Freely Forgiven Freely Forgive

Parables  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 109 views
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Intro:

How so free???
Jesus’ most striking and humanly incomprehensible words from the cross were, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” ().
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Vol. 3, p. 142). Chicago: Moody Press.
Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 15: Learning to Forgive (18:21–35)

After being betrayed, falsely convicted, beaten, spat upon, and unjustly nailed to a cross to die an agonizing death, the Son of God harbored no hatred for His tormentors but instead offered them forgiveness. Following his Lord’s example, Stephen’s last words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). He was at that moment being pummelled to death by stones for having committed no greater crime than preaching the gospel, yet his heart was not filled with bitterness but with compassion for his executioners. Forgiveness is the stuff of true godliness.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 15: Learning to Forgive (18:21–35)

Although Joseph had been terribly wronged by his jealous brothers when they sold him into slavery, he held no grudge. Years later, when they were in the midst of a great famine and he was the only person who could help them, he was quick to offer his forgiveness, to embrace them in love, to provide the food they needed, and even to give them the lush region of Goshen to live in. When they had begged his forgiveness and fallen down before him, he “said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Gen. 50:19–21).

Imagine the awful things he experienced in jail as a slave… all because of them… who in your life has caused you the greatest pain? Can you release that debt?
Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 15: Learning to Forgive (18:21–35)

Only forgiveness can break down the barriers that sin continually and inevitably erects between people, including God’s people. “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression” (Prov. 19:11).

DO NOT SAY I WILL REPAY EVIL WAIT FOR THE LORD AND HE WILL DELIVER YOU. Save that person or they will pay for that wrong for eternity… trust God in either.
Transition:
This is easy for me to say to you, but myself this is so unnatural. I want to make pay my first emotion is not compassion but anger… not release but aggression.
Context:
The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Implications for the Church: Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

Verses 15–20 seem harsh to modern ears but probably would not have seemed so in the first century. Verses 21–35 have lost their force in our age, following centuries of domestication and familiarity with these texts, but they would have been shockingly radical when first spoken.

In light of the teaching on church discipline immediately preceding in vv. 15–20, Peter asks Jesus about the extent of forgiveness (vv. 21–22). In the follow-up parable (vv. 23–35), Jesus’ central point is that forgiven people forgive. Those who refuse to forgive comparatively paltry offenses show that they have never truly appropriated God’s far more lavish forgiveness

READ

The Lord was teaching that forgiveness ought to be in direct proportion to the amount forgiven. The first servant had been forgiven all, and he in turn should have forgiven all. A child of God has had all his sins forgiven by faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore when someone sins against him, he ought to be willing to forgive … from the heart no matter how many times the act occurs (cf. 18:21–22; Eph. 4:32).

Once we grasp the extent God went to save us that will determine the length we go to forgive others...

Sermon on Humility and Forgiveness. The fourth major block of Jesus’ teaching (after chs. 5–7; 10:5–42; 13:1–52). Verses 1–14 show the lengths to which God humbles himself to save the lost, while vv. 15–35 define the extent to which we should humble ourselves to forgive others.

This does not imply being childish, but being childlike in recognizing one’s vulnerability and dependence—in this case on God.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

What causes these problems? Pride—thinking ourselves more important than we really are. It was pride that led man into sin at the beginning (Gen. 3:5). When Christians are living for themselves and not for others, then there is bound to be conflict and division (Phil. 2:1ff).

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

An unspoiled child has the characteristics that make for humility: trust (Matt. 18:6), dependence, the desire to make others happy, an absence of boasting or selfish desire to be greater than others. By nature, all of us are rebels who want to be celebrities instead of servants. It takes a great deal of teaching for us to learn the lessons of humility.

