My name is Matt Sear, and I'm the third of three pastors here, along with new daddy Billy.
I'm one of the rookies, and it's a real privilege to open the Word together today.
The last three weeks, and for a little bit longer than that even, we've been talking
about life in the kingdom, kind of principles that function within the realm of God's saving
reign, principles that govern how we as disciples of Jesus live in the here and now.
This life in the kingdom is wonderful, isn't it?
It's a life of living in truth, a life of a reconciled relationship with God through Jesus.
It's a life of being a disciple of the universe's greatest and brightest teacher.
It's a life with real, living resurrection hope, a real promise of reward for obeying the
Father's will.
We could go on and on and on about the immense goodness of this life in the kingdom, but we
know that it also comes at cost.
Jesus, in chapter 16, has called his followers to deny themselves, to take up a cross and
follow him.
Life of a kingdom is a death to self.
It's a self-denying life, not just for the sake of self-denial, but for the sake of living
for Jesus.
It's a losing of one's life for his sake.
And in fact, it's in that losing of our lives, of ourselves, that we find life.
Well, forgiveness is one of those acute areas of cost for the follower of Jesus.
Though we love Jesus and we love one another as Christians, sometimes we hurt each other.
Sometimes we hurt each other really, really badly.
Often it's a nagging sin, like a repeating flare-up of anger from a husband to a wife.
Sometimes it's a much weightier matter, that of sexual immorality or some sort of verbal
or physical abuse.
Sometimes forgiveness involves a hidden sin that's been sort of in the dark for a long
time and all of a sudden revealed, and the weight of it can feel unbearable.
Well, questions like these come to mind as we think about what forgiveness may cost us
as disciples.
What if I've really been hurt?
What if this is the 3,000th time I've had to deal with this same sin from this same brother
or sister?
What if her apologies are just growing cold and it seems like his repentance is fake and
not sincere?
What if a brother shows no remorse at all?
When it comes to being sinned against, how costly is the forgiveness that we must offer?
Might there be a sin that's so big that as Christians we're under no obligation to forgive a brother
or sister?
Can a sinning sister commit so many offenses that I'm off the hook in forgiveness?
That I can stop forgiving because, well, that 3,001 sin crossed the line.
Can a Christian ever reach a limit in forgiving a fellow Christian?
Whether in size or number, how much and how often must we as Christians forgive each other?
We've asked this question, right?
We've wrestled with this internally.
Some more than others.
Some because of grievous sin.
Grievous wrongdoing that other Christians have committed against us.
Well, in answering these questions, we're not left in the dark.
Jesus gives us the answer in our text.
Last week, Mike walked us through these practical steps of seeking reconciliation.
When a brother or sister sins against us, the steps we take to pursue reconciliation with
him or her.
Well, this week, we're going to get surgical on our hearts.
How must my heart be towards a sinning Christian?
Towards a brother or sister who has wronged me?
What is my obligation?
Well, let's read the text together.
We're in Matthew chapter 18.
If you haven't opened there yet, Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse 21.
We'll go to the end of the chapter.
Then Peter came up and said to him, to Jesus, Lord, how often will my brother sin against
me and I forgive him?
As many as seven times?
Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 70 times seven.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with
his servants.
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.
And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and
all that he had and payment to be made.
So the servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me and I will pay you
everything.
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
But when the same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii.
And seizing him, he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe.
So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you.
He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they
went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me.
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?
And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt.
So also, my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
There's three parts to our text this morning.
There's a Q&A.
There's a parable about the kingdom.
And there's a stern warning.
We're going to examine them each in turn.
First, this Q&A, verses 21 and 22.
Good old Peter, leading the way here once again, probably thinks he's being super holy.
Typical teaching was to forgive a fellow three times.
And once that fourth occurrence happens, no more forgiveness.
So Peter, in his seven, seems extra generous.
Especially thinking of last week's passage, the time commitment that having to go to a brother and pursue him for reconciliation can be.
Surely, it seems that Peter is slowly but surely kind of picking up on the teaching of Jesus.
He knows to not go, well, you know, just add one or two more instances of forgiving requirements here.
I'll more than double it.
I'll be really generous.
And if Jesus is going to, you know, bring me down a little bit, all the better.
But Peter still, in his typical way and in our typical human way, is still doing no more than legalistic ledger keeping here.
What's my quota?
What?
Jesus, please quantify my obligation toward a dirty, rotten, sinning brother.
Seven times?
Probably patting himself on the back a little bit and the other disciples are kind of cheering him on.
