Holy Communion Service with Pastor Paul Kerber
Lay Led Service with Raelene Falland
Forgiving From The Heart – Matthew 18: 21-35
C. S. Lewis once said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” God's will is for us to forgive our enemies.
He wants us to put away all wrath and malice and bitterness. And it is for our good too. Someone said that resentment is like drinking poison hoping the other person dies. Unforgiveness puts us in a prison of suffering. It is a heavy burden for the soul. Unforgiveness is like blood-sucking leeches of your spiritual life. But how can I forgive? It's so hard!
The secret is in the gospel - how God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. You see, the gospel is not a message that cries out, "Pay God for your sins!" The gospel is the glorious news, "Jesus paid it all!"
And just as we have received this stunning love that we are fully forgiven of all our sins, we are now to bend this love and forgiveness outwards towards our enemies. Therefore, we must learn to linger at the cross and soak in the soothing bath of God's love in order that the leeches of unforgiveness can fall off our souls.
Sometimes we are hurt by others and sometimes we hurt others. These hurts may be fairly trivial or else they may be quite serious. They may be unintentional but hurtful all the same. What do we do with ‘hurts’ and insults? We can hang on to them and bear grudges and become bitter and knotted up inside or we can forgive the hurt. Some unresolved hurts can destroy relationships, temporarily or even permanently.
People always say, “Forgive and forget.”
But forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is a voluntary, intentional choice to release someone from a debt they have to pay to you. You see when someone offends you, when someone despises you, when someone slanders you, you feel like there is a debt they have to pay. It's an emotional debt and you hold that person to that debt until he pays.
Forgiveness, however, is that voluntary intentional choice to say, “I release you from the debt. I'm not going to make you pay. I'm not going to make you suffer. I'm contented to absorb that injury.”
Unforgiveness also affects our relationship with God! In Chapter 18 of his Gospel, Matthew records some important aspects of living as members of the Kingdom of Heaven, as Christians living in a community of believers.
In our passage today, Matthew records an incident in which Peter came to Jesus and asked: Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? We don’t know what lay behind Peter’s question. It is likely that he is referring to a ‘Christian’ brother or sister, another member of the fellowship of believers. We note that at least Peter has recognised that forgiveness is important. He’s learned from Jesus that retaliation and grudge-holding is not the answer. But how many times should he forgive the same brother or sister? Surely there must be a limit. Within the Jewish religion, it was held that forgiving 3 times was enough. Peter more than doubles that standard and opts for seven. Surely that would suffice!
For Jesus, forgiveness is wholehearted and constant. It is not Jesus’ way to calculate numbers of hurts or offences. So Jesus replies: I tell you, not seven times but seventy times seven. Jesus didn’t mean that you kept a score and that, when we reached the number, the next offence could go un-forgiven! He was saying that for Jesus’ followers, forgiveness is to be unlimited. Forgiveness was to be a way of life. Bearing in mind that God has forgiven them, they ought not to withhold forgiveness from others. Jesus then launched into a parable found only in Matthew’s Gospel. Different to some of Jesus’ other parables, this one has no mystery to it. It is straightforward and uncomplicated.
Again, he begins with the familiar preamble the Kingdom of Heaven is like. This time it is like a King, later described as a Master (or Lord) who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. There are three scenes in the parable. Scene 1 opens with the news that one by one his servants came before him to settle their accounts. One particular servant owed the King a huge amount of money, in our day equivalent perhaps to many Millions of dollars. He was brought before the King to whom he explained that he was unable to pay the debt. In response, the King ordered that the servant, his wife and children all be sold as slaves, in order to recover at least some of the huge debt. The servant owed a huge debt and now he must be punished by having to pay a huge penalty.
On hearing of this shocking punishment, the servant fell to his knees and begged: be patient with me and I will pay back everything. Although it was unlikely that he could ever repay the debt, he was ready to promise anything! In just a few words, the reaction of the King, now described as the servant’s master or Lord, is recorded: he took pity on him, cancelled his debt and let him go. The Master was a compassionate man and not only released him but forgave his debt! He was free to go! It was an act of pure grace.
In Scene 2 we find the recently forgiven and released servant grabbing and choking one of his fellow servants who happened to owe him a very small amount, perhaps in our day $50. In a threatening manner he said to him pay back what you owe me!
As he himself had done very recently, the other servant fell to his knees and begged to be patient with me and I will pay you back. Unlike the compassionate Master, the servant who had been forgiven much had his fellow servant thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. However, there were witnesses to this incident and the other servants, greatly distressed by what they saw, went and told the master everything that had happened.
