Forgiving Our Debt with His Payment

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 17, 2017

Matthew 18:21–35

Forgiving Our Debt with His Payment

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

At the heart of this parable is the difference between justice and mercy. Justice is getting exactly what you deserve; mercy is getting the opposite of what you deserve. The servant stands before the king and which one does he ask for? Does he ask for mercy or justice?

²⁴As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. ²⁶The servant fell on his knees before him. He begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything.’

MATTHEW 18:24-26 NIV

This servant shows that he didn’t believe that he needed to be forgiven because he didn’t ask for forgiveness. He asked for patience. He thinks that the king has simply done him a favor that he might have done on his own, if only he were given enough time. So he is not repentant. He doesn't really think that the king has forgiven him, because he doesn't think he really had something wrong with him. He probably would have said that the king was a nice guy, but his freedom and his righteousness were his own, and that he would have gotten free eventually on his own.

This is a warning to us. By faith we will be generous and merciful to other people, but that we also see our place in God's kingdom: we are beggars. We cannot dig ourselves out of this hole. We sins are too much for us. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. So we need His mercy, not more time to dig ourselves deeper into debt.

In short, we need Jesus. We need Him to forgive our debt, our trespasses, our sin. It is too much for us, but Jesus has forgiven it all.

²⁷The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

MATTHEW 18:27 NIV

So, dear beggars and now also servants of the true everlasting King, Christ hasn’t give you justice, but mercy. He has given you the opposite of what you deserve: instead of prison, He has given you a place in His kingdom.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

For a more complete treatment of this text,

see Pr. David Peterson's Sermon.

Willing to Be Thought of as Mean

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 10, 2017

Matthew 18:15-20

Willing to Be Thought of as Mean

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the worst thing that another person can think about you?

Cheap? Lazy? Smelly?

How about mean?

Being thought of as mean is the worst possible outcome in life. I don’t think this used to be the case, but it sure is a fear of many today. I mean, you’re afraid of being thought of as mean, right? So am I.

We should be self-aware enough to care about how we come across to others. But when this fear of being thought of as mean forces you not to tell the truth, that’s a problem.

Now there are three ways you can end up being thought of as mean.

You can actually be evil or

you can tell the truth to hurt someone else in order to make yourself feel better or

you can tell the truth out of love for someone’s safety.

Before the flood, Noah was called a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5 NIV). Very likely when his neighbors came around to see the ark being built, Noah preached to them about what was coming and why it was coming.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

HEBREW 11:7 NIV

He condemned the world by faith, because faith is agreeing with God. And Moses recorded what God had said about the world.

⁵The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled. ⁷So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

GENESIS 6:5–7 NIV

Noah preached not his own condemnation. He didn’t speak about his own personal disgust for the world’s evil; he preached the judgment of the Lord, so that some might be get on the ark and be saved. Noah didn’t care if his neighbors thought of him as mean; he just didn’t want them to drown and go to hell.

Fast forward to a decade or so after Jesus ascended into heaven. The early Church is being torn apart by those who insisted that Christ dying and rising for salvation wasn’t enough. They were insisting that you had to follow the old laws of Moses to be a “real” Christian. So to be a “real” believer you had to be circumcised and you had to eat certain foods and avoid others.

Even Peter had been taken in by this false teaching, so Paul had to speak the truth in love. He confronted Peter “face-to-face” not out of anger, but out of concern for his soul. He loved Peter enough to risk being thought of as mean in order to set him straight back onto the full and free Gospel of Jesus, who lived, died, and rose for our sins.

You care about your neighbors. Care enough about them to risk being thought of as mean. When one of them sins against you, speak the truth in love to them. Speak clearly and calmly about the sin in question and then speak clearly and joyfully about the forgiveness of that sin that we receive in Christ’s dying and rising. He died for all sin, including the sin in question. He knew the sinner by name and the sin in question when He willingly suffered and died.

If your sinner won’t listen, get back-up from a trusted fellow believer. This is someone who can be trusted to keep the matter confidential. If your sinner still insists on calling their sin not-sin, then it’s appropriate to get the Church involved. And if your sinner clings to their sin even then, then they must be shown and not just told that they are in danger. This is what Jesus said:

¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

MATTHEW 16:24–25 NIV

When you do this, you’re taking a big risk. The one who sinned against you will very likely think of you as mean. They will think your trusted believer is mean. And they will think the Church and her pastor are mean. This is a risk we must take. By faith we sacrifice our reputation to the scorn of committed sinners and of the world. As Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

ROMANS 12:1-3 NIV

When we remember what we are and what we were, we will warn our fellow sinners out of care and love, risking ourselves in the process. Why? Because of our Savior, who risked and lost everything for us! Not only did lose His life, He also risked His good name. Indeed His reputation continues to be trampled on by the unbelieving world. But risk and lose did not stop Him because He loves you.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

Getting Behind Jesus’ Dying

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 3, 2017

Matthew 16:21–23

Getting Behind Jesus’ Dying

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There are times in life when frustration or sadness leads you to share secrets that later on you wish you hadn’t shared. At the time it seemed like you had to tell someone this secret doubt or opinion or frustration. And maybe for a while sharing the secret did make you feel satisfied.

But then as time goes by, you start to wish you had keep this private thought private. You realize that what you thought was so important or insightful at the time wasn’t as brilliant or accurate as you thought. And you wish you could take it back.

If you know what I’m talking about, then you probably can relate to the Apostle Peter. He often over-shared, as we’d say it today. And in this account he really was out there.

By this point in his life he had seen so much that Jesus had said and did. He had seen Jesus feed thousands of people and heal many more. He had seen Jesus calm stormy seas. He had felt Jesus’ hand grab his own and pull him up out of water and carry him on water to safety. Surely a Man like this, indeed the Son of the living God, would never let Himself die. And Peter expressed his secret opinion to his friend.

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. ²²Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. He said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to You!”

MATTHEW 16:21–22 NIV

Jesus’ reaction is startling. He doesn’t talk Peter down or try to soothe him. He could have explained, “Yes, Peter, it seems impossible, after all you’ve seen, but believe Me, this is going to happen. So thanks for sticking up for Me, but it’s going to be okay.” Instead He delivers one of His most crushing rebukes, looking right into Peter’s eyes:

“Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

MATTHEW 16:23 NIV

The Greek word that in English is heard as “stumbling block” is an interesting and even complicated word. It originally meant the stick that propped up a box trap. And soon it meant the trap itself. What is clear is that the Devil did not give up his attempts to trap Jesus after the tempting in the wilderness. The Devil is still trying to get the cross out of the picture. He wants Jesus to gloriously and bloodlessly rule the world. And Peter agrees with the Devil. This is why Jesus says what He says: “Get behind Me, Satan!”

When anyone tries to stop Jesus from going to the cross or in our day deny that central fact of Jesus’ dying and rising, that is the Devil speaking. The Devil’s trap is to feel forgiven and good without Jesus and certainly without His bitter suffering and death. This is the danger for those who never miss the joy and glory and fame and razzle-dazzle of Easter Sunday, but make it a point to boycott the hearing of the Good Friday account of Jesus’ cross and dying. In their own way, they agree with Peter: “No, Lord! That never should have never happened to You!” They know that rising from the dead assumes a death, but that’s the problem—they assume it. Good Friday and Easter together is the Gospel, Jesus died and rose. Assuming either one is dangerous, because the Gospel assumed is the Gospel denied.

Peter denied Jesus’ actual—and now clearly laid out—reason He came to Earth. He took on our flesh and blood, so that He might shed His blood as a sacrifice. This sacrifice is what makes us pleasing to His Father. Peter wanted life without death and without sacrifice. He wanted to save his life without losing it. Perhaps he realized that if Christ must carry a cross and die, so must His followers.

Do not deny Jesus’ cross. Instead confess His cross, His death, His resurrection with joy. And carry your crosses faithfully. These are the things in life that the Devil uses to raise doubts in your mind as to whether Jesus truly loves you.

A hurricane.

A positive result on a biopsy.

A child who will not listen.

Everything is washed away, but you still have Jesus.

You might die sooner than you thought, but you still have Jesus.

Years of frustration may lie ahead, but you still have Jesus. And so does your child.

When crosses come to bear, turn to Jesus and listen to Him as speaks to His disciples, which is you:

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it.

MATTHEW 16:24–25 NIV

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45