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The Stories Jesus Told Part 8

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Forgiveness is one of the most powerful concepts in the Bible.

In Matthew 18, the apostle Peter asks Jesus for some guidance with regards to forgiving a brother who seems to have offended him frequently.

Within the church family, there will always be people who offend or hurt one another, hence there will be opportunities for forgiveness to be practiced.

While it is hard, forgiveness is powerful because it removes the authority of the enemy over our relationships in our church. It cuts to the very root of unforgiveness, which is pride.

Peter was looking for a statute of limitations on forgiveness, a number that he could attain and thereafter, he would no longer have to practice forgiveness. But Jesus responds with an answer that suggests we should not be counting the times we are called to forgive our brother or sister in the Church. We have no right to count the number of times we forgive.

Jesus proceeds to tell the parable of the unforgiving servant.

Insurmountable Debt

The story is about a king who discovers that one of his servants owes him a debt of ten thousand talents. In the Roman empire that was the equivalent of two hundred thousand years of wages! Jesus made the sum practically inconceivable.

When it comes to debts, we underappreciate the gift of salvation we have been given. We don’t grasp the astronomical debt we owe because of our sin in comparison to the holiness of God. When we get a glimpse of how much we have been forgiven, we can’t help but praise God and thank Him for the great gift of grace that we have received through the Gospel.

Getting back to the parable, the servant begs for mercy. The king doesn’t simply extend mercy; he wipes the slate clean, forgiving the entire debt. This level of grace is hard for us to grasp; it even offends us.

But, I am that servant, and so are you. We who have been washed by the blood of Jesus have been forgiven much.

Miniscule Debt

The parable continues in verse 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.”

The much-forgiven servant finds someone who owes him the equivalent of one hundred days’ wages. He grabs him and throws him into debtor’s prison.

The same one who had received incredible grace is the one who now shows anger without any mercy at all.

Soon the report of what the servant has done gets back to the King.  He is furious. The king goes back to the original punishment and has the unforgiving servant thrown in prison for what would seem like eternity.

Jesus delivers the punchline in verse 35, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

God despises unforgiveness. If we hold unforgiveness in our hearts, we are willfully stepping outside of the grace of God, and it is painful. When we don’t forgive someone, we are bound by our unforgiveness (see Matthew 16:19).

Unforgiving Debtor

Why do we harbor unforgiveness, holding on to the offense and putting the person into “prison” until they can pay off their debt? The primary reason is pride.At the root of our prideful unforgiveness is a failure to understand that we have been forgiven much. There is no offense that someone can commit against us that will come close to the offense of our sin against the all-holy God. It takes humility to admit this.

When Jesus taught what we know as the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, he added an addendum on this very subject (see Matthew 6:14-15). Jesus expanded on the sentence, “…as we forgive our debtors”. The Lord’s prayer is so familiar that sometimes we need to be reminded of the meaning of what we are reciting.

Jesus is not saying that to earn God’s forgiveness, we must forgive others. Rather, he is saying that if you have truly experienced the grace and forgiveness of God, you will have a readiness and willingness to forgive others. Our relationship and connectedness with our heavenly Father translate to our relationship with one another; this is where the power for forgiveness lies (see 1 John 4).

When we withhold forgiveness towards another brother or sister, we are hindering our relationship with God. As a result, our prayers are hindered.

 “Fellowship with my brother helps to determine my fellowship with God;

hence, forgiveness is important to prayer.” 

Warren Wiersbe

God desires that we live in a peaceful and healthy community within the church. Let us do everything we can to keep short accounts with one another. May our prayers be powerful and effective as a result.

Who do you need to forgive today?

Sermons

The Stories Jesus Told Part 7

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 “When I get to Heaven I shall see three wonders there. The first will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see, the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see, and the third and greatest wonder of all, will be to find myself there” John Newton.

The great hymn writer understood that it is all about grace, the unmerited favor of God shown to those who believe in the name of Jesus for salvation.

