11.03.19 | Parables
Unforgiving Servant
Noel Heikkinen
Matthew 18:15-35
Forgiveness is often something we long for from others but have a hard time giving out ourselves. What wrongs have been committed against you that are hard to forgive? Pastor Noel Heikkinen walks us through the parable of the unforgiving servant pointing out that when you refuse to forgive, you’re subjecting yourself to torture.
- Live Notes
“If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.
Matthew 18:15-17
Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?”
Matthew 18:21
“I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:22
Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.
Matthew 18:32-34
So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:35
“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
Matthew 6:14-15
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
If you devote your life to seeking revenge, first dig two graves.
Confucius
Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet gives to the heel that has crushed it.
Mark Twain
Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.
C.S. Lewis
It does not mean approving of what someone else did.
It does not mean pretending that evil never took place.
It does not mean making excuses for other people’s bad behavior.
It does not mean justifying evil so that sin somehow becomes less sinful.
It does not mean overlooking abuse.
It does not mean denying that others tried to hurt you repeatedly.
It does not mean letting others walk all over you.
It does not mean refusing to press charges when a crime has been committed.
It does not mean forgetting the wrong that was done.
It does not mean pretending you were never hurt.
It does not mean you must become friends again.
It does not mean there must be a total reconciliation as if nothing ever happened.
It does not mean that you must tell the person you have forgiven them.
It does not mean that all negative consequences of sin are cancelled.
Ray Pritchard
For rarely will someone die for a just person — though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-8
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