Towards Oneness - Part 2

[John Elliott] Happy Sabbath, everyone! And thank you very much to those involved in that special music that just sang a hymn to our God for all of us. That was wonderful—the lyrics were wonderful—and certainly fitting for this Sabbath day.

I'd like to begin the sermon today by reminding us that ancient Israel observed seven festivals, and they were grouped into what we might call three seasonal pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Those journeys, where the males were commanded to go and attend, found a city full of people in the time of Jesus Christ.

On the way to the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, we find back in Matthew 21 that progression taking place. And as Jesus approached, people recognized Him as their King. Prophetic prophecies were fulfilled as they laid their garments down and He came in on the foal of a colt, and they announced Him as their King. That city was full of people from various countries—it was brimming with people there for the Feast.

In Matthew 21, it says that the city began to wonder, what’s all this uproar about? And the whole city came to understand what was going on. This was not done in secret or something small—it was a big event. Two or three days later, those same people would turn on Him and have Him crucified. That also was not done quietly in a corner.

Jesus was asked by Pilate if He was a king, and Jesus said, “Yes, I am a king, and to that I was born” (John 18:37). And when the people cried out to have Barabbas—the convicted criminal—released instead of Jesus Christ, Pilate was told by those who had once supported Jesus, “If you do not crucify Jesus, you are no friend of Caesar’s.” Because Jesus was being called a king and presented to them by Pilate.

So Pilate, in response, made a sign: “Jesus, King of the Jews,” in three languages, and proclaimed that—defending himself against any kind of Caesar retribution. This thing was not done in secret. In fact, when Jesus died around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, everything went dark in that area. A miraculous darkness came upon the land, and then great earthquakes took place. People came out of their graves.

Afterward came 50 days leading up to another pilgrim festival. The Feast of Pentecost is approaching us, and we’re in that 50-day period. Once again, at Pentecost, those same people were commanded to assemble again.

Let’s pick up the story now in Acts 2:5. We’re going to see something here that’s also not done in a corner: “And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” The same ones had returned, as we find in the next few verses. “And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together” (Acts 2:6).

People were from all places. In verse 9: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya,” and on and on. There were a lot of people there. And now these miracles are taking place, and it brings a multitude together.

Now, what we have here set up is that you have some people whom God has called. In Acts 2:1, it says, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” So you have those who Jesus had discipled—perhaps 120 of them. We don’t know the number exactly, but these were people who were “all with one accord in one place.”

The John Gill Commentary states that “one accord in one place” means they were very unanimous and peaceable. There were no jars—no jarring among them—no contentions. They were of the same mind, and judgment, and faith, and practice, and of one heart and soul, and had a cordial affection for one another.

But then there were those others—the Saul type—who would be conspiring against this group of unity. Enemies, as it were. Enemies of Jesus Christ. Those who had conspired and had the Head of the Church killed. And they heard—and they came together.

This is an incredible thing that took place. In Acts 2:36, Peter says to this group—what we might call hostile or murderers of the Messiah—“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

This sets up two sets of people, doesn’t it? One’s probably looking at the other saying, “Wow. You guys crucified the Head of our Church.” And the others are looking back saying, “Who are you guys, and what is going on here?”

But let’s take this a little bit further: forgiveness of mistakes—small and great—is part of the godly mindset. You can go back through Scripture and see that God will select an individual, and then through those generations He’ll make promises. And He never breaks those promises.

And the promises that He made to Israel—who tried to divorce Him and did everything that God didn’t want and caused so much grief—are the same people that you and I are going to be working with initially in the world tomorrow. And if you go back to Revelation 21, you’ll find twelve gates in New Jerusalem named after them. So God’s concept is: there’s imperfection, but what we want to do is we want to work with that. We want to bring that in. We want to bond with that.

So if we come further down in chapter 2, in verse 37, the incredible, miraculous solution to these two groups of people was this: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37).

Brethren, they’re having a change of mind, a change of heart. “What shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:37–38). Like we have. You’ll be one of us.

“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Coming down to verse 41: “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). About 3,000 enemies, as it were, became part of the Church. And that was not an easy thing. They continued steadfastly, breaking bread and fellowshipping.

Going down to verse 46: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people” (Acts 2:46–47). That’s a wonderful thing that transcends the trespasses that we make against each other as human beings. Forgiveness of mistakes—small and great—is part of God's mindset.

