UNSPOKEN: THE OPPOSITE OF REVENGE “To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner is you!” Matthew 18:21­35 November 18, 2012 INTRODUCTION: Most people dealing with unforgiveness base their grudge/offense on “what someone did or said to them,” or “what you did.” Forgiveness is the act of setting someone free from an obligation to you that is a result of a wrong done against you. All of us, at one time or another, have been forgiven, or granted forgiveness. (I’ve owed and I’ve been owed.) However, there is a temptation to bear injury in your life and, as a result, hold a grudge, allow bitterness to set in, and to become unforgiving. Unforgiveness is a bondage that stifles our ability to love and accept those that we know in our hearts most deserve our love. It is a bondage that chokes out the abundant life Christ promised to those who would believe. To understand what God in Christ did for us, and then to refuse to forgive those who have wronged us is to be like the wicked, ungrateful slave of this text. Forgiveness involves 3 elements: 1. Injury (what was said or done) 2. Debt (resulting from the injury) – “He’ll pay for this” 3. Cancellation of the debt ILLUSTRATE: When we refuse to forgive others, there is a sense in which we hold them hostage. When a person is taken hostage on the international scene, the abductors usually want something. It may be money, weapons, or the release of prisoners. Their message is, “If you give us what we want, we will give you back what we have taken.” There is always some type of condition; a ransom of some sort. When we refuse to forgive others for a wrong done by them, we are saying the same thing. But instead of holding people hostage until we get our demands, we withhold love, acceptance, respect, service, kindness, patience, etc. Matthew 18:21­35 describes quite a contrast of terms: Anger ­ Compassion Prison ­ Release Choking ­ Forgiveness Forgiveness reflects the highest human virtue, because it so clearly reflects the character of God. A person who forgives is a person who emulates godly character. 1 - Pastor Johnny M. Hunt | Unspoken: The Opposite of Revenge | November 18, 2012 AM
I. THE DEPTH OF FORGIVENESS. 21­22 Peter is trying to calculate things that don’t seem to add up. How many times do I need to forgive somebody before I can make them pay what they owe me? Jesus has a different idea of the value of forgiveness. Jesus is about to teach Peter that he needs more than a calculator, he needs a change of thinking in his understanding of God’s love and forgiveness. .21 Jewish tradition taught that we forgive three times. Peter doubled the number and added one for good measure. .22 Speaks of the immeasurable and unlimited terms of grace: 70 x 7 = 490 times By the time we have forgiven a brother that many times, we are in the habit of forgiving. When we think of the depth of God’s forgiveness, we can’t touch bottom. II. THE DESCRIPTION OF FORGIVENESS. 23­27 NOTE: “the kingdom of heaven” ‐ life in the kingdom; the kingdom life. “10,000 talents” – in the economy of that day, a man would have had to work 20 years to earn one talent. In terms of buying power today, probably equivalent to our 10 million dollars. The talent was the highest known denomination of currency in the ancient Roman Empire and 10,000 was the highest number for which the Greek language had for a particular word. The NIV margin said the amount was so enormous that it was on the borderline of what the ancient mind‐set could have conceived. What is Jesus’ point? The number is so vast, an uncountable amount; countless, incalculable, an un‐payable debt. The un‐payable debt represents the debt for sin that every person owes God. “I owe a debt, I cannot pay” In order to teach what forgiveness looks like in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus’ story will contrast forgiveness from the human standard of evaluation. SPECIAL NOTE: We can view our sin as a 100 denarii sin and view the one who sinned against us as 10,000 talent sin. However, to let my thoughts go there is to miss completely not only the lessons of the Matt.18 parable, but the heart of the gospel most importantly. 2 - Pastor Johnny M. Hunt | Unspoken: The Opposite of Revenge | November 18, 2012 AM
100 denarii – about 3 month’s wages; contrast, nothing compared to what you’ve been forgiven. We do not truly grasp the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ until we see that our sin against a holy God is a far greater injustice than anything that could be done to us. Matthew Henry wrote, “If that is the measure of the forgiveness the disciple has received, any limitation on the forgiveness he shows to his brother is unthinkable.” I must see myself in the shoes of the 10,000 talent debt. The appreciation of a massive debt forgiven (our sin against a holy God) forms the bases and starting point for our forgiveness of one another’s much smaller (100 denarii) offenses. FORGIVENESS FACT: Without understanding the depth of our sin against God and the riches of His forgiveness toward us, we will never be able to forgive others. In forgiveness, Jesus paid (absorbed) my debt that I could not pay. Colossians 2:14, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Notes from John MacArthur Study Bible on Colossians 2:14. “2:14 wiped out the handwriting.” The Gr. work translated “handwriting” referred to the handwritten certificate of debt by which a debtor acknowledged his indebtedness. All people (Rom. 3:23) owe God an unpayable debt for violating His law (Gal. 3:10; James 2:10; cf. Matt. 18:23–27), and are thus under sentence of death (Rom. 6:23). Paul graphically compares God’s forgiveness of believers’ sins to wiping ink off a parchment. Through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, God has totally erased our certificate of indebtedness and made our forgiveness complete. nailed it to the cross. This is another metaphor for forgiveness. The list of the crimes of a crucified criminal were nailed to the cross with that criminal to declare the violations he was being punished for (as in the case of Jesus, as noted in Matt. 27:37). Believers’ sins were all put to Christ’s account, nailed to His cross as He paid the penalty in their place for them all, thus satisfying the just wrath of God against crimes requiring punishment in full.” This story ends with a somber warning. Matthew 18:34­35, “And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. ‘So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.’" Our Lord promises chastening (disciplining) until we are willing to forgive others. 3 - Pastor Johnny M. Hunt | Unspoken: The Opposite of Revenge | November 18, 2012 AM
In The Valley of Vision, one prayed, “Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against.” The size (talent compared to denarii) of the sin is not ultimately determined by the sin itself, but by the One Who is sinned against. Sin is infinitely wicked because it rejects the One Who is infinitely holy and good. The more we recognize the perfection of God’s holiness, the more obvious this truth becomes. CLOSING: THE CONTRAST IN DEBT Your (our) sin compared to the sin against others, or others against you. “The 100 denarii debt could be carried in one pocket. The 10 thousand talent debt would take an army of about 8,600 soldiers to carry. Each one would need to carry a sack of 60 lbs. in weight and would form, at a distance of a yard apart, a line 5 miles long.” FORGIVENESS FACT: Nothing that we have to forgive can ever faintly or remotely compare with what we have been forgiven. THE GOSPEL ON FORGIVENESS ‐ Forgiveness must be given (granted), not earned ‐ Forgiveness is submitting in faith to truth, not to the flesh. ‐ Forgiven sinners forgive sin FORGIVENESS FACTS ‐ Forgiveness is a choice 1. Choose by an act of your will to forgive once and for all 2. Release the person from the debt (Unlock the prison doors with the key of forgiveness) 3. Thank God for deepening your understanding of the gospel. 4 - Pastor Johnny M. Hunt | Unspoken: The Opposite of Revenge | November 18, 2012 AM