Forgiveness

We had a guest speaker at Bannockburn (our church in Austin) that really made me think. His name was HB London, JR and he spoke on Matthew 18:21-35 The parable of the Unmerciful Servant:

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^[a]

23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents^[b] 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.

26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.^[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32"Then the master called the servant in. '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.

35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

(Holy Bible, New International Version, excerpt from www.biblegateway.com)

I have heard this story several times over my lifetime but I don't think I truly digested it until Sunday. London basically summarized it by saying: Forgiveness is not approving what someone did to you or reconciling or forgetting. It's God's command to us, a demonstration of God's own love for us. Wow! That puts it in a whole new perspective for me. I have always focused on the first portion of the parable, God's sacrifice for us. I never realized the implications for our own life towards others. Something to chew on...

Update: Bannockburn has posted at least a portion of the sermon online! I'm not savvy enough to post a direct link here, but you can go to 'http://www.bbcfamily.com/', click on the 'Audio Sermons' link and pick the sermon from April 15th. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!