It's Time to Settle Accounts

Sermon Preached by Rev. Thomas W. Larson
Based on Matthew 18:21-35
Season of Pentecost - September 15, 2002
St. John's Lutheran Church, Woodstock, Illinois

Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied upon you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The theme for today's meditation, "It's Time to Settle Accounts" comes from verse 23 of the Gospel lesson. Jesus speaks here a parable. He says "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants."

Are you ready to meet your Maker? If you were to stand before the Judgment Throne of God this very day, how confident would you be? Are you ready? Are you sure? Or, are you not so confident?

We are reminded in this text that we had all better be prepared, we had all better be ready. Because each and every one of us, some day, will stand before the Judgment Throne of God. God's word is very clear. In the book of Hebrews, God says to us, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." The American positive thinking may not stand up too well as we stand before the Judgment Throne of God. The American positive thinking that says, "Oh, you know, it will all work out," is not very much to go on. We must be prepared.

In this parable, Jesus talks about a king, a king who wanted to settle accounts and He says, "As he" – the king – "began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him." If you look in the NIV Bible, there is a little letter beside "ten thousand talents" and if you go down to the bottom of the page, it says "millions of dollars." The man had a debt that he could not possibly hope ever to repay. It was far beyond his ability. He got down on his knees, he begged, because he, his wife, his children, everything that he had was going to be sold to repay the debt and that wasn't going to do it. But he makes a promise, "I will repay if you'll just be patient with me." He wasn't very well prepared.

Will it all just work out as we stand before of the Judgment Throne of God? If you are confident that it will work out well for you, on what do you base your confidence? Do you base your confidence on what you think and on what you hear others say? Or is your confidence based upon God's Word? There is quite a difference between the two. God's Word sets it out pretty straight for each and every one of us. It says, "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "There is no difference." We're just like this is man who owed far more than he would ever possibly be able to repay. On our own, there would be no hope. On our own, there is no reason for confidence in standing before the Judgment Throne of God.

What would we have to do, in order to be right with God, in order not to fall short of the glory of God? Jesus answers that question in the Sermon on the Mount when he says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." "Be perfect." As we look at our lives, as we think about our thoughts, the words that come out of our mouths, the deeds that we do, it's easy to see that we are not perfect. We owe far more then we could ever possibly hope to repay.

The servant in our text owed far more that he could possibly hope ever to repay. But he received some very good news. It says, "The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go." Our Heavenly Father didn't cancel the debt of our sins. Instead, He placed it on His Son. Scripture tells us that "the wages of sin is death." That's what we deserve. But Jesus, on that day we call Good Friday, took your sins, my sins, the sins of this world upon Himself and He died. He died because God made Him Who had no sin, His perfect Son, to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Our account, because of God's amazing grace, has been marked "paid in full."

"Paid in full." Jesus paid the debt when from the cross He cried out in anguish, "Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" When we think of our sinful thoughts, words and deeds, we know the answer, we know why Jesus was forsaken by God on that cross. He was loaded down with our guilt, with our sin. But when He died the temple curtain was torn in two, and we now have access to God the Father, because we are covered with the righteousness that comes from the blood of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Are you confident that if you stood before the Judgment Throne of God today, you could stand there in confidence, knowing that you would go into Heaven? Through a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, you and I can have that confidence, that confidence of knowing that we are right with God, not because of we have done, but because of the perfect life, the innocent suffering and death, and the triumphant resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And what a confidence that is! We have been forgiven. We celebrated that in our worship service already this morning. We have been forgiven.

So now what? So now how do we forgiven ones react to those who have sinned against us? What do we do when it comes to settling accounts with others? Peter had a pretty good idea of how he could do that in a God-pleasing way. Peter says, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Of course, we have those who think that one time is enough. We have those who would be more lenient – three strikes and you're out. Peter is being very generous, or so it sounds here. "Up to seven times?" But Jesus says to Peter, "I tell you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."

That "seventy-seven" is a little hard to translate; some Bible translations have it "seventy times seven." The difference between 77 and 490 really isn't a bid deal. God isn't saying, get out a book and keep track. What Jesus is saying here is to keep on forgiving. Just as God in His grace keeps on forgiving us, over and over and over again, so that our account with Him is settled, so we, having been forgiven, are to be forgiving one of another.

St. Paul put it this way as he wrote to the Christians in Colossi, he said: "As God's chosen people, wholly and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Notice the importance of the order that passage. As God's holy people, chosen people, now having been forgiven, here's what I want you to do: clothe yourselves with these things. We may well have thought it would be the opposite way around, that if you clothe yourselves with these things, then you will be chosen and holy. But that's not the way it is. Our clothing ourselves with these traits of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, comes as a result of God's love for us, comes as a result of the forgiveness God has given to us, of His love poured out upon us.

What an example we have in today's Old Testament lesson, the story of Joseph. Joseph's brothers had been terribly mean to him, beyond mean. Many of them had wanted to kill him. Instead, they sold him into slavery. They lied to his father about how he had been killed by a wild animal, and they lived with that guilt all their years, as their father kept on mourning the loss of his son whom he had loved so much. Then the brothers found themselves needing Joseph's help later on, as the years went on. Joseph brought them and their father to Egypt; he helped them; he saved their lives. But then Jacob dies and his sons are really distraught. Now that their father is dead, they think, surely, Joseph is going to get even with them, that he's either going to enslave them or possibly execute them. There before Joseph, there before that judgment throne, where they're trembling in fear, Joseph says to them, "'Don't be afraid.'" He goes on and he says, "'I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them."

What an example that is to us! Why did Joseph forgive his brothers that way? Was it because they deserved it? No. Joseph forgave them because of his relationship with the Lord, with the Lord his God. And that becomes our motivation for settling accounts with others. That becomes our motivation to forgive others who have hurt us, because of our relationship with the Lord and what He has done for us. Holding grudges, being angry is a miserable way to live one's life. It certainly isn't a God-pleasing way to live one's live.

The servant in our text found someone else who owed him. Jesus said, "When the 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." Although the servant fell on his knees and begged him and only a hundred denarii – if you go just a few chapters further to the workers in the vineyard in Matthew chapter 20, you will find that a denarius was a day's wages; so one hundred denarii is three months' wages, a little bit more – is all that this man owed. Yet he who had been forgiven for millions of dollars was unwilling to forgive. The king was angry, and justifiably so. He had the man tortured and put into prison.

Jesus has some pretty strong words of warning for us: "This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Refusing to forgive someone, holding grudges, is very serious. It messes up a person's life. But beyond that, it is a spiritual problem. When we refuse to forgive, when we hold anger and resentment in our hearts toward someone else, that's going cause a problem in our relationship with our God. It's a serious matter. We need to look at people like Joseph, who give us such a wonderful example to follow. But we need to go beyond that. We need to look to Jesus Christ. We need to look to the cross where He suffered and paid for our sins. We need to look at that empty tomb of Easter morning and rejoice in the hope that is ours because of what Jesus has done for us. In the beauty of the Gospel message, we receive the strength that God gives, the strength to forgive as we have been forgiven.

May our gracious Lord fill us with His love so that that love overflows and outpours from us as we deal with those who have sinned against us. Amen.

And now may the peace of God, a peace that far surpasses all human understanding guard and protect our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Amen.