Matthew 18:21-35 (The Unforgiving Servant)

Ephesians 4:32

Matthew 6:14

Colossians 3:13

Luke 6:37

Psalm 86:5

Mark 11:25

Lexham Press Theological Dictionary

“Forgiveness is the release, on the part of the creditor or offended party, of any expectation that a debt will be repaid or that an offender will receive punishment for an offense. When describing the removal of an inappropriate offense in this way, the removal does not condone the behavior or suggest approval for the offense.”

Matthew 18:21-35 NLT

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.

24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.

25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’

27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded.

30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.

32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.

33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’

34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

(21-22) Peter asks the question...

There was a rabbinic view that one need forgive only three times: “If a man commits a transgression, the first, second and third time he is forgiven, the fourth time he is not forgiven” (Morris 471 Pillar)

So Peter asking 7 times actually seems to be a generous amount… The standard is different in the Kingdom...

Peter has learned something...

Jesus responds to his question with a story...

First servant owed “millions of dollars” ( 24)

After pleading for forgiveness, the King forgives him (26-27)

After being forgiven the servant learns nothing from what he recieved.

(28) “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

As soon as he leaves the King who had forgiven him he goes after a fellow servant.

(29) Though the fellow servant pleads for forgiveness none is granted to him

(31-33) When some other servants see what happens it upsets them enough to go to the King and tell him “everything that has happened”

The King than goes to the servant as says this

32 “You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous dept because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as i had mercy on you?”

The King had forgiven millions of dollars the servant owed but the servant could not forgive the much smaller amount.

Jesus modeled forgiveness

The Lords payer… Matthew 6:12

12 “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us…

Matthew 6:14-15

14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Jesus’ greatest example of forgiveness is when he is at the cross and he says

“Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”

Jesus’ story is a way of saying that forgiveness is a way of life.

Being people of the Kingdom, must lead to being Kingdom minded,

and the results of being Kingdom minded is that forgiveness flows in our inmost being.

Leon Morris writes,

“And those who receive extraordinary grace should act in accordance with the grace they receive.” (476)

N. T. Wright

“Peter’s question and Jesus’ answer say it all (verses 21–22). If you’re still counting how many times you’ve forgiven someone, you’re not really forgiving them at all, but simply postponing revenge. ‘Seventy times seven’ is a typical bit of Jesus’ teasing. What he means, of course, is ‘don’t even think about counting; just do it’.” (Wright 40)

D. A. Carson writes

“Those in the kingdom serve a great king who has invariably forgiven far more than they can ever forgive one another. Therefore failure to forgive excludes one from the kingdom, whose pattern is to forgive.”

Story of Arizona Pastor (Kris)