“Sixteen Bucks”
Matthew 6:12
April 19, 2009
16 bucks. It’s the cost of a new CD—I’m sure the one pictured is in each of your libraries. Or, it’ll buy you and your spouse a combo lunch at Quizno’s Subs. It’s the cost of a shirt on markdown at JC Penney. Question: would you have someone thrown into prison for the “crime” of owing you…sixteen bucks? Don’t be too quick to answer that question! (Scripture/prayer).
Sometimes, it’s good to be below average. The average American family has 13 payment cards, including credit, debit, and store charge cards. The average American household with at least one credit card carries, from month to month, nearly over $10,000 in credit card debt alone. 96% of Americans (the average) will retire financially dependent upon the government, family, or charity. Sometimes, it’s good to be below average.
We are a nation of debtors. In addition to the mountain of personal debt carried by most Americans, mostly because of our unbridled materialism and undisciplined lives, we each carry an additional debt: as of Monday morning, your share of this debt was a little over $36,500—and that’s not for your household: that’s for each member of your household. I’m talking, of course, about the national debt, well over $11 trillion by now, and it increases by just under $4 billion per day. You’ll further be encouraged by the fact that, when I preached a similar message in 1999, and referred then to the national debt, it stood at a mere $5.6 trillion and change, and your share was only about $21,000, and that when I gave this same message a little over 3 years ago, the debt stood at under $8 trillion, was increasing by less than $3 billion/daily, and your share of the debt was “only” $27,500. If you’re not furious, you’re probably not paying attention. We’re a nation of debtors.
The Bible has a lot to say about debt, but it isn’t always talking about money. Right in the middle of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, right in the middle of the “Lord’s Prayer” (which as we saw earlier is not meant by Jesus as a generic prayer to be prayed by anyone/everyone, but only by those of whom it is true that God is their Father) we find this little item (Matthew 6:12): Jesus says that we should pray, “Father, forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” When he says, “debt”, Jesus is talking about
I. An Awful Debt
There are 5 words used in the New Testament that are translated in our English Bibles by the word “sin”. The most common is the word hamartia, which means “missing the mark”. Other words used include the ideas of “trespassing”, of “slipping and falling”, of “stepping across the line”, in this case the appropriate limits on conduct set by a loving God; “lawlessness” is another term that one of the words for sin connotes, the flagrant and intentional rebellion against God. This word, opheiilema, shows us sin as a moral and spiritual debt owed to God. That debt is staggering.
Jesus, in Matthew 18, tells a story of a man who owes a staggering debt to a king; some commentators suggest that, in 2009 dollars, the figure of $12 million might be about right. Whatever amount translates best, the figure Jesus used amounted to many times the annual domestic product of the region. It was an awful debt…similar to the debt we owe God due to our sin.
Sin is the great separator, separating us from God and from one another. Sin is our biggest problem as human beings; we will not solve the world’s problems until we solve heart issues. I referred earlier to the fact that the Average American household carries $10,000 in credit card debt; it wouldn’t be too hard to make the case that the vast amount of that involves sin. Sin infects us all. Sin dominates the minds and hearts of men. Sin is the common denominator for all misery. Sin is endemic; ever since Adam and Eve tasted the forbidden fruit in the Garden, we’re all natural born sinners. Sin is degenerative; it leads to disease and death, to evil and unhappiness, to problems mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual; sin harms us in the here and now and, absent the forgiveness of God, will doom us to an eternal hell.
You say, “but pastor, doesn’t Romans 8 teach us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ”? And the answer is “yes!” We stand before God justified, if we have saving faith in Christ. And yet, we all still sin, even as children of God. John tells us that if we say we have no sin, we are deluding ourselves. Jeremiah tells us that we don’t even know our own hearts, and that they are by nature desperately wicked. As a sinner, I owe an awful debt to God. But notice
II. An Awesome Deliverance
Jesus said, “when you pray, pray for forgiveness”. If my biggest problem before a holy God is sin, then my biggest need before a holy God is forgiveness. Earlier in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”; in fact, forgiveness is an even greater need than bread. Andrew Murray said that, “as bread is the first need of the body, so forgiveness is for the soul.” My soul needs forgiveness, not “Chicken Soup”.
