Forgiven much?

Today I read the parable of the king and the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. As I took my jog I thought hard about forgiveness and unforgiveness. Somehow although I have read this many times before, this time I saw it with more clarity. Maybe this is because I have been thinking about forgiveness a lot lately: what true forgiveness looks like, how to know you've truly forgiven someone, when do we need to ask for forgiveness, why forgiveness is so critical to our christian growth.

While reading the parable I pictured the king calling each of his servants to recover what they owed him. When he got to one servant who owed him a lifetime worth of money, the king realized the servant could not pay. As a result he ordered the servant's family and all that he owned to be sold in order to settle the debt.

At this point, I'm thinking that while the king probably doesn't need the money, it is his absolute right (and even fair) that he receive back what had been taken or borrowed from him. He was the sovereign owner of the money to begin with.

Back to the scene before us...The servant must have been overwhelmed at the thought of losing all he had, seeing his family sold away from him, and never having a chance to recover. The servant fell down before the king begging him to be patient until he could find a way to pay. The king in a move of great grace, shows compassion on the servant and instead of giving him TIME to repay, he releases the servant from his huge debt. Complete forgiveness, no strings attached.
Wow.

Had the story ended there it would be a pretty fantastic end. Instead it continues with an amazing twist. Here is where my mind stayed turning over and over the events that unfolded next.

The forgiven servant, who has received grace he did not deserve, turns around and goes in search of another servant. Did he go to share the joy of his forgiveness? Unfortunately we will find that is not the case. The forgiven servant finds a fellow servant who owed him a small debt. Upon finding him, he takes him by the throat and threatens him to pay what he owes! His fellow servant falls down at his feet and begs him for patience, he promises to pay all.

Again I pause and think to myself...Certainly here the forgiven servant will share a little bit of the great grace he just received. I mean, he has no debt to pay anymore so he must be willing to share that experience with a fellow debtor.

As it turns out, the forgiven servant tightly grips the grace he has receives, tucks it away, and pronounces judgement on his fellow servant- to debtors prison for you! Not until he received the pittance owed him would he release his fellow servant.

Really? REALLY? How did he so quickly forget the huge debt forgiven him? Why did it not free him to extend that grace to another?

Well, as things played out, news must have traveled fast. The other servants observed the unforgiving behavior of the servant who had been forgiven much and they felt very grieved. In their grief they shared the encounter with the king. The king in turn called in the forgiven servant and said, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?" (v.32-33)

As a result of this encounter, the offending servant went from debt free and forgiven to being given to the torturers until he could repay his original debt. Can you imagine? From debt to freedom to debt again... was it worth it?

Was it worth it? Is it worth it to not forgive? It seems to me that I can't afford NOT to forgive. I can't afford it because I have been forgiven a debt I cannot repay... a holy God has required perfection and I am a wretched sinner, unable to reach His standard. I am deserving of death. Romans 6:23 confirms this, "But the wages of sin is death..." All of my sin is a lifetime of debt just like the original servant. The king, God, has the right to expect full payment of my debt. Fortunately Romans 6:23 doesn't stop with the wages of sin, it finishes, "BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

He has extended amazingly great grace to me by sending His Son to die on the cross for my debt, my sin. How can I, an undeserving servant who has been forgiven much and received such great grace not extend a little grace to another? What they owe me is so little compared to the immense debt I owe to my Lord and Savior. Not only that but my debt was so graciously paid for by Christ's blood. I do not deserve it, I cannot repay it.

To withhold forgiveness is to tightly grip the grace I've received, tuck it away, and pronounce judgement on others. To withhold forgiveness is to place the debt I perceive another person owes me as greater than the overwhelming debt I have been forgiven.

Bottom line, no one could ever "owe" me what I owe my Lord... what another owes me in comparison to what I owe my Lord is like comparing a cheap blow up dingy to the Queen Mary.

Bottom line: Forgiveness is not an option, it is an absolute requirement. One I cannot afford to withhold because I owe so much.

Decline of the Gospel

Recently we had a special speaker, Colin Marshall, come to our church and he shared this thought:

1st generation preaches the gospel
2nd generation assumes the gospel
3rd generation denies the gospel

I have been meditating on this since I heard it. The natural flow of human nature seems to be that we decline spiritually from generation to generation unless someone picks up the baton of the gospel and preaches it to their own generation and the next. Every generation stands on the edge of that slippery slope.

The second generation slips when we assume our Christianity. For me that translated this way...
we go to church, we own bibles, we go to "christian" activities, we live in "christian" homes BUT do we ever preach Christ? The temptation might be to assume that because our lives or our children are filled with "christian" things that we are therefore christian.

