"The Freedom in Forgiveness"
Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Introduction: How many of you have ever been to a concert where the musicians in the orchestra where tuning their instruments. It wasn't a particularly pleasant sound was it? As a matter of fact it was sort of like someone scraping their fingernails on a chalkboard! The reason for this tuning is simple. Instruments slip out of tune so easily. Forgiveness is the same way. It's so easy for our hearts to get "out of tune" where forgiveness is concerned and the result is broken, busted, bruised and bleeding relationships. What is the answer and is there a solution? I believe we can learn some important truths from this section of scripture that will help us understand for about forgiveness.
I. THE LIMITATIONS ON FORGIVENESS
First, some background on this passage that will be helpful. Jesus has just finished using the word "trespass" in verse 15 in relation to a brother sinning against another brother. This must have set Peter's mind to work and so he asks the Lord the question in verse 21. Peter being a Jew understood that the Jews taught that they were to forgive a trespass three times. Peter more than doubles that figure to seven times and Jesus multiplies it by a factor of seven times again. What does this all mean?
a. Such limits are subjective
Have you wondered yet how the Pharisees came up with the number three in regard to how many times they were to forgive someone? It comes from their readings in the OT about how many times God forgave His enemies. It was the rabbinic teaching in Jesus day that a man must forgive three times. One rabbi said that if a man committed an offense once, twice or even three times, you must forgive him, but by the fourth time you did not have to forgive him.
b. Such limits are synthetic
By synthetic I mean that the Pharisees based this number on how they really felt about those who had offended them. This was a reasonable number in their minds; it was all that could be humanly expected of them. The trouble is we aren't dealing with what can reasonably be expected but what God expects of us. This is proper. Only when we grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, and increase in faith, will we also increase in forgiveness and mercy. Then we will understand that we live every moment of our lives, not on the basis of justice, but on the basis of mercy received from heaven. Justice would have sent us to hell. How soon Christians forget and begin to act on the basis of law and justice! We need greater faith, greater love for God and greater appreciation of God's grace, in order that we may rise to this level of practicing unlimited forgiveness to our brothers and sisters.
c. Such limits are sinful
Jesus told a parable to his disciples in Matt. 18:23-35. There was a king to whom people owed great debts and one man in particular who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him. Although it is not specified, we can assume that the talents were made of gold and if there were ten thousand talents, each talent weighing seventy-five pounds, and if each pound was 16 ounces and each ounce of gold would be worth about $1,200, then this man's debt would be worth $144 billion) This man's debt was infinite, and he was absolutely incapable of paying it. In the same way, the debt we owe God is of infinite proportion in scope.
This man could not pay up, and the great king commanded that the servant, his wife, his children, and all he owned be sold into slavery. The man fell down before the king and pleaded and beggedfor mercy! (Matt. 18:26) We are told that the king was moved with compassion and forgave him all his debt. Through the king's great mercy alone, he was forgiven his infinite debt.
But in Matthew 18:28 we see the forgiven man looking for a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii, which would be equal to about three months' pay for a working man. Compared to his own huge debt, this was "chicken feed!" But when he found the man, he grabbed him, choked him and demanded his money. This other man also fell down and begged for patience. But the forgiven servant was not moved by any feelings of mercy. Even though the debt was comparatively small, he showed zero mercy and threw the man into prison.
The great king was told about this man's cruel behavior and called the servant "on the carpet," and said, "I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant?'" "In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. Then Jesus makes this stunning declaration: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (Matt. 18:32-35) In effect, Jesus answered Peter's question: "You have received unlimited mercy from God through me; therefore, you must demonstrate unlimited mercy."
II. THE LIBERATION OF FORGIVENESS
Dr. P.G. Matthew writes: "Of all the world's religions, only Christianity offers complete forgiveness. Only the Bible-consisting of the Old and New Testaments-reveals to us an infinite, personal God who has a plan by which he completely forgives the sins of everyone who repents and believes in Jesus Christ. And this God not only forgives sins, but he forgives them forever.
What is this wonderful, biblical forgiveness? There are several words used for forgiveness in the Bible: three Hebrew words in the Old Testament and four Greek words in the New Testament. The first Hebrew word is kafar, from which we get the meaning "to cover," as in, "to cover or blot out our sins." The second word is nasa, which means "to bear, to take away." The third word is salach, which is used only with reference to God forgiving the sins of people. It means "to pardon," as in, "our God [who will] freely pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)
In the New Testament, first you find the Greek word apoluein, which means "to release." There also is the wonderful word charizomai, which comes from the word charis, or "grace." Charizomai means "to grace you," to freely give you heaven when you deserve hell. What a truly beautiful word! The third word is aphesis, from the Greek word aphiemi, "to send away." Finally, there is paresis, which means "to disregard"-this word is used in the context that God will not see our offenses, but rather will disregard them."
a. Forgiveness is to be unlimited
Genuine forgiveness is full.
