Matthew 18:21-35<\/p>\n
The Church God Wants:<\/p>\n
A Church that That\u2019s Quick to Forgive!<\/p>\n
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, \u201cLord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?\u201d<\/p>\n
22Jesus answered, \u201cI tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.<\/em><\/p>\n 23\u201cTherefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.<\/em><\/p>\n 26\u201cThe servant fell on his knees before him. \u2018Be patient with me,\u2019 he begged, \u2018and I will pay back everything.\u2019 27The servant\u2019s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.<\/em><\/p>\n 28\u201cBut when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. \u2018Pay back what you owe me!\u2019 he demanded.<\/em><\/p>\n 29\u201cHis fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, \u2018Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n 30\u201cBut he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.<\/em><\/p>\n 32\u201cThen the master called the servant in. \u2018You wicked servant,\u2019 he said, \u2018I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn\u2019t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?\u2019 34In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.<\/em><\/p>\n 35\u201cThis is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.\u201d<\/em> (NIV1984)<\/p>\n Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n One of the truths that the Bible teaches very clearly is also a truth that many people simply reject. That truth centers on the fact that each and every human being\u2014 save One!\u2014 is \u201cconceived and born in sin\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 51:5). This means that each and every human being\u2014 save One!\u2014 was and is born with an old sinful nature. Over the course of the years I have had long discussions with many people when it comes to the Bible\u2019s teaching that we have all inherited our old sinful nature from our parents. Whenever someone is having difficulty realizing that truth I ask them to look at their children. We don\u2019t have to teach our children how to be selfish. All by themselves they will grab onto one of their toys and say, \u201cMine!\u201d We don\u2019t have to teach our children how to be disobedient. All on their own they will look up at us and say, \u201cNo!\u201d We don\u2019t have to teach our children how to talk back to us or how to hit someone when they are mad or how to lie. Their old sinful nature automatically knows how to do all these things. Our goal as Christian parents is to teach them to share, to teach them to be obedient and follow the rules, to teach them to not hurt other people and to always tell the truth.<\/p>\n Our sermon text for today reminds us of another very important truth: by nature we do not know how to forgive\u2014 in the way God expects<\/strong> us to forgive! Since God-like forgiveness does not come to us naturally it must be learned from God Himself. As we conclude our sermon series entitled The Church God Wants <\/em><\/strong>let\u2019s see how Jesus teaches us that the church that God <\/strong>wants is: A Church That\u2019s Quick to Forgive!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Our sermon text for today is a continuation of last Sunday\u2019s Gospel Lesson. (Matthew 18:15-20) Jesus had just spoken to His disciples about what He wants and expects us to do if a brother or a sister in the faith sins against us. Jesus\u2019 instruction on what is now known as the \u201cSteps of Church Discipline\u201d leads the apostle Peter to ask Jesus, \u201cLord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?\u201d<\/em> The rabbis had taught God\u2019s people that they were required <\/strong>to forgive someone three times. If that person sinned against you a fourth time\u2014 they don\u2019t deserve to be forgiven!<\/p>\n If Peter thought that Jesus was going to commend him because instead of being willing to forgive someone three times\u2014 as he had been taught\u2014 he was willing to forgive someone who had sinned against him \u201cup to seven times,\u201d<\/em> well, Peter was undoubtedly quite surprised when Jesus responded, \u201cI tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.\u201d<\/em> This could also be translated as \u201cseventy times seven times.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Peter\u2019s question may have flowed from a concern that someone could take advantage of Jesus\u2019 instruction on forgiving someone who has sinned against you. Is there a limit as to the number of times we are willing to forgive someone? At what point do we say, \u201cEnough is enough! I can\u2019t and won\u2019t forgive you anymore!