Matthew 6:11

Following Jesus in Prayer - Part Four: Forgive

by James Lincoln on January 29, 2006

 

This morning we come to the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer. Jesus said to pray in this way, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Of course, the perennial debate is, "Do we say, 'Forgive us our debts...' or 'Forgive us our trespasses.' Here at Hope those who say debts graciously wait as those who say trespasses catch up with them and then everyone gets back on the same page. Why do we pray the prayer differently? It's an easy answer. Matthew uses the word 'debts' in the first part of the prayer and Luke uses the word 'trespasses' or 'transgressions' in the first part of the prayer. They simply reversed the word order. So, which should we say? Well, if you want to follow Matthew you will use debts; if Luke then trespasses. If you say debts just be nice and wait for the others to catch up with you.

Debts: Insight into Forgiveness

But it does raise an important question about the prayer. Why did Jesus use the word debts at all? I can think of two reasons. First, debts tell us something about sin. In verse 15 Jesus quickly ties sins to debts. We owe God obedience. And when we sin we incur a debt that we owe. So, it tells us about what sin is. I'll come back to this.

There's a literal application as well. In Lev. 25, and again in Deut. 15, the Mosaic law prescribed that at the end of seven years (The Sabbatical Year) all debts within Israel would be canceled and the same was to happen every 49th year or the Year of Jubilee.

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. 2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed." Deut 15:1-3

When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem after the exile and found that the poor had indentured themselves and their children to their wealthy brothers because of their debts he was furious. He lectured them about slavery, usury and ordered the wealthy to forgive or cancel all debts, give back their lands and their children and everything else they had used for collateral. The wealthy were persuaded, took and oath and cancelled the all the debts. Of course everyone was thrilled with the generosity of the wealthy which made it possible for the people to work together while rebuilding Jerusalem.¹

This same generous spirit marked the early church. They didn't reestablish the statutes of Jubilee but they just acted as if Jesus expected His disciples to live by the principle of Jubilee among the community of faith.² None considered anything their own.

This piece of the Lord's Prayer reminds us of a graciousness that should be among the people of God. He is alluding to the fact that we should be generous, forgiving the debts of those who find themselves unable to pay them instead of driving them into more despair and financial hopelessness.

In my first pastorate our first church building was being sold by a group of Seventh Day Adventists. They were as gracious and kind as people can be. That was in the early 80's when inflation was very high running at about 20%. They agreed to carry the note for us for ten years. But, it was against their beliefs to charge interest. Here was the problem. They were going to lose the future value of their money big time if they didn't get some interest. Yet, they wanted to help us because we were too small and new to get a loan. They were in an ethical bind. We sensed their difficulty and offered to make a 10% annual inflation adjustment to the note. Because we didn't call it interest their consciences were clear and we signed the deal and ended up paying them off in two years. Now that sounds pharisaical. But the truth is they wanted to help and we had no desire to see them lose the value of their money. So, we all felt good about it and no one suffered any hardship over the deal.

Debts and Forgiveness

What does any of this have to do with forgiveness? I think that Jesus uses the word, "debts" to show us what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is being released from a burden that is due. To forgive is to release someone from what they owe you.

When God forgives our sins He forgives the debt we owe Him. Now, today most don't even consider that they owe God anything at all. The idea that creatures have a duty to their Creator seems to have disappeared off the radar screen of Christian themes. But we do. As the Creator, sovereign King and sustainer of the universe we owe Him everything. If God holds His breath we will cease to be. He is the source of our air and food. These things don't originate with us. As the sovereign Lord God of the universe He is due our obedience. Every human being owes God absolute obedience. And if you have ever been disobedient either willfully or by omission you owe God the debt incurred by your disobedience. When Jesus came and lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died He forgave the sins of His people and paid the debt that we owed. He not only paid the penalty of death that we owe; He also gave us the good record of His righteousness as a gift to be received by faith. He did for us what we could never have done. He released us from the debt we owed God. Paul say in Colossians 2:

"When you were dead in your sins... God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." Col 2:13-15

Through faith in Christ we are released from the debt we owe God. Nothing could be more liberating and blessed than to know that, in Christ, your sins are forgiven. I love that place in Pilgrim's Progress where Bunyan writes,

"When Christian came to the cross on the hill his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from his back and began to tumble down the hill until it came to the mouth of a grave where it fell in and he saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said, with a merry heart, "He hath given me rest by his sorrow and life by his death." Then He stood still awhile to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. Now as he stood looking and weeping behold three Shinning Ones came to him and saluted him with "Peace be to thee." So the first said to him, "Thy sins be forgiven thee" ; the second stripped him of his rags and clothed him with a "change of raiment"; the third set a mark on his forehead and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, and bade him look on as he ran. ..Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing...."Blest cross! Blest grave! Blest rather be...The man that was there put to shame for me."

