Webster Baptist Church
8/31/25 - Sunday Morning

      • Malachi 1:11ESV

  • Raise A Hallelujah
  • Jesus Only Jesus
  • I Speak Jesus

      • Philippians 4:19ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 9:6–15ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 9:6–15ESV

  • Come Jesus Come

      • 1 Thessalonians 5:23ESV

  • Introduction

    I am continuing my 2 part series I started on January 12th.
    There, I asserted that “Change is Possible”. And I share from Ephesians 4:17-24 that God created us to be holy and righteous.
    This week, I’m here to show you that God created us to be loving and forgiving.
    Pastor Scott is currently taking us through a GROW series on Spiritual Disciplines.
    I am going to be preaching in that same theme. Spiritual Disicplines
    And I’m here to assert that love and forgiveness are Spiritual Disciplines.
    Two main ideas
    You were created to be loved and love others.
    You were created to be forgiven and forgive others.
    I am pulling this idea from two specific moments in the text, where Paul says this…
    Ephesians 4:32–5:2 LSB
    32 Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you. 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
    “Just as”
    Truly participating in these spiritual disciplines require that you have first hand experience receiving them from God...
    I love how Paul is linking the two concepts here. Love and forgiveness.
    Peter knew this too...
    1 Peter 4:8 LSB
    8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
    Proverbs 10:12 LSB
    12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.
    Look around you for a moment…
    Do you see these people… Look at me….
    Everyone in this room will most likely offend you or hurt you in some way.
    To be the church is to love and forgive one another.
    In the text we are looking at, we see 5 ways the Spiritual Disciplines of love and forgiveness effect us as disciples of Jesus…

    Sermon Body: Love and Forgiveness Effect how we…

    Love and forgiveness effect how we…

    Relate to each other

    Love and Forgiveness effect how we…
    Relate to each other - 4:25
    Ephesians 4:25 LSB
    25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
    Exhortation - RED
    “Laying aside falsehood”
    Alternate Restatement of Exhortation - GREEN
    “Speak truth each on of you with his neighbor,”
    Love Motivation - BLUE
    “for we are members of one another.”
    IMPORTANT WORDS - White
    “falsehood” - lies… same Greek word used in John when it says the devil lies because he is a liar and the father of lies. Pseudo “members” - used to describe body parts.
    We do not want to be dishonest in our relationships or dealings with each other because we are meant to be connected to each other like body parts. Any type of falsehood produces disconnection here.
    Authenticity is necessary for real community.
    The good, the pretty, and the bad, and the ugly.
    Falsehoods are fueled by self-seeking or self-preservation. These are not characteristics of our Master.
    Falsehoods create hurt and disunity. They breed conflict.
    The temptation to falsehood out of self preservation is also increased when you’ve been hurt. If you’ve ever wondered why so many are afraid to reveal their true selves in our church community, you have to understand every person here has been hurt in some way.
    Love and forgiveness effect how we…

    Deal with perceived injustice

    Love and Forgiveness effect how we…
    Relate to each other - 4:25
    Deal with perceived injustice - 4:26-27
    I’m using “injustice” here because the commentary I looked at indicated that the anger mentioned here is likely talking about what we would call “righteous anger”. Which, we need to be careful in labeling anything that anyway. Essentially, we can conclude that we will encounter situations that rightly anger us...
    Ephesians 4:26–27 LSB
    26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
    Exhortation - RED
    “Be angry, and yet do not sin;”
    Alternate Restatement of Exhortation - GREEN
    “Do not let the sun go down on your anger,”
    Love Motivation - BLUE
    “and do not give the devil (slanderer) an opportunity”
    Important Words: White
    Anger: Could mean righteous anger. If there is such a thing in a human pre glory.
    Devil: Slanderer (he will fuel your anger by slandering and condemning the one you are angry at).
    This is not about you working your anger out with the person you are mad at. This is about you working out your anger with God. It doesn’t say, “don’t let the sun go down on your conflict” meaning you have to resolve it tonight and that will make you not angry. NO… This is about surrendering your anger or claim for justice over to God from your heart.
    The slanderer is going to be slandering the person you are angry at if you don’t resolve the anger with God.
    Love and forgiveness effect how we…

    View our role in God’s world

    Love and Forgiveness effect how we…
    Relate to each other - 4:25
    Deal with perceived injustice - 4:26-27
    View our role in God’s world - 4:28
    Ephesians 4:28 LSB
    28 He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
    Exhortation - RED
    “He who steals must steal no longer,”
    Alternate Restatement of Exhortation - GREEN
    “but rather he must labor, performing with his hands what is good,”
    Love Motivation - BLUE
    “so that he will have something to share with one who is in need”
    IMPORTANT WORDS - White
    “Labor” - weariness as though one had been beaten ( Your labor for the betterment of the lives of those within our church community will be grueling)”
    “share” - Giving shares of what we’ve earned. (this is more than what we give to do the work of the gospel in tithing, this is about provision for those in our community who can’t provide for themselves.” Money, equipment, goods, etc.
    Your work isn’t just for your benefit or for your family’s benefit… It’s for your church community’s benefit.
    Love and forgiveness effect how we…