\u201d? That\u2019s a dilemma that sooner or later each and every one of us will face, isn\u2019t it. Whether it\u2019s in our relationship with our spouse or with our children, whether it\u2019s in our relationship with our family members or our friends, we will be faced with a situation where someone asks us to forgive them, or we ask them to forgive us\u2014 again. Our old sinful nature will want us to limit our forgiveness. Others may encourage us to not let them take advantage of us. How do we handle situations like that? We remember Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cI tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times\u201d<\/em>\u2014 or \u201cseventy times seven times.\u201d<\/em> What Jesus is teaching us here is that forgiveness is not a numbers game. Forgiveness has nothing to do with keeping score. As Christians we live under a continuing and constant obligation to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is a love that is ready to forgive and to forgive again\u2014 without any limits!<\/p>\n To understand the kind of forgiveness that God <\/strong>wants His <\/strong>church to have, our Lord gives us a parable\u2014 a parable that is both easy to understand and easy to remember. Look at verses 23-27 of our text. The Son of God says to us, \u201cTherefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. \u2018Be patient with me,\u2019 he begged, \u2018and I will pay back everything.\u2019 The servant\u2019s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n There are two words that are critically important here. The first word is the word that is translated as, \u201ctook pity on him.\u201d<\/em> This is the word which when translated more literally means, \u201cHis heart went out to him.\u201d<\/em> (See Luke7:11ff) The servant had begged his master for \u201cpatience.\u201d<\/em> Instead of \u201cpatience\u201d<\/em> the master granted him \u201cpity\u201d<\/em> or \u201ccompassion.\u201d<\/em> Why did the master do this? Because he knew that there was absolutely no way that the servant could ever <\/strong>pay back the tremendous debt that he owed to his master! So out of \u201cpity,\u201d<\/em> out of \u201ccompassion\u201d<\/em> what did the master do? That brings us to the second critically important word!<\/p>\n Jesus tells us that the master \u201ccanceled the debt.\u201d<\/em> The word that is translated as \u201ccanceled\u201d<\/em> very literally means to \u201csend away.\u201d<\/em> It can also be translated as to \u201cacquit\u201d<\/em> or to \u201crelease from a legal bond.\u201d<\/em> In an instant the man who owed his master \u201cten thousand talents\u201d<\/em> walked out of the presence of the king \u201cdebt free.\u201d But what happened to the debt? Does that mean that this huge debt simply \u201cevaporated\u201d into thin air? No. It means that the king paid <\/strong>the debt for <\/strong>his servant!<\/p>\n The application here is one that we cannot overlook. The king in this parable is Jesus\u2014 the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Just as the king in the parable wanted to \u201csettle accounts with his servants,\u201d<\/em> so also our King has selected the day on which He will \u201csettle accounts with His servants.\u201d <\/em>We are those servants. Like the servant in this parable we owed our King a debt that is so astronomical that we could never <\/strong>pay back that debt. On our own the only option we have is to beg our King to be \u201cpatient.\u201d <\/em>Instead, our King\u2019s \u201cheart goes out to us.\u201d<\/em> Since He knows that there is nothing <\/strong>we can do to pay back the \u201cdebt\u201d<\/em> we owe to Him, and since He doesn\u2019t want us to spend eternity in the clutches of that cruel prison warden named Satan, our King \u201ccancels\u201d<\/em> our \u201cdebt.\u201d<\/em> He \u201csends it away\u2014 as far as the east is from the west\u201d<\/em> as we heard in our Psalm this morning. (See Psalm 103) He has \u201creleased us from the legal bond\u201d<\/em> that we owed<\/strong>\u2014 to Him! (Pointing to the cross) But what about our \u201cdebt\u201d<\/em>? Did it simply vanish into thin air? No! Our King willingly paid our \u201cdebt\u201d<\/em> for <\/strong>us\u2014 right there on the cross of Calvary\u2019s hill! Through faith in what Jesus has done for <\/strong>us we are now \u201cdebt free\u201d in the eyes of our God!<\/p>\n How do we respond to this glorious gift? In the second portion of our parable Jesus describes how we are not <\/strong>to respond! Look at verses 28-34. Our Lord continues, \u201cBut when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, \u2018Pay back what you owe me!\u2019 he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, \u2018Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.