I Will Build My Church: How the Forgiven Forgive

Dylann Roof walked into the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The church enthusiastically took him in. It was only a few minutes later that Dylann pulled out his gun and opened fire on those there. Nine people lost their lives and Roof fled. Eventually, Roof was captured and brought before the court and the relatives of those slain were given an opportunity to address Roof before his sentencing. To everybody’s surprise, member after member of the families stood up to address Roof. Rather than condemnation, they offered forgiveness. Rather than hatred, they offered mercy.

“I forgive you,” Nadine Collier, the daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said at the hearing, her voice breaking with emotion. “You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.”

“We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with welcome arms,” said Felicia Sanders, her voice trembling. “Tywanza Sanders was my son. But Tywanza Sanders was my hero. Tywanza was my hero….May God have mercy on you.”

“I acknowledge that I am very angry,” said the sister of DePayne Middleton-Doctor. “But one thing that DePayne always enjoined in our family … is she taught me that we are the family that love built. We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive. I pray God on your soul.”

Charles Roberts was the local milkman deliverer. He was well known tot he Amish community where he regularly delivered. One day, Roberts walked into a one room school house and opened up fire, killing ten school girls before killing himself.

The community was rocked, weeping for the fallen. There was much media attention on the day when the ten girls were buried. But to everyone’s surprise, something incredible happened. The next day, when teh killer himself was buried, the Amish community came. At the end of the service, the families of those whose little children had been killed came up and embraced the widow of the man who had killed their little girls. The Amish families continued to come togerther, taking up collections so that the woman and her three children would be cared for.

It was Palm Sunday in the Egyptian heat when a suicide bomber walked into a church and exploded himself. The security guard who was checking him for weapons was killed in the blast saving dozens of people. Later that week, the media approached the widow of this security guard and her children. She looked up at the news camera and said,

“I’m not angry at the one who did this,” said his wife, children by her side. “I’m telling him, ‘May God forgive you, and we also forgive you. Believe me, we forgive you.’”

Perhaps teh largest talk show host in Egypt, a muslim man, was stunned into twelve seconds of silence on national television as he watched this. Finally he turned to his national host and said, “These people are made of steel.”

There is somethign about these stories that is disjarring. It is hard to understand. It seems wrong. It seems unjuust. It seems unfair. It is unearthly, unworldly, alien, and odd. The reaction of the Muslim man is what rings in our heart, “If this happened to me, I could never say this.” Yet, these people, these true stories, understood something about the gospel, something profound, something that this story teaches us. Why do Christians forgive? This is what our scripture is about today.

The Parable

Setting

Context: Now, it is important in this passage that we remember the context. Remember, last week, we dealt with the difficult topic of church discipline. We talked about how if someone is perpetually unrepentant after the church going to them one, two, three, four times, over time, and they still refuse to listen to the church, they are to be excised from teh church’s memberhsip roles. Well, it is only natural to ask, What happens after that? What do we do with the person who comes back who repents? And this is a question that Paul will deal with in 2 Corinthians as well. How do you find forgiveness.

How many times must I forgive? Now, Peter asked, “How many times must I forgive?” Now, the Rabbis of first century Judaism had said “Three times.” So Peter thinks, “Okay, I can figure this out. Everywhere else, Jesus has said that the Jews haven’t gone far enough in applying the law.” So Peter says, “Seven times?” Now that’s a pretty good guess. After all, seven, in teh Bible, is the number of wholeness and completion. So you would think that to after seven times forgiving, Jesus would say, “Okay, that’s it. That’s the perfect number.” But that’s not what Jesus said.