Are you amazed by grace?
Some of Peter’s problems
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

But Peter made some serious mistakes. To begin with, he lacked humility himself. He was sure his brother would sin against him, but not he against his brother! Peter’s second mistake was in asking for limits and measures. Where there is love, there can be no limits or dimensions (Eph. 3:17–19). Peter thought he was showing great faith and love when he offered to forgive at least seven times. After all, the rabbis taught that three times was sufficient.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

humility as “that grace that, when you know you have it, you’ve lost it!” It has well been said, “True humility is not thinking meanly of oneself; it is simply not thinking of oneself at all.”

Maybe you are an engineer and have one of those super calculators with symbols and letters on it, but the point is it’s an incalculable number

18:24 ten thousand talents. This represents an incomprehensible amount of money. The talent was the largest denomination of currency, and “ten thousand” in common parlance signified an infinite number.

18:27 forgave him. Picturing the generous, compassionate forgiveness of God to a pleading sinner who owes him an unpayable debt. Cf. Col. 2:14.

How great our forgiveness was
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 18:21–35—Forgiving the Forgivers

Seventy times seven (some interpreters read seventy-seven) does not really mean exactly 490 here; it is a typically graphic Jewish way of saying “Never hold grudges.” Because true repentance should involve turning from sin, some later rabbis limited opportunities for forgiveness for a given sin to three times; Peter might have thought his offer of seven times was generous.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 18:21–35—Forgiving the Forgivers

Enslaving family members for the man’s debt was a Gentile practice that the Jewish people in this period found abhorrent. The math does not work here; the price of an average slave was between five hundred and two thousand days’ wages, hence the king cannot recoup even one-thousandth of his losses on this sale. But a king with better math skills would not have let the man get so far in debt to begin with!

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

He was a debtor (vv. 23–27). This man had been stealing funds from the king and, when the books were audited, his crime was discovered. The total tax levy in Palestine was about 800 talents a year, so you can see how dishonest this man was. In terms of today’s buying power, this was probably equivalent to over $10 million.

Aha, I have officially forgiven you 78 times I NO LONGER have to forgive… or 492 tikes, I am done! No, (some ledger with marks on it)...
The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Implications for the Church: Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

The “talent” was the highest known denomination of currency in the ancient Roman Empire, and ten thousand was the highest number for which the Greek language had a particular word (myrias; cf. our myriad).

HERE IS THE CONTROVERSY… not only will he not be punished… HE DOESN’T HAVE TO REPAY
(Me: T-shirt mentality)… that is NOT The gospel… you have been freely given, freely forgiven BUT AT GREAT COST TO THE MASTER...
When you grasp this it is not that you live repaying but your heart is transformed to model the generosity you have recieved
The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Implications for the Church: Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

“Took pity” is the same word for the compassion that characterizes Jesus’ emotions and behavior in 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; and 20:34.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew The Greatness of Humility (18:1–4)

Instead of pointing to the innocence of a child, Jesus uses the little child as an object lesson on humility that comes from their vulnerability: “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” In the ancient world, children were valued primarily for the benefit that they brought to the family by enhancing the workforce, adding to the defensive power, and guaranteeing the future glory of the house. But they had no rights or significance apart from their future value to the family and were powerless in society. The humility of a child consists of the inability to advance his or her own cause apart from the help and resources of a parent.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Forgiveness in the Community toward Sinning Disciples (18:21–35)

We must probe the Jewish background to understand the larger issues that prompt Peter’s question. Forgiveness in the Old Testament came from the God of grace, who instituted sacrifices that benefited only because he gave the means of making atonement through the shedding of blood (Lev. 17:11). But as God himself declared, the same God who forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin “does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation” (Ex. 34:6–7). In the everyday world, persons can get caught up in a regular pattern of sinning and seeking restoration.

The teaching within Judaism (based on Amos 1:3; 2:6; Job 33:29, 30) is that three times was enough to show a forgiving spirit. Rabbinic Judaism recognized that repeat offenders may not really be repenting at all: “If a man commits a transgression, the first, second and third time he is forgiven, the fourth time he is not” (b. Yoma 86b, 87a). The Mishnah is even less forgiving: “If a man said, ‘I will sin and repent, and sin again and repent,’ he will be given no chance to repent … for transgressions that are between a man and his fellow the Day of Atonement effects atonement only if he has appeased his fellow” (m. Yoma 8.9).

