Vision Series 2017
Series: RADICAL RELATIONSHIPS
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 18th November 2017
Passage: Luke 17:3-10
00:00:00 --> 00:00:10 Good evening, all. We're in our third week of journeying with Jesus to Jerusalem. I've
00:00:10 --> 00:00:15 got a service sheet that hopefully you pick one of those up on the way. There's a few
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 more copies over the back there if you need one of those. I'll give you an idea in terms
00:00:18 --> 00:00:28 of following with me in the sermon tonight. As we know from the first message, Jesus is
00:00:28 --> 00:00:35 heading to Jerusalem to die for the sins of humanity. What Jesus calls is he calls his
00:00:35 --> 00:00:39 disciples to come follow him, but he demands a high level of commitment from those who would
00:00:39 --> 00:00:47 follow him. This is not a superficial commitment in any sense. Luke 9, 23, 24 is very, very clear.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:52 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, follow me,
00:00:52 --> 00:00:57 for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for me will save it.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:03 And as I've said consistently for the last three weeks is that when Jesus set his face to walk
00:01:03 --> 00:01:11 the Calvary road, he was not merely taking our place, he was setting our pattern. That is,
00:01:11 --> 00:01:18 he was both our substitute and our pace setter for the life of discipleship.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:26 And so that's why we are calling this series Radical. What does it look like to be a radical,
00:01:27 --> 00:01:31 sold out disciple of the Lord Jesus? Now, I'd originally thought about calling this
00:01:31 --> 00:01:38 series Radical Generosity rather than just simply Radical. Unfortunately, as soon as we hear the
00:01:38 --> 00:01:43 words generosity attached to anything, you just automatically think, well, this is a whole sermon
00:01:43 --> 00:01:47 series about money, which we will have one day. Don't worry about that. It'll come.
00:01:48 --> 00:01:56 But of course, radical generosity in the Bible is not less than what we do with our money,
00:01:56 --> 00:02:03 our wealth, our resources, but it is so much more than just about money. Let's take, for instance,
00:02:03 --> 00:02:11 last week, the Pharisee and tax collector, Luke 18, as an example. We saw that this Pharisee,
00:02:11 --> 00:02:17 standing in the temple courts, looks down at the tax collector with a great deal of scorn,
00:02:18 --> 00:02:23 and yet we're told in the same text, he gives away a tenth of all that he gets. See, this guy,
00:02:23 --> 00:02:32 you know, tithes his tomato plants and everything. That is, what we learn is that it's possible to
00:02:32 --> 00:02:39 technically be generous with your money, and yet not at all radically generous in your heart towards
00:02:39 --> 00:02:46 other people. The American pastor, theologian, A.W. Tozer wrote that the Pharisee, the religious
00:02:46 --> 00:02:53 person, is easy on themselves, but hard on everyone else. They look down their noses at everyone else.
00:02:53 --> 00:03:00 They disdain others. They criticize others. They demonize others. They put others into categories and
00:03:00 --> 00:03:06 boxes. That is, they are not relationally generous with other people.
00:03:06 --> 00:03:13 People are not given the benefit of the doubt. There's no forgiveness. And so it's possible
00:03:13 --> 00:03:23 to give away money in great proportions and yet to be profoundly selfish and ungenerous in other areas
00:03:23 --> 00:03:32 of life. That is, happy to write a check, but I don't want to be emotionally involved with those
00:03:32 --> 00:03:39 people and those particular issues. In other words, my money is not as important to me as my emotional
00:03:39 --> 00:03:45 energy. I value my emotional energy more, and therefore I'll give my money, but I refuse to give
00:03:45 --> 00:03:51 that. Refuse to give my emotional energy to people. Happy to write a check, for instance, but I won't give
00:03:51 --> 00:04:01 my time because my time is my own. I value my privacy. I value my individual retreats. In other words,
00:04:01 --> 00:04:07 my time is the most precious thing for me, and I'll be radically generous with my finances, but I will
00:04:07 --> 00:04:16 not be radically generous with my time. And so to be radically generous biblically is to be generous
00:04:16 --> 00:04:22 down to the root of our hearts. It means to be pervasively generous in all areas of life. That's what
00:04:22 --> 00:04:31 radical generosity is. It means to be characterized by a spirit of unselfish service and generosity in
00:04:31 --> 00:04:38 every aspect of life, which is basically what this whole series is. What does it mean to be a radical
00:04:38 --> 00:04:47 disciple of Jesus? It means to be radically generous in everything in life. At least that's one description
00:04:47 --> 00:04:56 of it. The Lord Jesus did not hold anything back from us, and we don't hold anything back from him
00:04:56 --> 00:05:03 or from others. We take up our cross, we die to ourselves in every area of life.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:13 And that is a decision that too many who sit in pews, who lead churches and other things are just not
00:05:13 --> 00:05:21 willing to do. But that's the sort of church that we're working to be. That's the sort of church we
00:05:21 --> 00:05:27 want to desire to be in increasing measure. And so my focus today with the text in front of us of Luke 17
00:05:27 --> 00:05:34 is how do we grow in radical relational generosity?
