Daily Devotional For Saturday, June 15, 2024

Well, it’s Super Saturday and time to rest and maybe get some yard work or housework done and caught up. We have been looking at questions in the Bible. Some were asked by people and some by God. Today, we come to a question that was asked by the Apostle Peter in Matthew 18:21, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (ESV).  It’s a very valid question because all of us get offended or hurt by people, sometimes by the same person over and over.

 Peter’s question follows the disciples having a discussion with Jesus about who will be the greatest in His kingdom, then Jesus teaching about temptation and sin, then Jesus talking about the Parable of the Lost Sheep and finally, what Jesus is talking about what to do when your brother sins against you. It had to be these last discussions by Jesus with His disciples that got the wheels in Peter’s mind going.

 In Peter’s day, Jewish rabbis taught you only had to forgive a person up to 3 times and then you had met your obligation to God. Peter, having sat under Jesus’ teaching long enough, knows how merciful and generous Jesus is, maybe decided to impress Jesus with his number of 7 times. Peter took 3, doubled it to 6 and added 1 to make it the “Perfect Number” — 7.        I really believe Peter thought he was being magnanimous and generous with 7 times.

 To help Peter get how God feels about this, Jesus told His disciples a story about a king who wanted to settle his accounts with his servants. In the story in Matthew 18:23-34, the king calls in a servant who owes him a debt so high there is no way this servant could pay it back. The word Jesus uses here for 

 When he learns his punishment — that he and his wife and their children be sold into slavery to pay back some of the debt — he falls down on his knees begging for mercy, promising his king he would pay him back in full. The king had pity on the man and simply forgave him of his debt. In fact the Greek New Testament word translated as “debt” is [ὀφειλή, ofeile] and it literally means “loan.” One talent equals about 20 years wages. This guy’s loan is 10,000 talents. This equals 200,000 years wages. Now, that is a lot of money and wages.

 The current US government’s debt is $34.71 trillion. The current US population is 333.3 million. Since we are the US government, that means every citizen (i.e.,  man, woman, boy and girl) would have to pay around 102,000 each. That is beyond our imagination. That is $306,000 for the Stanley house.

 This in itself is an incredible size debt/loan this servant owed.  You would think this would have changed this servant’s heart so much that he would live a life of gratitude. Unfortunately, freed of his impossible debt/loan, he went out and found someone who owed him a debt/loan. The debt/loan to the forgiven servant was 100 denarii. A denarius was one day’s wage in that day. So, he found someone who owed 100 days wages. When you compare 100 days wages to 200,000 years wages, there is no comparison and it is mind-boggling. 

 When this man pleaded for mercy, this servant did not give it. Instead, he had this servant thrown into prison until he could pay his debt. That would be impossible. Since the man was now in prison, he could not work outside of prison to earn money to pay back his debt. 

 When the king’s other servants heard this, they were angry, embarrassed and ashamed of this fellow servant and reported it to their king. The king, hearing it, was enraged and called this servant in and unloaded on him for not treating a fellow servant the same as he had been treated. So, the king had this unforgiving servant thrown into prison to be tortured until he could repay his debt — something he cannot do. The story ends there but Jesus adds this final line to it in verse 34b, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (ESV).

 Jesus’ point is there is no limit on forgiveness. Why? Because God has no limit on the number of times He forgives us. In the story, the king represents God and the servant in debt represents us. We owe a debt to God that we cannot repay ever. Sin is our debt and death is our punishment. But God did not give us what we deserve, He chose to give us what we need. So, how can we be anything other to people who hurt us than God has been to us? 

 Forgiveness is not natural to us. Because it is so foreign to our fleshly human nature, people find it very difficult to forgive others. King Louis XII of France articulated the feeling of many people when he said, “Nothing smells so sweet as the dead body of your enemy.” Jesus’ point is nothing more characterizes our new nature, our being a new creation than our willingness to forgive over and over again. Jesus forgave from the cross. Stephen forgave Saul and others as they were stoning him to death. Forgiveness is the highest virtue we can have because it is the most that resembles God’s love and Jesus Christ’s character. Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:

“A Christian who will not relinquish a hateful, resentful attitude toward someone who has wronged him is a person who knows neither the true glory of his redeemed humanity nor the true glory of God’s gracious divinity. An unforgiving Christian is a living contradiction of His new nature in Christ. It is central to the heart of God to forgive, and only the Christian who radiates forgiveness radiates true godliness . . . forgiveness is the key to unity in the church, , because it is the key to love and the key to all meaningful relationships. Only forgiveness can break down the barriers that sin continually and inevitably erects between people, including God’s people. 

“A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression” (Prov. 19:11). Christians are at their best when they are forgiving. Because they themselves have been forgiven so much by God, they, of all people, should be most forgiving of others, especially of fellow believers. Christians are most like their Lord when they forgive “each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven” them (Eph. 4:32). Paul declared the same truth to the Colossians, telling them to bear with one another and forgive one another, “just as the Lord forgave you” (Col. 3:13). Because they have been forgiven every sin by Christ, believers should be willing and eager to forgive each other in everything.” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 143).

 To not forgive someone is hypocritical because God has forgiven you a debt you could never repay. Refusing to forgive, God turns you over to the torturers. Who are they? Your thoughts, bitterness, resentment, anxiety, stress, anger and etc. God allows these to torture you until you forgive that person. 

Questions To Consider

1. Do you ever think about the debt you owe God and how He forgave you of it?
2. Is there anyone you have not forgiven or hold a grudge against? Why have you not forgiven them as you compare with the forgiveness God has given you?
3. What do you think makes forgiveness so tough? Easier? What is God telling you to do?

Scripture To Meditate On: Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (32) Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, the desire for revenge when we are wronged is strong. Even more strong is the desire to hold a grudge. Help me to forgive (name of person) because YOU have forgiven me. I do not want You to turn me over to the torturers. I ask that You help me model Your forgiveness to me by giving it to others. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”

 I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly