Life in the Kingdom: Forgiveness From the Heart

My name is Matt Sear, and I'm the third of three pastors here, along with new daddy Billy.

I'm one of the rookies, and it's a real privilege to open the Word together today.

The last three weeks, and for a little bit longer than that even, we've been talking

about life in the kingdom, kind of principles that function within the realm of God's saving

reign, principles that govern how we as disciples of Jesus live in the here and now.

This life in the kingdom is wonderful, isn't it?

It's a life of living in truth, a life of a reconciled relationship with God through Jesus.

It's a life of being a disciple of the universe's greatest and brightest teacher.

It's a life with real, living resurrection hope, a real promise of reward for obeying the

Father's will.

We could go on and on and on about the immense goodness of this life in the kingdom, but we

know that it also comes at cost.

Jesus, in chapter 16, has called his followers to deny themselves, to take up a cross and

follow him.

Life of a kingdom is a death to self.

It's a self-denying life, not just for the sake of self-denial, but for the sake of living

for Jesus.

It's a losing of one's life for his sake.

And in fact, it's in that losing of our lives, of ourselves, that we find life.

Well, forgiveness is one of those acute areas of cost for the follower of Jesus.

Though we love Jesus and we love one another as Christians, sometimes we hurt each other.

Sometimes we hurt each other really, really badly.

Often it's a nagging sin, like a repeating flare-up of anger from a husband to a wife.

Sometimes it's a much weightier matter, that of sexual immorality or some sort of verbal

or physical abuse.

Sometimes forgiveness involves a hidden sin that's been sort of in the dark for a long

time and all of a sudden revealed, and the weight of it can feel unbearable.

Well, questions like these come to mind as we think about what forgiveness may cost us

as disciples.

What if I've really been hurt?

What if this is the 3,000th time I've had to deal with this same sin from this same brother

or sister?

What if her apologies are just growing cold and it seems like his repentance is fake and

not sincere?

What if a brother shows no remorse at all?

When it comes to being sinned against, how costly is the forgiveness that we must offer?

Might there be a sin that's so big that as Christians we're under no obligation to forgive a brother

or sister?

Can a sinning sister commit so many offenses that I'm off the hook in forgiveness?

That I can stop forgiving because, well, that 3,001 sin crossed the line.

Can a Christian ever reach a limit in forgiving a fellow Christian?

Whether in size or number, how much and how often must we as Christians forgive each other?

We've asked this question, right?

We've wrestled with this internally.

Some more than others.

Some because of grievous sin.

Grievous wrongdoing that other Christians have committed against us.

Well, in answering these questions, we're not left in the dark.

Jesus gives us the answer in our text.

Last week, Mike walked us through these practical steps of seeking reconciliation.

When a brother or sister sins against us, the steps we take to pursue reconciliation with

him or her.

Well, this week, we're going to get surgical on our hearts.

How must my heart be towards a sinning Christian?

Towards a brother or sister who has wronged me?

What is my obligation?

Well, let's read the text together.

We're in Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

If you haven't opened there yet, Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse 21.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

We'll go to the end of the chapter.

Then Peter came up and said to him, to Jesus, 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 70 times seven.

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 10,000 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 the same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 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.

There's three parts to our text this morning.

There's a Q&A.

There's a parable about the kingdom.

And there's a stern warning.

We're going to examine them each in turn.

First, this Q&A, verses 21 and 22.

Good old Peter, leading the way here once again, probably thinks he's being super holy.

Typical teaching was to forgive a fellow three times.

And once that fourth occurrence happens, no more forgiveness.

So Peter, in his seven, seems extra generous.

Especially thinking of last week's passage, the time commitment that having to go to a brother and pursue him for reconciliation can be.

Surely, it seems that Peter is slowly but surely kind of picking up on the teaching of Jesus.

He knows to not go, well, you know, just add one or two more instances of forgiving requirements here.

I'll more than double it.

I'll be really generous.

And if Jesus is going to, you know, bring me down a little bit, all the better.

But Peter still, in his typical way and in our typical human way, is still doing no more than legalistic ledger keeping here.

What's my quota?

What?

Jesus, please quantify my obligation toward a dirty, rotten, sinning brother.

Seven times?

Probably patting himself on the back a little bit and the other disciples are kind of cheering him on.

But really, it's still a sort of attitude that says, well, I want to be compassionate.

I want to be understanding.

But I have my limits.

That's the kind of posture of heart that Peter's bringing in this question.

But look at Jesus' answer.

