The Faith To Forgive

The Holy Spirit is such a good teacher! He led me into His word one Sunday morning and this is what I got from just a few versus from Luke Chapter 17. As I was reading the versus I mention below, I felt such an anointing that I knew it was a message that the Lord wanted me to understand, retain and share with others. As I set my heart to understand and meditate on His word this is the revelation I got. In the epistle of John, it say's the following: “…His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as He has taught you, remain in Him” 1 John: 2:27. We can trust His leading as we set our hearts to understand the scriptures at a deeper level. Therefore, I submit this revelatory teaching to you, taught not by human wisdom or understanding, but I believe by the spirit of God. 

In the bible we are instructed over and over again about the importance of faith. We know that we are saved by grace through faith. This means that our faith is not only important to God, but paramount to a victorious walk. Because of this, our spiritual enemy will do everything he can do circumvent our faith walk. Its a house of cards, if our faith is built on anything less than the words and commands of Jesus. This why the scriptures remind us: "Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, strong in your faith..." 1 Peter 5: 8-9.

Our spiritual enemy wants to devour our faith. He does this by getting our focus off of the word of God and unto our circumstances. He will use many things to attempt these distractions. One of these distractions is to set up road blocks that hinder our faith. He will deceive us into thinking we need to fight for ourselves instead of trusting God. One of the most common road blocks he uses is unforgiveness in the heart of the believer. Let’s take a look at the verses in Luke together...

“So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”. He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree (Sycamine Tree), ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” Luke 17: 3-6 NIV

Jesus starts by warning his disciples to watch themselves. Many times, when we have been in church for awhile, we tend to get our eyes off of Jesus and pursuing Him with passion. We can become distracted with what others are saying, doing or not doing (especially if it affects us). In many Christian relationships there can be disappointment, betrayal, and gossip that leads to further wounding's. These wounding's can all be a set up for an offense. In this teaching, Jesus is cautioning His disciples to be on guard against themselves. So what do we need guard ourselves from? Pride. We need to be extra careful of a spirit of Pride that can leak into the church. Pride will cause us to focus on ourselves (how we were hurt) instead of how to love those who are unlovely (pray for our enemies). This sort of self-focused thinking will always leads to unforgiveness and offense in the heart of the wounded believer. 

In these passages, Jesus instructs his disciples to not only forgive, but to forgive up to 7 times a day!  This statement seemed so impossible to the apostles that their only response was “Lord, increase our Faith”!. They needed more faith to believe and apply what Jesus was saying. Its hard to implement our faith when we are struggling with a grudge towards our brother or sister. Really it a lack of love because love does not keep a record of wrongs. The answer to this dilemma is Faith working through Love. It takes FAITH, operating through love, to forgive those who sin against us especially if its multiple times and/or has caused much damage. 

Think about this...Jesus responded with such an impossible number (7 times in a single day!) to warn his disciples against the sin of holding unforgiveness in their hearts. By forgiving others when they sin against us, we are choosing to walk in faith because we are submitting to God's word over what our feelings are saying. Let's read this verse again to gain a deeper understanding of the number 7 and why Jesus used this in his teaching about forgiveness: "Even if they sin against you seven times in a day...you must forgive them"

Why does Jesus use the number 7? In Hebrew the number 7 represents divine perfection or completion. In this parable, Jesus is really expressing the need to forgive our brothers and sisters until our forgiveness (from the heart) is complete. Too often we tend to forgive people because we know its the right thing to do; however, the bitterness towards that person or what they did is still lurking underneath the surface (hidden in our thoughts, feelings and emotions). These feelings are strongholds (in our roots) that need to be uprooted.

To further illustrate the importance of forgiving from the heart, let us read Mathew 18. This is a sobering parable about forgiving our brothers/sisters from the heart and/or what happens if we do not: “Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." Mathew 18: 33-35

In the illustration above, Jesus is putting the forgiveness from the Father towards us into perspective. We must forgive from the heart if we want to be forgiven. True forgiveness then requires faith, working through love, for the forgiveness to be complete. Love does not keep a record of wrongs and faith always obeys God. The two working together makes the impossible actually possible. We know that Faith is pleasing to God and when we forgive by Faith (apart from how we feel) we are pleasing to God.

It's important to note here that we simply cannot forgive people in our own strength. It’s only by His grace towards us through our faith and empowered by the Holy Spirit that we can actually forgive sins. The same process that brought us forgiveness is how we forgive others. We receive forgiveness of our sins by faith and grace, so we also forgive others by that same faith and giving grace to others...especially when they don't deserve it, otherwise it wouldn't be grace.

The Power of Forgiveness 

The mark of a true Christian is not their church attendance, their good works or even their confession of the word of God. The true mark of a believer is their ability to love and forgive others no matter how large the offense. Remember one of the final words from our Lord on the Cross is "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing". And to cement this importance, almost immediately after the resurrection, one of the first encounters Jesus has with his disciples is the empowerment to forgive others. . . “And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit” If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven…” John 20:22-23.

