A Study of the Lord’s Prayer
Lesson # 6
“Forgive Us Our Debts”
Matthew 6:12, 14-15
“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.” (NKJV)
Tonight we examine the Lord’s second great instruction how we ought to pray concerning ourselves. This petition is an explicit prayer for forgiveness, “forgive us our debts,” and for a forgiving spirit, “as we forgive our debtors.” The first three of the petitions relate to the role of God as our Father. The last four focus on our needs as God’s children. Of these seven, the matter of forgiveness is of such importance that it is the only one of which our Lord later took the time to reemphasize and develop in depth.
Later in Matthew 6:14 –15 Jesus says, “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.” (NKJV)
At least superficially men and women don’t seem to worry much about their sins. But deep down it is the deepest human need. A cartoon in the newspaper once pictured a psychologist listening to a patient; “Mr. Smith,” he says, “I think I can explain your feelings of guilt. You’re guilty!” Modern psychology may seek to help man with his dismiss his feeling of guilt but only Christianity helps man to be delivered from his guilt.
In our model prayer after we have asked the Father for provision, we ask for pardon. “Forgive” follows “give.” Notice the word “and,” links the request for daily bread, with the request for daily forgiveness. In that way when we think of our need for food we will think of our need for forgiveness. Many of us are conscious of our need for daily bread, but are utterly unconscious of our need for daily forgiveness.
I. A PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS
If we are sincere when we pray “forgive us our debts,” or “forgive us our trespasses,” then we are openly admitting ourselves as guilty of wrongdoing, of sin. Many falsely presume that because when we are saved we have no further need to ask for forgiveness or confession of sin. This of course, is not the case. 1 John 1:8-9 tell us, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (NKJV) Christian’s can and do still sin and thus stand in need of daily confession and forgiveness.
When we acknowledge our sinfulness we echo the words of David, recorded in Psalm 51( verses 2, 10, 17) “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin…. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me…. (17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.” (NKJV)
It needs to be remembered that this is a “family prayer,” it does not deal with the sins of unbelievers. It does not deal with our standing before God, which was established at salvation, and which can never be affected; it concerns the sins of the children of God, which hamper our fellowship with the Father. No non-Christian ever receives forgiveness from God on the basic of claiming to forgive someone else. Although we receive forgiveness when we were saved we will never be able to fully enjoy cleansing in our Christian walk unless we are ready to extend it freely to those who offend us.
II. PRAYER FOR A FORGIVING SPIRIT
There are three basic attitudes associated with the extending of forgiveness
1. I can’t
He did not tell the disciples that they could pray, “Lord, forgive me my trespasses and I will try to forgive those who have wronged me.” He told them that when they had forgiven others they could then claim their own forgiveness.
Sometimes we excuse our lack of forgiveness on the grounds that the one who has wronged us does not deserve our forgiveness. But the truth is; No one ever wrong you as you have wronged God.
In Matthew 18:23-35, Jesus told the parable of Unforgiving Servant to illustrate this point.
“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.”(NKJV)
The point is that we are to marvel at how the first servant could be so unforgiving to his fellow servant’s debt. After being let off for so much how could he be so mean and cruel.
Ray Stedman tells the story of one man’s explanation for his lack of forgiveness. He said, “A man once said to me, ‘I know I’m a Christian, but someone once did an awful thing to me – something I just can’t forget or forgive.’ I replied, ‘Are you sure you can’t forgive him?’ He maintained that he had really tried to forgive this man, but was unable to do so. As we continued talking, I said, ‘ I know, I have found that we often use the word can’t what we really mean is won’t. Isn’t possible that what you are saying is not, “I can’t forgive him,’ but ‘I won’t forgive him?’ If it is really true that you cannot forgive this ma, then it indicates that you yourself have never been forgiven and you are only kidding yourself about being a Christian.’ This shook him a bit. He thought it through and then, with a rather sheepish grin, he said, ‘I guess your’re right. I guess I won’t.’ It wasn’t long before he came to me and reported with joy that he had finally forgiven the man who had injured him.” [Ray Stedman. Talking With My Father. ( Grand Rapids; Discovery House, 1997) p. 73
When God’s grace comes into our heart it makes us forgiving. We demonstrate whether we have been forgiven by whether or not we will forgive. The bottom line is, if you refuse to forgive, there can be only one reason, that is that I have never received the grace of Christ. I am unforgiven.
2. I won’t
When John Wesley served as a missionary to the American colonies, he had a difficult time with General James Oglethorpe. The general was known for his pride and harshness. One time Oglethorpe declared, “I never forgive. Wesley replied, “Then, Sir, I hope you never sin.” [R. Kent Hughes. Abba Father: The Lord’s Pattern for Prayer. (Wheaton IL: Crossway Books, 1991) p. 79]
William Barclay paraphrases the petition to read, “Forgive us our sins in proportion as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” Everett Fullam paraphrases makes it even more striking, “Father forgive my sins only to the extent I am willing to forgive those who have sinned against me.”
[As quoted in J. Mark Copeland. After This Manner Pray. (South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Pub., 1992.) p. 157)
When we refuse to forgive this part of the Lord’s prayer becomes a curse. As Kent Hughes spells out in his study on the Lord’s Prayer. “What we are really praying may actually sound something like this; ‘I beseech you, Lord, deal with me as I deal with my neighbor. He has been ungrateful to me (though not a one hundredth as ungrateful as I have been with you), yet I cannot overlook his ingratitude. Deal with me, Lord, as I do him.” (Hughes p. 80)
3. I am willing
Corrie Ten Boom shares about her experience in extending forgiveness in her book, “The Hiding Place.” She wrote, “It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there- the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, the pain on my sister’s face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing, “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,’ he said, ‘To think that, as you say, He has was washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.’ Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