But really, it's still a sort of attitude that says, well, I want to be compassionate.
I want to be understanding.
But I have my limits.
That's the kind of posture of heart that Peter's bringing in this question.
But look at Jesus' answer.
In verse 22, I do not tell you seven times, but 70 times seven.
Maybe your translation says 77.
There's a footnote in the ESV.
It's a little ambiguous whether Jesus means seven times seven or equals 490 or 77 times.
But let's not miss the point, right?
It's doubtful that Peter now is pulling out his iPhone and checking for a forgiveness app that can store up 490 wrongs.
It's like, well, I could probably, you know, remember seven, but 77 or 490, that's too many.
I need some electronic assistance here.
No.
He would understand.
But to drive the point home, Jesus is going to share a parable with Peter and the disciples and with all of us.
We'll spend the bulk of our time walking through this parable now.
So don't get nervous if the clock's ticking by and we're still lingering here.
This parable in verses 23 to 34 summarizes a warning given to all of Jesus' followers about the nature of forgiveness.
Notice the therefore that begins verse 23.
But more importantly, notice the connection behind that therefore.
Verse 21 and 22.
Forgiveness must be unceasing.
Therefore, let me tell you a story about the kingdom and how a king deals with those who refuse this kingdom principle.
It's sobering, but it's real.
Notice what's going on here.
A king is settling accounts with his servant.
But Peter has asked a horizontal forgiveness question between two brothers or sisters in Christ.
And Jesus is going to defend his 77 answer with a vertical forgiveness principle.
He's going to appeal to God's mercy to show that his principle of always forgiving one another in the kingdom of God stands.
And it stands firm.
So this king has authority to settle all accounts with all of his servants because he owns all of the kingdom.
And they are his servants.
They are under his authority, under his command.
And he calls the shots.
Right up front, it's not too hard, right, to see that this parable is getting really close to our relationship with God.
Sovereign ruler over all of us.
Calling the shots of how his kingdom is to be run and organized and responded to by all of the people that he welcomes into it.
So verse 24, a servant is brought to this king who owes like a bajillion dollars.
10,000 talents.
10,000 is the largest number in the Greek language.
And a talent is the largest monetary unit available.
So Jesus is saying the largest number of the largest monetary unit.
That's how much this servant owes.
Well, I did a little math to help us try and grasp just how great this debt is.
Let's say we're talking about a talent of gold.
Well, one ounce of gold today is worth $1,290.
So 16 ounces in a pound means that one pound of gold is worth $20,640.
Let's say because I like round numbers that a talent is 100 pounds rather than, you know, 75 to 100 at somewhere in there.
Let's say it's 100 pounds.
That means one talent of gold costs $2,064,000.
One talent.
This guy owes 10,000 of those.
$20,640,000,000 of debt.
It's astronomical.
One commentary writer said it's like 193,000 years of wages.
The servant may have to delay his retirement for a little bit in light of that number.
Well, Jesus uses this astronomical number with great purpose.
He's not super interested in what kind of job the servant has that would sort of accrue such a debt to the king.
Nor is he interested in trying to justify using a number that's more money than it would have been in circulation in the entire region at the time.
No.
His astronomical figures are for a theological point.
Remember, this is a kingdom parable.
Verse 25.
Notice the consequence.
The servant, his wife, his children, and all he has are to be sold.
Now, of course, this won't even scratch the surface of repaying the debt.
But at least the king can recoup a little something.
At least he is only out 9,999.5 talents and not 10,000.
Verse 26.
The waterworks start.
The servant falls at his feet, lies prostrate, total and last-ditch effort of desperation.
Assumes the posture of a beggar.
And he even throws in an empty promise to repay the debt.
Because surely he doesn't have 193,000 years to repay.
But maybe in his mind he's saying, I can at least buy myself a little bit of time here.
Then something phenomenal happens in verse 27.
Out of pity, the king releases him from the debt.
And we've seen this word three times before in Matthew's gospel.
We may not recognize it because it's translated as compassion the previous three times.
But we've seen Jesus having compassion over and over and over on people in need.
We see him see the people as sheep without a shepherd and he has compassion.
And he goes and he starts teaching them.
We see a group of 5,000 Jews and later 4,000 Gentiles.
And Jesus has compassion and he meets their need of hunger.
Over and over and over in this gospel we see that Jesus is compassionate.
That he extends pity and mercy towards those in need.
So too this king in our parable.
Now the release of any size debt would be generous of this king.
But 20.5 billion dollars?
It's unheard of.
Who is this king?
