It's great to be with you guys.
I was worried it's going to feel really weird with all the men gone,
! But I'm glad some of you are here.
So it's not too weird.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 18.
If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
We'd love to give you a copy that you can have.
And you can take it home with you and use it.
We're in Matthew 18, verse 21 to 35.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Father, again, Lord, we come to a topic
where we hear so many contradicting,
clamors from the world
that make it harder for us
to see with clarity
and to stand with conviction
on what you teach us here
about forgiveness.
So we ask God that your light,
the light of your Word,
would scatter all the fog that we live in.
And that you would
truly impress on us
the heavy weight
of our own sins
that
has been lifted by Jesus Christ,
our Savior.
So that in all our relations with
one another
and even the way we relate to our enemies
would be shaped
by that forgiveness
we've received from you.
Speak to us, God.
We need you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Please stand if you are able.
Let us honor God
by standing as we read from His Word
and are addressed by Him.
Matthew 18, 21 to 35.
Then Peter came up and said to Him,
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 seventy-seven times.
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 ten thousand 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 that same servant
went out,
he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred 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.
This is God's holy
and authoritative word.
Please be seated.
There's a 5th century tragedy,
5th century BC,
tragedy written by Aeschylus
called Oresteia.
It means the tale of Oresteia.
And it's a foundational
Western text on revenge.
It begins with King Agamemnon
offering his daughter
as a sacrifice to the Greek gods
in hopes that he could secure
the favor and help
of the Greek gods
in the Trojan War
that he is fighting.
And then the programmatic line
that kind of sets the trajectory
for the rest of the trilogy
is this line,
blood once shed
cries out for more blood.
And you see that
over and over again.
And King Agamemnon's wife,
the queen,
the Clytemnestra,
then murders her husband,
Agamemnon,
to avenge her daughter.
And then after that,
his Agamemnon's son
kills his mother,
Clytemnestra,
to avenge the death
of his father.
And then the furies,
the Greek gods of vengeance,
then start pursuing Orestes.
It illustrates,
helpfully,
the endless cycle
of revenge.
But in our sinful world
where we often wrong others
and are often wronged
by others,
what can put an end
to all this anger
and bitterness
and resentment
and hatred
and revenge?
Even in a society like ours
that's governed
by the rule of law,
revenge has happened.
Personal vendetta
has infused
continue in gang violence
and mass shooting
by gunmen with grudges
and ethnic violence
and genocide
throughout the world.
After the breakup
of the Ottoman Empire,
the Turks killed Armenians
and Greeks,
and they in turn
killed Turks
and vice versa.
In the Rwandan genocide,
the Tutsis killed Hutus
and then the Hutus
killed Tutsis
and on and on and on.
And after the breakup
of the Yugoslavia,
the Serbs killed Albanians
saying,
you must understand,
it's just our revenge.
And then the Albanians
killed the Serbs
saying this is their
understandable desire
for revenge.
And this cycle
plays out
in the church as well.
Not in murder per se,
but in hatred.
Everyone who hates
his brother
is a murderer
says 1 John 3.15.
Of course,
we are quick
to justify ourselves.
Oh,
I don't hate
my brother.
I don't hate him.
I'm just shutting it
out of my life
completely
and then never
speaking to him
and acting like
he doesn't exist.
But Jesus says
in Matthew 5.21.26
that whoever is angry
with his brother
or insults his brother
has committed
murder of the heart.
There are no laws
against hating
someone in the heart.
So what solution
is there for that?
There's only one thing
that ends this
endless cycle
of anger,
hatred,
offense,
and violence
and Jesus' answer
is forgiveness.
Sitting in church
on a Sunday morning
that might not sound
like a radical idea
to you,
but forgiveness
has been
and remains
to this day
a very countercultural idea.
How many times
have you had thoughts
along these lines?
Oh, but you have
no idea
what she has done
to me.
If you only knew,
you would not expect
me to forgive
this person.
It's a popular
sentiment nowadays.
Why should the injured,
the still bleeding,
bear the onus
of forgiveness?
Thinks the main character
Kaya Clark
in Deliah Owens'
novel
Where the Crawdads Sing.
How many times
have you thought
something like this?
Forgiveness
dispenses with accountability.
It lets the offender
off the hook,
the perpetrator,
the abuser
off the hook,
leaving them
to keep hurting others
with impunity.
If you forgive someone
who hurt your family,
well, that means
you just didn't love
your family member enough.
In a cruder way,
one famous blogger
says,
to hell with forgiveness.
Forgiveness culture.
Calling for forgiveness
is tantamount
to another Abrahamic
culturally ingrained
guilt trip.
In short,
it is victim blaming.
You see,
forgiveness is not popular
in some circles.
In fact,
it has always
had its naysayers.
In his book,
Mere Christianity,
C.S. Lewis suggests
that this terrible duty
of forgiving
even our enemies
might be the most
unpopular
of the Christian virtues.
He continues,
everyone says
forgiveness is a lovely idea
until they have
something to forgive.
