The High Cost of Unforgiveness Matthew 18:21-35
Several years ago, we were looking to buy a new car.
• We found one we wanted, but we discovered that it cost more than we could afford.
• Most of us in life find that we have a limit to what we can or will pay for an item.
Jesus clearly illustrated the “high cost” principle in Matthew 18.
• And that’s what we are going to talk about today
• Basically, His message is this; “the cost of unforgiveness is higher than you really want to pay.”
Read Matthew 18:21-35
Reading about the disciples is fascinating
• It is obvious that 2 or 3 of the 12 had more engaging personalities than the rest.
• Peter, James, and John are considered the “A” team.
• If you closely follow James and John you can see that they were dreamers.
In Mark 10 they came to Jesus and ask about their positions in “glory.”
• They were dreaming about what was going to happen and not worried about what was happening
• But, Peter was practical and focused on reaching a goal.
Now in our text that we just read we see that Jesus had just finished teaching on the subject of restoring a brother (Forgivness)
• And Peter’s immediately response is How many times do I need to do this
• What’s the minimum / The requirements??
• Just exactly how many times am I supposed to forgive a brother?”
Now Tradition had taught him to forgive 3 times,
• So in his mind he thought that he was going above and beyond the requirements by saying 7
• He thought he was giving a Huge amount of Grace by increasing the required amount
In fact, he was probably looking for the possibly expected a pat on the back / The Atta Boy
• But instead, Jesus gave a New Perspective / and Different perspective about forgiveness
• One that probably blew His mind ? Really Messed his thinking up
• Jesus tells him that he should forgive him “seventy times seven!
How can anyone keep up with 70 times 7?
• Not only they “couldn’t”, but the clear message was they “shouldn’t”.
• After this, Jesus tells a story which can be summarized in a few key words.
1 -Enormity – (the great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as bad or morally wrong.)
• We find numerous examples of this in this story
A. Enormity Of the Debt – In the Original texts Jesus said that the servant owed his master 10,000 talents.
• Now the talent was the largest denomination of currency in the Greco-Roman monetary system
• And ten thousand was beyond belief.
• Our translation says “millions” of dollars,
• While others say, “several millions” of dollars, / say, “several billion” dollars.
The point is that this was a debt wasn’t going to get paid
• And the reason that it wasn’t going to get paid
• Was because this servant was never going to find a Job
• That would pay enough that he could pay off this debt
B. Enormity of his Release –
• As was legal at the time, the master could have had the servant detained until he paid that debt.
• The Master had every right to take everything the servant had in his household
• Wife,/ Kids / Possessions
• And he had the right to sell everything to try and recoup that debt
This was a common practice. / It was the Norm / It was the standard / Its what was expected of the man to do
• And along with this He could have thrown the man into debtor’s prison.
• But the Master had compassion / and “released” the man.
• This was Huge / Because the life of the servant was basically over until this release came.
C. Enormity Of the Forgiveness –
• Make no mistake and do not attempt to “super-spiritualize” this truth;
• The bigger the offense, the greater the forgiveness required.
This may not be something we like to admit,
• But it is a truth and we need to understand this fact completely
• There is a totally different level of forgiveness that is required for someone to forgive a $1 debt as opposed to a $1M debt.
The master held the note on a bill with no possibility of being paid
• And he canceled the debt
• He totally forgave the servant.
• Can you imagine the stir this caused?
2. Absurdity – All of us know what absurdity is.
• The idea of this idea of forgiving a Million Dollar Debt is
• Ridiculous / Irrational, / Illogical.
• But this is exactly what the Master does
But look at what happens next
We see the Absurdity of the Servants Attitude –
• Immediately The forgiven servant went out and “FOUND
• Someone who owed HIM Money
• And it was just a fraction of the money which he had just been forgiven.
• Understand the first debt was “millions of dollars”
• While this debt might have been several thousand dollars.
• It takes little imagination to believe this man left the presence of His master to go and SEEK OUT one who owed him, by comparison, little.
B. We see the Absurdity of the His Reaction –
• He grabbed the debtor by the throat / and threatened to kill him.
• Think about this; not too many hours earlier HE was the one needing mercy, /
• He was the one needing grace,
• And now he was acting as if all he wanted was justice.
C. We see a Absurdity of the Unforgiveness –
• Notice that the fellow servant used the same appeal
• That was used on the master.
• But no matter how hard he begged
• It couldn’t penetrate the calloused this calloused heart.
• Remember the types of hearts we talked about last week?
How absurd is it to be the recipient of God’s grace and not grant just a small portion of that same grace to others.
3. And we see the Results / Penalty –
• Numbers tell us; “Be sure your sins will find you out.”
So what can we learn from this and apply to our lives when it comes to forgiveness
1. Our Reputation –
• Our Friends / Family / Coworkers / The World
• Will always see our behavior
• And they will always be upset by ungodly behavior toward others.
• Reputation is hard to gain and but it’s even easier to lose
2. Our Release – Since we have been forgiven for our sins,
• How can we not forgive others for what they have done to us
3. Our Relief – Can you imagine the relief felt when that insurmountable debt was canceled.
• All of a sudden, he had a chance at life once again.
• Because of Jesus Sacrifice we to have a chance at Life
4. Certainty –
• In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus was very clear.
• “IF you forgive your brothers, then your Heavenly Father will forgive you.
• But, if you don’t, He won’t.”
• This is one of the simplest of all Biblical truths.
We need to remember / Never Forget that Someday we will be “summoned” / To give an account.
• This does not necessarily happen on the other side.
• It can happen any day as God responds to our unforgiveness.