00:05:34 --> 00:05:46 There is a general form of relational generosity. And you see that with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
00:05:46 --> 00:05:52 You know the scenario? He's just before he's arrested. He's in the Garden of Gethsemane with
00:05:52 --> 00:05:56 the disciples, and he says, guys, I'm going to go for a walk up here, and I'm going to take Peter,
00:05:56 --> 00:06:02 James, and John with me, and I'm going to pray. You guys stay here, keep watch, and pray.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:11 So Jesus goes up, agonizes, comes back, they're asleep. And he does it three times, comes back,
00:06:11 --> 00:06:21 and they're asleep each time. And Jesus says to them, you rotten, rotten individuals, how dare you?
00:06:22 --> 00:06:30 No, he didn't do that, did he? He said to them, the flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:37 He says, yes, there's a certain element of laziness attached to what I've just asked you to do,
00:06:37 --> 00:06:43 and you didn't do it. Yes, your flesh is weak, but the intention was there. The spirit is willing,
00:06:43 --> 00:06:49 I understand. So he cuts them a bit of slack. That's a general sense of relational generosity,
00:06:49 --> 00:06:55 prepared to cut me a little bit of slack. But there's a very specific form of relational
00:06:55 --> 00:07:01 generosity that must characterize every Christian without question, and it is forgiveness.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:07 This would have to be one of the most important characteristics of the Christian.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:13 And so that's our focus tonight, this specific characterization of Christians,
00:07:14 --> 00:07:20 radical relational generosity as is expressed in forgiveness. So firstly, let's take a look at
00:07:20 --> 00:07:26 the difficulty of forgiveness. Every single one of us have people out there, that's because we live
00:07:26 --> 00:07:31 in a sinful world. Every single one of us have people out there who owe us in some way because
00:07:31 --> 00:07:41 of how they've treated us. And we tend to hold it over them relationally. We might be more demanding
00:07:41 --> 00:07:48 of them, or we might just keep our, you know, it bottled up inside and we choose not to speak about it.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:54 But in the end, that's not being particularly generous. Being generous means that you actually
00:07:54 --> 00:08:02 release it. It means that you let it go. It means that you forgive. Does that sound really difficult
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 to do? You think of what people have done to you, think it's really difficult to do? Well,
00:08:06 --> 00:08:12 the disciples thought so too. You see, when Jesus started talking about forgiveness,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:21 what is the first response of the disciples in this text? It's the emphatic, increase our faith.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:33 It's another way of saying, Jesus, what? Serious? That is impossible.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:40 And so in verse 4, we see the enormity of the challenge that Jesus puts before his first
00:08:40 --> 00:08:46 disciples, puts before us. He says here that if your brother sins against you seven times in a day,
00:08:46 --> 00:08:55 and seven times he comes to you repentant, you must forgive. Now, Jesus is not encouraging in any sense
00:08:55 --> 00:09:03 for us to calculate the number of sins committed against us. He isn't saying or making any sort of
00:09:03 --> 00:09:10 suggestion, ah, eighth time. Sorry, dude. All over now. You know, no need to forgive now. It's the eighth time.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:18 You see, the number seven was symbolic for Jewish people. It's why Jesus uses the number seven here.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:23 It's the number that means completeness or fullness or perfection and beyond which you could not imagine
00:09:23 --> 00:09:29 anything else. In other words, it's kind of like being invited over to someone's place in first
00:09:29 --> 00:09:37 century Palestine and they say to you, I hope you eat, you know, seven basketfuls of bread. He's not
00:09:37 --> 00:09:44 actually expecting you're going to eat seven basketfuls of bread, but he's hoping that from this feast that
00:09:44 --> 00:09:53 you are going to feel satisfied, complete, filled up. So what that means is that what Jesus is saying here
00:09:53 --> 00:09:59 is far worse than we think it is. Someone's put it like this.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:09 If a person would wrong you as completely and as fully as any person could wrong another human being,
00:10:10 --> 00:10:20 you must forgive them. Imagine the worst thing that anybody could possibly do to you.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:24 Something so bad that nothing beyond it is possible.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:33 Jesus says that if we are his disciples, if we are on the Calvary Road with him,
00:10:34 --> 00:10:42 we must forgive. We must take up our cross and die to self a little more.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:52 David and Marika Ackerman were pretty core members of a church in South Africa, St. James Kenilworth.
