Pray Contritely Series

HoHum:

Author Robert Jeffries writes about a couple who was going to dinner to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. As the husband was driving, the wife began to reflect on their early days and she said: “Honey, do you remember how it was when we were dating and then first married? It was so romantic. We used to sit so close together when we drove anywhere, and now look at us! .You’re on that side, and I’m way over here!” To which the husband smiled & replied, “But, dear, I haven’t moved.” So it is in our relationship with God. If you are not close to him, or have been and are no longer, it’s not because God has moved. He’s still there, still wanting to be close to you. But sin causes us to move away from Him. And that creates the deepest need of our hearts.. God’s forgiveness.

WBTU:

Notice the subtle differences between the Model Prayer in Matthew 6:12 and the Model Prayer in Luke 11:4. “Forgive us our debts” is the best translation from the Greek for Matthew 6:12 “Forgive us our trespasses” is a poor translation from Greek to English. Sounds like I am trespassing on someone’s property. “Forgive us our debts”- This makes it sound like a financial transaction and as far as our debt against God this is accurate. Song: “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away; And now I sing a brand new song, “Amazing Grace,” Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.” So true but this makes it sound so financial, not much of a broken spirit here except a negative net worth. “Forgive us our sins” from Luke 11:4 makes this more of a broken spirit, a spiritual bankruptcy. Sin is missing the mark. Romans 3:23- “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Our sin is serious. For our sin Jesus went to the cross. Many times take it lightly but for our sins he died. Romans 6:1-2: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Then he talks about baptism but later on in Romans 6:12 he says this: “do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” Having trouble with some bad habit, some sin, then, for a Christian, a good place to start is with this prayer.

Thesis: Forgive us our sins Luke 11:4

For instances:

A. A Daily Soul Sweep

When Jesus modeled prayer to His followers, He included confession of sin and request for forgiveness (even though he himself was tempted in every way but did not sin Hebrews 4:15). In doing so, He made it clear that praying contritely is an important part of the red letter prayer life. That word contrite is to one we use much these days, but it means both humble and repentant. It is an attitude and a posture God finds attractive, as He told the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 57:15: “For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” This is the attitude Jesus commended in His story of the tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14: To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” The tax collector asked for forgiveness, saying, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”- and went home justified before God. Jesus is recommending a daily soul sweep, one that follows the request for today’s bread with a plea for today’s pardon. This is a daily cleansing, a daily clearing of the air. A request for grace. As Christians, we have already been washed as white as the snow through baptism but we all need a daily touch up, a daily brightening, a spring cleaning.