Restoration and Forgiveness Part 2

Today we will be talking about this idea of forgiveness. I submit to you this morning that in this parable all of us should see ourselves. It by it’s very nature is designed to show us the great mercy of God and our need to extend it.

Context: Over the last several weeks, we have seen Jesus as the good shepherd pursing all those who would stray. We witnessed two weeks ago that Jesus gave us a system of accountability to keep us from straying and if we should stray to bring us back again.

After seeing Jesus concern for the sinner, Peter’s mind asks an honest question. How often should one forgive or how often must we go through this prescribed process.

Matthew 18:21–34 CSB

21 Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 22 “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven. 23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. 25 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. 26 “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. 28 “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!’ 29 “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. 31 When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. 32 Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.

Trans: the first thing we see is the nature of Peters question?

How many times must I forgive?

Now many of us may think of this question as being silly or petty but one must remember the day in which people lived.

Rabbinic teaching taught that a person must forgive the same offense three times and on the fourth occurrence one was free to choose whether to forgive or not.

So when Peter throws out the number seven, he was being more generous than most. He no doubt in his mind was going above and beyond what was humanly required. Peter no doubt thought that Jesus may be impressed with his generosity. Jesus however, was not as impressed as Peter was hoping he’d be. Instead told Peter and the rest of the disciples listening they must forgive 70x that amount.

I am sure the disciples were baffled by this number. So Jesus in his usual fashion tells them a parable or story to help them understand. Like many other parables Jesus told he starts out with the following Phrase

“the kingdom of heaven can be compared too”

This phrase gives us little doubt that the story is supposed to direct us toward more than just a moral lesson but to How God as king operates.

Like any good story there are these common elements.

Location: A Kingdom/household of the king.

It is important to notice the location. These were servants of the king living in the household of the king.

No many of you are already picking up on this parallel . Just like the last passage was how to deal with those who persist in sin with in the church. This story is told in that same context. How are people of the kingdom are to act toward others, especially those in the same kingdom/household.

Characters: The King, The two indebted servants and the concerned servant

I. A debt that was owed. Matthew 18:23-24

Matthew 18:23–24 CSB

23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.

Now a Talent was the largest denomination used.

1 Talent would be equal today to about $200,000 US Dollars. If we multiply that by 10,000. We get around 2 billion dollars.

10,000 Talents = $2,000,000,000

The point of the story of course is not about the exact amount that was owed, but rather the fact that the servant had no hope of paying it back. He had a debt that he could not pay. He was hopeless. The Bible doesn’t tell us how much he was able to pay but if a simple servant is 2 billion dollars in debt not doubt he was going to come up short.

Trans: It Is in this character. This indebted servant that each of us should see ourselves.

Scripture tells us that we to had a debt that we could not pay.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

To “fall short” means to miss the mark. Notice with me that to fall short has nothing to do with your perceived perception of your debt.

Weather or not you believe your debt of sin to be as great as someone else s is irrelevant here. To fall short is to fall short. You have missed the mark. You cannot pay back your debt.

You are in a helpless situation.

Matthew 18:25 CSB

25 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.

This was a common practice during the O.T. that had carried forward.

We see a similar situation with the widow who’s son was about to be sold into slavery to pay back the debt her deceases husband had owed. So Elisha instructed her to gather as many pots as she could find and pour out her oil into them. Of course we know the story her small pot of oil was able to fill up the rest of the containers and sold to pay her debt.

II. Our sin has cost us everything.

This man was destine to lose everything he had. I cannot imagine the horror of this situation. The very idea of my children being sold into servitude makes me feel ill.

So realizing what he was about to lose He did the only thing he could. He threw himself before the feet of the king.

III. When we recognize our debt it should cause great humility.

Matthew 18:26 CSB

26 “At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’

At this point there was nothing this man could do but fall down and before the king and beg for mercy.

He went to the only one who could forgive him, the one whom the debt was owed, the king himself.

In the same way we who are in Christ at some point in our lives realized that we were going to lose everything. Our very own life and eternal soul. So we fell down at the feet of the savior and humbly admitted our need for forgiveness and found the same results as the indebted servant.

we found compassion.

Matthew 18:27 CSB

27 Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

Romans 6:23 CSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Trans: Now most of us probably wish the story just ended there a happy ending but yet it continues.

Matthew 18:28–30 CSB

28 “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!’ 29 “At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.

A Denari was considered to be an average days wage. So this servant owed around a 100 days wages.

I often here people say that he owed a small amount.

I don’t know about you but 100 days wages doesn’t seem so small to me.

I think that part of the story that we often miss. While it was small in comparison to what the previous man owed. It would have been a difficult offense to forgive.

How many of you wouldn’t have a hard time forgiving a loan of that size.

In our culture we are talking about forgiving roughly 4 months salary.

You see the point of the story is not that it should be easy to forgive or that every offence toward us is of no consequence, but rather quite the opposite.

When we look at what the king had to sacrifice to release us from our debt, we to should be able forgive.

It isn’t saying that it will be easy or even desirable to forgive someone who has really and truly wronged us.

The point is that God has forgiven you and will continue to forgive you more than you will ever have to forgive.

Ephesians 4:32 CSB

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

IV. We recognize how much we have been forgiven, It should enable us to forgive.

Matthew 18:31–35 CSB

31 When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. 32 Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

If our salvation begins with forgiveness, then forgiveness is the hallmark of a believer.

One cannot read a story like this and not ask the question, was the begging and pleading of the first servant a genuine humble response to his need?

Did he truly recognize his condition?

For the believer to say that he cannot forgive seems to stand in direct contradiction to having been forgiven.

If a person claims to be a believer yet refuses to forgive, at best he’s a hypocrite and at worse he was not genuine in his request forgiveness.

Today, I am going to do something that I don’t usually do. I’m going to allow you to wrestle with how this story ended.

Some say the end of the story is just a thematic element others suggest an unforgiving person has never genuinely sought forgiveness from God.

Why would I let you wrestle, because it’s only those who are living with unforgiveness in their heart that should be concerned by the state of their own soul or by their hypocrisy either way this person should be wrestling.