As the summer nears the end we will conclude this series, Gleaning From The Kingdom Parables Before The Harvest.  We started this series with simple concept of the need for growth and how we were called for a purpose.  Each of the parables were given to prepare God’s people for the Kingdom to come and when we look at them as a whole, they point us to growth that God wants and expects from His people.  We continue on now with Matthew 18.  Here we read a familiar passage on forgives
Matthew 18 starts with the disciples asking Jesus who was the greatest in the Kingdom.  But Mark 9, in a parallel account revels that Jesus is correcting the disciples for wrongfully arguing over who among them is the greatest.   Jesus uses a child to teach the lesson about what attitude is the greatest in the kingdom and then he warns them about offending the little ones in the faith.  He warned that if anyone did, then His Father would know about it and it would be better for a millstone to be around his neck and thrown in the sea. 

He then says that He came to save those who were lost.  He gives the example of one who has sheep and will leave the 99 to seek the one who is lost.  So if we have something that is offensive, or we offend others, then we should work diligently to rid ourselves of those things that offend even comparing the losing of a limb but removing offense is better that being thrown in the Lake of fire with their limbs.

After this Jesus talks about reconciling with a brother in the faith and Peter asks how often should you forgive your brother.  Jesus’ answer of 70 times 7 implies that there is no limit on forgiveness. This is the backdrop to our next parable where Jesus launches into the lesson on forgiveness.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
 
Matthew 18:23-35   23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  24 "And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  25 "But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.  26 "The servant, therefore, fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  27 "Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.  28 "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'  29 "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  30 "And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.  31 "So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.  32 "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  33 'Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'  34 "And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.  35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

There are so many things that have divided the Church of God over the years.  We have talked about being offended and leaving the faith but there are so many reasons that people leave our fellowship.  It would be nice to believe that everyone who leaves is at fault and that we hold no blame.

But in speaking with many people that attend for a short time a quit the answers are sometimes sad to hear.  Sometimes they simply don’t feel welcomed.  Sometimes they don’t feel comfortable with either the service or the congregation.   But some of the worst comments that I have heard involved members not forgiving one another.  Talking bad about another member or holding some grudge and telling others about it. 

This Parable and the preceding verses make clear that Jesus takes the care of little ones in the faith very seriously and wants us to be sober about it too.  Furthermore.  If we expect to be forgiven by God of our sins and at the same time be unwilling to forgive (ANYONE) else of sin, then we are in real danger of having this parable applied to us.  When we are unwilling to forgive someone of an offense we are in a sense taking poison and hoping the other person suffers.  What’s worse,  we run the risk of others being offended by our problem and then we are really in trouble with God.

Turn over to the Model Prayer.  Here Jesus gives us the recipe for the complete prayer.  These elements that both honor God, ask for help and affirms our faith. 
  Matthew 6:9-15   9 "In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. 
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Here is one of those memorized passages of our bibles within its verses the warning about forgiveness.  And just if the reader somehow forgets to read verse12, look what comes directly after the AMEN
 14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15 "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
How scary is this warning? 

What has someone done to us that is worse than killing God?  If Jesus asks forgiveness for those in the process of crucifying Him then how can we withhold it from anyone?  That doesn’t mean you let a dangerous person back in your life but you have to let go of Hate and resentment that eats us up from the inside out.

It is easy to look at this parable and say, this only talks about money or some debt.  But the Debt is not the point of this parable.  It is the lack of forgiveness that convicts someone.
You can see that the context of these parables are quite important for understanding some of the deeper meanings as they relate to the Kingdom of God.  That is also true as we continue on.

The next section I want to cover is found in chapter 19 of Matthew and chapter 18 of Luke.   To get to it we have to cover some very familiar ground.   Apart we have read many times.  But together they weave a deeper understanding.  I would like to read from the account in Luke chapter 18 and starting in verse 15.  Here Jesus Blesses the Little children and we often read this section each year we have the blessing of little children each year after the Feast.  But this year at the men’s weekend I thought about another aspect of this passage that ties into the following passages.  

Luke 18:15-30   15 Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  17 "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

Now this passage clearly says infants but we have discusses the virtues of youth that are kingdom like such as being teachable, humble, and trusting.  We also point out the faith that children have that is often tarnished by a harsh world.  But at the Men’s weekend, I thought of an aspect that we don’t often talk about as it relates to this passage.

