How Much Do I Owe God? – Part 1
Discovering God’s Riches in Christ
21. Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”
22. Jesus said to him, “I say not to you, until seven times, but until seventy times seven.”
23. “Therefore, is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a certain king, which would take account of His servants.”
24. “And when He had begun to reckon, one was brought to Him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”
25. “But for as much as he had not to pay, His Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.”
26. “The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped Him, saying, Lord have patience with me, and I will pay You all.”
27. “Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”
Matthew 18:21-27
Consider the Depth of the Parable
To put things in perspective we must understand certain elements of Jesus’ parables and then apply the meaning to our personal lives. Too often, we read the Bible and base its meaning on our cultural norms or emotional preferences. This approach distorts the meaning of Scripture and also robs us of the richness of the text. This personal method is called eisegesis or reading into the text. The fruit of such Scripture applications will produce self-will, human error, and compromise. There is another approach to Scripture that provides the richness of the text and embraces both the original meaning and will yield the purpose and meaning that God desired. This method is called exegesis. We get our word “exit” which means to bring out. In other words, it is not what we read into the Scripture that brings out its true meaning, but it is what the Scripture itself brings out that gives the true meaning and power of the text. Here is the good news, you do not need to be an expert in order to bring out the text. The Holy Spirit will give you the meaning if you ask Him to help you understand. Certainly, research and study is critical, but your joy will come from God Himself as you yield to His Holy Spirit. So, let us ask the Holy Spirit to open the text and speak to us as we consider how much we really owe God.
As we dive into the text, we find that Peter asked Jesus a question about forgiveness and specifically, how many times should you forgive your brother? Peter even suggested a number that seemed reasonable. “Shall I forgive until seven times?” Evidently, Peter had someone in mind that seemed to be approaching that limit on forgiveness. What a surprise to Peter when he heard Jesus reply! This brings us to the first critical element of the parable: God gives a full answer to the question. We can conclude that the Bible will always give us a full answer to our questions about life and everything else.
God covers the topic completely and does not give us short answers to sooth our curiosity. In other words, Jesus said to Peter, why are you limiting your forgiveness. Why are you only forgiving up to seven times, when your capacity to forgive is so much greater than the seven times. This brings us to a reality that none of us have ever reached the limit of forgiveness because we have not exhausted the limit of God’s forgiveness. So, when we ask or think about how much people owe us based on the things, they have done to us, we need to think about how much we owe God. If His mercy endures forever, if His love continues, if His grace has covered us one more day, then perhaps we should not be setting limits. Before I even consider how much others owe me, I need to ask myself how much do I owe God?
Consider What God Has Done for You
Jesus, knowing that Peter was blown away by that answer, taught a parable of the servants. What makes this parable unusual is that it first speaks of judgment. In other words, whatever has been given to people, they will be required to make a full report. It does not matter who the person is, everyone will give account to God. Thus, we can conclude that everyone will face God’s Judgment. Most believers rejoice in the knowledge that they will not have to face the Great White Throne Judgment of God. That, however, does not imply that we will not have to face God and be held accountable for the things we have done and the resources we were given responsibility over. Every person will stand before God one day. “The Kingdom of Heaven likened to a certain king, which would take account of His servants.” Every blessing that was deposited into your account will be made known on that day. Every miracle you received and every prayer that was answered, there will be a full reckoning. Why is this important? It is important for you to note that none of the things that you received in life came from you. You will understand in full measure, how much Jesus Christ gave you while you were on this earth. This parable brings out the fact that every believer will be judged not to condemn but to convince and provide hard evidence of all the gracious things that God has done. God gave you His Kingdom and will let you know to the penny what it was worth. Grieve not child of God, for as long as you have done what was required, you will not be required to repay the debt. But it will go down on the eternal records of Glory, this was the amount you owed.
In the parable, Jesus highlighted one particular servant who was called upon to give a full reckoning of his debt. The Scripture says that he had been awarded at least ten thousand talents because that was the amount that he owed. “And when He had begun to reckon, one was brought to Him, which owed him ten thousand talents.” At this point, many of us would gloss over the amount of debt, but it really points to the very heart of the parable. The man owed an astounding amount. Let’s just start with how much a talent of money weighed. According to Bible scholars, the talent weighed anywhere from eighty to one hundred and twenty pounds. So, just by the sheer weight of talent, this particular servant (and there could have been others), but this servant received just by the weight of the talents ten thousand times one hundred. In simple math, that is one hundred thousand pounds or the equivalent of five hundred tons of money. Who in the world would loan a servant that amount of money? Nobody but God. Now, when we start calculating the value of the five hundred tons of money, we need to ask if it was money in gold or silver. Even if it was paid to the servant in silver, based on the current price of silver, the servant received $400 million ($25 per ounce times 16 ounces times 100 pounds to each talent times 10,000). What in the world! If we measured in gold. Well, let’s just say that gold is selling at over $1800 per ounce. So, one talent of gold is worth today over $2.8 million.
Before you ask the question on the King’s judgment for giving such a gift, you must first consider the fact that the King was rich enough to lend this amount. No bank in the world would make such a loan. This brings us to another critical element of the parable in that we discover that God is Rich in everything. Consider also the fact that this King had other servants who owed Him as well. He either forgave them or they found a way of giving it all back. The bottom line is that there are a whole lot of people that owe God everything and they should praise Him that He is rich in whatever we need. I am so glad that while human governments are going broke, the Kingdom of God has got everything you and I need in this life and in eternity. God’s got it all.
The King Gave and the King Forgave
We discover the next critical element of the parable and the truth of God’s amazing Kingdom: the King forgave the man every cent of his enormous debt. This brings us to a full circle with Peter’s question. He asked how many times or how much should I forgive? So, when Jesus gave Peter the long answer, He expanded the meaning in the parable to mean some insane amount. It was a number that no one had ever fully calculated much less was able to repay. Let’s just be for real – there is no way that we can repay God for all the amazing things that God has done for us. There is no way that we can even begin to count much less place a value to the costs of the many times that God has gotten us out of trouble. We cannot measure the goodness of God towards us. We cannot calculate the times He kept harm from our doorsteps. We cannot come close to valuing the worth of Him speaking to the storms in our life and then talking us through the storms with His comfort and guidance. How much do I owe God is a question that none of us can answer but we will understand it better by and by. Please note how the text introduces us to the predicament the servant was in. “But for as much as he had not to pay, His Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.” The only conclusion is that if you gave God everything you ever had, you still would not be able to repay Him. We may try with our futile efforts to justify ourselves before God, but it still cannot pay the price. “The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped Him, saying, Lord have patience with me, and I will pay You all.”
So, how was the account finally settled for the servant. It was settled the same way that it will be settled for every servant – God forgives all the debt. “Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.” This brings us to the final element of the parable that is critical to our lives: The King’s compassion was the most valuable treasure in His entire Kingdom. The greatest treasure and most needed treasure of Heaven is not silver and gold, it is God’s Love and Compassion. We must never loose sight of that fact. His Love and Compassion is also given to us so that we can share with others and not limit our ability to share it with others. As with all of God’s gifts, He causes our cup to run over. So when I ask the question of how much do I owe God, I must respond that it is too much for me to pay, but I can be thankful and I can be willing to share with others what God has done for me. Hallelujah, the debt has been paid.