Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35
In this sermon I want to make three points. Point Number One I’m calling, “Oh to grace how great a debtor.” Point Number Two, the “big but,” as in B-U-T. And Point Number Three: “The heart of the problem”…
But first Point Number One, “Oh to grace how great a debtor”…
Years ago, at a church I was pastoring, we had an I.T. contractor who would come in occasionally and fix problems with our computers and our church wi-fi network. He wasn’t a member of my particular church, but he was a Christian, and he urgently wanted to speak to me… because I was a pastor. So we talked.
Years earlier, he had kicked an addictive and sinful habit. Cold turkey. He kicked the habit, and he had been “clean” for years. But recently, he had “fallen off the wagon.” He was racked with guilt. He had confessed his sin and prayed for forgiveness, but he wasn’t at all confident that God could forgive him… Not anymore, at least… Not this time.
After all, he asked, “How many times can God forgive me when I keep doing the same old thing?”
I said, “Do you think God forgave you of that sin—I don’t know—1,236 times, but now that you’ve reached 1,237 times…? No way! That’s one too many times, my friend! No more forgiveness for you!”
Of course God doesn’t work like that! In fact, I pointed this man to Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:22, which is the preamble to the parable that Jesus tells in today’s scripture… Peter asked how many times he must forgive his brother. “Should I forgive seven times?” Now it’s possible that Peter was remembering something that Jesus himself taught elsewhere… in Luke 17:4: “Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” 1 Seven times a day can quickly become many more than a mere seven times—in less than three months you’ve reached the seventy-seven times. But Peter may have misremembered what Jesus said. Or maybe he knew about a debate among rabbis about this question—he knew that many teachers said that you only needed to forgive someone three times. So by doubling it and adding one to it, Peter likely thought he was being magnanimous!
Regardless, Jesus cleared it up for him: “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.”
Or maybe even “seventy time seven times.” Could be either. But it doesn’t matter, because Jesus’ point either way is, “There should be no limit to the number of times that you forgive others.” Why?
“Because there’s no limit to the number of times that God forgives you!”
No limit!
After all, God’s Word tells us, in the famous “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13, that love “keeps no record of wrongs.” 2 But this I.T. contractor believed that even after he became an adopted child of God—after all his sins were wiped clean—God actually did keep a record of wrongs! And when this man reached that “magic number” of sins—maybe it’s 1,237 sins—bam… That’s it! God was finished with him!
I hope you can see how ridiculous this is… God is not somehow less forgiving than his Son Jesus asks us to be!
No… there is simply no limit to the number of times God will forgive us… as we continue to confess and repent of our sins.
And that’s good news because, as we see in the “first act” of today’s parable, in verses 23 to 27, God needs to forgive an unbelievably huge amount of debt—on account of our sins—in order to have a saving relationship with us…
That’s right… I said “us.”
Even perfectly “respectable” sinners like you and me!
Because please notice that Jesus is directing this parable first of all to Peter—to someone who’s already one of Jesus’ disciples—his closest disciple—and of course to the other disciples… and to the rest of us future disciples as well.
And the first and most important thing I need to say is this: we are all like the first servant in the parable.
We all owe a huge debt to God our king that we cannot begin to repay!
After all, how big is this first servant’s debt? Ten thousand talents. A talent equals about 20 years’ wages for an average laborer. So today, let’s say that a typical laborer makes $30,000 a year. So 20 times 30,000 times 10,000… That would amount to $6 billion. And that may be underestimating. It’s hard to calculate, but it’s at least billions. Of course the exchange rate isn’t all that important, because the point is the same…
As one scholar said, the amount may as well have been “zillions.” 3 That’s what Jesus’ disciples would have thought when they heard “ten thousand talents.” In fact, one commentator points out that the ten thousand talents was more money than was currently in circulation in Galilee and the surrounding region where Jesus taught this parable! 4 So, even if this servant were as popular and beloved as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, there’s no way all his fellow townspeople could come together and donate to a fund to repay the king and “rescue” this man from a life of slavery… Not even close! If every person in the local population were able to give literally everything they possessed to pay the man’s debt, there still wouldn’t be enough money!
All that to say, the debt that each one of us would owe to God on account of our sins—at least apart from the atoning death of his Son Jesus on the cross and our corresponding faith in Christ—is unpayable.
