Forgiveness (2003)

Overview

Today’s sermon comes from a series on the life of Jesus described in the gospel of Luke. As Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem described in the middle of Luke, Jesus gives us instruction for how to be a disciple. In today’s passage in Luke 17, Jesus teaches us that being a disciple means living a life of habitual, perpetual forgiveness. It means having a forgiving spirit.

Jesus’ teaching is so startling that his hearers respond with “increase our faith.” They are saying, “You haven’t given us enough faith to do this.” But Jesus says yes I have. There are three questions for today: Why do we need a forgiving spirit? What is it? And how do we get it?