The One Year Bible Club with Teaching
Commentary by Nick Boork
January 28
Matthew 18:21-19:12
Commentary by Nick Boork
January 28
Matthew 18:21-19:12
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Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
19 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. 3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” 8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” 10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
First I want us to focus in on Jesus teaching on forgiveness. This teaching follows Jesus instruction about how to deal with offenses and reconcile relationships. Peter reasoned within himself, thinking how many times he would be able to forgive someone. This is why he asked the Lord how many times should I forgive someone up until seven times? Peter may have been thinking that to forgive someone seven times would show that he was very spiritual. However, Jesus answered him and said that Peter needed to multiply forgiving someone 70x7 which equals 490 times. If you apply this principle as a mathematical equation daily it would look like this; 24 hours minus an average of 8 hours to sleep equals 16 hours of awake time. If you divide 16 hours of awake time by the 490 times Jesus said we need to be forgiving a person that equals forgiving a person an average of every about every 3 minutes a day. This is amazing! Jesus was teaching that forgiveness has no limits but many of us limit the amount of times we are willing to forgive someone that offends us.
To drive home the point of how important it is to live a life of perpetual forgiveness Jesus told the story of the unforgiving servant. The story begins with a servant being held accountable to his master. It was determined that the servant owed his master a total of 10,000 talents. Some Bible scholars estimate a talent was worth 6000 denarii. A denarius was a Roman silver coin worth about a day's wages for a common worker. One talent would take an ordinary laborer around (16 years) to earn. So, if it took about 16 years to earn one talent then to repay 10,000 talents would take the average man about 160,000 years to repay. In other words, Jesus was saying the debt was so great that the servant would never be able to repay it. The good news is that the master had compassion on his servant and forgave him the entire debt. However, this same servant that had been forgiven such a great debt went after one of his fellow servants that owed him a hundred denarii or less than $500.00 dollars. The servant who was owed the money grabbed his fellow servant by the throat and demanded that he pay him immediately. He fell at his feet and promised to repay him but his fellow servant would not listen and had him thrown into debtors prison to work off all that he owed.
When the master heard what this servant did he called him and said to him you wicked servant I for gave you the entire debt that you owed me because you begged for mercy shouldn't you also have shown compassion and had mercy on your fellow servant as well? The Bible says that the master had this wicked servant thrown into prison because of his lack of compassion and un-forgiveness toward his fellow servant. Then Jesus nails the point, saying this is how my heavenly Father will treat you also if you refuse to forgive everyone from your heart. In the story Jesus reveals several important truths:
1. We all owe God a debt that we can never pay because of our sins.
2. A day of accounting will come when we all stand before God.
3. God is compassionate, merciful and willing to forgive all our sins.
4. We need to humble ourselves before God and ask for his forgiveness.
5. Everyone who asks God for mercy will be forgiven 100% for all their sins.
6. Those that receive God's forgiveness are required by God to forgive others.
7. Those that refuse to forgive others will end up in the same prison of their own sins.
Forgiveness is so important in the life of a Christian! Hebrews 12:15 "Looking diligently lest
any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Some can miss the grace of God by allowing bitterness to take root in their lives. When we don't forgive people that un-forgiveness turns into bitterness and defiles or contaminates everyone around them. God's grace needs to be received personally but every Christian needs to show God's grace to those that offend them. If Christians don't forgive others that offend them they in turn forfeit the grace of God for themselves, become bitter and end up in a spiritual prison house of their own making.
A Practical Forgiveness Exercise:
Search your heart, is there anyone that you need to forgive? A practical application that you can do before the Lord privately is to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of all the people that come to your mind that have hurt or offended you in the past. Next take out a red magic marker and one by one go through the list saying the name of the person followed by today I forgive you from my heart. After this, put a line through their name in red. Red represents the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the remission of our sins. By using a red magic marker and putting a line to reach one's name you're acknowledging that just like you have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus you also forgive 100% like God has forgiven you. Remember, just like receiving God's forgiveness was a choice, showing forgiveness to others is also a choice. Never wait until you feel like forgiving a person always choose to forgive people from your heart quickly and you'll stay out of prison walking in the freedom of God's love and total forgiveness.