Jubilee forgiveness: Jesus says “seventy-times seven.” Now, this is an interesting number. For starters, Jesus is clearly not giving Peter license to list it out. No, Jesus is saying, “Peter, think of the number you wnat, and make it infinite.” SO Jesus is clearly saying, your forgiveness hsould be unlimited. But, this also has a certain kind of quality. Now in the Old Testament, specifically, in , God had set down what were called years of Jubilee. In the OT, every seven years, those who were Jewish slaves were to be released, and some other provisions were given. That was called Sabbath year. But after seven groups of seven years, not just were slaves to be released, but all debts were to be removed and all people were to be given back any land that they had had to sell away. This was called the year of jubilee. And God’s instructions about the year of Jubilee ends with God saying, you will provide forgiveness of every debt and release every slave because I have brought you out of your slavery in Egypt. Now, here is what is very interesting, there is no record in the Old testament that the year of Jubilee was ever celebrated. So, the Old Testament began to promise that when the Messiah comes, he will usher in the Jubilee, and that he will bring in this great release and great forgiveness. THey will extend the Exodus and finish it to what it should have been. So when Jesus says, Peter, forgive them seven times seventy, which is ten times 49, what he is essentially saying is that he has inaugurated the jubilee of jubilees. He has completed the Exodus. He is the Messiah. He has brought us out of the slavery of sin and into the promised land of forgiveness. And because Jesus has brought us into the presence of God, because Jesus has gained forgiveness for us, we are to turn around and show that same forgiveness to others. So to explain that, Jesus tells this story.

Exposition: Jesus begins by picturing this King, perhaps a Roman Emperor. Now, Kings would often sell the rights to collect taxes from their countries to the highest bidder. So it is likely that he wants to see how his investments are doing. He wants to see if his servants have done as they have promised they will. So he has the servants brought before him, one by one.

Rising Action:

10,000 talents: Now, the first servant who comes before him owes him 10,000 talents. Now, a “talent” in the ancient world was the highest possible denomination of money. ANd 10,000 was the highest number that they had a word for. So the idea about the debt here was not that it had a specific amount. The idea is that it is such a high amount of money that the servant that the king brings before him could never ever hope to repay it. He had vastly overestimated the amount of money he coudl get for the king, and now comes the time for him to pay up and there is no hope for him to pay it. So the King makes preparations to sell both him and his family into slavery. That way, this person would at least be an example for others.

And isn’t this a great picutre of sin? Our sin before God is so great that we could never hope to repay it. Because God is transcendent, omnipotent, all powerful, all strong, he has no limits, he has no fences around himself, the smallest infraction against him still incurs an infinite, limitless debt. Our sin before God is so great that we could never ever hope to repay it. It is beyond our comprehension. There is absolutely nothing that you can do to provide redemption.

Asking for postponement: ANd teh servant comes into the presence of hte king. Now, notice what the servant says here. He says, “Have patience on me.” He doesn’t ask for mercy. He doesn’t ask for redemption. He just asks for more time. Give me just a little bit more time to pay you back. The servant still believes he has a chance, and he has vastly overstated his own ability. He has over estimated his ability to provide for his debts before his king.

legalism: This is exactly what legalism is. We vastly overestimate our own moral worht. We tell God, “God, just give me a few more years to pay you back. Just give me a little more time to show you what I’m really worth. God just help me to earn this. I Promise, I will pay you back.” All the while we owe more than we could possibly hope to ever pay back. There is no way that a limitless debt can be paid by limited creatures. We are blind to our own inability. We are starving and we dont’ even know it.

Receiving forgiveness: But what does the King do? The King does not say “yes” to his request. He does not allow him to try to earn back forgiveness. He does not allow him to earn back his forgiveness. Instead he releases him and forgives him of his debt. The servant asked for more time, the master said, “It is already done.” THe servant asks for patience, the lord gives him mercy. The subject asks for compassion, the King gives forgiveness. The servant asks for an extension, the Kiung gives him release.

ANd if this is not a picture of the gospel, then there never has been a picture. Because we come to God and we ask for time, and he says, “it is done.” We ask for compassion, he says, “Forgiven.” We ask for purgatory, he says, “Justified.” We ask for patience, he says, “mercy.” We ask for grovelling, he says “Come sit at my table.” We say, “God, let us pay you back.” He says, “The debt is paid.” We say, “God, let us sell ourselves to pay the debt.” God says, “I have sold my own Son to buy your freedom.”

