Hard Conversations With Christ - On Sin and Forgiveness Pt 2

Blessing and honor, glory and power to him who sits on the throne and the to Lamb forever and ever. Amen. Dear forgiven members of Christ's family, Week two in our Hard Conversations with Christ series focuses us yet again on Sin and Forgiveness. Matthew 18 is not just the church discipline chapter, it's the personal ministry section of Scripture. Today we focus on our forgiveness rather than our noticing of sin. As a reminder, is talking about the community we have here at church, not the community we have throughout Albuquerque. The principles of the lesson certainly apply outside these walls, but they first must be taken to heart here. They must be practiced here. They must be lived out here. Sin makes hard conversations hard. Last week sin made conversations about sin hard. This week sin makes conversations about forgiveness hard. That seems backwards. We are here, at church, praising God and hearing about his Word because we have been forgiven. How can a conversation about forgiveness be hard? Forgiveness from Jesus, that's an easy conversation. Forgiveness between believers, that can be hard. There are two different kinds of forgiveness. Vertical forgiveness, the fact that God forgives us in Christ, and horizontal forgiveness, our releasing of the self-perceived right to get even. Horizontal forgiveness is what we are talking about today. We are talking about its importance for our Christian lives and why it is so hard for us to really forgive horizontally. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, we too often ask with Peter, "How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?" O Lord, if we are to forgive as you have forgiven us, give us the grace and will to do so. Our sinful hearts are resentful and often filled with bitterness against others. Lord, we hurt from sins against us and hurt others as we sin against them. We confess to you, that we do not find it easy to forgive and forget. Help us Lord. We know you have forgiven us by your death on the cross. Enable us in all sincerity to say as you did on the cross, "Father forgive them." And give us a willing spirit to forgive as you have forgiven us. Hear our plea, gracious and forgiving Lord. Amen. Peter and Forgiveness Our lesson starts with Peter asking Jesus a question. Peter wanted clarification as to what Jesus meant. I think all too often we sneer at Peter for his comments. They always seem so short-sighted and uninformed. But let's look at Peter's question with the best possible understanding. During Jesus' life it was accepted that forgiving someone for the same sin three times was considered enough. After the third time, religious leaders said there was no need to forgive a fourth time. You could forgive them if you want, but it wasn't required after three. So, when Peter asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me," he is asking for clarification on this religious custom. Seven is greater than three. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to do that math. Now I don't know about you, but I find it hard to forgive someone who commits the same sin against me just twice. Three times, that's a lot of forgiveness, but seven!? Peter is asking about a large amount of forgiveness. More than double what the religious leaders insisted. Peter wanted to know; Lord is there a time where forgiveness is no longer offered? Is there a time where I lock the door to forgiveness for someone who sinned against me? Jesus answered Peter by shattering his preconceived notions. "No Peter, not seven times." I wonder if Jesus paused there. "No Peter, not seven times..." and let that pregnant pause do its job. Peter might think, oh, so there is a limit? 6? Certainly not more, that would be too hard. "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Jesus was telling Peter, just forgive. And this is a hard thing for us to do. Can you imagine Peter's shock? Jesus told Peter to forgive 25x more than what the religious leaders of the day expected. Peter wanted to have a definite answer, and he received the most indefinite of answer from Jesus. In other words, Jesus said, don't stop forgiving. If someone sins against you be willing to forgive when they show repentance. In order to drive this point home, Jesus, the master storyteller, told the parable of the unmerciful servant. There are three main stories inside of this parable. First there is the master and his mercy. There is the servant and his refusal to show mercy. And finally, the master and his justice. Each involves a hard conversation with Christ. How can I pay my debt? Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 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. "At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. Jesus started the parable with some background information. He set the scene. He introduced a king who was owed a large sum of money from one of his servants. It was more than a servant really would ever be able to pay, and that's the point. 