Abundant Grace
Teachings of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Have you ever been bullied? People say mean things about you? Someone stole from you?
What is you gut response? What is the response that comes natural?
Boy can I relate to that in middle school! I was bullied by someone who had been a friend.
If they came to you in guilt and asked for your forgiveness, how would you respond? How would I respond!!!
Let’s flip the script…Have you ever bullied someone? Ever been purposefully mean to some one? Tease someone without thinking one instant about them and their feelings?
What was there response?
Ever feel the in your gut that you need to apologize and ask for forgiveness?
How do you want them to respond?
There have been times I needed to ask for forgiveness, its the hardest thing I have ever had to do…
Peter seemed to understand what Jesus was teaching and approaches Jesus with a question — Matthew 18:21-35
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.
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.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
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.”
This is the word of God…
Peter’s Question
Peter’s Question
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?”
Peter knew Jesus was talking about forgiveness and asks this question in response to that teaching.
In Jewish teaching the consensus was that a brother might forgive a repeated sin three times.
On the fourth time there was no forgiveness
I wonder if Peter thought himself generous with his 7 times that is three more that the standard or norm!
What follows is a great teaching in forgiveness that is unlike what the disciples would have heard in the synagogue!
Jesus Response
Jesus Response
Jesus teaches Peter that in the members of his community forgiveness is not limited to frequency or quantity.
We all have been forgiven far more that we will ever forgive! — Reflect on your life. — develop
The is the thought that needs to be firmly planted in our mind — Repeat it and develop based upon the opening…
How often does Jesus forgive?
I have seen so much unforgiveness in the church!
I have heard it said that the church is the only organization that kills its wounded!
I am so grateful that God is not like fallen humanity when it comes to forgiveness!
Thankful every day for God’s abundant grace!
The reason why forgiveness must be unlimited is explained in the vivid detail of this parable
Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Look again at verse 22 — Matthew 18:22
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Perhaps Jesus is alluding to Genesis 4:24
24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
Here revenge spirals out of control between the generation of Cain and Lamech
Jesus is possibly contrasting Lamech’s unlimited vindictiveness with the unlimited forgiveness of the disciple.
Forgive as many times as necessary!
Now he sets the stage to contrast forgiveness and the way we often look at sin — develop
“ten thousand bags of gold”
10,000 hyperbolically an incalculably large number
“bags of gold” — talent, a large monetary measurement
The idea in our language the man owed like 10 million dollars
An unimaginably large amount of debt.
A debt so high the servant had absolutely no way to pay it back.
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.
If the amount of forgiveness he received had no limitation then the forgiveness he shows his brother is unthinkable!
In this parable selling the servant and his family is not enough to pay back the loan. The servant is desperate!
The King decides to take the loss and forgive the bad loan canceling it!
The fact that the second servant’s debt is like one six-hundredth of the first emphasizes the ludicrous impropriety of the forgiven servants standing on his own rights.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Thus those who will not forgive cannot be forgiven!
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
If the church community is forgiven people, then all its relationships will be marked by a forgiveness which is more than words!
It will be a characteristic of the heart free from all forms of legalism!
Conclusion:
Imagine standing before God and hearing all that has been forgiven in our life.
Then hearing God tell us about all the times we refused to forgive others!
Then God says — Matthew 18:32
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.
Ouch! Let this sink in very deep because Jesus says — Matthew 18:35
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Forgiveness comes from the heart the very center of who we are!
To grasp the disparity of the amounts in the parable consider the first servant’s debt was worth 10 million dollars, the second servant’s debt was a few thousand dollars, like pocket change!
The first servant’s refusal of forgiveness of a debt perhaps 0.0001% of what he owed exposes the grotesque ingratitude is not merely unjust but absurd, almost comically disproportionate!
The whole point of the parable is human unforgiveness and God’s forgiveness!
That is abundant grace!
