Peter made his way over to the wash basin and splashed himself with the cool aquatic stimulant. He looked around at the other men – near him. Philip was trying to get a stain off his tunic. Matthew was joking around with Jude. Nathanael was still sleeping under the fig tree.
Peter smiled. These were his "brothers in the faith", his "fellow disciples," his "family." They had spent months together. They had learned together. They had eaten together. They had defended each other. They were a wonderful little family filled with people that he loved.
That was Andrew. Peter's real brother and the only part of this little "family" who knew just how to annoy him. He knew just how get under Peter's nerves. Before they were disciples, they had been fishermen together. Andrew was known for taking credit for the haul of fish. Everyone once in awhile he took fish guts and stuffed them into Peter's tunic while he wasn't looking. There was that one time that Peter lost his net, searched for it everywhere, and then found Andrew calmly fishing with a brand new net offshore. He insisted that it was his, but Peter knew better.
Andrew was the one who made this whole family feel like a family. He sinned against Peter on more than one occasion.
But unfortunately, being a part of this whole Jesus movement meant that he was supposed to forgive Andrew. That's what Jesus talked about. "Forgive each other." Jesus harped on it.
Peter began to towel off his beard as Jesus approached him with a warm smile. "There must be a limit though," he thought. "There must be a moment when the sins are too great, when forgiveness is impossible."
"Master," he asked as he got Jesus' attention, "how many times shall I forgive my brother?" His eyes were fixed on Andrew. "Up to seven times?"
To be fair that seemed legitimately compassionate. It "took the plank out of his eyes" and "treated others as he wanted to be treated." It "loved his named as himself" and was a "salt of the earth" decision. It was just a bit crazy from the normal way of doing things…which was the way that Jesus rolled.
It just wasn't crazy enough.
22 Jesus replied, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times."
To teach his disciples about how much they ought to forgive, he told this story.
There was a King. Since he was king, the modern equivalent might be a C.E.O. (Think Shark on Shark Tank). He had many servants. He had many cooks. He had many massage therapists. He had lots of people who did whatever he said.
He had a gigantic place. A mansion to rival the Biltmore. He wore a Gucci robe. He had a chair decked out with the softest plush seat and the most beautiful diamond studs. He had the latest iPhone update – the one that didn't even hit stores yet. He had his own drone, a piece of the original Millennium Falcon, and he had Hulu without the commercial interruptions.
Because he was rich he often had helped out his servants. He would loan them some money. He would get some income. They would use it to start their own business. Others would use it to buy a car. He had become a rival to Visa and Mastercard.
On this day he was going to settle his accounts. Servant after servant came in and made payments on what they owed him.
One servant came in who owed the King 10,000 bags of Gold or about a million dollars.
But all he had to offer the king? A crumpled up IOU.
"Seize him!" the CEO told his guards. And rightly so. The man had basically stolen millions of dollars from him. He wasn't ever going to pay him back. He had frauded him out of his possessions. He had broken the seventh commandment – "You shall not steal." He was worthy of punishment. The law was on his side.
The C.E.O. looked down at the servant. He saw his tears. He saw his distress. He saw his sadness.
And he had compassion. He cancelled the debt and let him go.
Isn't that amazing? One million dollar debt – cancelled. Not lessened to a hundred thousand. Not changed to a work equivalent. Not worked out through property seizure.
And this isn't just a nice puff piece that makes it way onto the last few minutes of the nightly news. REMEMBER: Jesus told this story in order to teach his disciples about forgiveness. There is a deeper spiritual meaning to this story.
The king represents God. God is way richer than the king or our modern equivalent C.E.O. Since we serve God, we are his servants.
We owe God a lot. Millions really.
Imagine for a moment that one sin was equal to $1. Every time you sinned, you had to pay God $1. Now let's imagine that you had 1 sin per minute. (Yes, there may be moments where there are less sins – while you are sleeping. But there are others minutes where you get real mad and sin about 20 times in your thoughts in the span of 15 seconds.) 1 sin per minute at $1 per sin is $60 for an hour of sinning.
Now there are 24 hours in a day. That's $1440 per day. 365 days in a year? That's $525,600 per year. (Do you make that much?) The average age in this congregation is 40. That's $21,024,000 owed to God as the average debt for people at Gethsemane.
I'm not positive, but I imagine we wouldn't even be able to gather enough funding to pay for one of us.
That's an impossible price! Even if we died one death that would still only pay for one sin. At millions of sins over a lifetime that's millions of deaths!
There's only one who had the spiritual funding to pay for our millions of sin.