We love grace when applied to ourselves, but sometimes, when we see grace applied to others, it offends us. The Kingdom of heaven is counter-intuitive and even offensive to our fallen human reasoning.

Grace Extended

In this parable, Jesus talks about a master who hires laborers to work in his vineyard. During the first century Roman empire, these day laborers may have been foreigners who were offered little to no protection from the Roman labor law. They were vulnerable and often abused.

The master agreed to pay those hired at the break of dawn, a denarius for their day’s wages. This would have been an acceptable wage at the time.

The laborers go to work in the vineyard, but then the master decides to hire more laborers. He hires people at five different times during the day; 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 5pm.

When it came time to pay the laborers at the end of the day, those hired at 6am were shocked to discover that everyone received the same payment, even though they had toiled for many more hours than the others. It didn’t seem fair.

Grumbling at Grace

The hard-working laborers began grumbling (see Matthew 20:11-12).

Grumbling is a sin that is often overlooked in our churches and homes. We tend to look at grumbling as less than desirable, but not really sinful. This is because grumbling is so easy to do, it is second nature. When we are troubled by something we struggle to keep quiet about it to those around us.

But what does the Bible say about grumbling?

A classic biblical example of grumbling is found in the children of Israel in the wilderness, they grumbled a lot even after God performed so many miracles on their behalf (see Exodus 16:8). But grumbling is also addressed in the New Testament (see James 5:9, Philippians 2:14).  

Albert Mohler writes, “To grumble is to complain about the goodness of God. In this sense, grumbling is the consummate act of ingratitude.”

We like to justify our grumbling, but grumbling doesn’t fix anything, it usually leads to gossip.

Grumbling is a sign of weakness; it takes courage to sit down with someone and humbly share your offence or disagreement and constructively seek to grow in understanding and love for one another.

The laborers in the parable were grumbling because they felt that the decision of the master was unjust. But the master has every right to do what he wants with his resources (see Matthew 20:14-15).

This parable speaks to us about the sovereignty of God. His decision to show grace to whomever He chooses. We sometimes struggle with this, because we don’t have a right perspective of the holiness and the sovereignty of God. The creator has every right to bless His creation as He chooses.

God’s Grace

Just like the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, we struggle with what seems to us to be an injustice if we are honest with ourselves (see Matthew 25:28-29).

We are so closely tied to the religion of humanism that we struggle with the concept of God’s grace when it is applied to people that we have determined are beyond God’s favor.

Grace seldom seems fair, but fairness is subjective at best. Fairness works well when handing out cookies to children on a playground but doesn’t come close to understanding what is at stake with our sinful state before an all-holy God.

If God dealt with us fairly, we all deserve the punishment of hell.

But grace is God’s free gift to all who repent and put their faith in Jesus. Grace goes against the pride and arrogance of our fallen human nature.

Are you saved by grace? (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Have you encountered Jesus Christ, as your savior, repented of your sins and received his free gift of salvation? Maybe you need to respond to Jesus today for salvation.

Grace that Offends

But maybe you are offended by the grace of God? As you think about your life and the people that have hurt you or even those that you have heard of who have done terrible things to others. Who have you determined is beyond the grace of God?

The words of the master in the parable apply here, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? Matthew 20:15”

When we refuse to forgive someone for their past, that they have repented of before the Lord, we are not offended at them, we are offended at God.

If you are offended at God, you need to repent and bring that sinful attitude to the cross of Jesus today.

Do you really know the gift of grace?

Sermons

The Stories Jesus Told Part 6

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The Parable of the Talents is one in a set of parables focused on the return of Jesus. Jesus was preparing his followers for his departure and the formation of the Church.  

This parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven. What does the king expect of his people? Or more directly, what does Jesus expect from us?

The Talent

The Greek word translated as “talent” is the word “talanton”, which was an ancient weight of currency. The master entrusts each of his servants with differing weights of currency. Some scholars say that one talent was worth about twenty years of wages.

