Settling Our Debts

Settling Our Debts

Good Morning Friends,

Wrong views about holiness I think stem from a wrong view about sin even in our prayers. Jesus in today’s scripture gives us some guidance here in understanding this problem we have. Sin separates us from God. There is a price to be paid. Thankfully the resolution in Christ
gives us the opportunity of living a spiritual life where God begins to use us in acts of forgiveness, redemption, healing, compassion and renewal. But even before we are given the chance to pay it forward God sent Jesus so we might experience Him Settling Our Debts.

Scripture: Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.  But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’  Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Matthew 18:21-35 (NRSV)

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 6:12 (NIV)

Luke 7:41-43 (NIV)

Message: In today’s devotional and scripture we study the relationship between love and forgiveness, and begin to understand the confusion we have when we focus on our circumstances and not God’s love in our circumstances. Now some of you have been in a room of Christians from different denomination and it comes time to show our unity in prayer and we join hands and say the Lord’s Prayer. Then it comes to that moment where we have to decide whether it is going to be “debts or trespasses.” Now I am I am a Presbyterian and we say “debts” and no it is not because we are more concerned about debts than sins but let me tell you how blessed I am to not have a mortgage on my home. Both are correct. But I think it instructive to realize that Jesus chose debt as a metaphor for our debt of sin because his audience was literally filled with debtors who could not repay their debts. Now some think we are getting ready for another round of tragic foreclosures similar to the mortgage crisis of a few years ago but what has happened and what might happen is nothing compared to the consequences of debt for the poor in ancient times. So today we look at the parable of the unmerciful servant and hopefully learn something practical to apply in our lives. It is important to know that it is meant for us, but also specifically for Peter who asks the question that prompts the story. The parable is for Peter and the Peter in us who has no idea how God works… that Peter whose profession of faith is the foundation of the church…that Peter who would deny Christ three times and be asked by Christ  three times… “Do you love me?” In the parable and in the bigger story of the saving act of Jesus on the cross demonstrated in the life of Peter, we begin to see the process of reconciliation that can occur in our lives and in the church when we recognize that to love abundantly is to be loved… to forgive abundantly is to be forgiven. We are confronted with the amazing love that God sent His Son to ask our Heavenly Father to forgive all our debts…all our trespasses and all our sins. This is an important lesson on why we must, from out of our love received, from out of the depths of our hearts be settling our debts. Friends, maybe a debt free world made out of love is nothing short of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Pray were embrace the purpose of forgiveness and the reconciliation it provides.
Pray we realize that we can never pay in gratitude alone but can only pay “in kind” somewhere else in life. Pray when we think about our debts and debtors that we realize it is also about our deepest and most intimate relationships. Pray we have been redeemed. Pray we thank those people to whom we are indebted. Pray we realize that forgiveness is an attribute of the strong. Pray we realize that to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in us. Pray we are willing to receive the forgiveness of God by forgiving others.

Blessings,

John Lawson