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God's Servant Is Merciful I. Study Text:
Matthew 18:21-35 II. Theme: God is merciful. Mercy naturally expresses
God's nature. The just God is also the merciful God. The all powerful God is the merciful God. God ransomed us from evil because He
is merciful. God atoned for our sins with the blood of Jesus because He is
merciful. God forgives us because He is merciful. God gives us new life in Christ because He is merciful. Hope,
peace, strength, contentment, and resurrection are available to us in Christ because God is merciful. Without
mercy, none of these are available to any of us. He or she who serves the merciful God
becomes God's agent of mercy. The Christian who refuses to be merciful cannot serve or represent the God of
mercy. Developing a desire to be merciful and the ability to express mercy is an enormous challenge. Every
Christian wants to receive God's mercy. Yet, we commonly struggle to be
merciful. III. Questions
and Application Matthew 18:21-35 1. Jesus' parable was a response to Peter's
question. What question did Peter ask Jesus (verse 21)? 2. What
numeric answer did Jesus give to Peter's question (verse 22)? 3. Jesus
compared the kingdom of heaven to a king who did what (verse 23)? 4. One particular slave appeared before him who
owed the king how much (verse 24)? That amount is the approximate equivalent of ten
million dollars. What is the likelihood of a first century slave acquiring
ten million dollars to eliminate a personal
indebtedness? Would you consider this an impossible debt? 5. When
the slave could not pay the debt (full payment due on demand), what action
did the king decide to take to "cut his losses"
(verse 25)? 6. How
did the slave react to the king's decision to sell him and his family (verse
26)? Remember, the family could be separated and sold to
different buyers. 7. What
feeling did the king have (verse 27)? a. What did the king do about the slave? b. What did the king do about the debt? What does that mean? 8. Soon
after the slave left the king's presence, he searched for a fellow slave who
owed him one hundred day's wages. For a slave, this was not an
insignificant debt. However, it was a manageable debt. a. How did the released slave treat the slave who owed him money
(verse 28)? b. What did the released slave demand of the indebted slave? 9. How
did the slave who owed him the money respond (verse 29)? Compare the responses
of each slave to the person whom he owed. 10. The released slave was
unwilling to be patient. a. What action did the released slave take against the slave who owed
him (verse 30)? b. How long was this to last? What obvious difficulty was created for
the indebted slave? 11. Fellow slaves saw what
happened. a. How did they feel (verse 31)? b. What action did they take? 12. When the king learned what
happened, what action did he take (verse 32)? a. Of what did he remind the slave who owed him an impossible debt? b. According to the king, what appropriate response should this slave
shown the slave who owed him one hundred days wages (verse 33)?
13. What feeling did the king have
this time (verse 34)? a. What action did the king take? b. How long would this slave continue to receive this treatment? c. What would that mean? 14. If we refuse to forgive a fellow disciple from the heart, how
did Jesus say the heavenly Father would respond to us? IV. Conclusion:
Remember, Jesus was
talking to Peter. In context, this specifically applies to Christians. State
the principle. How should we treat our spouses?
Children? Parents? Neighbors? Coworkers? Fellow Christians? People who seek
God? People who do not seek God? Do you
find this parable sobering? Why? Specifically, how has God been merciful to
you? Therefore, what are specific situations you could, in similar ways, be merciful to wife, children, brethren...? |