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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 26
Manage episode 439149352 series 3560004
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This teaching is from Matthew 18:21-35, the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor, and Matthew 19:1-12 on the topic of Divorce.
Peter asks Jesus if he should forgive someone seven times. Jesus responds with seventy seven times. The meaning of Jesus saying seventy seven times is that forgiveness in the face of genuine repentance does not keep track of numbers and Jesus is calling us to forgive as we have been forgiven.
Then Jesus tells this “Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor,” a story where a servant of a king owes millions of dolors to the king. When the king call the debt to account and be paid, the servant begs the king to be patient with him and that he will repay it. The king has compassion and forgives the entire debt!
But then this servant of the king has a man that works for him and this man owed the king’s servant a few thousand dollars and the king’s servant calls this man debt to account. When the man pleads to the king’s servant for time to pay but the king’s servant has the man thrown into jail until he could get the debt paid.
When the king heard about the lack of compassion he confronted his servant saying he had shown compassion and forgiven the debt to him, and that he should have done the same thing to the man that owed him money. The king placed his servant in jail for his lack of compassion until he could pay it off.
The story highlights how God, who has forgiven us an immeasurable debt, desires that we show the same kind of mercy to others and if we don’t then Jesus says we really don’t appreciate what the Father has given us.
We are called to forgive as we’ve been forgiven, to treat others in the same way God treats us. We’re called to reflect the incredible goodness of God. And that is shown in the act of forgiveness.
God’s way is grace, mercy, forgiveness and love like He’s given us. The Gospel of Jesus frees us from bitterness that destroys.
If we harbor hatred and resentment it eats away at us and destroys faith. God's call is to live life on His terms.
In the second half of today’s teaching, Jesus confronts a challenging issue, “Is Divorce Lawful?” He talks about how we are created male and female and that marriage is a covenant between them with God.
The follow up questions is “Why did Moses permit divorce?” It is because of hard hearts, but it is not God’s planned way. The Bible recognizes that divorce is a reality.
Today, we are living in a culture where divorce is widely practiced and what the New Testament calls us to is to recognize just as Jesus pointed out, it’s not the way the Father intended, and we are to bring hope and encouragement to those who are victimized by divorce. The Bible also calls us to lovingly let people know the truth of divorce.
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