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For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. -Matthew 6:14-15

Check out last Sunday’s sermon here.

Parishioner: “But, Pastor there is no way that Jesus can really mean what He is saying! If Jesus really means what He is saying, then my unforgiving heart will not be forgiven by God. Jesus would be adding to the Gospel.

What if Jesus is speaking in hyperbole? He’s probably shocking the hearers into dismay to show them how impossible the Law is to follow. He wants us to be afraid and turn to Him. He’s showing us that we need grace. There’s no way Jesus actually means what He is saying!”

Pastor: “Be careful of the presuppositions you bring to the Bible. You may miss the true God and end up worshiping a presupposed god of your own making. It may be better to ask, “What does Jesus imply about true forgiveness and the heart of the Gospel if He is actually speaking straightforward, heartfelt words?”

If you are cut to the heart by Christ’s command but respond by diluting His words with, “Jesus can’t really be saying this and mean it,” you may find yourself misinforming yourself and others about the true Christ, the heart of the Gospel, and, the call of the Christian life.”

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. -Matthew 5:7

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. -Matthew 6:14-15

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:32

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. -Colossians 2:12-13

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. -James 2:8-13