1. Matthew
18:21; Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone[a] who sins against me? Seven times?”
The teaching in Judaism was that you were to forgive a
person 3 times to show a forgiving spirit.
Peter offered to more than double that number to show his desire to be
forgiving. Also 7 is considered the
perfect number, which is why he picked it.
2. Matthew 18:22; “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
Jesus' answer that we should forgive 70 times 7 didn’t
mean to forgive 490 times. It meant that
we should not keep a record of forgiving.
3. Matthew 18:23-24; “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
Denarii was one day’s wage. So 100 denarii would be more than 100 days
wages. It might as well as having owed a
million dollars.
4. Matthew 18:25; He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
In Biblical times if a person couldn’t pay there debts
they could be forced to work for the
person they owed money to until it was paid off. They could also have the person thrown into
jail unit the debts were paid. A person
could die in prison if the debts were never paid. It was also possible that the person and
there family could be sold into slavery.
5. Matthew 18:26-27; “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
This is an example of our sin and the debt we own because
of our sin. It is only because of God’s
mercy that our debts are forgiven. 6. Matthew 18:28-30; “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
So here we see the servant now become the master. He can now show the same mercy that was shown
to him, but he refused. As Christians I
think we can be very bad about doing the same thing. We sing about “Just As I Am,” but we mean
“Just as long as you are good enough.”
Many Christians waste time and energy pointing at other Christians
saying they are not good enough instead of looking at themselves. And Christians are sometimes the last to
forgive.
7. Matthew 18:31; “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.
Someone is always watching. People are always watching us (Christians) to
see how we treat others. How we forgive
or not forgive will have an impact on how people see and understand Jesus.
8. Matthew 18:32-35; 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
We have been forgiven all our sins by God, so we in turn
should forgive others who sin against us.
If we refuse to forgive others, then who will forgive us.
9. Questions
Should we forgive everything?
Should the victim of a crime (like child molestation,
rape, or murder) forgive the criminal?
Does giving forgiveness mean there should be no
punishment?
When should we forgive?
2 Chronicles 7:14 gives
an outline for the conditions of forgiveness.
In the parable and here
in this passage a major theme is seen.
The person who wants forgiveness has to be humble, ask forgiveness, and
turn for their wrongdoings.
10. #339. Forgiveness (or lessons from the
Cuban torture specialist)
I struggle with the
concept of forgiveness, but I think it belongs on this list. In part, because I
think it is something Christians are called to do and in part because one of
the goals of this site is to share dangerous ideas. And I think grace and
forgiveness are two of the most dangerous ideas on the planet. But I struggle
with the concept of forgiveness.
About 18 months ago, a
friend of mine did something pretty horrible to my family and a church. The
specifics don’t really matter, but it was basically a severe betrayal of trust
and relationship. All together, it was a pretty disgusting experience.
For a while, I would
just get drunk on rage anytime I saw his name on my instant messenger list. I
wanted to punch AOL in the face every time he logged on. As I mentioned, I am
not awesome at forgiveness.
While in Charlotte for
my grandmother’s birthday, I overheard my uncle telling my father about what it
means to forgive. A few hours later I was able to ask him a couple of other
questions on a topic I was clearly failing.
My uncle is a 6 foot 3,
carved from stone, retired Air Force Colonel. He used to fly Air Force 2, the
Vice President’s plane, and has a long, decorated career behind him. He’s one
of the most Godly men I’ve ever met and when he talks, rooms tend to go quiet.
When I told him about the money that was stolen from me, he shared a story from
his days in the Air Force.
During the Vietnam War,
his friend got captured by the enemy. (The first time I shared this story, I
thought it was North Koreans but I had the details mixed up.) While he was
sitting in his cell, other American prisoners started to tap out an urgent
message to him in Morse code. The faint sounds through the wall told him,
“Don’t hate Raul. Don’t hate Raul.” Over and over again, these words were
repeated. The message went on to say that Raul was a Cuban torture specialist
that had been brought in to work over the prisoners. (That there is an
international network of torture specialists is more than a little terrifying
by the way.)
The message they were
so frantic to give this new prisoner was that, yes, Raul was going to torture
him, but that was only physical pain. That would end eventually, but it would
be the seeds of hate for Raul that would threaten to eventually kill him. It
would be his anger and rage against Raul that would eat him like a cancer,
leaving him empty long after Raul had stopped the torture.
My uncle thinks holding
a grudge is like carrying the offender’s dead body around with you. You have to
let it go, or it just weighs on you and suffocates all the good things in your
life.
I’d like to say I had a
Eureka moment that night talking to my uncle and all my anger toward my former
business partner instantly disappeared. It didn’t, but I did write him an email
when I got home. I told him I choose to forgive you. You might never ask for
it, but I choose to offer you forgiveness.
And the truth is, my
friend is a good guy. He’s funny and a blast to be with. He made a mistake.
That is not who he is, that is something he did. What he did isn’t that
different from some of the horrible mistakes I’ve made in my own life. He needs
forgiveness just like I do. He’s a messed up human, just like me. And
regardless, I am called to love him. But by initially refusing to forgive him,
I was unable to see all of that.
Has every day been
sunny since then? No, it would be fake of me to say it has. But now, when I see
his name pop up on my instant messenger buddy list and I’m tempted to pick back
up his 6′4″ dead body, I remember, “Don’t hate Raul. Don’t hate Raul.”
References: Archaeological Study Bible form Zondervan, Life
Application Study Bible NLT from Tyndale House, Stuff Christian Like; Jonathan
Acuff, www.biblegateway.com; NLT
