Extending Grace and Mercy to Others

You should not let a single person in the world, whatever sin that person may have committed, come before your eyes and depart without having found mercy with you. And should that person not ask for mercy from you, then you must ask it of him. And were that person to come to you a thousand times, continue to love them so as to lead them back to the right path. Always have compassion, for all of us have sinned. —St. Francis of Assisi
As we move into Christmas we remember the reason for the season – Jesus came to Earth so that we could be Forgiven! He came so sinners would have a Savior. Jesus said:
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15)
The big idea of this lesson in forgiveness is this: we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. Remember that phrase—we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. When someone comes to you seeking reconciliation, we are to reach out to them as though we are not holding grudges and only desire to extend grace and mercy.
No longer keep Score.
(v. 21-22) 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." [or "seventy times seven."]
You probably already know where Peter came up with the "seven times" figure. In the Jewish belief system, seven was the perfect number—the number of completion. Therefore, forgiving someone seven times "completed" your obligation to forgive, and you weren't required to extend it further. Other theologians report that six was the number of times you forgave someone and that Peter was adding “one more for good measure.” But Jesus hits him with, "Not seven times but seventy-seven times," or "seventy times seven" — his point is that we are not to keep track of the number of times we forgive someone. Each and every time they come to us seeking reconciliation, we are to offer them forgiveness. Jesus said we're to forgive others an unlimited number of times. Why? Because that is how God forgives us. He forgives us "seventy-times-seven" — in other words, God is not keeping score. In his book, The Overload Syndrome (which a dear pastor friend of mine gave to me) author Richard Swenson, M.D. states that one of the areas in which we need to change, is in our expectations of others. One of the ways we reduce expectations is in “Freeing Others” – Swenson writes, “When we put too many expectations on others, they return the favor. In this hypercritical, grace-devoid, expectation over-loaded world, we need to set one another free. When we expect too much of others, we suffocate them. And when they do not fulfill our unreasonable demands, we frustrate ourselves. “Never, never pin your whole faith on any human being: not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world, there are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it. ” advises C.S. Lewis. Just hit the reset button and…….
Cancel the Debt – Wipe the Board of Offense Clean!
To really forgive means to “let go” and not hold something over another person’s head.
Jesus tells the parable of who owed his king a huge sum of money—millions of dollars—and since he was not able to pay, the king ordered that everything the man owned be sold—including his wife and children, and himself into slavery—so that he could repay the debt. The man fell on his knees before the king and begged for more time to pay the debt. And...
(v. 27) "The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go."
With the right heart and with just his word the king forgave and let the debtor off the hook.The Bible says when God forgives us he...
...hurls our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)
The Bible also says about God's forgiveness...
I have swept your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. (Isaiah 44:22)
You have put all my sins behind your back. (Isaiah 38:17)
When God forgives us, he forgives us completely. As far as he is concerned our sin is gone forever. The debt has been cancelled. This is the way we need to forgive others: we need to cancel their debt and let them off the hook. Sometimes we're reluctant to do that because we want leverage over them and the ability to talk about another person in a bad light. It is why so many people choose to be offended and take the offense. But that's not forgiveness. That's not the way God treats us; it's not the way we should treat others.
Consider God's Mercy In Your Life.
If you know the Lord and walk with Him and have received His forgiveness, then every time you are tempted to hold a grudge, remember that your debt towards God is so much greater than the person's debt toward you. And yet, God forgave you! Now, we did not deserve it, but God forgave us anyway. You know how often we fail – and we fail again and again in the same areas of my life, and yet he continues to forgive me again and again. There is no way I could ever need to forgive anyone else more than God has forgiven me. When I consider God's mercy in my life, I must extend mercy to others. The wicked servant in this parable was punished because he was willing to receive mercy but wasn't willing to give it. Jesus said...
(v. 35) "This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
God takes forgiveness very seriously. He expects us to forgive others completely, because that is how he forgives us. He takes forgiveness so seriously that he came into our world – the very first Christmas day – and was willing to die on the cross for our sins, to pay the debt for our sins—a debt that we could never pay ourselves. It's not because we're worthy, it's because he's merciful. How can we be anything less? Do you need to forgive someone? Forgive them as God has forgiven you. It will allow you to have a brighter and lighter Christmas. Play it down and pray it up – let go of the grudges and the score keeping and extend grace and mercy to others that you have received.