Jesus is brilliant here.
He not only describes the kingdom policy of forgiveness.
But in this parable he's helping to define forgiveness for us.
What happens to the debt of this servant?
The servant himself is off the hook.
But does the king get his money back?
Certainly not.
The king takes the debt on himself.
That's what it means to forgive, isn't it?
Someone sins against us.
And we choose to absorb what they owe us.
We take the debt.
We release them from it.
Notice the king here doesn't say,
Okay, I'll release you so you can repay.
He cancels it.
Paid in full.
According to his ledger.
The king assumes the debt.
He cancels the servant's obligation.
That's forgiveness.
When we are wronged,
we assume the debt ourselves.
We don't retaliate.
We don't get even.
We cancel the debt.
We don't let that wrongdoing
determine how we treat a brother or sister
from that point on.
Never.
Now to get Jesus' point here,
the grounds of his argument
that 77 or 490 is the number,
that forgiveness is to be ceaseless,
we need to notice the relationship
between this king and this servant.
The king is a sovereign ruler.
He rules sovereignly and with full authority
over all that he has,
his whole territory.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared
to a king.
When we shift from money to morals,
from money to righteousness,
we immediately find ourselves
in this servant's position, don't we?
From our perspective,
innumerable transgressions
leading to an immeasurable debt of sin.
Each and every wrongdoing
intimately known by our Heavenly Father.
And he knows full well
that to pardon us
would not result in our ability
to repay him.
Not such a grievous moral debt.
So, just like this king,
our Heavenly Father,
filled with such immense compassion
and mercy,
in seeing our need,
cancels our debt.
He takes it on himself.
Right?
It doesn't magically disappear.
He doesn't get the debt he owes.
He absorbs the cost.
Our passage doesn't spell it out,
but we know, right?
We know how he does this.
We've been singing about it all morning.
That's why we gather every Sunday.
Jesus was wounded for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
On him was the chastisement
that brought us peace.
By his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53, 5.
I like how Mark 10, 45 puts it.
The Son of Man came not to be served,
but to serve and to give his life
as a ransom for many.
Friends,
our freedom
comes at great expense to God.
It's a debt much greater than $20.6 billion.
It's a sin debt
of infinite proportions,
and it's paid in full by Jesus.
What a compassionate king.
Can you even begin to believe
the kindness that God has shown us?
It's incredible.
Let me stop and just say now,
when you're in need of the heart,
the posture of heart
to forgive a brother or sister,
you turn to God's mercy.
Don't go anywhere else.
Turn to His mercy,
and you remember what He's done in Christ.
There's strength and power in that.
Our story's only halfway done.
We've got to keep reading here.
Jesus isn't done making His point.
Verse 28,
this servant,
still wiping tears from his eyes
and the sweat from his brow,
heads out.
Phew,
that was a close one.
He searches out a fellow servant
and joyfully releases him
from his comparatively minuscule debt
of 100 denarii.
At least that's
how we'd expect him to respond.
But no,
this four months wages
versus 193,000 years,
the servant is outraged
at his fellow servant.
He starts choking him violently
by a debt
one 600,000
the size
of the debt
he had just been forgiven.
Verse 29,
notice the
intentional
near word for word
repetition
of his fellow servant's plea.
This guy should have known
that,
man,
I just said this to the king
a short while ago,
begging for patience,
promising to repay,
and here's a fellow servant
asking the same of me.
Likely,
this servant even had a real chance
to repay the debt.
four months wages,
probably do that,
set up a savings account,
maybe work a little extra
on the weekends.
Maybe.
But no,
the freshly forgiven servant
rejects the plea
and he throws
his fellow servant
in prison
until the debt
could be paid.
Servant's not going to be
making license plates
in there
to earn money.
He can't pay the debt
from prison.
It's overly harsh
and it's
inconceivable
anger
that this servant
is showing
to a fellow servant.
No wonder
in verse 31
that his fellow servants
are so dismayed
and distraught
over this.
They're grieved
beyond belief.
Terrified
by what has transpired.
just as a little aside,
I wonder,
I've been asking myself
this week
if I'm as concerned
by witnessing
a lack of forgiveness
among God's people
as these servants are
in witnessing
unforgiveness
of a debt
among their fellow servants.
A lack of mercy
should be incredibly
disturbing to us
as people
who know
the mercy
that the king
has shown us.
So the servants
go and they report
every last little detail
to the king.
Verse 32
to 34,
the king takes action.
His guns are blazing
and he is red hot.
He doesn't sort of
ease into this conversation.
