Giant Debt
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever had a debt so large you asked, how in the world are we getting out of this?
Look at this picture, this is Jerome Kerviel.
And Jerome is actually famous for something that you don’t really want to be famous for, and he currently holds the record for the man in the world that has the most debt.
And when you hear that you go wow I bet he’s like a million or two dollars in debt.
But Jerome has actually managed to get 6.3 billion (with a “B”) dollars in debt.
And from my understanding from reading all of the articles this was actually a reduction on the original amount
And heres the real issue, because your probably thinking well hopefully he makes a lot of money, so it eventually pays it off right?
He actually only makes $137,000 a year, which is good, but when your 6.3 billion in debt, its a little rough.
Because He could actually make 1 million a year and even if you put 100% back into your debt, it would take you 6,000 years to pay off the debt (and thats before interest).
I hate to say this, but Jeromes in trouble....
And really the reason I am bringing this up is today we are looking at debt.
And I am sorry to disappoint all of my financial people, but we are not talking about a financial debt, but actually the relational debt that we have and that maybe others have towards us.
Because maybe I am the only one here who can say this, but there are times I mess up and maybe say or do something hurtful to someone, and then there are times where others have said or done something hurtful towrd me.
And I think its easy to get to a place where we are trying to track it and we almost hold onto it like a debt. and we almost catch oursleves in a place where we have a board that looks like this… (Show picture of charlie from its always sunny in philadelphia)
In fact in Biblical times there was a very legalistic rule where you had to forgive someone 3 times aand then after that you were okay,
but I want us to look at the first part of this passage we are in, because look what Jesus says:
He says this in Matthew 18:21-22
It says this:
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
So Peter one of Jesus’s diciples comes up and says how often do we have to forgive someone? And I don’t know if some of the other disciples were just driving him crazy that day or what…
And he goes look Jesus I am going to be extra forgiving because ill do 7 instead of 3.
And Peter has his little board right?
But what amazing is Jesus says something really crazy.
Because He says no this board you are keeping needs to be thrown away.
Because when He says 7 times 70 he is not saying forgive a lot, but He is saying forgive everything, and throw away the board.
And Jesus tells a story and this is the main part we are in today
Let’s jump back in, with verse 23. It says:
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
So Jesus tells this story and it actually starts as a really tragic story and its a king that is settling his debts, and he has this one servant who owes 10,000 bags of gold.
Just to give you an idea of how much debt this was, it was very close to the amount our friend Jerome that we talked about had stacked up.
Scholars estimate it was close to about 6 Billion dollars.
And like we talked about when you are 6 billion in debt, that, he could work his whole life and he can’t come close to paying it back.
And to make matters worse in verse 25 we are told what it will cost Him.
The master ordered that his wife, and children and all that he had are taken away
Meaning this guy accured this debt, and because theres no way to pay it back it cost Him everything.
And heres what I want us to get, because I mentioned this how this story is talking about deeper things then money right?
Because the first point I want us to get is that each of us carry a debt in our relationship with God.
Because the truth is we are not perfect people right?
I mean chances are you can be a great person and you have still hurt others by your actions and words, and if I had to guess their are times in each of our lives where the way we live and the way God has called us to live lines up differently.
And can I be honest we can try to work to pay off that debt, but the debt is to big.
Think about when you wear a white shirt. I have this white shirt, have you ever seen me where it outside of family photos?
No, you know why? You eat spegetti and one splatter of Marinara sauce and the shirt it ruined right?
Because one stain can make the whole thing look bad.
And you might go, okay but I haven’t done this…
But it doesn’t have to be, because the truth is we all have a debt and the debt is larger then we can pay.
And I think we need to approach this really humbled where we go I am not going to lie, I have messed up.
And can I say the cost of these debts are big.
And just to be transparent, the cost of a lot of our sins are big, and we almost never realize in the middle of what we are doing just how much it will cost us.
Because we go well I am just doing this one time, and it cost us our job
We say well no one will know, it cost us our marriage
We have a repeated patteren of hurtful things we say, and it cost our relationship with our kids
I mean when we sin, there is always a cost, and the cost is always higher then we can pay, and often times because of that if we are not careful it will cost us everything.
But are you ready for the good news, because so far this has been rough right?
Because the servant goes well just give me more time.. I can pay it back! Ill do better!
But look how the king responds in verse 27 and lets actually read this out-loud together. It says this:
Matthew 18:27 (NIV)
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
So the king has pity on him
A gross translation is the word for pity is also translated as compassion, but litterly it is translated as “to have the bowels yearn”
Or a better way to put it is the king see this servant and what is happening and Hiss stomach litterly hurts because he sees the debt, and he sees what its going to cost him, and he is going this is awful.
And you think the king would be angry, but we see Him actually just heart broken over what is happening.
And so he canceled the debt.
And I want to be clear the debt still cost Him something didn’t it?
I mean If I borrowed $50 from Debbie, and it was a few weeks later and she says you know what do not worry about it,
It was not just free money, but Debbie payed the cost right?
You know all of this to say God sees our debt and he does not just get angry or go wow, thats crazy how messed up their life is.
But it tells us that his heart is literly broken over our mistakes and really us straying away.
And instead of him saying get out of here, he said I know what this is going to cost and ill pay the bill.
And really even though this is before Jesus dying on the cross, He goes I am ready to pay the bill.
And I feel like this would have been a moment that would have changed the servants life, but lets look at the second half. (starting in verse 18)
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
So now the servant goes out to find the people that owe him money.
And He finds a servant who owes him 100 coins.
Just to give you an idea this was about what someone would make in 100 days at their job.
So way smaller then the 6 billion dollars he just had forgiven.
And so the servant, begins to choke this other servant and when the servant ask for more time, he has him thrown in jail.
Anyone read that and go this does not sit well?
Because you think if you had this crazy amount forgiven you would be okay paying it forward.
And heres what we should get, because I think this servant had a scarcity mindset.
and he went forgiving this person will cost me to much, but can I just say when we do not forgive what happens is so often it ends up costing us more then anyone.
And I want to make a clear distinction here, because forgiveness is not opening yourself up to be hurt again, its not saying I am going to trust this person again.
But its willing to say, you know I am willing to let it go.
Because when we hold onto things can I show you what it does?
Lets say this backpack is our life.
And lets say we have a friend that said something hurtful, it adds weight
We are at work and our boss does something that just betrays our trust
We are at the grocery store and a person makes a rude comment
Then we found out our spouse was lying about something, weight added
if I had to guess their are some of us here where this bag is full and heavier then we can imagine.
And its easy for us to go I am holding onto this until they are able to pay it back, but can I just say when this happens we are the ones carrying the weight.
and when we say its time to let it go, their is a freedom that we experience. (drop backpack)
And your going I want, too but I can’t.
Can I just ask what is it thats holding us back?
Maybe we feel like our debt is to big
Maybe we feel like the hurt of something someone else has done is to big
Maybe we think God’s grace doesn’t go that deep
And I want us to get this and I say this a lot, but we cannot do it on our own.
But we can only do it when someone has paid our debt.
Because when our debt is gone, our mind set shifts from how can I keep score to how can I forgive.
What would it look like this morning to drop that weight that we have been carrying and to embrace the one who can carry our debts and the debts that others owe us.
And we are ending on a song about abiding in Christ, and this morning what would it look like to abide in Him.
Lets pray.