Teaching Text

Matthew 18:21-35

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?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 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.

At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

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.

His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, guest teacher Luke LeFevre continued our FREED series by exploring freedom from fear. Opening in Matthew 25, Luke pointed to the third servant in Jesus' parable of the talents and highlighted three simple words that explain everything: "I was afraid."

The servant wasn't rebuked for wasting what he had been given. He didn't lose it, squander it, or make a poor investment. He buried it. Fear led him into self-preservation, and in doing so, he neglected the very thing his master had entrusted to his care.

Luke challenged us to consider where fear may be doing the same in our own lives. Each of us has been given something to steward: natural abilities, spiritual gifts, opportunities, relationships, and a unique calling in this moment of history. God did not place us here by accident. Yet fear often convinces us to play small, stay safe, and protect what we've been given rather than offer it back to Him.

Along the way, Luke addressed one of fear's most common companions: comparison. Looking at what others have been given can make our own assignment feel insignificant. But in the Kingdom of God, there are no insignificant assignments. As Luke reminded us, the fastest way to kill something special is to compare it to something else.

Turning to 1 Corinthians 3, Luke encouraged us to live with an eternal perspective. One day, every believer will stand before Christ and give an account for how they built their life on the foundation of Jesus. What we are willing to risk changes when we understand what is at stake. Fear tells us to preserve our lives. The gospel invites us to spend them faithfully.

Luke closed with a challenge from the book of Ezra. When God's people returned to rebuild the altar, they did so "despite their fear." Courage, he reminded us, is not the absence of fear. It is choosing obedience in the presence of it. As Elisabeth Elliot once wrote, "Sometimes fear does not subside and one must choose to do it afraid."

Freedom from fear is not found in waiting for fear to disappear. It is found in trusting Jesus enough to obey Him anyway.