00:10:53 --> 00:11:00 Both were involved in vital ministries of the church over a number of years.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:08 And on the 25th of July in 1993, a thousand people had gathered for a service at St. James Kenilworth.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:18 When three young men burst into the church service, firing semi-automatic weapons and lobbing hand grenades
00:11:18 --> 00:11:24 into the congregation. And the hand grenades had long nails glued to the outside of them in order to
00:11:24 --> 00:11:31 maximize damage. Moments after the carnage, there was 11 people were murdered.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:38 50 people were severely maimed, losing limbs and many other vital functions.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:46 Hundreds sustained various degrees of shrapnel wounds and many hundreds psychological damage.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:55 Right near the front door, as you walked in, was seating. Marika Ackerman was seated.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:03 She had sat with a bunch of visitors who had just came to church that night and wanted to
00:12:03 --> 00:12:11 get them settled into church. She was fatally wounded. One of the first people shot. Fatally wounded in the attack.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:23 In all the chaos, Davi made it to his dying wife and her head was cradled in his lap as he waited
00:12:23 --> 00:12:30 for the paramedics to arrive to attend to the injuries that she would shortly die from. And in that moment,
00:12:30 --> 00:12:38 while his wife was close to death, a TV crew brazenly stuck a microphone under Davi's chin.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:49 It's chaos. And with the camera rolling, the news reporter asked Davi how he felt towards the
00:12:49 --> 00:12:58 perpetrators of this evil. Without any chance to be coached in what to say or to rehearse his answer,
00:12:58 --> 00:13:03 Davi looked at the camera, paused and simply but quite profoundly said,
00:13:03 --> 00:13:11 I will love my enemies. I will pray for my enemies. I will never, ever give into revenge.
00:13:14 --> 00:13:24 In the latter court hearings for his wife murderers, he looked at the three men and asked them to look at
00:13:24 --> 00:13:35 him and he says, I forgive you unconditionally. Jesus has unconditionally forgiven me. I forgive you unconditionally.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:45 And that's why the disciples say here to Jesus, increase our faith, Jesus. This is impossible, Jesus.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:51 Jesus. It's an enormous challenge, but it's one that we cannot shrink back from.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:58 We cannot say, this is ridiculous, Jesus, and just pull back from it. We can't shrink back
00:13:58 --> 00:14:05 because there's too much at stake if we do. There's an enormous danger here if we do.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:14 There's this little phrase which is so easy to ignore. Just read straight past it. And in verse 3,
00:14:14 --> 00:14:21 it sets up this whole section for us. And it's simply, watch yourselves.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:31 We're called to watch ourselves when someone sins against us. That's not what we would normally do.
00:14:31 --> 00:14:36 When someone wrongs us, we normally pay an enormous amount of attention to the person who's wronged us.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:41 Think about how much they've wronged us and replaying it over our heads, how much they've hurt us.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:47 And Jesus says here, you pay attention to yourself. You pay attention to your own heart.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:48 Why?
00:14:51 --> 00:14:52 I'll tell you why.