\u2019 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. \u2018You wicked servant,\u2019 he said, \u2018I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn\u2019t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?\u2019 In anger his master turned him over to the jailors to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This portion of our text is as powerful as it is simple. The first servant owed his master \u201cten thousand talents.\u201d<\/em> This was the equivalent of millions upon millions of dollars. The second servant owed the first servant \u201cone hundred denarii.\u201d<\/em> While this was not a paltry sum\u2014 it was about three months wages\u2014 it was an insignificant amount compared to the millions upon millions of dollars the first servant owed to the king! The first servant begged the king, \u201cBe patient with me and I will pay back everything.\u201d<\/em> The second servant begged the first servant, \u201cBe patient with me and I will pay you back.\u201d<\/em> The first servant experienced the king\u2019s \u201ccompassion\u201d<\/em> and heard him \u201ccancel\u201d<\/em> that tremendous debt. The second servant experienced the hands of the first servant \u201cchoking\u201d<\/em> him and then had him thrown into prison \u201cuntil he could pay the debt.\u201d<\/em> When the king found out what the first servant had done, he was so furious with this \u201cwicked servant\u201d<\/em> that he had him thrown into prison where he would be \u201ctortured, until he could pay back all he owed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n If this parable were to end right there we might respond by saying, \u201cGood! That \u2018wicked servant\u2019<\/em> got exactly what he deserved!\u201d But the parable doesn\u2019t end there, does it. Jesus goes on to say\u2014 to His disciples!\u2014 \u201cThis is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Gulp! The power of those words can easily take our breath away! Our heavenly Father expects <\/strong>that we will \u201cforgive\u201d<\/em> each other \u201cfrom the heart.\u201d<\/em> The word that is translated here as \u201cforgive\u201d<\/em> is the exact same word that was translated as \u201ccancel\u201d<\/em> at the beginning of this text. It is the word that means \u201csend away.\u201d<\/em> When someone sins against us we are to \u201cforgive\u201d<\/em> them. When someone sins against us we are to take that sin and \u201csend it away.\u201d<\/em> When someone sins against us instead of considering that sin a \u201cdebt\u201d<\/em> which that person now owes <\/strong>to us, we \u201ccancel\u201d<\/em> that debt. All of this is to be done \u201cfrom the heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Now what might lead us to want to \u201chold onto\u201d that sin instead of \u201csending it away\u201d<\/em>? Many times it boils down to a sinful desire for control. We are so hurt and so angry with what that person did to us that we convince ourselves that they now \u201cowe\u201d us. The longer we can keep them in debt to us the more we can get from them.<\/p>\n Sometimes we are slow to forgive because as far as we are concerned that person does not deserve <\/strong>to be forgiven! They need to suffer for at least a little while. Even if they recognize that what they did to us was wrong, they need to squirm a little bit before we consider forgiving them.<\/p>\n Sometimes we don\u2019t want to forgive someone because we want some ammunition that we can use against them in the future: \u201cRemember when you\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter what might lead us to not <\/strong>forgive someone, Jesus\u2019 warning remains the same: \u201cThis is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from the heart.\u201d<\/em> Our motivation to forgive someone who sins against us is right there\u2014 the cross on Calvary\u2019s hill! When we stop to realize that the debt of sin that we owed to the Almighty was beyond our comprehension, when we stop to appreciate that God\u2019s compassion for us is so high and so wide and so deep that He willingly paid that debt for <\/strong>us\u2014 at the cost of His only begotten Son!\u2014 then <\/strong>we understand why our God expects <\/strong>us to take the forgiveness we receive from Him and freely share that forgiveness with others\u2014 \u201cfrom the heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So what do we want to take home with us today, my friends? Let me suggest four things:<\/p>\n While our old sinful nature will always struggle to forgive others in the same way that God has forgiven us, we would do well to lift up our eyes to the cross on a regular basis so that we will always remember that the church God <\/strong>wants is the church that is quick to forgive!<\/p>\n To God be the glory!<\/p>\n Amen<\/p>\n\n