Sunday 26th October, 2008

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FORGIVENESS: DEALING WITH GUILT

• A church in London once put a poster outside their church building that read, “Jesus died for Hitler too.” They received a massive amount of complaints from the public. Why do you think we find God’s forgiveness so shocking? Do you struggle to believe he could forgive anyone anything?

• Do you struggle to believe that God forgives all your sins? Why do you find it easier to believe he forgives some sins and not others? Read the parable on forgiveness in Matthew 18:21-35. The servant who was forgiven by the King owed him more money than would have been in circulation throughout the whole kingdom (the equivalent of 200,000 years’ wages!) Why did Jesus make such an exaggerated point? Does this have anything to say about your situation?

• Sometimes people say that in heaven we will be shown a movie showing our whole life, including everything we’ve done wrong, in front of an audience of everyone we know! You’ll be relieved to hear this isn’t mentioned in the Bible, but how does the thought of this make you feel? Are there big things in your life, past or present, that no one else knows? Why is this?

• Although you may know otherwise with you head, in your heart are you putting on masks in your relationship with God? What are you afraid of? Read the parable in Luke 15:11-24 and put yourself in the younger son’s shoes, returning to your Father covered in muck and having totally messed up. How does the Father react? Is it like in the parable? If not, read it again and reflect on the Father’s unconditional and absolute acceptance.

• Read Luke 3:1-14. If forgiveness is a free gift from God, how do you understand John’s demand that people produce fruit in keeping with repentance? How would you explain these two dynamics (God’s free gift and our deeds) to someone else?

• Read Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4:17-32. Try writing it out in your own words. In verse 28 Paul talks about working instead of stealing. Is this a one-off act or an ongoing process? What might this mean for us, as we consider reparation for things we’ve done wrong.

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