In verse 22, I do not tell you seven times, but 70 times seven.

Maybe your translation says 77.

There's a footnote in the ESV.

It's a little ambiguous whether Jesus means seven times seven or equals 490 or 77 times.

But let's not miss the point, right?

It's doubtful that Peter now is pulling out his iPhone and checking for a forgiveness app that can store up 490 wrongs.

It's like, well, I could probably, you know, remember seven, but 77 or 490, that's too many.

I need some electronic assistance here.

No.

He would understand.

But to drive the point home, Jesus is going to share a parable with Peter and the disciples and with all of us.

We'll spend the bulk of our time walking through this parable now.

So don't get nervous if the clock's ticking by and we're still lingering here.

This parable in verses 23 to 34 summarizes a warning given to all of Jesus' followers about the nature of forgiveness.

Notice the therefore that begins verse 23.

But more importantly, notice the connection behind that therefore.

Verse 21 and 22.

Forgiveness must be unceasing.

Therefore, let me tell you a story about the kingdom and how a king deals with those who refuse this kingdom principle.

It's sobering, but it's real.

Notice what's going on here.

A king is settling accounts with his servant.

But Peter has asked a horizontal forgiveness question between two brothers or sisters in Christ.

And Jesus is going to defend his 77 answer with a vertical forgiveness principle.

He's going to appeal to God's mercy to show that his principle of always forgiving one another in the kingdom of God stands.

And it stands firm.

So this king has authority to settle all accounts with all of his servants because he owns all of the kingdom.

And they are his servants.

They are under his authority, under his command.

And he calls the shots.

Right up front, it's not too hard, right, to see that this parable is getting really close to our relationship with God.

Sovereign ruler over all of us.

Calling the shots of how his kingdom is to be run and organized and responded to by all of the people that he welcomes into it.

So verse 24, a servant is brought to this king who owes like a bajillion dollars.

10,000 talents.

10,000 is the largest number in the Greek language.

And a talent is the largest monetary unit available.

So Jesus is saying the largest number of the largest monetary unit.

That's how much this servant owes.

Well, I did a little math to help us try and grasp just how great this debt is.

Let's say we're talking about a talent of gold.

Well, one ounce of gold today is worth $1,290.

So 16 ounces in a pound means that one pound of gold is worth $20,640.

Let's say because I like round numbers that a talent is 100 pounds rather than, you know, 75 to 100 at somewhere in there.

Let's say it's 100 pounds.

That means one talent of gold costs $2,064,000.

One talent.

This guy owes 10,000 of those.

$20,640,000,000 of debt.

It's astronomical.

One commentary writer said it's like 193,000 years of wages.

The servant may have to delay his retirement for a little bit in light of that number.

Well, Jesus uses this astronomical number with great purpose.

He's not super interested in what kind of job the servant has that would sort of accrue such a debt to the king.

Nor is he interested in trying to justify using a number that's more money than it would have been in circulation in the entire region at the time.

No.

His astronomical figures are for a theological point.

Remember, this is a kingdom parable.

Verse 25.

Notice the consequence.

The servant, his wife, his children, and all he has are to be sold.

Now, of course, this won't even scratch the surface of repaying the debt.

But at least the king can recoup a little something.

At least he is only out 9,999.5 talents and not 10,000.

Verse 26.

The waterworks start.

The servant falls at his feet, lies prostrate, total and last-ditch effort of desperation.

Assumes the posture of a beggar.

And he even throws in an empty promise to repay the debt.

Because surely he doesn't have 193,000 years to repay.

But maybe in his mind he's saying, I can at least buy myself a little bit of time here.

Then something phenomenal happens in verse 27.

Out of pity, the king releases him from the debt.

And we've seen this word three times before in Matthew's gospel.

We may not recognize it because it's translated as compassion the previous three times.

But we've seen Jesus having compassion over and over and over on people in need.

We see him see the people as sheep without a shepherd and he has compassion.

And he goes and he starts teaching them.

We see a group of 5,000 Jews and later 4,000 Gentiles.

And Jesus has compassion and he meets their need of hunger.

Over and over and over in this gospel we see that Jesus is compassionate.

That he extends pity and mercy towards those in need.

So too this king in our parable.

Now the release of any size debt would be generous of this king.

But 20.5 billion dollars?

It's unheard of.

Who is this king?

Jesus is brilliant here.

He not only describes the kingdom policy of forgiveness.

But in this parable he's helping to define forgiveness for us.

What happens to the debt of this servant?

