The True Power in Forgiveness

And I want to thank Mr. Beyer for leading into what I want to say today regarding what he was covering in connection with what we all know as a model of prayer that Jesus gave. You really know that the Lord's Prayer is recorded in John 17. I think that's something we commonly should know. If we don't know that, we should know, because it's very clear that whenever he was praying that prayer, he was beseeching the Father prior to his death and talking about us. He was talking about the disciples and talking about being re-glorified and talking about those who would come to believe by the message that the Church would project. And of course, that's the Lord's Prayer. If we want to, I guess, designate any chapter, I guess I would do that. But maybe that's not the only place that we would see a good recording of what Jesus prayed about. But as was covered here in Matthew 6, all of us are familiar with a model that Jesus gave his disciples because they came to him and they wanted to know. They wanted to know, how do you relate to the Father? How should we relate to the Father? And I want to focus on not what Mike covered, but I want to focus on another aspect of this because in verse 11 of Matthew 6, it says, give us this day our daily bread. But then in verse 12, you see something that you might overlook. It is commonly known, but I want us to think about this today. In Matthew 6, verse 12, it says, forgive us. Forgive us our sins or our debts. There's a race going on on the side. Mom won. Glad to see that. But here in verse 12, it says, forgive us our debts as we also forgive those who sin against us. Now, again, that can be taken very lightly. We can overlook it. We can. We're familiar with it. We read it. But I think we might say that there was a great significance to what Jesus had to say, where he said, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us because of what he goes ahead following the model. What he says in verse 14 is directly tied in to what he said in verse 12. In verse 14, it says, if you forgive others their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But of course, in verse 15, he says, if you don't forgive, then neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. He makes it somewhat pointed that it's imperative that we not only request forgiveness and ask for mercy and relief from sin, from God, but also that we extend forgiveness to others. I think what you find here, and I don't know that this verse 14 and 15 could be misunderstood, but I'm pretty sure it's telling us how important it is. That's what Jesus was emphasizing, how important it is that if we want to be forgiven from our heavenly Father for our sins, then we have to be growing in a nature that involves and includes forgiveness of others. And again, that's not a statement that I'm sure any of you would even disagree with. That's what it says, not only here, but in numerous other places. And yet, how emphatic is Jesus with this point? He actually makes an illustration in verse 14 and 15 to point out the power of forgiveness. That's what he's actually doing. And I think it might be good for us to think about, because again, this was God in the flesh telling His disciples, this is what you need to learn, this is how you should pray, what you should include. And then he reiterated, you know, be sure that you come to understand not only your need for, but that you are extending forgiveness to others.

I think it's interesting to see that God knows what people need. He knows what we need to be able to rise above sin and guilt, shame, distress, the problems that He realizes are fully human, and yet human because Satan has deceived the world, and we have all fallen prey to that deception.

But see, God does truly know the power that is in the concept of forgiveness. And actually, He wants us to be growing in that aspect of His divine nature. It's clear that He tells us He forgives us, and that He says, if you're going to become like Me, then you've got to forgive others. And so that is the point of what I want to point out and talk about today. So what is the true power in forgiveness? What is the true power in forgiveness? Matthew 18. We have many examples. Actually, you have a number of examples in Matthew 18, and primarily that's where I'm going to be today, Matthew 18. And I'm doing this in order to help all of us understand. This particular chapter in Matthew is in many ways really remarkable. A few of the incidents that are recorded here in Matthew 18 are also recorded in others of the Gospels. At least the one about the little child and about the humility that we need to seek and need to have in order to be a part of the Kingdom of God. There's another example in Luke regarding the lost sheep and finding the sheep and bringing them back. So Matthew covers a couple of things that are covered in other of the Gospels. But what we read starting in verse 15 and on down through the end of this chapter, down to verse 35, I believe, what we read verse 15 through 35 is not really recorded anywhere else.

And it includes a parable. And it includes an inquiry. And it includes specific direction. And I'm going to offer to you, it includes specific instructions about personal relationships and the power in forgiveness. See, I'm going to point that out to you as we go through these sections. But I'm going to start kind of backwards because it's obvious when we start at the end, what Jesus is talking about through the entirety of this section.