If I understand this passage correctly and I believe that I do, what Jesus is doing is not trying to establish an arbitrary number that would continue this notion of limited forgiveness but to let Peter and the rest of the disciples know that their forgiveness was to be unlimited. In Luke 17:3-4, Jesus likewise taught, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." Again, the disciples were surprised but if they had been operating in the sphere of grace like Jesus was they would have understood that there were to be no synthetic or subjective limits on forgiveness.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
b. Forgiveness is to be unilateral
Genuine forgiveness is free.
Trail's definition of this word unilateral means "one sided." Those who have hurt us, wounded us, offended us, sinned against us, betrayed us, do not have to repent, or reform or make restitution or anything else for us to forgive them!
Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake.
Basically this verse declares that God chooses to forgive those who are undeserving as an act of His own sovereign will.
Let me make sure that we clear up a few misunderstandings about forgiveness. Before we can build, we have to blast. We have to blast away the erroneous thoughts on what forgiveness is not.
* When you forgive a person, this does not mean you are immediately healed.
* When you forgive a person, this does not mean you are going to be buddy/buddy.
* When we forgive a person, this does not mean we surrender the right to restitution or justice when appropriate.
* When we forgive a person, this does not mean that we trust them, yet.
* When we forgive a person, we are not avoiding pain, we are opening the door to healing.
* When we forgive, we take the journey at the pace we are able to handle...the deeper the hurt, the longer the journey.
(Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiveness. Christian Family Book Club, Division of Ballantine Publishing Group, Random House, Inc. New York, 1996, pg. 177-178. These quotes are used on the back of the book to review some of the highlights about forgiveness.)
THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS
An African woman gave her heart to Christ. Her husband was the chief of a Zulu tribe. When she told him what she had done, the chief beat her brutally. As she was lying in the floor bleeding, the man mocked her and said, "Now, what can your Jesus do for you now?"
The woman picked herself up and tearfully said, "He can help me to forgive you." Dr. Larry Petton
c. Forgiveness is to be unconditional
Genuine forgiveness is final.
Micah 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
In my notes I have highlighted the phrase "the depths of the sea". What does this mean? In the prophets day the deepest a man could dive under water was equivalent to how much air he could pull into his lungs as he inhaled. Challenger Deep is the deepest part of the ocean at approximately 11,030 meters (36,200 feet) deep. The deepest free diving on record was 214 meters (702 ft.) held by Hebert Nitsch. The equipment used to complete this dive was a sled (to get him down) and a balloon (to take him back up). What does this all mean?
III. THE LOSS OF FORGIVENESS
Now in closing notice what the Lord says about the unforgiving man in verse 35.
Matthew 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
a. The penalty
The penalty for unmerciful behavior was severe. In the parable the servant is condemned and "...delivered to the tormentors..." until he could repay his debt which was impossible.
b. The problem
Even though he had been forgiven himself this did not produce a "heart" that was willing to forgive others. The servant did not appreciate the great mercy he had received.
Luke 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
There must be an appreciation of the greatness of the mercy received for us to extend that mercy to others.
Conclusion: How can we know the freedom of forgiveness? There are three things you and I need to do:
1. Claim forgiveness for ourselves --
When we accept Jesus as our Savior God forgives and forgets our sins. Now you may ask how God can forget anything? The fact is from a theological standpoint it is impossible for God to forget anything but the key to understanding this is that God chooses "not to remember."
Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Isa 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
It's not enough just to receive this forgiveness, we must believe it too! We must realize that we are free from guilt, shake off the dust of our shame and leave it behind!
2. Choose to forgive those who have wronged us.
Forgiveness isn't a feeling you just sort of "float into," it's a choice that you and I make.
YOU ARE THE PRISONER!
One of the greatest quotes you will ever read on forgiveness comes from Lewis Smedes:
"To forgive is to set a prisoner free.......and only to finally discover that the PRISONER WAS YOU!" --Dr. Larry Petton
Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free. -- Stormie Omartian
3. Continue to forgive
Forgiveness means never bringing up the issue again. When you and I forgive someone we are saying: "By the grace of God I'll never bring it up again!" A lot of us say we have buried the hatchet but we keep the map that shows where it is buried!