    Communicate with others

    Love and Forgiveness effect how we…
    Relate to each other - 4:25
    Deal with perceived injustice - 4:26-27
    View our role in God’s world - 4:28
    Communicate with others - 4:29-30
    Ephesians 4:29–30 LSB
    29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
    Exhortation - RED
    “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,”
    Alternate Restatement of Exhortation - GREEN
    “but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed,”
    Love Motivation - BLUE
    “So that it will give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
    IMPORTANT WORDS - White
    “Unwholesome” - can mean any type of statement that tears down… If the goal is building up, then we must define unwholesome based on what it is being replaced with…
    Literally, it can mean cussing, inappropriate joking, word said from anger, sharing a secret, etc.
    “Build up” - taken from the word for “house”. God intends to build His house with us as the pieces. We must only contribute that which will benefit and strengthen those who hear it or those who might be effected by it because our goal is building the house with God.
    “Grieve” - to pain something - The Holy Spirit is literally hurt by us tearing down what He is building up. The Holy Spirit desires to build you and others up. It desires to give grace to all you are around.
    This doesn’t mean we avoid situations that are hard and need to accountability brought to them. That can build up too. Avoiding a topic that needs to be talked about for the betterment of all it effects IS BUILDING UP. As long as, the other things being mentioned in these texts are being applied to… Such as not speaking from anger, slandering, or speaking from bitterness. But, having hard conversations is okay and Jesus is strong enough to get us through them.
    Love and forgiveness effect how we…

    Respond to an offense

    Love and Forgiveness effect how we…
    Relate to each other - 4:25
    Deal with perceived injustice - 4:26-27
    View our role in God’s world - 4:28
    Communicate with others - 4:29-30
    Respond to an offense - 4:31-32
    Ephesians 4:31–32 LSB
    31 Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.
    Exhortation - RED
    “Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
    Alternate Restatement of Exhortation - GREEN
    “Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other”
    Love Motivation - BLUE
    “just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.”
    IMPORTANT WORDS - White
    Bitterness
    Anger
    Wrath
    Shouting
    Slander - Where we get the word blasphemy from.
    Malice
    Kind
    Tender-hearted: Compassionate - seeing that you could be where your offender is. They have a story too.
    Graciously forgive***
    Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 40.10 χαρίζομαι

    χαρίζομαι: to forgive, on the basis of one’s gracious attitude toward an individual—‘to forgive.’

    One commentary said this anger here was unrighteous anger. But, the reality is that our flesh and the devil can also highjack righteous anger.. “don’t let the sun go down on it” “don’t give the devil opportunity”. So, you can still exhibit bitterness, wrath, shouting, slander, and malice when your anger was influenced by a righteous conviction.
    How we forgive is learned by looking at how God forgave us in Christ…
    God’s act of forgiveness was exhibited in Christ. God handed forgiveness over to be received by faith.
    Forgiving someone isn’t primarily about you and the person you need to forgive. Its primarily about you and the God who has forgiven you.
    Are you allowing the forgiveness God has gifted you with to transform your heart into one that forgives
    Summarize the unforgiving servant parable
    In the parable of the unforgiving servant, after Jesus tells the story, He says this…
    Matthew 18:35 ESV
    35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
    “From your heart”
    Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 40.8 ἀφίημι; ἄφεσις, εως; ἀπολύω

    ἀφίημι: to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing—‘to pardon, to forgive, forgiveness.

    If we fail to allow Him to transform our hearts into forgiving hearts, meaning we don’t take action to forgive from the heart and watch it get easier and easier to forgive, then we will stunt our sanctification, we will be hindered in our sanctification. And we will experience the tormenter’s torture.
    Thats what bitterness and resentment produce… TORMENT.
    Those of us in this room, who are still haunted by past hurts and cannot seem to move past them, view everything that happens to us through that lens, day dream about “showing them”, actually hate the person who hurt us, or long for being vindicated. I don’t know about you, but I know what I experience, and to me, that is utter torment. I want to be FREE.
    Colossians 3:12–15 ESV
    12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 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. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

    Summation

    Love

    Ephesians 5:1–2 LSB
    1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
    1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NLT
    4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
    These acts of love. These acts of love and forgiveness. THEY ARE NOT JUST APPLICATIONS FOR SPECIFIC SITUATIONS.
    These are applications for life. These are daily disciplines you MUST cultivate in order to be imitating your King.

    God’s Imagers

    This is what you were created to do.
    You were created to be loved and love others.
    You were created to be forgiven and forgive others.
    You were created in God’s image. Many Hebrew scholars argue that in God’s image means we are little imagers of God. We are to reflect His character and personality in His creation.
    That is exactly why we are disciples of Jesus. Little imagers of Jesus. Discipleship and apprenticeship to Jesus is recapturing the image you were created in. It is restoring us as imagers of God.