00:14:52 --> 00:15:03 Last week, I mentioned the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. And as I said last week, he had a somewhat overinflated view of himself.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:10 I'd imagine he couldn't have been easy to live with. Turns out he wasn't. He was married to Sonia.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:19 And on the eve of their wedding, he gave her, as a gift if you like, his diaries to read.
00:15:19 --> 00:15:29 And in his diaries, he had recorded in detail his many sexual experiences,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:36 including with one of his servants who worked with him and still work with him,
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 to whom he was the father of their child.
00:15:42 --> 00:15:46 And apparently, early on in their marriage, it was relatively happy.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:53 Later on, though, Sonia was known to launch into jealous tirades on a regular basis.
00:15:55 --> 00:16:04 And when she was 80 years old, she was writing in her own journal very, very bitterly about what she had read decades before.
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 One historian wrote this about it.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:22 Hebrews 12, 15 says,
00:16:22 --> 00:16:29 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up, causing trouble and defiling many.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 That's why Jesus says here, watch yourself.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:34 Watch yourself.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:42 Watch yourself, because our anger, when someone wrongs us, our anger will always tell us,
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 I'm not actually anger.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:51 Anger will always tell us that it's justified, it's truth, it's righteous.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:56 But if you keep hold of it, it will defile you.
00:16:56 --> 00:17:07 It's interesting that there are four words in the English language that all have the same root word, same core word.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:12 Wrath, which is rage, fury, anger.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:21 Wreath, which is the thing that you twist together with flowers and vines and branches to make that round thing.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:27 Writhe, which is to be bent out of shape and contorted and jerking movements.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:35 And wraith, which is a ghost-like image of someone just before or just after they have died.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 They're all connected.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:42 We mustn't kid ourselves.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:50 When we stay angry with people, we hold a judge, we stay resentful, we become distorted and we become twisted by the anger.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:54 We become a person who is afraid of trusting other people.
00:17:54 --> 00:17:57 We become people who are joyless, people who are suspicious of others.
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 We demonize and box people.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 We become ultimately a hard person.
00:18:03 --> 00:18:12 And so what Jesus says here is if someone wrongs you, put yourself on high alert.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:20 Watch your heart because their wronging of you is the least of your problem.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 It's the least of your problem.
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27 So then how do we go about it?
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 How do we forgive?
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31 How can we practice forgiveness?
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 When we are angry for what people have done.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 There are at least three things we can do.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 Plenty more, but I just want to focus on three things.
00:18:41 --> 00:18:47 In fact, I say we need to do this if we are to avoid becoming twisted and distorted and destroyed by bitterness.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:53 The first thing is that we must refuse to caricature the wrongdoer by...
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 But instead, we need to identify with them.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 So instead of characterizing them, we need to identify with them.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:09 If someone wrongs us, the first thing we do is we tend to emphasize their faults and their failings.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:14 And so Jesus is making a very significant point here when he says,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 If your brother sins.
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 He's talking here about Christians wronging Christians.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:29 And he's reminding us that you have a common family.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:34 When our temptation, which it always is in the midst of difficulty like this,
00:19:34 --> 00:19:38 our temptation is to highlight the differences.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:42 Jesus says here, don't forget to emphasize the unity in whose you are.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:47 Of course, the Bible doesn't just say that Christians are to forgive Christians.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 Mark 11, 25 says,
00:19:50 --> 00:19:55 When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them,
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
00:19:59 --> 00:19:59 Hear that? Anyone.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 The principle is the same.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:06 We must stress what we have in common.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:12 That is, with all people, we share a common humanity in the image of God.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:21 Every human being is a complex person made in God's image with great dignity and great worth.
00:20:21 --> 00:20:32 And our normal practice when someone wrongs us is to reduce them from that status of dignity down to what they have done.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 And so someone tells you a lie.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 And what you do is you're so offended by that.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 They've lied against you or lied to you or something like that.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 And you go, you are a liar.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 And so we define them by their action.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:51 I'm a human being offended and you're a cartoon villain.
00:20:54 --> 00:21:00 We also, and this is crucial, we also share a common sinfulness with all people.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:09 It is impossible to stay angry with someone unless we feel superior to them.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:15 You cannot stay angry with someone unless you feel superior to them.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:25 When we say things like, I would never, ever do that, we elevate ourselves over others in a way that makes us feel morally superior.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:31 We might not sin in exactly the same way, but we are all just as sinful.