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
19 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. 3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” 8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” 10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
First I want us to focus in on Jesus teaching on forgiveness. This teaching follows Jesus instruction about how to deal with offenses and reconcile relationships. Peter reasoned within himself, thinking how many times he would be able to forgive someone. This is why he asked the Lord how many times should I forgive someone up until seven times? Peter may have been thinking that to forgive someone seven times would show that he was very spiritual. However, Jesus answered him and said that Peter needed to multiply forgiving someone 70x7 which equals 490 times. If you apply this principle as a mathematical equation daily it would look like this; 24 hours minus an average of 8 hours to sleep equals 16 hours of awake time. If you divide 16 hours of awake time by the 490 times Jesus said we need to be forgiving a person that equals forgiving a person an average of every about every 3 minutes a day. This is amazing! Jesus was teaching that forgiveness has no limits but many of us limit the amount of times we are willing to forgive someone that offends us.
To drive home the point of how important it is to live a life of perpetual forgiveness Jesus told the story of the unforgiving servant. The story begins with a servant being held accountable to his master. It was determined that the servant owed his master a total of 10,000 talents. Some Bible scholars estimate a talent was worth 6000 denarii. A denarius was a Roman silver coin worth about a day's wages for a common worker. One talent would take an ordinary laborer around (16 years) to earn. So, if it took about 16 years to earn one talent then to repay 10,000 talents would take the average man about 160,000 years to repay. In other words, Jesus was saying the debt was so great that the servant would never be able to repay it. The good news is that the master had compassion on his servant and forgave him the entire debt. However, this same servant that had been forgiven such a great debt went after one of his fellow servants that owed him a hundred denarii or less than $500.00 dollars. The servant who was owed the money grabbed his fellow servant by the throat and demanded that he pay him immediately. He fell at his feet and promised to repay him but his fellow servant would not listen and had him thrown into debtors prison to work off all that he owed.
When the master heard what this servant did he called him and said to him you wicked servant I for gave you the entire debt that you owed me because you begged for mercy shouldn't you also have shown compassion and had mercy on your fellow servant as well? The Bible says that the master had this wicked servant thrown into prison because of his lack of compassion and un-forgiveness toward his fellow servant. Then Jesus nails the point, saying this is how my heavenly Father will treat you also if you refuse to forgive everyone from your heart. In the story Jesus reveals several important truths:
1. We all owe God a debt that we can never pay because of our sins.
2. A day of accounting will come when we all stand before God.
3. God is compassionate, merciful and willing to forgive all our sins.
4. We need to humble ourselves before God and ask for his forgiveness.
5. Everyone who asks God for mercy will be forgiven 100% for all their sins.
6. Those that receive God's forgiveness are required by God to forgive others.
7. Those that refuse to forgive others will end up in the same prison of their own sins.
Forgiveness is so important in the life of a Christian! Hebrews 12:15 "Looking diligently lest
any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Some can miss the grace of God by allowing bitterness to take root in their lives. When we don't forgive people that un-forgiveness turns into bitterness and defiles or contaminates everyone around them. God's grace needs to be received personally but every Christian needs to show God's grace to those that offend them. If Christians don't forgive others that offend them they in turn forfeit the grace of God for themselves, become bitter and end up in a spiritual prison house of their own making.
A Practical Forgiveness Exercise:
Search your heart, is there anyone that you need to forgive? A practical application that you can do before the Lord privately is to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of all the people that come to your mind that have hurt or offended you in the past. Next take out a red magic marker and one by one go through the list saying the name of the person followed by today I forgive you from my heart. After this, put a line through their name in red. Red represents the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the remission of our sins. By using a red magic marker and putting a line to reach one's name you're acknowledging that just like you have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus you also forgive 100% like God has forgiven you. Remember, just like receiving God's forgiveness was a choice, showing forgiveness to others is also a choice. Never wait until you feel like forgiving a person always choose to forgive people from your heart quickly and you'll stay out of prison walking in the freedom of God's love and total forgiveness.
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll