OPENING THOUGHT:
Last Sunday, we continued our journey into the world of forgiveness by considering how the forgiveness that God has shown to you can impact the relationships that you have with other people.

One of the things that makes being a follower of Jesus so special is that we have the best reason to be experiencing forgiveness. We of all people should be the ones asking for forgiveness and sharing that forgiveness with other people because we are the most forgiven people in the world!

But as we all know, experiencing forgiveness is so much easier said than actually done. And so we ended last Sunday with this question, how do I forgive? Turn with me to Matthew 18 where Peter came to Jesus asking how many times should he forgive his brother when his brother sins against him?

Is it one time, seven times, or any time that conflict presents an opportunity? How many times? The answer that Jesus gives will be encouraging because his answer teaches us that we CAN be doing this and we should be doing this because of the grace that God has already given to us.

Peter came to Jesus asking him how many times must he forgive someone, perhaps hoping that it was a one and done kind of thing. And perhaps this was difficult news for Peter to hear and for us to hear, that forgiveness in this world is never a one and done kind of thing. Every conflict becomes a new opportunity for you, whether it is one time, seven times, or seventy x seven times!

And when those opportunities come our way, we see first of all that…

The debt was very real. This man owed the king 10,000 talents, which is equal to millions of dollars. The debt was so big that the king was prepared to liquidate the man’s entire life in order to pay it back.

When there is an opportunity for forgiveness, there will always be a debt. Whether you caused it or someone else caused it, if someone has been hurt, then there will always be a debt. And that is why forgiveness is so costly, because forgiveness means having to give up something.

The word “give” is right there in the heart of the word forgiveness. If someone has hurt you, forgiveness means giving up the right to hold a grudge over the person. It means letting go of the hurt and offering to make peace with that person. And if you are the one who needs forgiveness, it means giving up the right to be defensive, it means letting go of your pride and letting down your guard to make peace with that person.

When there is an opportunity for forgiveness, there will always be a debt. Some of us like to take slow payments from the person who has hurt us.
We find ways to get back at the person either directly or by being cold and distant, like a slow form of revenge.

But even though forgiveness is costly, the cost of hanging on and going on without forgiveness is so much more costly. I found this anonymous quote, “Un-forgiveness is the poison we drink, hoping others will die!”

Forgiveness is costly and always involves a debt. But as we see in the text, forgiveness is also...

In that moment, the master had a decision to make: Did he want to give or did he want to take. Forgiveness always comes down to a decision, and we see that God made the very first decision to forgive...

The king represents God who has every right to demand that we pay him back for every time that we have rebelled against him. He is our one and only creator and we all have rebelled against him. But God made a decision, based on his great compassion to cancel that debt by the power of the cross and no longer hold it against us.

God made the first decision to forgive. Forgiveness is always a decision. But forgiveness did not mean and does not mean forgetting. Forgiveness did not mean and does not mean excusing.

But it does mean treating the other person as if it never existed, because forgiveness means letting it go, just like the king let the man go and would no longer hold the debt over the man’s head. As author Ken Sande has described in his book, The Peacemaker, forgiveness comes down to a decision based on these four promises:

1. I will not dwell on this incident
2. I will not bring it up and use it against you
3. I will not talk to others about it
4. I will not let this incident hinder our relationship

You and I will say that making those promises is very costly and difficult, because forgiveness is always costly and it is never an easy decision. And Jesus tells us that yes it is costly and yes it is hard, but it is...

We see that when the man was let go to live a new life, it was not long before he ran into another man who also owed him a debt. But this debt was only 100 denarii, which means a couple of dollars. It was peanuts compared to what the first man had owed the king! Yet, notice what the forgiven man did about those peanuts…

Matthew 18:28–30
“…He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30But he refused. Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.”

And when news of this got back to the king, it wasn’t good at all…

Matthew 18:32–35
“…‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger, his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Forgiveness is necessary. As much as we need to be forgiven and have been forgiven, we must also forgive. But here is the good news… If God expects you to forgive others, then he will help you to forgive others. God never guides where he does not also provide!

God provides all of the grace so that all we have to do is share! As you have experienced the richness of God’s grace that has forgiven you and set you free, you now have all the grace you need to share with other people and help set them free!

Because of God’s grace, it is no longer one time, seven times or seven x seventy times. It is every time and all the time, because his grace is more than sufficient every time and all the time!