It's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to forgive others. This is why we are taught multiple times in scripture to walk in the Spirit (not in the flesh). This teaching was the central message of the gospel then and its the same for us today. Really...the ability to forgive others is the basis of our faith. Without it we are powerless as believers. Forgiveness was also the central message of Jesus and when He spoke, He would often speak forgiveness to an individual that required healing. We see this in Luke chapter 5 shortly after Jesus starts His ministry. 

Luke 5:18-22

“Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their FAITH, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?”

Notice how Jesus does not address the fact that this man was paralyzed; He simply say's "Friend, your sins are Forgiven" and immediately the man is healed. Our Faith proceeds forgiveness and then healing (both physical and emotional) comes as a result. But, notice how the Pharisees responded. They were holding a grudge because of the forgiveness and goodness of God. This is where Satan deceives God's people. He will whisper lies to us primarily through our emotions (empowered by pride) when others sin against so that we do not fully forgive our brother or sister from our hearts. This puts us into a spiritual prison making us ineffective to be salt and light. 

Our spiritual enemy is after our faith and when we do not forgive from the heart, we are not operating in faith. When we are struggling with unforgiveness (even a grudge) towards others, we (like the Pharisees) are adopting religious and judgmental thinking. In this situation, Jesus would say to us today: “Why are you thinking these things in your heart?”. I can almost hear Jesus saying....Why are you thinking thoughts of bitterness towards others when I have forgiven you of so much? When we hold a grudge towards others who have offended us, we have lost sight of the fact that we were forgiven of all of our sins. This is a dangerous place to live because it grieves His Spirit. 

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, FORGIVING each other, just as in Christ God FORGAVE YOU” Ephesians 4:30-32

In the scriptures forgiveness is not a suggestion....its a command from our Lord. Forgiveness also requires trust - a trust that God will make it right. Choosing to forgive is not ignoring what happened, but it is remembering what happened to Jesus. More specifically, what we did (our own sins) that put Him up there. Once we get a heartfelt understanding and revelation of the cross, we can then more easily let go of the grudges and bitterness that might haunt us daily.

Forgiving others (no matter what they have done) is always a trust issue. Not in the offender, but in God. Do we trust God to make it right? Do we trust what His word say's? The Lord told me one morning "Forgiveness is the key to Trust". When we forgive others we are trusting God because its His command to us who believe. Therefore, we could use the following acronym for FAITH to help us to remember the importance of practicing forgiveness in our faith walk.  

Forgiving Always In Trusting Him

Forgiveness is the 1st base in our Christian walk and it’s absolutely foundational to our growth and maturity in Christ. Remember the Lord’s Prayer: “forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned us against us”. We cannot simply forgive when we feel like it. We forgive (by faith) because we choose to obey His commands. “Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” John 14:23. Back to our parable in Luke 17…

"And the Lord said, If ye had FAITH as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this Sycamine Tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" Luke 17:6 KJV

This is such a powerful verse and filled with so many connotations. Notice how Jesus likens using our Faith to speaking to a particular tree and pulling it up by the roots. More specifically a Sycamine Tree (some versions call is a mulberry tree; however, the correct translation is from the New King James version - a Sycamine Tree). So why does Jesus use the Sycamine Tree in His parable to symbolize unforgiveness? For starters, a tree and more specifically the fruit, can symbolize something in regards to the root system.

Go back to the garden and what was the focus in the beginning of time? You guessed it! There was a tree with certain fruit to avoid. More specifically….the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why did God want to keep mankind from eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Because the fruit from eating from this tree is judging for ourselves what is good and what is evil instead letting God judge by trusting Him. Jesus points us to a very important truth using a tree in this parable as His illustration on how to have more faith to forgive. Let's read this verse again...

"And the Lord said, If ye had FAITH as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this Sycamine Tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" Luke 17:6 KJV

In the old testament God puts man and woman in the garden. I believe in the new testament God puts the garden in us (our hearts). We have many trees in the garden of our heart. Some are good, yet some are very harmful to our faith and they need to uprooted. Why do these trees need to be uprooted? Because they hinder our love and forgiveness towards others, which blocks our own faith, healing and forgiveness. Our love towards others in what our faith is really about.

Let's visit how Jesus answers a Pharisee who was trying to justify himself about the law: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Mathew 22:36-40

"And the Lord said, If ye had FAITH as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this Sycamine Tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" Luke 17:6 KJV

All of the law hangs on our ability to love God and others. And Jesus teaches us in Luke 17:6 what blocks our ability to operate in faith and love towards others. He say’s a mustard seed (small amount) of faith can actually uproot this tree that is an obstacle to our faith. In others words just a little faith can do a lot of forgiveness. Every one of us has dealt with an unloving person that has sinned against us allowing unforgiveness and the roots of bitterness to surface. This tree, in our hearts, has a voice and it speaks to our emotions causing us to meditate on the evil done to us instead of the goodness of God. This tree (similar to the knowledge of good and evil) keeps knowledge (a record) of others sins including our own and it demands justice, shame and/or condemnation.

