WATER BAPTISM JUNE 15

Happy Fathers Day for our Heavenly Father

1 SAMUEL 7

Matthew 18:21-35 Lessons for the Citizens of the Kingdom

Part 5 – Forgiveness

21Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

KEY QUESTION: WHEN is THEN

It’s always an important question to ask of a passage

Because CONTEXT is so important to having a correct interpretation of a passage ---- and consequently the correct application.

The general context is that of Jesus continuing to pour in to His disciples truths concerning

The NATURE of His Kingdom…

It is built upon WHO He is ----

the Messiah, the Son of the Living God ----who would suffer and die for the sins of the world and rise from the dead

It is built upon HOW much he cares for the children of the Kingdom

Truths about how they should live as those serving such a King --- in His Kingdom….

He is giving to them LESSONS IN CITIZENSHIP.

About the CENTRALITY of HUMILITY in His Kingdom

Humility DEFINES greatness in His Kingdom.

Humility PRESERVES unity

In the IMMEDIATE CONTEXT – Jesus has just taught them about the process of correction and restoration.

Humility and love in action to WIN a brother

THAT is the WHEN of

21Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

We are often quick to find fault with Peter ----

I think we are relieved by the size and number of the faults that we find in this guy.

But I also believe that we should be greatly encouraged by Peter’s great strength –

He was so secure in His relationship with Jesus.

He was never afraid to ASK questions of Jesus.

We are the beneficiaries of the fact that Peter ---- despite his obvious flaws ---- ASKED questions

Because we get to hear the ANSWERS given by Jesus.

REMEMBERING THE CONTEXT - Peter is essentially asking

“O.K. Jesus – What if we go after this guy and restore him as our brother, but he sins again. Does forgiveness have a limit?”

Do we say to somebody, “Look ---- I have already forgiven you five times for what you done. That's it--you have gone beyond the limit”?

Having pointed out the admirable trait in Peter we DO have to note that Peter’s question seems to be an attempt by Peter to make himself look good to in the front of the others

(after Jesus has laid the groundwork of how important humility is to citizenship within His Kingdom)

The rabbis taught that a man must forgive his brother three times.

Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said, "He who begs forgiveness from his neighbour must not do so more than three times.”

Rabbi Jose ben Jehuda said, "If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a second time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time they do not forgive."

They based this upon the Book of Amos. (Joel – Amos – Obadiah)

In the opening chapters of Amos there is a series of condemnations on the various nations for three transgressions and then a fourth

Amos 1:3;6;9

Amos 1:11,13

Amos 2:1;4;6

From this they concluded that God's forgiveness extends to three offences and that he visits the sinner with punishment at the fourth.

Thus the Jews justified the limit of three times for forgiveness, saying, "If three transgressions fills up the measure of God's forgiveness, men can't go beyond God."

In light of this we see that Peter’s question was actually self-promoting

Peter says –

Lord – I know the Rabbis teach that we should forgive three times….

But look – I’m gonna multiply that by two ---- and for good measure add one

So Peter asks the question (and bless his heart for asking)

But he asks as if he is eager to hear Jesus say ----

Whoa Peter ---- you are more than TWICE as spiritual than any of these rabbi dudes!

He asks as if he’s eager to hear another ----

You are blessed again Simon son of John, ---- you got ANOTHER revelation from My heavenly father!

Jesus drops a bomb on old Peter.

22Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

That must have blown Peter’s mind.  Who could keep count for that many offenses?  But that was exactly the point Jesus was making:  

TO ILLUSTRATE this lesson in the boundless nature of God’s forgiveness Jesus then says

23Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’

27Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

Here's a great king who one day decided to call in all his debtors.

So he sends out his soldiers and back they come with this man.

When the king asks, "How much does this man owe?" his CPAs check the books and back comes the answer, "10,000 talents, your majesty.”

To us in the year 2008 that doesn't communicate anything.

Commentators list the modern value of 10,000 talents as anywhere between $12 million and $1 billion

THE POINT of the figure is that it was an un-payable debt

A man might work all his life and make ten talents

Or if he was wealthy might end up with a hundred talents. or perhaps even a thousand.

But here's a man who's run up a debt of 10,000 talents.

How did he do it?

The text doesn't say ---- but perhaps he was governor of a province in the king's realm ---- and perhaps he skimmed off the tax revenue and secretly amassed a huge fortune.

In any case, the day of reckoning has come.

And the man is flat broke.

He spent it all, doesn't have a penny left.

So the king says, "Sell his wife, sell his kids, sell his house, and while you're at it, sell him."

Not that this man was worth that kind of money;

This would do virtually nothing to pay off the debt, because slaves at their top price were sold at a talent apiece.

At that point the servant does what any of us would have done.

Verse 26 says that he starts to beg.

And he even makes the ridiculous promise to pay him back.

He couldn't do it in a million years.

The Bible says the king was moved with compassion.

And he does something the man doesn't even ask for.

The king not only releases him, he also forgave the debt.

He wipes the slate clean

Erases the book

Cancels the debt that was IMPOSSIBLE to repay!

Now the man owes him nothing.

And the man walked away scot-free ---- BECAUSE of the MERCY of the King!

Now this is interesting – the man has gone from owing a billion dollars to owing ZERO

He owes ZERO but he HAS ZERO!

SO he thinks – where am I gonna get SOME money?

28“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

QUOTE: William Barclay - It was approximately one five-hundred-thousandth of his own debt.

NOTE THIS WITH ME: Verse 29 is almost a word-for-word replay of Verse 26 ---- Only this time everything is reversed.

What the first man had said to the king the second man now says to him.

The man formerly with the great debt is on top and his friend who owes virtually nothing is begging for mercy.

