‘Love Forgives’ - Love Our City Sermon Series Pt. 2

Hey church. I must say that sometimes following Jesus is hard, right? There are some highs and some lows. There's some things that we may face that may not just be easy. Truth be told, being a Christian is hard all by yourself.

Can I get a man? Even when being a believer of the gospel, God calls us sometimes to do some things that we just don't want to do. He calls us to do some things that just aren't easy. Things like Pray for your enemies, Lord, help me forgiving that person 70 times seven. Somebody do the math. What is that look like in is for 29 or something like that, right?

Some around here for nine. I think Peter was asking Jesus because somebody was that for 89 and Peter wanted to know Jesus just one more time. This person is going to tap dance on my nerves one more good time and I'll give them a piece of my mind. Jesus tells us forgiving 70 times 70. That is something that we have to do.

Being a Christian is not easy. The Gospel says that we should turn the other cheek after someone has hit you already, right? So turn one cheek so that way they can get the other one got. I don't know about that. Do you slow to speak? Quick to listen? Jesus, I don't know about that one either because I rather give somebody some detailed instructions of where they can go back to their house.

In Jesus name, Amen. How about where the gospel calls us to love those who hate you? Oh, my God. I don't know about that. That as well. Because truth be told, sometimes I feel like I'm about to snap, crackle and pop. Somebody. But don't let this move tastefully now. Look like a homo. You might test me. I'll come up here.

I'm just saying, there's two us. There's two of us. Watch your back in church. What? I'm trying to tell you today that I'm still a work in process. That God is still working on me. I'm saved, but I haven't been fully delivered just yet. Yeah, Your pastors do have some B.S., you know, before Christ, before the church. And oftentimes I believe that sometimes some people just deserve to be told the slap of the.

I say what you want to say, but then God tells. And he began to whisper in my ear, He says, Ryan, go to Galatians chapter six. He says, Ryan, before you tell them off, I need you to go to Galatians Chapter six before you snap, crackle and pop on somebody. I need you to go to Galatians Chapter six before you lay here so you can touch and agree with someone right?

He says. Go to Galatians chapter six, Galatians, Chapter six, verse nine says This Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have every opportunity, let us do good to all people. Everybody, not everybody, Everybody, every one. Then watch this. Especially those who belong to the family of believers.

I'm coming for you today, David. He says, Let us not grow weary in doing well, because then to do seasons we will reap a harvest. Right? And then he makes it makes a caveat to that, he says. Therefore, as we have the every opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the House of God.

I thought what Apostle Paul was talking about is that we cannot give up on people just yet, that God has called us to love people. I'm conditionally the God has called us to love people unconditionally such a way that even in their myth, God is saying love them any way. Because as we reflect back on last week, we remember that God has more mercy than we have.

Mess. Now we have more mercy. God to have more mercy for us. We have missed. The love is the choice that God commands. And as we begin to work and through this, this series is this month called Love Our City. Every single week we're going to be talking about love. Last week we talked about loving unconditionally. This week, love, forgive is said.

We have to begin to believe that we can't do this on our own because in my own strength, I cannot get it right. Even on Sunday. So there's an advocate that wants to help us. There's a there's a helper that God has sent us to help walk this process out each and every day. It's called the Holy Spirit.

It's because love requires action, Paul tells us. Let us not become weary in doing good. He is writing to Christians. He's writing to one church. He's writing to you to let you know because you are a believer that we so now grow weary and doing well and then we'll let you know. There's days that I've been weary even do well.

Paul is writing to the church in relation to encouragement to pull it together because the church of Galatia has become a divided. They're arguing and bickering back and forth. And then there's the vision that's taking place in this church. Simply put, Paul knew that church can get ugly. Paul knew that church can get messy. See, Paul knew that church folk were act like church folk.

The longer you come to church, the more that you serve. The sooner you realize that church people will get on your nerves. And if you quiet is probably you. We talk about church people. I only go still fire baptized speaking in tongues laying on his Bible study on Wednesday choir repressing Thursday prayer meeting on Friday. Those church people church people were act like church people.

But then we have to realize that love for years, right? You might have come in today. The US should smile at you. It's okay. Mia walked into the auditorium with someone sitting in your seat. I'm sorry. You might pull into the parking lot. You may not have your favorite parking space. Okay? You may not even like the music, but it's okay because church is messy.