One of the young men that participated in the speech club sampler talked about some of the challenges he has faced in his two decades of life.  He mentioned School, he mentioned camp, and he mentioned the many things that he has learned over the years.

When I went to Ambassador College many years ago they stressed to each of us that if we put our heart into the college experience we would experience growth that is as much as 7 times the rate of growth we would experience if we weren’t there.   AC then, even more than ABC does now, immersed its students in dozens of growth opportunities.   We worked, we volunteered, we studied our classes, we studied personal and spiritual growth.   We did not just focus on education, but character development, social skills and every possible topic to prepare us to be Ambassadors. 

What this young man at the men’s weekend reminded me was that when we are younger, we naturally lend ourselves to the direction of others in hopes of becoming more than we are.  We submit to our parents and teachers, we submit to the church and to camp.  This allows the youth to learn and grow at a dramatic rate that we older folks may not always appreciate. 

Lets face it.  When we get older, we don’t do what we don’t want to do. 
Do we?   

We pray to God and ask for His help but we can be particular in which help we are willing to accept.  The type of help we gladly accept is relief from a trial, or a blessing.  But asking God to tell you what you need to grow is only the first step.

Sacrifice and transform.
Romans 12:1-2  NKJ  I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
There are two really important points here that need to go together if we are going to get anywhere.  The first is becoming a Living Sacrifice.

The word Sacrifice can be a noun or a verb.  Since we are to be “a” Sacrifice, then this is a noun.  This is that which we become.  The state of being we are to achieve.  In this context, the Definition in the Dictionary is as follows.

Sacrifice - noun :the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.
What we sacrifice is the old self.  That prized possession that we hold higher and dearer than all others.  That our carnal human nature seeks to protect and amplify at every opportunity.  The reason we sacrifice(v) our old self is also found in this definition.  Its because we value something else that we consider of a higher or more pressing claim.  To become more like God we have to start becoming less like our old self. 

So how is this done?  That is in the chapter 2. (Read again).  The Word transform here is a verb.  It is the action we need to accomplish the noun Sacrifice in verse 1.
We are to become transformed by the spirit of God.

Transform - verb
1. To make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of.
You see, you cannot become a sacrifice with a partial change.  We can’t hold onto self and gain the life promised by God.  Our young people realize this.  They go grow up learning this,  they learn this in school,  and they learn this in whatever career they choose. 
But then something happens.  People stop telling you what you should do to succeed and grow.  It becomes up to us to act on what we have learned and its nice not to be told when to get up and what we should learn today.  We can get so used to it we never want to be subject to anyone again.

This is the real danger.  Let's keep reading in Luke 18 and verse 18 and see how this theme of learning, being subject to God, and transformation plays out.

 18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
The version in Matthew 19 calls him a young man so this passage is known as the rich young ruler.
 
 19 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.  20 "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' "  21 And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth."  
 
You see this man grew up and learned the law of God and how to be subject to it.  He also had done well in life to have a great deal of wealth.  In that Jewish culture it was understood that God blessed those that kept His Law and if someone was very well off that was a tremendous symbol to his community that he was blessed in the sight of God.  He was also very comfortable in life and If Christ would have said.  Just keep doing what you are doing and you will receive eternal life, then that would have been one happy camper.
But remember what we read in Romans 12.  To become a living sacrifice, that is to give up what is precious for what is of higher value, namely Holy Righteous Character; we must become transformed which means changing everything that made us what we were so we can become something else.  For this rich young ruler, that meant to give up his wealth.
Now, most of us have no need to give up that we have little or none of.  I would first have to obtain wealth before I would need to give it up.  But we do have our old self that we probably hold much closer to ourselves than our wallets.  If we are to really change and be totally transformed, then I would suggest when we ask God for what we need to do to become more like Him, we expect the answer to be a total transformation.  Tell God that if he wants you to change everywhere you are willing to do it.  Nothing in our lives now is better than what God is promising us.  This is why Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. 

For the rest of this section, let’s leave Luke 18 and turn over a parallel account in Mark 10 because it brings out some very important points.
 
Mark 10:20-27   20 And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."  21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."  22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"  24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!  25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  26 And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?"  27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." 

If we try to negotiate our relationship with God with only a partial commitment then we never become transformed and thus will never be a living sacrifice.
 
