(Text and Audio)
Title: The Unforgiving Servant, Part Two
Let’s begin today by looking at some thoughts:
- A man should never have to say what he is.
- The most effective sermon you can preach is the one you live.
- Talk is cheap.
- Others that fit the theme?
What is the common truth in these sayings, and the many others we have heard just like them over the course of our days?
Last week we began our journey through this parable that Jesus offers and we came to some interesting conclusions. We noted that if we really study the details of the first half of this parable, we see that the Gospel message itself is clearly embedded within the teaching of the ruler and the servant.
At the conclusion of last week’s look at the first half of the sermon, we saw the ruler’s compassion on his servant, that he completely forgives the man his debt, a debt that this man could not realistically repay in a lifetime.
And, if you recall, I noted that the proof of this man’s reception of such grace would be shown in how he acted going forward. In essence, the “fruit” of his conversion would show whether the conversion was genuine or not.
Well today we will examine this fruit, and see the full reason for Jesus offering this parable to explain what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
Read/Pray
“…who owed him a hundred denarii…”
If you recall, the man himself owed his master 10,000 talents, which is equivalent to 6,000 denarii.
So the man that this servant is about to abuse did have a debt, but that debt was exactly 1.6% of the debt that his master had just forgiven him.
POINT: When you are struggling to forgive someone else, ask yourself this question: How does this person’s sin against me compare to my sin against God?
Consider:
- God is perfect, we are not.
- God created us, we did not create the person who sinned against us.
- We live in a state of constant sin and rebellion against God before we are saved; most sins committed against us are individual events.
- The consequences of our sins against each other are temporary; the consequence of any sin against God is eternal. Either paid by us in eternity, or paid by the eternal sacrifice of Christ.
“Have patience with me, and I will pay you all”
The exact same plea that this man earlier made to his master (over a MUCH larger debt) is the same cry of mercy this man receives from his debtor.
POINT: How often are we so egotistically myopic about our own situation? We think we are the only ones who have ever suffered such injustice. We think our situation is someone unique to mankind. (Story of watching “End of Watch” when they found the children in closet and how full of RAGE I became…I was reminded that there are greater injustices everywhere than what I face.)
“…and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.”
This sounds a bit strange, but it was a rather common practice. The idea behind this type of punishment was that it would force the friends and family of the man to work off his debt in order to get the loved one back. In essence, this was a form of legal ransom.
Compare this to what this man’s master did to him earlier in verse 27, he “released him and forgave him the debt.”
POINT: LEGALLY, this man had every RIGHT to imprison the debtor. MORALLY, he had NO RIGHT. We are called to a higher standard to the laws of the land. We are called to obey and emulate the LAW of our MAKER.
“So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were grieved.”
Much like the example that I shared earlier of the eyes of that child, this arose in these other servants a righteous anger to speak out against hypocrisy, selfishness, and what was clearly evil. This brings to mind a quote that, for years, I wrongly attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but after doing a bit of research I discovered that it was actually said by the poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Nevertheless, the quote hits the nail on the head. In fact, it is the point to this section of the parable:
POINT: “To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.”
“Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?”
And there it is. The ultimate question of accountability. By what right? By what authority? By what power are YOU allowed to deny the forgiveness that literally just saved your very own life?
The answer, of course, is none.
POINT: We have no right to with hold mercy from others.
Close:
And we see the end of the story clearly. The man is delivered to the tortures until he should repay his debt. And we all know there is no way this man could ever repay what he owed, particularly without the ability to continue to work and make wages.
And the point of the parable is illustrated in Jesus’s foreboding words: “So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
As we close down this morning I want us to consider those three words, “from his heart.”
We can pay “lip service” in forgiving someone. We have the ability to offer apologies that are as empty as some of the compliments we give each other on a daily basis…but this won’t do. This does not qualify as REAL.
The O.T. prophets, particularly the pre-exilic minor prophets like Nahum and Obadiah spend a good deal of time warning Israel against empty formalism in their relationship.
In the N.T. when Jesus spars with the religious leaders of the day a common critique is that they are just going through the motions and good sees through their “whitewashed walls.”
If the the grace that we’ve received is to be real, the proof of that pudding must reside in the fact that the grace we offer others is just as real.