A few years ago, some internet atheist was trying to troll us Christians—to make fun of us for actually believing that Christianity is true. This atheist posted the following meme on social media. It included a photo of David Berkowitz, that infamous serial killer from the ’70s known as the “Son of Sam.” The meme includes a present-day photo of Berkowitz in prison, smiling and holding a Bible. The caption on the photo reads, “My name is David Berkowitz. I was the most feared man in New York City in the ’70s. Known as ‘The Son of Sam,’ I was the serial killer that murdered six people and wounded ten others. Now in prison for life, I found the love of Jesus.
Then in large print, with heavy sarcasm, it reads,“Guess Who’s Getting Into Heaven?”
And you know what I say to that? I say, “I hope so! Praise God, I hope so!”
This atheist obviously was offended—that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the nerve to say that even a former serial killer like Berkowitz—who is about the worst sinner that anyone could name—that even someone like him could become part of God’s kingdom, that even someone like him could have all his awful, evil, ugly sins forgiven, and be born again, that even someone like him could be given eternal life—all on the condition that he sincerely repent and believe in the gospel!
Provided he has done that, then I say Amen! I say, “If Jesus can save David Berkowitz, then there’s hope for me! And there’s hope for you!”
If even even someone like him isn’t excluded because of his sins, then I won’t be excluded because of mine. And you won’t be excluded because of yours!
But as I say this, maybe you’re thinking, “Okay, Pastor Brent. I get that someone like Berkowitz could be compared to this first servant… Sure, he owes the equivalent of ten thousand talents. But I’m not that bad.
Well, I certainly hope you’re not that bad. But listen to the way one contemporary English pastor named Christopher Ash describes the enormity of our debt to God:
The God who made this world has given you—and when I say ‘you’ I’m preaching to myself as well—he’s given you everything. That you were conceived in the first place was his gift. That you were born was his gift. Every breath you breathe is his gift. Every beat of your heart is his gift. Every food you eat, every water you drink is his gift. The clothes you wear is his gift. The talents you have are his gift. The roof over your head is his gift. Every human being who’s ever loved or cared for you is his gift. Every moment of pleasure or comfort or joy is his gift.
But in your nature you throw these gifts in his face.
Let me ask you, do you, by nature, respond instinctively with hour by hour of thanks and praise for his goodness? Is your natural response to sing ceaselessly of the wonders of his love, to seek his face, to yearn to walk in his ways, to want nothing more than to keep faithfully in his paths, to love him with heart, mind, soul, and strength. Is it? Do you?
And is your instinct, your nature, to take the good things he gives you—your money, your time, your love, your energy—and to use them ceaselessly for the benefit of your fellow human beings—so that you won’t accumulate luxuries and treasures for yourself but share freely?
Do you love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself?
“Well,” says somebody, “you are putting the bar too high. I mean, I live a respectable life by and large. I’m not perfect, I know, but then neither is anyone else.”
No, the point is… it is an outrage… It is an outrage that I, who owe my everything to the goodness of God, do not in every moment of my existence and with every ounce of my strength, love him and for his sake, love my neighbor as myself. It is an outrage!
And God has forgiven me that outrage in Christ. 5
That’s good news! That’s “amazing grace”! When we sing “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and those words, “Oh to grace how great a debtor,” we are not exaggerating!
But… There is an important reason that this king’s display of amazing grace toward this first servant isn’t celebrated alongside Jesus’ other parables of amazing grace like the “Lost Sheep” or “The Prodigal Son.” And this is Point Number Two: There is a big but, by which I mean B-U-T, in today’s scripture that we cannot ignore!
I just got through preaching that there’s no limit to God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness! But…
But now, by Act Three of the parable, in verses 31 to 34—when the king revokes the man’s forgiveness—it seems like maybe there is one limit to God’s forgiveness, grace, and mercy. And that limit is this: God will continue to forgive our sins only so long as we forgive other people their sins.
It doesn’t help when Jesus proceeds to apply the parable to his disciples in verse 35: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother [or sister] from your heart.”