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Forgiveness in the Community toward Sinning Disciples (18:21–35)

The exact monetary value is difficult to determine, because the “talent” was not a coin but a unit of monetary reckoning. A silver talent was about seventy-five pounds, valued at six thousand denarii. Since a denarius was the equivalent of a day’s wage for a common laborer (see comments on 17:24–27) and if we use the year 2001’s minimum wage of $5.15 an hour in the United States, a common laborer could expect $41.20 a day. A talent, therefore, would be worth approximately $247,200 (cf. 25:15). Altogether, therefore, the man owes at least two and a half billion dollars. As extreme as those figures are, comparisons are difficult to appreciate since such a sum in first-century Palestine would be far more disproportionate to the same sum in modern times. Some estimate that the amount is the equivalent of hundreds of billions of dollars (see also comments on 25:15). In any case, the hyperbole of the parable is dramatic.

The greatness of kingdom life. Greatness is not achieved through one’s personal accomplishments but through humility in receiving God’s grace. The pattern of the world is to count up one’s accomplishments, especially if they involve personal sacrifice. The disciples have committed themselves to that kind of effort for the kingdom of heaven and are now looking to see who has accomplished the most and is therefore the greatest among them in the kingdom.

But Jesus turns that value upside down as he demonstrates through the example of a little child that the truly transformed life cannot be achieved by personal efforts but only by humbly allowing God to bring his spiritual renewal within a person’s life. That renewing activity brings a person into the realm of the kingdom of God. This is much the same message as the Beatitudes of the SM, where those who have cast aside all self-effort at achieving status before God will be enabled to receive the gift of kingdom life (cf. 5:3–16). As one humbly receives this gift of life, one becomes Jesus’ disciple and is privy to all of the greatness that comes from an intimate relationship to Jesus and to his Father (18:4).

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Forgiveness in the Community toward Sinning Disciples (18:21–35)

“Mercy” is not giving to a person what he deserves, while “grace” is giving to a person what he does not deserve. This takes us to a central principle of the kind of kingdom life that Jesus has inaugurated. A person who has truly experienced the mercy and grace of God by responding to the presence of his kingdom will be transformed into Jesus’ disciple, which, in a most fundamental way, means experiencing a transformed heart that produces a changed life that gives the same mercy and grace one has received from God (cf. Isa. 40:2).

Such a transformation will be evident in the words and actions of a disciple’s life (12:33–37; 13:8, 23; 15:17–20). A person who has not truly experienced God’s grace and mercy will not experience his forgiveness. He will, like the first servant, accept the personal benefits, but it will be only superficial. It will not penetrate a hard and wicked heart to produce transformation. Such a person will thus experience eternal condemnation. Jesus’ disciples must be forgiving to others, for through God’s grace and mercy they have experienced his forgiveness.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Contemporary Significance

As we said, the key to forgiveness is to stop focusing on what others have done to us and focus on what Jesus has done for us.

Do you know how far it is from earth to Mars? Earth to sun?
If our sin between us and God was like the distance between the earth and Mars then the sin between us and another person is like the distance between N.Raleigh and Washington DC (dont want to go there may not like people there… may think all dirtbags, but…)

Think of it this way. Our debt to God is like the distance from the earth to the sun. But our debt to one another—you sin against me or I sin against you—is like the distance between Chicago and Indianapolis as viewed from the sun. There’s real distance, but it’s not comparable. And if God can bridge the first gap, we should bridge the second.

From historical documents of the time it has been determined that the total annual revenue collected by the Roman government from Idumea, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee was about 900 talents. Based on those figures, ten thousand talents amounted to more than eleven years of taxes from those four provinces.

