PENTECOST
16
September
12-14, 2026
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Matthew 18:21-35
“CHRISTIAN
FORGIVENESS”
1.
Is
for me to receive.
2.
Is
for me to give.
Christians are different. It has always
been that way. Old Testament Christians (also known as the Israelites) were set
apart by God to be different from other people who did not know and believe in
the Savior God. They ate differently than other people. They dressed
differently and worshipped differently. They were supposed to behave differently.
The same thing is true for us New Testament Christians. While it can show up in
how we eat or drink and what clothes we wear or, more likely, refuse to wear,
it is to show up more strikingly in how we treat other people.
The disciples of Jesus learned many of these
lessons especially in that last year before Jesus completed His mission and
returned to heaven. For several weeks we have been following the Gospel of
Matthew and hearing about Jesus with His disciples during that last year. He
pointed out that Christians have a different view of Jesus than most people. He
is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That they have different
expectations. Following Christ gets you the privilege of carrying a cross
during this life. The crown comes later. Then he turned to the area of
forgiveness. Last week in the Gospel lesson Jesus showed His disciples that Christian
love is different. It means caring where people will spend their eternity.
Caring enough to call them to repentance so that forgiveness is received.
That got Peter thinking about forgiveness.
“Then Peter came up and asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my
brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?” Peter offered a
very human kind of forgiveness, actually he thought he was offering better than
normal human forgiveness. Human forgiveness has limitations. Human forgiveness
has to be earned. You know how it goes. Someone hurts you first time. OK, maybe
they are having a bad day. You let it go. They do something again you take
notice. Once again most will let it go. Three strikes you are out. Oh maybe if
you come back groveling on your knees and show my you are really sorry. Maybe
after I have made you pay with the silent treatment, some hurt back of my own
or the dreaded unfriending and you are hurting, then, when you have paid
enough, I will ‘forgive” you. That’s human forgiveness. Peter offered 7 strikes
before you are out. Wow! Impressive.
Until Jesus spit it out. “Jesus said to
him, “Not seven times, but I tell you as many as seventy-seven times.” Whoa!
Christians are different! And then Jesus explained why by means of a parable.
The story is simple and striking. Servants have racked up debts with their
king. He sets a day of reckoning. Everyone must pay. That is his right. One
particular servant had racked up an unpayable debt, let’s just say 77 billion.
Following established law the king was going to sell him and all he owed to at
least recoup something. The man begs for mercy and patience claiming he could
do the impossible and repay. Instead the King has mercy and forgives the debt.
This is not bankruptcy with ruined credit and ongoing consequences like human
forgiveness. This is full cancelling of the debt with no strings attached.
Christians are different. Christians are
different because Christian forgiveness is different. When Jesus tells a
parable one tool of understanding you can use is to look for whose actions
aren’t normal by human standards. That’s often a picture of God. In this
parable the King is our God. And we are clearly the servant. Sinning against
God racks up a debt. It is real. It must be paid. The price is death.
Separation from God. For each sin. How many do you have? More than you know. If
you are using the Meditations book for your personal devotions you came face to
face with that last week as the writer shared how when he is in airports, he
sometimes wonders how many of the hundreds or thousands of people he sees there
are going to heaven. And then he asked himself how many of those people he
actually cared whether they went to heaven or hell. Do you? Look around you!
How many of the people you see do your really thoughtfully care about? Our sins,
they are many.
His mercy is more! Christian forgiveness.
Jesus cared. He cared about his disciples and you and me and everyone in the
airports and football stadiums. He cared so much He carried every sin of every
person to the cross and paid the debt in full. He did that so the King, the
Father in heaven, can free us from payment with no strings attached. Only Christians,
those whose faith is in Jesus the Christ receive that forgiveness. That’s what
makes them different.
Those who reject that forgiveness, who
think it is no big deal or something they are entitled to, do not act
differently. That is the point Jesus made as his parable went on. The man who
had just been forgiven the 77 billion debt had someone in his life, a fellow
servant, who owed 7 thousand. A real debt, but one that actually could in time
be paid. He asked for time. This man, who had just had an unpayable debt
forgiven, who had just been rescued from having him his family sold into
slavery, whose heart should have been filled with relief, joy, gratefulness,
leading him to find joy in forgiving another, instead demanded payment in full.
His actions showed he did not value his king’s forgiveness and so he lost it. “This
is what my heavenly Father will also do to you unless each one of you forgives
his brother from his heart.”
Jesus brings the teaching point of the
parable home. Christians are different. They are different in the forgiveness
they receive. They know their sins are many. They know they cannot pay for even
one. They know God forgives them for free, no limits, the well never runs dry.
Relief floods into their hearts as they realize they and their families will
not be going into the slavery of Hell. Relief turns to joy as the Lord says,
“Not only do I free you from Hell but I freely give you my help, my love, my
protection, my provision, my blessing and then my heaven.”
Freely they have received so freely they
give. No, Peter, not up to 7 times, 77 times, which practically speaking is
unlimited. No, Peter, it does not depend on how the other guy acts. It depends
on you. Do you value what you have received? The cancellation of a 77 billion
dollar debt? If you do, you will cancel the $7000 debt. This is not always
easy. The deeper the hurt, the larger the debt, the more our sinful nature
wants to hold on to it. But you are different. You are a Christian. You follow
Christ Jesus. You put Him on at your Baptism. Let’s give it a try. Right now I
want you to think about someone you are mad at, someone who has hurt you,
irritated you, made your life miserable. Shouldn’t be hard. People are messy.
Their debt of sin to you may be small or large. Now lift your eyes to our
cross. It is there for a reason. It helps us remember what our Lord Jesus did
for us there. Can you picture Him hanging there? Do you see His love for you?
He pays the price, all 77 billion of your debt. Are you really going to hold on
to 7 or 77 or 777? Give that hurt to Jesus. You can do it. You are different! He
knows what you need and He knows if your hurter needs, mercy or justice and He
is big enough, smart enough and powerful enough to do what is right. And this
is Christian forgiveness we are talking about. It is what you have received and
now it’s yours to give.
But that brings us to you Pastor
Waldschmidt and Mr. Pufahl. Has anyone ever told you that you are, well, you
know, a little different? Actually you are a lot different. And that is a good
thing. For 25 years of your life at St. Jacobi and for 25 years of your life
respectively you have gotten to serve Jesus in a different way than most.
You’ve gotten paid to be different. God’s people took care of that. And you
have taken care of them. Preaching and teaching and making music in such a way
that it pointed them always to Jesus, the one who makes a difference and makes
us different. You have worked to live your lives in that Christian way that is
obviously different to be an example for those you have served. Where you
failed you joyfully received Christ’s forgiveness, and that is why, not the
pay, that you joyfully proclaim forgiveness and give it to others. 25 years!
That’s a long time of being blessed and of being a blessing to others. In that
way you have followed Christ as your being different has made a difference in
the lives of many people. We thank you and more importantly, we thank Jesus for
you! Amen.