Let me give you an idea just how potentially troubling this parable is: Does Paul say in Romans 10:9, “Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead—and you forgive everyone who’s wronged you—you will be saved”? Or how about Ephesians 2:8-9? “For by grace you have been saved through faith—for the most part. And with one exception this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”… that exception, of course, being your ability to forgive people who’ve mistreated you and done you wrong.
Or think about another great picture of God’s amazing grace: when Jesus turns to that criminal on the cross—a man who is probably no less than a murderer and a terrorist in addition to being a thief… But Jesus turns to him and says, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise… provided that you’re able to forgive from your heart people who have done you wrong.”
I mean, are we saved by grace or not?
To make matters even worse, we all know from experience that it’s sometimes hard to forgive enemies who harm us… even under normal circumstances… in everyday sorts of ways… But we can all imagine—because we read or hear about such things in the news every day… but we can all imagine perpetrators of evil who cause great physical, mental, and emotional harm to their victims… Is Jesus now saying that that these same evil perpetrators who already inflict intense physical harm may now be able to inflict eternal harm?… Because, after all… if the victims of these crimes are unable to turn around and forgive their victimizers, then… well… does Jesus’ warning of verse 35 apply?
And this isn’t the only place where Jesus says something like this: Remember the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6? “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Then immediately after giving his disciples this prayer, Jesus says, in Matthew 6:14 and 15, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
That’s a big B-U-T to the earlier picture of amazing grace… Are we in trouble? Sometimes I think preachers, myself included, want to go out of their way to tell us why Jesus’ straightforward words, and other words of scripture, don’t really apply to us. Ultimately, we broke away from teh United Methodist Church because an entire denomination seemed hellbent on doing that!
I’m trying my best not to do that here… Jesus wants us to feel the tension… He wants his disciples to feel uncomfortable.
And that’s Point Number Two… the big “B-U-T.”
Point Number Three: The heart of the problem…
We get a hint at the solution to the problem raised in Point Number Two from the last three words of verse 35. Here’s the verse: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother”—and here they are—“from your heart.”
Speaking of the heart, this past week’s scripture readings included the very familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan. Most of us know the story: A guy has been violently attacked and left for dead on a highway from Jerusalem down to Jericho. He’s not dead yet, but close to it. Meanwhile, the first century equivalent of a pastor and then a music director—you better listen up, Ken… a pastor and a music director… who just came from a church service by the way… they refuse to stop and help the man.
Leave it to a hated enemy of the injured victim to stop and help—and boy does he ever help! In a very costly way.
And we say, “What’s the difference between the first two people who passed him by and the Samaritan who stopped to help?” The answer seems so easy: The difference is, the Samaritan stopped to help… he did all these costly acts of love… for this man who was otherwise a hated enemy”…
But that’s not quite right… That’s not quite the difference… Because at the very center of the parable we’re told, in Luke 10:33, “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where [this injured victim] was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.”
Before he did anything else—before he stopped, at great risk to his own health and safety, and nursed the man’s wounds, before he gently set him on his donkey, before he fed him and gave him water, before he put him up at a hotel and promised to pay all the man’s bills… before he took any action whatsoever, Jesus says… what did this Samaritan do? Nothing other than this: He “had compassion.”
And compassion isn’t something you can fake… It’s not something you can merely decide to have… Either you have it or you don’t. Either you’re moved by it or you’re not.
Compassion is nothing other than a heart condition… over which we have little control. The heart of the problem, in other words, is the heart…
Forgiveness, Jesus says, is like that, too! It’s something that comes from your heart. The kind of forgiveness Jesus wants from us at least includes but is not limited to one’s emotions and will. Forgiveness is something that we want to do… because it comes from the heart. One New Testament scholar, Frederick Bruner, warned that if you’re tempted to say, “I forgive you… but I won’t forget,” then chances are, you’re not really forgiving someone “from the heart.” Or “I’ll forgive you this time.”
I’ve noticed that this is a recurring theme on TV shows and movies: “He doesn’t deserve your forgiveness.” How often do we hear that? How often do we say that? “This person who has wronged me is not ‘sorry’ enough.” As if we have to earn forgiveness through proper contrition!
And by the way, the second servant, who gets throttled by the first servant and thrown in jail, isn’t exactly some innocent victim! He owes the man at least hundreds or thousands of dollars… and for all we know, he has no intention of paying it back… at least until the first servant “gets his attention.” Jesus doesn’t indicate that the second servant “deserves” forgiveness!
