Matthew 6:1-15
Giving to the Needy
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 18:21-35
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
I used to think that grace, mercy, and forgiveness were pretty much the same, when I first read the Bible...Here is my distinction between mercy, forgiveness, and grace after some years of reading the gospels and the Bible...Mercy is the feeling or posture of compassion that holds back deserved punishment, while forgiveness is the active, declarative transaction of pardoning the offense itself...Grace is the specific gift of undeserved favor or blessing that is freely given after the debt has been forgiven...When we look at the LORD's Prayer and the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, we can better see the difference...Even before the LORD's Prayer, Jesus speaks of being merciful and compassionate to the needy...Then is the LORD's Prayer, we read ("forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors") hinges upon the transaction of forgiveness, while the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant vividly illustrates the tragic consequence of receiving immense mercy and forgiveness yet failing to extend it, thereby revoking the grace of the master's initial gift...
Mercy shows compassion...God withholds the punishment we deserve (Hell/Death)...Forgiveness is a pardon...God removes the specific debt, sin, or trespass we committed...Grace is a gift...God gives us something we do not deserve (Eternal Life/And being in His Family as a child)... This is the blessing...
In this view, mercy is the compassionate reason why God chooses not to kill you; forgiveness is the legal document that clears your debt; and grace is the welcome-home party He throws afterward...Without mercy, there can be no forgiveness, because a merciless judge would execute the penalty rather than allow for pardon...Therefore, mercy is the foundation for forgiveness...Grace is what turns the cleared account into a new life—it is the adoption papers that make the pardoned person a full member of God's family, giving us an inheritance we have not earned...
Let us think of the relationship as three interconnected steps in God's saving action, and therefore, in our required actions toward our neighbor...Mercy (The Foundation) is defined as withholding deserved punishment (i.e., treating someone better than they deserve)...God's compassionate posture toward us...It is the reason we are still alive and have a chance to seek Him...Mercy is the compassionate reason the punishment for your sin is not inflicted upon you...Forgiveness is the pardoning the sin or wrong; officially canceling our sin debt...The action that occurs because of God's mercy...Forgiveness is the legal removal of guilt, made possible because Christ paid the penalty (an act of mercy)...Grace is the outcome...Grace is bestowing undeserved favor or blessing (i.e., giving someone something better than they deserve)...The blessing of God's Grace we receive is after the debt is canceled...This is the gift of eternal life, adoption into God's family, and the power of the Holy Spirit to live the "Higher Standard of Righteousness."...
We can see that the three teachings weave together...The weaving of these concepts is that: Mercy is the boundless compassion that holds back the punishment we deserve...This act of mercy is the foundation that allows Forgiveness—the specific transaction where our sin-debt is canceled...The ultimate result of receiving both God's mercy and forgiveness is Grace—the undeserved gift of peace, new life, and inclusion in His Kingdom...We are therefore commanded to extend this entire cycle—mercy, forgiveness, and the grace of a fresh start—to our neighbors, reflecting the very nature of God...When we struggle to extend mercy (compassion), grant forgiveness (pardon), or offer grace (a fresh start) to others, we are failing to demonstrate the saving reality we have received ourselves...Thus, the daily practice of this three-fold cycle becomes the evidence that we truly belong to God's family and are living under the Higher Standard of His Kingdom...