And then,
to mention the subject
at all is to be greeted
with howls of anger.
It is not that people
think this too high
and difficult
of virtue,
it is that they think
it hateful
and contemptible.
That sort of talk
makes them sick,
they say.
And half of you
already want to ask me,
I wonder how you'd feel
about forgiving
the Gestapo
if you were a Pole
or a Jew.
Should we always
forgive?
If yes,
how?
Where do we find
the emotional resources
for such
a Herculean task?
How do we forge
a character
strong enough
to dispense
such forgiveness?
In a brilliant,
simple parable,
Jesus answers
these questions
and more
and commands us
to forgive one another
as God in Christ
forgave you.
First,
we're going to talk
about the crushing debt.
Secondly,
about the compassionate
master.
And then thirdly,
we'll talk about
the callous servant.
As is often the case,
Peter is the one
who first poses
the question to Jesus
in verse 21.
Lord,
how often
will my brother
sin against me
and I forgive him?
As many as seven times?
If you remember
last week's passage,
I mentioned to you
that some translations
like the NIV
and the NASB
omit the phrase
against you
in verse 15.
And I sided
with that translation.
There in verses
15 to 20,
the concern was
for the brother
or sister's welfare.
Trying to care for them
by confronting them
and bringing them
to repentance
from sin.
When fellow church members
sin and refuse to repent,
it is our responsibility
to bring loving correction.
And if they don't listen,
you bring one or two others
with you and do the same.
If they still don't listen,
you tell the church.
And if they still don't listen,
then you disfellowship.
You declare them
an unbeliever.
It's church discipline.
In hope that
that severe mercy
would bring
that erring member
to repentance.
That's how we are
to love and pursue
brothers and sisters
in Christ
who sin and stray
from the truth.
But now,
in verses 21 to 26,
Peter raises the question,
what about me?
What if
a brother or sister's sin
is against me
in particular?
What am I supposed
to do
with that personal
grievance and hurt?
This is a different question
from verse 15,
which is why
Jesus' prescription
is different.
The former question
is about how
the church
as a community
keeps one another
accountable.
the present question
is how we
personally keep
our own hearts
toward those
who sin against us.
The former question
is about
corporate accountability.
The latter is about
personal forgiveness.
Regardless of
the corporate response
of the church
to an erring member,
to an unrepentant sinner,
if the sin
that was directed
against us,
it is our personal
responsibility
to forgive.
forgive.
The same distinction
applies in the
civil court.
Personal forgiveness
does not obviate
institutional justice.
If someone murders
your family member,
yes,
it is your responsibility
to forgive
that murderer
personally
for the wrong
that he or she
has done,
but it is still
right and just
for that person
to be punished
to the full extent
of the law
in the civil court.
Personal forgiveness
and institutional justice
are not mutually
exclusive,
nor is our
personal forgiveness
inconsistent
with divine justice.
Romans 12, 9 says,
Beloved,
never avenge yourselves,
but leave it
to the wrath of God,
for it is written,
vengeance is mine,
I will repay,
says the Lord.
It is God
who will ultimately
avenge us
for all the evil
done to us
so that we don't
have to take
vengeance ourselves,
because God,
the sovereign judge,
will finally
execute justice.
We don't need
to become vigilantes
who take matters
into our own hands.
Romans 13, 1-4
echoes the same principle,
applying it
to the delegated authority
of civil authorities.
Let every person
be subject
to the governing authorities,
for there is no authority
except from God,
and those that exist
have been instituted
by God,
for rulers are not
a terror to good conduct
but to bad.
If you do wrong,
be afraid,
for he does not
bear the sword in vain,
for he is the servant
of God,
an avenger who carries
out God's wrath
on the wrongdoer.
So divine justice
and civil justice
are biblical realities,
and the call
to personal forgiveness
that we see
in this passage
does not nullify
either of those things.
So Peter's question
deals with personal forgiveness,
and Jesus' answer
does not speak
to what courts
should do
or what God
will ultimately do
in his final judgment.
He's asking,
Peter is asking
about the relationships
within the community
of God's people.
He asks,
Lord,
how often
will my brother
sin against me
and I forgive him
as many as seven times?
Peter's understanding
of forgiving one's brother
comes from
the Old Testament,
Leviticus 19,
17 to 18.
You shall not hate
your brother
in your heart,
but you shall reason
frankly with your neighbor,
lest you incur sin
because of him.
You shall not take vengeance
or bear a grudge
against the sons
of your own people,
but you shall love
your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord.
Not taking vengeance
or bearing a grudge
against our neighbor
or a brother
in our community
is an expression
of our love for neighbor.
It's an entailment
of the second greatest
commandment
to love your neighbor
as yourself.
But remember,
earlier in chapter 5,
Jesus elevated
this command
to love your neighbor.
He said,
you have heard
that it was said,
you shall love
your neighbor
and hate your enemy.
But I say to you,
love your enemies
and pray for those
who persecute you.
For if you love
those who love you,
what reward will you get?