The servant himself is off the hook.

But does the king get his money back?

Certainly not.

The king takes the debt on himself.

That's what it means to forgive, isn't it?

Someone sins against us.

And we choose to absorb what they owe us.

We take the debt.

We release them from it.

Notice the king here doesn't say,

Okay, I'll release you so you can repay.

He cancels it.

Paid in full.

According to his ledger.

The king assumes the debt.

He cancels the servant's obligation.

That's forgiveness.

When we are wronged,

we assume the debt ourselves.

We don't retaliate.

We don't get even.

We cancel the debt.

We don't let that wrongdoing

determine how we treat a brother or sister

from that point on.

Never.

Now to get Jesus' point here,

the grounds of his argument

that 77 or 490 is the number,

that forgiveness is to be ceaseless,

we need to notice the relationship

between this king and this servant.

The king is a sovereign ruler.

He rules sovereignly and with full authority

over all that he has,

his whole territory.

The kingdom of heaven may be compared

to a king.

When we shift from money to morals,

from money to righteousness,

we immediately find ourselves

in this servant's position, don't we?

From our perspective,

innumerable transgressions

leading to an immeasurable debt of sin.

Each and every wrongdoing

intimately known by our Heavenly Father.

And he knows full well

that to pardon us

would not result in our ability

to repay him.

Not such a grievous moral debt.

So, just like this king,

our Heavenly Father,

filled with such immense compassion

and mercy,

in seeing our need,

cancels our debt.

He takes it on himself.

Right?

It doesn't magically disappear.

He doesn't get the debt he owes.

He absorbs the cost.

Our passage doesn't spell it out,

but we know, right?

We know how he does this.

We've been singing about it all morning.

That's why we gather every Sunday.

Jesus was wounded for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

On him was the chastisement

that brought us peace.

By his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53, 5.

I like how Mark 10, 45 puts it.

The Son of Man came not to be served,

but to serve and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

Friends,

our freedom

comes at great expense to God.

It's a debt much greater than $20.6 billion.

It's a sin debt

of infinite proportions,

and it's paid in full by Jesus.

What a compassionate king.

Can you even begin to believe

the kindness that God has shown us?

It's incredible.

Let me stop and just say now,

when you're in need of the heart,

the posture of heart

to forgive a brother or sister,

you turn to God's mercy.

Don't go anywhere else.

Turn to His mercy,

and you remember what He's done in Christ.

There's strength and power in that.

Our story's only halfway done.

We've got to keep reading here.

Jesus isn't done making His point.

Verse 28,

this servant,

still wiping tears from his eyes

and the sweat from his brow,

heads out.

Phew,

that was a close one.

He searches out a fellow servant

and joyfully releases him

from his comparatively minuscule debt

of 100 denarii.

At least that's

how we'd expect him to respond.

But no,

this four months wages

versus 193,000 years,

the servant is outraged

at his fellow servant.

He starts choking him violently

by a debt

one 600,000

the size

of the debt

he had just been forgiven.

Verse 29,

notice the

intentional

near word for word

repetition

of his fellow servant's plea.

This guy should have known

that,

man,

I just said this to the king

a short while ago,

begging for patience,

promising to repay,

and here's a fellow servant

asking the same of me.

Likely,

this servant even had a real chance

to repay the debt.

four months wages,

probably do that,

set up a savings account,

maybe work a little extra

on the weekends.

Maybe.

But no,

the freshly forgiven servant

rejects the plea

and he throws

his fellow servant

in prison

until the debt

could be paid.

Servant's not going to be

making license plates

in there

to earn money.

He can't pay the debt

from prison.

It's overly harsh

and it's

inconceivable

anger

that this servant

is showing

to a fellow servant.

No wonder

in verse 31

that his fellow servants

are so dismayed

and distraught

over this.

They're grieved

beyond belief.

Terrified

by what has transpired.

just as a little aside,

I wonder,

I've been asking myself

this week

if I'm as concerned

by witnessing

a lack of forgiveness

among God's people

as these servants are

in witnessing

unforgiveness

of a debt

among their fellow servants.

A lack of mercy

should be incredibly

disturbing to us

as people

who know

the mercy

that the king

has shown us.

So the servants

go and they report

every last little detail

to the king.

Verse 32

to 34,

the king takes action.

His guns are blazing

and he is red hot.

He doesn't sort of

ease into this conversation.

He just

straight away

wicked servant.

You evil doer.

