. Youget A+.” According to Jewish law, Peter had the right to think that he had donesomething good. Scribal law clearly read:
 
“If a man transgressesone time, forgive him. If a man transgresses two times, forgive him. If a mantransgresses three times, forgive him. If a man transgresses four times, do notforgive him.” What Peter has done is to take this law of limited forgiveness,multiply it by two and add one, and then sit back with a smile on his face andsay: Now how is that for being a great guy? And he surely must have been takenaback when Jesus said you must forgive seventy times seven.
 
Then Jesus proceeded totell a story. There was a certain king who had a day of reckoning for hisservants…
 
The rest of this sermoncan be obtained by joining Sermons.com at http://www.sermons.com/signup 
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Matthew 18, the sermon titled “Seventy-Seven” 
 
Most adults recognize itis their “job” to teach children right from wrong, good from bad, safe fromscary, yes from no. 
 
But there are somelessons that children are better at teaching us. Think about celebrations likebirthdays (especially Christmas), and Easter, and any other special days thathave the possibility of “presents” attached. Kids LOVE them, anticipate andadore them. Children love and accept presents with unabashed enthusiasm.Receiving a gift is “all good.”
 
For adults it is a bitmore difficult. We worry about the cost of the gift. We worry aboutreciprocating the gift. We worry about whether the gift has invisible “strings”attached. Suddenly “receiving” is a bit more complicated than just joyous.Receiving a gift is hard for most of us. We either feel beholden, orsuspicious, or overwhelmed, or unworthy of the freely given gifts (gratuities)that bless us. That’s why adults often become better givers than receivers.
 
The adult vs. childversion of acceptance is even greater with the other tremendous “gift” youngchildren are good at offering and accepting. Kindergarten kids might get into aheated battle over who gets custody of a Ninja Turtle figure. Tears and blowsmight even be involved. But after a truce is called, and apologies are offered(or sometimes enforced), in a short time all is forgiven, and (play) time goeson. Forgiveness is offered and the play date goes on. 
 
There are no thoughts ofrevenge. There is no nurturing of anger. There are no dreams of retaliation…
 
The rest of this sermoncan be obtained by joining Sermons.com at http://www.sermons.com/signup 
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Forgiveness Written inStone
 
A story is told of twofriends who were walking through the desert. During some point of the journeythey had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The onewho got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand,“Today my best friends slapped me in the face.”
 
They kept on walkinguntil they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who hadbeen slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend savedhim. After he recovered from nearly drowning, he wrote on a stone, “Today mybest 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 sandwhere winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does somethinggood for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”
 
So real forgivenesskeeps on leaving the sins of others and our hurts in the past. Yet Jesusunderstands the difficulty of such forgiveness. To keep on forgiving is aGod-like characteristic. It is contrary to human nature. So He gives a parablebeginning in v.23 which will help us obey His commandment to keep on forgiving.
 
Stephen Felker, HowOften Should I Forgive?
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To be a Christian meansto forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
 
C.S. Lewis
 
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The Danger within Us
 
French author VictorHugo has a short story titled, "93." In the midst of this tale a shipat sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the waves, the boat rocks toand 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 issmashing 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 theyknow that the heavy cannon on the inside of their ship is more dangerous tothem than the storm on the outside. So it is with people. Problems within areoften much more destructive to us than the problems without. Today, God's wordwould take us "below decks" to look inside ourselves concerning thewhole matter of forgiveness.
 
Stephen M. Crotts /George L. Murphy, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost (Middle Third): TheIncomparable Christ, , CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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