Sermon on the Mount - Part 15

Today I want to look at verses 14 and 15 of chapter 6, once again focusing on who Jesus was speaking to, and on the context of the entire message. 

Matthew 5:14,15

(14)For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  (15)but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

In verse 13, Jesus concludes His example prayer. In that prayer He has already addressed the idea of forgiveness, and in my reading of the text, when we prayer "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors," know it or not, we seem to be praying for God to forgive us in the manner that we forgive others. Wow, that makes that a hard line to say. 

So in verse 14, Jesus continues this thought from the prayer. I don't like what it says here, that I will get forgiveness from God if I forgive those who trespass against me. Is this an absolute? I sure hope not! Sometimes I get angry, and do not forgive right away. Somethings are hard to forgive.

Now seems a good time to differentiate between forgiving and holding accountable. Does forgiveness mean that there is no accountability? I don't think so. Even as I am forgiven by God, I am still accountable for my actions. I can be forgiven from God for any sin, murder, theft, etc., but still might have to face legal consequences. Also, my sin before God also requires justice. He forgives me, but had to send His Son to pay the consequence for me. So I believe it is possible to forgive and still hold someone accountable for their actions. But I also need to be careful here, examining whose accountability I am seeking to satisfy. Have I truly forgiven and is the accountability for the betterment of the offending party? Or is the accountability going to satisfy my need to get things even? Ouch!

So I need to forgive, honestly, from the heart. I do not see this as a condition of God's forgiveness, but rather see this as God's expectation for those who have been forgiven.. So how does that happen? I believe it happens as I live in and breathe the forgiveness of God. That we see ourselves as deeply indebted to God, driving us to love Him above all else. (See Luke 7:41-47)

I know that the Jewish leaders had a hard time with forgiveness because of how they treated Jesus. They let their emotions carry them so much that even when confronted with miracles, their thoughts were still about how they could stop this man, including killing Him, rather than to praise God for what they had been allowed to witness. (Matthew 26:3-4; John 5:1-18) I believe that there are some today who still act just as harshly in the name of religion. It makes me wonder if they have really experienced the fullness of God's forgiveness, for if they had, I think the change would be inevitable.

Edited 2/7/2022