Coupled with other teachings of Christ and the rest of the New Testament, we can have confidence that God hears and answers that prayer when we repent and confess our sins. We need forgiveness and deliverance from sin; He provides just that, first for sinners who humbly come before Him and ask forgiveness and acceptance into the family of God, and then for members of the family whose fellowship with God is broken by their sin. The particular deliverance and forgiveness that Jesus has in mind here, since He is speaking to those who are already children of God, is the forgiveness, not of a judge, but of a father!
Now, some of us had poor fathers, and for many, I fear that that throws off kilter their whole understanding of how a father’s love and forgiveness should operate, so let me give a personal illustration. I have a wonderful, godly, loving father. When as a child I needed my father’s forgiveness, it was in the context of my father’s love and care that I asked for it. So it is here: I come to God now as Father to ask forgiveness, and He will grant it as a loving Father; Paul says in Romans 5 that “where sin abounded, grace abounded more”. God’s grace forgives, for as a loving Father, that’s what He delights in. “If we confess our sin,” John says in I John 1:9, “He is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This ought to be a regular experience in the life of the Christ-follower, to plead regularly that the sin which breaks, not my relationship with my Father, but my fellowship, that that sin be forgiven.
We owe an awful debt, but God provides an awesome deliverance. This places upon us then
III. An Appropriate Demand
Jesus says that we should pray, “forgive us our debts, Father, as we forgive our debtors.” This is only appropriate, as Jesus points out in the Matthew 18 parable. As Jesus tells the story, the man who owed the king $12 million fell down and pled for mercy, knowing that in his own power, there was no chance that he could repay the debt. Could you repay a $12 million debt?
And incredibly, the king grants the request and releases the man from the enormous debt. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that if you ever find yourself in the position of owing our government $12 million, the I.R.S. will not be nearly so kind! But the story doesn’t end there: Jesus tells of how this man, newly and freely released from a staggering, unpayable debt, is walking down the street, probably whistling “Happy Days are Here Again”, and he happens to see a guy who owes him “a hundred denarii”…which doesn’t mean much to you and me, but commentators suggest that maybe it’s on the order of about sixteen bucks. And you know how the story goes: the man newly-released from a $12 million debt puts his hands around the throat of the guy who owes him $16, and when he finds out the guy is broke and can’t repay the debt, he had the guy thrown into debtor’s prison. And of course Jesus ends the story with the king getting wind of the situation, and tossing the ingrate into debtor’s prison until he can repay the $12 million, effectively a life sentence.
You probably don’t need this identification of characters, but let’s take a moment just the same:
• God is the king.
• You are the one who owes the $12 million.
• Whoever has offended you is the one who owes you $16.
Now note the key points:
• What anyone has done to offend you pales so much by comparison to what you’ve done to offend God that it just isn’t worth mentioning.
• It is preposterous to think that I can get away with holding onto an unforgiving spirit.
• Your relationship with God cannot be right as long as you hold onto unforgiveness (Matthew 6:14,15).
Note: forgiveness is not about excusing sin, any more than God’s grace toward us excuses our sin against Him. Rather, what Christ did on the cross was to absorb our sin without retaliation, to bear our sin without holding it against us. Forgiveness doesn’t say, “what you did is okay”, because it isn’t; forgiveness says, “I release you from any debt you owe me because of your sin against me.” God did that for us; it is altogether essential that we do it for others.
IV. The Consequences of Unforgiveness
a. It imprisons the jailer
Clap someone in the prison of your unforgiveness, and it’s you who ends up behind bars. Sure, when you imprison someone in unforgiveness, it may harm them—or they may just as likely be oblivious to it. But it will imprison you! Resentment and bitterness harm the holder of the grudge every time.
