St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 31 - 32: Forgive All!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 1.  

Christ continues to demonstrate to his disciples the need for forgiveness.  The fate of the servant who would not forgive but exacted punishment upon his fellow servants, is used as an example for the disciples.  The kingdom of heaven is similar to this demonstration.  For when the settlement date comes, all will be judged according to whether they were merciful, as our Father is merciful upon us.  The servant was forgiven his debt.  Will we forgive our brothers and sisters their debt?  Will we look upon them with contempt and anger?  Or will we accept them with open arms and forgive them their trespasses?

These are the principles that Christ sought to teach his disciples in this parable.  He wanted them to have a clear understanding of the message.  He wanted them to know why it is important for them to forgive.  Not just one time.  Not just two times.  But as many times as seventy times seven, as many times as it takes.  He wanted them to not be like the wicked servant in the parable.  For the story of the actions of the wicked servant got back to the master.  "His fellow-servants therefore, seeing what had happened, were very much saddened, and they went and informed their master of what had taken place.  Then his master called him, and said to him, 'Wicked servant!  I forgave thee all the debt, because thou didst entreat me."

Are we wicked servants?  Do we entreat our Father to forgive us and then do not forgive our brothers and sisters?  In the heat of the moment, do we remember?  In the midst of the conflict when our passions are high, when we realize that we have been wronged, can we think about what we did to our Father when we wronged him?  Can we make that comparison, our Father forgiving us, to our forgiving our brothers/sisters?  Evil would have us live in the passion.  Evil would have us act upon our feelings.  Evil would laugh at us as we battle our brothers and sisters because they have offended us because they have wronged us.  Evil would not have us step back and think of the love and the mercy that our Father gave us when we sinned against him.

All we would think about is that we were offended.  All we could see is that we must get revenge.  All we could understand is that we were hurt.  These are the things that our emotions would have us act upon.  In an argument, in a fight, in a heated discussion, in an effort to hurt or retaliate, we are fully engaged in what our feelings tells us that we must do.  We do not take a deep breath and step back, to think and to feel from the heart of all the things that we did wrong and how our Father forgave us. 

Our God has forgiven us.  Our God loves us.  Our God is merciful toward us.  For those who seek to know him he is loving.  For those who seek to be with him he is forgiving.  For those who desire to love him he is open armed and welcoming.  He provides.  He protects.  He forgives.  Our past is with us.  Our history is like a movie that plays before us, a witness of all the transgressions that we made against the will of our Father.  He should be mad.  He should be angry.  He should exact punishment.  Yet he is merciful and forgiving.  Should we face the day of settlement, our history would certainly condemn us to eternal damnation.  Yet we entreat the compassion of our Father to forgive us of all that we have done.

Be not the "Wicked Servant."  Be not the unforgiving.  Step back and open the heart to that which was given to you.  Seek to become like Christ and understand the love of the Father toward you and toward all your brothers and sisters.  We are all his children.  He created us.  He gave us life.  It is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus that we have new life, a new beginning.  Come!  Rejoice in what is before you.  Seek the knowledge of who you are in Christ and you will know the truth.  If the eye is sound then you will see the light that is within you.  And then you will know the truth and the love that the Father has for you.  Open the door to your heart and let the Holy Spirit come in.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.   

St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 28 - 30: Have patience with me!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant demands payment)  

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who desires to settle accounts with his servants.  This is the parable that Christ told to his disciples as he was teaching them about forgiveness.  He wanted them to have a clear understanding.  He wanted them to know.  He wanted them to feel within their hearts the meaning of forgiveness.  Peter had asked how often they should forgive.  And Christ wanted them to understand that there is no limit on forgiveness.

He told them, when the accounts came to be settled, would it show that they had compassion upon their fellow man as the king had upon his servant.  Or would they be like the servant who had no compassion upon those that owed him?  These are the servants actions.  "But as that servant went out, he met one of his fellow-servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and he laid hold of him and throttled him, saying, 'Pay what thou owest.'  His fellow-servant therefore fell down and began to entreat him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will pay thee all.'  But he would not; but went away and cast him into prison until he should pay what was due."