00:21:32 --> 00:21:36 And instead of characterizing the enemy, we must identify with them.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:41 We must bring ourselves down to their level and we must lift them up.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:49 So the second thing we need to do is we need to inwardly surrender the right to repayment and to pay the debt ourselves.
00:21:50 --> 00:21:58 The word for forgive here that Jesus uses in this passage is a very specific word that means to release a person from a financial debt.
00:21:58 --> 00:22:11 Now when a bank releases you from a financial debt, not that they ever do, but if they do, the bank in that moment chooses to absorb the debt.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 They make the choice to absorb the debt.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18 The debt doesn't just disappear, someone has to pay.
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 And so they absorb the debt.
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 And that's what we need to do.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 How do we forgive?
00:22:25 --> 00:22:31 We can only forgive if inwardly we forego seeking repayment.
00:22:32 --> 00:22:36 And that is the opposite of our default setting.
00:22:37 --> 00:22:43 This is the opposite of how I have acted in so many occasions.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 And especially with the people who I'm the closest with.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:56 There was a time when my relationship with my parents, some of you will know this, was so bad that I had nothing to do with them for over a decade.
00:22:58 --> 00:23:05 And on so many occasions in those years, I did not practice with them the forgiveness that I had received from Jesus.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 I traded hurt for hurt.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:14 I specifically traded the hurt of being rejected with the hurt of rejecting.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 Although I was able to do it so righteously.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:29 On a number of occasions, I believed and repeated a story about them that in fact severely tarnished their reputation.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:34 It's the sort of story that no son should believe, let alone repeat.
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 But I did.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:47 When I wasn't being treated like a son, I chose to not treat them like my parents.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 It's never justified.
00:23:51 --> 00:23:54 My anger was never righteous.
00:23:54 --> 00:24:04 And just this week, I realized that the source of my deepest pain was in fact the pain that I inflicted on them.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:11 Now, I knew that I was responsible many years ago for my contribution.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:14 But it's taken 20 years.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 Now, I'm slow on some uptake and stuff.
00:24:17 --> 00:24:32 20 years for me to realize what I suspect to be the deepest level of hurt that I inflicted on them was in fact the deepest level of hurt that I'd experienced.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 We trade hurt for hurt.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:40 And so the cycle of warfare just keeps going, going, going, and going.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 Isn't that all we do?
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 If someone makes us unhappy, we make them unhappy.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 If someone rejects us, we reject them.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51 If someone destroys our reputation, we destroy their reputation.
00:24:51 --> 00:24:53 And we are so good at it in the church sometimes.
00:24:54 --> 00:24:58 We, you know, we're careful not to be labeled as gossip.
00:24:58 --> 00:24:59 So we share prayer points.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 I want you to pray about this issue.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 I've got a problem with so-and-so.
00:25:01 --> 00:25:02 Let me tell you the issue.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:08 We trade hurt for hurt and it just spirals out and out of control.
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 We might do it directly with them.
00:25:10 --> 00:25:13 We might tell them off and make them feel really bad.
00:25:13 --> 00:25:17 Or we might do it behind their backs about gossiping about them and ruining their reputation.
00:25:18 --> 00:25:25 We take a word that we get from someone else and we replay that word but with extra emphasis.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 With a different tone than it was received.
00:25:29 --> 00:25:35 The less obvious way that we do it is we inwardly nurture the hurt.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:43 We replay the hurt again and again and again over in our minds in order to stay angry with them.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:51 Whichever way we do it, whichever way we do it, we are attempting to extract payment.
00:25:51 --> 00:26:03 But instead of extracting a repayment for the debt, what we're actually doing is robbing our life of joy and peace and contentment.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05 That's actually what we're doing.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09 We become harder and bitter and twisted.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:17 A lack of relational generosity destroys us over the long term and for eternity.
00:26:17 --> 00:26:20 It really hurts us.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:25 Relational generosity might hurt in the short term as we take up our cross.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:32 Because we refuse to repay, to extract payment.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 But instead we choose to absorb the debt.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 And it leads to joy and peace and freedom.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:42 The third thing we must do to practice forgiveness is verse 3.