So I want to begin here in Matthew 18, beginning in verse 23. See, actually, in a sense, this parable, which on the surface appears to be pretty easy to understand, doesn't appear to be complicated, doesn't appear to be difficult. You would think even the Pharisees could have understood this, but I doubt it. I'm sure they were able to mess it up. They were not able to understand virtually anything that Jesus said. And so, what is it that really needs to be understood from the parable of the unforgiving servant?

Because that's such a title that you could give to this particular parable of Jesus Christ. Here in Matthew 18, starting in verse 23, it says, For this reason, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, as we see it called throughout the remainder of the Gospels and the New Testament, for this reason the kingdom of God may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. And when he began the reckoning, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him.

And so here you see Jesus giving a parable, and he's talking about the kingdom. He's talking about how it is that the kingdom of God is ruled, how it is that it's guided. And of course, the principles—and brethren, this is what we've got to be able to pick up on— the principles of what he points out is telling us what it's going to be like in the kingdom when it's set up on earth, but it's also telling us what we must be like today. And so you see the king calling this servant and this servant owes him 10,000 talents.

And in verse 25, as he could not pay, his Lord ordered him to be sold together with his wife and children in all his possessions, and payment was to be made. And so here in this particular incident, we're going to see a comparison that Jesus is making. A comparison between this servant who owed his master 10,000 talents. And then we're also going to see a little later another figure, a hundred denari. Now, what's the comparison between 10,000 talents and a hundred denari? Anybody have that quickly written in your inspired margin?

Or someone want to make a guess, because we could also do that. Because I looked at three or four different ones, they're all different, so I know it doesn't make any difference. But 10,000 talents is an immense debt. Absolutely incredible. I would say in comparison, again, to the type of comparing that I read, compared to the hundred denari that we're going to read about later, that might be compared to $10, the hundred denari, to the 10,000 talents, which could be into the millions of dollars. So the comparison is $10 to millions of dollars. That's what Jesus pointed out in this particular parable. When he began to reckon, in verse 24, when he owed him 10,000 talents, so millions of dollars was brought to him.

And when he couldn't pay, it was said that he would be sold and payment was to be made. And so, in verse 26, a servant fell on his knees before him. He said, have patience with me and I will pay you every bit. Now, I'm not sure exactly how he was going to do that. You know, it didn't appear that he had any hope of doing that, because there really wasn't any way he could raise that amount of money.

But of course, he's begging. In a sense, he's pleading with his master. In verse 27, it says, out of pity for him, the Lord of that servant released him and forgave him the entirety of that million dollar debt. He released the entire debt to him. Quite a generous offer. Quite a remarkable kind of unbelievable. But as it says, out of pity or out of compassion for this servant, he was able or willing to forgive the debt. But of course, in verse 28, that same servant as he went out came upon one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred denarii.

And again, like I said, this could be a very paltry amount, you know, ten dollars. It could be more than that, but at least the comparison from almost nothing to a great deal of money is being made. And then, seizing that servant by the throat, he said, pay what you owe. And when the fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you. Now, that's actually the same thing he said to his Lord. Have patience. I can't do it right now. I'll try to do it.

I'll work on it. Same thing was said to this servant. But in verse 30, he refused. He apparently hadn't been learning any lessons recently. He simply refused. And then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the whole debt. And when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed. And they went and they reported this to their Lord about everything that had taken place.

And in verse 32, then the Lord summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you asked me to. You pleaded with me. You wanted to be relieved. You wanted to be forgiven. Should you not, verse 33, have had that same mercy on your fellow servant as I have had mercy on you? And in anger, the Lord handed him over to the tormentors or torturers until he would pay the entire debt. So verse 35, I mean, it seems whenever you read through this parable, it's pretty obvious, pretty clear what the problem was.

This servant who was relieved, this great debt, was not willing to extend forgiveness to even someone who owed him a very paltry amount. And so it says in verse 35, my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart. So again, I think you see the key to this particular parable and the entire discussion that Jesus is having is about forgiveness. It's about the power that is in forgiveness. Because, see, this individual could have extended forgiveness. He could have been merciful, but he wasn't.

