WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.919 Well, happy Father's Day. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:04.000 We're glad you're here with us. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:18.480 We also recognize maybe today's not a great day for you because maybe you lost your dad this this past year, or maybe actually Father's Day brings up more bad memories than good memories because your dad wasn't that great. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.399 Maybe your dad was distant. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.280 Maybe your dad was just sort of a bad dad. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:31.679 Or maybe the opposite is true, and today is everything that you would want a Father's Day to be because you had a great dad. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:34.640 And so today is full of gratitude for you. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.759 Or maybe you do the single parent thing or co-parenting. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:42.719 And so at times you feel like you're a mom and a dad, or at times you feel like you're a dad and a mom. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:45.679 And so Father's Day is always mixed feelings for you. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:52.240 So what we're gonna do this morning, we're gonna talk about a parable, that parable Sam just read for us of the unforgiving servant. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.000 We're going through parables this summer. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.799 So we'll talk about this parable for a little bit, and that will be sort of like to all of us. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:06.560 And then by the end of it, I'm gonna talk to dads just very briefly from this parable what it has to say for us. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:10.959 So a few months ago, I went with our students on a student winter retreat. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:22.079 I talked about it back when we went on it, and on the that Saturday we did some high ropes elements, and so we did this one deep climbed up and you did this huge swing and you're harnessed, and there's cables. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:32.640 And then there's another one where you climbed up a big pole, like a telephone pole, they call it pamper pole because you uh you need pampers on by the time you get to the top because you're so nervous. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.519 And you get to the top and you have to get on top of it and jump out. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:38.000 And and I was forcing myself to do these things. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:39.920 These things used to be quite natural to me. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:41.840 I used to work on a ropes course in college. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.200 I used to like you know jump off of cliffs and rappel down. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:47.680 And like, I mean, I had no fear, right? 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.719 The pre-frontal lobe had not developed yet in my mind. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:02:00.239 I I just I would go for whatever, but I so as a you know 39-year-old, almost 40, I was forcing myself in front of these students that I will do these things. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:18.479 And then after those two things, we went over to the obstacle course, which was like 50 feet up in the air, and it was a whole bunch of cables uh connected, and you you're harnessed in the whole time, and you work yourself from tree to tree, 50 feet up, and there's obstacles in between on these cables, you're climbing over stuff through stuff and you're zipping along and all this. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:24.080 And so before it, I I went up to uh this this one student, let's call him Harry because his name's Harry. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:28.639 Uh I went up to Harry and I said, Hey, I said, Harry, let's go, let's go at the end of the line. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.479 Let's because you're in line and you're cabled. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.000 So if you're in the middle, you're stuck. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:37.360 And I know Harry's wanted to go nuts on this thing because I was Harry 25 years ago. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:39.199 And so I said, Let's go to the very end. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:40.560 You can be the last one. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:41.759 You can go nuts. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:42.960 You can zip back and forth. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:44.319 There'll be nobody behind you. 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:47.759 So you'll be able to work this thing backward and forth over and over again. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:48.800 So finally, we wait. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.599 We have to wait forever for everybody to kind of work their way through. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:53.039 Finally, it's my turn. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.039 I force myself again out. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:57.280 I'm afraid, scared, all of that. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.840 I force myself out on it, and I'm holding on to everything the entire time. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.800 Anything I can get my hands on, I will hold on to. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:11.919 Now, mind you, I'm harnessed, I'm clipped in, I'm double clipped in, like the whole time. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:12.800 I am holding on. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:18.800 I work myself across the first cable and I get to that first tree, little platform, not big, little. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:24.800 They built them nice and small for you, but I'm literally hugging that tree, hugging it. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:30.719 And I and I turn around and I look at Harry, he is flying back and forth, he's leaning out. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:39.039 I mean, he is free, and I am I am holding every single thing I can get my hands on. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:40.240 Right? 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:42.159 Both of us are clipped in. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.400 Both of us are safe. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.280 He's just as safe as I am. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:51.680 We're both secure, but only one of us is really free. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:52.639 Right? 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:57.199 And it's not me, because I want to tight grip everything. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.759 Harry was the one who was free. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.319 And this is the point we always have to remember when it comes to forgiveness. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:05.919 And this is the first point. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:13.120 When you hold the debt over the one who hurt you, you're the one holding on. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:20.959 When you hold the debt over the person who hurt you, you're the one that's still holding on. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:23.279 You're not the free one. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:26.480 You're binding yourself. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:28.240 Peter has this question. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:31.600 Like he's hearing all this stuff from Jesus about grace and forgiveness. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.000 And he's going, maybe he got wounded. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:35.680 Maybe somebody just did something to him. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:37.600 But he's trying to figure this out, right? 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:39.519 In Matthew 18, 21 and 22. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:45.600 Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:47.759 As many as seven times? 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:48.480 Right? 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:50.240 Like he can get his mind around that. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:52.639 It's a lot, seems pretty gracious. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:57.600 Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:02.639 And it's Jesus' way to say, uh, you never stop forgiving. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.360 Don't ever hold the debt over someone else. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.879 You'll be the one who, you'll be the one who's still holding on. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:14.959 And Peter's attitude here is sort of like, do I get to keep holding on to something? 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:16.399 Right? 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:22.959 And you can feel sort of this fear and anxiety inside of Peter, and Jesus just destroys it here. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:28.079 And then Jesus starts to teach this parable, this story to teach something. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.079 And he says, okay, so here's the story. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:37.519 We have a king who has a slave, and this one slave's gotten himself into debt to the king, huge debt, 10,000 talents. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:38.879 You know, you go, how much is that? 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:40.560 And some people are saying, oh, it's a few million dollars. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:42.160 Some people say, oh, that's a billion dollars. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:48.079 The point is, for this slave, it is way beyond his ability to repay it. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:57.279 It's like he owes on his F-150, he owes on his television to Best Buy, he borrowed money to buy his mattress at the mattress store. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.439 There's no Dave Ramsey plan to get out of this guy's situation. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:03.920 He's in over his head. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:10.160 And so finally he goes up to the king and he just says, Hey, uh, forgive me. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:11.199 Begs. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:17.279 And the king is gracious and he forgives the entire debt, and you think, well, that's a great story. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:20.639 But Jesus continues, the story keeps going, it sort of shifts. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:21.680 You wouldn't see this coming. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:30.399 You didn't you didn't feel this coming in the story, because this guy goes, he finds a fellow slave that owes him money, a hundred denera, not nearly as much. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.439 This would have been a burden to this other slave. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.560 Maybe it's a thousand dollars on a credit card, right? 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:41.040 I mean, it's something you feel, but it's not something that's unreachable. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:49.519 And this forgiven slave takes the one who's in debt to him and has him thrown into prison. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:51.600 It's sort of an odd turn of events. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:54.079 It makes us have a few questions. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:59.439 I mean, did this first slave really understand what happened? 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:02.639 Did he embrace anything that happened? 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.600 Seems he's still holding on. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:13.040 Feels a little bit more like me holding on to that tree than Harry being free. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:15.199 And here's point number two. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:24.240 I feel like I need to take a little bit of a pastoral tangent just for a second before we continue because as soon as we start talking about forgiveness, uh, some walls start going up. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:30.879 And so, pastoral tangent, point number two, forgiveness does not void consequences or erase memories. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:47.360 Pretending like forgiveness is easy and the cloak of Christian virtue is only a stuffing of that sorrow down into yourself that only creates like bitterness and cynicism and a lot of unhealthy things down the road. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:55.279 So let's say when we're up in that, those trees, uh, Harry sneaks up behind me and he unclips my clips, right? 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.720 Great, great joke, 50 feet up in the air to do to someone. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:07:59.839 Let's just say that happened. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:10.240 And let's say I go to zip out on the next cable, I fall 50 feet down, I break my legs, I'm in a wheelchair for six months, I'm in rehab for six more months. