Offense, Unforgiveness, and Bitterness Part 3

So far we have covered offense in week #1 and last week we covered forgiveness and unforgiveness. In last weeks video teaching we discussed how forgiveness is a choice, and if we choose unforgiveness we put ourselves in the prison Jesus describes in Matthew 18:

Today I want to tackle what happens in our hearts when we lock ourselves in that prison of unforgiveness, Bitterness.

Let’s take a look at Hebrews 12:15 “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

This passage actually starts in the in the middle of a thought which begins in verse 14: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

Today we want to dissect this passage “Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled”

In the bible the word root has literal, metaphorical and figurative meanings.

Literal examples include the root of a plant or tree that is the part of the plant that draws in nourishment allowing the plant to grow and bear fruit.

Metaphorical it is used to describe the individual, family or nations foundation and growth or offspring. It is also used in this light to describe the messiah Jesus in describing him as “the root of Jesse” In Isaiah and the “Root of David” in Revelation.

Lastly in a figurative sense is it used to describe things or sources that lay at the root of a cause, for example in 1 Timothy 6 “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” In Proverbs 12 the writer likens the root of righteous to be the cause of a person bearing good fruit int heir lives. And of course here in Hebrews 12 the author uses this root language to describe a source that springing up causes trouble.

John Chrysostom, one of the patristic church fathers, Pastored in Antioch and later became the archbishop of Constantinople (Con Stan Tinople) was one of the most prolific authors and commentators of the scripture who during his early life he spent 2 years living in a cave fasting, praying and memorizing the scripture, where he is said to have memorized the entire new testament. During his preaching years in Antioch he became known by the nickname “Golden Mouth” because he was such an eloquent yet loquacious orator exegeting the scripture with great finesse. His sermons were said to last over 2 hours yet still well attended and even sought after.

Chrysostom was secreted off away from Antioch for fear of riots when he was taken to Constantinople to be installed as Archbishop. Yet while in Constantinople he was betrayed and turned against because his preaching was against lifestyles that were common in the Greek culture and were becoming common in the church, that were contrary to scripture.

Chrysostom was exiled.

He was a man well versed in this theme of offense, unforgiveness and bitterness and he correlated this passage in Hebrews 12 with Ephesians 4:29-32 which says “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Chrysostom said this: “Bitterness” begets “wrath”; “wrath,” “anger”; “anger,” “clamor”; and “clamor,” the more chronic “evil-speaking,” slander, insinuations, and surmises of evil. “fires fed within, and not appearing to by-standers from without, are the most formidable”.

He believed that if you did not deal with bitterness at the start it would beget… you know that word that means “give birth to” and so bear its fruitfulness in wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking and ultimately malice. These fires fed within and not appearing to the bystanders from without are the most formidable in our lives. Fires inside that burn hot within us.

King David was also one who was betrayed by one whom he was close to:

Psalm 55:12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng.

Psalm 41:9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.

It was in the midst of this betrayal that David penned “Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” A passage echo’d by Peter in 1 Peter 5:7 as he wrote: “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Whether Chrysostom or King David or you or me there will be those offenses that do come. Are you going to forgive and cast your cares on the Lord, or are you going to let bitterness take root and spring up to cause trouble in your life?

Turning back to our passage in Hebrews 12 “Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled”

This language here: “and by this many” used here in Hebrews according to Jamieson, Fausset and Brown in their work on this epistle indicate that the author of Hebrews intent here is not random, that there may be many who become defiled but those many really are random, not intimately known; but rather this language in “by this many” is actually the author implying “the many” that is the whole congregation. This is a direct warning if you become bitter you will ultimately defile those whom you love.

This word defile here is the Greek word μιαίνω

(me i nō) miaínō [to stain, defile]

Rick Renner explains this Greek word in descriptive language as it ties to bitterness:

He says: “Now imagine you have the most beautiful snow-white carpet in your home. It is gorgeous, plush and you love your white carpet. I come along and am carrying a glass of grape juice. I spill that grape juice all over your beautiful white carpet and I (me i nō) miaínō [to stain, defile] your carpet. Now you don’t see your beautiful white carpet you only see the stain, the (me i nō) miaínō [to stain, defile] and every time you see that stain you are reminded of me and my grape juice. You now are bitter towards me and everything you see of me, remember of me is tainted by this stain. Worse still now every time you see any unstained white carpet, even in someone else’s home you now can only think of this miaínō [to stain, defile]

Now let me help bring this idea home here: the bitter person is the one who spills the grape juice in the many’s lives. It is not the Offender, it is the one who has not forgiven, they are the ones that spill the grape juice, and ultimately stain those whom they love.

No let me bring this back around to the family here: if we see the metaphorical picture of root here in Hebrews we can see that if you become bitter you pass on a root of bitterness to your lineage, to your family, your children. They will “carry your offense” and they will be (me i nō) Stained by your bitterness.

My friends let me be clear here: For the sake of your family, for the sake of your children, forgive. don’t let a root of bitterness defile the ones you love.

Or to say it as Chrysostom said it, Don’t let your bitterness give birth to, Wrath, Anger , Clamor “evil-speaking,” slander, insinuations, and surmises of evil in your life or the lives of your family or in the lives of those whom you love in the congregation.

Choose to Forgive.

Resources:

John Bevere “Bait of Satan”

Rodney Hogue “Forgiveness”