And the next thing

out of his mouth,

it's hard to see it

in English,

but the next thing

he says,

all that debt.

He can't even

finish a sentence

to get it out.

All that debt.

Every last shekel.

Totally forgiven you

because you begged me.

Because you fell

and asked for mercy.

Verse 33,

the king asks

a really telling question.

And the should language

is probably a little soft.

It's more in lines of

wasn't it necessary?

You wicked servant,

were you not

under obligation

to pay the mercy

forward

to your fellow servant?

Of course.

Of course he was.

That's the answer.

Remember the king's mercy.

It wasn't a mere suggestion.

It was a silent

but obvious

authoritative mandate

to pay mercy forward.

Let me just

step aside.

Sin is real.

And the grievous

nature of it

can be very,

very,

very weighty.

Jesus in this parable

and in this text

is not minimizing

real wrong

that people have

committed against us.

He's not minimizing it.

He's not saying,

oh,

just forgive and forget.

Don't let them

have power over you.

You need to just forgive

and move on with your life.

That's not what he's saying.

He's saying

there's a real debt

and there's a real cost.

And yet,

he does not flinch

in reframing

the entire

realm

of wrongs

done to us

in light of God's mercy.

He refuses to say,

well,

there's some things

that maybe

you're right

to just never forgive

from a brother or sister.

He doesn't.

He says,

look at God's mercy.

You've got to pay it forward.

You have to.

It's an obligation

of the kingdom

to be merciful.

We'll see in verse 34,

the formerly

compassionate king

now responds

in anger.

The servant heads

not just to jail,

but this

jailer's word,

you may have a footnote,

saying,

torturers.

This is bad news

for the servant.

He's thrown in prison

for the sake

of being tormented

for his lack of mercy.

This has eternal

scope

and weight to it.

He's going to remain

in a torturous place

until his debt

is paid

and obviously

he cannot

have any hope

of paying the debt

until life's sentence

and notice

that the punishment

is now more severe.

At first,

he was going to be sold.

The king recouped

a little bit.

Now he's thrown

in jail.

The king's out

the whole sum of money,

but he's going to get justice.

The pardoned debtor's

failure

to be merciful

results

in a much more

severe judgment

for him.

Well,

to make sure

that Peter

and the other disciples

and we ourselves

today

understand

this parable

Jesus summarizes

with a warning

in verse 35.

So also,

in this same way,

my heavenly father

will do

to every

one of you

if you do not

forgive your brother

or sister

from your heart.

let's not tread lightly

over this

warning.

But in light of what

we've just seen

in this text,

I think we can

summarize

the whole of it

in this way.

In light

of his

mercy,

your heavenly

father

demands

that you

always

and forever

forgive

your fellow

Christians.

In light

of his

extravagant

generosity

and compassion

shown

a bunch

of rebels

like you

and me

who owe

a debt

that is

immeasurable

and unpayable

by any stretch

of our imagination,

in light

of that

mercy,

our God

demands,

he obligates

us as his

people to

always and forever

forgive one

another,

all of our

wrongdoing,

always.

Let me just

try and

make two

points of

application

to close.

Jesus

addresses our

hearts here

and we often

need great

amounts of

wisdom

to practically

obey this

command.

He places

an obligation

upon our

hearts to

always and

forever forgive

because of

God's

willingness to

forgive us.

Remember,

there's real

consequences to

sin.

Someone has

to pay the

cost of each

and every

wrongdoing.

forgiveness

may be a

hard attitude,

it may be a

matter of

the heart,

but reconciliation

and restoration

is a process,

often full of

pain,

often long,

often coming

at further

cost to us.

But a

heart of

forgiveness

longs for

that

reconciliation.

Jesus is

addressing our

hearts,

he's saying,

have this

posture as

a disciple,

as a

kingdom

citizen,

a heart

of forgiveness

that always

forgives.

Christian,

you bear the

cost owed

to you by

your brother

or sister

who wrongs

you.

You bear

it.

it takes

a lot of

wisdom.

Sometimes

sin really,

really,

really affects

us for the

rest of our

lives.

And yet

Jesus does

not compromise

this principle

of the kingdom.

You must be

merciful because

God is merciful

to you.

Second,

why,

you may be

asking,

does Jesus

zero in

here on

Christians

forgiving

other

Christians?

What about

unbelievers?

What's our

responsibility

to them?

Well,

there's other

places in

Matthew's

gospel where

we can

turn to

kind of

see a

fuller,

more robust

understanding

of forgiveness.