Let’s go to Matthew 5:43. If you have trouble forgiving others, you are not alone. You are not alone. But if you are in progress or in the process of developing a forgiving, merciful mind, then you are a growing daughter or son of God and a co-heir with Christ.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matthew 5:43). He didn’t say, “I have said.” He said, “You have heard.” And this is interesting because it’s split in half. The first part—“You shall love your neighbor”—God said. The second part—“and hate your enemy”—man says. But this fits really well with the carnal human mindset. Somebody hurts me? I’m going to hate you. And so they’ve heard it because it’s often said—and it has been said down through time.

The first source comes from Leviticus 19:18. Let’s go there because we can learn something profound from God. At the end of the verse it says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18). That comes from God. God in the Old Testament—Jesus Christ, not exclusively, but God in the Old Testament—made that statement.

The second part, “You shall hate your enemy,” you’ve heard that. Well, that’s the standard societal response. Even Rabbi Maimonides, back in the 1100s AD, one who codified Jewish law in the Mishnah Talmud, taught that if a noble person—like you—gets insulted, that noble person must respond by treating the offender like snakes. Just biting and poisoning and treating him like a snake—until that offender apologizes deeply in public.

Now, Maimonides continues: if the noble person forgives him, he must himself be punished for doing that—unless he’s gotten a public apology. What that just shows is, even within a religious context—might even be a biblical Talmudic context—that’s kind of the human mindset.

Retaliation, however—this kind of treating each other like snakes—it increases the hurt. You run the hurt over in your mind. You not only feel it again, but you can actually exacerbate it, magnify the wounds. You can then respond mentally, generating conflict.

In verse 17, back in Leviticus, let’s back up to get the context. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). Then we come down to verse 18 again: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).

So now God sets up something for us to do that is not part of carnal human nature. And that’s very, very difficult. It’s difficult for all of us.

And so on that first Pentecost that we see when the Church was founded, we have a Church—with God’s help and His Holy Spirit—actually accomplishing the impossible. And it was done in a way that demonstrated to anyone who was there this miraculous ability to reconcile, and the forgiveness of God and Jesus Christ for what they had done.

And then moving on—with God’s Holy Spirit—into a world, or into a body of believers, who were in unity and had all things in common. That is available to us, and it should be part of our life.

In part one of these sermons on Toward Oneness, we examined distancing others due to either perceptions, or faults, or offenses that they’ve made. And the result is often that we box them off, we wall them off, we somehow segregate ourselves from each other. And we find ourselves stewing in imaginary prisons that we kind of put ourselves in. And we’re kind of there, miserable, thinking about all these awful things that happened to me—and reliving them. And it’s kind of a sentence that’s not good.

So let’s move on to a second step. And that is: forgiving everyone of everything. Forgiving everyone of everything.

I’ll just put it right out there—we need to forgive everyone of everything. And you think, “Whoa, now I could pick and choose and work on that... but forgive everyone of everything?”

Well, start in Genesis 1 and go to Revelation, and that’s what God does. He forgives everyone of everything. And He won’t even stop when some individuals leave who had His Holy Spirit.

You know, how exciting is it when we witness people from our distant past in the Church—who walked away from God—who are walking back in? And God is restoring His Spirit to people and giving them a reconnection that is wonderful. That miracle of God’s Holy Spirit uniting with the spirit of man—and they’re restoring. They’re being restored. And it’s a wonderful thing. God does not give up on anyone—ever. And so we should not as well.

We’re probably familiar with the statement: “To err is human, but to forgive is divine.” Okay, well, that’s kind of the purpose of the sermon. It’s a true statement. To err is human, and to forgive is divine. It’s not in us humans to be able to forgive and have that mercy that comes from God. God is unique in His willingness and in His ability to forgive—absolutely.

But let’s go to Psalm 103 and see the example that He sets for us. This is not just for us. This is the mindset that He is enabling us to have by giving us that very Spirit, that very mind of Christ, which He sends through His Holy Spirit, as They dwell in you and me, as They make Their abode in us.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul” (Psalm 103:2). You know, how supremely blessed should God be in our minds. “Who forgives all your iniquities” (Psalm 103:3). All your iniquities. God does that—even the ones you and I don’t know about yet. We haven’t gotten to all of them yet. And God doesn’t just crush us with all, you know, 24,310. Boom! We sort of get them one at a time, maybe two. And we say, “Oh, I didn’t realize. Now I can work on that one.” But He forgives all our iniquities. He’s not interested in bringing those things to mind. Those are negatives, and God is so very, very positive.

“Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies” (Psalm 103:4). Now, if we just take those words and put them into our character—and we can, with God’s Holy Spirit—then we forgive all of everyone else’s iniquities as God forgives us. And we redeem their lives. We encourage their lives. And if someone’s gone astray, we help them back to where they have eternal life waiting for them. And we crown them with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

However, we as saints aren’t—well—we’re not God yet, are we? But God wants to know if we really want to be God beings. He wants to know if we really want to keep His commandments, love one another, love Him, love others as ourselves, and be forgiving. Because that’s part of working with Jesus Christ as the Bride of Christ—the very forgiving One who gave His life so He could forgive sins. We want to be co-agents of that in the future as we reign with Him.

If we go to Galatians 5:22, we find that we are not just ungodly people. We’re not just humans with carnal human nature, are we? The fruit of our life with God’s Holy Spirit should include love—agape love. It’s not a self-focused mindset. It’s an outgoing mindset that’s sort of coated in Teflon from offenses, as it were. You shouldn’t be able to offend somebody who really is love. You should not be able to cause that individual to be sinful through temptation.

Joy is something that God wants. It’s a positive mindset. It’s not the negative. It’s not looking at problems and looking at issues, holding on to negatives—“Oh, people are bad. The world is bad. I’m bad.” No, God is about joy. When James says, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2), the word “joy” there means it’s a positive. Think of these things as positive. So the fruit of God’s Spirit is to have a positive mindset toward other people.

Peace—that, as we spoke about last time, that eirēnē, that one of the concordances describes as “harmony.” We heard harmony in special music—all those different voices blending in perfect harmony.

Longsuffering. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. There’s no condemnation here. There’s no judgmental, despising, looking down on others. And it’s gentleness.

And lastly—and very important in this discussion—is self-control. Self-control. So we have control, with God’s Spirit, over what we think, how we react. We then begin to grow up—not like a child would be, just reacting to anything, screaming and throwing a tantrum or whatever.

With self-control we say, “All right.” Like Jesus Christ, as He’s on the cross, on the stake, said, “You know what? I’m assessing this situation, and I determine that these people do not know what they’re doing. And therefore, I am not going to hold them responsible.” So, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). That is self-control—with God’s Holy Spirit.

This mind of Christ forgives with mercy.

Let’s go to Colossians 3:13. You know, a lot of this is bearing with one another, using that self-control, using this mind of love, and not letting things stick—you know, the arrows and the barbs. Just don’t let them stick.

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:12–13).

So we need to forgive as God forgives us. And God’s children are to be converting from any type of a condescending or condemning mindset to that of God. So this is a goal. It’s something that we each must individually work on. Just a sermon or reading some familiar scriptures isn’t going to do it. We have to actually determine in our minds.

Think when you’re in bed, when you wake up in the middle of the night—think about: how will I do this? Who is there out there that I have a grudge against? Or who has a grudge against me? And let me start now the work of making peace. Let me do the difficult, challenging, grown-up thing. Let me put my big boy pants—or my big girl dress—on, and let’s get to work on doing this.

We, in our life, have a certain amount of angst and pain that gets inflicted by others. That’s part of life. It’s actually intended to be that way. “Offenses must come” (Matthew 18:7), it says in the Bible.

But God has set this up in a world that’s inspired by Satan. God has set that up to give us His Holy Spirit—and to see if we want to be like Him. These are good things.

You know, Satan does contribute a valuable kind of asset to your life and mine now. No one else’s life in the future is going to have this—this asset, as it were. In the Millennium, Satan’s not there. Second resurrection? No Satan. But you and I are the ones who will be sitting on the throne of Jesus Christ as firstfruits—with Him.

Because we will have overcome—or we will have conquered—human nature, Satan, and all those things. And we will sit down with Jesus Christ. And forever we will be the unique Bride of Christ in the headquarter city. We don't know what the rest of the Kingdom of God will look like, but the headquarter city has high walls, it says, and twelve gates. And “the kings of the nations will bring their glory and honor into it” (Revelation 21–22).