Paul was telling the church of Galatia that we are called to take every opportunity to to do good to our brothers and our sisters in Christ. And because you are believers, they are supposed to operate in a in a spirit of holiness that we're called to. To begin to operate in a spirit of holding is and what that means that you know what, that you should turn the other cheek, that you should love your enemy.

See, the Holy Spirit is there to keep you from going off that person. You have been there before. Come on. I call on the Holy Spirit. My God. Jesus, please, everybody get some South Side coming out of me in a second. If they don't get the South Side, they won't get Martinsville either one. They're just as bad. Yeah, I know some people from Martinsville.

Yeah, I know how to get up. Or they call it Howdy. Who They're about to start coming out for. The Holy Spirit is there to keep you in check when you're ready to go off on somebody. When was the last time someone hurt you? Let me rephrase that. When was the last time someone in the church has you or when has the when was the last time that the church itself hurt you?

Many of us are walking around living life as usual, wounded and hurt, affecting how we walk, affecting how we worship and affect and how we work. I'm sure that you can remember that day that Hurt said in you probably remember the clothes you're wearing, the day, the week that it was. You probably remember the lunch that you ate that day because at some point, at some time with your walk with Christ, I promise you two things Someone's going to hurt you and you may get upset with the church, but love forgives anyway.

Offenses will come. Let me say that again. Offensive will come and it's what you do with that offense will determine where God will place you in a future. Just it will help you begin to walk out where God wants you do in life. I mean, let me back this up with Scripture Luke. Chapter 17, verse one says this Jesus said to his disciples things that cause people to stumble are bound to come.

King James Version says that offenses would happen. So Scripture tells us that you're going to get upset, you're going to get mad, you're going to have an altercation with someone inside the church. But what are you going to do about it? No, what are you going to do about it? But how are you going to respond? Because let me remind you that love forgives.

My first point is this is being hurt by the church, causing you to lose faith in God. Then your faith was in people and not in God. If being hurt by the church causes you to lose your faith, the faith that you carry, the faith that you begin to read and live out in the Scriptures causes you to lose your faith in God.

Then your faith was never in God. It was in Man. You know, many people walk away from a faith because the church heard or because of an argument. Those are the two numbers. Number two reason is the number of first and second reasons why people leave the gospel. Or they may just go to a different service. Then you have two or three services.

But either way, they're walking away without dealing with the issue at hand. So how do you forgive when you can't forget? Have you ever thought about that? How do you begin to forgive someone or forgive the situation with you? Don't forget that you can't forget what took place. We have to get to a place that we release anger and resentment and bitterness because I believe this.

Your bitterness will lead you to your brokenness. Your bitterness that you're carrying will lead you to your brokenness, will immobilize from what God has called you to do, what God has called you to become. So stop drinking the bitterness, because Jesus wants you to know that your scars that we carry tells the story. The scars that you wear day in and day out has a story.

And I believe this, that Rick Warren says this, that the greatest ministry, most likely to come out of your greatest hurt. Right. That's your scars. Telling a story that your scars begin to unfold and unravel. You know, just some things that you begin to talk with other people about that your greatest story will come out of your greatest heart, that your greatest ministry will come out of your greatest hurt.

Which leads us to Genesis chapter 45. And now to put that up on the screen, I just want to just give give you some context of where we going today. Genesis chapter 45, very familiar story. This is the story about Joseph. It's a really begin to understand the story about Joseph. You have to understand his father named Jacob.

So Jacob had 12 excuse me, 12 sons and four wives. My God, he had 12 sons and four wives. Jacob loved Rachel to life like he pursued Rachel in such a way that he worked overtime for it. That's the story, right? Go back and read Genesis 37 through about 46. And this is where I'm just kind of really just give you a nutshell of what this story's about.

Like, Joseph was the beloved son of all 12 sons. Joseph you know Joseph you know where he the father of many colors on Joseph that Joseph Joseph was walking around with this coat on his brothers just looking at him What would I do right then would get them just imagine being reminded day in and day out how much your parents love you, your brother, more than he loved.

They love you. That's what the coat represented. It. It was just a reminder of how much more Mom and Dad loved Joseph more than he loved me. See, Joseph was a dreamer. He told his brothers about a dream that he had. And he said, You know what? Let me let me tell you a little story that I begin to see in my dream, a vision that God showed me.

