Matthew 18:21-22…Ready

Matthew 18:21-22…Ready

18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”(Peter was being generous by doubling the Rabbis call for three times, and then adding one more for good measure-(New)  22 Jesus answered, I tell you, (Emphasizes a command that is an imperative to be carried out.) not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Does not mean 490 times. Let it be said if someone’s going to blow it against you that many times, your going to lose count-(New) For Complete Expository See Book)

Extended Sermons

“Even today, maybe someone has hurt you, maligned you, abused you. Maybe your a victim of somebody’s crime, Saying “I forgive you” can be hard. But by choosing to forgive stops the cycle of hurt and pain. Choosing to forgive brings peace and healing. Choosing to forgive allows us to move past the hurt & anger and move on.” ⇒ Forgiveness doesn’t come easily or happen overnight, it’s a slow process that takes time, patience, effort, and determination, often over many years. Forgiveness can be difficult for many reasons. Holding onto bitterness and resentment can become habit forming, making it hard to let go. Forgiving someone can bring up fear of being hurt again. We may have difficulty forgiving if we believe we need an apology first, or we need to see remorse, or evidence of having changed. We may believe that forgiving someone gives them permission to hurt us again, or that we are excusing their behavior and letting them of the hook. Or we don’t feel the person has earned it. Forgiving someone can feel like we are giving up our right to justice. Forgiving someone can be difficult when we feel like the person who hurt us needs to be held accountable for their actions. Forgiveness can be hard when someone we trusted betrays us, it can be hard to forgive them and rebuild that trust. When we withhold forgiveness we are saying “You will never be able to make this right.” When what we are really saying is; “I will always hold onto this pain.” 

“Forgiveness doesn’t mean we forgive & forget, or excuse and close our eyes to the offense. Forgiveness does not erase the past or remove the pain, hurt, damage, distrust, or bring instant healing, Forgiveness is it about trusting them again, or done out of duty and obligation. But rather it’s about us letting go of our hatred, anger, bitterness, resentment,  and vengeance to always doing them good and leaving them in God’s hands”. ⇒ Handing a person has hurt you over into God’s hands stops us from reliving their sin against us. It keeps us in the will of God by saying Lord I’m going to follow you no matter what people have done to me. Forgiveness doesn’t mean we pretend like nothing ever happened. It doesn’t mean trusting a swindler with money, trusting a wife-beater not get abusive again, or appointing a child-molester to be a youth pastor. Forgiveness is not excusing, diminishing, condoning, ignoring, tolerating, trusting, reconciling, or even making up. Forgiveness does mean we do not harbor grudges, we do not seek vengeance. It means letting go of our need to get even. It means praying for our enemies. It means seeing ourselves in their shoes, knowing that God has, for the sake of Christ, forgiven us all our sins too.

Additional Notes & Applications

Teaches how unbounding forgiveness is a discipleship requirement, and not an elective course for the believer. When you sing up as a disciple of Christ,  you sign up in a life of forgiveness!

Teaches how God is not so much concerned with our ability to forgive, but our willingness to forgive.

Forgiving someone is not about whether they deserve it or not; it’s an act of grace, just as we have been graciously forgiven by God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Whether it’s Seventy seven times (as the N.I.V. translates it) or a literal 490 times is a figurative way of saying “Indefinitely”. Others who hold to the N.I.V. translation of 77 times suggests that Jesus may have come to that calculation based on the average lifespan of an individual and therefore was figuratively saying forgiveness applies as long as they live. Others suggests that Jesus is making reference to either; Lamech’s threat of greater vengeance then the vengeance that God would bring one those who attacked Cain and therefore was transforming into a principal of unlimited forgiveness. (See Gen. 4:15, 24)  Or that Jesus is referring to Daniel’s 70 weeks (490 years) which was a prophecy that calculated that from the decree to rebuilt the temple (Cyrus- 538 B.C.) to Jesus’ triumphal entry & crucifixion (33 A.D. 69 weeks  = 483 years) to Jesus’ second advent (seventh week = 7 years) would equal 77 x 7 (490) that therefore Jesus was saying that forgiveness applies until He returns. (See Dan. 9:24-27, Matt. 24:15, Rev. Chps. 6-19,  Rev. 11:2-3, 13:5) (Note: the 69^th week and the 70^th week do not follow immediately or consecutively there is an unknown intermediate duration period between the two, so far to date 2000 years have past) (More will discussed on this subject in chapter 24)

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