He just
straight away
wicked servant.
You evil doer.
And the next thing
out of his mouth,
it's hard to see it
in English,
but the next thing
he says,
all that debt.
He can't even
finish a sentence
to get it out.
All that debt.
Every last shekel.
Totally forgiven you
because you begged me.
Because you fell
and asked for mercy.
Verse 33,
the king asks
a really telling question.
And the should language
is probably a little soft.
It's more in lines of
wasn't it necessary?
You wicked servant,
were you not
under obligation
to pay the mercy
forward
to your fellow servant?
Of course.
Of course he was.
That's the answer.
Remember the king's mercy.
It wasn't a mere suggestion.
It was a silent
but obvious
authoritative mandate
to pay mercy forward.
Let me just
step aside.
Sin is real.
And the grievous
nature of it
can be very,
very,
very weighty.
Jesus in this parable
and in this text
is not minimizing
real wrong
that people have
committed against us.
He's not minimizing it.
He's not saying,
oh,
just forgive and forget.
Don't let them
have power over you.
You need to just forgive
and move on with your life.
That's not what he's saying.
He's saying
there's a real debt
and there's a real cost.
And yet,
he does not flinch
in reframing
the entire
realm
of wrongs
done to us
in light of God's mercy.
He refuses to say,
well,
there's some things
that maybe
you're right
to just never forgive
from a brother or sister.
He doesn't.
He says,
look at God's mercy.
You've got to pay it forward.
You have to.
It's an obligation
of the kingdom
to be merciful.
We'll see in verse 34,
the formerly
compassionate king
now responds
in anger.
The servant heads
not just to jail,
but this
jailer's word,
you may have a footnote,
saying,
torturers.
This is bad news
for the servant.
He's thrown in prison
for the sake
of being tormented
for his lack of mercy.
This has eternal
scope
and weight to it.
He's going to remain
in a torturous place
until his debt
is paid
and obviously
he cannot
have any hope
of paying the debt
until life's sentence
and notice
that the punishment
is now more severe.
At first,
he was going to be sold.
The king recouped
a little bit.
Now he's thrown
in jail.
The king's out
the whole sum of money,
but he's going to get justice.
The pardoned debtor's
failure
to be merciful
results
in a much more
severe judgment
for him.
Well,
to make sure
that Peter
and the other disciples
and we ourselves
today
understand
this parable
Jesus summarizes
with a warning
in verse 35.
So also,
in this same way,
my heavenly father
will do
to every
one of you
if you do not
forgive your brother
or sister
from your heart.
let's not tread lightly
over this
warning.
But in light of what
we've just seen
in this text,
I think we can
summarize
the whole of it
in this way.
In light
of his
mercy,
your heavenly
father
demands
that you
always
and forever
forgive
your fellow
Christians.
In light
of his
extravagant
generosity
and compassion
shown
a bunch
of rebels
like you
and me
who owe
a debt
that is
immeasurable
and unpayable
by any stretch
of our imagination,
in light
of that
mercy,
our God
demands,
he obligates
us as his
people to
always and forever
forgive one
another,
all of our
wrongdoing,
always.
Let me just
try and
make two
points of
application
to close.
Jesus
addresses our
hearts here
and we often
need great
amounts of
wisdom
to practically
obey this
command.
He places
an obligation
upon our
hearts to
always and
forever forgive
because of
God's
willingness to
forgive us.
Remember,
there's real
consequences to
sin.
Someone has
to pay the
cost of each
and every
wrongdoing.
forgiveness
may be a
hard attitude,
it may be a
matter of
the heart,
but reconciliation
and restoration
is a process,
often full of
pain,
often long,
often coming
at further
cost to us.
But a
heart of
forgiveness
longs for
that
reconciliation.
Jesus is
addressing our
hearts,
he's saying,
have this
posture as
a disciple,
as a
kingdom
citizen,
a heart
of forgiveness
that always
forgives.
Christian,
you bear the
cost owed
to you by
your brother
or sister
who wrongs
you.
You bear
it.
it takes
a lot of
wisdom.
Sometimes
sin really,
really,
really affects
us for the
rest of our
lives.
And yet
Jesus does
not compromise
this principle
of the kingdom.
You must be
merciful because
God is merciful
to you.
Second,
why,
you may be
asking,
does Jesus
zero in
here on
Christians
forgiving
other
Christians?
What about
unbelievers?
What's our
responsibility
to them?
Well,
there's other
places in
Matthew's
gospel where
we can
turn to
kind of
see a
fuller,
more robust
understanding
of forgiveness.