Scene 3 opens with the Master calling the unforgiving servant in and berating him for his lack of mercy, referring to him as a wicked servant. In the light of him being forgiven by the Master for a huge debt, he should have forgiven his fellow servant for this much lesser debt.
Then the master angrily had the wicked servant handed over to be tortured until he could repay the original debt, all that he owed. It seemed that he would die in prison. Jesus then followed the parable with a brief and pointed statement, as though he was continuing the original conversation with Peter.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. The lesson is clear: the followers of Jesus must each, without exception, forgive wholeheartedly, not grudgingly and not only seven times or even 70 X 7 times.
This echoes the statement Jesus made after he had taught the Disciples the Lord’s Prayer which includes the phrase forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. At that time, Jesus said to them: for if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive them their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14)
A traveller was in Burma and as he crossed the river, leeches in the waters came up to his whole body and he was infested with blood sucking leeches. And we know that if that is allowed to carry on, he may just die like that. So in his natural instinct, he began to grab hold of the leeches, pull them out and throw them off. But the local people shouted to him, “Don't do that! Don't do that!” He said, “Why?” “Because if you forcefully pull them, some parts of the leeches may remain in your flesh and it may cause poison and toxins to rise. Don't do that.” “What should I do?” “Come,” they say.
So they brought him to this tub that they had made, they poured in some water, they threw in some herbs, some grass, some leaves, some flowers and told him, “Come, lie in there.” And so as he lowered himself into the tub, as he lay there, as he just relaxed there, and let all that water soak it caused him to be submerged. Then amazingly, one by one, the blood-sucking leeches begin to gently fall off his flesh. You see, we want to deal with unforgiveness forcefully. We want to pull these leeches out of our lives. But the only way is when one soaks in a tub of Gospel love when one comes to see that Jesus is so much for us. God has forgiven us so much that our lives will be so filled with that love that these leeches of unforgiveness can finally fall off.
Have you been forgiven by God for your sins? Is there unforgiveness towards a sister or brother in your heart today? Will you forgive? Remember, we need to take the words of the Lord seriously.
Raelene Falland –September 17, 2023
Service Lay Led with Karen Pietsch and Peter Steicke
The Theme is Unlocking The Potential In Others
What is the price of life? Matthew 16:21–28
Let us pray: Dear heavenly father, open our hearts & minds today as we reflect on your word. Fill us with your spirit. Amen.
Well, I suppose, that might depend on the context of the question. If you were asked by a life insurance salesman, what the price of life is, he would usually value it as the sum of your financial commitments, and the price of setting your loved ones up without those commitments; therefore, the price of life, will vary by age. For example, if you were 10 years old, you wouldn’t have any financial commitments, so, therefore, you wouldn’t need very much life insurance cover, if any at all.
But if you were 40 years old, with a mortgage and car loan, and have a spouse and two children, then your life insurance cover should be for at least these commitments, plus a very generous amount so that your family could live comfortably, without any need to take out any other loans, etc. Then again, if you were 70 years old, and no longer have any financial commitments or family to support, then your need for life insurance reduces again. So, what is the price of life, according to a life insurance salesman? It is the calculated cost of liabilities and perceived needs, to cover any loss of life. But what if a mother dies in an accident? What is the price of life then? How is it measured? Well, the family may receive a payment from a life insurance company, but no matter how much money they receive, it never makes up for the life of a wife and mother. The same could be said for the loss of a father, or the loss of a child. The price of life in this case, can’t be calculated financially. Money, property, or anything else, is almost useless and empty, of comfort and meaning.
The Beatles sang the song, ‘Money can’t buy me love’, but it also can’t buy or replace life. It’s strange, that at the time of death, the value of life, suddenly crystallises: family is important, relationships are important and people are important. A lifetime chasing after money, property, fame or other worldly attractions, is suddenly put into perspective. None of these things are important when a life is lost. Any time spent chasing after these things is seen as time wasted.
What if a death was the result of an accident or a murder? Then the price of life will often change, and it becomes possible to calculate the price of life again. The price of life is justice or revenge. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life! If someone hurts us, then we want to hurt them back with interest. If someone takes away a loved one, then we want them to receive the same punishment, or worse, if possible!
