Matthew 18:21-35

The ability to forgive others comes from the Spirit enabling us to understand how much God has forgiven us.

21Then Peter came up and asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?”

22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you as many as seventy-seven times. 23For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he began to settle them, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Because the man was not able to pay the debt, his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, children, and all that he owned to repay the debt.

26“Then the servant fell down on his knees in front of him, saying, ‘Master, be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’ 27The master of that servant had pity on him, released him, and forgave him the debt.

28“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

31“When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were very distressed. They went and reported to their master everything that had taken place.

35“This is what my heavenly Father will also do to you unless each one of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

Prayer of the Day

Let us pray.

Lord God, heavenly Father, you graciously forgive us all our sins and abundantly provide for all our needs of body and soul. Give us confidence in your mercy, and teach us also to be merciful to our neighbor, that we willingly forgive all people, and judging only ourselves, lead blessed lives to your glory; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Verse of the Day: Colossians 3:13

Alleluia. Bear with each other and forgive one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Alleluia.

Sermon Text:

I feel like our lesson today needs to start with a disclaimer. 21 years of ministry has taught me that people get forgiveness of sin and the consequences of sin confused at times. We think forgiveness means we have to act like nothing ever happened. That’s not entirely true. What I mean is if someone is convicted of robbery or theft and God changes their heart through faith and grace, that individual is absolutely forgiven, but in love, we will also seek to remove the temptation from their lives of faith and will very likely tell them that counting the offerings each week is likely not a job for them. While forgiveness is real, earthly consequences sometimes follow our sins. Consider the thief on the cross. He was absolutely forgiven and I’ll see him someday in the heaven God has prepared for all the saints. But notice that in forgiveness Jesus doesn’t tell him to get down from the cross. He remains there as an earthly consequence, I’ll be it brief in his case, of the sin he committed. A whole sermon could and eventually will be preached here, but it’s not the lesson that sits before us today. Instead, today Jesus allows us to contemplate only the first half of that discussion. Forgiveness freely given by our God and by His people.

All that said, dear friends, buckle up because today Jesus swings a two-by-four of law into our lives of faith. In fact, Matthew 18 is packed with lessons that make you hold your breath and do some real internal review as they are read. Jesus begins with that section on the faith of a little child and the importance of that simple, humble faith which follows after God no matter what. He concludes the section by telling us that if we cause a little one to sin, it is better to have a huge stone tied around our neck and tossed into the sea (v6). Just in case that wasn’t strong enough, He speaks of gouging out our eyes and cutting off our hands if they cause us to sin, because it’s better to be disabled than destined for the fires of hell (vs 7-9). The importance of seeking the lost sheep comes next, paired with Jesus’ call to use the keys with our fellow Christians. Not an easy task by any means to confront our fellow brothers and sisters when they sin against us or others, but it’s made even harder if those loving advances are met with impenitence. The goal is always forgiveness, however. The desire must always be to win our brother over (v15). Our intent matters, or else, well, millstones and maiming.

Then, just in case that didn’t war with everything we consider comfortable, well, in come the words of our lesson today. Peter asks an obvious question, “Hey, so how many times are we supposed to do all this? Seven times seems more than generous, right?” Jesus’ answer is a bit unexpected. “Not seven times, but I tell you as many as seventy-seven times” (v22). Translators will argue over whether the best rendition of the Greek is 77 times, or 70 times seven times (490 times). The point is not the number, but that forgiveness is never denied. Penitence is always met with forgiveness, and before we can muster an argument about becoming a doormat for sinners around us, He launches into that parable.

It’s worth a re-reading with a little commentary as we go.

23For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he began to settle them, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Because the man was not able to pay the debt, his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, children, and all that he owned to repay the debt. This likely seems a bit harsh to us. However, a talent is equivalent to about 6,000 days of work. 10,000 talents is then 60,000,000 days of labor! Working continuously 7 days a week (no vacations or sick days, mind you), we are talking 164,383 and one-half years to pay it back. All of recorded history is about 5,500 years in length. The point isn’t the amount. This is simply an impossible debt! It cannot be repaid … how could it even be forgiven?

26“Then the servant fell down on his knees in front of him, saying, ‘Master, be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’ What a joke! But he’s desperate! His life, his family's lives are at stake. 27The master of that servant had pity on him, released him, and forgave him the debt. Talk about unexpected! We might even call it reckless to let the guy walk like this after accruing such a debt.