Although murias literally means ten thousand, because it was the largest numerical term in the Greek language it was also used figuratively to represent a vast, uncountable number. In that sense it has the same connotation as the English myriad, which is derived from it. Murias is therefore sometimes translated “countless” (1 Cor. 4:15) or “myriads” (Rev. 5:11). Jesus’ point in this parable, therefore, was that the man who owed the king ten thousand talents owed an incalculable and unpayable debt.

Here is an extraordinary picture of God’s compassionate love for the genuinely repentant sinner who throws himself on His mercy. The man only asked for patience so that he might try to repay the king, but instead the king released him and forgave him the debt. That is what God does with the sin debt of those who come to Him in humble and sincere penitence.

It’s like th epicture of the father we looked at in came to senses goes home with rehearsed speech all asking for is a job and father says no way kisses rode, ring sandals fattened calf… MY SON!

The implication is that the first thing the forgiven slave did after he left the king’s presence was to search out a fellow slave who owed him some money and violently demand repayment of a mere pittance compared to the vast amount he himself had just been forgiven.

You would expect that the way this story would go would be for him to think, who do I need to forgiev so he owuld go and search that person out find him and when the guy was terrified he would mke him pay say, I forgive you… like man I was reading this week Vietnam abusive father made a vow… first time i see him I will kill him. (NIVAC story)

“Have patience with me and I will repay you” (cf. v. 26). That should have shocked the forgiven slave’s memory into a right response, but those familiar words evoked no sympathetic reaction in him, even though the debt he had been forgiven would have been unrepayable in a lifetime, whereas the debt owed to him was payable by a few months’ work.

Refusing to forgive puts us in a spot saying we are above God… We dont have to be as gracious with others as He has been with us
2. relinquish the right for repayment
We often stop with v.27 and ignore v.28-35 we see amazing grace in v.27 and stand to our feet in applause but then scene two

The implication is that the first thing the forgiven slave did after he left the king’s presence was to search out a fellow slave who owed him some money and violently demand repayment of a mere pittance compared to the vast amount he himself had just been forgiven.

Unconditional forgiveness. Perhaps the kingdom value most difficult for the world to comprehend is the kind of forgiveness Jesus articulates in the discourse. It is not a conditional acceptance but an unqualified removal of all that we hold against others. At least one reason why the world cannot really understand this value is that hurt is real in offended relationships. When we have been hurt, we don’t want to be hurt again. We won’t allow ourselves to be used. We want to get even with those who have abused us. If we do forgive others, it is often conditionally based on the actions of the one we are forgiving. But what Jesus shows is that when we experience God’s unqualified forgiveness, it will influence all that we are and will impact all of our relationships. Mercy experienced will produce mercy demonstrated.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Forgiveness in the Community toward Sinning Disciples (18:21–35)

The second servant pleads with almost the identical actions and words as the first servant used when begging for leniency from the king. But instead of reacting with the same compassion and grace, the first servant delivers physical punishment by choking him and, instead of selling him into slavery, throws him into the debtor’s prison, an even more severe punishment than that threatened him by the king, which made repaying the debt impossible (18:29–30).

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Forgiveness in the Community toward Sinning Disciples (18:21–35)

“Mercy” is not giving to a person what he deserves, while “grace” is giving to a person what he does not deserve. This takes us to a central principle of the kind of kingdom life that Jesus has inaugurated. A person who has truly experienced the mercy and grace of God by responding to the presence of his kingdom will be transformed into Jesus’ disciple, which, in a most fundamental way, means experiencing a transformed heart that produces a changed life that gives the same mercy and grace one has received from God (cf. Isa. 40:2).

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Forgiveness in the Community toward Sinning Disciples (18:21–35)

Such a transformation will be evident in the words and actions of a disciple’s life (12:33–37; 13:8, 23; 15:17–20). A person who has not truly experienced God’s grace and mercy will not experience his forgiveness. He will, like the first servant, accept the personal benefits, but it will be only superficial. It will not penetrate a hard and wicked heart to produce transformation. Such a person will thus experience eternal condemnation. Jesus’ disciples must be forgiving to others, for through God’s grace and mercy they have experienced his forgiveness.