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them.
00:26:46 --> 00:26:52 That is, it's not loving to allow someone to do anything they want.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 Any way they want.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:57 Now we need to be really careful about reading this verse.
00:26:57 --> 00:27:03 I'll be honest with you, I've always found it much easier to rebuke someone when I'm particularly angry with them.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 I want to give them a piece of my mind.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 The words just sort of flow a lot better in that way.
00:27:08 --> 00:27:10 And you find it much easier to do.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:15 But the purpose of the rebuke here is not to put the other person down.
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 It is in fact to lift them up.
00:27:18 --> 00:27:19 That's the purpose of it.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22 It's not to win an argument.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:26 It is according to Matthew 18, to win your brother over.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 To restore relationship.
00:27:31 --> 00:27:33 That is the goal of the rebuke.
00:27:33 --> 00:27:37 Restored relationship, not a further breaking of the relationship.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:43 And if that's the case, then it's not just what we say.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:48 It is how we say it and the motivation of why we are saying it.
00:27:48 --> 00:27:53 The truth must be spoken in love for the other person.
00:27:54 --> 00:27:59 And if we had not inwardly forgiven the other person before we rebuke them,
00:28:00 --> 00:28:04 then you've got to ask the question, why are we rebuking them?
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 Is it for vengeance?
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 Is it to extract repayment?
00:28:08 --> 00:28:10 Or is it to help them?
00:28:10 --> 00:28:18 Interestingly, in the Bible, I would suggest that forgiveness is granted before it's felt.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:23 Forgiveness is granted before it's felt.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:27 That is, you give forgiveness.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:32 And then over here, you work on your heart for forgiveness.
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 You work on your feeling of forgiveness.
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 You stop replaying the issues over your mind.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:40 The only way to do that is to keep the cross close.
00:28:46 --> 00:28:51 In other words, we need to inwardly forgive, then rebuke in order to reconcile.
00:28:52 --> 00:28:57 We must seek the good and will the good of the person we have perceived to have wronged us.
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 We need to will the good of the other.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:04 And that means you can never say,
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 I forgive you, but I want nothing more to do with you.
00:29:08 --> 00:29:13 Because that statement means that you might not be seeking vengeance on them,
00:29:14 --> 00:29:16 but you're not seeking their good either.
00:29:16 --> 00:29:19 You're not seeking a restored relationship.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:28 If we don't seek their good, then we haven't forgiven them, and so watch yourselves.
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 Now, my assumption here is that if you've been listening,
00:29:32 --> 00:29:36 and even if you've got someone or some circumstances in the front of your mind,
00:29:36 --> 00:29:38 you might be feeling this,
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 and we are back to the plea of the apostles,
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43 increase my faith, Jesus.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:46 I need you to increase my faith.
00:29:46 --> 00:29:48 This is hard work.
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 This is very hard.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 Where is the power to live like this?
00:29:53 --> 00:29:56 And fortunately, Jesus has given us a good answer in what follows on from verse 5.
00:29:57 --> 00:30:00 In those verses, we have a parable, and we have a metaphor.
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 The parable starts in verse 7.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 And the parable is this.
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 Suppose you're a lord, you're the master, the owner of a property,
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 and you've had these people out there plowing your paddocks
00:30:11 --> 00:30:14 and looking after the livestock.
00:30:15 --> 00:30:18 And at the end of the day, the question is,
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19 would you say to them,
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 Hey guys, it's time to finish up.
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21 Come on in.
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 I've prepared dinner for you.
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 Come on in.
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 Put your feet up.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 Would you say that?
00:30:28 --> 00:30:32 And to the apostles hearing this word from Jesus,
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 they would say,
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 first century Palestine,
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 in their culture,
00:30:37 --> 00:30:37 they would say,
00:30:37 --> 00:30:39 No, we would never say that.
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 The service job is to,
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 when they're finished out there,
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 plowing the paddocks and tending the sheep
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 and the dogs and the sheep,
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 whatever else,
00:30:46 --> 00:30:48 they come in and they prepare your meal.
00:30:48 --> 00:30:49 And once you're fed,
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 then they go and do their own food.
