Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

In our series, we are seeing how Jesus used symbols from the realm of creation and human relationships to illustrate kingdom truth and principles.
I have shared with you how through basic observation we can find the interpretation and application of the parable.

Remember that when we study, we do not make the bible say what we want it to say. We must take the time to learn what is being said, who does it speak about, who is being written to, what words are used, what time in history was it written, where was the message spoken, to what intent, and what was the preceding and succeeding context.

Our goal is to learn to rightly divide the word of truth. Not adding to it or taking away from it. In doing so it will completely transform our lives.

A summary of our study on the parables, and their purpose.
• Jesus spoke in parables to fulfill prophecy in Isaiah 6:9 and reveal kingdom truth and precepts. He used parables to reveal the nature of the kingdom of God, and how we are to live in relation to it.
• The foundational parable is the parable of the Sower. It revealed that all kingdom growth and potential are determined by the condition of the heart, and its ability to receive kingdom seed.
• Kingdom Seed which is the word of God carries divine power to save your soul and produce great spiritual fruit. Jesus expects fruit in our lives.
• God is good, but he is also just. In the end, He will bring into account transgression and sin for those who have rejected the gift of salvation.
• The word of the kingdom leads us to life. Its effect helps crucify the flesh and its lust so that we can live alive toward God. Where we present ourselves as instruments of righteousness to be sown into the world.
• Growth and spiritual fruit take time. Kingdom fruit in your life is meant to encourage and instruct others.
• The Gospel is like leaven having small beginnings but increasing drastically in size. Christians are agents of change, slowly transforming the culture from within.
• When we understand the critical component that Jesus found us before we found him it changes everything. We serve him with our lives because we get to not because we have to. It stems from a heart of gratitude for what He has done.
• Jesus is the shepherd who goes after the one, the holy spirit is the one who lights the path, and the Father is waiting for the lost to come into his arms and to come home. Our job is to go into the world and represent Christ well.

Isn’t it amazing to see the picture of the Kingdom of Heaven coming into focus? It is more than pray a prayer to get to heaven. It is about getting the nature of heaven back into us. Where through the supernatural seed of the word of God we become agents of change for the kingdom of God. Our love and the intensity of our pursuit are a direct reflection of our awareness of how good He is. He as the savior draws hearts and lights the way. We stand ready to represent Him well.

Today, we are going to continue our series by looking at the parable of the unforgiving servant. Until now the focus of the parables of have been God towards us and our response to Him. This parable takes a turn and shifts the focus to interpersonal. The principles of the kingdom not only affect how we live towards God but also how we live in relation to one another.

Let me give you an example. 1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Leading up to this parable on the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18 Jesus has warned about walking in offense, being hard-hearted towards others, and how to deal with a sinning brother in the faith. His teaching provokes a question from Peter that then prompts a somewhat lengthy response from Christ.

As we dig into this parable, I want to first point out something in Peter’s initial question. He asks Jesus if He should forgive seven times? This is significant.

The standard of Jewish law at the time is that the person who did wrong should ask for forgiveness up to the three times. After which the person is no longer considered accountable for the wrongdoing. The general expectation is that the person wronged was expected to forgive the person. After the three requests if the person didn’t forgive the sin was now on the wronged person for not forgiving. This practice was called Teshuvah.

Peter’s question to Christ shows that He was picking up on the nature of the kingdom vs. their tradition and practice. In an attempt to grasp its fullness, he throws out seven times. Jesus responds to him with not 7 but 70x7= 490 times in a day. What Jesus is saying is that we are to continually walk in forgiveness.

In the parable Jesus uses a master settling accounts to illustrate a kingdom reality and expectation.

The central truth of the parable is that un-forgiveness is not tolerated by God.

A few key truths to recognize from the parable.
1. The master is settling accounts. (*we will all give an account of our lives to him). One of his slaves is brought to him, who owes him ten thousand talents. Something to note is that the amount is un-payable. “Ten thousand” is the largest numeral that exists in Greek, and a “talent” is the largest denomination of money. The money is an absurd amount used to make a point about the level of forgiveness on display by the master.

2. The only reasonable request of the servant to the debt is to ask for mercy. This request is met by the excessive mercy and compassion of the master. (In this, we recognize that the master is God; we are the servant with a huge debt. God, in His mercy, has paid the debt that we could not through Jesus).

3. Mercy received is expected to be mercy given. The servant immediately sets out and finds a fellow slave who owes him a hundred denarii. The amount is microscopic in comparison to what he owed the master. The slave is violent, choking his fellow slave and demanding immediate repayment.

The slave who is now found owing has the same response as the earlier slave. He asks for mercy and time to repay. The request, in this case, is ignored, resulting in imprisonment. The conduct of the servant is contrary to the conduct of the master.

4. The master is always aware of what is taking place. The conduct of the servant is relayed to the master resulting in a summons to give an account of the situation. He declares the servant to be wicked and reminds him that he should have also shown mercy.

5. The master repays the wicked servant according to his ways. He is handed over to “merciless jailers” until he can repay the amount he owed. The word here for the merciless jailers indicates the torture of the wicked slave, and the implication is an eternal punishment given the amount owed.

We each have a debt we could never repay. God, in His mercy, has forgiven us. Not only that, he has gone so far as to wipe the handwriting of our guilt off the page Col 2:14. He expects us to do the same with the people in our lives.

This deserves more attention than we often give it. Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Un-forgiveness is not tolerated in the kingdom. Forgiveness doesn’t change injustice in our lives. It free’s us from the effects of it. Bitterness and offense turn many hearts away from the kingdom. Forgiveness does not hold the infraction over the head of the person. It does not hold onto the infraction to use as a weapon at a future opportune time.

The concept of forgiveness can be very volatile and difficult for people. The emotion, pain, or trauma tied to the event are real and often raw. The experiences we go through are traumatic or painful, and I want to make clear that the abuses suffered are not condoned in any way.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean placing yourself back into abusive situations. It simply deals with our heart toward the person. Remember from the parable of the Sower how the condition of the heart is key to the kingdom. Holding the infraction over another person to control, punish, manipulate, or get even is ungodly.

Anger, wrath, malice, and hatred are not kingdom virtues.
Colossians 3:8“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.” We must choose not to walk in them.

Forgiveness is not about what people deserve. It is about conforming to his image.

We are made in His image, which means if we have the capacity to hurt, so does, He. Think for a moment about the extent of our disobedience and sin toward God.

How many times have our actions caused him hurt? I wonder how Jesus felt when He was unjustly nailed to a cross, and everyone standing around sat there and mocked him? But what did He do? Father, forgive them; why? Because they don’t know what they are doing.

Most people in our lives are not looking to cause intentional pain or harm. In reality, most people don’t even know that they have hurt you. We must learn to take on the nature of Christ and forgive. The same grace, mercy, and compassion God shows us He wants us to show them.

Matthew 10:7-8 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

We have done nothing to earn the grace, mercy, and compassion of God. We have received it freely, and we must learn to freely give away the same grace, mercy, and compassion that has been shown to us.