Matthew 18:21-35

Generosity that changes relationships

The whole Christian life is living in response to the generosity of God. All of God’s riches are given

to us by Him, we cannot earn it. The message of the gospel is that there is nothing we can do to

save ourselves except throw ourselves on the love and mercy of God.

The invitation to al of us is to receive that generosity through faith in Jesus.

Then we live in response to that generosity by being generous ourselves.

But many of us have a blindspot when it comes to generosity.

Are we generous with our forgiveness?

The church must be marked by forgiveness; that we have both received and now pass on to one

another.

Generously forgiven people forgive people generously.

Radically different reflex (vs 21-22)

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister

who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Matthew 18:21-22

Peter would have believed that forgiving 3 times was the limit. Jesus turns that upside-down by

pairing it with a familiar picture in Genesis 4..

Jesus shows us if we want to follow him, our reflex for radical vengeance must be replaced by a

reflex for radical forgiveness.

It hurts to forgive because we are giving up the right to get our own back. We have to absorb one

another’s wrongs. How can we do that? By remembering that we have received grace upon

grace.

Radically generous grace (vs 23-34)

The servant in this parable is totally helpless. He cannot pay the debt he owes. His only hope is

the mercy of the king, who looks on him, cancels the debt and lets him go.

This is what Jesus has done for us. Romans 6 tells us that the result of living a life rejecting God is

a life of debt - “the wages of sin is death.” Like the servant, we were hopeless and helpless.

But God the true King responds with love. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans

5:8). At the cross, our debt of sin is cancelled and we are set free to live in light of that

forgiveness. This is radically generous grace.

If we are to forgive, we need to see that there is an infinite well of grace available to us by faith in

Jesus. As Richard Sibbe says, “There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”
The warning is if we don’t forgive, it may be a sign hat we have not received this grace from God.

This is a sombre warning, calling us to check the blindspot and bring our struggling hearts before

the Lord, asking for His help by the Holy Spirit that we might forgive others as we have been

forgiven.

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