SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2023 7:48 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-8 “The Example of Forgiveness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 18:23-35
Message of the verses: “23 “For this
reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to
settle accounts with his slaves. 24
"And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to
him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 “But since he did not have the
means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and
children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “The slave therefore
falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me,
and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt
compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went
out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he
seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you
owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him,
saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “He was unwilling
however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was
owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply
grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then
summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that
debt because you entreated me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your
fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger,
handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
35 “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive
his brother from your heart.’”
The next part of this parable that we are studying
has caused me to have to think about it and ask the Lord to help me through it,
and the reason is because I realize that this parable is talking about
believers, and yet it is difficult for me to believe that right after this
slave who has been forgiven his dept then goes out and finds another “lower”
slave, one who may have been working under him, and then he seized him and
began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ MacArthur adds “According
to ancient Roman writers, it was not uncommon for a creditor to actually wrench
a debtor’s neck until blood ran from his nose.”
He
goes on to write: “The kind of behavior seems unthinkable, even bizarre, and it
is hard to believe someone could act in such a way. And that is exactly the Lord’s point to Peter
and the other disciples. For Christians
to be unwilling to forgive one another is unthinkable and bizarre.” This is something that I don’t totally
understand, and although I have never done anything like that I suppose that
there are other sins that I have committed that cause me to wonder if I am
really a believer, but then as I look back on my story of when the Lord saved
me I realize that yes I am a true believer who is at times controlled by the
flesh, which is the next thing that MacArthur talks about in his commentary.
“The
self-deceptive nature of the flesh is such that sometimes anger and vengeance
override even greed, and self-will overshadows even self-interest. A person who is severely strangled or beaten,
not to mention imprisoned, is put in a poor position to earn money to repay a
debt. Even from a purely practical standpoint,
such debt-collecting practices are foolish and counterproductive, but they have
persisted throughout history and even into modern times.”
I
think that one of the first things that I have to believe is that knowing the
background that was before Jesus gave this parable on forgiveness, that as
mentioned He was talking first of all to Peter and the rest of His disciples,
and another thing is that this parable is answering a question that Peter was
asking about how many times I must forgive someone who has sinned against
me. Perhaps Peter got more of an answer
than he wanted.
This
subordinate official would make his plea to the superior slave as he says the
same thing to the slave who had been forgiven an un-payable debt used before
the king: “Have patience with me and I
will repay you” (compare verse 26). That
really should have shocked the forgiven slave’s memory into a right response,
but those familiar words evoked no sympathetic reaction in him, and even though
the debt he had been forgiven would have, as mentioned, unpayable in a lifetime,
whereas the debt that he owed to him was payable by a few months’ work.
The
flesh is very deceptive and can be destructive.
Paul speaks of this in the sixth chapter of Romans, verses that I am
again trying to memorize.
1/29/2023 8:17 AM
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