Do not even the tax collectors
do the same?
If you greet only
your brothers,
what reward will you get?
Do not even the Gentiles
do the same?
Love for brothers
and sisters in Christ,
Jesus says,
is not enough.
We must love
even our enemies.
And since love
entails not taking vengeance
and not holding a grudge,
it includes forgiveness.
So we are to forgive
our enemies as well,
even though what's
primarily in view
in this context
is forgiving
our brothers and sisters
in the context
of the church.
church.
This is helpful
to remember
when a fellow Christian
sins against us
repeatedly.
When your brother
or sister sins
against you
seven times
or 77 times
and they don't feel
sorry about it,
I could assure you
that person
no longer feels
like a brother
or a sister
or a friend
or even a neighbor.
That person starts
to feel like
an enemy.
But we are called
to love
and forgive
even our enemies.
Let's look at
Peter's question again.
Lord,
how often
will my brother
sin against me
and I forgive him?
As many as seven times?
The Jewish
rabbinical teaching
regarded three times
as a sufficient number
of times
to forgive someone,
which seems
pretty reasonable,
right?
So if Peter
was aware of that,
he is upping
the ante,
right?
Not three,
not four,
not five,
not six,
seven.
The number
of perfection.
If I say this
to Jesus,
surely I'm going
to get a pat
on the back.
Simon Bar-Jonah,
flesh and blood
has not revealed
this to you.
My father
who is in heaven.
But Jesus says
in verse 22,
I do not say
to you seven times,
but 77 times.
If the number seven
symbolizes perfection
and completeness,
then 77 is a hyperbolic
escalation of the number seven.
And it's an allusion
to Genesis 4, 24.
If you remember
when Cain,
after murdering
his brother Abel,
is exiled
further east of Eden,
he is afraid
that anyone who finds him
will kill him.
And so God offers him
protection.
He says,
if anyone kills Cain,
vengeance shall be
taken on him sevenfold.
And then later,
Cain's descendant,
to Lamech,
kills a man.
And then he boasts,
saying this,
if Cain's revenge
is sevenfold,
then Lamech's
is 77-fold.
That's the vengeful heart
of a sinful man.
Don't you tread on me,
because you'll have it
coming to you.
Not seven times,
77 times.
And then Jesus,
alluding to that,
flips it on his head.
He says,
I do not say to you,
forgive seven times,
but 77 times.
It's easy to gloss over
this familiar teaching,
but don't let it,
don't gloss over it.
Please let it sink in.
Jesus is not saying,
literally,
forgive 77 times,
and then 78th time,
oh,
that's it.
Game over.
He's saying,
forgive without limit.
If you are keeping count,
if you are keeping score,
you know,
this is the second time
you did this to me.
You always do this.
Then we are missing the mark.
1 Corinthians 13, 5 says
that love is not resentful.
Literally,
literally,
in the Greek,
that means love
does not count up wrongdoing.
The NIV renders it as
love keeps no record
of wrongs.
And if you understand
this command rightly,
in our cultural climate,
this is an outrageous command.
Sure,
if that person wrongs me
once or twice,
okay,
maybe on a good day
if I'm feeling
especially gracious,
maybe I'll forgive
even three times.
But what do you mean
77 times?
What do you mean
forgive without limit?
This person
is an incorrigible
repeat offender.
Are you guilt tripping me
as the victim?
You would have me
let the offender
off the hook?
Do you know how damaging
that kind of teaching is?
If you can't see
the scandal
of this command,
then you have yet
to wrestle with it
enough.
Jesus knows
that this radical command
requires an explanation
and so
he tells this parable
of the unforgiving servant.
He says in verses 23-24,
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.
Since this is a metaphor,
it's a parable
for the kingdom
of heaven,
the king here
represents God.
And a servant
of this king
owes him
10,000 talents.
One talent
was about
6,000 denarii
and one denarius
was a common laborer's
day's wage,
a full day's wage.
And so this servant
owes the king
60 million denarii.
So even if he works
seven days a week
for 365 days a year
without ever
taking a day off,
he would need to work
for 164,383 years
to repay this
as a common laborer.
Now let me adjust that
for inflation for you.
A living wage
in Boston,
Cambridge,
Newton area
is estimated
at $32.46 an hour.
That's the minimum
hourly pay
that a full-time
worker needs
in order to care
for his need
and his family's need.
If we count
for an eight-hour
workday,
that's $260
per day.
That's a day's wage
for a common laborer
in our area.
So $260
is the modern
equivalent of
one denarius
and since one talent
is 6,000 denarii,
let's multiply
260 by 6,000
and you get
$1,560,000.
That's the equivalent
of one talent.
And this servant
owes the king
10,000 talents.
So multiply
1.56 million
to 10,000
and you get
$15.6 billion.
It's an unimaginably
large sum of money.
And even trying
to quantify
and calculate it
like this
actually misses
the point
because a talent
was the largest
monetary unit
used in that day
and age.
It's the largest
sum of money,
amount of money
you could use.
