Greatest Commandment

Foundations / Matthew 22:34–41

 

Everybody loves something.

To love is to do what’s best for the other person regardless of what it costs you by acting with both delight and wisdom.

Matthew 22:34–38 ESV

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

1 John 4:7–12 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

In Delight we say, God you are worthy to be worshiped for who you are

In Wisdom we say, God I will apply your words to my life

Matthew 22:39–40 ESV

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Delight says, I love that you have made it this far

Wisdom says, I love that you can move forward.

Communion

 

Foundations / Matthew 26:26–29

 

I have a certain rhythm that I take when I mow my lawn. my backyard is larger than my front yard so I will will often begin with the backyard to get it over with. I mow the backyard in different configurations each time and then do a little bit of our side lawn and then get to the front.

Now before I mow the lawn I always make sure the gas tank is filled. And for the most part I can do the entire yard on one tank. But there are times, when the lawn is at it’s peak and growing quickly that to cut it takes a little more effort on the mowers end.

And so there are a number of times when I’m just finishing up the front lawn, I have two swipes left, just a little patch of uncut lawn and that is the moment the mower dies. It runs out of gas. It runs out of gas at the worst time, right when I’m almost done.

We live like this all the time. We run the engines of our lives to the brink, we empty ourselves, forgetting that we have to fill up.

We often believe we can just make it to finish that last strip of lawn. But then, just when we take the last turn we run out. We are a people living on empty.

We will often be empty vessels needing God to refill us. The good news is that we don’t have to wait around some day for God to fuel us up. God has done an incredible unrepeatable work in the person of Christ through His death and resurrection.

And it is easy when we live on empty that we need something more to fill us up. And we forget that God has already done the work to fill us up. God has already made new what we couldn’t make new ourselves. He has already forgiven what we couldn’t fix ourselves. He has given us eternal life, more than enough, so that we do not have to live on empty.

But sometimes, living on the edge of empty we forget. And we need a reminder.

This morning we are going to talk about why it is necessary and good that we have the reminder of communion this morning. That communion reorients us back to where life actually is and back to what sustains us.

We are going to look at this idea this morning

No matter what we face, the celebration of communion says that in Christ, all will be made well.

When we come together and take of communion we are saying to each other and ourselves that we need something more than we can provide ourselves.

We are contingent and dependent people. Communion is the reminder that we will always need to be filled up. We will always need to celebrate the death of Christ because it’s promise is life giving in a way that offers a life we can’t otherwise get on our own.

Communion is offered because what is emptied needs to be filled

To understand communion we have to look at how the Scriptures talk about communion.

So this morning we are going to trace the Scriptures in understanding communion to know why it matters, not just for this morning, as the gathered church, but also why it matters for the very place you are going to be tomorrow morning, work, home, school, otherwise.

Communion has been the place where Christians have gathered for over 2000 years. Some practices come and go in the church. Some practices are celebrated in some churches and not others. And while communion is celebrated differently (eucharist), it is still true that Christian churches that center on Christ all celebrate communion. The Lord Jesus Himself inagurated it. It was His idea. And usually if Jesus begins something, we should continue it.

It is the celebration of His body being broken for us and His blood being spilled for us.

Communion is necessary because not only do we forget why we do things like communion, we often also forget who we belong toAnd who has gone before us. Communion a reminder for all the times that we forget that everything that we need is found in Christ, a reminder when we forget that we belong to Christ, that he is the one who has paid for secured salvation for us. Because we so easily forget it’s necessary to remember and to remember together.

Communion is offered in less than certain circumstances

Matthew 26:17–25 ESV

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

The setup for the Lords supper is one of betrayal and mistrust

Not all is well in the context of this specific meal. Jesus was with His disciples. But the ice breaker is that “one of you will betray me.”

They have a conversation on it and Jesus details just how bad it is to betray the Son of Man. And Judas owns it. Judas betrays Jesus because Judas seems to think that he knows better than Christ about Christ’s own mission.

Judas believes in the mission (Christ to rule) but doesn’t agree on the means to get there (crucifixion or assent to power). And so Judas comes up with his own idea to catalyze Jesus mission, to bring an uprising to Christ’s work. But it is betrayal because Judas trusts in his own work more than Jesus’ work.