We are identified as being that city—or a big element of that city—and nobility. But we have the tougher job now. We have the harder role. But it’s a good job. It’s a great role. A good opportunity. So let’s get to it.

One thing we want to do is escape from “victim prison.” Because if we consider ourselves to be victims of all the things that happen in Satan’s evil age, then we are going to rehearse those things—those guilty things that other people do. And we’re going to be in this little confined space of hurt.

And we can all do it. And we can all—hey, we can validate that. We can look in Scripture and see those were sins and that was wrong. And I’m justified to be in my little prison feeling bad. I can spend my whole life there, just having a terrible time, thinking about all the stuff that people did to me. Or—I can get out of that imaginary prison just by being like Jesus Christ and saying, “You know what? Those people didn’t really know what they were doing. They didn’t really intend for that. They were probably trying to do their best.”

We need to realize that in Luke 17:3, Jesus is setting us an example. It’s not just that He did it and therefore we can appreciate it. He’s setting us an example:

“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3).

Okay. If he repents. “Ooh, hey, I get to stay in jail, right? I don’t have to get out of my little pity prison. I can just ask the question, did he repent? Oh yeah? How much? How hard? Did he do it enough?”

Well, then He goes on, doesn’t He?

“And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Luke 17:4).

Now, the apostles kind of had a little reaction to that in the next verse. And they said, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). That is tough. “Increase our faith. Increase that Spirit. Increase Your mind in us.” Wow. We cannot do this on our own. We need the help of God.

I’d like to quote a book. The partial title is Helping Victims of Abuse, by Lynn Heitritter and Jean Vought. This comes from pages 82–83:

“Without forgiveness, trauma will never be resolved. The concept of forgiveness is usually foreign to relationships within the affected relationship, and its suggestion is usually met with considerable resistance. The abuse is like a video playing and replaying the pain, resentment, hatred, or anger toward others—and especially toward the self.

By not forgiving, victims give control of their emotional state to others. Unforgiveness allows others to control the individual’s life through constant replaying of the video, reinforcing the pain each time it’s remembered. Forgiveness, however, gives a person the power to turn off the video.

Through God’s grace comes the power to forgive—and the power to be free from replaying the past.”

That’s how we can get out of our pity prison.

They go on to say:

“The purpose of forgiving, however, is not to forget the events, but to stop the video from continuing to replay the lingering pain. Too often, victims are told to forgive and forget, and that if they have not forgotten the abuse, they have not truly forgiven.”

Well, events are events. Happenings are happenings. Sin is sin. Consequences are consequences. It’s what we do with that that’s important.

Let’s go to Matthew 18:21 now. Peter comes to Him and says,

“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

We would think that’s noble. I mean, honestly, think about it. If somebody did something to you seven times, wouldn’t you sort of scratch your head and say, “That’s a bit of a challenge”?

“Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:22).

That’s a big number. That’s 490 times. And Jesus isn’t telling you, “Okay, make a chart. Make an Excel spreadsheet. Grade them. Rate them. Count them. Check them off if you get a good enough apology.” We would immediately conclude as humans, “That’s not going to work. No, no, no—that’s not going to work.”

So—we have no plan to forgive. I don’t know about you, but I just never developed a plan to forgive. That would be overwhelming even to think about. But Jesus gives 490 times just to show that our view of being offended is not that of the God Family.

The God Family gets offended many more times than that—probably every minute—as Their name is slandered, as things are said about God and twisted and perverted. Even the twelve tribes of Israel, and what they are doing down through time and in the modern age—it’s just in the face of God all the time.

The God Family is always ready to forgive. Wholeheartedly. And wanting and willing to put it out of Their mind. And that’s Their goal—to not remember because it’s negative. To not remember because it’s in the past.

Let’s go forward now to Philippians 3:13. The apostle Paul—remember, he used to be Saul. He was against the church. He was essentially killing church members, having them imprisoned and put to death. This individual now has grown. He’s come to the place where people held a lot of things against him.

And he’s now come to the place where he says:

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13).

We as individuals are forgiven. God puts it out of His mind. We need to do the same thing—for each other and for ourselves. Forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forward to the things ahead, which is that—

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

This is a mindset that comes from maturing spiritual-minded children. “Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind” (Philippians 3:15). This is not something for just humans. This is us developing more of the mind of God.

Now, if we come back here to Matthew 18, we're going to skip forward now to verse 23. Jesus has said, you know, you need to forgive seventy times seven—four hundred ninety times—or make it infinity, probably what He was inferring. Now we go to verse 23:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants” (Matthew 18:23). As we began this sermon, who was the King? Jesus Christ. I think it was Nathanael, one of the first disciples, who saw Him and said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49). And so here we have a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. Let’s just say: you and me.

“And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt” (Matthew 18:24–27).

You know, if you and I backed up and we sinned—we lived a life of sin—our wife, our marriage, our children, things would start breaking apart, wouldn’t they? Everything about our life would just be spoiled. And yet here, everything is forgiven. Then we come to verse 28:

“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt” (Matthew 18:28–30).

And there we have each other. And we can do this—we can just kind of pop people into their prison, and that’s where it kind of remains.

“So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him” (Matthew 18:31–34).

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matthew 18:35).

We begin to see here, then, a definite—well, a line. A rule that Jesus said will not be crossed if we choose not to do this. I mean, it’s a wonderful thing to be like, but if we don’t? That’s what He said. That’s what He said. That’s an “or else.”

Our self-defending excuses are not acceptable for not forgiving others.

Let’s go to 2 Corinthians 11:22. Here the apostle Paul is an individual who hurt many people—and God let many people hurt him.

“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons frequently, in deaths often” (2 Corinthians 11:22–23).

“From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one” (verse 24). Can you imagine that? Thirty-nine stripes—five times—from your fellow men. Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees, well-educated, one of them. And here—five times. What’s it like? Every time you get a lash and they’re condemning you and probably saying things against you, and every time—what is Paul thinking?

He goes on in verse 29, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?”

“If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying” (verses 30–31).

Paul was able—with self-control—to keep moving. And you remember when he didn’t go to Ephesus but went to Miletus and met with the elders there? They said, “Hey, the Holy Spirit has told us, if you go to Jerusalem, you’re going to get killed.” And Paul said, “Hey, quit crying about this. Quit slowing me down. If that’s what God’s will is, I’ll hurry to Jerusalem.” And he was very eager. He had moved into this agape—godly—mindset.

Ultimately, heavenly unity is what we’re striving for. And we’re learning it here in part—and we will achieve it in part.

But let’s go to Isaiah 65:17. Let’s remember what all this is about:

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17).

See, in God’s Kingdom, God is such a positive individual. In God’s Kingdom, there’s not going to be negativism. There’s not going to be—“Bring your backpack full of all your trials, and we’ll haul them all the way through eternity.” No. “The former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”

Now it’s interesting—in Scripture you might find it very hard to find the word “forgotten” or “God forgets.” It’ll be there. But more often you’ll see that He does not want to bring it to mind. He doesn’t remember. He’s not willing to do that.

It shows that God doesn’t necessarily have some delete function in His mind, where you find a key, click an icon, and poof—memory erased. Because I think if a person goes back to a way of sin, then those sins probably will be coming back to mind. But here we see “the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17). There’s a difference between an inability and a decision. And this is part of the mind of God—the Spirit—to have self-control and simply to decide.

And as part of your and my quest to forgive others is to work through not bringing things to mind. And you can do that by replacing those memories with good things about the individual. You can’t just leave a vacuum. But you can start to look for the good things in individuals.

Forgiving others is replaced with rejoicing. Notice this in verse 18:

“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (Isaiah 65:18–19).

We find in Revelation 21 that in the new heavens and the new earth, “there is no more pain, no more crying.” God doesn’t want anything negative in His Kingdom, and it’s going to be a wonderful thing.

Examples of areas where it is very difficult to wage forgiveness include: mental abuse, child abuse, murder, being fired, being taken advantage of, rape, incest, being put down, being gossiped about, being passed by for promotion, being neglected, being used, being lied to, having your child hurt, being humiliated, etc., etc. The list is long.

Let’s ask this question. Let’s ask it of Jesus Christ: If we do not choose to forgive others and give them that mercy, will that block God from hearing our prayers?

Now, we already read one scripture before where Jesus Christ drew a pretty dramatic line. Let’s go to Matthew 5:23. I’m not going to be real dogmatic about this, but Jesus Christ makes some of these statements, and we should really take them to heart. It might help us in our encouragement to be mature about releasing others in our mind and having mercy on them.

“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you” (Matthew 5:23). If you’re coming to God with a prayer of praise—we all like to come to God and pray to God. What is it—in James, probably chapter 3—it says, with the same mouth we praise God—wonderful praises to God—and we curse or we say negative things about others.

Well, He says, if you come and bring your prayer of praise, your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you—oh, what does God want us to do? If there’s a gap there, if there’s a separation, if there’s some kind of a wall, if there’s some relationship that’s not one—what does He want us to do?

God says, “Leave.” That’s the next word—“Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way” (Matthew 5:24). Wow. That’s Jesus’s statement. Go your way. “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

It sounds like the God of Oneness doesn’t want to hear from me if I’m involved in separation or alienation. So if I am retaining my victim status and harboring something against someone else—or if the reverse is true, and someone is harboring something against me—does that mean my contact with God is limited? Is that what Jesus is saying? It’s worth considering. It really is worth considering.

Let’s go to Matthew 6, just a page over. Here we find how we are to pray. Jesus said, “In this manner, therefore, pray.” And it is a unified prayer—a prayer of oneness. “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). “Give us this day our daily bread” (verse 11). And “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (verse 12).

This is a prayer we all should be praying there on the sea of glass—either literally or symbolically. I, like Paul, don’t know. I don’t know how that works. But we should all be there together, praying that God will help us forgive one another.

And it also seems conditional. We’re praying, “Forgive me just in the same way, in the same amount, that I’m forgiving others.” We could take those words that way. Though we don’t need it as some threat, it should just be from our hearts—that there shouldn’t be anyone we have anything against. Honestly, we can come to that place as mature members of the Body of Christ, with God the Father and Jesus Christ dwelling in us, leading us, guiding us, motivating us with Their mindset—to just do that. And it’s a beautiful release for everyone, isn’t it? Just a wonderful release for everyone. No limitations. No guilt. Just release.

If we drop down a little bit further, in verse 14, Jesus now backs this up: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). So, I don’t know about you, but this now puts me on the line.

“But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). I’ve always thought that God was very forgiving—when I go and say, “Oh Father, I made this mistake,” or “Help me to do better here.” Me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Maybe this stuff is just on hold. Maybe all those requests and that so-called repentance hasn’t gone through yet. You know what I’m saying?

If I’m not forgiven, then maybe it’s because I haven’t forgiven others. I’m just bringing this out because it seems like there’s a conditional forgiveness indicated pretty clearly in some of the words that Jesus Christ says. Still—it’s not easy to do, is it? It’s actually huge.

If we have wounds that fester—and all of us have gone through different things—and some of them, you might say, “Well, you just don’t understand, because I’ve been through this experience.” Well—are you saying your experience is greater than what Jesus Christ went through? Is that what we’re saying?

Well, I’d like to give four misconceptions that I’ve read that are barriers to forgiving someone. Four misconceptions.

First of all: Forgiveness means saying that what happened is now forgotten. Well, God can choose to have mercy and apply mercy, and He has the self-control to set aside and not bring to remembrance. But those things are always going to be available.

They’re always going to be available to recall. It’s just up to you and me as to whether we’re going to continue to say—accuse—or not forgive, or not apply forgiveness to others. That’s in our ballpark, because what has happened—sin really is sin. It really did take place. It doesn’t erase it. It doesn’t make it go away. And sometimes the penalties will continue because there are consequences. But if we have the mind of God, we’ll rise above that and we’ll choose to turn it off. We’ll choose not to think about that.

Second—forgiveness means saying what happened was okay. No, that’s not. That’s definitely not. Sin is sin. Wrong is wrong. Whoever is responsible was responsible. The Apostle Paul did go and kill the church members, right? Even he brought it up in one of his epistles: you know, I was one of the worst offenders. And here’s what I did. And that was maybe thirty years after he had done it—it’s still there. But then he says, I forget those things. I put that out of my mind, and I’m going to be positive. It’s interesting that the Apostle Peter—who was an apostle when Saul was killing the church members—later wrote of him this way in 2 Peter, “our beloved brother Paul.” Peter is able to say that—“our beloved brother Paul.”