Jesus says,
you've heard it
said,
love your
neighbor and
hate your
enemy,
but I
tell you,
love your
enemy.
Pray for
those who
persecute
you.
But I
think he's
specifically
talking about
Christians here
for a
real reason.
And we
come to
understand that
reason by
asking what's
at stake
in what
Jesus is
calling us
to,
forgiving
one another
within the
body of
Christ forever
and always.
Well,
there's a
three-fold
reason.
Unity,
witness,
unity,
and
eternity.
What's at
stake?
Our unity
as one
body in
Jesus Christ
is at
stake.
Each one
of us as
Christians
belongs to
one another.
We're
inseparably
joined
because of
what God
has done
for us
in Christ.
We're not
just a
room full
of individuals
detached from
one another.
We're one
body.
We're in
this together.
together.
I love
how Paul
says it
in Ephesians
4-3
that we
are to
be eager
to maintain
the unity
of the
spirit
and the
bond
of peace.
Well,
eager to
maintain
implies
that we
didn't earn
it,
we're not
achieving it
or accomplishing
it on our
own.
We're
maintaining
something that
God has
already
established
in our
midst.
a unity
that is
purchased
by the
blood
of Jesus
Christ.
That unity
should be
precious to
us.
We must
always
maintain it.
And often
that means
we absorb
the cost
of a sinning
brother or
sister.
Our unity
is at stake,
but not just
our unity,
our witness.
Last week
we ended
the service
by reading
from John
13 where
Jesus says,
I'm giving
you this
new commandment
that you'd
love one
another.
And then
he says
this interesting
thing,
by this
all people
will know
that you
are my
disciples
if you
have love
for one
another.
The world
holds grudges.
The world
strangles each
other and
demands
payment.
Not so
with God's
people.
We are
a city
set on
a hill
and in
love we
forgive one
another
so that
our witness
would be
salty and
bright in
Kenosha and
among the
nations.
Our witness
is at stake.
And finally,
to end on
a sober
note,
our eternity
is at stake.
I've had
to lay
aside some
theological
frameworks
this week
and just
try to
take the
text at
face value
and not
do a bunch
of gymnastics
with it.
But we
see that
warning in
verse 35.
If you do
not forgive
from your
heart,
God will
judge you
accordingly.
Let this
warning from
the lips of
Jesus correct
your heart
today.
let it
give you
a gritty
determined
purposed
resolve to
always forgive
brothers and
sisters in
Christ no
matter what.
Now that
might look
different,
right?
It doesn't
mean that
relationship is
just perfectly
restored
immediately.
It doesn't
mean that
some sins
are to the
point where
we have to
separate ourselves
from one
another.
But we
forgive from
our hearts.
We don't
let a debt
mentality show
up in our
hearts towards
other believers.
Let this
text set you
on a path
to forgive
any brother
or sister
you've got
an issue
with.
Make no
mistake,
if somebody's
coming to
mind now,
go to them.
Resolve
this.
Let them
know that
you forgive
them.
Free them
from thinking
that you're
holding them
under some
kind of
obligation.
maybe there's
nobody in
your mind
right now.
Then let
this text
strengthen
your resolve.
Someday
there's
very high
likelihood
that you
will be
wronged
and Jesus
will call
you to
forgive
because of
God's
mercy.
And just
as we've
been singing
all morning
and we're
going to
close with
another song
about God's
mercy,
let this
passage
remind you
just how
great
debt
Jesus
Christ
paid
for
you.
He died
for your
sins
and made
full payment
on the
cross
that you
and I
might be
free of
obligation
to him
in the
sense of
paying for
sin.
Life in
the kingdom
is a really
good life
and it's
a life
that comes
at great
cost at
different
points in
our lives.
here Jesus
tells us
that life
in the
kingdom
means that
we have
an ongoing
commitment
to forgive
one another
in light
of God's
mercy.
Let's take
that to
heart today
and be
quick to
forgive.
Our unity,
our witness,
and our
eternity
are at
stake.
Let's
pray.
Heavenly
Father,
we thank
you so
much for
the mercy
that you
have shown
to us.
paying off
our
immeasurable
debt of
sin
and forgiving
us all
of our
trespasses.
God,
help us
to be
merciful in
light of
this.
Give us
grace to
forgive even
the hardest
of situations
that we may
face when a
brother or
sister does
us wrong.
Help us,
God.
We need
help here.
This is
hard,
but you're
good.
we want
to follow
you.
Help us,
we pray in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.
Thank you.