Day 44: March 11

Matthew 18:15-35 (NLT)

Highlighted verses

• v.15-17: 15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church.”
• v.26-27: 26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.”
• v.31: 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.” 

Observation

• Rebuke and attempts at reconciliation with fellow Christians should first be done in private.
• We are to be persistent when seeking reconciliation; if our first private attempt fails, we should include 2-3 fellow Christian to get the facts straight. If that fails, we should involve the church.
• We shouldn’t keep track of forgiveness; we should not keep score as if there is a limit to the number of times we grant forgiveness.  
• We are to forgive 70x7 times, as many times are necessary. 
• The king was compassionate, hearing the plea of his servant and offering grace and complete forgiveness. The debt of the servant was over 200,000 years of wages — an amount that could never be repaid. Yet, the king had compassion and forgave the entire debt.
• The forgiven servant immediately disregarded the grace extended to him and demanded repayment on a much smaller debt (about 100 days wages). He went as far as throwing the debtor into prison.
• People are always watching. We must be careful of our conduct. 

Application

• We are to offer genuine forgiveness as many times as requested. 
• The king’s forgiveness mirrors God’s forgiveness of our sins. He hears our plea for forgiveness and he extends grace and absolute forgiveness to us. He wipes the slate completely clean. He removes the burden of sin from us. He forgets our sins and welcomes us into a relationship with him.  
• We often forget the grace that was given to us and fail to extend it to others. We must remember that we are to forgive others as God has forgiven us. When we stop to think about the depth of our sins and what God rescued us from, we should be excited to offer forgiveness to others.
• “Forgiveness, Jesus tells us, is not a quantifiable commodity. It is a qualitatively different way of life, drawn from the very being of God, whose nature is to be gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and whose ultimate goal is always reconciliation and restoration of community.” Elisabeth Johnson (workingpreacher.org). 
• We should recognize and call out injustice where we see it. Other servants saw what the forgiven servant did to the person who owed him and immediately reported him to the king. We can’t see something and not say something. We must hold our fellow Christians accountable to maintaining Godly conduct.

Prayer
Lord, help us to forgive with authenticity and genuinely seek reconciliation. Help us to remember your grace to us and help us to forgive others as you have forgiven us - completely and with return to a healthy relationship. Help us to keep each other accountable. Let us rebuke in love and fight against injustice wherever we see it.