But even if we were to have someone receive every punishment, we wished them to receive, would that really make things better? Would revenge bring our loved one back? Would we ever be truly happy with the payment? Would the price of revenge or justice, be payment enough for our loved one’s life? We often discover that even with revenge, the price of life still remains immeasurable. So, even though the cost of life for insurance is often calculated financially, and the cost of life, when someone has taken away a loved one, is often justice or revenge, the price of life often can’t be calculated.
Knowing the price of your life, can’t be estimated or valued by any earthly measurements, how much would your eternal life be worth? If you struggle, to name a large enough price for the life of your loved ones, who you have known for only a few years, then how on earth do you calculate the price for their eternal life, or even your own eternal life? If, at the time of death, you suddenly realise all things on earth are almost worthless when compared with the life of loved ones, then how much are you willing to pay or give up, to ensure you will receive that eternal life with Jesus, and your loved ones in faith? Your eternal life is beyond price. Even if you were to give up your whole life, and everything you have, it wouldn’t be enough. Nothing you say, think or do, will pay for or measure the cost of your eternal life. Even if you gave up everything you have, it still wouldn’t be enough. The price for your life, especially for your eternal life, is too high … at least for you.
But the price of your life, even your eternal life, has been measured. Your price is the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is how much your life is worth. It’s a price you can’t pay, yet Jesus has willingly paid the full price. The suffering and death of God’s own beloved Son is your price for life. It was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, to suffer many things, to die and rise again, so that your relationship with God would be restored. It was necessary he did these things because this is the price of your lives and the price for God’s justice.
Yet, what many people misunderstand, is that even though Jesus has paid the full price for their lives, there is a cost involved for us. The cost is your obedience, yet don’t think that the price you pay in your obedience, actually contributes or makes up for the suffering and death of Jesus, or that what you do, actually earns you ‘brownie’ points before God. Jesus has paid the full price for your eternal life. There is nothing more to pay. Your obedience doesn’t pay for your lives, or the lives of others in any way, shape or form, but there is a danger you can exchange, this undeserving gift, for other fleeting worldly things through your disobedience.
For example, if you try to deny Jesus, and what he has done for you by living according to the world’s thinking, then you will forfeit your eternal life. You can’t gain eternal life by your obedience, but you can lose it by your disobedience because your disobedience shows your rejection of Christ and the life price he paid for you. You can live as if worldly things are more important and more valuable, or you can live as if your eternal life is more important and more valuable. There is no in-between.
If you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, dedicate yourselves to following him, deny the deceptive advice of this world, follow God’s guiding word, and obey his instructions for life, then you will enjoy the blessings of eternal life in heaven. Since the payment for your life involved sacrifice on the cross, your own life of following Jesus also involves a cross. The crosses you bear as you follow Jesus, are the crosses of sacrifice and suffering, on account of your following Jesus.
Paul’s letter to the Romans gives us an example of what this means. He says hate what is evil; hold onto what is good; be patient in your troubles; pray at all times; share your belongings with needy believers; open your homes to strangers; bless those who persecute you; weep with those who weep; don’t be proud, but accept humble duties; don’t pay back wrong for wrong; don’t take revenge; and so on.
Following Jesus into eternal life is not easy and glorious. It often means, living in a way that is different from others around you. It means being obedient to God’s word, even if you don’t fully understand the reasons for his instructions. It means giving up precious time on earth, to listen to Jesus speak to you. It means giving up your need to satisfy yourselves with money, possessions, fame and other wants. It means giving up living the way you want to for your own pleasure, and trying to live Jesus’ way of service and sacrifice.
Following Jesus, also means you will be persecuted and insulted for living according to Jesus’ way, and not the world’s. You will not always ‘fit in’. The world will try to set the agenda as to what is acceptable and right, but this will not be the same as what Jesus says. The people of this world will continue to gain a name or a profit for themselves, but you will live unselfishly and in humbleness as you follow Jesus. You must obey God and not the world; after all, the things of the world will not last, and will actually lead you away from Jesus and the life he has gained for you.
What is the price of life? The suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The price for your life has been measured and paid in full. Even though you do not measure up, Jesus willingly allowed himself to suffer and die for you. Jesus paid the price of your disobedience by his obedience. He remained sinless to save those who are sinful. In other words, he suffered and died for your life. Your own journey as you follow Jesus will also involve suffering and dying for your own selfish desires, but it will also lead to eternal life with Jesus and all others who follow in faith. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Service led by Nevin Nitschke and with guest speaker Peter Steicke
Worship Service with Holy Communion led by Ken Pfitzner