To be forgiven is to be released from a just debt that we all owe God. It makes us dance and sing and jump like calves in the stall for joy. When we ask God forgive our debts we're acknowledging both the sins of omission and our transgressions. Who can say that he has loved the Lord God with all his heart, soul and strength every moment of every day? Yet, this is God's due. To ask for forgiveness is to acknowledge this. Most of us have to add many sins of outright transgressions. I find it hard to imagine that we will ever outgrow this as a daily prayer in this life. But when we do pray it, we also acknowledge that it isn't our confession that merits the forgiveness its Jesus Christ and His amazing love for us that merits our forgiveness. And so we ask for forgiveness with awe, amazement, wonder, worship and great joy.

Jesus is calling us to walk, worship, and rejoice in the forgiveness that has been purchased for us by Jesus. In Christ our accounts receivable have been paid in full. At the cross Jesus said. "It is finished."

Forgiving Others: The Evidence of your own Forgiveness

But Jesus says more here. Along with this amazing grace He gives a frightful warning. In verse 14 and 15 He says,

"For, if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matt 6:14-15

Now, Jesus isn't saying that we merit forgiveness because we forgive others. He's simply stating a fact that our behavior will prove if we are forgiven and have laid hold of that forgiveness. It tells us about what real faith is. If we're trusting Jesus then we won't reject His way of life and His way of forgiveness. C.F.D. Moule says that it's the difference between deserts and capacity. When you are born again you are not only forgiven, you're also made a radically new creation in Christ with a new heart that wants to follow Christ. Once your eyes have been opened to see the enormity of your own offence and the extravagance of God's grace, then injuries others do to you could only pale by comparison. To be born again is to repent and to follow Jesus as He is and not reject His ways. And it's His way to forgive others. Some think becoming a Christian is asking Jesus into your heart. It's not. It's asking Him in to your heart as He is. And this is the way He is...He calls us to forgive.

And if we hold fast to an unforgiving spirit, we will not be forgiven by God. And if we continue on in that way, then we'll not go to heaven. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that we are saved by the work of our forgiveness. I'm saying that we are never saved without the work of grace that makes us forgiving people. If we trust Christ... we won't be able to receive forgiveness for the enormous debt we owe God with one hand and then with the other withhold it from the one who owes us so little by comparison. That would demonstrate that we have no apprehension of the generosity we have been given nor the desire to follow the Lord in His way. I was reading in A.W. Tozer on Thursday. I believe he wrote this in the 1950's. He was writing about how our idea of conversion has become so innocuous.

"The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without [even] a jar to [one's moral life] or without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may now be "received" without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is "saved," but is neither hungry nor thirsty after God."

One of my favorite sayings by John Bunyan is his song about Gospel Flying.³ It goes like this:

Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands
Far better news the gospel brings
It bids us fly and gives us wings

The law says that you ought to forgive but gives you no help. The gospel calls you to forgive others and then promises you that God's grace is sufficient to supply you with all the resources you need to do just that. I can't think of a more serious warning. I don't want to minimize it. If we cling to an unforgiving spirit and continue on in that way then we won't go to heaven because heaven is the place of forgiven and forgiving people.

Paul says in Eph. 4:32, "Forgive each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." In other words God's forgiveness stands underneath ours and creates it and supports it. The Gospel bids us to fly and to soar in the freedom of a forgiving spirit and the gospel gives us the wings of His grace and power to do just that.

We can forgive because we know what it means to be forgiven. The forgiven know that our sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west and into the deepest sea. It means that we have been loved beyond our wildest imaginations. It means that we are God's adopted children and that we've been chosen to represent this grace to others. It means that Christ's sacrifice for our sins was accepted and also pleasing to God the Father. When Paul says that Jesus' death was a, "pleasing aroma" to God, He means that God took enormous pleasure in His offering. The Father took great pleasure in the honor that the Son gave to the Father in obeying Him. No one ever loved the Father like Jesus. God received his offering. It satisfied the Father's justice. He loved His son's obedience. It removed His wrath from his people of faith. It was the greatest act of love and justice ever given. So, as Michael K. Blanchard sang,

Be ye glad, O be ye glad!
Every debt that you ever had,
Has been paid up in full by the blood of the Lamb,
Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad! Michael Kelly Blanchard (1980).

To be loved like this, to receive this, to believe this, to savor this, be fed by this grace, to discover its wonder and to be drawn to its beauty and to feel the weight of it's glory; these things give you a capacity to forgive others and to tell them where they can find such grace as well. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. It's believing in Him as He is really is. You can't believe these things, drink them into your soul, hunger and thirst for them, be satisfied with them, count on them and walk in their grace and still make others pay you what you think they owe you by not forgiving them. Jesus says, If we won't forgive we won't go to heaven.

Finally, What Does it Mean to Forgive Others?

Thomas Watson in, Body of Divinity, says that we have forgiven others who have sinned against us...

"When we strive against all thoughts of revenge; when we don't pay back evil for evil; and wish them well; when we grieve at their calamities, pray for them, seek reconciliation with them and show ourselves ready on all occasions to come to their relief."

Watson attached a passage to each piece of his definition. We have forgiven when...

1. We resist revenge.
"Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord." (Rom.12:19)
So, resist a pay-back mentality.

