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The Unforgiving Servant
The Unforgiving Servant
Matthew 18:21-35
Hey all my cool cats and kitten out there!
I hope this message finds you well!
We are going to be diving into the Gospel project picking up where Donnivan let off last week.
Jesus as many of you know was very gifted at speaking in parables.
And the passage we are looking at this week is no different.
So if you have your Bibles with you we are going to be in .
So go head and grab your Bibles and flip there and I will join you in a few minutes.
Kevin is going to lead us in a song and then I will be back to talk about the unforgiving servant.
At the start of Matthew 18
WORSHIP MESSAGE
Message:
Have you ever had to say the words “i’m sorry.”
Often we find ourselves saying them, or at least we should.
I’m sorry are ways for us to admit we are wrong and to accept that whatever we did was wrong and we have remorse for our actions.
Saying those words are sometimes the hardest to say.
Yet I think we can make the case that being on the other side of those sorry’s are even harder.
I am talking about those who have been wronged.
The ones where someone is saying they are sorry to you.
And they are asking for you to forgive them.
Offering forgiveness maybe one of the hardest things to do.
Because we live in a revenge culture.
If someone has wronged you… wrong them back.
Make them pay.
You want them to suffer like you suffered.
Why is this?
Because hurt people, hurt people.
Yet, it is not suppose to be this way.
Forgiveness is a true mark of believer.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
So tonight, for some of us we may feel a little convicted because we maybe the type of person who strikes back rather than offer forgiveness.
This may be a little uncomfortable, but do not leave this right now, hang in there.
Because I want you to know why we forgive.
Why we need to forgive.
I hope that you are in .
we are going to be reading in verse 21-35
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
77x Forgiveness goes against the culture
77x Forgiveness goes against the culture
Check this out
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Peter asks this question based on forgiveness from the previous section.
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Matthew 18:
You see Peter came to Jesus says how often do I forgive those who sin against me… Like seven times.
This is Peter’s attempt to show maturity, 2 ways he did this:
Here is how Peter showed maturity, one, Peter realized the only way to deal with someone who has hurt you, or offended you is to forgive them.
Peter knew it was important to forgive.
We should know that it is important to forgive.
But here is Peter again show maturity, or at least trying too.
He says, how often should I forgive someone?
7 times?
Now you see 7 is a number of completion.
God created the heaven and the earth in 7 days.
and there are lot of other 7 that are mentioned in the Bible.
It is clear that 7 is a symbol of perfection, completion, so natural Peter is assuming that not only is it generous to forgiveness someone but to do it up to 7 times.
He may have had a great answer for Jesus.
Then Jesus goes nah not 7 times but 77 times.
7 times 11= 77
Have you ever wondered why Jesus would say 77?
Jesus did not just pull this number out of thin air.
There is meaning to this.
And no it does not mean that on the 78th time forgiving someone you get to knock them out.
Far from it.
What Jesus is saying is that there is no limit to your forgiveness.
Why
Because there is not limit to His forgiveness.
Jesus was not giving Peter a new standard— he was giving him a new way of life.
A life of forgiveness that had not limit.
Is there someone in your life that you have written off?
Maybe a former friend that just crossed you one too many times.
Maybe a parent who bailed on you.
Maybe a teacher or a coach that you can just never move past something they did.
Whoever it is— at what point do you stop making them pay?
Because that is in essence what forgiveness is: It is deciding someone who has wronged you doesn’t have to pay anymore.
Just a little statement before we move on: forgiveness is one thing allowing them to continue to hurt you and cause pain is something else.
We can forgive and let go but we can also in that forgiveness choose to not be around them.
Forgiveness is letting them go- not allowing them to live rent-free in your mind.
When you have done that- and you do not think of them negativity anymore- like when you run into them at the store or whatever, when you have let them go out of your mind— then you know that you have forgiven them.
So then Jesus tells this parable.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
We owed an unpayable debt
We owed an unpayable debt
So there are two people in this parable you have the king and the servant.
Guess which one we are......
