Study Guide
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
The coming holidays remind often stir up varied feelings on seeing family or relatives. Hardly anyone walks through life without some bitterness geared toward others. In this message you’ll hear from Pastor JoAnn Johnson as she walks us through the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant and challenges us to see how God's graciousness toward us inspires how we treat others.
In this message you will be:
- Encouraged to celebrate how thoroughly we are forgiven
- Challenged to go on the journey of forgiving that person we have been harboring bitterness toward
Newbreak’s Sermon Study Guide is an in-house resource that serves sermon-based Life Groups and/or individuals who want to reflect further on how the message contributes to their spiritual formation.
Icebreakers for Life Groups
- What is something fun you’ve done over the past week?
- What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?
Read Matthew 18:21-35 (CSB)
POINT 1-The bar is always raised in the Kingdom of Heaven.
In this passage, Peter approaches Jesus to ask about forgiveness, wondering how many times he should forgive someone who wrongs him. Jesus responds with the parable of the unforgiving servant, illustrating that in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiveness is not just a matter of numbers but a reflection of our understanding of God’s grace.
When it comes to forgiveness, much like Peter, we are looking for what our minimum and our maximum is. How many times do we forgive? What if the injury still hurts? The Kingdom of Heaven raises the bar of our expectations and our involvement. Forgiveness is something that we receive from God and extends toward others.
Peter was wondering what the lowest level of engagement was when it came to forgiveness. Jesus raises the bar of our engagement in many areas of our lives, especially in the realm of forgiveness.
Discussion Questions
- What do you think prompted Peter to ask Jesus about the limits of forgiveness? How does this question reflect common struggles in our own lives?
- In the parable, how does the servant's debt compare to the debts others owe him? What does this comparison reveal about our understanding of forgiveness?
- How does this parable challenge or reinforce your understanding of God's forgiveness towards you?
POINT 2- Extending mercy is proof that my debt was wiped clean.
Why are we encouraged to extend extravagant forgiveness? Because we have received extravagant forgiveness! Imagine, just for a moment, all of the ways in which God has been graciously forgiving toward you! It could be the forgiveness of an ill word that was spoken, a decision that you wish you could undo, maybe a thought that you wish you didn’t think, something you are not proud of, something that you’ve hidden in the past. When we fall, mess up, or live apart from God’s direction, when we bring it to God in repentance, He responds with forgiveness. God has not limited His forgiveness toward you or others, and as His image-bearers, we should not limit our forgiveness toward ourselves or others as well.
Discussion Questions
- Have you ever struggled to forgive someone? What were the circumstances, and how did you navigate those feelings?
- In what ways can forgiving others free us from emotional or spiritual burdens? Can you share a time when forgiveness brought you peace?
- What do you think are the long-term effects on a person who refuses to forgive, as suggested by the servant's fate?
- After reflecting on this passage, what specific action can you take this week to extend forgiveness to someone in your life?
The Kingdom of Heaven is God’s rule in our hearts & lives.
The parables are the secrets of what the kingdom is and how it operates. The teachings of living in the Kingdom of God seem completely opposite from how we have learned to live in our society. The Kingdom of God is right-side-up living! It’s the world that is upside down! No wonder so many people are tired and weary; they have spent their whole lives living upside down. Here, we journey through Matthew’s Gospel using the parables to explain the Kingdom of Heaven to our upside-down world!