2. You don't seek the other person's harm.
"See that no one repays another with evil for evil." (1Thess. 5:1 )
Don't turn the screw deeper.

3. We seek out their best and wish them well.
"Bless those who curse you." (Lk.6:28)

4. When we grieve for their hurts and struggles.
"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles." (Pr. 24:17)

5. Pray for their welfare.
"But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." (Mtt. :44)

6. Seek reconciliation.
"As far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." (Rom.12:18)
Be willing to go as far as you can to make for peace even if that means getting a mediator. In Philippians Paul told the elders to help Euodia and Syntyche to make peace. Of course they had to be willing to get some help.

7. When we are willing to help them in their distress.
"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him." (Ex. 23:4)

8. When you release the person from what you think they owe you.
Jesus said to "Forgive your brother from your heart." Therefore, it is trusting Jesus to desire the best for those who have offended us. This is forgiveness.

What Forgiveness Isn't.

1. Forgiveness isn't necessarily the absence of anger at sin. It's not feeling good about what was bad. Anger against sin and its horrible consequences is appropriate up to a point. You don't need to hold on to it in a vindictive way with a desire to do harm. You can hand it over to Him who judges justly (1Pe.2:23). But forgiveness is not feeling good about horrible things. Anger over unrighteousness doesn't mean we haven't forgiven. James says to be angry but don't let it turn into sin. Jesus was angry on several occasions. When He drove out the money changers in the Temple He wasn't pretending to be angry. He was furious and righteous at the same time. It's entirely appropriate to be angry at those Enron executives for the suffering they caused to so many while profiting from their illegal schemes. It's entirely appropriate to be angry at the terrorists in Sudan, Iraq or Iran. But we have to resist letting our anger turn into sin. Applying the list above on forgiveness will help us not cross that line.

2. Forgiveness is not the necessarily the absence of serious consequence for sin. If an EFCA minister violates his moral code of conduct he can be required hand over his ordination papers and resign. In some cases it can be a minimum of three years. Does that mean that we don't forgive ministers who seriously violate their code of conduct? Of course it doesn't. We forgive but that forgiveness doesn't mean that there are no consequences for wicked actions. In fact, those consequences can be the most loving thing we can do to help restore a person's sanity, trust and reliability.

There may be painful consequences to sin but it doesn't necessarily come from an unforgiving heart. In Heb. 8:12 God says, "I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more." And then in 12:6, "Those whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and He scourges every son who he receives."...He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness." A parent may remember a child's sin. Not to use it against him...but to help him learn and overcome it.

Look, our sins are forgiven and forgotten in the sense that they no longer bring down the wrath of a judge, but not in the sense that they no longer bring down the painful discipline and love of a Father. When the Father remembers our sins no more it doesn't mean that he completely forgets them. He is omniscient. He forgets them in the sense that He has released us from what we owe him and we no longer bear His wrath or ill will because of them. But He may remember them to do us good.⁴

Forgiveness is not the same as trust. Forgiveness comes by grace. Trust is always earned. Look, I can forgive a thief for robbing my house. But that doesn't mean that I immediately trust him with the keys to the front door! One minister wrote, "You can actually look someone in the face and say I forgive you but I don't yet trust you." Now, Jesus said to forgive from the heart. So, if you were thinking in your heart,

"I don't care if I ever trust you again; and I refuse to accept any of your efforts to try to establish trust again; in fact I hope nobody ever trusts you again. And I don't care if your life is totally messed up."

Now, beloved, that's not a forgiving spirit. When you forgive someone you are committing to their well being. It doesn't necessarily mean there are no painful consequences. It means that the consequences are motivated by goodness and goodwill not evil or revenge. So, are we a forgiving people?

If we know Christ, an ocean of love and forgiveness is ours. God has funded us with all the resources of the Trinity's love to enjoy and to share with others. To forgive others is simply to trust Jesus and His way with us. It means to resist the urge to seek revenge. It means not returning evil for evil. It means wishing the other well and weeping with them when things don't go well. It means seeking reconciliation, as far as is possible with you. It means coming to their aid when they are in distress. I love Spurgeon's story of his conversion.

"My life was full of sorrow and wretchedness, believing that I was lost. But, oh the blessed gospel of the God of grace came to me, and with it a sovereign word, "Deliver him!" And I who was but a minute before as wretched as a soul could be, could have danced for the very merriment of heart. And as the snow fell on my road home from the little house of prayer, I thought every snowflake talked with me and told of the pardon I had found, for I was white as the driven snow through the grace of God. To be forgiven is such sweetness that honey is tasteless in comparison with it. But yet there is one thing sweeter still, and that is to forgive. As it is more blessed to give than to receive, so to forgive rises a stage higher in experience than to be forgiven."

It rises higher because it is borne up on the wings of God's grace. It bids us fly and then gives us wings. Have you received God's forgiveness? Do you feast on that wonder? Can you taste the sweetness of that love? In Christ, what you owe God has been paid. Do you behold the beauty of Christ's obedience and see the Father's smile? If not receive it today! Come to Him today and receive the gift of His forgiveness and live. And Beloved "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you."