The reality is that we are sinners prone to wander, prone to feed our flesh. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves, to our families, to our church family, to our friends, and anyone else we come in contact with.

Think of it this way, would we expect to become full of knowledge by just owning (not opening) a beautiful new set of encyclopedias? Of course not. Then how can we expect to become disciples of Christ by just owning a bible and never reading it OR by going to church and never applying what we are taught? It is said that Christianity is not caught, it's taught.

Christianity can be defined this way: being a follower or disciple of Christ. So let's consider thinking about our "christianity"... are we just playing christians - going through the motions, making our appearance on Sundays, and never pursuing Christ Himself? Or are we Christians - reading and meditating on His Word, coming to Sunday morning ready to hear God's Word and learning how to apply it, and sharing the gospel and pursuing Christ.

Let's not assume that our activities or the activities of those around us are equal to a relationship with Christ... let's proclaim the gospel until the Lord comes again... to ourselves and to others to every single generation. Pass it on.

Lavish Grace

Ephesians 1:7-8

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us."

Grace in the Greek is charis - it means unmerited or undeserved favor.

Lavish is the Greek verb perisseuo which means to superabound, to be in excess. The Greek lexicon explains it this way: to furnish one richly so that he has abundance. Here in Ephesians God performed the action, it is a statement of fact with no regard to the past, present or future time. This is a reality in the believer's life... God lavished the riches of His grace upon us. WOW!

Recently I have been studying God's grace, I am overwhelmed by the lavishness of it! God sent His Son to be the propitiation for my sins, He redeemed me by His blood, He has forgiven my trespasses. He did that while I was yet a sinner (Rom. 5:8), at enmity with Him. Christ broke down the dividing wall between myself and God (Eph. 2:13-16). Truly all undeserved by a sinner such as I.

"Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within.
Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sin."

As I ponder the vastness of the grace of God, I begin to get a glimpse of the outworking of His grace in my life. Although salvation is more than enough - it is super-abundant - His sanctification in my life has been abundance on top of abundance.

How many times has He forgiven me? Countless times and without hesitation.
What has He forgiven me? Limitless things- every sin I bring to the foot of His cross is forgiven.
Where am I now compared to 5 years ago? Ten years ago? Walking more and more in His grace by His grace... I am so dramatically changed because of His grace.
Who am I? Chosen by God in Christ (Eph. 1:4, John 15:16), predestined to adoption as sons through Christ (Eph. 1:5), accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6), joint heir with Jesus (Rom. 8:17).

Any one of these things is cause for rejoicing and awe. I know that I know God's grace in my life because nothing could accomplish in me what God's grace has accomplished. Because that grace is so freely given, lavishly given, how can I not extend grace to those around me? What right have I to withhold grace from others when I have been so abundantly supplied?

A parable comes to mind in answer to this question...remember the parable of the unforgiving servant?

In Matthew 18, Christ is talking to Peter about forgiveness and He tells Peter about a king who began to settle accounts with his servants. One servant in particular possibly owed more than he might ever be able to pay in his lifetime - ten thousand talents. The king ordered that he be sold as well as his wife and children to settle the debt. But the servant begged mercy of the king, begging his patience. Not only did the king release the servant but he forgave him the entire debt. The king had every right to the payment but chose to forgive it all.

The story doesn't end there though. That same servant, the receiver of much grace (undeserved favor), goes to another servant who owed him a pittance compared to what he had just been forgiven and demands immediate payment. He not only demanded it, he took that fellow servant by the throat and threatened him. When that man begged for mercy, he was denied and sent to debtors prison until he could repay. When the king heard of it, he was angry and delivered the wicked servant to the torturers until he could repay saying, "Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?" (Matt. 18:33)

So what is the answer to, "What right have I to withhold grace from others when I have been so abundantly supplied?" NONE, I have no right to withhold grace from anyone because the grace I received is not mine, it is a gift from God richly poured out on me. I have not done anything to merit grace - it is completely undeserved by me. Therefore, it is my obligation to pour out grace on others in Christ's name - not under durress but out of abundance. Freely He has given, freely we need to give - it's His grace we give. Let us walk in the abundance that is already ours spreading that abundance as we go.

Oh Precious Jesus, how You have so lavishly poured out Your grace on me through Your death on the cross. You have cancelled the debt I owe that I could never repay by Your blood. Help me today to walk in that abundant grace and to be a source of that grace to everyone around me. Help me to see myself as I truly am, a sinner saved by Your grace, not of myself lest I should boast. I love You Lord, Amen.