WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:32.960 Do you have people in your life that owe you things? 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.000 Do you have people in your life that owe you money? 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.880 People in your life that owe you an apology? 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:49.280 People in your life that owe you a year of your life because of the way they treated you, or a season that just stacked up debts. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:51.200 This is what forgiveness deals with. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:56.880 It's why it's a weighty subject, is because many of us walk through life carrying various debts. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:05.599 Here's what forgiveness is forgiveness is the God-given ability to say to someone else, you don't owe me anything anymore. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.120 The ability to look at somebody and cancel a debt. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:16.480 It's the ability to freely give away something that is sometimes really hard to give away. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:19.200 This, this is a really, really difficult thing. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:21.359 I think this is forgiveness. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.040 I said this last week. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.120 It's the most untapped resource in Christian life, I think. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:28.879 Been a pastor for 15 years. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:46.079 I see so many Christians not walk through life issuing forgiveness, but walk through life withholding it and harboring a kind of bitterness or resentment or vengeance over the course of your life as you grow and that accrues. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:47.359 It's no way to live. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:50.879 And yet that's how many of us live, Christian or non-Christian. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.480 Forgiveness is a profound teaching. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:04.319 It's something in Scripture that is not just suggested, it's commanded with some of the most, man, some of the strongest language. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:06.239 Look at Matthew 6, verse 14. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:17.759 Jesus says this for if you forgive others their trespasses, you know, when trespasses, somebody steps in your territory and someone steps on your life, it's a sin, it's a grievance, it's hurt. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:24.159 When someone says, if you forgive others that kind of thing, your heavenly father will forgive you. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:31.280 But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:41.759 You see, our experience of God's forgiveness is contingent upon our ability to issue forgiveness to others by God's power. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:46.960 Now notice I said, I did not say that God's forgiveness is contingent upon our ability. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:54.639 It's our experience of God's forgiveness that is contingent on our ability to issue it all by God's power. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:58.400 Everything in forgiveness involves God. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.439 And maybe you're struggling to believe in God right now. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:26.800 And I hope that this message encourages you because here's what I want to say to you today: something maybe dramatic, but something I really, as I've been thinking and studying this and praying through this and praying for you this week, man, I am convinced that forgiveness, true and full forgiveness, is impossible without the power, the reality, and the relationship of the living God. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.719 I just don't think it'll work. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:30.560 I think at some level it'll work. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:35.360 Like you can get by, forgive some people, kind of let things go. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:40.800 But true forgiveness, forgiving difficult, difficult things, man. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:44.159 Um I don't know if it's possible without God's power. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:51.439 Our experience of God's forgiveness is contingent upon our ability to issue that forgiveness to other people by God's power. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:56.879 You see, our relationships with each other, they are inextricably linked to our relationship with God. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.360 We would love it to be separated. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:08.960 And actually, most of us act and operate bifurcating our relationships with other people and our relationship with God, our spiritual life and our social life. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:13.120 But the Old and New Testament have no concept of that. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:21.360 The way that you treat somebody else is the way you relate to God, and the way you relate to God is through the way you treat other people. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:22.800 It's just tied together. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:24.399 They're inextricably linked. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:25.680 You can't separate them. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:35.920 And most of us try to ignore that or work to separate them and live lives lacking peace and grace and joy. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:38.800 And I've lived that way before. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:40.319 I've lived that way before. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:46.160 And daily I can fight a temptation where I want to live that kind of way. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.839 Forgiveness is essential for human life. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:54.959 Desmond Tutu says, there is no future without forgiveness. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:59.759 Without forgiveness, humanity itself has no future. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:02.480 Are those dramatic statements enough to get us going? 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:03.279 Maybe they are. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.439 Here's five lies we talked about last week. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:06.639 I'll just go through them quickly. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:12.480 Five lies about forgiveness, just because if you missed it last week, I'd love for you to listen to it last week. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.879 But man, this is really important because I hear these lies all the time about forgiveness. