Introduction
I am about to say 4 simple sentences that contain 39 words – are you ready? Okay, here I go:
Good morning, and welcome to Great Commission Church.
My name is Don McKenzie.
I am part of the church staff here.
Our pastor, Trevor Davis, will be back next week to continue our verse-by-verse study in James chapter 1.
Okay, that was it: 4 sentences – 39 words.
Were you shocked and amazed?
Will you be meditating on those words later today?
I wonder if people will be discussing the meaning of my 39 words, oh, 100 years from now – what about 2,000 years from now?
No?
I detect a hint of disrespect in the room regarding my 39 words
Well, let me read you 39 words – 4 sentences that were spoken 2,000 years ago and people are still discussing their meaning.
Are you ready? Here we go.
There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.
One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.
Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?
4 sentences, 39 words, 2000 years later and we are still learning from it.
Jesus’ words were not smothered by time.
They’re alive and powerful because He’s alive and powerful.
So, this morning, we are going to discuss these 4 sentences and they are found in Luke chapter 7, verses 41 and 42.
The first 2 sentences are in verse 41:
Luke 7:41
41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Let’s first enjoy the parable, get its obvious, physical meaning and then we will look at it to get its spiritual meaning.
Here’s our first point:
- Most People Live in Some Kind of Debt
Although this was 2,000 years ago, these two men lived in debt.
- In the U.S., more than 60% of adults live paycheck to paycheck, with little or no emergency savings.
- The average mortgage, student loan, or car loan is far beyond what most people could pay if it came due today.
In other words:
- If your creditors called in the total amount your owe, most people couldn’t pay it today.
Even in Jesus’s day people borrowed and spent more than they had.
In this parable, one man owed 500 denarii which equates to about $80,000. The other one owed $8,000.
Different men, different debts yet they both shared something in common, which leads us to our next point:
- Debt Carries More Than Interest—It Carries Fear
And we see this in verse 42:
Luke 7:42
42 And when they had nothing with which to repay
What they have in common is that they both could not pay their debt.
Have you ever felt that knot in your stomach when you realized you have to pay a bill, and you don’t have the money?
Your mind starts racing. The anxiety builds.
How am I going to come up with the money?
Is there any room left on my credit cards?
Is there anyone I can ask for a loan?
What am I going to do?
But here’s something I bet you never thought of?
What if my creditor has me arrested and then sells me into slavery?
That can’t happen today, but it could when Jesus told this parable.
And if you had a wife or children, they too could be sold into slavery – and all to different people.
So, Jesus’ listeners shuddered when they heard these men could not pay their debt.
Nothing good was going to happen and nothing good ever happened because the penalties were harsh and scary.
These men are not victims; they are guilty.
They legitimately owed a debt they could not pay and all that was left for them were the harsh consequences.
And that brings us to our 3rd point:
- There is an Ending No One Expected
It was a dramatic plot twist.
This is what makes for a great movie when they lead you in one direction and then surprise you at the end.
I bet a movie or two came to your mind – for me, Sixth Sense was the first one that came to my mind – wow, back in 1999.
Every murder mystery on TV uses misdirection – it’s always some character they barely introduced at the beginning – who plays a small part and then ends up being the murderer.
Well, everybody expected Jesus to tell what awful thing happened to the two debtors since they couldn’t pay their debts.
No one expected what Jesus said because what he said never happened.
A complete plot twist.
Luke 7:42
42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.
This is when you could hear their soul’s yell - what?
No respectable, money-grubbing creditor would ever freely cancel people’s debt.
Why would they ever do that when they could get some or all of their money back by just selling them or their family?
One man owed him $80,000 and the other $8,000.
When this creditor decided to forgive these men, how much did he know it was going to cost him?
It cost him $88,000.
And that’s because whoever forgives, has to pay.
This creditor chose to take a $88,000 loss when he didn’t have to.
At this point, Jesus has their minds reeling.
Why would this creditor ever do such a thing as this?
And instead of telling us why, Jesus does another misdirection by asking a very penetrating question.
It’s his 4th and final sentence in this parable, the rest of verse 42:
Luke 7:42
42 Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?
And that leads us to our 4th point:
- You Love as Much as You are Forgiven
So, Jesus wraps up this parable with a question
Which of them will love him more?
Wait, love?
That’s a strong word.
Love is so personal, emotional and relational.
Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate if Jesus had said, “Which of them would thank him more, or respect him more?”
But, no, Jesus said, which will love him more?
So, what’s the answer to Jesus’ question?
It seems obvious, right?
It’s the one who was forgiven more.
