Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18: 21, 22, NIV.
Dear LORD, here we are again. We are so grateful to You for the opportunity to learn, under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, the things that pertain to eternal life. Please continue to be our Teacher, in the blessed name of Jesus, our Savior and our Friend we pray. Amen.
This is our third day in the study on the subject of forgiveness, and today we want to look at the way Jesus introduces the topic, formally. Up to this time we have been looking at the way in which a child-like character facilitates the process of forgiving. Notice that we refer to it as a process, not merely an act. That is because forgiving involves the entire person, therefore, it entails not only action, but reflection, and decision-making.
Immediately after drawing the illustration of the Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep, and goes in search of the one that has gone astray, Jesus ends with the comment, “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost” (14). This is followed by a scenario in which the process leading up to forgiveness is explained (15-17). Then the declaration that whatever is bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven, and the unanimous requests of His people would be granted (18, 19); because He is with His church (20)!
Permit me to share with you how I perceive this entire block of information: The love of God for the erring was manifested when God was willing to leave heaven (“God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself”), and come in search of the one lost sheep (Jesus would have been willing to do this if it was only one person on the planet who needed salvation!), planet earth. Then He expresses His desire, that none of these, who are of a child-like character, “be lost.” Because of this, He carefully outlines, every detail of the process of forgiveness for our information; making it clear that whatever is bound (retained in the fellowship of the body of believers) is bound in heaven, and whatever is loosed (separated from the fellowship of the body of believers) is loosed in heaven. I do not know how you perceive this brothers and sisters, but, it would seem, that, the process of forgiveness, when granted, according to the instructions of the Savior, represents the difference between life and death! When His church, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, meet to do the business of the Master, even if they are few in number, if business is conducted in accordance with the principles that have been left us by the Savior, He will be present, to guide the process!
How important it is then, that we do not open doors that would allow stumbling blocks to get in the way! Let us remove the situations that facilitate others, and us, stumbling. Let us remove those stumbling blocks that stand in the way of the process of forgiveness. By God’s grace, let us not make it easy for people to sin! And if they do, let us not make it difficult for them to obtain forgiveness! Woe to us, if we not only facilitate stumbling, but become stumbling blocks ourselves!
We will continue this conversation tomorrow.