Let’s hit the pause button there for a second in the parable. This is the kind of forgiveness you and I need. Unexpected, unfathomable, even maybe a little reckless as it is given. Why? Our sins are uncountable, at least if we believe even a little bit about the depths of our sin. You see, we have a tendency to think we are better than most or that our sins aren’t really as bad as others'. We insulate ourselves from the reality of it. Isaiah tells us that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 46:6)” There is the evil we are aware of and the evil we are not. More than one theologian has posited that humanity - you or I – likely have a hard time going the length of a breath without sinning in some way against our God. Paul cries out, I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not keep doing what I want. Instead, I do what I hate. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17But now it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18Indeed, I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my sinful flesh. The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out. 19So I fail to do the good I want to do. Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing. …24What a miserable wretch I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:15-19, 24). Death, that’s what sin earns for us all. Hell, sold off to an eternity of torment to pay for all of our offenses. That’s what one sin earned in Eden’s garden, let alone the impossible debt I, you have tallied up for ourselves with our God.

Yet, forgiveness is what God gives. Unearned, undeserved, wild, reckless, free forgiveness at least for us. For Him, it cost everything. Christ Jesus must set aside the full use of His power and glory. God must live in this cesspool of a planet that we have turned it into and be everything we could not be to fulfill righteousness, to make payment for our sinful debts. He dies, endures the rejection of hell, all so that we can be let go. Eternity will not be enough time to gush forth our thanks, our praise.

28“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii. One day's wages, that’s the worth of a denarius. This is payable if not all at once, then with a reasonable payment plan that may not even hurt all that much in the doing of it. Less than a third of a year. Most of us hold more debt on a car, certainly in a mortgage. Ah, but it’s not the number but the fact that this is easily paid. Others’ debts to us in this world are so small in comparison to our debt owed to God. He grabbed him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

29“So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’ 30But he refused. Instead he went off and threw the man into prison until he could pay back what he owed. Does it make your blood boil? Shouldn’t he be so much more sympathetic, empathetic, so much less pathetic? It betrays a heart which fails to really grasp what has just happened to him, a heart which shows zero thanks for the grace which has literally just been poured out on him and his family.

31“When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were very distressed. They went and reported to their master everything that had taken place. Others see it … they see you too. What is the impression we give: a grateful servant forgiven so much by the master of all, or something far less, far worse? Unfortunately, our world doesn’t run to Jesus when they see evil in us; they run from Him, thinking He will act the same or that it’s all a sham.

32“Then his master called him in and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt when you begged me to. 33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?’ 34His master was angry and handed him over to the jailers until he could pay back everything he owed. You earn nothing in jail. Certainly not enough to pay back a debt that is longer than human history. The impossible debt is reinstated with even less hope. Hell is eternal for the servant who overlooks the grace that is given, lacks the faith to comprehend what God has done.

35“This is what my heavenly Father will also do to you unless each one of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

I warned you, God was gunna swing a two-by-four into our lives of faith today. This lesson is a gut check. The reality is that there are hurts that struggle to go away. Each of us likely has had trouble with the concept of forgiveness, at least as it applies to the people around us, who interact with us, who have hurt us. So are we destined for hell’s horrific prison cell, unable to pay the debt that God would have so freely forgiven us?

This is where we have to pause and back up in our lesson. Remember Peter? He came with that question that so often has plagued us. How many times, Lord? How many times must I forgive someone when they sin against me? Just like the debt, it wasn’t the exact number that mattered; full and free forgiveness is given to all who stand contrite, brokenhearted, because of their inability to follow the will of God. Nothing changes that, dear friends.

In fact, if I struggle to forgive, then it’s time to run back to the source for the forgiveness that fuels my own. It’s time to run back to Christ, who willingly gave everything that the impossible debt I owe might be paid in full and freely forgiven- yes, even the times I have lacked forgiveness. It’s time to hear that beautiful promise repeated again at the beginning of worship, “As a called servant of Christ and by His authority, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Because when we see the impossible debt that God has forgiven us, that’s where we find the strength to forgive the minor debts that are owed to us. Not because we are doormats, but because we are filled up with grace, with God’s undeserved love for us that overflows to those who are around us.

Look, I know that life in a sin-filled world gives us more than enough reason to be filled with hatred, vengeance, and a real desire to hold on to the hurts others have caused. Like Peter, I have had more than one question for God about how much is too much, even in the realm of forgiveness. But thanks be to God that He has never asked the same as I stand before His altar, sin-stained, and strangled each week. In love He simply forgives, always forgives. And that alone makes it possible to do what the world would call impossible – the forgiven, forgive! Amen.

Sermon Blog

Matthew 18:21-35 - The Forgiven, Forgive!