And then he points out to all of us, to those of us who have ears to hear and eyes to see and read, and a perceptive and converted heart and mind, well, we see that's exactly what God has done for every single one of us. He has looked down upon us and been very merciful toward us. He has forgiven us, our sins. He has allowed Christ to come to the earth, to be the Lamb of God, and to remove the penalty of death. Not just a debt of any kind, but the penalty of death from us.

And so, should we not, should we not also be forgiving to someone who sins against us? And yet, what I do want to point out here is in verse 35, because this is why I say that this entire chapter, or these sections of the latter part of this chapter, at least, they're all about forgiveness. They're all about how important it is. They're all about what Jesus said in the model prayer, and what he emphasized after that, and then what he, of course, continues to talk about here in Matthew 18. And here in verse 35, it says, you should forgive your brother or sister from your heart. So, there's something about forgiveness that involves the heart. It involves our nature. It involves our thinking, and our attitude, and our desire to grow in the divine nature. And so, this first section that we've read through here now, the parable of the unforgiving servant, tells us initially—I've got four things I'm going to point out. This is the first one, and it's just simply why we ought to be forgiving. God's going to require us to be forgiving. He's been so forgiving to us, we need to learn to grow in a divine nature that is from the heart, forgiving toward others. Now, we can talk about forgiveness, and actually, in some ways, it probably would be good to at least mention a few things. Forgiveness may not be the same thing as forgetting, because if we can be forgiving, we may still remember something that happened or something that was said, but that's okay. And forgiveness is not condoning, or excusing, or dismissing, and it's certainly not weakness. We see that clearly, that it's a requirement for us. Whenever you look at definitions of forgiveness, one of them is giving up claim for repayment of a debt. Now, that could be, I guess, within the financial world, or within, you know, someone owed you $100, and you forgave that debt, then they don't owe you the $100 anymore.

But maybe even more, that's pretty easy to understand, maybe even more crucial to understanding forgiveness, and what it is, is that forgiveness is ceasing to feel resentment against an offender. Forgiveness is ceasing to feel resentment against an offender. And that's really what Jesus is talking about in this whole section, because he's talking about coming to understand forgiveness from the heart.

The second thing I want to mention, I talked about why forgiveness. The second thing I want to mention, well, before I do that, let me just say that, you know, often whenever we think about forgiveness, certainly whenever we come to God for mercy and forgiveness, we are expected to be repentant. We're expected to turn from our sins and clearly ask God for forgiveness and mercy, and clearly he extends that to us. But you find, at least in the few examples that we can easily see, to accept forgiveness, repentance is required, but to give forgiveness, it's not. That's often what restrains us from being forgiven. Well, they didn't say they were sorry. They didn't even want to be forgiven. They didn't change their mind. They didn't change their whatever they did that was wrong. But I think when we look at the example of Jesus, see, his example was, you know, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know. Please forgive them anyway. See, he wasn't holding a grudge against those who were nailing his hands and feet. He wasn't holding a grudge against those Roman soldiers or against the rabble-rousing Pharisees, against those who had flogged him before he ever got to the point where he would be put to death. See, he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't understand what they are achieving. And in essence, it was important that that be achieved. So repentance is necessary to accept forgiveness, but it's not necessary for us to grant forgiveness. And I hope that you will recall that forgiveness is ceasing to feel resentment.

Ceasing to feel resentment against an offender.

Ceasing to feel resentment against an offender. So the second thing, I want to back up to verse 21 here in Matthew 18, because it's very clear not only that this parable is about forgiveness and forgiveness from the heart, but here Peter is talking about forgiveness in verse 21. And this is going to connect men to the section even before that, that we will get to in verse 15.

But the second point about forgiveness is how much? How many times do we have to be forgiven?

Well, that's exactly what Peter said in verse 21. Peter came and said to him, Lord, the number another brother sins against me, how often do I have to forgive him? How much do I have to? And he says, and even makes a wild guess, do I have to do it seven times? And of course, there was method to his statement. You know, the rabbi said, well, you need to do it three times, and for a really good measure, it might do it four. And so Peter was doubling the three times and adding one and saying, how about seven times? Would that be enough? And of course, Jesus answered to that. Well, not seven times, but I tell you, 70 times seven.

