A Heart of Forgiveness

​Matthew 18:33-35 ~ “’And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
 
Peter asked a question in regard to forgiveness that prompted our LORD to share a telling parable. In Matthew 18:21-22, the conversation between Peter and Jesus went like this, “Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” Many will understand that the LORD’s view is far greater than seventy-seven for it can be rendered “seventy times seven.” And even then, if you think 490 times is the limit of the need for forgiveness, you miss the point. For the LORD was rendering this to mean “as often as necessary.”
Why is forgiveness such a crucial condition for those who are redeemed? Because, dear ones, it is exactly how we enter into salvation—through the merciful grace and forgiveness of God. Jesus said in Mark 11:25, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Imagine, for a moment, coming before the throne of grace and within your heart is the bitterness of unforgiveness? The LORD who knows the thoughts that are in all men is not unaware of your heart when you pray. We enter the presence of God in prayer because of the forgiveness wrought for us through Jesus Christ. A heart that does not hold a merciful disposition toward their fellow man is indicative of a heart that has not truly understood their need for the forgiveness of God.
 
I encourage you to read the parable of our LORD in Matthew 18:21-35. For in that parable, we discover the great mercy of God displayed in the master’s forgiveness of the great debt owed by his servant. It is a parallel to the great debt owed before God for the sins of our lives. Born out of our original sinful state are the actual sins we have committed, whether in thought, word or deed, and God will hold us to account for each and every transgression. Jesus, our Great Savior, paid the full debt and pardoned our iniquities. As we look at the infractions against us, we must know that they will never measure up to the wickedness we have done against God. The LORD is rich with mercy toward us. Jesus says in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Thus, with our full debt paid, the small debts owed to us should be easy to forgive. And so, we read in the opening of our text today, “And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” So, the master of that servant has the man bound over to the jailer and imprisoned until he pays all the debt, “And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.” Let me ask you a question. Do you harbor any unforgiveness in your heart? That, my friends, is the antithesis to Christianity. For the unmerciful individual is contrary to the mercy received in Christ.
 
If you are holding unforgiveness within your heart, you stand in grave peril. The final statement of our text today warns, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” In answering Peter’s question on forgiveness, the LORD is warning against any notion of harboring bitterness within our heart. Lip-service forgiveness is not what Jesus is looking for. It is not enough to say with your mouth that you forgive when your heart rails against the one who has wronged you. They may deserve punishment, and God will see to it. But if you have forgiven them, it is not up to you to exact your own personal judgment. It must be “from your heart.” James warns us in James 2:13, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” One of the clearest testimonies of a heart transformed by the grace of Christ is the willingness to empty out all bitterness and be filled, instead, with mercy. Paul instructs in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
 
Let us enter this day with the desire to fulfill our LORD’s command in Luke 17:3-4, “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” This is our LORD’s willingness to be merciful toward us. Let us also hold the same heart and be merciful to others.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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