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.240 The first is this forgiveness is forgetting. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:22.639 You know, you've heard it, forgive and forget. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:25.759 But true forgiveness requires remembering. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:26.160 Why? 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:31.759 Well, if we are gonna say you don't owe me anything anymore, we have to know what is owed. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.199 Forgiveness requires remembering. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:40.000 Secondly, a lie I hear all the time is that forgiveness is an event. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.399 It's something we build up to, we issue, and after that, it's over. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:50.480 So we say it all the time, I forgave them for that, past tense, like it already happened. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:57.680 And what forgiveness really is, is a daily process of living in forgiveness towards the people that have hurt us. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:03.439 To live constantly with those that are around us, saying, You don't owe me anything anymore, I'm not gonna hold it against you. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:05.439 It's not an event, it's a process. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.360 Thirdly, many people equate forgiveness with reconciliation. 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:11.120 They see it as the same thing. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:18.879 You know, forgiveness and reconciliation are one and the same, meaning that we think when we issue forgiveness, everybody's gonna be friends again. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:22.240 We're gonna be reunited and all is gonna be good, but that's not the truth. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:31.839 You know, Jesus says in Matthew 18, and we're gonna look at this passage actually in particular this week, he says that we should forgive our brother or sister from the heart. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.480 Meaning you don't have to talk to that person to forgive them. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.839 Some people are really damaging, some people you should never speak to again. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:49.680 Some people are unhealthy influences in your life, and to go back to them will enter their manipulative cycle once again. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:51.439 You do not need to go back to them. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.240 We can forgive people and not be reconciled. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:58.560 God's heart is reconciliation, his command is forgiveness. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.600 Fourth, forgiveness removes consequences. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:06.959 We often think, this is one of the harder parts about forgiveness, is that if I issue it to you, you'll be scot-free. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:12.079 You'll be released of the consequences that you must bear for what you have done. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.000 That's why we think it's somewhat unjust. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:17.519 But I put up there, no, you can actually forgive someone from a prison cell. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:25.600 The example being Pope John Paul II, the assassin, the would-be assassin on his life, Mehmet Agjat, died in an Italian prison. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:34.000 This is a picture weeks after he was shot, the Pope was shot, he recovered from a hospital his in the hospital, he went to the prison, he sat with him. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:46.079 This iconic photo, he looks at him, he prays over him, the man who attempted to kill him, and he said, I love you and you don't owe me anything anymore. 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:51.199 Well, Agjat died in an Italian prison, and he lived pretty much all of his life in prison. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:56.639 You see, we can forgive people and they will still maybe sleep in the bed that they made. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:01.360 Forgiveness and consequences are not uh to be separated. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:02.879 Sometimes they work together. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:08.879 Finally, oftentimes we think forgiveness is free, like we're just gonna wave a magic wand and it'll be fine. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.480 Nothing, you know, just kind of forget about it, like it's a lot like lie number one. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:19.199 But we think there's no cost associated to it, but there is definitely a cost associated to forgiveness. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:21.920 I said forgiveness has a cost, but it is freeing. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:23.920 It's not free, but it's freeing. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:31.439 You see, there is always a cost to offer forgiveness, but is there a cost to withholding it as well? 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:33.679 That's what we asked last week. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.960 And we looked more last week at what does it look like to withhold it? 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.759 The withholding is bitterness, resentment. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:41.120 It's no way to live. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:50.960 I want to talk this week about the honest cost of issuing it and how we can possibly issue forgiveness when it costs so much. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:56.320 Because important with this question is this What does it cost to offer forgiveness? 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:57.919 What's the cost to withhold it? 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.759 Key question after that which one is greater? 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:06.639 Is there a greater cost to withholding forgiveness than issuing it? 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:08.879 That's what we need to look at today. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:10.320 Look at this quote from C.S. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.200 Lewis in his famous book, Mere Christianity. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:19.120 He says this everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:20.080 Right? 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.000 As we had during the war. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:24.480 He wrote this right after World War II. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:29.519 And then to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:35.679 It is not that people think this too high and difficult to virtue, forgiveness, it's not too high and difficult. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:41.840 It is that they think of it as contemptible, it's like reprehensible, it's disgusting. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.120 Then he imagines this conversation post-World War II. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:48.159 I wonder, you know, a hypothetical person asking C.S. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:55.120 Lewis, I wonder how you'd feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew, forgiving the Nazi regime. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.200 He says, so do I. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:09:59.039 I wonder very much. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:02.559 I'm not trying to tell you in this book what I could do. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:04.639 I can do precious little. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.679 I am telling you what Christianity is. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:10.399 I did not invent it. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:21.759 I don't know how much has changed in the last century since he wrote this, because culturally and personally, forgiveness is also seen as somewhat contemptible. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:30.639 In our culture today, there are certain aspects and places where to issue forgiveness is seen as an unjust action. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:38.000 It is seen as something that is morally reprehensible because we think that it removes the consequences from someone. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:56.080 And so culturally, depending on where you're at, your experience, your political persuasion, to forgive a racist or to forgive a terrorist or to forgive a murderer is seen, again, it's not a great act of justice and morality, but seen as an act of immorality and injustice. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:59.519 And then personally, this operates in our life too. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:05.039 People do things to us that we call unforgivable. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:12.559 And the people in our life support us to not forgive people because of the egregious action that someone made on us. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:20.000 It simply is so hard to imagine forgiveness when you imagine it at its grandest scale. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:26.480 You and I, again, we can make it work for enough time for little things. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.000 Someone's late to a lunch, you can forgive that and absorb the cost. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:34.159 Someone lies to you, minor lie, you can forgive that, absorb the cost. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.600 Someone messes up at work, right? 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:36.320 You see what I'm saying? 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.960 We can operate in the small debts. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.360 But what happens when the debts stack up, man? 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:42.960 What happens when they get too high? 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:52.960 All of you have people in your life that they, man, you they've owed you something at some level to a point that you're going to need to figure out if you can even issue forgiveness. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:12:04.639 I'm convinced that the fundamental reason we actually do not release people of their debts to us is because we cannot fathom the idea of absorbing the cost ourselves. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:08.639 Because when they owe you, you want to make them pay. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:13.279 And when you no longer make them pay, you kind of absorb it. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:18.399 And you can't imagine bearing the thought of them being free. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.960 So you enslave yourself. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:26.399 So you hold it into yourself and say, I will continue to hold it on. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:29.600 And imagining letting go of that seems impossible. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:31.200 I get it, I've been there. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:33.200 Told you a little bit of my story last week. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.440 My father left when I was 19 years old. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:42.799 We had a mostly a happy home growing up, and under unexplained and vague circumstances, my dad left. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:48.879 And over the course of those years hurt my family and I in various ways. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:54.000 That when I thought about forgiving him, it seemed wrong. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:57.200 It seemed like the wrong thing to do. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:05.679 But I started with a word from the living Jesus Christ, the one who died and rose again and reigns. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:08.480 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:14.240 Even if you don't believe that and you're not a Christian, at some level, what Jesus says about forgiveness should be inspected. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:17.759 And he says, forgive and you'll be forgiven. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.039 It is not a suggestion, it is a command with the highest stakes. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.679 How do we issue forgiveness when the cost is so great? 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:32.240 How do we give it when the other party has nothing to say, no step forward, no repentance, no humility, but continues to harm us? 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:33.279 How do we do that? 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.879 The answer is in a parable in Matthew 19, or in Matthew 18. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:38.399 So if you have a Bible, please go there with me. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:42.399 Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse 21. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.759 Peter, one of his disciples, one of Jesus' disciples, he comes up to him and he says this. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:48.960 He asks him a question. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:50.960 Matthew 18, 21. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:58.000 Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:01.039 Now, how often will my brother sin against me? 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:04.639 This comes in the context of an important chapter in Matthew. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:08.960 In fact, if you're in your physical Bible or you're on an app, just scroll up to the previous section. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:12.799 The header on my Bible says, If your brother sins against you. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:18.559 Jesus just unpacked his conflict resolution teaching, which is very simple. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:23.039 He's like, if somebody sins against you, go tell them, and if they repent, you're a brother and sister. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:23.679 Done. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:24.320 You know? 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:25.360 It's easy. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:29.200 Now if they don't, you bring more people to help bring a reconciliation about. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.639 Then if they still don't listen, you bring the whole church before them. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:37.919 And if they continue in unrepentance, you know, your whole community is going to confront them, okay? 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:43.200 And then Peter asks this question Well, what happens if they never repent? 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.440 How often should I forgive someone who sins against me? 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:49.360 What if they keep sinning against me? 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:54.960 What if they sin against me and they never come back to see me and never apologize, never say anything? 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:56.000 What happens then? 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:57.440 How often should I forgive? 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:58.720 He says this. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:03.919 And I uh you know, how much how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:05.200 As many as seven times? 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:08.799 You know, the uh teaching of the rabbis in the day was three times. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.840 Jewish teaching was forgive somebody three times after that, they can be put in prison. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.519 After that, make them pay the debt. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:17.360 After that, justice. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:23.679 So Peter is doing like the church kid thing where he's like, he's doubling, he's more than doubling the amount, right? 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.240 He's like, Jesus, seven? 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:26.960 You know? 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:31.279 He's doing what like I hope Jude will do one day, like the church answer, you know, Pastor's kid. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:42.879 Um now Jesus says to him in verse 22, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven, or seventy-seven times, depending on your translation. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:44.240 Seventy-seven times. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:45.919 Now, is he making a literal statement? 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:55.039 No, the Jewish number of completion was seven, and he's making a play on the words of hyperbole to say, uh not seven times. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:00.159 So not the rabbinical three, not even more than double the rabbinical three. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:07.039 I'm saying to you to learn to forgive someone endlessly. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:10.159 That's the teaching. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:19.200 That there would be a way you and I could continually give forgiveness no matter how much people harm us. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:21.200 It seems unjust. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:22.960 It seems insane. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:27.519 That's why Jesus kind of knew and he started telling a story as he does. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:28.799 Verse 23. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:34.720 Therefore, he says, the kingdom of heaven, which is like the range of God's effective will. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:40.799 It's like the space he takes up, where in that space what he wants is being done. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.759 He said, that space, it's like this. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:48.080 It's like a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.399 Settling accounts was a very serious thing. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:52.879 In that day, you could be sold into slavery. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.519 Uh, settling accounts was also the accounts was always taken by the person in power. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:04.400 It wasn't like you had an Excel spreadsheet that you two shared the dock on and you could kind of work on it together and be like, hmm, I owe you a little bit. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.519 It wasn't a bank statement where the bank is like, this is how much you owe, and this is how no. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:10.319 It was given by the person in power and they told you how much they owed. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:11.839 So this is a scary moment. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:13.920 This is heightened drama. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:17.359 He wished to settle accounts with his servants. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:18.319 Verse 24. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:23.440 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:24.799 You know how much that is? 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:26.240 I'd be shocked if you did. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:26.720 Okay. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:33.680 Uh 10,000 talents is an old school, it's an ancient uh monetary value. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.400 Scholars range on this as they do. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:39.440 The lowest I saw was$5 billion. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.640 The highest I saw was 12 billion. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:48.640 And you should laugh because Jesus put this into a context where it would be laughable how much he owed. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.240 10,000 talents. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:54.240 You know, one talent was 20 years of a day laborer's wage. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:55.359 One talent. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:59.119 And he says this person comes to him and owes 10,000. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:02.799 At this point, we should be laughing and thinking it's astronomical. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:04.400 Verse 25. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:09.680 And he says he's uh and since he could not pay, duh, right? 