And in the news… Every time some terrible thing happens to the Amish community in Pennsylvania—inevitably some reporter goes and interviews this eccentric Christian community, and community leaders say, “We forgive the perpetrator”… There is often astonishment and even outrage: “He doesn’t deserve forgiveness!”
Since when does “deserving” have anything to do with our Lord’s repeated command to forgive?
Maybe you hear me say these words, throw up your hands, and say, “This is impossible! I can’t forgive like that!”
If you do that, then there’s hope! You are on the right track!
Because it is impossible. What Jesus is asking of us—to forgive everyone “from the heart”—is impossible…
Just as it was impossible for that “rich young ruler” to give up all of his possessions and enter the kingdom of heaven—Remember it was in that context that Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle! That’s impossible…
Just as it was impossible for a virgin to conceive and give birth to the Messiah! That’s impossible…
Just as it was impossible for Peter to escape from the clutches of two armed guards the day before he was scheduled to be executed! That’s impossible…
Just as it was impossible for a violent, stubborn, hard-headed man like Saul of Tarsus—hellbent on destroying the people who were following this “crucified phony Messiah” known as Jesus of Nazareth—to repent and believe in Jesus and become the greatest evangelist and missionary the world has ever seen… That’s impossible.
Just as it was impossible for even serial killers to have any hope of redemption! That’s impossible…
And go back to Point Number One, please… Forget about serial killers! What about me? Who am I that Jesus could rescue me? That he could forgive me?
Can’t be done! It can’t happen! Never ever ever! That’s impossible!
Except for one thing… Or perhaps I should say, “except for two small words.”
“But God…” [point to banner in Cheek Hall]
“But God.”
Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 6
If we are Christians at all, that means we have been born again, that means that the Holy Spirit is working within us in a supernatural way to change us. Change doesn’t happen all at once, unfortunately for us, but it does happen… That’s called “sanctification,” and this too is made possible by God’s grace… It happens as we continue to trust in Jesus and “lean not on our own understanding.” It happens as we continue to surrender more and more of our lives to him and his will, by his grace… It happens as we continue to find in Christ our greatest treasure.
Jesus told a self-righteous Pharisee named Simon, in Luke 7:47, “Whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” I think Simon was a lot like the first servant in today’s parable. Because like that servant, what Simon failed to appreciate was just how much he needed God’s forgiveness. He underestimates his need for grace!
That’s exactly what this first servant does! See verse 26: “Have patience with me,” he said, “and I will pay you everything.”
No he won’t!
But maybe the man is sincere! Maybe he really does badly underestimate just how big his debt is before God, and he thinks he can repay. And maybe that’s his problem.
Whoever’s been forgiven little loves little. Therefore… whoever’s been forgiven much, does what? Jesus doesn’t say this directly, but the implication is clear: “Whoever has been forgiven much loves much.
I’ve heard it said that the reason we have to forgive if we’ve been forgiven is that God’s grace is like one of those double-hinged doors—like you see in restaurant kitchens or those saloon doors in the old westerns. The door swings in both directions if it swings at all. If it’s functioning properly it swings like that: It can’t “let in” without also, at the same time, “letting out.” So the same “door” by which we receive grace is the door by which we offer it to others.
As we understand who we are—recipients of the extravagant grace of God—we will naturally—or I should say super-naturally—give that grace, that forgiveness, to others. Not perfectly. Not all at once.
Gosh, I’m thinking also of James and John in Luke 9:54. A Samaritan village mistreats them. And to say the least, James and John are unwilling to forgive them. We know this because they say to Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy these people?” Jesus doesn’t say, “You’re out! You are no longer my disciples! You are no longer part of God’s family! You’re no longer saved!” No… He simply rebukes them, and they move on…
We are works in progress. Jesus knows that about us! Our inability to forgive is a serious sin, but as we become aware of it, we confess and repent, like any sin. And we pray that God would give us the power to change.
Brothers and sisters at Toccoa First, have you been forgiven much? Let that truth, by God’s grace, penetrate your heart… take root… and bear the fruit of a gracious, merciful, forgiving spirit!
Amen.