In the same way, when Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave the Holy Spirit to the church and entrusted the church with the task of preaching the Gospel to every people group on the earth. (see Acts 1:8).

In verse 15 we read that the master entrusted the talents according to the ability of the servant. The master knew the individual and their ability. If five talents were given to a person who has little ability, it would be a load too heavy to bear. It would end in discouragement and pain.

God knows how He has designed and created us; He knows our abilities. We are all assigned talents and responsibilities from the Lord. God has given each of us a ministry, and it is our privilege to serve the Lord and multiply what He has given us for the Kingdom.

The Reckoning

The master comes back and calls the three servants to give an account of his entrusted treasure. Notice that he never told the servants to go and trade or make a profit. But they knew him and what he would have desired for them to do.  All three servants responded in proportion to the relationship they had with the master.

The Faithful Servants

The first two servants were incredibly successful, doubling their Talents. The first servant didn’t seem to worry about the potential for loss. He boldly traded because he knew his master, and he knew his master was more interested in faithfulness than profit margins.

When it comes to the kingdom of heaven, our Lord desires faithfulness and obedience far above what we accomplish in human understanding (see Micah 6:8).  

Our lives should be lived with eternity in mind so that when Jesus comes again, we will be expectant and fearless because we know we have done what he asked us to do (see 1 John 4:17).

The master was pleased; he rewarded both diligent servants with an incredible promise (see Matthew 25:21). Their faithfulness gave each of them a capacity for greater service and responsibility. We simply have no idea how incredible heaven will be and how great are the rewards that God has in store for his faithful children (see 1 Corinthians 2:9).  

Are you living for eternity? Are you being faithful with the talents that the Lord has entrusted to you?

The Unfaithful Servant

When the third servant comes to the master, his response is very different (see Matthew 25:24-25).

This servant didn’t seem to do anything wrong, but the problem was that he didn’t do anything at all. He hid his talent under the ground. From his response, it is clear that he did not know his master; he was afraid.

We may ask the question: does he represent a Christian or a non-Christian? At that time when Jesus told the parable, that term did not exist. But we know that Jesus was speaking to the future church, knowing that there would be people who attend churches, claiming to be followers of Jesus, yet do not have a relationship with him (see Matthew 7:21-23).

Jesus ends the parable with a terrifying warning, “And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” (Matthew 25:30).

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” C. S. Lewis.

The “Offense”

In the parable, the master instructs the servants to remove the one talent from the unfaithful servant and give it to the one who has ten. It’s a classic example of the rich getting richer, and it offends us.

Thinking about the purpose of our existence according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

The purpose of the gifts that God gives to His children is to bring glory to His name.

God is the creator and sustainer over all creation, which He created to glorify Him. Thus, if He gives us a gift with the purpose of bringing Him glory, and we don’t use it for His glory, He is perfectly just to take it away and give it to someone who will use it.

We must be careful not to read more than Jesus intended into the parables, but it would seem that the warning is this: if you don’t use what the Lord has given you, you will lose it.

The Requirement

The main point of the parable is being ready for Christ’s return. Too many people are drawn to Jesus merely to get to Heaven and avoid the alternative. They play it safe and try to stay out of trouble. However, membership in the Kingdom of heaven is based on a relationship with Jesus, and authentic relationship with Jesus inevitably leads to the kind of faithful service that produces results (see Acts 1:8).

The Practice

What does this look like in practice?

In our parenting, it is to be the very best parents we can be, to steward the brief moments that we have to raise up our children in the ways of the Lord.

In our profession, it is to be the best student, businessman, firefighter, medical professional or neighbor we can be, using the gifts that the Lord has given for His glory.

It may mean being a pastor, evangelist, missionary, or teacher as the Lord calls.

Are you investing the Talents that the Lord has given you today?

Sermons

The Stories Jesus Told Part 5

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From time to time, Jesus would address a small group of people when he was teaching. This parable in Luke 18 was one of those occasions. We read in verse 9, “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.”

