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The Unmerciful Servant
Brian Mashburn
March 30, 2014
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Forgive Everyone of Everything Now
I just can't overstate this. I beg you to listen.
This is a defining quality of anyone that claims Christ. This is mandatory work of anyone who follows him. This is what everyone who grasps the forgiveness of God for them does. Everyone. No one who lives in love lives without this. No one. Of all of the hypocrisies that exist, nothing is more hypocritical than a Christian that does not forgive. Nothing.
No matter what the offense against you. Forgive. No matter how many times you are offended. Forgive. No matter how contrite the offender is or isn't. Forgive.
It proves you are forgiven. It proves you are different. It proves God is in your life. And it shines light on, directs attention to, and can only be explained by Christ.
God is dead-level serious about you being forgiving. He loves others too much to not make it compulsory work for you. And, don't miss this, He loves YOU too much to not make it compulsory work for you.
Forgiveness is not some mere law you are dutifully bound to obey. It is that, but it is so much more! It is your most attractive quality. It is your most powerful weapon against injustice. It is your greatest witness to the world. It is your doorway to peace and joy and happiness. It is how you experience freedom. It is how you show gratitude for the forgiveness you have received from God.
This is the big idea in the small story of the unmerciful servant that Jesus told in Matthew 18. This is the small story that we will study today, and the stakes could not be bigger.
Forgive everyone of everything now.