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:11.920 Like it's this natural, okay. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:16.799 So since he couldn't pay, his master ordered him to be sold. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:18.559 Now, this would be a totally normal thing. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.160 In fact, this would actually be a consolation. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:27.599 To sell yourself into bondservanthood or slavery would be one of the options in settling accounts. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:37.599 Uh, in ancient Roman world, Jewish law, to sell yourself and sell your family into slavery would be a way to pay off debts and not be executed or put in prison. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.599 It's a fine offer. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:40.960 It's not crazy. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:42.160 To us, it seems crazy. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:44.880 To that day, it was a way debts were repaid, okay? 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.920 It was to just give labor when you couldn't offer the coin. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:53.759 So he ordered the master to be sold with him and his wife and his children and all he had and the payment to be made. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:54.559 26. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:19:02.960 So the servant, he fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything, will he? 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:04.960 No, there's no way. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:05.599 Okay. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:07.200 But he's desperate. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:08.480 He's desperate. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:11.119 He's just like, I will pay, I'll do anything. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:19.279 And out of pity or compassion, the Greek says, movement of love in his body. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:25.039 The master said to the servant, he looks at the servant and he released him and forgave him of his debt. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:30.400 In the Greek it reads really cool, released him and forgiving him of the debt is in the same word group. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.000 It's like double freedom. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:37.119 He let him go, he didn't have to be his bondservant anymore, and he doesn't have to pay. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:39.519 He let him go, and he doesn't have to pay. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:43.279 Now he could have said, You don't have to pay, but you still have to, you know, work for me. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:48.480 But it's that he issued freedom and canceled the debt. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:52.559 Two words in the same word group, a really beautiful little line right there. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:57.440 The servant looks at him, you don't owe me$10 billion anymore. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:19:58.160 You can go. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:03.599 But when the same servant went out, verse 28, he found his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denare. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.359 You know how much that is, class? 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:07.920 I'd be shocked if you did again. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:10.960 Um, it's about ten thousand dollars. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:11.680 Okay? 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:13.680 About ten thousand dollars. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:19.279 So now I know this is Silicon Valley, so for some of you, ten billion might not seem astronomical. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.039 It is for normal people. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:22.799 So can we just get there today? 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:27.839 Ten grand, maybe that's not a lot to you, it's a lot to me. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.240 It's significant, but is it payable? 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.240 Yeah, it's payable. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:34.160 It is definitely payable. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:46.319 So he looked at the man who owned 10 grand, having just been forgiven, 10 billion, seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, Pay what you owe. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:52.000 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:53.119 Sound familiar? 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:55.839 It's nearly identical in the Greek in the original languages. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:56.480 31. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:03.119 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:13.759 Then the master summoned him and he said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you pleaded with me. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:20.079 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:27.119 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt, which means till he died. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:38.160 So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother, and here's our line take from your heart. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.720 This story should hurt a little bit. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:55.759 But it is a story that is given to us to save our lives, to save us from the prison of bitterness that we put ourselves in. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.839 How do you forgive endlessly? 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.599 How do you forgive 77 times? 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.079 70 times seven. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.640 It's radical but true, you guys. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:12.880 I think forgiveness, in the fullest sense, it is only possible when we know the living God of the Bible. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:23.440 I really think this story is to put us in a kind of corner in a good way, to say what we owe versus what is owed us is very different. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:28.640 I believe we can only give forgiveness after having received it from God. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:36.720 And I'm telling you, all of the ways that we try to forgive in our own human ingenuity, I think it falls short. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:40.480 There's a big movement in self-help right now around forgiveness. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:50.880 In fact, there's an institute at Stanford right now, the Institute of Forgiveness, where psychologists are understanding the positive psychological ramifications of saying, you don't owe me anything anymore. 