And again, what he was pointing out was not, you know, if someone would come up and offend you or hurt you or create some difficulty for you, offend you, sin against you repeatedly.

How many times do you have to do it? You know, you wouldn't remember after a little while. What he was really saying was the meaning is that we're not to limit our forgiveness to any fixed number of times. That was really what he was pointing out. There should not be.

If we're going to grow in a divine nature of forgiveness and in understanding the power of God, that is, in forgiveness, although we're not going to be counting how many times do I have to do this. See, that's not really from the heart. That's by the book. That's by the letter.

I just have to do it. And that's not what Jesus was talking about. So, how often? Well, it's an endless number, as we see here in verse 21 and 22. So, let's back up to verse 15.

Because, as I said, this entire chapter is talking about principles of forgiveness.

And actually, what we see here, starting in verse 15 and running down through the next few verses, is actually a section of Scripture that we might say, well, that's not talking about forgiveness. That's talking about resolving a dispute. And sometimes, you know, that is what we may conclude, but I hope to show you that that really is only part of the discussion. What you do find in these few verses is that it shows that in solving a dispute between brethren, there's a pattern to follow. You're going to our brother initially, and then involving others who might be witnesses, but who also are trying to help reconcile the situation. And finally, it shows that, well, if that doesn't even work, then take it to the church. There is a central authority that we are all to be in subjection to. Because, as Jesus describes, as Paul writes about, and he talks about Jesus being the head of the church, and he talks about us all being a part of the bride, a part of the wife, a part of that body that is in subjection to the head. And so, this is certainly a... that is one aspect of what we see written about here. And you actually see more in verses 18 and 19 and 20 about how the church is to function and how it is it should be led to be able to guide and direct others in resolving disputes or in being able to solve interpersonal relationships. But what I want us to think about, in light of what Peter's question was immediately after this, because he had, well, this is about forgiveness, how much do I have to do it? And then Jesus gives an entire parable that is plain as the nose on all of our faces about forgiveness. What we need to recall or keep in mind is that this section as well is really about forgiveness. Here in verse 15, if another member of the church sins against you, if a brother sins against you, go and point out the fault where the two of you are alone and if the member listens to you, you have regained your brother. See, brethren, that's what this is about.

It's not about a system, although that is certainly describing a system that the apostles and the disciples would later use as the church was set up. You know, it wasn't even set up at this point, but it would be set up and that would be used as the church became the central guide through which membership was to be nurtured. But here in this particular verse, what we see if the member in the last part of verse 15, if the member listens to you, then you have regained your brother.

See, that's the desired outcome. It isn't even desired to have to go to the other extremes and try to punish people or to point out flaws. The real purpose is to bring about reconciliation and to forgive from the heart. That's the real purpose of this section as well as the other two sections that we've already written. Actually, we shouldn't set out with the object of...

sometimes, and like I said, these scriptures could be misunderstood. They could be viewed as, well, if I talk to someone and we can't agree on something, then I need to involve a couple more so we can agree. But actually, I'll probably get a couple of people who are already on my side to be able to frame it so that I'm going to be looking right. And if I can do that, then I'll try to get the church involved. See, that's not what this is talking about at all.

See, because we should not set out with the object of gaining our cause or getting satisfaction ourselves, but to gain our brother. That's why I said in verse 15, the last part of verse 15, points out what this is about. It's about gaining your brother. It's about reconciliation and love and forgiveness. And actually, no one should go to an offending brother with the intent of reconciling with him unless they have already forgiven him in his heart, in our heart. See, if we don't have that forgiveness from God, that Jesus talked about in the parable, if we don't have a recognition of the fact that I need to be reconciling and I need to be forgiving and I need to be loving and caring as God is toward me. If we don't have that, we're missing the point. It actually teaches us that forgiveness springs, and of course, this may be more so in the parable in the latter part of the chapter, forgiveness springs from gratitude toward God for his tender mercy and then love toward our brother who has wronged us.