Yes, there are sometimes some very hard cases; people have an almost unlimited capacity to be cruel, and to abuse others. I do not suggest that forgiveness is easy; our sin natures make us want to hold onto grudges for all we’re worth, plotting what we’d do if we had the chance to get even with old so-and-so. But the truth is that as long as you hold onto a grudge; as long as you are unwilling to forgive, your relationship with God is significantly harmed, according to Jesus, and listen to this: that person who did you wrong is still victimizing you! As long as you allow that person’s actions in the past to control your thoughts and actions in the present and in the future; as long as you hold onto unforgiveness and thereby your relationship with God suffers, you remain the victim of that person, imprisoned in the jail of your unforgiveness. And God does not want you to live that way!
b. It can be physically harmful
Psychology Today (Jul/Aug 2000) published an article which explored the effects of forgiveness, psychologically and physically. The results, presented at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting in 2000, showed that “high” forgivers—those who forgive easily—had a lower resting blood pressure as well as smaller increases in blood pressure rate than “low” forgivers—bigger grudge-holders. Kathleen Lawler, a psychology professor at the University of Tennessee, says that “Forgiveness might enhance health by reducing the excessive physiological burden that comes with unresolved stressful experiences, like the hurt and offense attributed to others.”
c. It can cripple a church
When there is unforgiveness within the body of a local church, the unity of the Spirit, for which Christ prayed so fervently, is diminished, and the witness of the church is crippled. We could speak of other things, but let’s notice finally
V. The Power of Forgiveness
a. Forgiveness is commanded
Colossians 3:13 says that we are to “forgive each other…just as the Lord forgave you.” It’s not a suggestion or a good idea; it’s a command of God, and when we do not forgive, we disobey God—it’s really that simple. If I have been forgiven by God, praying to Him on a regular basis to forgive my sins, not as a Judge, but as my Father, then I must extend that forgiveness to others.
b. Forgiveness is possible
God does not ever tell us to do what we cannot possibly do in the strength He provides. No matter what another person does to you; no matter what another person takes from you, that person cannot take away your ability to forgive, because you have a choice in the matter. Forgiveness is possible, but even further
c. God empowers us to forgive
Philippians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us. All things. Everything that God has commanded us to do, He will enable us to do. It’s just not a question of whether or not we can—the power of God is there at our disposal. The question is whether or not we will.
So I urge you today to come to grips with the reality that the enormous debt of sin that you owe God has been completely forgiven, wiped off the books, on the basis of Jesus and what He did for you on Calvary’s cross. Meditate on Matthew 18 until that comes into fruition in your life, for when you really get a grip on how much God has forgiven you, it’ll change your perspective on others. Having done that, develop the practice of both seeking and granting forgiveness from God and man. We all sin in many ways, Scripture tells us, and we need God’s forgiveness, and some of those sins are directed against individuals. “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”, one songwriter said, but it’s necessary in the life of the Christian. Finally, may I suggest returning good for evil; here’s Romans 12:17-21
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Take I-81 north of Harrisburg, PA for an hour or so, then get off and head back east on Rt. 61 for a few minutes, and you might find Centralia, PA. Then again, you might not. Rt. 61 used to run through Centralia, that is, when there was a Centralia. Now, you have to get off Rt. 61 and head down a winding road to find what’s left of the town, a town gradually evacuated and leveled over the course of the last 40+ years. Why? Because in 1962, someone burned trash in the pit of an abandoned strip mine, which connected to a coal vein running near the surface, underneath the town of Centralia. 46+ years later, the coal fire still burns, and an engineering study determined that the fire could burn for a century or more and involve over 3700 acres before it’s all said and done.
And in the lives of altogether too many people, including professing Christians, there smolder the embers of a fire, the fire of unforgiveness. The coal fire in Centralia? They’ve spent over $40 million trying to put it out, to no avail. But the ability to smother once and for all the fire of unforgiveness resides in the life of every Christ-follower. It’s a choice you must make; God gives the power to overcome, to forgive. Jesus tells us to pray, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Really…is the $16 worth it?
TalkAbout
What do you think are the main reasons why people find it difficult to forgive? How does Jesus’ story in Matthew 18 answer those issues?