There's only one who has the spiritual funding to pay your bill completely.
There is only One who had the divine value in his blood necessary to pay for our eternal debt.
His blood had divine value and infinite amount of funding. When he died on the cross, he paid for your first sin, your second sin, your third sin and so on and so on…until every last sin was paid for.
And your debt? Was cancelled. Millions of millions of sins cancelled – on the cross.
Millions and millions of deaths owed? Paid for with his death.
You want proof? He lives! That doesn't happen if it didn't work. He'd still be working on paying the next sin.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Consider the glorious truth contained in those words. You owed a debt you could not pay; Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. God forgave you all of your sins.
That feels pretty awesome doesn't it? It almost makes you want to go celebrate. Go get some streamers; go grab some of those squeaky noise makers; turn on the Pandora party station and jam!
But that's not what the servant in our story did.
Instead, he found his friends. Maybe at the local pub. The place where all the other servants hung out. He had a celebratory drink, but then in the corner of his eye he saw a fellow servant (Let's call him Bob.) Bob owed him some money – 100 silver coins. He had lent Bob the money years ago, but Bob still hadn't paid him back. It wasn't a small amount; it was a few months wages. But it wasn't unpayable either.
The servant took a glug of his beer. He slammed it to the table. He walked across the room and grabbed Bob by the throat. "Pay back what you owe me!" he demanded.
Sound familiar? Those words had been spoken before. They must have echoed in the ears of the servant –reminding him about how he had been in the same, much – much worse situation hours earlier.
Same situation; same result? Not so much.
The servant refused. He found the local law enforcement by the door. He brought charges against the man for fraud. He had the man arrested. He mocked him as he was thrown into prison. Then, he went on his way home.
But some other servants were at the pub. Some other servants saw the whole thing. Some other servants remembered how he had been boasting about having his debt forgiven by the C.E.O Some others servants couldn't help but tell the king what had happened.
The next morning, the man made his way into work and found an email saying that he needed to see the King immediately. He packed his things up and whistled on his way to the C.E.O.'s office – they were such good buds now. He probably wanted to be his friends on Facebook.
But when he entered the room and he saw the anger in his boss's eyes, something told him this wasn't going to be a pleasant visit.
The man stood there speechless. There was nothing to say. He had been forgiven an impossibly large amount. He had been unforgiving about a much smaller one.
What do you think? Did the man deserve it? Yes? Sounds good right?
Does it still sound good?
This happens so often in family. There's not anyone you're going to sin against more than your family simply because there's no one you will be in proximity to more than your family. As a result – unforgiveness is a huge temptation. A huge temptation and it's wrong.
…You are putting yourself in danger of God doing the same to you.
But pastor, what they did is too repetitive and too awful. You don't know what it's like.
You're right. I don't. But God does. God does because that sin against you was also a sin against God. He felt it. He suffered for it. He died for it and now he says to you, "Do you really want to be fair? Do you really want God's family to be about unforgiveness? Do you want to see what it's like when I do that to you?
Forgive us Lord. Forgive us for our unforgiving hearts.
Thankfully. When Jesus died on the cross, he also died for unforgiveness. It means if you are convicted by God's Word right now, repent. Look at the cross. See your sins – even your sins of an unforgiving heart – on Jesus.
Zero in on verse 35 again. It says "Forgive your brothers and sisters from the heart." That's what God did. He removed the pain and hurt that was in his heart and he made you right with him.
That means it isn't enough to say, "I forgive you." It isn't enough to simply text, "No worries." It isn't enough to say "We're cool," only to bring it up again and again whenever you want something from your spouse.
That heart needs to let it go. It needs to let it go for you. It needs to let it go for them. It needs to let it go for God.
And yes, I know that wasn't the point of the song Let It Go from Frozen. Elsa was talking about her magical ice freezing powers. But, I'll tell you what, forgiveness is freeing. Gone is the tension whenever you hear that person's name. Gone is the nervousness whenever you are alone with them. Gone is the yelling and the anger.
It's replaced with God's love. With God's heart. With God's mercy. With God's compassion.
An elderly couple folding their hands and bowing their heads at a restaurant.
A young mom dismissing herself from conversation to join her daughter in reciting a poem before bedtime.
A small group of people gathered at a gravesite holding hands and listening to the leader speak his peace.
A larger group of people gathered together on a Sunday morning some kneeling, some raising their hands in the air, others meditating on the phrases spoken by the preacher.
Today we're going to delve into the topic of prayer. Take a look at the outlines in front of you. We've got a bunch of contemporary definitions of prayer. Think about them and then underline which one you think is the best definition.
