Forgiveness Experienced Leads to Forgiveness Extended

Selective Parables: Lessons from Jesus: Message Four

Matthew 18:21-35.

ETS: Jesus taught that the one who has been forgiven should also forgive.

ESS: We should forgive because we have been forgiven.

OSS: [Ethical] {I want the hearers to evaluate whether or not they have forgiven in the same manner they have been forgiven.} Cognitive: Affective: Psycho-motor:

PQ: What are the steps of this discourse?

UW: Steps

Intro.: [AGS]: “In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal Artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, “Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it.” It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root, and poison the rest of our life.” [1] [TS]: Jesus taught that the one who has been forgiven should also forgive. [RS]: Maybe today you have received and experienced forgiveness, but you have failed to extend forgiveness. Maybe as a result- you experience bitterness, rage, misery, etc. The person who is most impacted by a failure to forgive is YOU. Since you have experienced forgiveness, you, too, should extend forgiveness.

TS: Let us examine together a few steps observed in this discourse:

Peter approached Jesus with a question. [v. 21]

Jesus was teaching, and Peter approached Him with a question to introduce the discourse. This is what turns this from a lecture to a discourse- a two-way conversation.

APPLICATION: We should also approach Jesus with our questions. Though we should not demand He answer us in the manner we think is best, we should approach Him, study His word, and seek out an answer from Him. We should engage discourse with our Savior just as those in the Bible did.

Jesus responded to Peter’s question. [vv. 22-34]

From the early part of Jesus’ answer, He taught that forgiveness should be endlessly forgiven.

The parable presents a few areas that we should pay attention to:

The Kingdom of Heaven (ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν) is introduced and compared to a king settling accounts with servants. Barnes noted that this a “reference to the church, or to the way in which God will deal with his people.” [2] (R.T. France, TNTC, seems to also allude to this [3])

The first servant owed ten thousand talents = 60,000,000 denarii = 200,000 years’ wages. Modern monetary value? “Ten thousand is the highest single number that can be expressed in Greek. Thus, we see that in this allegory the sum represents the sinner’s hopeless debt to God.” [4]

The king/master had compassion which led a pardoning of the debt and a releasing of the captive. Notice, again, how compassion is that which is the driving factor.

The second servant owed a much smaller debt in comparison to the first. Yet, the first servant who had experienced forgiveness, failed to extend forgiveness.

The king handed the wicked servant over to the jailor to be tormented- a symbol of justice and judgement.

APPLICATION: There are many applicable points to be drawn from this parable. Concerning which, Barnes summarized them greatly, “1st. That our sins are great. 2d. That God freely forgives them. 3d. That our offences committed against us by our brethren are comparatively small. 4th. That we should therefore most freely forgive them.” [5]

Jesus likened the parable to that of the Heavenly Father. [v. 35]

As a means to draw the parable to teaching head, Jesus cuts straight to the point: This is the manner in which the Heavenly Father deals with the unforgiving servant.

Notice the similarity of this teaching to that the Lord’s Model Prayer in Mt. 6:12 and Mt. 6:14-15.

The one who has experienced forgiveness must also extend forgiveness. A failure to do so results in the judgement of God.

The phrase from your hearts denotes a genuine forgiveness whereby the trespass is truly forgiven and no longer held against the individual as if they had never done it. [6]

R.T. France commented, “If the church is the community of the forgiven, then all its relationship will be marked by a forgiveness which is not a mere form of words, but an essential characteristic.” [7]

APPLICATION: God acts towards us just as is taught by this parable. He forgiveness freely with the expectation that those forgiven will also forgive.

Conclusion:

[1] Is there someone that you have failed to extend forgiveness to?

[2] Have you done so considering that you owed a much larger debt than them and yours was freely forgiven?

Bibliography:

[1] Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal, Forgiveness 225, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1993), 180.

[2]Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 189.

[3] R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 281.

[4] Charles L. Quarles, “Matthew,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1533.

[5] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 191.

[6] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Matthew & Mark, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 191.

[7] R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 281.