It is a necessary detail in this crucifixion account but I appreciate its inclusion in the communion account. There is a recognition that Communion is not celebrated when everything is put together and right. IT is not partaken of when there is reconciliation. It is partaken of because we need reconciliation.

The Context we find communion in is that not all is well.

The celebration of communion says that in Christ, all will be made well.

Not all is well. But all will be made well.

Not all has to be well to understand all will be made well.

We come to the table in need. We come to the table broken because it is the very death of Jesus that gets us to redemption and restoration.

Our lives can be sideways, turned upside down. You can be seated with the very people that betray you. none of that diminishes Christ’s work on the Cross.

We are reminded, at the table, that it is Jesus work on the Cross that matters.

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

We come to the table to remember that brokenness is restored in Christ.

Which means that sometimes we come to the table as broken.

But at the table, brokenness in hand we remember that we are gathered up back into Christ.

Communion is offered by Christ Himself

Luke 22:17–21 ESV

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.

We are told two things about communion. The bread represents the body of Christ. The wine (or juice) represents the blood of Christ.

Jesus is the one who sets the table. He is the One who makes the offer. He is the one who invites us in

And that when we come to the table, we come to the table that has already been offered. Our work in participating with Christ is the work of remembering in community. We remember that Christ work on the cross is larger than whatever we’re facing is more important than whatever isn’t right in front of us.And that it is enough to sustain us.

Communion is offered to us is a means to remind ourselves that we are found in Christ and belong to him

Communion is offered so we don’t have to grab for it or demand it.

It is going to happen whether we want it to or not. It is going to happen regardless of whether I’m here or you’re here or not. It’s going to happen here. It’s happening in Toledo OH. It’s happening in Burkina and in Guinea and in Uruguay.

Communion is a reminder that there is nothing that can diminish God work on the cross through Christ. History has tried and societies have tried. People with power have tried. Governments have tried. Authors have tried. Theologies have tried. But nothing diminishes or removes what Christ has set up.

And because it happens with or without us, we are not initiating anything, we are invited into it. It is already offered.

That means, What you need has already been given.

When we come to the table we come to what has already been offered. Before you had a need, Christ’s work has been offered. That means whatever you face, Christ has already been at work.

Tomorrow you may face something beyond you, past your ability to solve. You can be reminded that God has already made an offer. Communion is the reminder that we come to the table that has been prepared. Christ has made an offer, and we participate with Him in His already established work.

But we participate together

Communion is offered in community

communion is also celebrated in community, as the church. God is gathering up ourselves back to Him in Christ but it is also a reminder that we are gathered up as a community.

Communion reminds us that we come together, one as individuals, bringing all of our needs, and two as a church community, carrying one another.

Paul addresses the need to pay attention to one another in 1 Cor 10. Because the church was celebrating communion as a meal but they were doing so independently of everyone else. Paul even says

1 Corinthians 11:20–22 ESV

When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

The church in Corinth would gather as a meal and people wouldn’t wait for others to begin, they would start when they wanted to. They would eat the food before everyone arrived. People would arrive drunk. They celebrated the ritual but they didn’t include one another.

They Celebrated the ritual but they didn’t celebrate it with one another. They celebrated the ritual, but they didn’t celebrate Christ.

If we are truly going to understand Christ’s work through Communion then it means that all of our parts, all of ourselves and all of the church is gathered back into Christ. We take the bread together. We take the cup together. No one who has trusted in Christ is left out.

We are often distracted and anxious. Often alone and scattered. In Christ, as the church, we are reminded that we are gathered into Christ.

Have you ever walked into a room and completely forgotten why you were in that room? You initially walked in to get your keys or phone but as soon as you enter the room, it’s like the twilight zone. You know you are in the room but you can’t remember why you are there. This is called the doorway effect. Where our short term memory forgets its context because you just entered a new room.

This is how our brains organize things though. It is common because it can’t be helped. When we shift from one environment to the next, we forget what we were doing.

We navigate our world in a series of disconnected steps and how we can make sense of things. But it often feels like we are just entering a new room every five minutes asking for our keys.

So we need reminders of who we are and what is most important. Participating in communion is the reminder of where you are in reference to Christ and who He is in our lives. It is the reminder that we don’t stand alone. we have each other. It is the declaration that we belong to Christ, that He has given Himself to us.

And that all of life revolves around that reality.

In the next few minutes we will practice that reality. We will, as a church, revolve around the table.

