The Joy of Forgiveness

THE JOY OF FORGIVENESS
(John 21:15-19)
A Message by Rev Dr Stanley Lim on 9 November 2008

Introduction:
Simon Peter was one of the greatest apostles of the New Testament Church. He was bold and courageous. Unrefined and inexperienced, he availed himself to the Spirit and preached his first sermon in Acts 2:14-41 and the scripture recorded that 3,000 souls were saved.

As strong as he seemed to be, Simon Peter was still human and was subjected to the limitations of any man or woman who walked the earth.

The scenerio in John 21 was that the disciples had known that Jesus had risen from the dead because the Lord had revealed himself to them. Firstly, right after being told by Mary Magdalene that the Lord had appeared to her, they locked themselves in a room for fear of reprisal from the Jews, the Lord Jesus suddenly appeared and stood in the midst of them and showed them his hands and side. But Thomas was not among them. Secondly, after 8 days, the disciples were again in the locked room this time with the presence of Thomas, and Jesus suddenly appeared and stood among them in the room. This time the Lord spoke directly to Thomas and asked him to feel his hands and his side. He did this on purpose because earlier in John 20:25, Thomas said, “…unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Thirdly, the Lord appeared to Simon Peter, Nathanael, James & John and another 2 disciples while they were out in the sea all night fishing and caught no fish. Jesus instructed them to cast their net on the right side. When they did so, they could not draw in the net because it was too heavily laden with fish.

It was only after this miracle that Simon Peter called out to Jesus, “It is the Lord”. It is always a mystery as to why the Lord Jesus would single out Simon Peter. The text that we have read indicates that the Lord called Simon Peter aside after they had their breakfast. It is worthwhile to note the Lord’s interest in Simon Peter at this time. Many scholars and theologians concur that Jesus was bringing Simon Peter to a place of healing & restoration especially after the episode when he denied knowing the Lord three times. Even though Simon Peter wept bitterly (cf. Luke 22:62), many commentators believed that he had not really forgiven himself for his act.

I. What forgiveness is NOT
a. Forgiveness is not forgetting. – By forgiving ourselves or forgiving others does not mean that we will forget the incident. The amazing things about our minds is that it has the ability to recall things of the past. The flashes of memories will either bring us sweet lingering thoughts or pain and hurts that haunt and disturb us.
b. Forgiveness is not denying nor minimizing your hurt – People believe that by not forgiving it helps to compensate for when they were hurt, and protects them from being hurt again. They do this by holding on to grudges, harboring resentments, hanging on to pain of the past. But this is an illusion and it does not work.

II. What forgiveness IS
a. Forgiveness is letting go of the intense emotions attached to incidents from the past – It is recognizing that we no longer need our grudges and resentments, our hatred and self-pity. Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments and nursing unhealed wounds.
b. Forgiveness is accepting that nothing we do to punish ourselves or others will heal us – It is the believe of many Christian scholars that if Jesus did not encounter Simon Peter in this incident he would not have reach his potential in the Lord and that the sermon preached in Acts 2 would not have been realized. Unmanaged hurts and pains in our lives limit our potential in Christ. Simon Peter would be far less effective in his Christian service if he did not experience forgiveness in his own heart.
c. Forgiveness is moving on for we have better things to do with our lives – Establishing your purpose, goal and vision for life will bring us understanding about the plan of God for each of us.
Jer. 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

III. Understanding the Forgiveness Process
a. Acknowledge that you were hurt and what you have done because you were hurt.
b. Get rid of the guilt and shame and stop taking all the blame for everything that ever happened to you.
c. Stop playing the victim wallowing in self-pity, indulging in self-destructive behavior, lashing out at innocent by-standers, going thro’ life expecting the worst or perpetually repeating the past.
d. Recognise that in spite of it, you did survive and that you developed some personal strengths and compassion as a result.
e. Put the past in its proper perspective, into he past, neither dwelling on it, nor forgetting it, only seeing it as part of your experience.

Conclusion : The scriptures remind us in Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removes our transgressions from us.” Dan. 9:9 : “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” The Lord does not remember our wickedness and sins and hence, we are not to remember the bad that others have done to us. But instead let us release forgiveness towards them. Whether we are in need of forgiveness or in need to release forgiveness towards those who have wronged us, this morning, we want to experience the Lord’s joy and freedom in experiencing His forgiveness upon our lives. Let’s receive it now!