In order to have victory in our Christian walk, we need stop eating its fruit; however, we cannot stop there. We need to cut it down, but that's still not enough. We must uproot this tree (by the root system) in order for it to be effective. It's important to mention here that we cannot never forgive others by focusing on the sin done against us. Rather, we put our focus on removing the tree that is producing the thoughts of bitterness and offense towards others. The thoughts and feelings are coming from within not from the outside. In other words, by uprooting the tree, out goes the difficulty of forgiving our brothers and sisters because the tree (or memory) that remembers the sin is gone. It might sound impossible and it is apart from God, and that's why we can only do this by faith.

Now that we understand the need to garden our own hearts, let’s look into more detail on why Jesus specifically picked the Sycamine Tree in this passage. There are 4 primary characteristics of a Sycamine tree that I want to discuss here. It's absolutely amazing and it makes so much sense on why Jesus picked this tree out of all trees that could hinder our faith and love.

1. Roots- Every tree has a root system and the roots always produce the fruits. The Sycamine tree had a very large and deep root structure. Because its roots went down so deep, it was hard to kill. In fact, its roots were so deep that taps into underground water sources. Even if you cut its base, the tree was unaffected and could stay alive by its deep root system alone. Roots of bitterness go down deep in the human heart and lie hidden in the soil of the heart. These bitter roots will suck the water (representing life) out of us.

2. Spiritually Dry- This tree grew quickly and for that reason it was famous in the Middle East. Unforgiveness and bitterness grows quickly and get's out of control. It starts with thoughts of offense and turns into accusation. Also, this tree grows the best in dry conditions. When we are spiritually dry, bitterness runs rapid. In addition, the Sycamine tree’s wood was the preferred wood for building caskets and coffins! What an example to show us how deadly bitterness and unforgiveness is. It will kill your joy, peace and spiritual life. It will kill relationships. In the end it leads to death using its own wood for the casket of the one who desires its fruit. 

3. Bitter Figs - The Sycamine tree produced a fig that was very bitter to eat. This fruit was so bitter; it took a long time to eat little by little. That is what bitterness does. We keep chewing on it over and over again which hinders our faith and forgiveness towards others. Only poor people would eat it to represent their spiritual poverty. The bitterness would keep them in a place of poverty. A poverty of short sightedness. This poverty is different than being poor in spirit (broken in heart). Its poverty thinking that keeps us poor in faith. 

4. Wasps - The Sycamine tree was pollinated ONLY by WASPS. It could be reproduced only by wasps stinging it right in its heart. You could say through the sting of bitterness unforgiveness is reproduced on our lives. The devil desires to pollinate our hearts by stinging us with bitterness - remembering people’s sins, keeping a record of wrongs, and holding a grudge. In short, the Sycamine tree is a tree of unforgiveness with deep bitter roots. The scriptures make a sober warning to us all. “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled” Hebrews 12:15. To partner with bitterness is to come short of the grace of God. To put it another way, we fail to walk in God’s grace when we are partnering with bitterness towards others or even ourselves. This is a dangerous place to live and not only does it hinder our own healing it can kill our faith.

Its no wonder why Jesus would use this tree as his illustration on how to uproot bitterness from our lives so that we can truly forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus say’s if we just use a small amount of faith (size of a mustard seed) we can uproot ALL unforgiveness and bitterness; however, we must desire to do it from the heart. Faith always works through Love and when our faith partners with God's unconditional love, we can uproot these deadly trees from our hearts.  “

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” Galatians 5:6

Jesus ends this amazing parable with a final truth using our faith: "be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea". Why a sea and not a lake, river or pond? Because the sea is the same place He hurled our sins: "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" Micah 7:19

Jesus is instructing His disciples to plant those sins done against us in the same place where God placed our sins...in the depths of the sea to be remembered no more. When we have an issue forgiving others, we really have an issue with receiving Gods compassion and forgiveness towards us. A bitter attitude not only makes us spiritually poor, but it also leads to feeling defeated, depressed, sick, and financially poor as well. If we choose by FAITH to forgive others, we are uprooting this tree from our hearts. We are choosing the Tree of Life instead of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By choosing forgiveness we are choosing life. Therefore choose life, and choose by FAITH to uproot this tree in your garden!  

Please take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit if there is anyone you need to forgive. It could be a person or an event and even yourself. Then choose to forgive, with His help, and most importantly ask for His guidance to remove any bitter roots from your heart so you are not dealing with unhitched emotions again. I pray this blesses you. God bless you!

Credits:

Some of the article above about the Sycamine tree was inspired and copied from Rick Renner's post below. Its a great article and I encourage you to read it.

http://www.renner.org/forgiveness/why-jesus-compared-unforgiveness-to-the-sycamine-tree/