The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Forgiveness, Pt. 1) (JICC)

Monday: Leviticus 12, Luke 22
Tuesday: Leviticus 13, Luke 23
Wednesday: Leviticus 14
Thursday: Leviticus 15, Luke 24
Friday: John 1
Saturday: Psalm 54-56, Proverbs 12
Sunday: 1 Chronicles 6-15

Key Passage: Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew 18:15-17
Matthew 6:12
Matthew 9:36
Ephesians 2:4-5

1. Identify with the wrongdoer
2. Name the debt (sin)
3. Absorb the debt
4. Will for the good of the person that wronged you

Patience - μακροθυμέω makrothumeo (old English: longsuffering)
σπλαγχνίζομαι splanchnizomai -  have pity; have compassion

“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without overcoming this double exclusion … " - Miroslav Volf

"Forgiveness is the willingness to bear suffering rather than to give it. To forgive someones debt is to absorb the debt yourself.  … [it] means the cost of the wrong moves from the perpetrator to you, and you bear it. Forgiveness, then, is a form of voluntary suffering. In forgiving, you make the choice to bear the cost." - Timothy Keller, Forgive

"Whether we have been sinned against or have sinned ourselves into misery, the Bible says God is not tightfisted with mercy but openhanded, not frugal but lavish, not poor but rich.
That God is rich in mercy means …the things about you that make you cringe most, make him hug hardest. It means his mercy is not calculating and cautious like ours. It is unrestrained, flood-like, [and] sweeping. It means our haunting shame is not a problem for him, but the very thing he loves most to work with. It means our sins do not cause his love to take a hit.  Our sins cause his love to surge forward all the more." - Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers

"And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion — I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling."  And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.  "I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then." - Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

3DQ - 3 discipleship questions to ask each other: What is God saying to you? What are you going to do about it? How can I help?

1. Did the holy spirit highlight anything to you from the teaching?
2. Russ quoted Miroslav Volf and mentioned how “forgiveness flounders because we exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as we exclude ourselves from the community of sinners…” Discuss this double exclusion and how you have seen it play out in your own life.  Also, the idea that “your sin always looks more ugly on someone else.”
3. How does exaggerating certain aspects of someone’s personality (caricature) affect how we love each other? How does it encourage us to disregard or dismiss others?
4. Have you ever absorbed the debt for someone else and had consequences that affected your life?  Tell the group about it and the fruit from it, if you have seen any.
5. Have you ever accepted a deficit, real or perceived, in someone else that you had to continually bring to the Lord?
6. What does it look like to be “tight-fisted” with our mercy? What does Jesus say about this? How does His life inform how we should be with our mercy towards others?