Prodigal Son: This story makes me think of the parable of the Prodigal Son. ANd you knwo what’s interesting, I listened to a sermon or two on this passage this week as I was getting ready, and the other preachers also mentioned the parable of the Prodigal Son. IN that story, a Father has a son who asks for an advance on his inheritance. So the son takes it and runs off into a far country. ANd after he has spent all his money on prostitutes and on the pleasures of htis world, he has nothing. He has squandered his money, and is working as a pig herder, the most disgraceful of professions for a Jewish man. So the son comes to his senses and returns to his father. ANd he is walking on the road home and he is repeating to himself how he has sinned against him and is just going to ask to be a servant in his house. ANd the Bible says that the Father sees him from a long way off and runs out to meet him and puts his robe on his back and his ring on his finger and he kills the fattened calf. And he says, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again, he was lost, and is found.” Dear friend, you and I are that Son. The Father has sent his Son into a far country to bring us home, and through many toils and snares he has given us forgiveness.

100 Denarii - Now, as much as we wish this was the end of the story, it’s not. Bedcause teh servant goes out from the king’s chamber. Now, ther ehe sees a man who owes him 100 Denarii. Now, a Denarius was approximately a day’s wages, so 100 Denarrii was a relatively high amount: about a third of a year’s salary. IT would seem like a lot, unless we dind’t know how much the first servant was forgiven. Because 10,000 talents is aproximately 600,000 times as much money as this second servant owed the first.

How much others owe us: In a similar way, how much others owe us is a triflingly small amount compared to what we owed God. Dear friends, 100 denarii is not a small amount. What your parents did to you, what your children said to you, what your friends gossipped about you, how your enemies have provoked you, how your family has treated you, is not a small thing. But it is much smaller, comparatively, than what we have done to God.

He hasn’t stopped trying to pay the Lord back: But you will notice how this first servant acts. He takes him and he throws him against a wall and he throttles him. And he says, “If you would have paid me, I would be able to pay back the king.” Now, of course that’s not true. But notice what he says. He still is thinking about paying back the king. He still wants to repay his debt. He hasn’t received the forgiveness of hte king. He won’t accept it. He wont’ be humbled enough to receive it. Instead, he’s going to pay back the Lord. This man needs his neighbor to repay him because he wants to repay the king, even though he’s been forgiven.

So often we are the same way. We keep trying to pay God back. God says, “I have forgiven you.’ We say, “no need.” God says, "Here is the righteousness of my Son.” We say, “I have my own.” God says, “Take my freedom.” We say, “Take our works.” God says, “The debt is repaid,” we say, “Well, I’m going to try to repay you anyways.”

Have compassion on me: Of course, you will notice, that the second servant says to the first the same thing that the first servant said to the king. He says, “Have compassion on me.” he syas, “give me a little mroe time, give mea nother chance, give me some patience.” Now the first servant has an opportunity to give forgiveness instead of compassion, jubilee isntead of time, mercy rather than patience just as the Lord gave him. But he will not. he has him thrown into prison.

Climax

Why didn’t you show mercy the same mercy you received: Now, the King hears about htis atrocity and has this servant brought before him. He says, “WHy didn’t you ex;tend the same mercy towards otehrs that you have received?” The King is enraged at this. He knows that this is wicked. He is angry. He feels taken advantage of. How dare this servant not extend forgiveness. So he has him thrown into prison to the “tormentors” until he could repay his debt.

Does he remove his forgiveness? So it seems like he is here removing his forgiveness, right? Well no. Because it is clear that the first servant never took it. Forgiveness was offered, but the servant didn’t want it. Why didn’t he want it? Because he kept trying to pay the debt back. How do we know? Because he wouldn’t show forgiveness to others. If he had really wanted the forgiveness the master gave, he would give that forgiveness to another. Forgiveness penetrates to the heart and reproduces itself like a weed.

Conclusion:

So my heavenly father will do… Look there at the conclusion see where it says… Youi see, the Father will do to us if we do not forgive others from the what? From the heart. You see, when we truly receive the forgiveness God has given us, it changes our heart. It penetrates it and transforms it. It changes it, makes it new, baptizes it. When we have been forgiven, we will frogive. As God has forgiven us, so we should forgive otehrs. As God has forgiven us, borught us into the jubilee, restored, reconciled, and forgiven us, we must forgive others, extend the jubilee to them, restore and reconcile to them.

Lessons

There are a number of improtant lessons we learn from this passage.

Forgiveness costs something: We need t

Motive Matters: Now, we need to understnad this, that when Christians talk about forgiveness, we mean soemthing different than the world means. When the world talks about forgiveness they tend to say something along the lines of this, “Holding a grudge hurts me than it hurts you.” That is not why Christians forgive. That kind of forgiveness says, “I am too lazy to hold a grudge.” That kind of forgiveness says, “What you did to me really doesn’t matter.” That kind of forgiveness believes in cheap, self-centered, justice. That is not Christian forgiveness.

Forgiveness costs something: Christian forgiveness costs something, doesn’t it? In this parable, the king must essentially pay the debt that his servant could not. When God forgave us of our sins, it was hard fought and expensive. It wasn’t easy. It cost the life of his own son. It cost the blood of Jesus Christ. His forgiveness costs something we couldn’t apy. in teh same way, whwen we forgive someone, it costs something. It requires us to not exact payment from each other. IT requires us to give up the right to be angry at one another. It requires us to get rid of our grudges. it requires us to set aside our rights. Forgiveness, both when God forigves us, and when we forgive others, costs something.

Forgiveness vs. Restoration: Now, i need to distinguish here between forgiveness and resotration. Forgiveneess is when one side gives up its right to demand justice. IT does not mean that the relationship is fully restored. It does not mean that trust is given back. It does not mean that things will always be the same. We can and must forgtive those who have sinned against us. But we can only be restored to those who turn from their sins. Forgiveness only requires one person. Restoration requires both. You can and should forgive someone who doesn’t want it, but you cannot restore with someone who won’t take it.

Forgiving others is hard because we don’t believe we need forgiveness: Of course, this idea of forgiveness is hard and difficult for us. ANd the primary reason that it is hard for us, is all that we see is the 100 denarii someone else owes us instead of the 10,000 talents that we owed God. We have a hard time forgiving others because we don’t think we need forgiveness. Are you having a hard time forgiving someone? It is probably because you do not realize how much you have sinned against God. Dear friends, when we comprehend just how God forgave us, it changes and transforms our heart so that we can’t help but extend that same forgiveness to someone else.

Have you received forgiveness? Which leads me to ask this question. Is there a chance that you are here today and have never grasped the depths of God’s forgiveness of you? Is there a chance that you have never taken the forgiveness that God has offered yoy? Maybe as we’re talking about this, you are realizing the reason that it is nearly impossible for you to frogive is because you have never been forgiven yourself. And if that’s you, I want to invite you evne where you’re sitting right now, just to reach out and grab hold of Jesus by faith. I want to encourage you just to pray to God and ask God to forgive you your sins, ask him to pay your debt, ask him to redeem you from slavery.

Does someone need forgiveness? Now, maybe while i’m preahcing here, you are sitting in your seat and you are realizing that you need to forgive someone. Maybe it is a parent who has woudned you and inflicted you in ways that should be impossible. Maybe it is a child who has walked away ffrom you and done so in a hurtful way. Maybe it is someone in this room who for years you have harbored a grudge against. Maybe it is for someone who has damaged you and harmed you in a way you struggle to explain. Dear friends, as God has forgiven us, let us forgive one another.