Joseph tells his brothers that, you know, one day you're going to bow down to me, Oh, come on out. First you're going to walk around in a mink coat to remind me that you got all of that right? And then you going to tell me that one day I'm a bow down to you? It's the biggest one. Unless you've Jackie Chan, it doesn't matter.

Right? You just got it. I love it. Joe Joseph is telling his brothers that one day you're going to bow down to me. Jacob tells Joseph to go check on his brothers. And what do you do if he goes out into the field wearing his coats? What are you guys doing that sent me to check on you? So the brothers didn't like that.

Judas says, Let's kill them because we're tired of, you know, we don't want to put up this anymore. But Reuben says that we can't kill Joseph because we know we don't want blood in our hands. Well, how about we sell them? How about we sell our brother and make a profit off of it and we can split it up so there's a fair deal.

Let's do it they sell their brother? Joseph? Take the coat off, tear it up, put animal blood in and make sure that he got mauled by. By an animal to get the perception of what it was. They go back home and tell Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad, Joseph is killed. Here's his coat. Here's proof. Joseph gets sold.

He ends up in Potter's House. Potter's wife, one of them, Joe. Joe. She had to give her some. Joe. Joe, read between the lines for me, please. Potter's wife gets her some Joe. Joe will attempt to get her some Joe. Joe and lies on Joseph says he raped her right. So because of that, he does a 20 year sentence in prison.

Imagine if stripped from your family, humiliated by your brothers, thrown in a pit, taking the coat that was given to you by your father, sold off to be enslaved. Lie. Someone lies about being a rapist. It has to do 20 years in jail. Come on. Church. Sometimes being a believer just doesn't work. Right.

So Joseph finds himself in a predicament. Pharaoh has a dream, and he needs someone to interpret the dream. So Joseph has the opportunity to go before Pharaoh and tells him what that dream means. So what is fair would do? Pharaoh likens Joseph and makes him prime Minister. He is second in command of all of Egypt. Come on, somebody.

He went from the pit to the prison to the palace. MAN Come on. He went from the pit to the prison to the palace. So you may be sitting here wondering. For 20 years you've been thinking and asking God when and why and how. Just know you're in transition, baby. Come on. Look at your neighbors. I'm in transition.

Look at your other name because they Now listen. Tell him I'm in transition. I'm going from the pit to prison to the palace. And then the story gets even better. Joseph is in the palace, and there's a famine That's place across the world. The land he finds himself sitting before his brothers. The brothers took a trip from home to Egypt to get more food.

Joseph recognizes his brothers who despise him, who stripped him of his coat, threw him in a pit, sold them off to go from a pit to the prison to a palace. And Joseph is sitting there looking at his 11 brothers and asking, go, What shall I do? So let me make it plain for you. Let me let me walk into your house to an open, open up refrigerator, sit on your couch and flip the TV around a little bit and think about that family member who hurt you.

Think about that coworker who backstabbed you. Think about that spouse. And if you don't have a spouse that day, that boo, that significant other, whatever you want to call him that has done you wrong and you're still holding none, unforgiveness. Yeah. And God places that person before you and you have all power in your head. Joseph tells his brothers.

You are the one who sold me in prison. Me Can you imagine the faces of his brothers? See, Joseph tells them what they did and how he felt. Forgiveness. Does that mean that you forget what happened? Joseph For 20 years I've been thinking about this. I'm let you know right now. There's some people that I just want to tell a piece of my mind for the past three years.

I'm not quite there. Just pray for your past. Amen. And for some of you, may be 30 years, it may be three months or three days that somebody has wronged you or offended you in such a way that you still want to give them a piece of your mind. I'm building this home. I'm bringing it in. Give me one second.

So today I want to give you three characteristics of forgiveness, because we can't talk about having unforgiveness in our heart when God has called us to love forgiveness, to love unconditionally. And so today I want to give you three principles about forgiveness. The first one is this Don't reveal that publicly. I got quite a Genesis 45. I'm gonna read it verse one says this Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants and he cried out, Have everyone leave presence.

He is sitting in the palace looking at his brothers and he cries out, Everyone must leave my presence now. Yeah. So there was no one there except for Joseph and his brothers. And he wept so loud that the Egyptians heard him in Pharaoh's household, heard about it. Don't reveal your things publicly, George. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm going to sit on this one for a quick second.

