Tuesday 30 April 2013

Read: Matthew 7:1-2, Matthew 18:21-35

The wounds of the Global Financial Crisis have been slow to heal and will leave lasting scars for businesses all over the world. In the USA, and to a much smaller extent here in Australia, people have been horrified by big banks which have received aid from the governments of the world while relentlessly pursuing their debtors, often to bankruptcy. The idea of receiving charity but refusing to give it seems to people to be a heinous crime yet how often do we do the same?

 

Granted, we do not receive billions of dollars of bailout money from government whilst pursuing our debtors in court, but our sin is perhaps more grievous. We have received unmerited, immeasurable grace from God for our sins and yet we turn around and judge others for even the slightest sin against us. Jesus clearly shows us the heinous nature of this sin in His parable in Matthew 18. So often we are like the debtor who, although forgiven a large debt, turns and shows no forgiveness to his debtor. Jesus clearly shows us the consequence for this sort of rebellion against God, the debtor is turned over to the jailers to pay the consequences for his crime. Particularly chilling is vs 35, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

 

This is the same principal which Jesus is talking about in vs 2 of today's reading. God has shown us mercy by judging us on the basis of Christ's righteousness instead of according to what our sins deserve. If we turn around and judge others without extending them the same grace which God has extended us, our punishment is clear: God will not show us mercy. This does not undo the work of Christ on the cross to justify us before God or mean that we can lose our salvation in Jesus. Rather, Jesus is saying that if we do not extend grace to others we need to question whether or not we are actually in Christ and have been transformed by our relationship with Him. To put it simply: If we do not show grace to others, are we really saved?

 

There is one more thing we can understand from these words. The antidote to our self-righteousness and judgment of others is to truly understand our Christ-rightousness and to remember the judgment we have been spared because of His sacrifice. By keeping Christ's work in our minds we can deal with our own self-righteous judgment and extend the grace of Christ to others.

 

This is a challenging word from Christ. Think about your own life. Think about some of the sins in your past which Christ has freely forgiven you for. Do you judge others for these same sins? Do you extend the same grace God has given to you to others or do you judge harshly? Take a moment to thank and praise God for His forgiveness to you and to pray that He would help you to be gracious with others.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Praise God for His great grace to you. Pray that everyone in the congregation at Christlife would extend the same grace to others and that as a result many would come to know Jesus.

¥ Pray for PlayPals tomorrow as the mums of our church and the community gather together to play with their children. Pray that the mothers from the community would see the love of the Christlife mothers and would be drawn to faith in Christ.

 

My Additional Prayer Points.

1/.

 

2/.

 

 

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Based on today's reading from Matthew 18 is there a limit to how many times we should forgive one another?

2. What are some practical ways that you can keep the righteousness of Christ and the forgiveness God has given you in the forefront of your mind this week?