And Jesus says later that is the correct answer.
But I can’t get past the word: love.
It’s the only time Jesus mentions love in the parable—right at the end.
He clearly says it is the right and expected response from these now forgiven men.
But why “love”?
Well, let’ me illustrate how I think he got to the word, love.
If I were to take a sharp object and poke some of you right now, other than waking you up, you’d probably say, Ouch.
If I were to open a door for you, I’d expect a polite, “Thank you.”
It’s because we live in a cause-and-effect world.
Pain causes the effect of ouch and opening the door brings about an effect of, “Thank you.”
So, what would cause these men to love this creditor?
The easy answer is to say the cause was that the creditor forgave their debts.
But I don’t think that is the primary cause Jesus was locked on.
The real question is why did the creditor forgive their debts?
He most definitely didn’t have to, and no one expected him to.
Yet he freely forgave their debts.
This creditor seemed to enjoy taking a huge personal loss so these two men would not have to suffer the shame and penalties he could have so easily and rightly inflicted on them.
This creditor is a man who is able to cheerfully choose to love whoever he wants to – and he chose to love these two men in a special way and expressed it by forgiving their debts.
Remember, we are talking about cause and effect, and Jesus said the creditor caused these men to love him.
Jesus’ only question is who would love him more – not whether they would love him any at all.
I think we are given the real answer in
1 John 4:19
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
What is the cause and what is the effect?
The cause is that God first loved us, and the effect or result is that we now love Him.
Our love is merely a response to His love.
He starts it and it appears we can’t help ourselves.
The experience of His love – the awareness of his love irresistibly draws out of us a loving response.
Now back to our passage in Luke 7:
Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?
It’s the man who had the greater debt.
His greater debt became a lens that amplified the severity of his situation.
The worse the situation, the more glorious the salvation.
For me, the real question is: “Why in the world would the creditor take such a personal financial loss when he didn’t have to?”
The answer is he mysteriously chose to love these men more than he loved his own money and financial security.
He did it freely, joyfully and with great care and compassion.
And quite honestly, the reason this parable was so shocking was because a man like this just didn’t exist.
[REMOVE SCREEN-PUT BLANK ONE]
Who can just choose to passionately and powerfully love anybody they want - especially those who have done them great harm and wrong?
My wife likes to watch true crime shows – do you know what I’m talking about?
Shows where wives kill their husbands and try to get away with it.
She seems obsessed with these shows and then one day I just started feeling a little nervous – but she has assured me that is not why she watches these shows.
However, if you ever think about it, just pray for me.
Anyway, I have never seen the mother whose precious child was viciously murdered tell the convicted murder that they so love and care for them that they wish they could go to prison for them, so they wouldn’t have to.
I’ve never heard a mother say to the murderer, “I love you so much. When you are in prison, I will send you letters and money and I’ll spend every waking hour trying to get you out of prison so you can live a happy life.”
If that ever happened on one of those shows, I would immediately say – well, that woman’s nuts - she’s lost her mind – she’s insane.
Nobody can just choose to love the murderer of your child – it’s impossible.
Now, I know in Jesus’ parable; the creditor is just forgiving money but it’s the same principle.
People love their money with a passion and these debtors understood that no one in their right mind would or even could, just choose to love those who basically had stolen his money.
Yet in this parable, the creditor did just that.
Now, let’s look at the spiritual meaning behind this parable.
The creditor is Jesus.
He is our God, and we owe him.
We owe him for all the sin we’ve committed against him.
We are guilty and worthy of his most severe judgments.
We discover he is willing to forgive our sins based solely on the amazing love that flows from within him.
Our responding love for Him is shaped by how deeply we grasp the debt He’s forgiven.
In closing, I want to give you three things to think about and hopefully receive prayer about.
- Ask God to help you see the awfulness of your sin.
If we don’t see ourselves as great sinners, then we also cannot see Jesus as a great Savior.
Most people think they only have a small amount of sin – much less than most people.
They feel the liberty to be critical of others – judge them – condemn them because they are simply better than most.
That’s why they can see what’s wrong with everybody else.
I struggle with this every day because I am an awful sinner.
The Bible calls it, self-righteousness – It is when we knowingly or unknowingly proclaim ourselves right and good – better than most.
You can’t love Jesus when you really don’t need much forgiveness.
And then there are those who receive a dose of reality from God and suddenly grasp they have sinned against an infinitely holy God.
It becomes real and they think, “I’m going to split hell wide open – I am a great and awful sinner and deserve God’s worst punishment.”
It takes God’s grace to even see how truly wicked we are in the eyes of our righteous God.
