SERMON
Kingdom-Shaped Forgiveness – September 20, 2026
Pastor Paul Georgulis
C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, penned these words about forgiveness: “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”
And I can relate to that because forgiveness is hard.
Forgiveness is also not the same as forgetting. People say, “forgive and forget.” But that’s not accurate because forgiveness is not ignoring the severity of the offense or pretending that it didn’t hurt. The hurt is real. But forgiveness isn’t just one small part of the Christian faith. It’s at the very center of it. You see, Christianity is built on grace—that idea that we cannot earn our way back to God, but God, through Jesus, offers us forgiveness that we could never earn for ourselves.
The challenge is that just because we are recipients of forgiveness, it doesn’t automatically make us dispensers of it. And we see just how difficult that can be toward the end of the book of Genesis.
We first meet Joseph in Genesis 37 when he was seventeen years old. Joseph was one of twelve brothers, and their father’s favorite. And his brothers knew it. They were jealous of him, and they plotted to kill him. Instead, they threw him into an empty well. Then, over lunch, they decided to instead sell him to traveling merchants who were headed to Egypt. Once in Egypt, Joseph was sold again, falsely accused, and imprisoned. Yet eventually, he rose to become second-in-command over Egypt.
Years later, a severe famine brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt looking for food. The same brothers who threw Joseph into a pit now found themselves standing before him—and Joseph had all the power.
Eventually, Joseph reveals who he is and the family is reunited. But then their father dies, and that’s when Joseph’s brothers become terrified, which brings us to Genesis 50:15-21.
“15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said. 16 So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 17 to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said. 19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”
What Joseph said in verse 20 is a powerful statement about God’s sovereignty—the belief that God is ultimately in control and that His purposes cannot ultimately be defeated.
Joseph continues:
“He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.” – Genesis 50:15-21 (NLT)
Joseph had every reason to be angry. He could remember the pit, the slavery, the prison, the time lost with his father, and the years he could never get back. But what’s interesting is that Joseph does something completely different. He never actually says the words, “I forgive you.” Instead, he shows them. He tells his brothers not to be afraid. He promises to care for them and their children. He speaks kindly to them.
And Joseph’s forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending that what happened wasn’t wrong. He says, “You intended to harm me.” They sinned against him, and the pain was real. But Joseph refused to allow what they did to him to determine what he would do to them.
Joseph’s response points us toward the Kingdom of God. The world often tells us that power is something we use to get even, defeat our enemies, and make people pay. But Jesus reveals a King whose power is expressed through grace, mercy, service, and forgiveness.
We live in the kingdoms of this world, but we belong to a different Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom, the mercy we receive from our King is meant to become the mercy we extend to others. And that brings us to Matthew 18 where Peter asks Jesus a question about forgiveness.
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Up to seven times?’” – Matthew 18:21
Peter asks this question because some Jewish teachers taught that a person was obligated to forgive the same offense up to three times. So, Peter decided to more than double it and say seven.
Jesus responded by saying: “…I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” – Matthew 18:22
Peter was essentially asking, “When have I forgiven enough?” And Jesus’ answer is, “that’s the wrong question.” And to show Peter exactly what He meant, Jesus told him a parable.
“23 Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.” – Matthew 18:23-27
The servant asks for more time. But the king does something far greater. He completely cancels the debt. And you would think that receiving that kind of mercy would change him. But it doesn't.
The servant immediately finds someone who owes him far less. And when that man says essentially the same thing he said—“Be patient with me”—the forgiven servant refuses and has him thrown into prison.
So the mercy he received stopped with him.
Here’s what happened when the king found out:
32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’
And then Jesus concludes the parable with these difficult words:
“35 ‘That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.’” – Matthew 18:35
The servant's problem wasn't that he hadn't experienced mercy. He had. His problem was that the mercy he received never became mercy that he gave.
Kingdom-shaped forgiveness begins with recognizing just how much we ourselves have been forgiven.
The servant’s impossible debt points us toward our own need for mercy. We have sin in our lives—a debt that we could never repay on our own. But God released us from the debt of our sin through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.
And Jesus is saying that when we truly understand the mercy we have received, that mercy should change the way we respond to those who have wronged us.
But that doesn’t mean forgiveness is easy. Kingdom-shaped forgiveness doesn’t pretend the hurt wasn’t real, and it doesn’t depend on the other person changing first. We can forgive even when they haven’t apologized, when reconciliation isn’t possible, and even when trust can’t yet be restored.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean putting yourself back into an unsafe situation or pretending there shouldn’t be consequences. It means that what someone did to us no longer gets to determine what we will do to them.
That’s Kingdom-shaped forgiveness. In God’s Kingdom, the mercy we receive from our King becomes the mercy we extend to others. And every time a forgiven person becomes a forgiving person, the Kingdom of God becomes visible through us.
Think about the people in your life whom you need to forgive. Remember the pain, but also remember the mercy you have received from God. Ask God to give you the grace to extend that mercy to others.