And 10,000
is the largest
number
that the Greek
language
had a name for,
had a specific
name for.
It's the largest
monetary unit,
largest number,
10,000.
It's basically
infinity.
A money
you could never
hope to pay back
what we would
call gazillions
of dollars.
A crushing
debt.
Even
$200,000
of school loans
is crippling
for most people.
It's the kind
of debt
that stresses
people out
and alters
their life choices.
But this is not
even a fraction
of that,
what the servant
owes the king.
Imagine being
weighed down
with something
like that.
And that's
the debt
of sin
that we all
owe to God.
Remember the
prayer that Jesus
taught us in
Matthew 6,
12.
Forgive us
our debts
as we also
have forgiven
our debtors.
And then
two verses
later,
Jesus explains,
and this is
the only line
in that prayer
that Jesus
explains further.
For if you
forgive others
their trespasses,
your heavenly
Father will
also forgive you.
But if you
do not
forgive others
their trespasses,
neither will
your Father
forgive your
trespasses.
Our debts
are a metaphor
for our
trespasses
and sins
against God.
Do you
know that
our sins
are so grave
that we owe
an infinite
debt to God?
So many
people in the
world fail
to recognize
this because
they suffer
from PGPS,
pretty good
person syndrome.
It's endemic.
Oh, I don't
think I'm super
or anything,
but you know,
I'm just as good
as the next guy
or the next gal.
I'm a pretty
good person.
Of course,
I've done some
bad things,
but you know,
that guy's so
much worse.
that's what most
people in their
prideful delusion
think,
but that's not
the case
according to
Jesus.
Our debt of
sin is
10,000 talents,
an infinite
debt.
Law-breaking
offenses in our
society get
classified into
three broad
categories,
right?
An infraction
is the least
serious,
smallest offense,
five days in
prison and or
up to $5,000
fine.
Next is a
misdemeanor,
which is punishable
by up to one
year in prison
and or $100,000
fine.
The worst,
most serious
crime is a
felony,
which is punishable
by up to
lifetime in
prison or
death and
or by a
$250,000
fine.
I hope that's
accurate.
The lawyers in
the room can
correct me if
it's not.
Sometimes we
can think that
our sins are
like these
minor infractions.
Ah,
not that bad.
But think about
it this way.
God is our
creator and
ruler, but
all of us at
some point in
our lives have
denied him, we
have rebelled
against his
rule, and we
have sought to
be masters of
our own fate.
And in living
like we are
the captains of
our own ships,
we have sought
to usurp God's
throne and be
God.
Romans 5.10
describes
unrepentant
humanity as
God's enemies.
According to
Ephesians 2.2,
we were all
once following
the prince of
the power of
the air, the
spirit that is
now at work in
the sons of
disobedience.
In other words,
all sinners have
levied war against
God as his
enemies, and we
have adhered to
and followed
Satan, the prince
of the power of
the air, his
enemy.
In our world,
we call that
treason.
treason against
the U.S.
government is
not an
infraction or
a misdemeanor,
it's a felony
punishable by the
severest sentence.
In our court,
there are
mitigating factors
to consider,
things that can
lessen the
severity of a
sentence for a
crime committed.
for example,
if it was a
person's first
time offense,
if they have a
clean prior record,
that's a mitigating
factor.
Another one is if
the victim of
the crime is
also culpable,
worthy of blame
in some way.
But what
mitigating factor
do we have
in our treason
against God?
God has been
nothing but good
and generous
and gracious
to all of us.
Everything that
we know to be
good, it comes
from him.
He has no,
he deserves
no blame.
Not only that,
this is not our,
we are not people
with a clean
record.
We have a
lengthy record
of sin.
We're not
first time
offenders.
I can say
still more about
the gravity
of our own
sin.
If you swat
a fly,
no one cares.
If you slap
a person
and that person
files a police
report,
then you can
go to jail
for physical
assault or
battery.
The difference
in punishment
is not because
the two acts,
swatting and
slapping,
are all that
different.
They're basically
the same thing.
The difference
in punishment
lies in the
dignity,
the difference
in the value
and the dignity
between a fly
and a person.
the gravity
of the offense
and the severity
of the punishment
depends not only
on the nature
of the act
itself,
but on the
worth of the
object of that
offense.
So how much
more then does
this principle
apply to God?
God is infinitely
worthy of our
faith and obedience
and worship.
And for that reason,
to sin against him
merits infinite
punishment.
As we sometimes
read in one of
our confessions
of sins,
let us never
forget that we
have an eternal
duty to love,
honor,
and obey you,
that you are
infinitely worthy
of such,
that if we fail
to glorify you,
we are guilty
of infinite evil
that merits
infinite punishment
for sin is the
violation of an
infinite obligation.
Our sin
deserves
eternal
punishment,
not merely
because of what
we have done,
but especially
because of whom
we have sinned
against.
Even in our
society,
there are criminals
who get sentenced
to punishment
that goes well
beyond their
lifetime.
For example,
Dylan Roof,
the racist
neo-Nazi
gunman who
shot and killed
nine African
Americans while
they were doing
Bible study in
a church in
Charleston,
South Carolina
in 2015.
He received a
death penalty
in federal court,
but that wasn't
it.
That wasn't
all.
He also
received nine
consecutive life
sentences,
life without
parole.
How does one
man pay nine
life sentences?
Obviously,
he can't pay for
it.
The point is
that his guilt,
his punishment,
what he deserves
is greater than
what he can
himself pay
with his one
life.
That's what
all our sins
are like.
I imagine
like,
I don't think
I've seen this
movie,
but I think
I've seen a
trailer.
I think there's
a movie called
Edge of
Tomorrow or
something where
a guy gets
stuck in a
time loop,
and then he
somehow gets
stuck in a
time loop,
and then he
dies, he
gets killed,
and then he
goes back and
starts over,
and he dies
again, and
he dies again.
And that's
what we
deserve.
We can't
pay for it
with our
lifetime.
We must
pay infinitely.
That's why
hell is
described earlier
in verse
eight as an
eternal fire
where torment
goes up forever
and ever.
I know this
is a harsh
reality, but
it is the
reality that we
must reckon
with because
if the weight
of the crushing
debt,
does not
sink in,
we cannot
rightly
appreciate the
forgiveness of
God in
Christ.
And therefore,
we also cannot
forgive others
as Christ
commends us if
we don't get
this truth
first.
Given this
crushing debt,
the servant
could not
possibly pay it
back.
So what
happens in
verses 25 to
26 is
expected.
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.
This was a
common way to
deal with
unpaid debt
in the ancient
world to the
debtor together
with his
family and all
his belongings
would be sold
to slavery to
their master.
But even that
would not go
far enough to
pay this
astronomical debt.
debt.
And given
this reality,
the servant's
assurance to
the master is
laughable.
Have patience
with me and I
will pay you
everything.
Imagine the
master's
person, oh
yeah, really?
You're going to
pay everything?
How do you
exactly intend
to do that?
Can you live
for 164,383
years?
This betrays
the servant's
delusion.
And that
brings us to
the master's
response, the
second point,
the compassionate
master.
He says in
verse 27,
and out of
pity for him,
the master
of that servant
released him
and forgave him
the debt.
The master
knows better
than the servant.
He knows that
the servant
could never
pay it back.
And knowing
this, instead
of despising
the servant,
the master
has pity for
him.
The translation
out of pity
is a rendering
of a Greek
word that
literally means
the viscera
or the bowels,
the inward
parts of the
person that
went out
toward that
servant.
We might say
in English
that his
heart leapt
out for
the servant.
This is what
we observe
about Jesus
time and time
again throughout
the Gospel
of Matthew.
In Matthew
9,36, when
he saw the
crowds, he
says he had
compassion, it's
the same word
for them.
Why?
Because they
were harassed
and helpless
like sheep
without a
shepherd.
This is the
remarkable thing
about our
God and about
our Savior
Jesus, that
when he sees
people who
are morally
repulsive, the
kind of people
that society
holds in
contempt, the
inexcusable
debtors with
crushing debts,
instead of
seeing them and
having contempt
for them, our
God has
pity.
He has
compassion.
God has
compassion.
And out of
that pity, the
master and
servant released
him and forgave
him the debt.
Consider the
staggering
generosity of
this master.
He doesn't
opt for
helping him
out with the
budget or
creating a
debt management
plan or
offering debt
consolidation.
No, he
simply forgives
the debt, all
of it, all
10,000 talents.
And that's
not an easy
feat.
When you
forgive someone
of their debt,
where does all
the debt go?
It doesn't
just vanish
into thin air
and then you
get the money
back from the
federal government,
no.
Someone has
to absorb
the debt.
And if you
forgive someone
the debt that
they owe you,
you are
absorbing
that debt,
that loss.
when someone
wrecks your
car, the
offender could
apologize to
you and say,
I'm really
sorry.
And maybe you
will tell that
person, oh, it
happens to the
best of us,
don't sweat it.
But then what
happens to the
wrecked car?
That car is
still wrecked and
somebody has to
pay for it, it's
either going to
be you or
them.
Our debt of
sin doesn't
just vanish
into thin air,
it has to be
paid by
somebody.
And in this
case, it's
the master,
God himself,
who absorbs
our debt of
sin, and
that's what we
see on the
cross.
Sometimes I
think we're
so familiar
with the
idea of
divine forgiveness
that we
almost think
that God's
forgiveness is
easy or
cheap.
But do you
know how
frequently God
says in
God's word
that he will
not let the
guilty go
unpunished?
When God
reveals his
name and his
character in
Exodus 34
verse 7, he
says that he
will by no
means clear the
guilty.
Concerning the
angel of the
Lord who
represents him,
God says in
Exodus 23, 21,
pay careful
attention to him
and obey his
voice.
Do not rebel
against him,
for he will
not pardon your
transgression.