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:59.039 But I have a problem with some of that stuff that I've read as I look through it because it lacks what we're talking about here. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.160 How do you forgive the unforgivable? 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:11.920 Like I said, there's so much we can do out of our own human ingenuity, but what happens when the deck, the deck gets stacked too high and the debt amounts to too much? 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:17.759 I think we need a deeper resource as human beings than our own self-help. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:23.680 I think we need a deeper resource than looking inside and being able to just issue forgiveness to other people. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:28.960 I believe that comes through the inspection of the two debts in this parable. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:31.440 Jesus tells this story with two debts. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:33.440 I don't want you to confuse the characters, by the way. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:36.319 You are not the king in that story, okay? 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:39.359 You are not the one owed$10 billion. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:40.319 All right? 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:45.359 In this story, you're also not the person who owes the 10 grand necessarily. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.160 You and I are the person in the middle. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:58.640 We have been forgiven an incomprehensible amount, and yet we hold on to a comprehensible amount. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:02.400 We stew in it, we ferment in our own bitterness. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:08.400 You see, you and I are in massive debt to God, this parable acknowledges. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:13.279 But this parable also acknowledges that you and I have debts with each other. 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:18.960 And I love in this parable that he uses the hundred denare, the 10 grand. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:23.920 Because he there's other monetary amounts Jesus could have used that are like shekels, like pennies. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:29.920 And he could have like made it super, super big where it's like, you were forgiven 10 billion, and man, you can't even forgive pennies. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:31.680 But he's not saying that. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:35.519 See, I told you, and you might agree with me, that 10 grand is significant. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:36.160 It is. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:40.720 But the thing about the 10 grand, it is it is comprehensible and it's payable. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:44.240 And so we hold on to that debt, but it is serious. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:51.920 And I think it's very gentle and generous of Jesus to say, you have been hurt, and people do owe you something. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.720 They don't owe you nothing. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:58.240 They owe you something significant. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:02.400 And I want to acknowledge that now today. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:04.480 Because Jesus seems to acknowledge that. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:10.480 Like your debt that you owe, or that is that is owed between you and another person, it is serious. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.119 But you have been forgiven a debt. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:19.279 That debt, the 10,000 talents, is incomprehensible, meaning we can't really understand it. 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.200 It's absolutely incomprehensible. 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:29.359 Like it should be, like I said, maybe some of you can because we're in the tech land, but to me,$10 billion, I don't even know how to start thinking about that. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:37.839 And Jesus is saying that's kind of like your relationship with the Heavenly Father, that there's an incomprehensible debt. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:41.839 Secondly, the debt is unpayable, right? 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:49.920 The debt is completely unpayable, meaning, okay, I said that one talent was 20 years of pay for a day labor. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.279 It's unpayable in this lifetime. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:56.079 It will take multiple lifetimes to pay. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:58.640 Thirdly, it is serious though. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:05.119 Just because we don't get it or can't comprehend it or can't pay it doesn't mean we don't owe it. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:07.039 It's serious and it's real. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:17.440 But you'll see if that debt to God is incomprehensible, unpayable, and serious, you'll see that the debt between you and another person only shares one of those attributes. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:18.960 It's the last one. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:22.480 Because the debts we owe to each other is comprehensible. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:24.960 It's also very payable. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:25.839 Right? 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:29.440 Somebody owes you an apology, they can grant you the apology. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:32.720 Somebody owes you an explanation, they can grant you the explanation. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:35.039 At some level, it's payable. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:38.640 The thing that it shares is that it is serious. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:43.599 But it's serious at a scale, at a certain scale. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:54.079 You see, on its own, when you view the 10 grand by itself with nothing else, it might seem incomprehensible, unpayable, and serious when it's on its own. 00:26:54.799 --> 00:27:05.839 But what Jesus is trying to help you see, and he is trying to help you see something, is a picture into eternal reality that you cannot comprehend except by this parable. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:11.759 You cannot understand the debt that you owe to God. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:15.759 And that might sound dramatic, but welcome to Christianity. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:21.039 Christianity sets up for yourself something you could never imagine. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:29.599 A world in which God might grant you more mercy and more forgiveness than you can fathom. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:44.000 I like Tim Keller, he says, the gospel of Jesus Christ, it says that we are more sinful and wicked than we could possibly imagine, but we are more loved and forgiven than we ever dared dream. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:53.839 There's a debt there that without Christianity you'll never see the two alongside each other. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:59.440 But what this parable is inviting us to do is to compare the sins. 00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:07.279 And you might think debt in a weird way, it's a weird way of talking about our relationship with God because you might think, well, I haven't done that many wrong things. 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:18.079 The reason Jesus makes a laughable amount of money in this story, like a laughable amount, is because he doesn't want us to think it's like, you did this wrong, and that's one negative in your relationship with God. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.319 Then when you were 10, you did this wrong thing and it was this negative, and you've just racked all of that. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:23.680 That's not his teaching. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:30.480 He's not a moral misdeeds god who just, you know, just condemns every little minor sin. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:39.839 Sin, biblically, it's so much bigger than little minor moral misdeeds or many moral misdeeds stacked on top of each other. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.279 Behavior. 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:45.039 Sin, the result of sin is behavior. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.519 Sin is the disease that turns the self upon itself. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:51.759 Sin is pride. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.000 Sin is arrogance. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:55.920 Sin is resistance. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:57.920 Sin is rebellion. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:05.519 Sin is a closed mind, a stubborn heart, the ability to look away when grace is issued. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:11.440 Sin is the proclivity in the human being to say, I will do this on my own. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:18.559 And so long as we have lived in that state which all of us are in, the debt is incomprehensible. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:20.799 What would happen? 00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:22.880 How can God forgive this debt? 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:24.240 How can he forgive? 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:27.839 How can he allow and look upon all of humanity? 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:31.119 Because you notice this story, it's just one 10 billion exchange. 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:39.519 Just like if Chris and I owe 10 billion and you own 10 billion and the person sitting to your right owes 10 billion, like, can we do the math and stack that up? 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:41.839 It's incomprehensible. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:46.720 How does God forgive such a massive debt? 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:49.200 What is the value, even of all of that? 00:29:50.319 --> 00:30:03.599 See, it sounds to me like Jesus is leading us somewhere, which is that the value, the only way to answer that great of value is the very life of God Himself. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.000 How do you absorb the cost? 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:08.319 How do you forgive the debt? 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:12.720 God's very life would have to be laid down. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:23.279 And that's what the New Testament reflects upon in Colossians 2.13. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:32.480 And you who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, having forgiven all of us our trespasses. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:33.359 There it is. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:34.319 In what way? 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:35.519 How did he do it? 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:40.720 By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:42.160 And where did it go? 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:46.799 He set it aside, nailing it to the cross. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:31:01.519 The first step in forgiveness is to move our eyes from the debt we are owed to the debt we've been forgiven of by God and then compare the two. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:16.880 Friends, the only way I can see us with a future is to look at this parable with seriousness and introspection. 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:28.079 To see at the heart of it that this is God's great care over your life, that He is so compassionate and so tender that He's forgiven you of more than you even know. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:38.319 I think we're more sinful than we could possibly imagine, but because it's been forgiven, then we're more loved than we can imagine. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:50.400 Could it be that you actually are missing out on the more love of God because you're holding on to the 10 grand that someone else owes you? 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:51.200 And it's real. 00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:54.000 It's a real debt, it's acknowledged. 00:31:54.319 --> 00:32:07.759 But Jesus is offering us the ability to compare the debts so that in light of the massive eternal debt that we have been forgiven, we can issue it out freely to anyone 77 times. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:13.279 And we do, we have to live in forgiveness to other people. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:18.640 I don't think we have a future without it. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:21.279 I don't think I had a future without it. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:24.720 You know, told you about my dad who left. 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:39.599 I was working up the courage and thinking about forgiveness a little incorrectly through my youth and 19, 20, 21, when I decided I needed to fly to Hong Kong, where my dad was living at the time, and I needed to forgive him. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.000 I was viewing it still like an event. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:46.960 I was gonna go there, I was gonna say, Dad, this is what you've done, this is what's wrong, and here's how I've forgiven you. 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:51.519 And somebody saved my life before I got on that plane. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:56.160 Before I got on that plane, a pastor in my church came up to me. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:59.759 He knew what was going on, he was in an accountability group with me at the time. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.559 He said, Hey Chris, how are you feeling about the trip tomorrow? 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.720 How are you feeling about talking with your dad? 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:06.319 I said, Oh, I'm feeling good. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:10.079 Like I'm gonna say all this stuff, I'm gonna say, I've forgiven you, you don't owe me anything anymore. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:13.359 And I just feel like I'm coming back with like a lighter burden. 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:17.839 I'm gonna come back from Hong Kong with just freedom and lightness. 00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:24.000 And he said something to me that seemed weird at the time, but I think it saved my life. 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:33.519 And he said this: He said, Chris, just be prepared for when you say all of that, for your dad to have no idea what you're talking about. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:40.160 I was like, how could he have no idea? 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:46.880 I'm gonna lay it all out for him, I'm gonna say I've forgiven it, and we're gonna, again, miss thinking. 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:49.039 I'm we're gonna be wrecked, we're gonna be okay. 00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:52.960 And it's not gonna be the same, and I get all that, but like, it'll be over. 00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:00.079 And he also told me to read this parable, which I did. 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:07.680 And I went to Hong Kong and I talked with my father, and it went exactly how that pastor told me it was gonna go. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:20.639 I said everything, and my dad basically looked at me and said, Well, it's been a hard couple years, and I guess, yeah, some big mistakes happen and life's hard, and glad you're here. 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:24.960 No reciprocation. 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:26.800 See, here's what I learned. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:34.159 We don't forgive as an event, we live in forgiveness towards other people. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:45.360 And you and I need the power of the good news of Jesus Christ to resource us when we're disappointed at an astronomical level. 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:49.119 You see, what's the other option? 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:52.800 We're gonna just bear the cost ourselves? 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:58.880 Through this parable, Jesus says the cost has been paid by Jesus Christ. 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:10.000 And because it's been paid, we can join with God in the activity of forgiveness in this world and experience his grace as we give it to other people. 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:13.039 Because here's the thing about that trip to Hong Kong. 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:16.000 I told you I was looking forward to coming back free. 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:21.679 But after that guy said that to me, and after I read this parable, I didn't come back free. 00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:23.280 I went there free. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:28.480 I wasn't banking on because here's what I realized. 00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:31.280 I realized he's I was still accruing debt. 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:32.639 Because what was I doing? 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:35.119 I was expecting a response. 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:38.960 I was issuing forgiveness with an asterisk. 00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:42.960 I was expecting something from him still. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:57.360 And after that was said to me, and this parable sat in my bones, I realized I was missing out on God's grace, and I was missing out on freedom, and I was missing the opportunity to see things as they were. 00:35:57.519 --> 00:36:05.199 My true identity, which is this I am not primarily one who is owed, I am primarily one who is forgiven. 00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:13.280 To let that identity operate us and instruct everything we do will change our lives. 00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:24.559 You are not primarily someone who is owed, you are primarily one who is forgiven, and that helps you operate in all of your relationships with the people that owe you something. 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:30.320 And so, my friends, I want to give you an exercise in reflection. 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:37.840 This has been a two-week brief series, and I want to invite the band out, and I want to give you two phrases for you to consider and to think about. 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:45.599 I want you to reflect and stay seated during this next song and think about this first reflection. 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:49.440 I am living in forgiveness from what? 00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:53.119 Try to comprehend the incomprehensible. 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:55.440 What has God forgiven you of? 00:36:56.079 --> 00:37:01.360 In what ways has God looked at your life and said, You don't owe me anything anymore? 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:03.119 Giving you grace. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:07.440 And secondly, I am living in forgiveness towards who? 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:09.199 Towards what? 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:15.119 All I'm trying to do is shepherd you in a moment of comparing the debts. 00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:25.199 I'm just trying to get us to look at this parable and actually apply it in live time, to think through these things at a spiritual and deep level. 00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:27.199 What has God forgiven you of? 00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:32.400 And how is that informing how you issue forgiveness towards other people? 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:41.119 As this song plays, as our worship team leads you, would you be led in forgiveness towards the people in your life? 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:45.760 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:50.320 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:52.639 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:58.719 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.