Good evening. As we continue in our series tonight we will be looking at our next Parable from Jesus. Most of the parables that we have studied have centered around the Kingdom Of Heaven itself. Last week’s lesson spoke of how a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven should feel about the Word of God. That parable was about each of us that are here tonight.
This week we will consider a parable that describes the character of the citizens who make up God’s Kingdom. Tonight we will look at The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.
Before we dig into this parable, let’s open with a word of prayer.
Let me start by asking you a few questions. How many credit cards to you have?
When does your credit card tempt you the most?
Well, before we read the parable of the unmerciful servant, can anyone tell me what this parable is going to be about?
Well let’s go ahead and read our parable for tonight. This one is a bit longer than usual, but you find this parable in Matthew 18:21-35. Here in this parable we read about debt and forgiveness. The parable of the unmerciful servant. Here in Matthew 18:21-35 it says, “1”
What led up to this Parable?
Peter asked a question in verse 21 about forgiving a brother. He probably thought that he was being very gracious. In fact, most Jewish rabbis taught that forgiving someone 3 times was sufficient.
How are you at forgiving others? Do you tend to be fast or slow to forgive someone?
Offenders in Jesus’ day were forgiven 3 times, and after the 4th offense, they need not be forgiven. But Jesus gives this answer in verse 22 and He says, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
Is Jesus’ answer here to be taken literally?
If Jesus means this literally, then we must forgive people up to 490 times. However, I don’t feel that the number was the point that Jesus was trying to get across to Peter in this Parable. Instead, I think that He is telling Peter that the spirit of forgiveness knows no boundaries. There should be no limit to your forgiveness of others.
When we apply that to our lives, if you understand the cost of the cross, you will be a very forgiving person. Why, because you have been truly forgiven. You see, we are a small part in a big picture, we are not the center of the universe.
So when it comes to us forgiving others, we need not think of a number, but of the cross. When we do that, we should be willing to forgive no matter what the number would be.
So, to reinforce His point, Jesus proceeds to tell the parable of the unmerciful servant. We see in this story that a king shows mercy to one of his servants by canceling his huge debt. Just how large was this debt that this servant owed his king? Well, the servant owed his king 10,000 talents. 1 talent is approximately 200 pounds of gold. 10,000 talents would be equal to 2 million pounds of gold. Now the price of gold varies form day to day, but we could conservatively estimate that 10,000 talents would, in today’s money, be worth around 8.5 billion dollars.
To make matters even worse, if you take into account the difference in the price of gold in Jesus’ day, compared to today, and factor in the average daily wage then verses now, the debt this servant owed was even greater. At the rate of pay for laborers in the first century, this man would have had to work for 37,000 years in order to pay back what he owed his king.
Now the obvious point here is that the man could never in his wildest dreams even begin to pay back what he owed. He was facing an insurmountable debt. It would be impossible for him to pay back his debt to the king, and yet the king, being owed this huge sum of money, has mercy and forgives this man.
But notice what happened in the parable. Notice that in the parable the mercy of the king goes beyond the servant’s actual request. Look at verses 26 and 27 again, “1”
You see, this man asked for patience and time to repay his debt, but the king took mercy on him and forgave him of the debt and let him go. He actually canceled this debt, and then let the guy go.
After looking at this story, why is it so hard for us to forgive people today?
Well even though the king was merciful to the servant, the story takes a twist and the servant finds himself on the other end of this issue. Yet this servant who had just been forgiven of a huge debt refuses to forgive the debt that a fellow servant owed him. Verses 28-30 again says, “1”
Okay, we did this with the talents, so let’s do it with the denarii. One day’s wage was usually about 1 denarii. So, 100 denarii would probably be just a little bit over 3 months of labor. So this debt could have been anywhere form 8-10 thousand dollars by today’s standards.
If you where the king in this story, how would you have felt after just forgiving this man, he went out and refused to forgive a man of less that what he was just forgiven of? How would that make you feel?
Well let’s look at that part of the story. Verses 31-34 says, “1”
This man lacked the character to forgive others, and in the end it came back to bite him. How do you think God feels when we aren’t willing to forgive others? What goes through His mind?
Well, the main point of this lesson is found in verse 35. Here Jesus says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
Failure to forgive a brother or sister will result in severe punishment. Prompted by gratitude, the forgiven should always yearn to forgive whoever has trespassed against them. God’s word should change your attitude. And then your attitude should change your relationships. Because God has forgiven us our trespasses, we ought to forgive those who trespass against us. You see, forgiveness is about restoring a broken relationship.
The most important lesson that we can learn from this parable is that the Kingdom of Heaven is to consist of people who are both forgiven and forgiving. People who have both received mercy and who are merciful. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says this same idea. Here in Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says, “2”
Well, I would like to end tonight with a little bit of discussion. Which character in this story can you most relate to and why?
What have you found helpful in forgiving those who have wronged you?
How has God’s forgiveness affected your life and your willingness to forgive others?
Are there those out there today that you need to go and forgive? If so, then I encourage you to restore those relationships and forgive them. Not only will that restore your relationship with that person, it will also restore your relationship with your Heavenly Father.
Does anyone have anything that they would like to add tonight before we close?
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