00:30:53 --> 00:30:53 You see,
00:30:54 --> 00:30:54 as modern people,
00:30:55 --> 00:30:55 we don't think like that
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 because we think,
00:30:56 --> 00:30:56 you know,
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 nine to five,
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 these are employees.
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03 But these servants here,
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 first of all,
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 are not slaves traded in the marketplace
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 who have no rights,
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 but they're also not employees.
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 That's not who's referred to here.
00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 These were people who fell into debt,
00:31:18 --> 00:31:21 who became financially bankrupt,
00:31:23 --> 00:31:26 and instead of being thrown into prison to rot,
00:31:26 --> 00:31:29 as you see in Luke 16,
00:31:30 --> 00:31:35 they are working for the person to whom they owe the money,
00:31:35 --> 00:31:38 in order to work off the debt.
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 And according to Jewish law,
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44 that could be up to a maximum time of seven years
00:31:44 --> 00:31:49 that you would work for the person to whom you were bankrupt to.
00:31:49 --> 00:31:57 So this servant here is never off duty until that debt is paid,
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 until they've been released from it.
00:32:00 --> 00:32:04 The master of the house wouldn't thank them for helping out so much
00:32:04 --> 00:32:07 or only doing their duty.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:12 And so Jesus here got the apostles to imagine themselves as the masters,
00:32:12 --> 00:32:15 helping them to see that it would be inappropriate
00:32:15 --> 00:32:19 for a servant here in this scenario to demand thanks from their masters,
00:32:20 --> 00:32:23 especially when this master in this story
00:32:23 --> 00:32:27 has been gracious enough not to throw them into prison,
00:32:27 --> 00:32:30 but instead giving them an opportunity to work off their debt
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 so they can be released.
00:32:34 --> 00:32:36 And then in verse 10,
00:32:36 --> 00:32:40 Jesus flips it unexpectedly.
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 He says,
00:32:42 --> 00:32:43 So you also,
00:32:44 --> 00:32:47 when you have done everything you were told to do,
00:32:48 --> 00:32:51 should you say we are unworthy servants?
00:32:51 --> 00:32:53 We have only done our duty.
00:32:55 --> 00:32:58 When you've done everything you were told to do,
00:32:58 --> 00:32:59 including forgive,
00:33:00 --> 00:33:02 you should simply say,
00:33:03 --> 00:33:05 I am doing my duty.
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08 Now,
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 we saw last week in the Pharisee,
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 in Luke 18,
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 that the self-righteous,
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 the moralistic,
00:33:17 --> 00:33:19 religious person says,
00:33:20 --> 00:33:20 God,
00:33:20 --> 00:33:22 I've done my duty,
00:33:23 --> 00:33:24 you owe me.
00:33:26 --> 00:33:28 And what the Pharisee there,
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 if you get that story and this story and put them together,
00:33:32 --> 00:33:33 the Pharisee in that moment
00:33:33 --> 00:33:36 is a servant acting like the master.
00:33:39 --> 00:33:41 A servant acting like the king.
00:33:43 --> 00:33:45 Jesus is saying here,
00:33:45 --> 00:33:47 that when we refuse to forgive,
00:33:47 --> 00:33:49 we are forgetting who we actually are.
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 We owe God everything.
00:33:52 --> 00:33:55 He sustains every minute of the day for us.
00:33:55 --> 00:33:56 And if we are Christian,
00:33:57 --> 00:33:58 we also know that he has redeemed us
00:33:58 --> 00:34:03 and he has forgiven us of an incalculable debt.
00:34:03 --> 00:34:05 He is the king.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 We are the servant.
00:34:09 --> 00:34:10 And when we say,
00:34:12 --> 00:34:14 I'm not going to forgive you for that.
00:34:15 --> 00:34:18 We are putting ourselves in the judgment seat,
00:34:19 --> 00:34:20 the king seat,
00:34:21 --> 00:34:23 and we are playing God.
00:34:23 --> 00:34:29 We think that we know what people deserve,
00:34:30 --> 00:34:33 when in fact we hardly know what they've been through in their life,
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 what they've done,
00:34:34 --> 00:34:36 or even what their motives are,
00:34:36 --> 00:34:37 but we think we do.
