Grace Greater Than Our Hurts

Introduction

We have been going through a series here at FBC called, “Grace is Greater.” We have already seen how grace is greater than the sin in our lives that separates us from God. We have also seen how grace is greater than the circumstances that we go through in life.

Today, I want to look at an area that affects each of our lives in some way. I want to look at how God’s grace is greater than our hurts. As we look at this, we are going to look at what Jesus had to see from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 18.

As starts, we see Jesus talking with His disciples about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus moves on to the topic of how to see reconciliation with one who has sinned in verses 15-20. It is these verses that bring up a question in the mind of one of Jesus’ disciples.

Matthew 18:21–22 CSB

Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.

Matthew 18:1–2 CSB

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child and had him stand among them.

As Simon Peter poses this important question to Jesus, we see the reality that hurts are real in this life.

Hurts are real

It would be so nice if we could go through this life without getting hurt. Sadly, I believe that we all know that this is a far cry from the truth. Hurts are very real in this life. There are times when we are done wrong, and it wounds us deeply. These hurts can cripple a person’s life and make the idea of “abundant life” seem like an unachievable fairy tale.

Simon Peter’s question to Jesus here reveals the truth that we all go through hurts in this life and gets to a question that many of us have asked before: how many times do we have to forgive. Forgiveness is tough work. When the Bible speaks about forgiveness here, it is talking about the act of releasing the right to get back at a person for wronging you. It is not sweeping it under the carpet or acting like it never happened.

Simon Peter thought that he had a pretty good answer to his own question. Should we forgive people up to seven times? This was not just a number that Simon Peter pulled out of the air. The common teaching among the Jewish religious leaders at this time was that a person should forgive up to three times. Simon Peter thought that he would raise the bar on this requirement and prove that he had a handle on the situation.

Jesus’ answer shows us that we typically are focused on the wrong thing when it comes to forgiveness. While Simon Peter was focused on the quantity of forgiveness, Jesus was focused on the quality of forgiveness. It is not so much about how many times forgiveness is given. The number that Jesus gave was a reflection to do so without keeping count. Jesus didn’t put the limit at 490. He was more concerned with the heart of the matter.

Forgiveness is essential

Forgiveness is essential

Forgiveness is essential

To help His disciples understand this more, Jesus shared a parable. Jesus often did this to help illustrate the truth that He was trying to share with others. It is in this parable that we see the power of God’s grace in the act of forgiveness.

Grace pays the unpayable debt

Matthew 18:23–27 CSB

“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

Jesus shares about a man who owed an incredible debt. This debt was so large, there was no possible way that he could ever repay it. The “ten thousand talents” was the equivalent to about 200,000 years of manual labor in that day or roughly $12 million today. Imagine if you had that kind of debt and someone called you to pay up immediately?

It was a common practice to become a person’s slave in these days to work off a debt. That is what is happening in verse 25. The servant, his wife and his children were going to be sold off to pay the debt.

We see that as the servant pleads with the one to whom he was indebted, the master has compassion. The master does the unthinkable: he not only releases the man and his family but completely forgives the debt! This is grace on display. The servant did not deserve this. It was completely an act of grace on the part of the master.

We see this played out when a person comes to a point where they put his or her faith into Jesus. We all owed a debt that we could never pay or get out of. It is called sin.

Ephesians 2:1

Ephesians 2:1–3 CSB

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

But God in His grace, came to us and made a way… the only way where our unpayable debt could be settled.

Ephesians 2:4–7 CSB

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

It is through the grace of God that we find forgiveness of our sins in Jesus Christ. We didn’t earn it… we didn’t deserve it. It is a gift of grace.

As we experience this debt-paying grace, we find another thing at work as we look back to the parable Jesus was sharing.

Grace frees us to do the impossible

Matthew 18:28–30 CSB

“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’ “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.

We see this newly-forgiven servant go out and do the unthinkable. He had just been released from his debt. The first thing he does is that he runs into someone who owed him the equivalent of $20. The forgiven servant chooses to treat this other who owed him far less rather harshly. He has this guy thrown into jail over $20 when he had just been forgiven a debt of about $12 million.

We hear this and think, how could this guy get it so wrong? How in the world could the first servant do this? It is because he had completely missed the whole point of his forgiveness.

When God forgives us of our sins, it is not only for us but also for us to extend towards others.

Ephesians 4:32 CSB

And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

Colossians 3:12–13 CSB

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.

Colossians 3:13 CSB

bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.

Colossians 3:

There is an expectation on those of us who have experienced the forgiveness of God through His Son, Jesus, to extend that and share it with others. Some may say, “but that’s impossible!” EXACTLY.

It is impossible in your own strength and power. But because God’s grace has extended forgiveness to you (undeservedly), it has also empowered you to share forgiveness with others. That is the power of God’s grace at work in our lives. When we see ourselves forgiving as God has forgiven us, then we will start to realize what it is all about.

Grace provides protection

Matthew 18:31–34 CSB

When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.

You may be wondering where the protection is in these verses. It is actually between the lines.

Because this servant did not understand and allow the grace shown to him to change him, he ended up suffering and paying for his own wrong-doings himself. If we do not allow the forgiveness of God to change us and flow from us, it will set us up to experience what we should not have to.

While forgiveness is essential, we see that also...

Unforgiveness is detrimental

Matthew 18:35 CSB

So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

You may hear this and say to yourself, “That isn’t fair!” You would be right. Grace throws “fair” out the window. If we do not extend the forgiveness that God has shown us to others, then we put ourselves in a prison that we have no place of being. When you hold a grudge, you become slave to that person.

Forgiveness is the key to freedom. Just as God’s forgiveness in Jesus frees us from the shackles of sin and death, the forgiveness we extend to others — overflowing from God’s grace to us — frees us from unnecessary prisons.

Conclusion

The only way that we can extend this kind of forgiveness is to first experience it ourselves. Have you experienced the amazing grace of God through Jesus Christ?

You may find yourself living in a prison of unforgiveness. You have been hurt somewhere in the past, and you have not dealt with that. I want you to know that God’s grace is greater than your hurts. Just as God will extend His grace to you, He will also give you what you need to extend that gift to others.

I would encourage you to come to the fountain of God’s grace this morning. Come and experience the amazing grace of God for yourself, and then, take it to those who need it also.