And I can relate to that because forgiveness is hard.
Forgiveness is also not the same as forgetting. People say, “forgive and forget.” But that’s not accurate because forgiveness is not ignoring the severity of the offense or pretending that it didn’t hurt. The hurt is real. But forgiveness isn’t just one small part of the Christian faith. It’s at the very center of it. You see, Christianity is built on grace—that idea that we cannot earn our way back to God, but God, through Jesus, offers us forgiveness that we could never earn for ourselves.
The challenge is that just because we are recipients of forgiveness, it doesn’t automatically make us dispensers of it. And we see just how difficult that can be toward the end of the book of Genesis.
We first meet Joseph in Genesis 37 when he was seventeen years old. Joseph was one of twelve brothers, and their father’s favorite. And his brothers knew it. They were jealous of him, and they plotted to kill him. Instead, they threw him into an empty well. Then, over lunch, they decided to instead sell him to traveling merchants who were headed to Egypt. Once in Egypt, Joseph was sold again, falsely accused, and imprisoned. Yet eventually, he rose to become second-in-command over Egypt.
Years later, a severe famine brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt looking for food. The same brothers who threw Joseph into a pit now found themselves standing before him—and Joseph had all the power.
Eventually, Joseph reveals who he is and the family is reunited. But then their father dies, and that’s when Joseph’s brothers become terrified, which brings us to Genesis 50:15-21.
“15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said. 16 So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 17 to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said. 19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”
What Joseph said in verse 20 is a powerful statement about God’s sovereignty—the belief that God is ultimately in control and that His purposes cannot ultimately be defeated.
Joseph continues:
“He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.” – Genesis 50:15-21 (NLT)
Joseph had every reason to be angry. He could remember the pit, the slavery, the prison, the time lost with his father, and the years he could never get back. But what’s interesting is that Joseph does something completely different. He never actually says the words, “I forgive you.” Instead, he shows them. He tells his brothers not to be afraid. He promises to care for them and their children. He speaks kindly to them.
And Joseph’s forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending that what happened wasn’t wrong. He says, “You intended to harm me.” They sinned against him, and the pain was real. But Joseph refused to allow what they did to him to determine what he would do to them.
Joseph’s response points us toward the Kingdom of God. The world often tells us that power is something we use to get even, defeat our enemies, and make people pay. But Jesus reveals a King whose power is expressed through grace, mercy, service, and forgiveness.
We live in the kingdoms of this world, but we belong to a different Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom, the mercy we receive from our King is meant to become the mercy we extend to others. And that brings us to Matthew 18 where Peter asks Jesus a question about forgiveness.
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Up to seven times?’” – Matthew 18:21
Peter asks this question because some Jewish teachers taught that a person was obligated to forgive the same offense up to three times. So, Peter decided to more than double it and say seven.
Jesus responded by saying: “…I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” – Matthew 18:22
Peter was essentially asking, “When have I forgiven enough?” And Jesus’ answer is, “that’s the wrong question.” And to show Peter exactly what He meant, Jesus told him a parable.
“23 Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 26 But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.” – Matthew 18:23-27
The servant asks for more time. But the king does something far greater. He completely cancels the debt. And you would think that receiving that kind of mercy would change him. But it doesn't.
The servant immediately finds someone who owes him far less. And when that man says essentially the same thing he said—“Be patient with me”—the forgiven servant refuses and has him thrown into prison.
So the mercy he received stopped with him.
Here’s what happened when the king found out:
32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’
And then Jesus concludes the parable with these difficult words:
“35 ‘That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.’” – Matthew 18:35
The servant's problem wasn't that he hadn't experienced mercy. He had. His problem was that the mercy he received never became mercy that he gave.
Kingdom-shaped forgiveness begins with recognizing just how much we ourselves have been forgiven.
The servant’s impossible debt points us toward our own need for mercy. We have sin in our lives—a debt that we could never repay on our own. But God released us from the debt of our sin through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.
And Jesus is saying that when we truly understand the mercy we have received, that mercy should change the way we respond to those who have wronged us.
But that doesn’t mean forgiveness is easy. Kingdom-shaped forgiveness doesn’t pretend the hurt wasn’t real, and it doesn’t depend on the other person changing first. We can forgive even when they haven’t apologized, when reconciliation isn’t possible, and even when trust can’t yet be restored.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean putting yourself back into an unsafe situation or pretending there shouldn’t be consequences. It means that what someone did to us no longer gets to determine what we will do to them.
That’s Kingdom-shaped forgiveness. In God’s Kingdom, the mercy we receive from our King becomes the mercy we extend to others. And every time a forgiven person becomes a forgiving person, the Kingdom of God becomes visible through us.
Think about the people in your life whom you need to forgive. Remember the pain, but also remember the mercy you have received from God. Ask God to give you the grace to extend that mercy to others.