Scripture
Matthew 18:32-35
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Observation
Within this chapter where Jesus exalts childlike faith and humility as the traits of those who will be considered the greatest in Heaven; where He warns anyone who would be stumbling blocks to those who exhibit such faith and cause them to sin; and as he tells the Parable of the Wandering Sheep, Jesus uses strong hyperbole, strict instruction and a chilling parable of an unmerciful servant to point out The Father’s heart for forgiveness and reconciliation as well as His anger toward those who do not give as they have received.
Understanding
With the vivid imagery of cut off limbs and gouged out eyes, Jesus points out the seriousness of sin by comparing the loss of these members as being more preferable to a life of sin and demands that we hate sin even more than we would love our own flesh. With His instruction of how to deal with sin in the Church, Jesus implores us to expose and confront sin; confess and repent; and be reconciled to one another. With the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Jesus reveals The Father’s hatred of the sin of hypocrisy and unforgiveness.
Life Application
The Church (as individuals and as a corporate body) needs to recapture the heart of God for sin. We no longer mourn sin; on the contrary, we tolerate it and rationalize it. Additionally, We need to love the church as much as God loves her as His Bride, and do all that we can to maintain the loving bonds of brotherhood and protect Her from the divisive forces of unforgiveness, which will destroy her from within; and we must also guard against hypocrisy which will corrupt Her beauty in the eyes of those observing her from without.
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here-Gary Parker