Why?
Because my
name is in
him.
When the
Israelites claim
that they will
serve the Lord,
Joshua tells them
off in Joshua 24,
19, you are
not able to
serve the
Lord, for he
is a holy
God.
He is a
jealous God
and he will
not forgive your
transgressions or
your sins.
God is not an
appeaser.
He is not a
people pleaser.
He understands
the gravity of
sin.
He doesn't make
light of sin and
say, oh, that's
okay, no big
deal.
He is holy like
nobody else and
he understands
gravity of sin like
nobody else and
he, by his very
nature and his
character, does not
clear the guilty
because he is
just.
If anything, it
should be harder
and more unnatural
for God to forgive
sins than for us to
forgive sins.
the sins committed
against him are
greater than the
sins that are ever
committed against us
and he is more
holy than the best
of humanity could
ever hope to be.
Don't you
personally find it
easier to
forgive people or
to relate to people
who struggle with
sins that you
struggle with?
And then,
likewise, don't you
find it harder to
have compassion on
people who struggle
with sin, things that
you don't struggle
with at all?
Well then,
shouldn't it be
easier as fellow
sinners for us to
have compassion on
other sinners?
And yet, this
parable teaches us
that it is God who
does not sin.
He is the one who
has compassion on
us.
And in Psalm 130,
verse 3 to 4,
if you, O Lord,
should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could
stand?
But with you there
is forgiveness
that you may be
feared.
God chooses not to
keep a record of
our sins.
He chooses not to
count it against us
when we come to
Christ for forgiveness.
And it's that
forgiveness that
makes us fear him,
to want to obey him,
want to please him.
in the master's forgiveness
in this parable, we
learn what it means to
forgive, and we can
break it down into
four main steps.
The first step of
forgiveness is an
accounting.
He says in verse 24
that when the master
began to settle
accounts with his
servants, one was
brought to him who
owed him 10,000
talents.
In order to forgive,
we must first grapple
with the gravity of the
offense.
If we skip this step,
then we end up offering
cheap grace to people.
Oh, your sin is not a
big deal.
If we flippantly tell
people who have been
gravely wronged to
forgive their offender
without a true
accounting for the
damage done, then we
become like Job's
friends who are
miserable comforters.
Yes, it is true that
their unforgiveness is
crippling their own
spiritual life, but
that doesn't mean that
the victim should just
forgive for her for
their own sake without
a serious accounting of
sin, without confronting
the offender.
It's like telling a girl
who has been raped to
forgive her rapist without
giving any attention to
whether the rapist is
brought to justice or
not.
The perpetrator must be
confronted.
justice must be pursued
through legal means
where appropriate, and
the deep pain caused by
that offense to the
victim must be
acknowledged and
accounted for.
Before forgiveness can
be offered, the truth
must be told and all
excuses exposed.
The second step is to
have pity on the
debtor.
That's what we see in
verse 27.
And out of pity for
him, the master of that
servant released him
and forgave him the
debt.
We must labor to have
pity or compassion for
the offender.
Instead of one-dimensionalizing
them and caricaturing them
and defining them solely by
their offense or by their
worst attributes, we give
them the best possible
construction, we give them
the benefit of the doubt,
and we labor to see
ourselves in their shoes.
We try to remember that we
too are sinners, that we
also have wronged others,
and more importantly, we
have wronged God.
In this way, we humanize
the offender.
We see ourselves in them, a
flawed human being just
like us, and then we have
pity.
The third step is to
forgive the debt.
And I said before, forgiving a
debt involves absorbing that
loss to yourself.
That means refusing personally
to make the person who
wronged you and who hurt you
suffer and pay for their
wrongdoing.
That means we refuse to
demand penance.
Show me that you've suffered
enough and are sorry enough
for what you've done.
Show me that you've done
something to change.
Grovel before me until I'm
satisfied with the pain that
I've inflicted on you.
And then I'll think about
forgiving you.
That's not Christian
forgiveness.
If the failure to account for
the sin offers cheap grace,
then this is the failure to
absorb the debt.
It offers little grace.
The fourth step is to release
the debtor, verse 27.
It says the master of that
servant released him.
That means the servant is
released from the consequences
of his debt, at least in the
personal sense, even if not
in the institutional sense.
He's no longer considered a
debtor to you.
He's no longer a slave.
Sometimes when we say that
we have forgiven people, we
nevertheless hold them
hostage to ourselves by giving
them the cold shoulder or
staring at them with those
steely eyes.
We hold their guilt over their
heads.
He says, you sinned against me
and now you are a marked man.
I've got this power over you
and trust me, I am not
relinquishing this leverage
until I'm happy about it.
We, because we're sinful,
find that satisfying.
But as someone has said,
resentment is like drinking
poison and then waiting for
the other person to die.
Ephesians 4, 26 to 27 says,
be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on
your anger and give no
opportunity to the devil.
Harboring anger and bitterness
gives, it might make you feel
that you have a hold over
someone else, but in reality
it gives devil a hold in your
life.