10,000 bags of gold. We don't trade in gold all that often anymore. The debt was about $9.6 billion!! And that's the low estimate. One commentator said, "no reader could conceive of such an amount in this parable, and Jesus' hearers would simply have thought of an impossibly large debt, like a child saying 'a million gadzillions.'" This was the debt the servant somehow racked up. And the king had called in his accountant to settle all of his accounts. This servant was not the only one. Imagine seeing all the other servants going and settling their debt. And now your name is called to come before the king. What words do you start with? "I'm sorry?" Would "I'm sorry" really be enough to cancel a million gadzillions in debt? There was nothing he could say. It was an unpayable debt. So, the king showed his justice. If he can't pay it, don't let him make any money with any other business. Don't let his family help. Don't let his friends help. Sell him until he makes enough money for him to be released. No length of time would have been enough to pay it back. Do you see why Jesus is the master storyteller? Do you see how this resembles our lives so perfectly? "The servant fell on his knees before the king and pleaded, 'be patient with me, and I will repay everything.'" I can almost imagine the listeners of this parable laughing at this point. How could it possibly be that someone that owed $10 billion could work long enough to pay it back as a servant? It's a comical request from the servant. And one that would have never actually panned out. The king took pity on him. There was nothing this poor servant could possibly do to repay the debt. The king wasn't hurting for money, he just wanted to clean up his record book. He forgave the debt. He let it go. He cancelled all that the servant had owed. All of this, because of the king's great compassion for the servant. Can you imagine the joy that servant must have felt? Can you reimagine the joy of your debt to God just being *poof* released? The hard conversation with Christ is actually the easiest conversation you can ever have. The hard conversation starts with this question: How can I pay my debt? Jesus says, I got it. It's on me. If Jesus had just stopped there, the parable would have great effect for our Christian lives. The joy we experience as a result of Christ cancelling our debt, moves us to forgive our brothers and sisters who sin against us. It is seemingly that simple. But Christ didn't stop there. He added another part to the parable. Am I really unmerciful? "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. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.' "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. Jesus added this part of the parable to show just how silly it is to NOT forgive someone. It's on par with lunacy. On par with hypocrisy. We have been fully forgiven. Every sin we have ever committed, when we come to the Lord in repentance, it's gone. As far as the east is from the west, gone. Taken to the grave and left there when Jesus rose again from the grave, gone. When our Father in heaven grants us forgiveness he also forgets. That's what he has promised to do to our sins. When he forgives, he remembers no more the sins of our past. The God who always remembers his covenant with his people forgets. He who knows all things cannot and will not remember the sins he has forgiven. He hides them in the depths of the sea, he does not let them come to his mind and he sees you as you really are in Christ, forgiven. This is not going to be a shocking statement, but it's one that we need to be reminded of daily. We are not God. We are not holy. We are not perfect in righteousness or forgiveness. This means that we are not perfect in forgetting the debts that are owed to us. It means that we do not easily forget the sins our brothers and sisters commit against us. We all can remember the faults of others against us. The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in love and compassion. We on the other hand are quick to take offense but slow to forgive. This servant, oh he knew every penny that was owed him. And that's really what he was owed. Somewhere in the range of a few dollars. It was three months' worth of wages, but don't think of our minimum wage here. It's like an allowance from parents to their children. Three months of allowance really isn't that much money. He remembered, and he wanted to be repaid every penny. Somewhere in the range of billions of dollars had been released from this man's account. And yet he goes and holds a grudge against a man that owed him chunk change. Do you see why Jesus is the master storyteller? Can't you see just how relevant this is to our lives? This servant could remember every sin and debt that was owed him. When it came to his sins, however, he developed total amnesia. He couldn't remember how much he had just been forgiven. He was not living in repentance. Yes, he repented, but he didn't live in that repentance. He lived in entitlement, arrogance - sin. He forgot he deserved to be sold into slavery until he could repay a debt. He forgot that he had been shown