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:16.160 I am angry, I'm sad, I'm grieving, I'm crying. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:19.680 Now, maybe I forgive Harry. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:21.360 Right? 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:24.560 I forgive him, I say, you don't owe me anything. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:29.519 But maybe Harry and I are not rock climbing buddies in the future. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.120 Maybe we're more like on the ground friends. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:33.679 Right? 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:38.240 Like the memory memory of some wound does not go away. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:41.759 It doesn't erase consequences. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:43.200 Right? 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:45.039 Like all these things still exist. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:48.399 Boundaries can still exist within forgiveness. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.879 Forgiveness is just saying, you don't owe me anymore. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:52.960 I'm not gonna hold on to that anymore. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:54.799 Point number three. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:00.000 Forgiveness is paid for by the grace of the offended. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:02.960 Forgiveness, somebody has to pay. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:04.960 Somebody always has to pay. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.720 Forgiveness is paid for by the grace of the offended. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:18.720 Years ago, I was working for my father-in-law, as before my wife and I were married, so it was my boss, but not my father-in-law, had not made that transition of marrying my boss's daughter yet. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:23.440 And I was installing a new printer in his home office. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:30.159 Brand new house, beautiful house, big, beautiful house, brand new hardwood floors. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:44.080 And so I take this big printer box and I set it in the middle of his office on the hardwood floors, and I start to you know unpack the box, and I'm working to get the printer set up and unpacking stuff, and I move the printer around every once in a while. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:48.320 I need to move it, and I'm working to get it into the cabinetry, and I'm doing all that. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:53.679 I get that I get it all set up, I pick the box up, I take it out to the garage and break it down. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:10:10.159 I walk back into his office and I look on the floor, and there are five huge scratches right in the middle of his brand new hardwood floors home office, and my stomach sinks, right? 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:19.440 Because I'm not making a lot of money at this point, and I'm saving up money to steal his daughter away from him for that ring, and I see it, and all that's all I think. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.200 500 bucks, it's all I think. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:22.399 You know, like immediate. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:27.039 I'm just like, oh, I and I I'm not at the place where I can just like waste money and I see that. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:27.759 I'm a stomach. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:29.360 I know I have to call him. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.480 There's no hiding it, it's in the middle of the room, right? 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.519 So I I I call him, I tell him what happened, you know. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:38.480 That says my fault. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:42.799 I said, you know, if you you just I said, let me know what it costs, I'll pay for it. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:44.000 That was that was my fault. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:45.120 You know, I should pay for it. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:46.320 My fault. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:52.000 And he says, no, no, he said, you know, thank thank you for being honest, no problem. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.080 I pay for it. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:54.559 Right? 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:56.159 That's that's forgiveness. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:56.720 Right? 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.679 Forgiveness is the one who is offended absorbs the bill. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:02.240 Right? 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.240 The floor still had to be fixed. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:06.639 Now maybe he would even have chosen to not fix it. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:07.440 He did fix it. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:09.360 I walked in a few weeks later, it's all fixed. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:18.399 He paid for it, so the offended pays for it, but even if he had not paid some repair guy to come pay for it, he would have been paying for it every time he saw the floor. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.240 He still would have been paying for it in the fact that he had an imperfect floor. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:25.039 You see, someone always has to pay. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:37.919 When your friend says those things to you and it hurts you, either you revenge back and make them pay for it back to you, or you decide to forgive them, you absorb that wound. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:41.919 And that's what forgiveness is. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:43.600 Somebody has to pay. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.679 And in this story, the king is the one who's paying. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:48.399 Right? 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:51.440 He absorbs the debt. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:53.120 He takes it on himself. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:54.960 He's out that money. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:08.799 And what Jesus is saying to us is he's saying, none of your mistakes, none of your failings from your past or your present or your future, your imperfection, your brokenness, your flaw, your sin, none of it is on you. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.080 I will take all that on, I will absorb it. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:14.080 We know this in the cross. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:20.159 Our sin put upon Jesus, his righteousness put upon us, so he absorbs it. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.440 The one who is offended absorbs it. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:29.120 But this moron slave, he's given this forgiveness. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:33.120 He turns right around, closes his eyes to it. 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:35.519 And this is fascinating. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.759 But I don't think it should surprise us. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:42.399 Because you've known a cranky, miserable Christian before. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:47.200 You've probably been a cranky, miserable Christian before. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:48.000 I have. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.879 And this is point number four. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:02.080 You can have salvation because you believe in Jesus and know nothing of the joy of that salvation. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:11.919 Meaning, the joy of your salvation is in the receiving and in the appropriating of that into your life. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:14.480 So it may be declared upon you. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:29.440 You may have received Jesus as your Savior, and you keep living out of your fears, never appropriating unconditional love, your acceptance and absolution into your entire life, into all of your fears. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:42.559 Never converting from a merit unto success type of life into a grace unto acceptance type of life. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:44.159 Never asking these questions. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:47.279 What does unconditional love mean to my fears? 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:48.480 Right? 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:50.080 I mean, that's what it means to grow in grace. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.639 I mean, this guy he receives the forgiveness. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.120 He just moves right back into being greedy. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:03.519 He never appropriates that into some sort of need he had to feel like he needed to be repaid or some sort of greed that was going on in his heart. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:08.480 And then this brings us to the end of the parable, which is incredibly sobering and a little confusing. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.279 Verses 32 through 35. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:21.840 Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:26.879 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:33.279 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:41.919 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:53.840 So the parable ends in verse 34, and then Jesus makes a point in verse 35, and this raises a series of questions, at least for me. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.519 Enough to read a lot, enough for me to ask a few people this week. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:04.799 Is God going to throw us into some sort of prison, even as a Christian, if we don't forgive our brother? 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:20.159 Well, I think this is a really strong words of Jesus that say, like, if you're not a person of grace and forgiveness, it does demand enough for you to do a little contemplation of whether you are a person of the grace of Jesus and forgiveness. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.320 It's a strong warning. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:26.879 But it's interesting because it's metaphorical in verse 34. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:31.759 And then verse 35 feels a little vague, but really it doesn't sound like good. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:33.360 Like it's strong. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:37.200 And is Jesus talking about hell? 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:38.960 Is this prison hell? 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.960 Because I've not forgiven people before. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:55.279 I mean, there's been times I haven't forgiven people, or maybe I took a long time to forgive someone, or maybe I thought I forgave someone, and then later on I realized, like, wow, I really haven't let go of that quite yet. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:00.559 And so was I going to hell during this period of time where I was not forgiving someone? 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:09.120 Am I going to hell right now for some offense I'm still holding on to, someone who said something or did something to me and I'm wrestling with that? 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:10.720 Am I going to hell right now? 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:16.480 Well, frankly, to me, that sounds ridiculous because I don't want to go to hell. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:19.759 So I'm a little self-oriented on that. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:24.799 But it also sounds ridiculous in terms of the entire biblical narrative. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.720 I don't think Jesus is actually talking about hell here. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:29.360 I don't. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.759 You can probably find someone who thinks differently. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.200 And I don't think God quit loving this slave. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.960 I mean, we can't forget the rest of the New Testament. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:43.360 We can't forget Paul's writings that there's no condemnation in the love of God. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:44.879 We can't just like forget that. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.240 So what is this? 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.360 Well, to me, I think it's a little bit, maybe a little bit of a mystery. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:58.080 I'll embrace a little bit of mystery here, but I do think Jesus is making an important point using the strongest language possible. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:09.200 It is illogical and imprisoning to receive grace, never integrate grace, and then never dispense grace to others. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.640 And the flip is wonderfully true. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:15.039 This would be point number five. 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.160 I got really motivated with points this week. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:34.559 It is wonderfully freeing to receive the grace of God in Jesus, to integrate the grace of God into all of your life, and dispense the grace of God onto others. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:40.079 That whole process is wonderfully freeing. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:45.359 We have a king who is always forgiving and gracious to us. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:59.440 And in fact, if we look at the biblical narrative, we look at Paul's writings, not only is the dead erased, but he takes slaves and he makes us children. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:02.880 And this is where Father's Day comes in. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:12.240 Because being a great dad is not about being perfect, because that won't happen, in case you haven't picked up on that one. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.160 It's about being as present as you can be. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:19.839 It's about being that child more than that slave. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:20.720 Right? 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:26.319 So you're not a slave to your job until the point that you can't be present with your kid. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:31.839 You're not a slave to money unto the point that you can't love your kid or be present. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.920 You're not so preoccupied. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:46.240 And you, as a child of God, that you understand your greatest calling in this life, when you become a father, is no longer your job. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:48.960 It's no longer your career. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:51.440 It's your kid. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:52.880 It's your children. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:01.759 That you work your job in order for you to be able to come home and raise your kids. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:22.160 That you as a child of God are on a mission to impute upon your children, your imperfect children, to impute upon them a righteousness, a righteous standing that they have not earned by their behavior. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:30.720 They haven't earned it by merit, and you are granting it upon them over and over and over again. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:39.920 You are imputing to them, just like the Heavenly Father has imputed to you righteousness, you're imputing to your children a righteous standing over and over again. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:57.920 And there's still guardrails, there's still consequences, but the ethos of the relationship is grace and imputation, so that when the child fails and they're five or they're 15 or they're 50, they know they can come home and talk to dad. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:02.000 They would want to come home and talk to dad. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.480 That's what brings a child home. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:12.480 We're not perfect before this, but we're also not even defined by that. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.640 We're also not even defined by how good of a dad we are. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:19.519 That's actually what helps us be a good dad. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:24.400 Or a good kid, or a good mom, or a good student. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:31.039 Our wickedness, the wickedness in this parable, the wickedness is merit. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:51.759 To be a slave to merit, merit unto acceptance, or merit unto absolution is wickedness, the grace of God known in Jesus for your acceptance and absolution as a human being, a child of God, righteous before God, that is truth, godliness, and freedom. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:02.640 Religious moralism, fundamentalism, legalism, anything of merit-based living, parenting relating to God is wickedness. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:10.160 It's a break and assault on God's grace to you and the grace you should be bestowing upon your children. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:18.960 The grace of God, known in Jesus the Christ, experienced in the Holy Spirit day by day is the path of godliness and truth and freedom. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:32.240 Galatians 4 says this But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoptions as sons. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:43.680 We could say sons and daughters, and because you are sons and daughters, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.359 And if a son, then heir through God. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:52.720 My brothers and sisters, may you no longer live in this world as slaves, but as children. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:58.319 And if you are a father, may you bestow upon your children positions of righteousness. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:00.000 Let's pray together. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:05.680 God, thank you that in Jesus we are forgiven and we are free. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:20.480 You do not view us as a slave, but we have been bestowed positions of children, not because of our merit, but because of you, because of your act before us on the cross. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:22.640 Because of Jesus. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:25.759 You took the price. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:27.599 You were offended. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:34.160 We rebel and want to self-save and make our own way and prove ourselves. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.119 And you see all of it and you die. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.599 You die for our sin. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:43.759 You absorb our sin. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:51.839 Thank you for the gift of the cross for our acceptance and absolution. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:57.839 Would you help us to trust in Jesus in greater ways? 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:05.920 Appropriating that great grace of God into the greatest fears that we're still holding on to. 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:06.960 In Jesus' name. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:07.920 Amen.