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Implications for the Church: Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

“He refused” is literally he was not willing, showing that the servant made a conscious choice to harden his heart. Needless to say, the other servants are outraged and report the matter to the king.

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Implications for the Church: Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

And genuine repentance, which includes changed behavior, must occur, or the principles of vv. 15–18 come into play instead. The subsequent parable (vv. 23–35) will illustrate both the incredible generosity believers should demonstrate in forgiving fellow believers who do beg for mercy and promise to change as well as the severe judgment awaiting those who refuse to forgive or respond properly to forgiveness.

Unlimited:
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 18:21–35—Forgiving the Forgivers

Seventy times seven (some interpreters read seventy-seven) does not really mean exactly 490 here; it is a typically graphic Jewish way of saying “Never hold grudges.” Because true repentance should involve turning from sin, some later rabbis limited opportunities for forgiveness for a given sin to three times; Peter might have thought his offer of seven times was generous.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 18:21–35—Forgiving the Forgivers

The king is naturally angry; the forgiven servant has put another of his servants out of active commission, hence costing the king more lost revenues. The king had gained more advantage by convincing his people of his benevolence than he would have gained profit from the sale of the first servant; but once it was rumored that this first servant, his agent, was acting mercilessly, it reflected badly upon his own benevolence.

Holman Bible Handbook Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

On the other hand, when believers do repent, forgiveness should be unlimited (vv. 21–22). For in light of the immense sin God has forgiven each of us, a professing Christian’s refusal to forgive a fellow believer who requests it (and demonstrates a change of heart and action) proves so callous that one can only conclude that such a person never truly experienced Christ’s forgiveness in the first place (vv. 23–35).

But Luke 17:3–4 shows that this kind of forgiveness requires repentance, which in turn refers to a change of behavior and not just attitude. Of course, even when there is no repentance, believers must not harbor grudges, plot retaliation, or remain embittered. But without another party’s repentance, there can be no full reconciliation

until he should pay back all he owed. Amounts to “never” because ancient jails did not allow inmates to earn money and because this debt was virtually unrepayable even had the man been free.

forgive us our debts. Means not that we lose our salvation every time we sin but that our fellowship with God is hindered when we fail to repent of our misdeeds. as we also have forgiven our debtors. Is explained by vv. 14–15. Jesus means not “to the same extent as” but “just as.” The prayer assumes that those whom God forgives in turn forgive others.

Up to seven times. Peter thought he was being magnanimous. The rabbis, citing several verses from Amos (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13) taught that since God forgave Israel’s enemies only 3 times, it was presumptuous and unnecessary to forgive anyone more than 3 times.

You can’t fully forgive unless they repent… BUT BUT
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

Our Lord’s reply, “Until seventy times seven” (490 times) must have startled Peter. Who could keep count for that many offenses? But that was exactly the point Jesus was making: Love “keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5, NIV). By the time we have forgiven a brother that many times, we are in the habit of forgiving.

But Jesus was not advising careless or shallow forgiveness. Christian love is not blind (Phil. 1:9–10). The forgiveness Christ requires is on the basis of the instructions He gave in Matthew 18:15–20.

We see a powerful image here… the person who can’t forgive becomes a prisoner…
Offedning person has hurt you once God isn’t giving them reign to hold you in prison forever.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

The world’s worst prison

World’s worst prison???
BELOW IS KEY...
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

Our Lord’s warning is serious. He did not say that God saves only those who forgive others. The theme of this parable is forgiveness between brothers, not salvation for lost sinners. Jesus warned us that God cannot forgive us if we do not have humble and repentant hearts. We reveal the true condition of our hearts by the way we treat others. When our hearts are humble and repentant, we will gladly forgive our brothers. But where there is pride and a desire for revenge, there can be no true repentance; and this means God cannot forgive.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Fifteen: The King’s Rebuke (Matthew 18)

In other words, it is not enough to receive God’s forgiveness, or even the forgiveness of others. We must experience that forgiveness in our hearts so that it humbles us and 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.” He had never really repented.

“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).

The New American Commentary: Matthew 2. Implications for the Church: Humility and Forgiveness (18:1–35)

Jesus may be teaching that no true disciple could ever act as this servant did; those who do so show that they have not really received forgiveness. Alternately, he may be indicating that God makes forgiveness available for everyone, but only those who appropriate it by a life of forgiving others show that they have genuinely accepted his pardon.

LAMECH UNLIMITED VINDICTIVENESS
I haveto admit I have felt that anger and aggressiveness… I out on a run and a dog would come out thinking of those who had wronged me and think I dare you to attack me...
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

Peter’s seven times is therefore generous, but Jesus’ reply does away with all limits and calculations. His allusion to Genesis 4:24 neatly contrasts Lamech’s unlimited vindictiveness with the unlimited forgiveness of the disciple.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

Peter’s seven times is therefore generous, but Jesus’ reply does away with all limits and calculations. His allusion to Genesis 4:24 neatly contrasts Lamech’s unlimited vindictiveness with the unlimited forgiveness of the disciple. The Hebrew of Genesis 4:24 clearly means seventy-seven times (as RSV mg.), and this is also the most natural rendering of the Greek (Gundry, UOT, p. 140); but to be concerned as to whether the figure is 77 or 490 is to return to the pedantic calculation which Jesus rejects!

3. Ready to receive the repentant
The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Disciplining Wayward Disciples (18:15–17)

Again with the goal of restoring wayward disciples (“sheep”; 18:12–14), the intent of including the church in the disciplining process is to involve the broader body of believers in trying to get the sinning brother to acknowledge his sin. Those who have shared the fellowship of the community may persuade the sinning brother to accept responsibility for his action(s).

The way in which this was carried out in the small home churches of the early church may be quite different than today. Such a sin would become immediately evident to the community. Today some churches actually publish a list or make an announcement from the pulpit. I personally have seen this work most effectively when the church leaders are made aware of the situation and are brought into the process of attempted restoration rather than making a public announcement.

Telling peter who God will use to shape the culture of the church… BE FORGIVING YOU’VE BEEN FORGIVEN
Maybe many people can’t grasp forgiveness because they haven’t seen forgiveness.
The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Contemporary Significance

The renowned pollsters George Gallup Sr. and his son George Gallup Jr. have studied the habits and preferences of the people of the United States since the 1930s. In one of the younger Gallup’s studies several years ago, he concluded that we are among the loneliest people on earth. He cited a variety of contributing factors, among which is Western individualism turned isolationism, acerbated by urbanization, technology, and consumerism.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Contemporary Significance

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I was raised by a stepfather who caused my family and me a great deal of pain. He left our family when I was in my early teens, and I carried a deep animosity toward him for years. When I was in Vietnam, my animosity became almost obsessive, and I vowed that the first time I saw him on my return, I would kill him. I would make him pay for what he had done to our family. I returned a few months later and within a year had become a Christian. My world began to change, and I put that stepfather out of my mind.

I had not thought about him much until about four years later, when he suddenly showed up where my wife and I and our little girl were living. He had tracked us down. My wife, being the loving person she is, invited him in. As we sat and talked politely, that vow came to my mind. I then told him, “I made a vow in Vietnam that the first time I saw you, I would kill you. Today is that day.” I will never forget the look of terror that came over his face. He started to sweat and slide down on the couch. I went on, “But I now know that I’m no better a person than you. God has forgiven me. And if he can forgive a sinner like me, I can forgive you. I will not allow you to hurt my family again, so don’t think that this is made out of weakness. Rather, I forgive you because I have been forgiven.”