great mercy. The hard conversation with Christ comes from this servant's baffling outrage: Am I really this unmerciful servant? Do I really treat others like this? Jesus says that if you do not forgive as you have been forgiven, you are nothing more than this servant. You are crooked and wretched - deserving of nothing but the Father's wrath. Yes, this is what you are. Yes, this is what I am. Do you want to stay deserving of wrath forever? Why do I need to show mercy if you have? When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." Part three of the parable is not surprising. It isn't anything that should catch us off guard. It shows us exactly who our Father in heaven is. In Deut. 32 God says of himself, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay." He is just. When he sees sin committed, he punishes the sin left unrepented. This wicked, greedy, unmerciful servant had to face the stark reality of judgment before a king who at once is merciful and loving but holds an impartial measuring stick. It is applied equally to every single person. At first, this servant repented and pleaded for mercy and mercy was granted. Then, this servant was shown to be wicked and unmerciful, and the King's justice was swift and fair. "I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to." When was the last time we understood how great our sin was before the Lord? When was the last time you piled up the amount of sins you had committed against our perfect and holy God? If you took the rest of today to think about the amount of sins you committed, just yesterday, you would understand what God means when he says, "all that debt of yours." You have something to pay to God. And he expects it to be paid. There will come a day when the accounts will need to be settled. Either the day that God calls you home or the day Jesus comes back. And on that day, your account must be settled in full. You know for certain how your debt is paid. By the blood of Jesus. And you know for certain that it was accepted because of Jesus' resurrection. Proving that his life and death was the stamp of approval for your eternal inheritance. The debt was paid in full. It was canceled because Jesus took care of it. Why then must we show mercy if Jesus has already taken care of everything? That's a logical question. If God forgives and forgets, if God has covered and canceled our debt, if God is merciful and loving, why must we do the same? If God has already shown mercy, what difference do I make? This is a hard conversation. And one that comes to us because of our sinful mind. Why must we forgive? Because Jesus gives us a stern warning. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from the heart." It isn't just the words, "I forgive you" that set you free from this just judgment from God. It isn't just merely the act of wearing the forgiveness shirt that children must stay in until they forgive each other. You must forgive from the heart. I don't know about you, but there are times I do not want to forgive. I have been wronged by friends who shared secrets that no one else needed to know. My trust was broken. That doesn't even compare to someone who was sexually abused. My hurt doesn't even compare to a spouse that was cheated on. My hurt doesn't even compare to someone who had a family member taken away because of murder. How are you supposed to forgive someone from the heart who wronged you that deeply? This is a hard conversation. And is one that can only be had with Christ. Forgiveness for God is not a process. He doesn't wait until you show the perfect amount of remorse to actually release you from the punishment that sin deserves. He forgives. He doesn't wait until you have given enough offering to make the sins justified. He forgives. And our Ephesians lesson implores us to be imitators of Christ. What if Christ only forgave you up to a certain amount of sins? What if Christ only forgave once he felt like it was time to forgive? Thanks be to God this is not how Christ treats our sin! Rather, he forgives. Jeremiah 31:34 says, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." The hurt of the sins that are committed against us is real. And it takes time for those wounds to heal. The pain of abuse, Christ suffered for it on the cross. The pain of unfaithfulness, Christ suffered for your pain on the cross. The pain of having a family member murdered, Christ suffered for the hole in your heart on the cross. All that he suffered, so that we can forgive others as we have been forgiven. No matter how badly someone wronged you in this world, you and I have wronged God worse. Christ asks us to take up our cross. And forgiving someone from the heart is a heavy cross that Jesus asks us to bear. "Pastor, how am I supposed to forgive someone 77 times? How am I supposed to do that, you don't understand what they did to me!" No. I don't. But Jesus does. And for that sin against you he died. And for your sin he died. And for your salvation and your forgiveness and your eternal inheritance he rose again. Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Amen.