Theologian and ethicist
Lewis Smedes once said,
to forgive is to set a
prisoner free and discover
that the prisoner was you.
Now let's look at how this
servant responds to the
gracious forgiveness of the
master in verses 28 to 31.
But when that same servant
went out, he found one of his
fellow servants who owed him
a hundred 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.
This servant has just been
forgiven 60 million denarii.
And then he comes to his fellow
servant who owes him 100 denarii.
And refuses to forgive his debt.
And he's far more aggressive and
violent.
He seizes him, chokes him, pay what
you owe.
A hundred denarii isn't nothing.
It's several months wages.
And likewise, the way people sin
against us and hurt us and wrong
us, it's not nothing.
There's real suffering there.
There's real pain there.
There's real loss there.
The damage is there.
But still, the ratio is 600,000 to
one.
One.
And incalculable debt and the
highest number that they had a
number for.
That's what we've been forgiven.
And this fellow servant pleads in
much the same way that this first
servant pleaded with the master.
He had patience with me and I will
pay you.
This servant is actually more
realistic.
He says, I will pay you.
He doesn't say I'll pay you
everything.
I don't know how long it's going
to take.
I might have to do it in
increments.
Maybe I won't get quite to all of
it, but I'll pay you something.
Unlike the first servant who said,
I'll pay you everything.
But this callous servant has no pity
on his fellow servant.
He puts him in prison until he
should pay the debt.
Please note that he has the right
to do this.
This fellow servant really does owe
him 100 denarii.
He's insisting on his right, which
is not what love does.
And isn't this what our culture
increasingly clamors for?
Get your rights.
Punish the person who wronged you.
In our increasingly angry,
retaliatory, internet shaming,
outing, doxing, canceling,
criminal culture, the idea of
forgiveness can appear quaint and
outdated.
I mentioned Dylann Roof earlier,
the neo-Nazi gunman who killed nine
African-American believers in
Charleston, South Carolina.
At his bond hearing, some of the
relatives of the victims got a chance
to look at Dylann Roof in the eye and
address him.
And one of those relatives was Nadine
Collier, whose mom, Ethel Lance, was shot
and killed by Dylann Roof.
And you can hear the lump in Nadine
Collier's throat and how pained she is and
how raw her emotions are.
And she says this,
I just want everybody to know,
to you, I forgive you.
You took something really precious, okay,
from me.
I will never talk to her ever again.
I will never be able to hold her again.
But I forgive you.
And have mercy on your soul.
You hurt me.
You hurt a lot of people.
But may God forgive you.
And I forgive you.
A courageous, noble act.
An expression of forgiveness.
But guess what?
It caused an uproar.
In the Washington Post opinion piece,
the 30-something Stacey Patton wrote an
article entitled,
Black America Should Stop Forgiving White Racists.
She argued that such forgiveness only enables
white denial about the harms that racist
violence creates.
Our constant forgiveness only perpetuates
the cycle of attacks and abuse.
Contrast that with a response by Barbara
Reynolds, a woman in her 70s at the time,
older and wiser, who had previously marched
in the civil rights protests of the 1960s.
She contends, in response to Stacey Patton,
that the civil rights movement led by Martin
Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela were
successful because they claimed the moral high
ground by their ethics of love, forgiveness,
and reconciliation.
And because by, quote, the power of the
spiritual approach, they disarmed the oppressors
and won over the majority.
Reynolds critiqued the Black Lives Matters movement,
saying that love and forgiveness are missing from this
movement, and that a movement like this might make
short-term gains but will only worsen the hatred and anger
and division long-term.
And isn't that exactly what has happened?
Martin Luther King Jr. would concur with Barbara
Reynolds.
He once said, darkness cannot drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate.
Only love can do that.
Barbara Reynolds' perspective is informed by the
forgiveness culture and love of neighbor taught by
Christianity.
Stacey Patton's perspective is informed by the honor and
shame culture and the love of self taught by the
therapeutic expressive individualism.
When we follow the example of this callous servant and refuse to
forgive those who sin against us, God says that we will not be
forgiven our sins.
Jesus says in verses 32 to 34,
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.
The word jailer here translates more literally as torments.
It's the same word that was used in Matthew 8, 29 when the demons
cried out to Jesus saying, what have you to do with us, son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the time?
Jesus is speaking of the eternal fire of hell.
And this is the consistent and clear teaching of scripture.
Only those who show mercy to others will receive mercy from God.
That's what we saw in the prayer that the Lord taught us to his
children in Matthew 6, to God's children in Matthew 6.
Luke 11, 4 says, and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive
everyone who is indebted to us.
Mark 11, 25, whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have
anything against anyone so that your father also who is in
heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Luke 6, 37, 38, forgive and you will be forgiven for with the
measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
But wait a minute.
I thought salvation was by grace alone through faith in Jesus
Christ alone.
Doesn't this sound like we are earning God's forgiveness without
our own forgiveness of others?
Isn't that salvation by works and not by grace?
