Hello! I am Pastor Jul Medenblink,
President of Calvin Theological Seminary in the United States, which has a
150-year history. Our school has produced spiritual leaders for the Korean
church and made no small contribution to its growth.
Recently, Pastor Kim Yang-jae delivered the
first English sermon by a female pastor from our chapel pulpit. This was truly
remarkable. The sermon carried such a powerful message that it reached over
8,000 people online. Serving you with God's Word in this way is an
indescribable honor and privilege for us.
Before beginning today's message, I want to
share a story first. A woman stood waiting outside a door. Inside the room lay
her father, dying of cancer. His name was Ted, and he had been a man of
tremendous strength and a rough temperament. This woman desperately wanted her
father to say these words to her before he passed away. “My daughter, I'm truly
sorry. I treated you badly. Please forgive me.” She longed to reconcile with
her father and for mutual forgiveness. But that moment never came. He passed
away just like that. I know this story well because I was right there in the
next room. The woman standing outside the door was my mother, and the man
facing death inside was my grandfather.
Our
reality is living amidst such broken relationships. In ministry, I meet
countless people. Seeing their tears, despair, anger, and wounds, I deeply
realize how desperately we need ‘forgiveness.’ Right now, at this moment, who
do you think of? Your parents? Your children? Or perhaps a coworker or someone
close?
In today's passage from Matthew 18, Jesus
speaks very seriously about this ‘forgiveness’. After Jesus taught about
humility and lost souls, Peter came forward and asked. “Lord, how many times
shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Peter
probably thought seven times was sufficient. But Jesus' answer was this: “I
tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Then, as Peter was about
to leave, Jesus stopped him and explained the immense grace of forgiveness and
the danger of stinginess through the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. A
servant had been forgiven an enormous debt of ten thousand talents—a debt
impossible to repay in a lifetime. Yet this servant went out and had a fellow
servant thrown into prison for owing him a mere hundred denarii. When the
master learned of this, he was furious and said to the servant: “You wicked
servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn't you have
had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?” How serious is
Jesus about forgiveness?
In the Sermon on the Mount, He taught us to
be reconciled with our brother before bringing our gift to the altar. In the
Lord's Prayer, He instructed us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors.” If the Lord was this earnest about forgiveness, then we
who follow Him must also accept and practice forgiveness not just with our
minds, but with our hearts.
Through this parable, Jesus speaks to Peter: “Peter,
do you realize how much unforgivable sin you committed before God and how you
received forgiveness? Having received this grace, shouldn't you also practice
it?” Failing to practice forgiveness means living with bitterness or hatred in
our hearts, and this does not set us free. How much we forgive is the measure
of a mature Christian.
When I started my church, my mother came to
see me and asked to go to a restaurant alone together. She said to me: “Son, I
made so many mistakes raising you when I was too young. I was too strict
instead of encouraging you enough, and I disappointed you greatly. Please
forgive me.” I expected her to complain about my father, but seeing her ask me
for forgiveness was a profound shock. I forgave my mother, and I too received
forgiveness for my mistakes as a son. I don't remember what we ate that day,
but I vividly recall that conversation with my mother. When she passed away
three years ago, I didn't need to pace outside the door like she used to.
Because she had given me the ‘gift of forgiveness.’ This power of forgiveness
is exactly what the Apostle Paul spoke of in Colossians. “Therefore, as God's
chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive
one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord
forgave you.” (Colossians 3:12-13)
We are all Christians who live clothed in
forgiveness. This coming week, will you come wearing clothes filled with regret
and bitter roots? Or will you come wearing clothes that show your resolve to
practice forgiveness, clothed in the forgiveness you received from God?
We humans lived burdened by a debt to God
we could never possibly repay. But Jesus Christ paid off every last bit of that
sinful debt on the cross. To us who have received this grace, the Lord asks:
First, “Have you received this forgiveness of sins that the Lord speaks of?”
Second, “If so, are you, who have been forgiven, living a life that practices
forgiveness?”
We do not know how Peter resolved the
conflict with his friend. But what we know for certain is that Jesus, before
His death, first forgave Peter, who had denied Him three times, and met with
him again.
The best way to give glory to God is to live
a life practicing forgiveness. Forgiveness is the hardest thing to do in
this world. Let us confess to God our inadequacy—that we know it
only in our minds but fail to live a life of forgiveness in reality.
Friends, I bless you to confess the
bitter roots in your hearts to God and live with the freedom He gives.
