Lesson Plan 3: Forgiveness

2001-04-23

Passage

Matthew 18:21-35

Aim

The student will be able to forgive his fellow brother no matter the debt, and will know why he must. Question for the student: “Is their tension in your own life between you and another person?”

Introduction

There is a story I heard from a visiting pastor at a church. The story goes that two men were in a congregation, and the two were in business together. A business deal went bad, and since that day the two have not spoken to each other. At church, one man sat on one side of the room, and the other on the other side. They worshipped God there together, but still do not speak with each other. Should this sort of thing be happening in the Body of Christ?

Study

The members of class will have time to read the passage, Matthew 18:21-35, on their own and also answer the given questions. Everyone will have the same questions, which will be distributed. The questions are designed to be a guide for the discussion; when it begins, it should be less step-by-step but something to stimulate discussion to make it run more smoothly.

How many times does Jesus say one should forgive another?

Summary of discussion: The answer directly from Jesus is seventy times seven. Of course this does not mean there is a limit, because if we had the limit 490 times we could sin against God, we would have been last forgiven a long time ago. One could say for the sake of the literal teaching that it would be 490 times. If someone wronged you 490 times, and you forgave him each and every time, you would begin to learn how patient God is with a 100 percent sinning population. You would catch on and forgive him the 491st time.

According to Jesus’ parable, what happened to the one who could not pay his debt? How great was this debt?

Summary of discussion: The debt was large enough to put this man and his whole family into slavery. The servant realized that there would be no way to repay this debt. Even if one does not know how much a talent is, ten thousand is a number that seems to suggest a heavy burden. Ten thousand often could be synonymous with an infinite amount, and the talent is the largest denomination of money of those times. This servant has good reason to beg him to be forgiven his debt, because it would be impossible to pay it.

What happened to the man when he asked to be pardoned from the debt?

Summary of discussion: First, the man asked for his patience, and said that he would repay it. However, the compassionate master forgave him the entire debt, and there were no strings attached.

How much was the debt of the fellow servant to the man? How did the forgiven man respond to the servant’s plea?

Summary of discussion: The debt was no small debt, since this amount probably about three month’s salary. However, this was still a drop in the bucket from the amount the forgiven man was released from. On the contrary, he had treated him poorly by grasping his neck, and then imprisoned his brother.

When the forgiven man did not forgive his fellow servant, how did the master respond?

Summary of discussion: The master, who was very generous with his servant, was very angry, and once again held him accountable for his debt. Not only this, but he was disciplined severely for his actions against his brother.

This exhausts the questions that are for the student to answer, but the discussion should move to a new level.

As Jesus had said, this was a parable of the kingdom of heaven. The king is God, and the servant is the man seeking forgiveness from God. The debt of humankind to God is just as in the parable: beyond measure. Could any matter that would be among people be as great as gap between man and God?

Once finished His parable, Jesus instructs the disciples, that one must forgive their brother of debts from their heart. This is not to be a chore for the believer, but a genuine feeling. This is not necessarily an easy task. It is not easy to put certain sins out of the mind. But it needs to be done, and when remembering the vast forgiveness of the Father, it should lighten intense negative feelings for the brother.

Transition

Could this be a problem in the church?

Biblical example

Philippians 4:2-3. Euodia and Syntyche were two women that had a difference of opinion on a particular matter. Paul urges them be of one mind, and not to divide into factions because of unimportant personal divisions. In the body of Christ, there is no room for dissension over small matters.

Summary

Is this a problem in the modern church?

Personal example: In college, a division started amongst my friends over ridiculous personal matters to the extent that people would not swallow their pride and forgive, and work on the problems. They split up, some having very limited fellowship with other believers. There are a host of examples like this one.

Application

Is there tension between you and somebody else? Is there a need for reconciliation between you and another? Take a moment to write down your thoughts and keep it with your notes. When you see it and are reminded of the situation during the week, take a moment to pray about the situation. Also pray about taking the initiative for making the first step in reconciliation between you and your brother.