Mark 10:28-31   28 Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You."  29 So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's,  30 "who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time -- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life.  31 "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
 

The next parable we will read is in Matthew 24:42-52.  Now Matthew 24 starts off with Jesus giving them a glimpse of the end times and what they should expect.  He goes into some detail talking about Signs of the times and the end of the age.  He talks about the Great Tribulation and His ultimate return.

He gives the Parable of the Fig Tree to give us a clue as to how to notice the time is near but then warns them that no one will know the day or the hour but to be always ready and preparing.  At the end of the chapter we read the Parable of the faithful and evil servant.
Parable of Faithful and Evil Servant
 
Matthew 24:42-51   42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  45 " Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?  46 "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.  47 "Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.  48 "But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,'  49 "and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,  50 "the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,  51 "and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The lesson here is a simple one but we need to understand it in the greater context.  Yes, we are to be about our Father’s business.  But remember that this comes at the end of the section on not knowing when the end will be.  The ability to always be at the ready is impossible unless, you are totally committed to the mission.  If looking after the affairs of God is our first love, then we will stay diligently at our posts until His return.
But if we are only doing so to protect ourselves from the Great Tribulation, then we will eventually fall short and revert back to our baser selves.  We will not be fit for the kingdom because deep down, we don’t really want all of the details that go into maintaining this Kingdom.

We are going to end this series today. The parables in Chapter 25 will be the last ones we cover.  There is not time to go over the parables here in depth but they are very well known and you already known the main points so I am only going to land on a few key passages.
One is the Parable of the wise and foolish virgins.  10 virgins go to wait for the bridegroom and he is delayed and all fall asleep.   (Have you ever felt that in the last 25 years we have lost some of that fire that kept us going?).  Well after a while they woke up and noticed that some did not have enough oil for their lamps (Explorer vs Concorde on a trip to Portland).  You know that the main point here is to keep the Holy Spirit strong in your lives no matter how long it takes for His return so that you are not caught unaware.   Whatever happened over the last few decades is behind us; now is the time to be awake.  Now is the time to get fired up and let our lights shine.  There is one additional point I want to bring out in this passage as it needs to be understood.  It’s the warning at the end of this passage.  Reading verses 10-13 of Matthew 25:

Matthew 25:10-13   10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.  11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'  12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'  13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

There is the Parable to the Talents that we know all too well.  Go has given us gifts of the spirit that we are expected to use to do God’s work.  We know that every one

of us has some kind of talent or even many talents and abilities that God expects us to use.  If we don’t we could lose it all.  The reason we would lose it all is because for us not to act on our calling would be to tell God we don’t want His future to be our future.
But there is an aspect of these familiar parables that I do want to cover.  There is a phrase that appears  7 times in the NKJ version.  It’s the phrase weeping (or Wailing) and gnashing of teeth.  It refers to those that will be cast out of the kingdom of God into the Lake of Fire. 
1.  Matt 8:12 - Referring to members of the House of Jacob that will not make it to the kingdom of God.  Said to a centurion how showed true faith when asking Christ for healing of his servant.
The Next 6 though all have been covered in our series on the Kingdom parables.
2. Matt 13:42 – Parable of the Sower
3. Matt 13:50 -  Parable of the Tares
4. Luke 13:28 – Which was a parallel of the passage of the Leaven
5. Matt 22:13 – Parable of the Wedding Garment
6. Matt 24:51 – Which we just covered in the Wise and evil Servant
7. Matt 25:30 which is where we will close the series today.
So after the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins and Parable of the talents, Jesus gives this last warning using these words.   He says in verse 30 speaking of the servant not using his talent:
End of the Kingdom Parables
 
Matthew 25:30-46 30 'And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  31 " When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  33 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  35 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  36 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'  37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  38 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  39 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'  41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  42 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;  43 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'  44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'  45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  46 "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Remember that I said from the beginning of this series that context is very important.  We can use any of these passages alone but in context the meaning is so much deeper and more powerful.  The best way to give context to these parables is to read the next two verses.  How important was this instruction to Jesus Christ?

Matthew 26:1-2  NKJ Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples,  2 "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."

These are the teachings that were on His mind as His time came to an end.  He was trying to prepare His followers to be ready for what’s to come.  His Last teachings on the Kingdom that He gave to us right before His Crucifixion should give us the importance that we should place on them.  Making sure that we succeed was so important to our Lord and if they should be just as important to us.

Brethren, as we watch this summer come to a close, let’s put all our hearts, minds, and might into the challenge before us.  Let’s keep the faith and let us be transformed by the Spirit of God.