Prayer |
Introduction - Scale
Let’s get the values in this parable into units we can understand.
A talent, called a bag of gold here, was a measure of weight.
Estimates vary, as did the weight over time, but in Jesus’ time the
weight was roughly equivalent to 41 Kilograms.
At today’s gold prices, more than £100,000/kg, one talent is worth
over £4 million. So 10,000 talents is over £40
billion (US). No one, not even Elon Musk could pay
that easily.
The point that Jesus is making is that the debt is not repayable.
The smaller debt, a hundred silver coins, is estimated would be a
hundred days wages. That is repayable, it may take some time, but it
is possible.
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Peter’s Question
The parable though is not about debt,
it is about forgiveness. The point is that as we are forgiven more
than we could ever have to forgive, so we should forgive others.
Jesus is responding to Peters question asking how many times he
should forgive. It follows directly on from Jesus' instructions for
dispute resolution that we heard Catherine talk to us about last
week.
Peter comes to Jesus and asks “Lord,
how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?”
And then adds “Up to seven times?”.
Peter is Learning
It was the common teaching of the
rabbis that you should forgive three times. Peter, knowing that
Jesus extends things and expects more of His disciples than the
religious leaders expect of the people, has already extended the
limit to the number of times he should forgive. Seven is not enough
though. Jesus says try 70 times 7. So start counting. See how far
you get. You may get to 7, 10, 12, but soon you will lose count, and
by then the habit will be established.
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Message of the Parable
As I have already said, the message
of the parable is very simple: Forgive, because you have been
forgiven something much greater. Fail to forgive and be set up for
judgement.
There
was a man who really loved dogs. He devoted his life to them, he read
about them, studied them, and even gave talks about them to other dog
lovers. One day he decided to lay a new path in front of his house.
His neighbour watched from his window as he smoothed out the last
square foot of cement.
Just then, a large dog appeared and
walked through the fresh cement, leaving paw prints behind. The man
muttered something under his breath and smoothed out the damage.
He
then went inside to get some rope so he could put up a fence around
the path. But, when he got back outside, he discovered some more dog
tracks in his fresh cement. He smoothed out the cement and put up the
fence.
He then went into the house. Five minutes later he looked
outside and saw some more paw prints. He was really mad now. He got
out his trowel and smoothed the cement one more time. As he got back
to his porch, the dog reappeared and sat right in the middle of the
path.
He went inside, grabbed his gun and shot the dog dead. The
neighbour rushed over and said, “Why did you do that? I thought you
loved dogs.” The man thought for a minute and said, “I do, I do
like dogs. But that’s in the abstract. I hate dogs in the
concrete.”
Forgiveness is a great idea in the
abstract, but this morning we are looking at it in the
concrete.
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It is clear that Jesus says we should
forgive and continue to forgive. It's easy to say that you've
forgiven someone, but true forgiveness is difficult and costly.
If you have truly forgiven someone –
let’s say it is a close friend, or family member – then the
relationship may be restored, but it will rarely be exactly the way it
was before the hurt occurred. But remember: “Forgiveness is given;
reconciliation is negotiated.”
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True Forgiveness
There is a test we can use to see if
we have really forgiven someone. If you find out that the person who
wronged you is in need, will you proactively go out to help them? If
this person requires a plate of food, will you give it to them?
Proverbs 25:21 says: "If
your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give
him water to drink."
Take a minute to think about a time
when you have been hurt by someone you love – really hurt.
[Pause]
How is that relationship now – does
it work the same way it did before? If not, if you found out they
were in need would you go out of your way to help?
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We are forgiven by our Father God.
Isaiah
43:25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my
own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Micah 7:19 You will again
have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all
our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
And
1
John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
When we first decided to follow Jesus
we were probably asked to say a prayer confessing our sins something
like this:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that
I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for
my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You
to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my
Lord and Saviour. In Your Name.
Amen.
If it is said sincerely, then our
offences before God are forgiven, and we can become part of the family
of God. It doesn't stop us sinning – which is offending God – so
we continually have to return to that prayer, or something similar –
and confess our sins. That is the reason that we say the confession
near the start of each service.
God's forgiveness is greater than
ours – He can choose not to recall our sins, that is something that
we cannot do when we are sinned against.
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Cost of Forgiveness
God's forgiveness is costly, it cost
Jesus his life, as it says in
1
Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for
the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body
but made alive in the Spirit.
Our forgiveness also has a cost.
Aside from the efforts of reconciliation that we must make to put
things right – the things we heard about last week – there is
also the hurt that must be put to one side.
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Dangers of Unforgiveness
Whatever has happened cannot be
changed. If we are to forgive and move on we must avoid the three
'R's
Revenge “I’m going
to get even!”
Revenge says “I'm going to get
even”. Far from making things better this is an escalation.
Getting even rarely ends in even, in fact it rarely ends. Your
attempts to repay in kind for your hurt will always cause greater
hurt than you received. The likely outcome is that further revenge
will be visited on you, and so the cycle of escalation will continue.
This is where blood feuds come from, as the hurt is passed from
parent to child and so on down the years. Resentment “I’m
going to stay angry!”
Resentment says “I'm going to stay
angry”. Prolonged anger is bad for you physically, mentally and
spiritually. The only person who suffers with this approach is you.
Your anger becomes the focus of your life, to the exclusion of all
else. Everyone else in the world has moved on, soon no-one will
understand why you are angry – even if you spend a lot of time
telling them. You will end up as bitter and resentful – and
nothing will have changed. Remembering “I’ll
never forget!”
Remembering says “I'll never
forget”. It is not the occasional memory that pops up, it is a
process of keeping the memory of the hurt fresh.
Hillary Clinton said “In the Bible
it says they asked Jesus how many times you should forgive, and he
said 70 times 7. Well, I want you all to know that I'm keeping a
chart.”
I have no idea of the context,
whether it was about Bill, or whether it was meant as a joke – I
hope it was.
For a while forgetting is hard, and
refreshing the memory is easy, but it should soon become less so –
otherwise you will end up living in the past and today will become
irrelevant.
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Benefits for Forgiveness
Avoiding the three R's means that
the hurt we have suffered is not amplified and reinforced by our own
attitudes. Falling for the three R's – Revenge, Resentment,
Remembering leads us away from peace and damages our life.
Lewis Smedes said “When
I genuinely forgive, I set a prisoner free and then discover that the
prisoner I set free was me.”
When
I fail to forgive it is me that suffers, it follows that when I
genuinely forgive, it is me that benefits.
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There is nothing that should not be forgiven
C.S. Lewis has said, “To be a
Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven
the inexcusable in you.”
Not only are there no limits to the
number of times we are forgiven, there are no limits to the things we
should forgive.
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Jesus’ Warning
Jesus has given the disciples this
message before, back in Matthew 6:15, after teaching them how to pray
He says:
“For if you forgive men
when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not
forgive your sins.”
Many times when I speak to you, it is
difficult to understand exactly what the scripture is trying to say,
this morning it is crystal clear. If we call ourselves Christian
there is no excuse not to forgive, and that is the only way we will
continue to be forgiven by our Father. Paul has the same message for
the Colossians.
3:13 “Bear with each other
and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against
someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
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Final ChallengeWho do you need to forgive?
What hurt are you still carrying?
What would freedom look like?
Forgive because you have been
forgiven.
Amen.
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