Verses 1-2 Divine judgment for sin is bad. Divine judgment for causing others to sin is worse. The weight of guilt is heavy. Jesus warned against causing little ones—defenseless, vulnerable believers—to stumble, to fall into sin. Or discouraging their service and obedience to Jesus. He also is warning those who corrupt the truths of God, who twist the Word to meet their own selfish needs and seduce others to sin and trouble their minds. A scandalous life that saddens the hearts of God’s people will suffer the consequences. At the final judgment, the one who leads them to sin will prefer a huge rock hung around his neck before being dropped into the ocean to drown. That’s how severe God’s retribution against such a person will be.

Verses 3-4 Christ’s disciple is to counteract sin in the life of a brother or sister Christian with a loving rebuke and forgiveness—not once but repeatedly: if he sins against you seven times in a day, we should forgive him seven times. The number seven isn’t a limit to forgiveness. In the Bible, seven is the number of completion. Thus, our forgiveness of one another is to be complete. We are to always be ready to forgive our brothers and sisters when they repent.

It is our duty to forgive. When someone offends us, it’s okay to voice disappointment and vent their faults or tell them about the wrongs done to us, but it’s not okay to harbor resentment. We can rebuke but shouldn’t resent. We might find we mistook them when we do this.

If the wrongdoer should repent, we have a duty to forgive. That means we don’t hold it over their heads, but we forget about it and never think about it again. (How to forgive when someone has deeply hurt me).

If the wrongdoer does not repent, we should not seek revenge. We are called to be wise with how close we get to that person, which may include strict boundaries in the relationship.

If the wrongdoer is guilty of sin and offends the Church, the Church should be the ones to correct them. That doesn’t mean we spread rumors of the wrongdoing. We allow the leaders to deal with this wrongdoing and upon repentance, the forgiven person can commune with fellow believers again.

Every time a sin or trespass happens, we should repeat this process. If it should be seven times in a day that the wrongdoer professes he is sorry for his fault and promises not again to offend again, we must continue to forgive them.

Maybe someone hurt you deeply. Imagine what God could do through you if you could forgive them and move forward? It doesn’t mean that you condone the sin, but you extend the grace to forgive—just like Jesus.

We are called to have a forgiving spirit. To make the best of others, despite their downfalls.

Verses 5-6 How did Jesus’s apostles respond to being commanded to forgive someone who sinned against them repeatedly in one day? Increase our faith! Essentially, they are admitting a weak faith and were telling Jesus, “What you’re expecting isn’t normal. We need super big faith to forgive like that.” Often we think that God’s asking for something that’s out of our reach as if he wants the impossible.

We all need our faith strengthened and we should desire it, pray about it, and allow its work in our lives. We should ask God to make “the discoveries of our faith be more clear, the desires of faith more strong, the dependences of faith more firm and fixed, the dedications of faith more entire and resolute, and the delights of faith more pleasing.” (Matthew Henry Commentary)

The more resolute we are about Jesus and His Word, that is the more firmly we believe what He says is true, and the more we rely on His mercy to enable us to get over the greatest of offenses, then the greater His grace will take effect to help us do the right thing in the face of life’s difficulties. The more we confidently rely on Jesus to do the right thing, the more our grace grows and the better off our lives will be.

Jesus corrected their perspective. If you have even an inkling of faith the size of a mustard seed, you can command a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea. Such faith can cause the impossible to happen. With an ounce of faith, nothing is too hard for us.

The apostles wanted Jesus to give them a super-sized faith, but Jesus said, “You only need a mustard size seed of faith.” Size of the faith isn’t the issue. The right faith is. That’s because the right faith packs a powerful punch. A mustard seed is tiny. So, you don’t need big faith; you need true faith. Don’t be concerned with how big your faith is, be concerned with how big the object of your faith is. We don’t require tremendous faith.

All we need is genuine faith in our tremendous God.

Verses 7-10 Jesus explained a scenario to his disciples. He wasn’t changing the subject. He was explaining what it looks like having mustard-seed faith that can do the impossible, like enabling a believer to forgive someone “seven times in a day”. If a servant went inside after working in the field, his master wouldn’t tell him to sit down and eat. Take a break and relax. Instead, the master would expect the servant to finish his work by feeding the master. Only then would the servant sit down to his own meal. The master wouldn’t thank the servant for doing his job. It’s expected that a servant works in the field and prepares his master’s meal.

Here is how we apply this master-servant relationship to our relationship with God. We are God’s servants called to work all that honors Him. Genuine faith, mustard-seed faith, submits to divine authority. Our duty as a servant of God is to honor and obey Him. The first commandment of God says we must love God with all of our hearts and soul. All of our strength and time should work for Him in the variety of appointments and positions we are in; as a spouse, parent, child, employee, Church, etc. The work we do is not to earn favor from God. No, we already have His favor because His promises say so. There is no amount we can earn to afford the price He paid by sending his one and only son to the cross for us. God gains nothing from the work we do (God holds all power and authority to do what he wants to be done). He longs for a relationship and to be the desire of our hearts.

God is good without us. But we are undone without Him.

Prayer

Jesus, I can never repay what you’ve done for me on that cross. On that cross, you showed genuine faith and the lengths of forgiveness. You showed me what submission to a trustworthy God can do. I pray my heart will make fewer demands of God, and be more willing to submit to him. Your Word plants that mustard-seed faith and nurtures it with Truth after Truth to trust you in all the little things. When the big things come, it will be natural for my faith to trust you in that as well. Help my heart forgive those who have caused me pain and let go of the memories of their wrongs. Help me see with the eyes of faith through the forgiveness you give me, Jesus, for my own wrongs. I need forgiveness for the ways I’ve tempted others to sin (lie, cheat, steal, lust, indulge, covet, hate, etc.). I set my heart on serving you, Jesus because I love you first and most. In Jesus’ name, Amen.