I'm going I'm going to let you know if you come to me or any of our leaders and you got an issue with somebody else, the first thing they're going to ask you is, have you have you gone to the other person you're so don't come looking at me sad when I ask you the question, Have you communicated your offense to the other person?

Yeah, because this biblical The problem is with the church, we don't teach that, you know, we don't live it out. We got so much mess in the church that people are getting offended in such ways that if you just have a conversation, yeah, it might be a misconception or misunderstanding. And so have you had a conversation with your brother or sister?

Let me go back to the license after six years and go and have a conversation with your brother or your sister. He commands everybody to leave except his brother's. He says this I don't want him to have You don't want to take my side. I don't want any of us to witness what we're going to talk about because that time has not yet come.

I'm a married people. Raise your hand, raise the money, raise them up. How to keep them up. Hold them up. All my single people look around. That's an opportunity. They're not the Mary folks. The other thing of put the two and two together people. Oh, my gosh, I put it down, Mary. People. This is something I learned a long time ago.

When you marry and you your spouse, they have an argument and y'all don't see I don't go don't go running to your mom and dad. No, we'll run into your brothers and sisters because blood is thicker than what water right. So what's going to happen is this If you go and tell the fence about what the other person is doing, what they're not doing, guess what's going to happen?

You come to my house. Well, I'm cooking hot grits. You go get some grits on you right. The point is this. They don't try to build a team around your offense to take your side right. And just oftentimes, couples try to build the offensive line with their family members. The whole defense on the other. So what the Bible tells us to do is to go have a conversation with them privately.

And if you don't believe me, I'll give you some time. Let's go to Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 through 17. I'm a back at it with Scripture. And if you don't have your smart phone or dumb phone, either one, you may have this, okay? Or your Bible. We can we can look it up. Matthew Chapter 18 verses 15 to 17, because we know that love does what forgives Matthew 18, Verse 15 says this If your brother or sister says against you, go and point out their fault just between the two of you.

And if they listen to you, you have won them over. But it says but if they're not willing to listen, take one or two, one or two. It's not the North Carolina Common Core math. It's literally one or two. Don't take three or four or five people with you. It says, say one or two, take one or two with you so that every matter may be established by their testimony of the two or three witnesses and they still refuse to listen.

You tell it to the church, tell it to the church. If they refuse to listen, tell it to the church. Businesses, treat them as you would a tax collector for church. I want to say I want us to get to the point of this because we are a very courageous church and we want to we want it to begin to shift and change the bad practices church culture has created over generations.

After time, we're having these parking lot conversations and sidebar conversations about what's taking place, and no one in that setting is asking you, have you had a conversation with that person? Because we got to change it. Don't reveal it publicly. Point number two, don't seek revenge. I know some people in here because I know you have eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, so forth.

So and that's okay. Sometimes I'm not really, but what I want you to understand is this Joseph had every right. He could have sent his brothers to prison. He could have killed his brothers, sent them to death, and he had full control and power in authority over his own brothers. But the Joseph takes revenge. What did he do?

He loved him anyways, Matthew five, verse 43, says this. You've heard it said this You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you, or even they persecute you. Matthew Chapter five Verses 43 through 44, Joseph was persecuted by his brothers, but he loved them anyways.

So I know some of our holy rollers this out here that was, you know, that they may the earth vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I get that. But God will fight your battles for you. Jesus will fight your battles for you. If you thinking about going public for it because you want revenge, God, pray for them, right?

Because forgiveness is not about keeping score. Forgiveness is about losing count. I've said that one time before a few times because I want to say it over and over again. Because what gets repeated gets replicated. Forgiveness is not about keeping score. Forgiveness is about losing count. And you may have every right to keep score, but you also have every right to lose count.

Joseph does this with his brothers. He says this in 40 chapter 45 of Genesis. He says, I am your brother, Joseph, the one you sold in Egypt. And now do not be distressed. Do not worry, because you're standing in front of he says, Do not even be angry with your sales for selling me here because what has happened to me has saved lives that God has sent me ahead of you, he says.

For the two years now has been famine in this land, and now for the next five year there will be no plowing and no reaping. But God, verse seven But God has sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on Earth, to save your lives by a great deliverance. I see Joseph's perspective. He says, You know what?

What the enemy meant for evil. God has used it for good in every aspect. I should be dead right now. But God has sent me ahead of you to preserve the lives of my family and the generations that's going to come after me. God knew exactly what I needed to take place to help my family out. So whatever situation you are right now, whatever trial that you may be facing, embrace it because your scars have a story.

