The Unforgiving Debtor

I often wonder why Christians are so unforgiving, often they are more unforgiving then others, of others sins against them. It seems that it must be that somehow they still have the idea, that they somehow stand before God on their own righteousness.
In the book of Matthew, we read of a story that Jesus uses to illustrate, not just how He is, but how our heavenly Father is, and how much more if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, we should be.
It is a story that you don't often here in today's "feel good about yourself" sermons or the hell fire and damnation sermons of judgmental preachers of doom.

I would like to repeat that story exactly here as Jesus tells it as written by Matthew, who understood this most of all. See Matthew was a tax collector, one of the most hated by the people of his time, as often they are in our time.
The point is not about money though, the point Jesus is making here is about our Father's relationship to us, and how much more our relationship should be with others. My quote is from the NIV Bible.
Matthew 18:20-35
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

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We see here Peter trying to be gracious, when he ask Jesus should I forgive SEVEN times? See for the Rabbi's taught that you only had to forgive someone only three times, and then that was it- your out.
Not so much different then the Noahdic laws we have adopted for society, most States have adopted this as the - "three times and your out law". This is defined as that once a person has committed a criminal act and been found guilty of one should they commit an act, any act a third time, they get life imprisonment.
This recently happened to a man who stole a candy bar, it was his 3rd time for a crime, and now he is serving a life sentence for that. Just? Justice?
Christians have adopted this thinking, just like the rest of the world. We seek to punish, to extract vengeance, to see that someone pays for their life of crime or harm they have done us.
Yet, here Jesus has just got through teaching on "whatsoever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever we loose shall be loosed in heaven". Here we think this gives us the power to bind and loose others, which in essence is what our Savoir is saying, but in a much more meaningful way then we consider.
So now he extrapolates even further his teaching with Peter's question.
Peter thought he was being gracious, using the complete number of "seven" times, but watch what Jesus does with his graciousness, which is limited, like our own at most times in this life in our dealings with others and even our laws of our land.
The body of Christ, His bride, His "church" is to be separate from the world's thinking, separate from the world's ways of doing things. This is why even Paul in his teaching in the book of Corinthians, corrects the Christians who would sue one another for not bringing it before the body of Christ instead of the world. How often are Christians doing that these days, in direct contradiction to a clear directive from Paul. Where did Paul get such a teaching from? Did Paul just make it up as he went along. Did Paul develop some new church doctrine? I tell you, no, he did not.
We will see that he got it from Jesus teaching. For Paul who once sought to kill and murder and destroy, what he considered "the chosen nation of God's" enemy, Christians, his heart had been changed by an encounter with the "real Jesus Christ", not the fictional one of tradition and mens teachings as we have so much of today.
Does Jesus apply this to the whole of governments of the world? Most often not. This teaching will never be understood by the world or it's governments. It's very simple to know the reason why, because we know, no matter what government, it is not God's government, it is not His Kingdom. This is not to say he doesn't allow men to govern, he does, but He has not chosen them as representatives of Himself, history proves otherwise.
All governments which are merely made of people, fall under the same condemnation we all do- "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Yes, even the United States, no less and no more then others.
Once again Jesus shows that those in His government, His kingdom are Kingdom people, that we are to be separate from the world, in all our dealings with others, and how we perceive individuals should be treated. Christ doesn't limit the forgiveness that God give us, nor that which was given to us, when He looked down from the cross and said, "Father forgive them".
Christ tells Peter, "I tell you, not seven times; but seventy times seven."
Why does Jesus give this number? Seven is a complete number under Jewish belief, but even Seven has an ending to it, though what was considered a perfect number. Seventy times Seven is an infinite number, meaning there is no end to it. Thus Jesus says, "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is" in His Sermon on the Mount.
Oh! how the body of Christ kicks this one out the door because of our religiosity at times. most often as individuals, we have forgotten who we were and who we are, a forgiven people.
We are a people that deserve no less than the death sentence for our sins.
Eternal spiritual separation from our Father in heaven, if He thought and acted as we do that would be all of our fates. But the Good News is: He doesn't!
Jesus emphasizes this again, the forgiveness for which we have been given, and in Matthew 6:14, where He has once already spoken this explaining once again to us what we like to repeat together as the Lord's prayer with little attention paid to it's words.
14"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Jesus speaks to us, again from the heart of our heavenly Father.
Previous to this, Jesus has again painted not only a very clear picture for the body of Christ as to the will of our Father in heaven, but He give us more insight to the way our Father deals with us and all mankind, whether just or unjust.
Let us read this together- Matthew 5:43-47
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
There it is in a nutshell. "Do not even pagans do that?" He tells them in regards to their treatment of others, do you only treat those that are good to you that treat you good, do you only treat those that you consider just with goodness? If so, then I will say it no clearer then He did, how can you call yourself sons of the living God?
You say, " I am a Christian", yet are your thoughts the same as that of the world when it comes to justice, or the treatment of others who have offended you? Think again. What makes you any different then they?
When 911 happened, I was sure that President Bush who claimed to be a Christian would call for prayer and only prayer. Instead I heard him cry for vengeance!
I heard then tens of thousands of Christians following right behind him and saying the same.
It wasn't until the teachings of a Catholic monk, Augustine that the body of Christ even considered nullifying the Word of God for the traditions of men, with his concept and teaching of "justified war". No disciple of Christ had even considered such until Augustine, they didn't take up sword, except the one time, Peter did, and Our Lord, told him to put it away. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword, so here we are again, with thousands of young men coming home in caskets from abroad.