00:34:37 --> 00:34:40 And Jesus helps us further with this
00:34:40 --> 00:34:42 in how we could possibly do it
00:34:42 --> 00:34:47 by attaching a metaphor to this
00:34:47 --> 00:34:50 to see how we can live the forgiving life.
00:34:51 --> 00:34:52 Verse 6,
00:34:52 --> 00:34:55 if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
00:34:56 --> 00:34:58 you could say to this mulberry tree,
00:34:59 --> 00:35:00 this big mulberry tree,
00:35:00 --> 00:35:02 be uprooted and planted in the sea,
00:35:02 --> 00:35:03 and it will obey you.
00:35:04 --> 00:35:04 Now,
00:35:05 --> 00:35:07 Jesus doesn't mean faith in general here.
00:35:07 --> 00:35:09 He means specifically faith in him.
00:35:09 --> 00:35:11 And what Jesus is saying,
00:35:12 --> 00:35:15 that if you have even the smallest understanding
00:35:15 --> 00:35:17 of what has been done for you,
00:35:18 --> 00:35:20 if you have even the slightest,
00:35:20 --> 00:35:22 the tiniest understanding
00:35:22 --> 00:35:25 that we are sinners saved by grace,
00:35:25 --> 00:35:26 and we've been forgiven
00:35:26 --> 00:35:29 of an incalculable debt against God,
00:35:29 --> 00:35:31 if we have an understanding
00:35:31 --> 00:35:32 of the good news of the gospel
00:35:32 --> 00:35:35 that is even the smallest amount,
00:35:37 --> 00:35:38 you'll be able to forgive.
00:35:39 --> 00:35:42 If you have any idea
00:35:42 --> 00:35:44 what Jesus has done for you,
00:35:45 --> 00:35:46 you'll be able to forgive.
00:35:48 --> 00:35:49 See what he's saying?
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50 The only way to get out of the behavior
00:35:50 --> 00:35:53 and the attitude of being the servant,
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54 acting like I'm the king
00:35:54 --> 00:35:55 and the judge of all humanity,
00:35:56 --> 00:35:57 is to marvel at the king
00:35:57 --> 00:35:58 who became a servant.
00:35:59 --> 00:36:00 It's the only way.
00:36:02 --> 00:36:03 To marvel at the king
00:36:03 --> 00:36:04 who became a servant,
00:36:04 --> 00:36:07 we will never be long-suffering
00:36:07 --> 00:36:09 until we marvel at him
00:36:09 --> 00:36:10 who suffered on the cross
00:36:10 --> 00:36:11 for our sin.
00:36:12 --> 00:36:14 We will never be able to forgive
00:36:14 --> 00:36:17 other people's tiny debts
00:36:17 --> 00:36:18 towards us
00:36:18 --> 00:36:20 until we marvel at Jesus dying
00:36:20 --> 00:36:21 on the cross
00:36:21 --> 00:36:24 for our incalculable debt.
00:36:24 --> 00:36:29 Jesus is the judge of the universe
00:36:29 --> 00:36:32 who left the judgment seat,
00:36:34 --> 00:36:36 stepped into my servant's shoes
00:36:36 --> 00:36:38 and got judged for my sin.
00:36:38 --> 00:36:43 How is it possible
00:36:43 --> 00:36:46 that I could ever act
00:36:46 --> 00:36:47 as judge of another?
00:36:50 --> 00:36:51 How is it possible,
00:36:51 --> 00:36:53 having received that,
00:36:53 --> 00:36:54 that I could ever say,
00:36:55 --> 00:36:57 I won't forgive you for that?
00:36:57 --> 00:37:01 It means I don't understand
00:37:01 --> 00:37:03 even the tiniest thing
00:37:03 --> 00:37:05 about the Christian gospel.
00:37:06 --> 00:37:08 To understand the Christian gospel,
00:37:09 --> 00:37:13 even in its smallest mustard seed amount,
00:37:14 --> 00:37:16 is enough to change us.
00:37:17 --> 00:37:19 Even a mustard seed portion
00:37:19 --> 00:37:21 of the gospel of grace
00:37:21 --> 00:37:24 can turn us into a person
00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 who forgives radically
00:37:27 --> 00:37:30 and lives relationally generously.
00:37:30 --> 00:37:30 Thank you.