“So also, my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
– Matthew 18:35
These words close chapter where Jesus has talked much about the seriousness of sin, about the seriousness of leading others to sin and the seriousness of people sinning against you and how to address sin.
Matthew 18:35 Teaches that we are to forgive as God has forgiven us
But then in the end of the chapter, he talks about God’s mercy toward us and how God’s mercy toward us and forgiveness of us should lead us to show mercy and forgiveness to others. And he tells a parable of an unforgiving servant who had been forgiven much, but was not willing to show that forgiveness to others. And Jesus denounces that servant in this story and then says these words, “So also my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” This is teaching we see from Jesus in many different places, even in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer. Forgive us for our sins, even as we forgive those who sin against us.
I just want to ask you to examine your heart today. Is there any unforgiveness in your heart? Is there anyone in your life who has sinned against you but you are not willing to forgive them in your heart? And I don’t want to in any way presume that forgiveness is easy. And I think that’s part of the point of Matthew 18, sin is serious and sin hurts, and sin carries such serious consequences. At the same time, our sin through Jesus has been completely forgiven by God in his holiness, who hates sin at a level you and I can’t even imagine, who we have offended with our sin at a level you and I cannot fathom, and yet he has forgiven us.
Matthew 18:35 Encourages Us to Forgive Others
So I want to encourage you to meditate in a fresh way on his forgiveness in your life, God’s mercy in your life. And then ask God for the grace to forgive others as you have been forgiven, specifically for God’s help to forgive someone or people who have sinned against you, who have hurt you with their sin against you. God, we need your help. We praise you for your forgiveness of us in Jesus.
We thank you Jesus for paying the price for all of our sin against you, and we praise you for remembering our sins no more. For as far as the East is from the West, removing our transgressions from us, for not holding us to account for them. We praise you for your love and your mercy and your forgiveness, and we pray for your help to reflect your love and your mercy and your forgiveness. In the same way you have poured out this mercy on us, we pray that you would help us to pour it out on others, to forgive from our hearts. God transform our hearts.
We pray especially for every single one of us who holds bitterness or unforgiveness in our hearts. God, remove it by your supernatural mercy, remove it so that we can reflect your supernatural mercy to others. God help us to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
Praying for the Amat People of India
God, we pray today for the spread of this mercy to the Amat people of India, hundreds of thousands of them in this lower caste people group in India, whom some don’t even consider to be a part of the caste system because they’re so low. God, we pray for the spread of your mercy and your grace and your forgiveness all throughout the Amat people of India. Lord, we pray, transform the hearts of men and women and children in this people group for their good and for your glory, for the spread of your grace through them. We pray. Oh God, we pray all of this according to your word in Matthew 18:35. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