You know, if we have ceased to feel resentment against an offender, if we really have come to a point where in our heart we understand our need to forgive, well, then our whole purpose is going to someone is to help them, to love them, to encourage them, and to pick them up. So here in verse 15, let's read through this section. This is talking about how it is that we can grow and into divine nature and how it is that we can show forgiveness toward others and do that deep down from our heart. Here in verse 15, if another member sins against you, go and point out the fault, whatever that fault might be, whatever, whether that is an action or whether that is words, something that was said, a disagreement that was, you know, hotly contested, and I think minor things probably wouldn't really fall into this category, but something that becomes disturbing to us and actually takes us away from a relationship that we should have with God.

But it says, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. Do it privately.

It doesn't need to be spread about. It doesn't need to be shared. It needs to be done individually and privately. And then, of course, the outcome that is desired. If the member listens to you, then you have regained. You have regained your brother. See, that's the whole intent. That's the whole lesson that is being shown here in this statement that Jesus made.

But in verse 16, it goes on and gives a couple of other provisions. If you're not listened to, then take one or two others with you so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Now, that clearly conforms with what you could read in the book of Leviticus and in several other places in the Old Testament about two or three witnesses verifying the facts of something. But, of course, as I said, we're not to take people who are specifically on our side and try to force someone to see something differently. We are to simply explain the facts, and that witness is to simply aid in reconciliation, aid in an encouragement to reconcile and to be forgiving and to be loving and to share that relationship with one another.

And then in verse 17, if the member still refuses to listen to them, and so here he goes through several verses that talk about how the church is a central authority that all of us are in subjection to. But he says in verse 17, if the member refuses to listen to them, we'll tell it to the church. And if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, then let that person be as a Gentile or tax collector. You can still love him, but in a sense, your fellowship with that individual is kind of broken. It's kind of fractured like the Gentiles or tax collectors would be. Now, you could certainly say that the Jews, the Pharisees, they didn't like the tax collectors, they didn't like the Gentiles at all. They wouldn't even be around them. But Jesus was. He was. He was the one who would meet with them. He would greet them. He would encourage them, because he would say, you know, I'm here to help everybody. I'm here to help those who have need. But this particular, you know, pattern shows us how it is that, well, it's kind of the last resort. Take it to the church and see if the authority of the church can help resolve it. And truly, I tell you, in verse 18 and 19 and 20 are all statements that he makes regarding, you know, some of the involvement that Jesus Christ has in the church. He says, truly, I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. That's clearly a directive to the apostles, to the, you know, representatives that were going to be designated by Jesus to be his servants. You're going to have some ability. Now, that's not to be taken out of context, as some churches do, and certainly the Catholic Church takes that particular verse way out of context, saying most anything we say is okay. Now, this is Jesus talking about the church of God. Jesus talking about the church that all of us have been drawn into and set in and allowed to be a part of the church in order to, for the common good. That's what this is referring to. And again, in verse 19, I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father. Again, this is talking about how it is that as, you know, members and in the case of the church, the ministry get together and resolve difficulties, we're asking God, we're asking God to help show what it is that we need to know, how it is we need to address something and how we can all grow in being able to be forgiving and reconciliatory toward one another. And then, finally, in verse 23, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.

So again, that's referring to the church. That's not referring. Sometimes people misunderstand that and think that that's referring to, you know, just miscellaneous members scattered anywhere into their own group. That's not talking about that. That's talking about how it is that the church comes together in prayer, in serving one another, in loving one another, in nurturing the entire body. And so, you know, where the body as a whole is gathered, you know, God is clearly among us. He is clearly giving guidance and giving direction. Whether we're a small group, and of course we could say we're fairly small here, but in some ways we're kind of large, like up in Fulton this morning, we had 10, so that was a smaller group. And sometimes in our Bible studies we've got five or seven, and that's okay. And whenever we meet together, we are asking God's inspiration and direction over our study of the Bible, the inspiration that he would offer to us. But again, I point this out because what Jesus said starting in verse 15, and even before that, because as you see in verse 10 and in verse 6 and starting in verse 1, there are three different sections prior to this, and he also talks about how it is that if we're going to be true servants of one another, then we're going to become like this little child. And he says that this little child has a humility that would enable it to be an example of the kingdom of God.

