I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of the saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
God is ready to forgive.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
Psalm 103:8-13
Does this mean that God’s forgiveness of our debts is caused by whether we have successfully forgiven the people who have sinned against us?
For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
Matthew 6:14-15
Prophetic religion insisted on a consistency between the Godward dimension of religious life and behavior in the human community, and
Matthew insists on the same here. – John Nolland, The Gospel of
Matthew
“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. “That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’ “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:23-35
If cancel culture is to the world, then forgiveness is to Jesus Christ.
Observations:
– Our culture has turned to cancel culture because it is easier to cancel someone than to forgive them. – And we have turned
away from forgiveness because we have bought into the lie that forgiving someone will return power they may have had over you back to
themselves.
Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. – St. Augustine
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
Galatians 5:13-15
How can we balance the forgiveness that God freely gives to us through Jesus Christ with the temptation to sin freely because “God will forgive me anyway”?
Do you think Jesus cares more about getting people to heaven or “bringing heaven to earth”? Are these two things different? If so, how? Are these two things similar? If so, how?
Is there Biblical precedence for Christians to practice, “cancel culture?” If so, what are some Biblical/theological reasonings behind this? If not, what are some Biblical/theological reason Christians should not participate in cancel culture?
There is a lot of space and grace for people to take time to get to a place of forgiving others. What are some ways that you have processed forgiving someone who has wronged you in your life? Spend some time as a life group with processing and praying over forgiving someone in your life. Feel free to share some of your thoughts with your group after you have prayed together.