Third, some people think forgiveness means we shouldn’t talk about the problem. Well, talking about the problem can be a means—in Matthew 18:15—of bringing reconciliation. So rather than just sort of ignore the elephant in the living room, sometimes it says here—“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault” (Matthew 18:15). It’s good to have that discussion. It’s good for both parties. “Between you and him alone.” See? Just the two of you. “If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” And then He says within this process—verse 20—“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). This process of reconciliation is what Jesus gave His life for, in large part. And it’s so important to Him—when two or three are together doing this—“I am there in the midst of them.” He wants us to be one. That model prayer—not the model prayer, but one of His final prayers that He prayed there in John 17 before He was crucified—was all about that passion of that oneness.

And we can do that. We’re going to do that. And it’s wonderful. As we come up to the Feast of Pentecost, they were doing that—as much as they, as humans, were able to at that time. And it just gives us a good opportunity to reflect on that and to be able to do that, and sort of use that as a goal to head for as we continue to do that the rest of our life.

When you confront someone like that, I would say twenty percent of the time you can expect them to recognize it. The sad thing is, we often hurt each other, and the person that gets hurt—we’re not even aware we hurt them. And they might cycle around finally and come say, “Look, you really offended me.” And we’re like, “I did? When was that? I don’t remember.” “Well, I’m sorry if I did.” Well, that’s not much of an apology. It’s kind of like, “I’m sorry if you were hurt.” And you know—eighty percent of the time, there’s probably nothing there that’s going to really be helpful. And so once again, the rest is up to you, and the rest is up to me. We just have to work through that and move on.

Let’s go to Hebrews 12:14 as we wrap this up. It turns out that this is an effort on our part. I don’t know if you’re a hunter or if you do some game of pursuit. But pursuing something is difficult. And we actually all love this very much. Your pursuit might be to get a basketball in a hoop, or a football through a goal, or a soccer ball through a goal—or I don’t know, some game, pickleball, or whatever. You have this goal, and you’re pursuing it. Maybe it’s a career pursuit. But here in Hebrews 12:14—“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” This is something we have to pursue.

I know in certain skills you—wow—like in hunting certain animals, you get camouflage and you get scents, and you’re there at crack of dawn. I’ve been on cold mountains at four o’clock in the morning, you know, waiting to be in position. And all of the things that you do as you pursue something. We see pursuing peace is like that. Pursuing peace takes everything you and I can give—along with the help of God—or especially the help of God—in order to get harmony. “Without which no one will see the Lord.”

“Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:15). This root of bitterness, you see, that just goes away if you can get your mind off yourself. Get the me onto we.

The fourth thing that sometimes is a barrier is the idea that if people think forgiveness means that if I truly forgive, we will trust each other. Trust is a different matter. Trust is something that is earned. Trust is something that an individual has to develop, and that is easily broken. And broken trust would take time and proof, etc., etc. And so that’s something that should not stand in the way—simply because it’s a different topic.

So in conclusion, what we’re seeing today is that forgiveness is a deliberate gift that we give, isn’t it? Agape is giving. It’s loving. And it’s a gift we give. It’s something that we generate ourselves. In order to do that, we must have divine help. But we do need to develop that divine nature that God has Himself.

So the second step toward oneness, then, is to begin to look for those blocks that we set up—blocks that we maybe use as excuses for not forgiving—and compare ourselves with Jesus Christ, the ultimate one who has suffered at the hands of man, and many other examples in Scripture as well. And let’s move forward in that.

Let’s conclude by reading Colossians 3:12–15 now. “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:12–15).

This is called in Scripture the mind of Christ—the mind of our Husband. And we really can, and are, heading that way. Let's give ourselves a little bit more encouragement. We look at a day here coming up—the Feast of Pentecost—in which that Holy Spirit came mightily upon them. And that’s why it was so unified, because that Holy Spirit really came mightily upon them. And it really can be stirred up by you and me as well.

And so Colossians 3:12—“Therefore, as the elect of God”—yes, we are that small group living in Satan’s age today. We’re the only group that’s going to be under the influence of Satan and receive all of the problems and difficulties and challenges that we do—as a type of Christ—that Satan went after. “Holy and beloved, put on tender mercies.” Tender mercies. See, there’s the word mercy. It’s not a restrictive mercy. It’s not a tough mercy to break through. It’s a tender—it’s an easy—mercy. “Kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” That’s the bond of maturity—spiritual maturity. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:12–15).

Let’s strive to grow this godly mindset of forgiveness and mercy every day. And let’s be forgiving everyone of everything as we put on more of the mind of Christ.