You will never love Jesus unless you first see just how awful you are as a sinner.
Come and ask for prayer for God to help you see the awfulness of your sin.
You will never love and adore Jesus unless this first happens.
- Ask God to help you see the awesomeness of His love for you.
It’s true we are awful sinners but realizing that does you no good unless God has the desire and the ability to choose to love you and pay your debt.
Who can just choose to passionately love and adore His enemies.
He has no reason to love us and every reason to judge us.
Yet He is the only person in the universe who is willing and able to choose to love whoever He wants.
If Jesus forgives your sins, it will because he chose to specifically love you with all his heart – with full sincerity and gusto.
It’s personal for him and must become very personal for us.
His love for you is far, far greater than you know, just as your sin is far, far worse than you realize.
Ask God to help you see more of the awesomeness of his love for you.
I started praying this regularly 17 years ago and I love Jesus more now than I ever have; praise God.
I write it frequently as a prayer request on the back of the Welcome Card.
I need this more than I need anything else in this life.
Lord, open my eyes to see another glimmer of the glory of Jesus and my soul will rejoice and be satisfied in Him.
Humble yourself and grasp just how supernatural it is to see the glory of Jesus – and come and ask for prayer about this.
And lastly,
- Ask God to help you love others with this same awesome love.
Oh my, this is where the rubber meets the road.
We so enjoy God just choosing to love us with his awesome love, but we choke and struggle to love others in the same way he loved us.
See, God decided and chose to love you with all of his divine power and love – because He wanted to and is able to do it.
But I don’t want to love and adore people that make me mad or tick me off or annoy me – over and over.
I want to get away from them, not lavish affection and adoration on these undeserving bums.
Like I said, I love Jesus loving this bum – and I want to obey Jesus – but it’s just not in.
This is why I pray and pray for God to open my eyes to see more of the greatness, the beauty, the awe-inspiring majesty of Jesus – because when that happens – he infuses your soul with more desire and power to obey him.
When I ask God to help me love others that I find tough to love, I know my only hope is for him to make me more like Jesus.
And that’s exactly His plan – so when I ask for supernatural love to choose to love people who are tough for me to love – I know I’m praying according to His will – and I’ve experienced the answer to this prayer over and over – and I keep praying it and He keeps helping me.
Is there unresolved conflict in your life?
Do you feel like there is someone who has wronged you?
They hurt or are hurting in some way?
There’s no peace.
How can you just choose to love that person when they are so wrong, irritating or hurtful?
I don’t know – but Jesus does because He does it every time he saves someone and forgives their sins.
He’s an expert and he has a monopoly on this kind of love.
He is the only one who can give it to you so ask him for it.
Come let us join with you and pray with you this morning.
When we dismiss this service, come and receive prayer – wait in line – God is better than you know.
He is giving away His love this morning – do you want some?
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Come and join us this Sunday at the Great Commission Church for a truly remarkable and uplifting experience. Great Commission Church is not just any ordinary place of worship; it's a vibrant community where faith comes alive, hearts are filled with love, and lives are transformed. Our doors are wide open, ready to welcome you into the warm embrace of our congregation, where you'll discover the true essence of fellowship and spirituality. At Great Commission Church, we are more than just a congregation; we are a family united by a common mission – to follow the teachings of Christ and spread His love to the world. As you step inside Great Commission Church, you'll find a sanctuary that nurtures your faith and encourages you to be part of something greater than yourself.
We believe in the power of coming together as a community to worship, learn, and serve. Whether you're a long-time believer or just starting your spiritual journey, Great Commission Church welcomes people from all walks of life. Our vibrant services are filled with inspiring messages, beautiful music, and heartfelt prayers that will uplift your soul. Every Sunday at Great Commission Church is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with God and connect with others who share your faith and values.
At Great Commission Church, we believe that faith is not just a solitary endeavor but a shared experience that strengthens and enriches us all. Our church is a place where you can find purpose, belonging, and the encouragement to live a life in accordance with Christ's teachings. Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church and experience the transformative power of faith in action. Be part of a loving and supportive community that is committed to making a positive impact in our world. Together, we strive to fulfill the great commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We look forward to having you with us at Great Commission Church this Sunday, where faith, love, and community intersect in a truly amazing way.
Great Commission Church is a non-denominational Christian church located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. We are a short drive from Germantown, Southaven, Collierville, Horn Lake, Memphis, Fairhaven, Mineral Wells, Pleasant Hill, Handy Corner, Lewisburg and Byhalia.
See you Sunday at Great Commission Church!