It would seem that this group had two primary character flaws:

1: They trusted in their own righteousness. They thought that their actions gave them right standing with God. This is self-righteousness, and it is rooted in pride. Notice how Jesus ends the parable in verse 14, “…For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

2: They treated others with contempt. Self-righteous people look down on others; they operate out of a “spiritual caste system” that views less religious people as unworthy of their time. We see this today when people display spiritual elitism, when they claim to have a special knowledge or superior access to God.

Before we judge too quickly, we must remember that we will always have a root of pride in our lives; it is part of our fallen human nature. We are sinners saved by the grace of God (See Isaiah 64:6).

Jesus, speaking to this select group of self-righteous people—and to us— tells the story of two men going to the temple to pray.

The Pharisee

Seeing a Pharisee pray would have been a normal and expected thing to witness. The Pharisees were the best of the best when it came to following the law. They were held in high esteem by the common man. Everyone looked up to the piety of the Pharisees, but this man was the epitome of a self-righteous person.

Tax collector

Seeing a tax collector pray would have been a shock to the hearers. Tax collectors were seen as corrupt and sell-outs to the Roman Empire, making a living by stealing from their fellow Jews. The hearers would have been wondering why a tax collector would even be going near the temple, let alone praying.

Jesus allows us to eavesdrop on the prayers of the two men.

The Pharisee’s Prayer 

“God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11)

In reality, this wasn’t a prayer; the Pharisee was putting on a show, praying to himself and to those within earshot. To this man, prayer was a way of being recognized and praised.  

He begins his prayer by comparing himself to other people. If we are honest, we are all guilty of comparison; daily we come across people who don’t measure up to our standard of decency or accepted behavior. We can be tempted to judge the addict, the homeless, the corrupt businessman, and many more. We can easily be guilty of our own self-righteous thoughts for which we need to repent.

Comparison can become deadly for our spiritual growth. Our standard for holiness must be Jesus, and him alone. With Jesus as our standard, we will always grow in humility and dependency on his grace and mercy for our daily lives.  

This Pharisee, looked down on the tax collector and mocked his prayer, mocked his display of worship. The Pharisee didn’t realize that he himself was the one who was far off from God.

The Pharisee continued to speak about his accomplishments and his religious credentials, all the while reinforcing his own self-righteousness.  

The Tax Collector’s Prayer

“God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)

This man’s posture, position, and desperation indicated his brokenness and humility. He beat his chest and cried out to God for mercy. His prayer was short and didn’t contain any religious jargon, but it was from the heart and raw.

The tax collector was convicted of his sins, and he was repentant, sadly a posture that is lacking in many churches today.

Two Kinds of Prayers

The Pharisee needed to repent, but he was blinded by his religious activity. In contrast, the tax collector received the forgiveness he was asking for (see Luke 18:14).

The fact that the tax collector received mercy would have shocked the hearers of the parable. The Pharisee went home just as bound up in his pride as he was when he came to the temple.

The tax collector recognized that prayer put him in the presence of God’s holiness. He became fully aware of his sinful nature and his need for forgiveness (see Isaiah 6:5). But the Pharisee only saw himself and his good accomplishments. He was lost in the temple of his own making.

The Pharisee went home thinking that he had worshiped, but he went home unchanged. The tax collector went home changed because he had truly worshiped.

One Kind of Worship

In God’s eyes, there is only one kind of true worship, and it begins with acknowledging His preeminence and admitting our own sinful state. Humility is key to worship.

Worship is the place where we, in a broken and contrite spirit, encounter the profound holiness and majesty of God. It’s the place where we are confronted by our deepest longing, the longing for the presence of God, and we treasure Him as the answer to that longing.

From that place of humble dependency, we worship as we remember all that God has done for us on the cross and in our lives, celebrating and giving Him the glory. We cannot worship God if we think we are good enough; worship and self-righteousness cannot coexist.

Is pride in your past spiritual achievements hindering your worship?