Are You Forgiving?

Woah! I havn't written for ages...

Today, Brother Mark Chen preached from Matthew 18:21-35.

1. God's Incredible Forgiveness
God's forgiveness is incredible because it is limitless! Jesus' answer to Peter's quesiton was to forgive the person seventy times seven! The parable that Jesus told Peter was about a servant who owed 10,000 talents to his master. 10,000 talents is a very huge debt. It is approximately 12,500 years of wages! But the servant was so desperate that he begged his master, "Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all" (v26). To "pay thee all" is really an impossible task, but the master of the servant was "moved with compassion" (v27) and he let the servant off.
The master in this parable represents God. Though it was the master's right to withold forgiveness, he didn't and forgave his servant. This is what a divine king like God would do! The servant in this parable represents us. We have a debt that is enormously large, a debt that if not paid leads to eternal judgment and punishment to infinity. Yet, God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. See Romans 5:6-8 - "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".

2. Our Ridiculous Position
When his fellowservant could not pay up, the servant that was forgiven grabbed his fellowservant by the neck, refused to hearken to his cries and threw him into prison. Many times we do not forgive like this servant. When we do not forgive...
First, we are petty. We are not willing to forgive people for a small sum.
Second, we are proud. The master of the servant showed mercy to him, but the servant did not show mercy to someone who was of the same level as him. It was as if he was elevating his status to that of his master. Many times, we don't remember that Christ humbled Himself. In fact, even if we do remember, it doesn't really matter to us. Instead, we are concerned about ourselves. We cannot humble ourselves because it is damaging to our reputation.
Third, we are on dangerous ground. There are many verses in the Bible that tell us of Christ's forgiveness. "Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (Col 3:13) and "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matt 6:12) are just 2 of the many verses. Christians' forgiveness and God's forgiveness is related. It shows our relationship with God. Being unforgiving is not a mark of a Chrisitan.

3. Our Divine Duty
Do we hold forgiveness until the person is repentant and seek forgiveness from us? NO! Christ didn't wait for us to come to Him before He forgave us. Look at how He prayed to His Father on the cross saying, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". We must have a forgiving attitude, instead of an attitude of wanting to be vindicated. Don't glare or give a black face to this person who has offended you. Oftentimes, we have to SEEK forgiveness first. This means that we are to admit our sin before God first (e.g. the sin of glaring at that person) and only then are we able to forgive others. Don't lose sight of God!

Conclusion
Let's remember Colossians 3:13 - Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."