    The gospel

    THIS RESTORATION WAS INITIATED BY GOD AND IS EXPERIENCED BY US ENCOUNTERING JESUS IN THE GOSPEL.
    ALL OF THESE APPLICATIONS ARE GOSPEL APPLICATIONS. The gospel is God’s love on display…
    The Gospel directly effects how we…
    Relate to each other
    Deal with perceived injustice
    View our role in God’s world
    How we communicate with others
    How we respond to an offense
    The Gospel directly effects how we…
    Relate to each other.
    Because Jesus related to us in truth and did not shrink back from who He was and who we are!
    Deal with perceived injustice.
    Because Jesus endured injustice at our hands and suffered because of our sin
    View our role in this world.
    Because Jesus did not let His role as God be something to keep Him from sharing His inheritance with us. He worked in humility so that we might be raised up with Him in glory
    How we communicate with others.
    Because Jesus, the Word, became flesh to communicate to us that which He knew would heal us and build us up with Him.
    How we respond to hurt or unmet desires.
    Because Jesus, from the cross, after being betrayed, rejected, beaten, tortured, and left for dead, looked to heaven, having THE heart of love and forgiveness, and said, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing…”
    Beloved, we cannot claim to know Him if He is not transforming us by His love we have found in His gospel.
    Loved people love people
    Forgiven people forgive people

    Conclusion

    What happens when loved people fail to love?

    What happens when forgiven people fail to forgive?

    Well, quite literally, their experience of being loved or forgiven will be negatively effected.
    This is a kingdom principle. What you sow, you will reap. It’s not that God stops loving you or forgiving you, it’s that you have willingly set yourself in opposition to His love and forgiveness and partnered with the enemy. Sadly, at times, Christians will walk away from the spring the Spirit has given to them to indulge the poisoned fountain that the flesh has offered and has been in them since birth.
    Spirit Spring = Filled at Spirit Birth
    Flesh Fountain = Inherited at physical birth
    It’s not that the spring of the spirit has left you, but that you have chosen to drink from the flesh fountain. Paul is clear in Galatians about this. flesh spirit flesh spirit. The two are opposed to each other to keep you from doing what you want to do. The Spirit’s presence in you is the wellspring of life, love, and forgiveness. God’s intention for you is for you to drink from the Spirit and offer people a drink from it too. But so many times we walk away from the Spirit Spring because we want to give others a drink from the Flesh fountain. We loved to drink love and forgiveness, but sometimes the flesh lures us to go distribute anger, bitterness, and wrath.
    How do you relate with others?
    Do you operate out of self preservation?
    Bend the truth a little just a little, or a lot, just so you don’t suffer?
    How do you deal with things you believe are unjust?
    Do you stew in your anger?
    Letting it consume you and motivate you to do or say things that hurt the one who’s offended you?
    How do you treat your vocation?
    Do you just work to accumulate more and more?
    Letting your brothers and sisters here support what you benefit from or even letting them go hungry because you are afraid to trust God with your life?
    How do you communicate with others?
    Husbands, do you communicate with your wives in an understanding way?
    Or do you tear them down because you feel disrespected?
    Wives, are you disrespecting your husbands because you feel unloved?
    How do you respond to hurt or unmet desires?
    Do you tell everyone you know because you hope they will be angry too?
    Do you day dream about arguments from the past and wish you had just said that one thing you know would have shown them?
    Do you fight hard to get your desires at the expense of the one who is in your way?

    Invitation

    I would like us to take a moment to talk to God about all of this… Can we have the band come forward and get the pads to play in the background for this closing reflection and prayer time? I want to invite anyone to come forward and get on your knees or get on your knees where you are. Physical posture helps us submit to a spiritual posture.
    Close your eyes
    Ask God to speak to you by His Holy Spirit. Surrender yourself to His leading.
    Tell God what question or questions that I just asked pierced your heart?
    Confess to Him what they brought up. And ask Him to forgive you if you now realize you’ve sinned.
    Ask Him who He wants you to forgive and what it is you need to forgive them for.
    In your mind, unless you need to out loud, I’m going to lead you in a short prayer of forgiveness and blessing for these people. Please only do this if you are truly truly willing to do this… I’m going to leave room for their name in this pray so you can say it. Multiple names is fine.
    Repeat after me…
    Father, I forgive ________.
    I forgive for ______.
    Father, will you please forgive _______.
    Please forgive me for holding on to this offense.
    Heal me from my bitterness and please bless the one I’ve been bitter towards…
    Let me pray for us now and we can sing…
Webster Baptist Church
websterbaptistchurch@gmail.com
828.586.4459
https://wbc-sylva.faithlifesites.com
15 members • 4 followers