The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost Rev. Darrell Debowey Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL September 14, 2014 Matthew 18:21-35: 21 Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? 22 Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished ato settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 dand since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, Pay what you owe. 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you. 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, kuntil he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Forgiveness Is THE TEXT: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen. The text for today s message is the Gospel reading from St. Matthew, the 18th chapter INTRODUCTION You hear it all the time in God s Word and in the Church forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness. A pastor lamented to me not long ago that he d lost two members to another church because they were tired of hearing, your sins are forgiven. But this is why Jesus came to earth to win forgiveness on the cross. It s why Jesus established the Church on earth to proclaim forgiveness in Christ s name. The notes in The Lutheran Study Bible rightly explain: Page 1
The blessing of forgiveness is the defining gift of the Church. No other institution can offer this heavenly blessing. We need to be reconciled to God and that comes through the forgiveness of sins. We have been forgiven much, more than we can count. And from that forgiveness flows our own forgiveness for Christians are not only receivers of forgiveness, but also givers of forgiveness. Hence, we pray in the Prayer our Lord has taught us: Forgive us our trespasses sins as we forgive those who trespass against us. Which Martin Luther explains: We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us. And we hear in our Gospel reading: Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? 22 Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Forgiving your brother or sister in Christ isn t an option the Lord commands it. However, you don t forgive others to earn God s forgiveness God forgiveness is free grace and the forgiveness of sins are free. On the one hand, your willingness to forgive reflects the mercy and compassion of God who has forgiven you so completely. But on the other hand, your unwillingness to forgive puts you in a position to receive God s wrath. So then, why is it so difficult for Christians to forgive? Why do we hold grudges rather than forgive as God has forgiven us? Why do we seek revenge and not reconciliation? Have we forgotten what forgiveness is? Let s meditate for a moment today on what forgiveness is, and why we can t live without it. Page 2
1) Forgiveness is sending sins away free of charge. The Greek word for forgiveness means to send away. When God forgives your sins, He sends them away from His mind He doesn t hold on to your sins in His heart. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, two goats were used to make atonement for the people s sins. One goat was sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat which sat over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. And this is how Moses explains what is done with the other goat: And when [Aaron] has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness (Lev. 16:20-22). Thus the sins of the people were sent away forgiven before their very eyes. That second goat came to be known as the scapegoat. Jesus is your sacrificial lamb and your scapegoat. He took the blame for all of your sins. All of your sins were placed on Jesus and they were sent to the wilderness of the grave with Him. Thus in Baptism you die to sin with Jesus, and rise again to newness of life. In Christ, God remembers your sins no more they are removed from you as far as the east is from the west. When Jesus calls on you to forgive your brother from your heart, He s asking your to forgiven as God has forgiven you to send your brother s or sister s sins away from your heart and not hold onto them. Page 3
2) That brings me to Point 2: Forgiveness is remembering what your relationship with God would be like without forgiveness. If you want to hold on to a grudge if you want to hold onto another s sins in your heart if you want to destroy a relationship with another Christian think about what it would be like if God remembered your sins in the same way. What kind of debt do you owe God for your sins compared to what your neighbor owes you? In the parable, the unmerciful servant owed his master 10,000 talents that s 200,000 years of wages that he owed an unpayable sum. Yet he was forgiven of the entire sum and released from his debt. But he immediately turns around and tries to choke three months wages out of a fellow-servant. If you noticed, it wasn t his debt that incurred the master s wrath, but his unmerciful behavior toward a fellow-servant. The real loser in the holding of grudges is the one who holds the grudge who holds onto sins in his or her heart. It s both a temporal and a spiritual poison it poisons your peace of mind, it poisons your relationship with your brother or your sister in Christ and it poisons your relationship and peace with God. 3) Forgiveness is believing that God has generously forgiven you so you can be generous in forgiveness. When Jesus said, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven, He was stating that forgiveness has no limits. God s forgiveness has no limits and to reflect God s gracious heart, so must yours. But it s incredibly difficult to forgive those who have deliberately hurt you, like Joseph in the Old Testament reading, who was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. But that power to forgive dwells in you because Jesus dwells in you. A gift of Baptism isn t only faith that receives forgiveness, but the new man that gives forgiveness. Page 4
Yet forgiveness doesn t always come easily especially when there s no apology that s when you pray for God s help to send the sin away from your heart. There wouldn t be any forgiveness easy or difficult if God had not given the world forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. Jesus, who forgave those who crucified Him, lives in your heart. Through Jesus, you have the power to forgive, you have the power to show others the mercy and compassion that God has shown you, even when the sin against you was hurtful. You have the power to send that sin away. 4) And Lastly, Forgiveness is the most Christ-like thing you can do. You want to be like Christ? Forgive your neighbor, forgive your enemy, and especially forgive your brother or sister in Christ. Release them of their small debt to you the way God has released you from your great debt to Him in that way you are like Christ, showing mercy to a fellow-sinner. If you re tempted to hold a grudge, if you re tempted to seek revenge, remember a cold shoulder isn t appropriate Christian communication, and seeking revenge is appropriate Christian love. Jesus said, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That means, if someone sins against you, give them the cold shoulder right? Ask God to rain down fire and brimstone on them right? Speak ill of them and talk about them behind their back Right? Wrong. Jesus says do to them what you want them to do to you. If your brother sins against you do unto him what you would want him to do unto you if the tables were turned go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone (Matt. 18:15). Think about this: If you don t communicate with your brother or sister in Christ, how does that person know you ve been offended by his words or behavior? If your intention is to punish someone who offends you by your silence or hostility, how can you justify that as Christ-like behavior. You can t. By nature each one of us was born merciless like the man in the parable Page 5
who tried to choke the debt out of his fellow-servant. But you no longer live by nature, you now live by grace. By grace each of us is merciful forgiving our fellow-servant as our generous and compassionate God has forgiven us. How many people here would apologize and ask for forgiveness if you told them that they had offended you? Just about all of us, I suppose, because we re all baptized into Christ Jesus, we all have the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are all in Christ and Christ is in us. We have all been given the gift and the message of forgiveness and reconciliation. CONCLUSION And there s one more thing: Forgiveness is perfect that is, God s forgiveness is perfect. Our forgiveness isn t perfect because we re not perfect. As long as we breathe, we need God s forgiveness for our shabby forgiveness and we need Christ s help to forgive our brother from the heart. None of us is perfect, just like we need Jesus help to love one another and to live as Christians in this world, we need His help to forgive as God forgives us and that s the kind of help that Jesus joyously gives! In Jesus Name. Amen. Page 6