But take some time to reflect before participating in communion.

Maybe this morning you have tried to carry too much. Do too much yourselves. Maybe it feels like you are holding up the world. If you are holding up the world, it is very difficult to hold onto the cup and the bread. In a few moments you will have the bread in one hand and the cup in another. That is sufficient. You don’t need to be holding onto anything else so long as you hold onto Christ. Reflect on what you need to let go in order to let God take hold of you. Nothing can diminish the work of Christ. The Cross is the reminder of the truth that God will make good on all He says.

Transition into communion

 

The Cross Cultural Conversation

John

Conversations / Acts 10:1–43

 

The church has a mandate to care about, pray about, talk about and go to people who are not like us.

That is our mandate in the Scriptures and throughout church history, that has been one marker in the church that has kept it different than every other organization. We would love our enemy, we would go to the outcast, the lost, the lonely, the refugee.

It is because, for 2000 year, men and women have crossed boundaries. Have left what’s comfortable, have left who is comfortable and have crossed boundaries.

Central to the Bible is the reality that God has crossed every boundary imaginable to come to us. He left glory. He came to the earth to seek and save us. In Christ God

The Need

Acts 10:1–8 ESV

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

When we think about the people God has called us to serve: one another and our neighbor, we are entering into a conversation already started.

Peter is where this conversation is started but the the only way to understand what

God begins the conversation.

We are always catching up.

With God

Acts 10:9–16 ESV

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Acts 10:28–29 ESV

And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

The world Peter knew on the other side of the threshold is entirely different than on the one he found himself on with Cornelius. But God moved him into that room.

He set everything up.

This is where we see freedom. Because the Gospel is never bound. And Peter is no longer bound by his own ethnocentrism and Cornelius is no longer, in Christ, bound in his sin.

Acts 10:34–35 ESV

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Ephesians 2:14–16 ESV

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

Jesus destroyed the dividing wall of hostility. Called so because when we create boundaries that keep people apart it creates automatic hostility on those people who aren’t like us. The cross obliterated our option to keep people apart and separated.

Acts 10:38–41 ESV

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

We go to people unlike us. Who is the person most unlike you that you are on a collision course with? You may look at that person, whoever God has collided you with and you see frustration and anger.

 

The Good News Conversation

John

Conversations / Acts 8:26–40

 

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

And the church is called to provide a response to that cry.  To be a response to that cry that points in one singular direction. It doesn’t mean that we always have the exact answer to every question, but it means we have a God who cares about us in our uncertainty and unknowing. 

Evangelistic conversations are those kinds of conversations where we explicitly have an opportunity to talk about who Jesus is and what He has done and what He means to us.  It may not be all three of those but there is a sense of focusing on the person of Jesus and His saving grace in our lives. 

We join the chariot.  We run alongside. 

This narrative in the book of Acts is where we see someone who is spiritually curious.  They are reading an ot scroll and have a question about it.  As we look into this interaction we will see ways in which we can approach spiritually curious questions toward Gospel response. 

Acts 8:26–29 ESV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.

Look for Spiritually Curious people

Acts 8:30–34 ESV

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opens not his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”

And we have a choice.  We can ignore the fact that people are asking incredible questions or we can come alongside them and bring a response. 

Be Full of Grace

Acts 8:35–38 ESV

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And because of Christ who has come alongside us, this passage becomes true:

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

Take some time to answer the question “my hope comes from.” Look at what brings you hope. If your comes from Christ, what is your reason? How is Christ brought you? Being able to answer that to yourself helps you to answer to other people. When you serve when you care for others when you run alongside their chariots, you can give your reason for, who is Christ

But maybe you’re asking where your hope comes from and whatever your source for Hope is it may not be enough this morning. if it’s not enough, we want to pray for you to find the hope of Christ.

 

The Encouraging Conversation

John

Conversations / John 4:23–26

 

Introduction

And having healthy and God centered relationships are part of the unity that Jesus talked about in the way that the church operates.

Proverbs 16:24 ESV

Gracious words are like a honeycomb,

sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

When was the last time you added courage to each other?

Romans 12:10 ESV

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

The church is the witness to the fact that God is active in our lives and that God

has spoken in a way that offers life.

That is the witness of the church.

And it is from that position that we communicate to each other.

1God is active

2God is speaking.

