Introduction: In the land of cyberspace, the delete key is a wonderful tool – type anything you desire and if you do not like it – simply press delete and the text is gone. There is no record of the document anywhere.
Wouldn’t it be great if all of life had a delete key?
• Start off with a bad day of work – Delete – it is gone
• Lose your temper with your children – Delete – all is forgotten
• Say an inappropriate remark to your spouse – delete – removed from their memory
• Use bad judgment in a business deal – Delete and gone are the consequences
On the computer, it is so easy – a simple keystroke and all is forgotten. That is not so when it comes to real life is it not.
When we hear something or see something are minds are like steel traps storing it in our memory bank. Nothing is imprinted in our memory bank any stronger then when someone offends us. When someone has done us wrong, we tend to hold on to it tightly. The grip of ungrace has sobering consequences.
That is why Jesus wanted his followers to understand the need to forgive and release one another from offenses.
Forgiveness is seldom easy; it is one of the most difficult things to accomplish in the universe.
Horace Burnell – Forgiveness is man’s deepest need and highest achievement.
Gandhi – The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Not only is forgiveness the attribute of the strong – it is also a requirement for God’s people. We are called to be forgiving people.
Colossians 3:13, Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Matthew 6:14-15, For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Ephesians 4:32, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
To underscore the need for Forgiveness Jesus shared a parable with his disciples in Matthew 18
Before study the parable, we must understand the context of the parable – why Jesus said what he said.
In Matthew 18 Jesus has been teaching on how to handle an erring brother. We refer to this teaching has church discipline Jesus is teaching, there are a certain number of steps one is to take when it comes to correcting an erring brother.
• One is to go to the brother privately
• If he refuses to listen take two others with you
• If he still refuses, take it to the church and as last resort remove him from the fellowship – with the hope of trying to restore him back to the body of Christ.
It is at this point Peter asks a question.
Matt 18:21-22, Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
The rabbinical code said a man could be forgiven 3 times for the same offense, Peter wanting to be more gracious then the rabbis, he offers to forgive 7 times. However, Jesus wants Peter to know it not a specific number he says 7 x 70. Jesus was not teaching there was a specific number but that forgiveness should come as a natural part of being a child of God. IT IS IN THAT CONTEXT JESUS TELLS THE FOLLOWING PARABLE
PLAY VIDEO MATTHEW 18:23-35, from the visual Bible
1. Jesus introduces the parable by stating “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE”
Make no mistake Jesus is teaching this is how his kingdom works. Jesus is laying out a blueprint for the Kingdom lifestyle
What do we learn about the kingdom?
A. The Kingdom has a Wealthy King.
Jesus teaches us there was a king, who had loaned money to his subjects and now a day of accounting was required. A man comes to the throne room empty handed – he owes 10,000 talents – The NLT say millions of dollars, the best we can figure the man owed between 30 and 100 million dollars in today’s money. $30 or $30 million the man does not have it and so the king orders the man and his family and everything he had was to be sold to relieve the debt.
B. Not only is he a wealthy king, he is a benevolent king.
Matthew 18:26-27, "The servant fell on his knees before him. ’Be patient with me,’ he begged, ’and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. One commentator estimated it would take 274,000 years to pay back the debt the man owed. It was going to be impossible to make up the difference. The King, seeing his heart forgave the man his debt. It was the attitude of the man not the ability of the man, which brought forgiveness.
• The guilty man was liberated
• In addition, the innocent man (The king) essentially paid the debt by wiping it off the books.
C. The Kingdom has a just King
Sometime later, the forgiven man is walking down the street when he comes across a man who owes his a debt.
Matthew 18:28-30, "But 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. ’Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ’Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
UNBELIEVABLE this man was recently forgiven some $30 million and now he finds someone who owes him $30 and he wants it now. Did you note that the man who owed $30 used the same words that the man who owed 30 million dollars used? ’Be patient with me, and I will pay you back. Those words affected the king deeply, but there did not even get the attention of the unmerciful servant.