It's a great question.
This is in fact the same tension that you see elsewhere in
scripture.
We are saved by grace through faith alone.
But on judgment day we are judged by our works.
How can both of those things be true?
It's paradoxical because those who are saved by grace through faith
always bear fruit in keeping with their repentance.
Because true faith is always accompanied by good works.
Our forgiveness of other people's sins against us is a true test of
whether or not we really believed in and grasped God's forgiveness of
our sins.
Our forgiveness of others is the evidence, the proof, the fruit of our faith in
Jesus Christ.
Because forgiven people forgive.
We love because he first loved us.
We forgive because he first forgave us.
That's why Ephesians 4.32 says,
Forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you.
Remember who first forgives in the parable?
The king first forgives the servant's debt.
It's God's initiative in his love and his forgiveness that prompts us and
enables us to forgive others.
So why then was this servant so unmerciful toward his fellow servant?
Why is he so impatient to get his money back?
Remember what he said to the king earlier.
Have patience with me and I will pay you everything.
This servant is still living like he needs to repay the king everything.
He's not really received the debt forgiveness that the king has generously and
freely given.
This is the case for all unbelievers.
But I think even as Christians, sometimes we fail to live in the fullness of this
gift that God's given to us.
And let me just give you a personal example.
When I first came to know God's grace and I became very zealous for him around high school
time, middle school, high school.
And I became very, very legalistic.
You know, I strictly controlled my diet.
I limited all outside time hanging out with my friends because I thought it was a waste
of time because they were interested in things that were not heavenly enough for me.
And then I ran everywhere instead of walking because I thought walking is a waste of time.
And running is good for my body.
Exercises, it's an exercise.
And I get to save time and be more dedicated to the Lord.
That's how legalistic I was.
I still struggle with sin.
I went to college.
And then there was a sin that I was particularly struggling with.
So I came to my pastor.
I was studying abroad in England at the time.
And as I'm confessing and pouring on my heart to him and I'm like, I'm crying, you know,
before this pastor and making myself really vulnerable.
And then you know what he says?
He said, hey, hey, stop, stop, stop.
Why are you doing that?
They go, what do you mean?
Like, I'm confessing my sins.
He's like, no, no, no, why are you doing that?
Like, why are you like crying?
Like, you know, why are you trying to, like, oh my goodness, this heartless pastor, what's going on?
Like, but he was on to something.
And I'll be forever grateful for this.
He saw, insightfully, he discerned that I was trying to work up some kind of penance
by feeling sorry enough for my sin.
I feel really bad about this.
And look at my tears.
I feel like I really, really do feel bad about this.
I don't want to do this thinking that, you know, I could pay something back to God.
If I just work hard enough, if I run hard enough, if I obey well enough, if I serve him enough,
then I can maybe pay something back to God.
And God says, I won't have any of it.
Your debt's gone.
I paid for it.
My son Jesus has paid for it on the cross.
So stop living like you're still a debtor.
And when we haven't forgiven so much, why is it so hard for us to forgive others who sin against us?
Look at the passage again.
See how many times the word fellow servant is repeated.
Verse 28, verse 29, verse 33.
Again and again.
Fellow servant, fellow servant, fellow servant.
And here's what this servant is doing wrong.
The king has forgiven the servant.
The king who has every right and authority over the servant has forgiven the servant.
But the servant acts like he's the king when he's treating a fellow servant.
Isn't that what we do?
That's what James 4, 12 talks about.
There's only one lawgiver and judge.
He was able to save and to destroy.
But who are you to judge?
Your neighbor.
We who are on the dock in court act like we're sitting on the bench, the judge's bench.
You, you sinned against me.
Rather than seeing that we ourselves are also at the dock.
That we are sinners.
Fellow sinners.
The only solution to this, the only thing that breaks this cycle of vengeance,
the only thing that crashes the system, so to speak,
is when the innocent one, the righteous one, the blameless one dies for the sins of many.
When the king becomes a servant, takes the form of a servant,
and becomes obedient to death, even death on a cross.
When the judge who has that claim and judgment over all of us,
instead comes down to the dock and says,
let that punishment fall on me.
And then Jesus dies on the cross and bears,
all of it absorbs the fullness of the wrath of God upon himself,
so that there's not an ounce, not a drop of judgment left for those who have trusted in Jesus Christ.
That's what's happened to us.
Though he was rich, yet for our sake,
Jesus became poor so that we, by his poverty, might become rich.
Because God in his infinite wealth,
and Jesus Christ in his righteousness has satisfied it.
That's what enables us to forgive others who wrong us, sin against us.
Let's just pray that God would help us to do that.
Father,
oh, help us to see that we are fellow servants,
fellow sinners,
fellow debtors,
so that we treat one another with humility rather than pride.
with compassion rather than self-righteous judgment.
Lord,
for anyone who's carrying that burden of sin themselves right now,
won't you please grant them
that joyous freedom of forgiveness
that's found in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
In his precious name we pray.
Amen.