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Contemporary Significance

Tom Tarrants. He is currently the president of the C. S. Lewis Institute, an organization that sponsors conferences and a fellows program that try to break down walls between believers of varied backgrounds for a common commitment to the “mere Christianity” that C. S. Lewis articulated. Tom is well qualified to provide leadership, not least because of his background. He has been the copastor of an interracial church in Washington, D.C., and one who has learned how mercy received creates community.

A former segregationist who participated with the violent activities of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1960s and 1970s, Tom met Jesus Christ as his Savior in a Mississippi prison cell. The transformation of his life is miraculous, as his hatred was replaced by love, and his bigotry with reconciliation. Together with John Perkins, a former black activist, they have written a book entitled He’s My Brother, which not only tells their stories but also presents a workable strategy for building bridges of understanding and reconciliation between peoples of differing backgrounds and color. Their unwavering message is that racial reconciliation is impossible until individuals on both sides experience the mercy and forgiveness of God for their personal sin, which will create a community of faith based in the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. These men operate out of a deep well of gratitude to God for his mercy and forgiveness, which in turn has compelled them to demonstrate mercy and forgiveness to those they once hated.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

35. Jesus’ application picks up specifically the last scene of the parable, but it is based on the parable as a whole. Those who will not forgive cannot expect to be forgiven. The point was made strongly in the Lord’s Prayer and the comment which follows it (6:12, 14–15), and the use of ‘debts’ for sins there is illuminated by the emphasis on debt here (vv. 24, 28, 30, 32, 34 all use the same word or its cognates). If the church is the community of the forgiven, then all its relationships will be marked by a forgiveness which is not a mere form of words, but an essential characteristic; from your heart excludes all casuistry and legalism.

Preaching the Word: Matthew—All Authority in Heaven and on Earth Chapter 54: The Heart of Perfect Forgiveness (Matthew 18:21–35)

And here Jesus is not saying that sin, while fully forgiven, doesn’t have consequences. In 19:9 he will teach that it is permissible to divorce one’s spouse due to “sexual immorality,” but he does not permit holding a grudge and not forgiving the sinner for his or her sin. One must forgive, but forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean the marriage lasts.

It means Jesus thinks deep down (and not so deep down) people are really, really bad. Perhaps more visual than debt, think of a zillion-mile chasm between God’s goodness and our badness. Or think both.

(v. 35). His final word, for emphasis, in our text is “from your hearts” (plural), literally “from the hearts of you all.”

Now, to be clear, our forgiveness of others is not a condition of salvation, but it is a consequence of it. “There will be no forgiveness in that day [judgment day] for unforgiving people,” J. C. Ryle has rightly said. I say it this way: There is no such creature as an unforgiving Christian. That being doesn’t exist. Christians forgive. We forgive because we have been transformed by the power of the gospel. The last point of my church’s vision statement is, “lives transformed by the power of the gospel,” and Jesus readily endorses that. If the gospel of forgiveness gets in you, it comes out of you. It brings the fruit of relational transformation.

He didn’t lose the original forgiveness… he was being punished for lack of forgiveness...

As James tells us, “Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13).

GOLDEN!!!

The great commentator William Arnot told the following account to illustrate how believers are enabled to obey the command to forgive each other. After fording a river, a traveler in Burma discovered that his body was covered with small leeches, busily sucking his blood. His first impulse was to pull them off, but his servant warned him against it, explaining that to do that would leave part of the leeches buried in the skin and cause serious infection. The native prepared a warm bath for the man and added certain herbs to the water that irritated but did not kill the leeches. One by one they voluntarily dropped off. “Each unforgiven injury rankling in the heart is like a leech sucking the life-blood,” Arnot goes on to explain. “Mere human determination to have done with it will not cast the evil thing away. You must bathe your whole being in God’s pardoning mercy; and those venomous creatures will instantly let go their hold.”

Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more