HERE IS WHERE WE SEE THE JUSTICE OF THE KING
Matthew 18:31-34, 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. ’You wicked servant,’ he said, ’I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? ’In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
I want you to not the 3 stages that unmerciful servant went through on that day.
In the Morning He was a debtor – owing an insurmountable amount of money he could not repay
By Midday he was liberated – a free man with no debt
By Evening, he was a tortured prisoner – in bondage for an impossible prison sentence of 274 years.
The only thing that changed in that man’s life was his attitude. In the morning, he had a repentant attitude and in the evening, he had a repulsive attitude, and it cost him dearly.
2. Jesus ends the parable with a startling reality
Matthew 18:35, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Do you see the danger of not forgiving your brother in Christ?
Do you think Jesus is serious about forgiveness?
Do you believe God’s word to be true?
IF SO WHY CAN WE NOT FORGIVE – WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO SIMPLY LET GO?
We need to reexamine the forgiveness of God.
A. You owed a debt
That debt was not money but sin.
Romans 3:23 - all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death – we have earned death for our sin.
David put our sin in the right frame of mind when he said – against you and you alone have I sinned (Psalm 51:4)
B. The debt was forgiven
How? 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
C. The result of being forgiven
Psalm 32:1-2, Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
Do you realize how blessed you are – your sins are forgiven, they are covered, The Lord does not count them against you. Psalm 103:11-12, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
D. The Result of un-forgiveness
Matthew 6:14-15, For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 18:35, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Debt will be reinstated – according to this passage of scripture if you do not forgive you nullify your salvation experience
Handed over to the tortures – Who rules the land of the Tormented? Satan
UN-FORGIVENESS IS A SERIOUS MATTER IN THE EYES OF GOD
Forgiveness can be difficult; at times forgiveness does not make sense. It is just not fair. The victim choosing to let the offender off the hook. No revenge, no retribution, it just seems crazy, yet God offers this craziness to us and commands us to pass it on to others
How do we practice FORGIVENESS?
1. Resolve not to let the offense cause you to sin
When we are hurt, we want to fight back. We may seek retaliation or we may harbor hateful thoughts in our heart and compared to the one who has offended us these sins seem small. Yet they are still sins and sin separates us from God. We cannot justify disobedience because we are in pain. We must choose holiness if we are to be forgiving people. Ephesians 4:26-27, "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
2. Refuse to harden your heart toward the offender
When we are offended, it is easy for the mental walls to go up – We say things like; I will never speak to them again or I will never be in the same room with them again – a hardened heart leads to bitterness.
Hebrews 12:15, See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
3. Remind yourself everyone is fallible and capable of making mistakes
Forgiveness is much easier when we give up the false notion that people will always live up to your expectations.
BEWARES OF THE “SHOULDS” in your thinking and speaking
He shouldn’t have done this to me
She shouldn’t act this way
My daughter should have known
My son should have been more attentive
I worked hard, I should have been rewarded
It is unrealistic to expect people will always act decently and respectively toward you. – Remember all have sinned
4. Realize resentment carries a high price
Holding a grudge takes mental, emotional and physical energy. It makes you obsessive, angry and depressed. Doctors are discovering there is a strong connection between anger and a wide spectrum of health miseries including chronic stomachaches, heart problems and skin conditions.
5. Recall God’s forgiveness is both personal and universal
John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God’s forgiveness is not limited, but universal in scope.
6. Remember True forgiveness requires God’s help
Illustration of Ginger Green and Her forgiveness of her Daughter Margo’s murder
If you have not forgiven someone today – you must make it a point to forgive him or her. Until you do, you will be in a prison. It is a prison without bars, but trust me it is a prison nonetheless. And when we practice forgiveness listen to what John says is the result.
I John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Question;
What will you do today to start the process of forgiveness?
Will you forgive and thus break the chain of bitterness or will you harden your heart and bound yourself to the chains of bitterness?
Will you repent or will you rebel?
Like the unmerciful servant, the ball is in your court.
INVITATION
