Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Imagine with me a parenting scenario.
You are minding your own business when suddenly, you hear the familiar sound.
A smack and a cry.
You run to the other room and one is crying.
You ask, what is the matter and the answer is Johnny hit me.
What do you do?
Johnny say you’re sorry.
Now Susie say you forgive.
And then, you go back to the kitchen and the problem is solved, right.
A lot of times it is.
Especially the younger the kids are.
And if we were to be real honest, it is fixed a lot more than we as adults do.
Because if we’re honest, we don’t forgive that easy.
We don’t let go of hurts and pains.
Our sermon today attempts to answer the question as to what true forgiveness is all about.
And I pray that as you sit here this morning, you will evaluate your heart and ask, do I really forgive like I need to.
Forgiveness is much more extensive than what we often like.
In order to see the reason for the question that Peter asks, and the subsequent parable, think about what happens in this chapter.
Jesus is explaining how we ought to be willing to humble ourselves as a child, how we should not offend, and how God chases us down as a shepherd searches for his one lost sheep.
And then, as we mentioned last week, we talked about how to deal with someone who has sinned, who has committed error against us, and what should we do.
Part of that is confronting them, and if they repent, we should forgive them and drop the matter.
That leads us, then this exchange between Jesus and Peter.
Peter, thinking that he has this all figured out, goes to Jesus and asks this question, “How often do I forgive?”
Forgiveness doesn’t know a limitation in terms of quantity.
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
l
Forgiveness does not know a limitation in terms of quality.
Understand, the purpose of this question is because Peter has been steeped in Rabbinical tradition.
And the Rabbis taught that forgiveness only needed to occur three times, since that is what happened with God.
God forgave the enemies of Israel three times.
They based this on
Amos 1:3
3 This is what the LORD says:
“For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not relent.
3 This is what the LORD says:
“For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not relent.
This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent.
The Rabbis believed that these verses taught that the Israelites only had to forgive two or three times.
And so for Peter to come to Jesus and say, how about seven times, well he was just being a big man.
The Rabbis believed that these verses taught that the Israelites only had to forgive two or three times.
And so for Peter to come to Jesus and say, how about seven times, well he was just being a big man.
But of course, Jesus says something shocking, something totally beyond what Peter imagined.
Not just seven times, but seventy seven times.
Of course, we may know it as seventy times seven, but the point is either way made.
You forgive an innumerable amount of times.
Jesus takes Peter’s number of completeness and multiplies it considerably.
Few people ever have to forgive the same person this often, at least not over a short period of time.
But Jesus’ point is not to withhold forgiveness after the seventy-eighth (or 491st) offense.
This is what I mean.
Forgiveness is not measured simply by saying I forgive once or twice.
Forgiveness is often much more extensive than we can even imagine sometimes, and sometimes it is forgiving over and over.
A couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
As the crowd was gathered around, they asked the wife, what is the secret to the long and happy marriage.
She responded, “When we got married, I made a list of ten things and told my husband, no matter what, I will always forgive you for these ten things.
This got the crowd going, so they asked, what’s on the list.
She replied, to be honest, i forgot, but every time he did something that made me mad, i would look at him and say, lucky for you, that’s one of the ten.
Sometimes forgiveness is a long process.
Sometimes it’s a long road.
Sometimes it requires a lot of patience, but we understand that it takes more than what we want to give.
But it’s not just how often, it’s also that
Forgiveness does not know a limitation in terms of quality.
Forgiveness does not know a limitation in terms of quality.
Forgiveness does not know a limitation in terms of quality.
This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent.
The Rabbis believed that these verses taught that the Israelites only had to forgive two or three times.
And so for Peter to come to Jesus and say, how about seven times, well he was just being a big man.
“For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not relent.
But of course, Jesus says something shocking, something totally beyond what Peter imagined.
Not just seven times, but seventy seven times.
Of course, we may know it as seventy times seven, but the point is either way made.
You forgive an innumerable amount of times.
Jesus takes Peter’s number of completeness and multiplies it considerably.
Few people ever have to forgive the same person this often, at least not over a short period of time.
But Jesus’ point is not to withhold forgiveness after the seventy-eighth (or 491st) offense.
This is what I mean.
Forgiveness is not measured simply by saying I forgive once or twice.
Forgiveness is often much more extensive than we can even imagine sometimes, and sometimes it is forgiving over and over.
A couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
As the crowd was gathered around, they asked the wife, what is the secret to the long and happy marriage.
She responded, “When we got married, I made a list of ten things and told my husband, no matter what, I will always forgive you for these ten things.
This got the crowd going, so they asked, what’s on the list.
She replied, to be honest, i forgot, but every time he did something that made me mad, i would look at him and say, lucky for you, that’s one of the ten.
Sometimes forgiveness is a long process.
Sometimes it’s a long road.
Sometimes it requires a lot of patience, but we understand that it takes more than what we want to give.
But it’s not just how often, it’s als0
The New International Version.
(2011).
().
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Forgiveness does not know a limitation in terms of quality.
Look at verse 24 again.
Understand the magnificence of this statement.
Greek ten thousand talents; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages.
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.
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