2 Corinthians 4:7-18 (New International
Version)
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show
that this all-surpassing power is from God and not
from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but
not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our
body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may
also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive
are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake,
so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work
in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have
spoken."[a]With that same spirit of faith we also
believe and therefore speak, 14because we know
that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the
dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with
you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so
that the grace that is reaching more and more
people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the
glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly
we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (New International
Version)
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of
these surpassingly great revelations, there was given
me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to
take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace
is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may
rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight
in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak,
then I am strong.
Tim Keller sermon notes / Series: Practical
Grace / Sermon: Forgiving Grace
By davestuartjr
I dug up these sermon notes this morning, wanting to post them
today. I picked them seemingly at random. But as I read them, what
joy I had. I just spent a half hour meditating on Romans 15:7, which is
basically the gospel (I’m unacceptable, yet I was accepted, so I can
accept people). My thoughts went to a situation today where a
student whose been defiant and disrespectful to me for a long time
made pretty clear evidence against herself as a vulgar graffiti artist.
My inclination was to get out a sample of her writing, compare it to
the graffiti, and take the case to our assistant principal tomorrow.
But this is a good word from Tim Keller: If you try to get justice before
forgiving someone, you’re not going for justice, you’re going for
vengeance. And, you’ll never get justice.
God bless you, and may He use these notes to sanctify You as a
Father instructs His children.
Tim Keller / Series: Practical Grace / Sermon: Forgiving Grace
Scripture: 2 Cor 4:7-18 “jars of clay”, 12:7-10
Suffering = not a choice
Long-suffering = an active choice
Forgiving spirit: the ability to bear injuries and mistreatment from
other people without it taking your poise or getting you down.
Hebrews 12:15 Take care lest any harbor a root of bitterness…
–Anger is called a root in this metaphor, the deepest part of the tree.
1. We can admit to others and ourselves the sin of anxiety, worry, lust,
depression, but we cannot admit anger. We hide it from ourselves,
we always minimize it. We always minimize just how mad we
continue to be. The anger passes into you and it twists you, making
you cynical and hard and starting a low- grade spiritual fever that
goes on and on and on and on.
2. Anger works in a subterranean way in your life. It’s down there and
you don’t know it, it’s affecting you and don’t know it.
Long-suffering—to not have how you’ve been wronged affect you.
This is the big task!
–If you don’t have this, you’ll be in prison, tortured, not free
What is it?
3 things you’ve got to do when the little roots of anger try to come in:
Cancel the debt, refuse revenge
You do not make the other person pay the debt of
emotional pain, but you pay it down yourself. When
someone wrongs you it creates an emotional debt of pain,
it’s a debt that you feel.
The other person has to pay: insult them, gossip about
them, ruin their reputation with other people, slander them,
all while saying “revenge is beneath me”
You want to hurt them because it makes you feel better.
It’s paying down the debt. You want to see them pay.
Slowly you feel less and less that the person owes you.
BUT it passes into you. It has melted you into its likeness.
When we make the other person pay, we are becoming
like the evil it did to us.
Paying it down yourself: Every time you want to rehash
the past with a person, but you don’t, it hurts. Every
time you want to rub their nose in it but you don’t, it hurts.
Every time you see them prospering and you refuse to
stick little pins in them in your imagination, it hurts.
Why does it hurt? Because it’s costly not to take the
revenge. (Wow.)
But dealing with that hurt and refusing to take revenge
means you still possess your soul. You’ve beaten your
wrongdoer—you’ve beaten them with love.
Be moved with compassion for someone else’s misery.
Automatically when someone wrongs you your heart is
going to start enumerating the differences between you
and that person.
If you want to possess your soul, you’ve got to stress the
commonality between you and the person.
Whenever someone wrongs you, you caricature them in
your heart, making huge their worst feature. Deep in
every human soul is a deep desire to justify yourself.
We’re afraid that we’re not okay, that we’re not desirable.
That fear is behind workaholism, racism. It’s all selfjustification, rooted in fear. It’s behind how you caricature
the person who wrongs you. You need to feel noble, you
need to feel superior, you need to feel better.
In order to transform that to grace, you’ve got to focus on
the commonality. I am fallible, so is this person. I am
weak, I make dumb mistakes, so does this person. (This
is amazing.)
3. Let him go.
I don’t want to forgive, I want justice. If you want to confront
them before forgiving them, you’re going for justice. You’re
going to hurt them. AND you’ll never get justice.
Vengeance is selfish, you’re not concerned with truth, it’s all
about you.
Resignation is selfish, you’re letting a person go on sinning.
Forgiving spirit: Doesn’t like conflict, doesn’t avoid it. Doesn’t
do vengeance, doesn’t do resignation.
How in the world are we ever going to do this?
Behold the king who became a servant. Jesus Christ: It’s paid.
He knew that his servants would ruin him—that’s why he
came.
After all she’s done for me, I’m almost happy about this tiny
opportunity to show her how much she means to me.
Jesus didn’t make you pay a bit.
You’ll never be able to pay the debts people have to you
unless you see the infinite debt. After all he’s done for me, I’m
almost glad to have the opportunity to show him what he
means to me by paying this debt.
Col 3:12 Therefore as God’s chosen people set apart and
dearly loved clothed yourselves with patience.
Not be patient in order to be loved, but because your utterly loved you
can be patient. — (This is a facet of the gospel-changed heart.)