July 22, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

We Forgive Those Who Sin Against Us – Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

How is your relationship with God? God wants us to have a good relationship with him.

GOD WANTS US TO BE FORGIVEN

I told the children a familiar story that has been circulating ….
Johnny and Sally went to visit their grandparents on the farm. Johnny’s grandpa gave him a slingshot to play with. He went out into the fields and the woods, but he could never hit his target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for lunch.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and scared!

In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she didn’t say anything.

After lunch Grandma asked Sally to help wash the dishes. But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny wants to help wash the dishes.” Johnny looked a bit puzzled and Sally whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So Johnny helped Grandma wash the dishes.

Later that day Grandma asked Sally to help with the baking. Sally told her, “Johnny really wants to help you.” Again, Johnny was a little confused so Sally whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So Johnny helped in the kitchen.

Every time there was something to be done, Sally volunteered Johnny and reminded him, “Remember the duck!” After several days of doing both his chores and Sally’s, Johnny finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He went to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Darling, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

How do we deal with the bad things we have done? God knows everything we have done. Proverbs 15:3 tells us, “The eyes of Lord are everywhere.” The Bible also lets us know that, through Jesus on the cross, God has already forgiven us. We need to confess. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he … will forgive us.”

We are forgiven by God through Jesus – that’s good news! God has forgiven us. We can have a good relationship with God when we confess our sins. That way, nobody can bother us, “Remember the duck.”

GOD WANTS US TO FORGIVE OTHERS
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

In today’s Scripture passage Peter asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Peter was being generous. Rabbinic tradition at the time taught that we need to “forgive for three times, on the fourth there is no forgiveness.”

Jesus told Peter he needs to be even more forgiving – 77 times or 490 times (depending on the translation). Basically what Jesus was saying, was that we should always forgive.

THERE SEEMS TO BE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEING FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING OTHERS
The verses that follow the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:14-15) highlight that fact. “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.”

That’s a pretty heavy condition to lay on us if we want to be forgiven.

Peter asks, “How much is enough?” Jesus asks Peter to put it into perspective, and he tells them a story (parable).

God’s Kingdom is like this ….
A King (God) wants to settle accounts with his servants. The servants represent the disciples or followers of God – us, the citizens of God’s Kingdom.

The story talks about one particular case. A man had a debt of 10,000 talents.

A talent was a monetary unit equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius is the daily wage of a hired worker (picking grapes, for instance). If you do the math, the man owed the King a little more than 190,000 years of work – probably more than he could ever pay.

The king’s request was not reasonable – he asked the man to pay it back
The man’s offer was not reasonable – he asked for patience and promised to pay him back.
The king did the unexpected – he forgave the man’s debt.

GOD FORGIVES A DEBT WE COULD NEVER REPAY

How does the man feel? How do we feel?
God didn’t have to do it, but he forgave us our sins through Jesus’ death on the cross – Grace. Grace is an undeserved gift.

I don’t understand the response of the forgiven man.

He went out and found a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii (about 3 months wages), he grabbed him and began to choke him, demanding to be repaid.

What an ingrate!

The other man responded to the forgiven man exactly as the forgiven man responded to the King – “please be patient, and I’ll pay you back.”

But he put him in prison until he paid him back.

GOD SEES EVERYTHING
The king found out – God will always find out.

It wasn’t a happy ending, but it didn’t have to be that way.

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE TO GOD’S FORGIVENESS?

You’ve heard the old story …
The Trustees were painting the church building. They didn’t have enough paint and there weren’t funds available to purchase more paint, so they added some water to the paint. Halfway through, they realized they still weren’t going to have enough paint, so they added some more water. Finally they finished the job – a pretty thin coat. Our Trustees wouldn’t do such a poor job.
When they were finished, a big storm came through – thunder, lightning, wind, a gully washer! All the paint washed off the building and a booming voice was heard from the sky, “Repaint and thin no more!”

Jesus often asked people to repent and to stop their sinning. Sin is going against the values and principles that God (our King) has established. Apparently it would be a sin not to forgive someone who as done something bad to you.

If we don’t forgive, God won’t forgive us. Our response to God’s forgiveness is to be forgiving of others. Not just once, twice, seven times or 490 times, but always.

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples. Some of what he said is recorded in John 20:21-23. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

God gave us the job to forgive sins – We go to others as God sent Jesus – to forgive their sins.

God gave us the power to forgive sins – God’s spirit is in us. Only God can forgive or not forgive.

God gave us the responsibility to forgive sins – There isn’t anyone God won’t forgive – there shouldn’t be anyone we won’t forgive, even though we have the power not to.

We need to forgive others. It’s the way God would have it.

How is your relationship with God? Have you forgiven anyone today? Your relationship with God depends on it.

May God's forgiveness be seen in your lives this week and always.