And of course, it also talks about not offending the little ones. And as I said, there's this parable in verse 10 about how it is, you know, that the sheep should be nurtured and cared for, again, by the church as a whole. And so all of us have a responsibility to be pulling together in love. And yet also, we have a responsibility to be growing in a divine nature of forgiveness, which he points out here throughout this chapter. Actually, the whole chapter seems to just focus on forgiveness and how it is that God is willing and wants us to become willing to be forgiving.

Actually, the last thing I guess I will point out, those three things are directly from this chapter, the last thing I'll point out about forgiveness, and maybe a reason why Jesus focused on it in Matthew 6, why he pointed out how specific and how meaningful that was and how that you cannot do without it, is that without forgiveness, you know, we become embittered. We become resentful.

We become, in a sense, not really very workable before God. We become set in our own way. Forgiveness actually releases us from bitterness and resentment. And unfortunately, you know, holding grudges and not being forgiving actually drains our emotional energy.

And it really limits our freedom before God. And unfortunately, if we remain unforgiving, if that's not a focus of our life and of what Jesus said, we need to become, you know, then we're inclined that we become an unforgiving person that is complaining and grumbling and whining. People who actually repel everybody else. That's what we end up being if we don't seek to be and have in our heart the forgiveness that Jesus speaks of here in Matthew 18 and, of course, in Matthew 6. Forgiving releases us from that bitterness. It actually gives us a peace of mind and freedom that you really can only have through following what God says.

Forgiveness is really a basis for having thriving relationships, and that's what God wants. He wants us all to be growing together in love, to be building each other up in love.

And so, I guess we could ask ourselves, and I will just go to one other verse here in the book of Colossians chapter 3. We should ask ourselves, do we forgive?

As Jesus said, we should. Out of gratitude and out of love, because God first forgave us.

Do we really do that? Is that a part of our nature at this point? See, we've been aware of this for years. But are we really that way? And do we go to our brother and anticipate gaining that brother because we are wanting to be forgiving and caring and loving and actually achieving what Jesus of course tells us to do? Here in Colossians 3, you've got, in chapter 3, as you have in Romans and Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and other books that Paul was writing to different congregations, you see several chapters, and usually one in each of those books.

It has a big long list. Get away from this and do that. Do what I'm telling you to do. And of course, Colossians 3 is one of those. It says in verse 1, if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Where Christ is, he's seated at the right hand of the Father. That's what we need to do. And of course, in verse 5, he says, put to death. Therefore whatever is on the earth, fornication, impurity, passion, evil, desire, and greed, and on account of these things, the wrath of God is going to come upon the disobedience. These are the ways that you also once were.

It says these are what you've come out of where you were living that life apart from God. But now, you must get rid of all of these things. Anger, and wrath, and malice, and slander, and abusive language, and don't lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off that old self with its practices, and you are clothing yourself with a new self. See, that's a transformation that God is performing in our lives, in our hearts, in our interactions, in our growing in a divine nature of forgiveness, that He greatly wishes to see every one of us participating in in a wonderful way.

And so, he says to be removing ourselves from things that are clearly wrong. And yet, in verse 12, he says, as God's chosen one's holy and beloved, clothe yourself with compassion. Clothe yourself with compassion and with kindness, with humility, with meekness, and with patience. And verse 13, what I want to get to, Colossians 3 verse 13 says, bearing with one another, bear with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Brethren, I think that's why Jesus points that out in the model prayer.

That's why He accentuated it with an illustration afterwards.

That's why He talks about it extensively here in Matthew 18 and how He is in the process of refining and causing all of us to grow in His nature. And so, I would hope that all of us can learn even a little more about that model prayer and about how it is we should be forgiving toward one another. This is talking about relationships, personal relationships, but it's really talking about fully understanding the nature of God and how that nature reflects forgiveness. Because God has been openly willing to forgive us, and then He also is wanting us to be forgiving and caring and loving toward one another so that we're able to truly be growing toward His divine Kingdom.

And as He said, He tells us also to pray, Thy Kingdom come. We want the Kingdom to come as soon as it can. But in the process or in the time being before it comes, we're yet the unfinished work that He is wanting to continue to refine by the Word of God because that Word is what causes our hearts to be able to see the need for and then truly to be forgiving.