Jesus says,

you've heard it

said,

love your

neighbor and

hate your

enemy,

but I

tell you,

love your

enemy.

Pray for

those who

persecute

you.

But I

think he's

specifically

talking about

Christians here

for a

real reason.

And we

come to

understand that

reason by

asking what's

at stake

in what

Jesus is

calling us

to,

forgiving

one another

within the

body of

Christ forever

and always.

Well,

there's a

three-fold

reason.

Unity,

witness,

unity,

and

eternity.

What's at

stake?

Our unity

as one

body in

Jesus Christ

is at

stake.

Each one

of us as

Christians

belongs to

one another.

We're

inseparably

joined

because of

what God

has done

for us

in Christ.

We're not

just a

room full

of individuals

detached from

one another.

We're one

body.

We're in

this together.

together.

I love

how Paul

says it

in Ephesians

4-3

that we

are to

be eager

to maintain

the unity

of the

spirit

and the

bond

of peace.

Well,

eager to

maintain

implies

that we

didn't earn

it,

we're not

achieving it

or accomplishing

it on our

own.

We're

maintaining

something that

God has

already

established

in our

midst.

a unity

that is

purchased

by the

blood

of Jesus

Christ.

That unity

should be

precious to

us.

We must

always

maintain it.

And often

that means

we absorb

the cost

of a sinning

brother or

sister.

Our unity

is at stake,

but not just

our unity,

our witness.

Last week

we ended

the service

by reading

from John

13 where

Jesus says,

I'm giving

you this

new commandment

that you'd

love one

another.

And then

he says

this interesting

thing,

by this

all people

will know

that you

are my

disciples

if you

have love

for one

another.

The world

holds grudges.

The world

strangles each

other and

demands

payment.

Not so

with God's

people.

We are

a city

set on

a hill

and in

love we

forgive one

another

so that

our witness

would be

salty and

bright in

Kenosha and

among the

nations.

Our witness

is at stake.

And finally,

to end on

a sober

note,

our eternity

is at stake.

I've had

to lay

aside some

theological

frameworks

this week

and just

try to

take the

text at

face value

and not

do a bunch

of gymnastics

with it.

But we

see that

warning in

verse 35.

If you do

not forgive

from your

heart,

God will

judge you

accordingly.

Let this

warning from

the lips of

Jesus correct

your heart

today.

let it

give you

a gritty

determined

purposed

resolve to

always forgive

brothers and

sisters in

Christ no

matter what.

Now that

might look

different,

right?

It doesn't

mean that

relationship is

just perfectly

restored

immediately.

It doesn't

mean that

some sins

are to the

point where

we have to

separate ourselves

from one

another.

But we

forgive from

our hearts.

We don't

let a debt

mentality show

up in our

hearts towards

other believers.

Let this

text set you

on a path

to forgive

any brother

or sister

you've got

an issue

with.

Make no

mistake,

if somebody's

coming to

mind now,

go to them.

Resolve

this.

Let them

know that

you forgive

them.

Free them

from thinking

that you're

holding them

under some

kind of

obligation.

maybe there's

nobody in

your mind

right now.

Then let

this text

strengthen

your resolve.

Someday

there's

very high

likelihood

that you

will be

wronged

and Jesus

will call

you to

forgive

because of

God's

mercy.

And just

as we've

been singing

all morning

and we're

going to

close with

another song

about God's

mercy,

let this

passage

remind you

just how

great

debt

Jesus

Christ

paid

for

you.

He died

for your

sins

and made

full payment

on the

cross

that you

and I

might be

free of

obligation

to him

in the

sense of

paying for

sin.

Life in

the kingdom

is a really

good life

and it's

a life

that comes

at great

cost at

different

points in

our lives.

here Jesus

tells us

that life

in the

kingdom

means that

we have

an ongoing

commitment

to forgive

one another

in light

of God's

mercy.

Let's take

that to

heart today

and be

quick to

forgive.

Our unity,

our witness,

and our

eternity

are at

stake.

Let's

pray.

Heavenly

Father,

we thank

you so

much for

the mercy

that you

have shown

to us.

paying off

our

immeasurable

debt of

sin

and forgiving

us all

of our

trespasses.

God,

help us

to be

merciful in

light of

this.

Give us

grace to

forgive even

the hardest

of situations

that we may

face when a

brother or

sister does

us wrong.

Help us,

God.

We need

help here.

This is

hard,

but you're

good.

we want

to follow

you.

Help us,

we pray in

Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Thank you.