29So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31So when his fellow servants saw what had been done,

they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.

It wasn't the fact that the servant would not forgive his friend that shocked them.

It was the fact that he was so unforgiving after having found such mercy himself.

32Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant,

just as I had pity on you?’ 34And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.35“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: This is NOT about losing salvation after having been forgiven.

You don’t EARN your salvation by works of righteousness

And thus you don’t LOSE it by failing to be righteous.

Gal. 2:16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

This story is intended to impress us with

1.) The enormity of our own sins.

2.) The greatness of God's forgiveness.

3.) The relative lightness of the sins of others against us.

4.) HOW the FORGIVEN citizen of the Kingdom should live ---- how that life should be marked by and forgiving.

We read this and say - What was wrong with this guy?

The same thing that is wrong with many professing Christians:  

They are unable to extend forgiveness with those who have wronged them BECAUSE

They have such a FLAWED view of the mercy THEY have received.  

They don’t truly understand GRACE and MERCY ---- they still have some sense of self- righteousness in what they have received from God. 

It is only when we truly experience forgiveness in our hearts that we are humbled by it and it makes us gentle and forgiving toward others.

 

The servant in the parable did not have a deep experience of forgiveness and humility.

He was simply glad to be “off the hook” --- and for some reason believed that he SHOULD have been forgiven --- while this guy wasn’t so worthy. 

“And be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do you” (Col. 3:13).

One of the evidences that a person is saved is love for the brethren (1 John 3:10-17 ).

Christians who cannot forgive others have forgotten what Christ has done for them on the cross.

The Church (church) must beware of “the leaven of malice and wickedness” (1 Cor. 5:6-8 ) that will silently grow and corrupt the entire fellowship. 

REMEMBER - This last part of the parable has nothing to do with salvation; it is a matter of “family forgiveness” between siblings in Christ, not between God and the sinner

5.) The danger of an unforgiving spirit.

34And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers (tormentors) until he should pay all that was due to him.

CRUCIAL POINT: Our salvation may be sure, yet we may be "tortured" by our own un-forgiveness

KEY INSIGHT: The world’s worst prison is the prison of an unforgiving heart.

 

Some of the most miserable people I have met through my years of ministry have been people who would not forgive others.  

They lived only to imagine ways to punish these people who had wronged them.

But they were really only punishing themselves.

QUOTE: The hidden tormentors of anger and bitterness that eat your insides out, the tormentors of frustration and malice that give you ulcers and high blood pressure and migraine headaches and lower back pain, the tormentors that make you lie awake at night on your bed stewing over every rotten thing that happens to you. The tormentors of an unforgiving heart who stalk your trail day and night, who never leave your side, who suck every bit of joy from your life.

CLOSING CONSIDERATIONS

"I can forgive but I can't forget?”

Almost all of us have experienced the problem of forgiving someone the best way we know how and then discovering that angry thoughts still fill our minds.

This bothers them because they have been told that God forgives and forgets.

Hebrew 10:17 “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

LISTEN – God does NOT FORGET anything!

He CAN’T forget ---- If He DID forget He would be imperfect --- He would not be ALL-KNOWING.

He is God because He KNOWS ALL things.

THUS – We must understand Hebrews to mean that He CHOSES to not hold our sins against us in a judicial sense anymore.

KEY POINT: Forgiveness is a choice we make.

Forgiveness does not mean we somehow wipe out of our mind the record of what happened.

Forgiveness means that

We choose not to remember it in the sense of not dragging it up and holding it over their head!

We choose not to hold a grudge against someone who has wronged us.

LISTEN - What glory would it be to God in forgiving us if He had a Divine size lobotomy so that He couldn’t remember that we ever offended Him.

NO – the GLORY of His Mercy is that He knows EVERY sin ----- not just the ones we count

Yet He CHOOSES to not hold our sin against us in a judicial sense ----

He REFUSES to drag up the charges ever again.

Christ will forever bear in His body the COST of our sin!

When we see Jesus we will see Jesus as the Father sees Him ---- as the Lamb that was slain

Slain for MY sin ---- for YOUR sin.

“What do you do if the other person will not admit he was wrong?”

Writing on this very passage over 400 years ago, John Calvin said there are two kinds of forgiveness.

1.) The first is the kind where the person who did the wrong

admits it

comes to you asking forgiveness

you grant it and the relationship is restored.

That's the ideal ---- There’s confession, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing.

Unfortunately, in this fallen world the ideal is not always possible.

Sometimes ---- most times perhaps ---- people who have wronged us

Will not admit their guilt no matter what we do.

Sometimes they will lie to cover up the truth.

Sometimes they will cut off the relationship rather than face the hard work of reconciliation.

Sometimes they will even keep on hurting us

How can you forgive in a situation like that?

Calvin said you can forgive even in that situation in the sense that you refuse to let the hurt dominate your own life.

True, the relationship remains broken.

It may never be healed.

You can choose to wipe the slate clean so that your life is free from bitterness.

That's not easy but it's far better than living in the past keeping that wound open and festering!

Many of us struggle with unresolved hurts going back many years.

We've been angry and bitter far too long.

The hidden tormentors have done their work.

Now ---- Today ---- is time to forgive.

BECAUSE WE have been forgiven

We are CITIZENS in His Kingdom because when we owed a debt of sin that was beyond calculation the King was moved with compassion for us.

SO MOVED that He died in our place to PAY the debt.

Wounded for our transgression….

And now HE CHOOSES to not hold our sins against us.

Now ---- Today ---- is time to forgive.

BECAUSE it is the way the citizens of His Kingdom are to live ---- because the King has commanded us to it.

COMMUNIONOFFERING