A way of getting in touch with yourself.
Meditation that's good for the body.
A way of saying, "I'm sorry that happened."
Take a look at that first definition. "A way of getting in touch with yourself." Certainly, that happens during prayer. Because during prayer a person is releasing their own thoughts and desire, which means you must think about your thoughts and desires in order to express yourself.
In other words, you must get in touch with yourself.
But is that all prayer is? If so, then what's the difference between prayer and taking an online quiz about Which Twilight character best represents your personality? Doesn't that get you in touch with yourself? Or what about watching a preseason football game? Guys, doesn't that get us in touch with our natural desire for competition?
Prayer is more than just getting in touch with yourself.
Some may have picked number two. Prayer is "meditation that's good for the body." Again, that might have some truth. It might calm our nerves. It might settle the stomach acids that stress has brought into our abdomen.
But I don't know any doctor that prescribes for you prayer as the solution for a better health. And when you're praying to get over the common cold, I don't know anyone who says, "Dear nose, please calm down. It's just a few germs. Surely, you can stop running for a few moments while I give this presentation. Amen."
Prayer is much more than meditation for the body.
Number three is probably the most common. After a tragic event happens, all kinds of people will come up to the person to whom this event happened and will say, "My thoughts and prayers are with your family." But what they really mean is "I'm not actually going to pray for you, but it is politically polite for me to say that I will pray for you, so I just did!"
How many times when people say that are they actually praying? Even atheists say this. They don't pray to anyone!
Unfortunately, number three is all that people often mean by prayer, but prayer is so much more than that.
Take a look at that last one. Prayer is a supernatural conversation. At first glance it might seem kooky. A bit strange. It makes you think, "Do people really believe that?"
And yet, that's exactly what prayer is.
Take a look at the Old Testament lesson. Abraham had some visitors. One of these visitors just so happened to be God. And God, is hanging out with Abraham, and he reveals to Abraham that he will soon bring wrath and destruction on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for all of their sins.
But Abraham's nephew lived there. A lump appeared in his throat.
Suddenly, Abraham finds bargaining with the Almighty, all powerful, God of the universe. "If I may be so bold, what about if 50 followers are found?...how about 45? 40? What about 30?...Don't be angry, but what about 20?...Last time, God...what about 10?"
Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God!"
Isn't that exactly what Abraham is doing? He's having a conversation with God. He's releasing his deepest requests and desires. He's talking to him. He's...praying!
It's a strange thought, and one that maybe it hard to grasp. Why? Because God Almighty is not in visible form with us. But this is exactly what prayer is! Our Lutheran catechism defines it as, "An act of worship in which we speak to God form our hearts."
This is supernatural! We're talking to THE SUPERNATURAL! The Almighty! The Creator of heaven and earth. We're bowing before the ruler of heaven and earth and presenting our requests to him!
Wow. We have an audience with the king!
Considering what prayer is, doesn't it become scarier? It's an attempt to communicate with the king of the Universe!
My first thought? "I'd better be careful to approach him at the right time, so as not to offend him and earn his wrath!"
When I was in college, I remember I once needed to have a conversation with the Dean of Students. I went to his office, but he was not in. I came back another time and his secretary said that he was gone for the day. I came back a third time and she said, "His office hours are 9am-Noon." So, I worked really hard to get there during those hours. I knocked on his door. And he said, "Do you have an appointment? I'm kind of busy. Why don't you make an appointment."
Is God like that? Is he only available on Sunday from 10:30am-11:30ish? (It's why you all want me to hurry up so that we can get a few prayers in the alotted time.) Is God available only from Noon-one when we have lunch? Too bad for those who take a late lunch. You forfeit your prayer rights. Is he in bed at 10pm? So you better say your prayers before them? And...Oh, yeah, that's Eastern time zone, so all the other time zones are out of luck!
Look at what the Apostle James encourages us: "13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and oil them with oil in the name of the Lord."
Did you catch that? We should pray In trouble. In health. And with others!
In other words. In fact, in the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "pray continually."
God doesn't get tired. He's eternal. He doesn't go to bed. He never rests. He is always there to listen to you. To hear you. To give ear to your hearts desires and wishes!
What an incredible God we have! One who, though he is busy keeping the laws of the entire universe in check and listening to prayers of many people around the world...still has time to hear your own thoughts and desires.
Of course, it's usually the other way around. God has time for us, but we don't feel like we have time for him.
But maybe this is because we don't have a lot of faith in prayer.