What will you do?  Will you be like the servant or will you take the position of the king?  God has patience.  God  has compassion.  God  is forgiving.  God  is all knowing.  Will you be like God  our Father?  Will you forgive?  Will you have compassion?  Will you have patience with your brothers and sisters as they continue in their ways?  Will you have love for them as they struggle through the trials and tribulations of life?  Will you be an example for them, demonstrating the love the God  has for you and the love that your heavenly father has for them?

Our Father waits for us to have knowledge.  Our Father waits for us to understand.  Our Father waits for us to turn to him and believe.  We are drawn by the world and all its glitz and glamour.  For we are given to believe that we are successful it.  We are given to believe that we can have what it has to offer.  We are given to believe that if we only believe hard enough and work long enough that we can have the promises of this life.  And when we try and fail who do we turn to?  Do we change our game plan?  Do we try a different strategy?  Do we push the boundaries in our efforts to succeed?  And yet we are already successful.

For within us lies the truth of who we are in Christ.  And within us lies the truth of our success.  Within us is the light of life given us by our father through Christ Jesus.  And yet we are not aware of who we are in him simply because we are blinded by the physical.  We are blinded by the world.  We are raised in an environment that teaches us the rules of this world and not the rules of the spiritual world.  The two contradict and conflict.  Father have patience with me that I may learn your ways.  Father have patience with me that I may understand the truth of who I am.  Father forgive me my trespasses and help me to forgive others as you forgive me.  Help me to have patience and love that I may see others as you see me. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.   

St Matthew, Chapter 18, verses: 23 - 27: Have patience with us!

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the unmerciful servant)  

Peter asked the question and Christ responded.  He asked: " But how often shall we forgive?"  How often shall we endure the hurt and the pain of our brother's and sister's sin and still forgive them of their transgressions?  How often shall we stand by and watch them play the game of seeking repentance only to turn around and sin again?  How often can we put up with their problems and not get angry?  Is seven times enough, he asked?  Christ wanted his disciples to know that seven times was not enough.  Even if their brothers and sisters continue to sin, to forgive them should not be limited by the disciples inability to forgive. 

He told them that they should forgive not seven times but seventy times seven.  Forgive as often as it is necessary and then some.  Forgive more than they can sin and then some.  Forgive that they will know that you are different and that there is something in you that will not allow you to judge, to be angry, to not love, or to not forgive.  Forgive that they will see that there is something inside that allows you to see them in a different light.  Forgive that they will see that there is something inside you that allows you to be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful with you.  Forgive that they will see that there is no limit to your mercy as there is no limit to his mercy and there is no lack to his justice.

And then Christ told his disciples this parable to help them understand why they should not limit their forgiveness.   "This is why the kingdom of heaven is likened to a-king who desired to settle accounts with his servants.  And when he had begun the settlement, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  And as he had no means of paying, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  But the servant fell down and besought him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will pay thee all!'  And moved with compassion, the master of that servant released him, and forgave him the debt."

When the time comes for the settlement of accounts will we meet our debts?  At the judgment day when we are called upon to review our lives on the scale of justice will the scales tilt to good or will the scales tilt to evil?  When we are faced with eternal happiness in heaven or eternal damnation in hell, how will we plead, guilty or not?  Will we beseech justice to have mercy?  Will we ask for clemency?  Will we be sorrowful for our sins?  Will we seek compassion?  How will we plead?

It is the honesty in our hearts that will weigh upon justice.  It is the realization that flashes before our minds that will awaken us to the judgment before us.  And it is the absence of the worldly and the presence of the spiritual reality of who we are that will press upon us the justice that we face.  We had the words.  We had the teachings.  We had the built in presence of right and wrong.  And then we had the world that transformed us into physical beings that allowed us to hide behind the veil of untruth.  Yet the end comes when we are faced with the truth of justice.

Christ gave us all that we should know.  He came to us.  He walked among us.  He spoke to us.  He left us to return to God his Father.  And he sent us his presence in the Holy Spirit.  He established for us the written word and built for us his church.  The time for settlement comes.  And it will come for all without delay or postponement.  It cannot be stopped.  It cannot be changed.  It is the justice of God.  Will you be ready?  Will you be prepared?  Our Father is merciful.  Our Father is Loving.  Our Father is forgiving.  Have patience with us Father that we may come to know the truth of who we are in Christ!  For we are lost.  We are blind.  We are influenced by evil.  We pray that the day of settlement will not find us without your mercy, without your grace, without your love.  In Jesus Christ name we pray.  Amen.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.