The body of Christ has given precedent to this Monk, more then the Word of God, or even considering who they are, and just how, they were saved. Too often the false doctrine of men having a "free will" has pervaded the "church", rather then the Word of God, that reveals it is the Father that draws us and that we couldn't save ourselves if we tried!
Jesus makes this clear when Peter tells Him that He is the Son of God, Jesus in turn tells Peter, that is the Father who has revealed that to him! His body, are the people that the Father has revealed himself to.
The world will never fathom who Jesus Christ is, until His people, those claiming that the very resurrected life of Christ through the Holy Spirit is alive in them, begin to think and act, as Jesus did and does. As long as we sound like the world, look like the world and act like the world, they will never see Jesus Christ for whom He is the "Prince of Peace."
There can be no peace in this world even among believers as long as each one has been harmed by another, and they find no forgiveness for one another. There can be no love, in a world that hates and is at constant war with others. We pray, " thy kingdom come, thy will be done", but then in the next breath, we express words of hatred, and discord against anyone, any nation, any group of people that we perceive that have harmed us.
Once again, just like the Pharisees, we have nullified the Word of God, for the traditions of men!
When will the body of Christ ever get it right?
When I ask, when?
I will tell you when, when the body of Christ opens their hearts and their ears to truth, inexplicable truth and the Word of God, the living Word- Jesus Himself. No greater love can one have...
We even have erroneously converted the act of God, as one of punishment, on Christ for us. God is not angry folks, he is not the God of the shadowy Old Testament, but the revealed truth in that one person, that loved the unloved, and brought salvation to all of us, who did not deserve it. If God was a God of the justice that men portray Him to be, He would never have allowed His Son, to go to the Cross, rather each one of us would get what we deserved individually and directed at us as such, not at His only begotten Son.
We each of us right now, would still be " dead in sin and trespasses", and God wouldn't lift a finger to deliver us from the death which we were in.
See, "Christ died for us, while we were yet His enemies!"
How willing are you to love others, forgive others, act differently from this world. Justice, Our Father in heaven's "justice" is compassion and mercy to those who have offended Him how much more if we claim to have God as our Father should we show compassion and mercy to all men.
BTW- there is a payment for not doing so- Jesus warned- we shall be treated as we treat others for sure by our Father, He will allow this, to drive out the hatred in our lives, to bring us to his compassion and mercy, so that in seeing it, we too will become "perfect like our Heavenly Father is."
Read again the end of the story of the "Unforgiving Debtor". It's time for those who desire to call themselves by His name, to quit using His name in vain, and I am not talking about the proverbial curse word either. If we are who we claim to be, then forgiveness is the heart of God, mercy and compassion are the acts of God.
Will you forgive today, someone who has harmed you, done you wrong, or will you have to be tormented until you pay the last dime? I pray that you will forgive, not seven times, but infinitely as our Lord has taught us. God is love, we love because He first loved us. This is what will set us apart from the world, and the world will see we are the light of the world and the salt of this earth. Do we want to appear as a "Christian Nation" to the world, then perhaps we should exemplify rather then nullify, the life of Christ in our dealings with our neighbors, our family, our friends, and most of all with those that we perceive as our enemies! Believe it or not, there are those who do call themselves Christian who have done just that, just look to our Quaker and Anabaptist brethren, who have heeded the Word of God, and not twisted it like most American Protestants have. May the Lord give you the heart of Christ, and may He most of all teach you forgiveness and what true justice is.

Doctor J.