Vital Signs: Unforgiveness — Ps Grace Guneyi (TGA)

So I wanna, I wanna start off by reading Matthew chapter 18, probably one of the strongest passages of scripture when it comes to this.

It's the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

So let me just read.

We'll start from verse 21.

"Then Peter came to him," Jesus, "and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?'" And he makes a suggestion.

He says, "Up to seven times?" Like, seven times maybe.

"And Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven,'" which is 490 times.

"'Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And when he begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.

But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be s- sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made.

The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, "Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all." Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him 100 denari, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, "Pay me what you owe!" So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you all." And he would not.

But he went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellow servants saw what he, what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, "You wicked servant.

I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?" And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.'" It's a, it's a heavy passage of scripture, right? And so when we, there's a couple of things in here that point us to what Jesus is actually speaking about.

So we know it's directly about forgiving and not forgiving.

And the master in this story represents God.

And the servant, the, the guy who's forgiven of his debt, that's us.

And so according to God, we've been forgiven of this huge debt.

Now, if we wanna look at the actual figures here, this will really shock you.

It's hard for us sometimes to digest the gravity of the comparisons that we're, we're reading in scripture because they're not in, you know, our, they're not in our currencies.

So this is a little bit of an idea.

So I wanna, I wanna start off by reading Matthew chapter 18, probably one of the strongest passages of scripture when it comes to this.

It's the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

So let me just read.

We'll start from verse 21.

"Then Peter came to him," Jesus, "and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?'" And he makes a suggestion.

He says, "Up to seven times?" Like, seven times maybe.

"And Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven,'" which is 490 times.

"'Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And when he begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.

But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be s- sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made.

The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, "Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all." Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him 100 denari, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, "Pay me what you owe!" So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you all." And he would not.

But he went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellow servants saw what he, what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, "You wicked servant.

I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?" And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.'" It's a, it's a heavy passage of scripture, right? And so when we, there's a couple of things in here that point us to what Jesus is actually speaking about.

So we know it's directly about forgiving and not forgiving.

And the master in this story represents God.

And the servant, the, the guy who's forgiven of his debt, that's us.

And so according to God, we've been forgiven of this huge debt.

Now, if we wanna look at the actual figures here, this will really shock you.

It's hard for us sometimes to digest the gravity of the comparisons that we're, we're reading in scripture because they're not in, you know, our, they're not in our currencies.

So this is a little bit of an idea.