THATS RIGHT THE SERVANT:
And the King is God
So anyway the king has come to settle his accounts.
The servant- lets call him Reggie.
He owed 10,000 talents.
Know you may be thinking, Zach what is a talent?
Great question!
A talent is a special skill you have such as singing, dancing, or doing magic.... I’m just kidding magic isn’t a talent.
Okay but for real a talent in this case refers to money.
It refers to 20 years of wages. That is one talent.
So you could work for 20 years and only pay off one talent.
This dude Reggie owed Ten Thousand.
Put it this way if Reggie was 20- and he worked till he was 100: he only would have payed off 4 talents of his 10,000 talent debt.
The amount is enormous it is unpayable.
So the master is like okay you can pay- sell reggie and his wife carol, and the children all names little reg.
The servant begs him to reconsider.
Reggie tells him, i will get you your money- have patience.
The King thinks— knowing he will never see the other 9996 talents.
He has pity on him and offers him mercy and forgives his debt.
Reggie does not have to pay it back!
How would you respond to this!
I would be doing cartwheels through the streets ya!
Now lets pay out this story a little differently:
You are Reggie
And God is still the King
You see you have a debt that is owned that you could never pay back: no matter how long you lived it would never be paid in full.
You were brought before God and God looks at you and says sell them get what you can— But as you are begging for your life
God offers you grace- because next Him seated on his right side is Jesus.
Because of what he endured on the cross your debt was paid.
Dying from crucifixion was a terrible way to go.
Why is it so important that Jesus intercedes to the father on our behalf?
Why was Jesus suffering on the cross so terrible
Because our debt was enormous.
When you said yes to Jesus— our debt— our unpayable debt was canceled and pegged to the cross.
Because when you said yes to Jesus:
Have you been forgiven by the only one who can cancel your debt?
Through the blood of Jesus is the only way we can be forgiven.
As we approach Easter- this is the story of redemption for us as sinners.
If you have never given your life to Jesus, what is stopping you?
He offers forgiveness to an unpayable debt.
It is amazing.
And our response should be to run around and forgive and love and share and care for people.
Instead here is our typical response when it comes to forgiveness:
We demand repayment
We demand repayment
We
But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18:
Reggie was just forgiven
He heads out and he seeks out someone we will call him Joe who owes him money seizes him by the neck and demands payment.
just to give you an idea of how much Joe owes is 100 Denarii-
which one denarii is one days wage.
Still a good amount of money- it would take Joe 100 days to cancel the debt.
This is not an impossible debt to cover.
Reggie wants his money!
Joe’s begs and says the same thing that Reggie just said to the King:
“Have patience with me and I will pay you.”
Reggie says nope! Throw him in jail- until he can pay back his debt.
Now I don’t know if Reggie thought this through, because if Joe was in jail then he can’t get any money while he is in jail.
but whatever:
Reggie was forgiven an enormous unpayable debt but a debt that could be paid he did not offer grace but judgement and retribution.
When the king heard of this:
He calls Reggie a wicked servant and throws him in jail to now pay back his debt.
He is the big take away verse 35
So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
You see this parable was a negative effect of withholding forgiveness.
We are not to be like Reggie- He was forgiven then left and did not offer forgiveness to others.
It is interesting that when we decide to without forgiveness who is the pay that gets called out… to the person who did the wrong but the one who is not giving out forgiveness.
When we without forgiveness we imprison ourselves.
In the this season that we are in be gracious— nobody has gone through a pandemic like this before.
Offer grace and forgiveness— You are not the judge or jury that is all up to God.
And be reminded that you have been forgiven greatly.
God is crazy about you or else he wouldn’t have sent his son to pay your enormous debt.
Our debt cost someone their life— 77x forgiveness that is the way of life— it isn’t a choice.
Who right now do you need to make things right with?
It does not matter who is in the wrong or who did what!
GOD DOES NOT CARE!
However he does care about people with holding forgiveness.
Do not live another day with unforgiveness in your heart— it will just eat away at you.
Make it right today- right after this message.
Don’t wait!
Let’s pray