From Life Together

Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this, and none that is less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily community of many years, Christian community is solely this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs others for the sake of Jesus Christ. It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means, third, that from eternity we have been chosen in Jesus Christ, accepted in time, and united for eternity.”

Encouragement in the church is meeting people at the intersection of their lives and the life of Christ

Gathering

Recognizing

Speaking life

Gathering to recognize

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

This is telling people, I am with you

Recognize to speak life

Colossians 3:16 ESV

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Recognizing someone, seeing them for who they are, looking them in the eyes and recognizing them as someone who is someone for is fundamental to every conversation we have. In recognizing someone who is distinctly loved by God through the person of is our way to understanding encouragement.

This is telling people, I see you

Again from Bonhoeffer

Help must come from the outside; and it has come and comes daily and anew in the Word of Jesus Christ, bringing us redemption, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. But God put this Word into the mouth of human beings so that it may be passed on to others. When people are deeply affected by the Word, they tell it to other people. God has willed that we should seek and find God’s living Word in the testimony of other Christians, in the mouths of human beings. Therefore, Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them. They need them again and again when they become uncertain and disheartened because, living by their own resources, they cannot help themselves without cheating themselves out of the truth. They need other Christians as bearers and proclaimers of the divine word of salvation. They need them solely for the sake of Jesus Christ.”

Speak life specifically to one another.

Again from Life Together

Philippians 2:1–4 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 

The Hard Conversation

 

Conversations / Matthew 19:16–22

 

Opening statement and illustration

We are likely one or two challenging conversations away from incredible growth.

This is important to talk about because it is so easy to get wrong. We are avoidant, we are aggressive. We get into conflict. We yell, we run, we gossip. or we jump in hot and just say what we want to say as loud as possible. None of that is helpful.

If we do hard conversations right, they will always be to serve and lift up the other.

Challenging Conversations have to point somewhere

Matthew 19:16–18 ESV

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,

And Jesus immediately orients the man, not to being right, not to getting into a fight, not to petty corrections. And He uses His first statement to make a statement about what is truly good. The man has it in his mind that he will be able to do enough good to inherit eternal life.

Jesus challenges his notion of goodness.

Only one is good. Jesus uses a conversation to orient the man toward God.

There has to be a means to move toward where you are pointing

Matthew 19:18–21 ESV

He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

We see that when JEsus confronts this man with what is both good and what is true, He gives him enough to do something with at each point.

To challenge someone is to give them something they can do. It is giving something they can actually act on. Often we challenge but we call people to unattainable destinations. We have to show them the destination but ask them to simply take a few first steps there. With you.

A good challenging conversation may be hurtful in the moment, healing in the next

Matthew 19:22 ESV

When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Prompt: Can we talk about something that I think is really important to both of us? I want nothing more than for you to flourish in your faith

Response prompt: I want nothing more than to flourish in my faith. Help me see what is the most good.

The goal for us is the church is not to walk away from them like the Rich young ruler. Jesus opened the door to heaven itself and the man said no thank you.

The Gospel is the reality that all things come under submission to God. And that God is the most good. Everything else is lesser good. The church can be chucking things left and right in order to find our best good in God.

We are called to find our best good in God. All else is suspect. For those times we need each other. We need each others support, our help, our prayer and our harder conversations.

 

The Forgiving Conversation

Conversations / Matthew 18:21–33

 

Intro

The best thing we can do is to understand the weight that has been lifted from us in forgiveness and run to do offer it to others.

Forgiveness is the statement that proclaims to everyone, “You are not just the way you are. There is eternal potential and possibility for growth and change.”

The central conversation in the Christian life is “I have been forgiven. I forgive you.” We see that in this morning’s parable.

Matthew 18:21–22 ESV

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Forgiveness is a foundation to our conversations. It underlies everything. This is a prompt. We don’t always know the script but we do always know the prompt.

At this point we could just be hearing, try harder. Exert more. Forgive better. Do better. But forgiveness is difficult. So difficult that Jesus is going to show us the only way to truly express it. To truly find our way out of it.

Matthew 18:23–27 ESV

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

He has compassion on the man and forgives his debt. Removes it.

And Jesus wants us to see what God in all His power and glory does with all his power and glory. He has compassion and He forgives.

Matthew 18:28–35 ESV

But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

I want to give you two conversational prompts:

Conversation prompt:

I need to ask you for forgiveness

God I need help in forgiving