Don't reveal it publicly, don't seek revenge, and don't relive the offense. Many of us, once we are offended, we play it over and over in our mind again. And what does that do? It makes you more bitter and bitter and bitter and bitter. Joseph does not rehash anything what happened with his brothers to that degree. And if you go back and read the scripture, you'll see verse chapter 42 through 46.

Joseph saw his brothers at least four, four times, four times Joseph saw his brothers, and he didn't say anything to Chapter 45. He had every opportunity to say something to. So why do I bring up the point? About four times I'll say this nine times of ten, you're going to see the person who hurt you over and over and over again, the person that offended you.

You may see them over and over and over again. The person that has put you in the situation that you you might be sleeping next to them tonight, but God says, don't relive that offense. Let me do this. As we begin to wrap up our worship thinking, get ready. I'm reminded of a story that I heard on social media.

Go figure. Right. And this this young man was talking about traveling in an airport. Right. And as he goes into the airport, many of us who travel to the or whatever the case may be, that we go into the airport and we begin to go to airplane, we we have to check our baggage, right? You take your baggage, you begin to take your bag and you throw it in a bag, whatever bay may be, Delta, American, United, whatever that baby looks like as you begin to travel in life that began to take luggage that you have to carry with yourself.

He says this as we begin to travel in the airport, the main thing that the agent is looking at is how much your bag weigh. How much does your baggage weigh? And I believe that some some people today are traveling, having I believe that some people today are are carrying bags. It's too heavy for them to take on the trip where God is facing to go.

Many of us, if not all of us, are guilty of traveling to have we bring bags? No only to the airport that we're overweight. Oh, they want my is going to be okay that you know what they're just going to pass a law. But that's not the case. As you get to the airport, you check your bag and TSA is looking at it.

We carry things in life that God called us not to fly with. We will ask yourself, am I bringing anything with me that will allow me not to be elevated or make an issue? Come on, Church Am I carry some things in my life that God wants me to lay down? Because we all know I've been there, done that.

I've seen it at the TSA. The baggage claim representative gets there. She says, Your bag is too heavy. I'm sorry you had to take something out of your bag or you have to pay the price for you have to pay the price for carrying too much for too long to go going. Where are you guys calling you to go see what the TSA agent does?

He says What? I need you to do this. I need you to open up your luggage and expose what you package. And we get a load of things and put it somewhere else. What God wants me to say is this Before you unpack publicly, I need you to do it privately before God begin to unpack some things in your life publicly.

He needs you to do it privately. There's some things that you've been carrying, some of forgiveness, some hurt hangups that you've been carrying for far too long, and where God is calling you to go. You can't take God to say, I need you to address the things that's causing your life to be overweight. For the trip that I want you to take for the destination I have prescribed for your life.

So today I want to encourage you to do this, and I want you to begin to recover some spaces in your life that God wants to work in, because we have to begin to understand that forgiveness is God desires. But is my decision that God desires us to forgive our brothers and sister who offended us, that God desires for us to forgive those who may have hurt us, may God desires that we forgive those who have probably even walked all over us because love forgives.

And I'm certain that as this sermon was going on today, that you're thinking about somebody or someone that you have to go have a conversation with, I encourage you to do that because God doesn't want you to carry this weight on any more than you have to. So as we stand today, as we begin to look at week two of Love, our City series, Week One, we talked about love as a condition.

All we do, we talk about love, forgive. As we begin to approach next week, we get to love our city. The high point in time is good. Our still God is calling us to love all people, regardless of their color, their race, their ethnicity. That God is asking you to take every opportunity to uncover those areas in your life.

And so if you have some things that you want to lay down off the altar today, by all means I say do it. I just wanna let you know this, that God loves you anyways, even in your mess, He still loves you. For Father, we thank you, God, for who you are. God, We know that sometimes God, forgiving others who hurt you is hard.

Because sometimes forgiving others God, that it may be a family member. Maybe your brother or sister may be like Joseph. Were were what people meant to harm was God that you're going to make you fall for our good to God. We place our trust and trust in you alone. Oh, God. I challenge you everyone at the sound of my voice.

God, to have a conversation with anyone knowingly or unknowingly, who have offended you to go make things right. God, would you do that today in this place? God be with this throughout this week. We worship you. The spirit of truth is in Christ. We say, amen.