It's kind of like calling the computer company for help. You push a bunch of buttons to get connected to the tech department. You talk to a gentlemen who reads to you the trouble shoot manual. He names as solutions everything that you've tried already. Then, he says, "I think you should send the computer to an expert."
Was that of any value?
What about God? Is it of any value talking to him? Certainly, our sinful nature begins to think that it isn't of benefit. THe devil wants us to think, "He's not listening. He doesn't care. And he won't be there for you!"
But James says differently, doesn't it? He says, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven."
This is what Jesus was getting at in the Gospel. He tells the parable of the friend, who wants to go to bed. Who wants to be left alone. And yet, you keep on knocking! You ring the doorbell. You shout at him. Even thought he wants to go to bed and even though he is angry at you and would rather knock your teeth out, Jesus says, "He will come and help you because of your persistence."
If that's what happened when you ask for the help of the neighbor who's upset with you, how much more so when you ask for the help of the God who loved you so much to die for you? It's why Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." He's not talking about conversion here, (as some might say), but of prayer. Prayer of those who already believe. He's saying, "I, who love you so much to die on the cross and take away all of your sins..even the sinful attitudes that say, I don't think he's really listening. I, that God, that Jesus, am listening to you. I died for you. Why wouldn't I listen to you?
Think about that: Why wouldn't he listen to you?
I could think of a whole list of reasons.
4. How do I know I'm heard?
Which leads us to the last question of this morning? How do I know I'm being heard.
Again, picture us in that palace. We are approaching the Almighty God of Heaven! The One who hates evil and punishes it with fire. How confident are you that, in your sins, he'll welcome you as an old friend? Considering all the times your lips have cursed others in his name and cursed Him in your name, how do you think he will respond to your request to be heard?
I'm not so positive either.
I suppose we might think it's because we need to perform special ceremonies. We need to cross our heart in the right direction. Pray our prayers at a 76point degree angle, because some scholar says that's the angel that Jesus' head was at when he bowed his head and died. We might even think that we have to pray it in Latin or some other fancy sounding language.
Or maybe we think we need to shout! Loudly dancing. Loudly screaming. Like a rain dance. Thinking that we have to get God's attention away from all the other people who are praying all over the world and get him to put his ear over Raleigh, NC.
Or maybe we think we need to pray in a holy place. It's why people set up altars. It's why people come to church. Surely, the living room won't do? Or a car? Or the McDonald's play area?
But none of these things can ensure that God will hear us.
Why? Look at James. he says, "The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."
So, if you want God to hear you. Don't sin.
It makes sense when you think about it. This is God the Almighty! And as we hear this, maybe our worst fears are confirmed, God can't hear me. He won't hear me. I'm too sinful. There's nothing I can do to get his attention or deserve his attention.
And when you've gotten to that understanding. You're where you need to be.
Because there is no way for us to grab God's attention on our own. Our sins have caused a dark barrier of sound proof glass to separate us from God.
And if you think you can keep living in your sins and talk to God, know that he won't listen. He won't hear.
In Isaiah 1:15 God says, "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen."
How then will we get the Almighty to hear us?
Did you see it? God made Jesus, who was righteous, to be our sin. It's why Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Because God wasn't listening to him. God had abandoned him. Not because of his sins, but because of our sins.
Then, it says, "We might become the righteousness of God." The righteousness of God.
This is what faith in Jesus does. It clothes us in righteousness. It makes us the 'righteous person' whose prayer is powerful and effective. It gives us an audience with the King of glory.
In short, Jesus alone ensures that we are heard by our heavenly Father.
Think back to that palace scene. As the angry King gets ready to banish us from his presence forever, Jesus comes running in. "My Lord," he says, "Listen to them. I know they have sinned, but I was punished for it already. They have been cleared. Treat them as your dear child."
So my dear friends. Pray! Talk to God. Talk to him often. In the morning, afternoon, in the evening, when in trouble, when in health, with others, and by yourself. Talk to him because God promises to give good gifts to those who talk to him. Talk to him because God tells us to talk to him. Talk to him confidently. Knowing that he will hear you.
But what if I don't get what I want?
Think of the Lord' prayer. Jesus tells us to pray that God's will be done. That prayer means this: We recognize that God knows more than we do. He knows better than we do.
In faith then, we pray that God do what's best. Just as Jesus said, "You fathers, wouldn't give your sons a snake when he asked for bread? Neither will God your Father."
He also won't give us snakes when we ask for snakes. He still gives us bread.
After all, he gave us the gift of his Son. There's no better gift than that.
Dear Lord, help us to pray aright to you! You are our king. I will exalt you. Amen.