Title: Paying off the Mortgage in God’s Economy
Text: Matt 6:12, 14-15, Leviticus 25:8-55
FCF: God wants our relationship to be predicated on forgiveness – He’s wiped the slate clean!
SO: I want the congregation to understand that our slate is clean, and so I’m going to have a sin burning ceremony at the end.
Intro:
If you’ve ever sold a house, you have experienced a moment like no other. During the transaction, there comes a moment when you have sold your house, but you have not yet purchased the new one. For a few moments, you most likely have no debt whatsoever. If you were to run out of the closing office, you would be a free man. You would owe nobody. Your slate would be clean.
As Christians, however, that moment shouldn’t feel nearly as odd as it does, because you see, that is the feeling that our God desires we have with him every day. With him being God and we being mere mortals, you would expect that the normal state of affairs to strictly be a debt / debtor relationship. But that’s not what our God wants.
Context
We’ve been looking at relationship with God for the last several weeks by examining that most precious incarnation of relationship – prayer. Specifically, we’ve been looking at the Lord’s Prayer as a model of that relationship.
You’ll remember we started by examining the fact that “Our Father” means he’s both our Daddy and our Holy God. You’ll remember that when we pray for his kingdom and his will to be done, that’s a dramatic declaration that we desire his will, even over ours. Even when we pray that God would “give us this day our daily bread” we were acknowledging his provision is superior to ours.
And, this morning, we come to the point in the prayer that is probably hardest to believe. When we pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” we come to understand that our God, our God to whom everything is rightfully due, doesn’t choose to live in that sort of arrangement. You see, our God loves us. He doesn’t want to be the big landlord in the sky, the colossal cosmic cop collecting every centilla of action that is his right. No, our God forgives, and he wants us to live that way.
Trespasses or Debts?
Before we delve too deeply into the subject at hand, however, I want to clarify one point. I know whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer in English, everyone gets a little tentative at this point. If you’re not familiar with the church, you’re probably waiting to hear if this church says “trespasses” or “debts.” Well, let me clear it up for you a little bit.
Simply put, the better word is “debt,” even if the traditional one is trespass.
Let me read the scripture, and I’ll show you what’s going on:
“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses
Basically, what happened is this – when the Book of Common Prayer was first issued, they confused vs. 14 below with 12 above. In verse 14, the word really is “trespasses.” – a moral offence against the Almighty Me.
When they were translating this passage way back when, the point was really clear in verse 14 – it was a moral debt. It wasn’t so clear in verse 12, because there, Jesus talks about any old debt. In verse 12, it’s just any old debt. So, it being “clear” in one place and not so clear in another, somebody thought, “Hey, I’ll just edit Jesus and make him sound better.”
Well, sounds nice, but the problem is, you miss out on the force of what Jesus was actually saying. He was saying, “God has forgiven your debt. Go and do the same.”
You remember the parable of the man who was forgiven a huge debt, and then goes out and tries to beat the small debt out of someone who owes him? That’s the word Jesus was using. It was a debt. Just like that mortgage you want paid off, that’s the word Jesus is using. If you would have no debts, then forgive others theirs. If you want your slate to be clean, go ahead and forgive others. Owe no man. Just love them. Your relationship need not be exploitation, obligation, or domination. Just love them, freely.
The Nature of a Debt
Now, you can’t really imagine what a debt is without understanding what an obligation is. If I take out a mortgage, I have entered into a very special relationship with a bank. They’ve been my sugar daddy and given me way more money than I really deserve. In return, you know what they want? They want me to pay back way more money than I borrowed.
I get my money now, and in return, I’ll keep giving them money for the next 30 years. That’s about as intimate and tight a relationship as you’ll get here on this planet.
You know, I used to teach spreadsheets, and in the beginning of the advanced class, I always got a kick out of one lesson I’d do. It’s really easy to calculate a monthly payment – you just use a function called PMT, and you supply the principal (that’s the amount you borrow), the interest rate, and the term of the loan – the number of months you’re going to pay it back.
Now, as an exercise in understanding, I’d ask my students to figure out how much they would pay over the life of the loan. People would usually figure out the easy answer – they’d just multiply the payment by the term.
Invariably, at this point, I’d hear, “Wait, no that can’t be right!” People would see that if they borrowed, oh say, $100,000 for 30 years, they’d be backing back almost $300,000. People wouldn’t believe how much they had to pay back. That’s when I’d chime in, “You calculated it right. Doesn’t mean it is right, but you calculated it right!”
You see, a debt is a long term relationship. Two parties exchange something, and as a result there is a relationship that is formed. And trust me, in the case of a bank, it’s not one of equals. You get something, but you pay for it. And pay, and pay, and pay.
Sin is the same way. Make no mistake about it. People are rational in the short term. On one level, it makes a lot of sense to sin. You get something from sin – a moment of fun. Or, maybe you scratch some itch. But you will pay for it over the long term. In the long term, it’s a bad deal.
Now, when it comes to our lives, God is clearly in the position of the bank. He made us, he bought us, he redeemed us. He owns us. Like a banker, that gives him the right to foreclose and call in the debt any time he wants.
If somebody burns down my house, you know who gets paid off first? The one who paid for it. The real owner – the bank! That’s because they have first rights.
Well, if somebody sins against me, you know who gets first right of payback? The owner – the real owner. The one who paid for it. That’s God, not me. So, who do I think I am to be demanding “my rights” anyway?
But how often do we think we get to be in that position? Somebody has offended me – How dare they do that! They owe me, and I’m going to make them pay, right? Well, who am I to be in that position anyway? Nobody owes me anything! If God is my owner, what rights do I really have?
“Oh that person wasn’t as nice to me as they should have been. They should have xxx.” Why? Is there some obligation I’m not aware of? My rights? Come on! If I don’t forgive, who do I think I am? I’m stealing from the rightful owner, and that ain’t me.
You know, people get this concept so warped – sometimes they even think God owes them. God took away my xxxxx. You fill in the blank. As if God could owe me.
But when you think you’re entitled to anything except justice, you’re logically on pretty thin ice. I mean seriously, do you really want to be in the position of praying, “God, just give me what I deserve?”
Jubilee
I love point out that prayer, because any thinking person realizes that the last thing I want is to get what I deserve. You see, deep down, we all know this about God – that he’s not a demanding God. He’s a good God who, even though he deserves to be in charge, doesn’t demand it. Being in the very form of God, he didn’t regard that as something to be grasped. Remember that? He’s a God who loves forgiveness. It’s in his very character.
I don’t want you to think that Jesus was preaching anything new here, when he is highlighting the fact that our God is all about forgiveness. You see, from the very beginning, God was all about forgiveness.
Earlier, we read from Leviticus about the Jubilee. It was a great concept. You know what Yom Kippur is? Every year, the highest holy day that Jews get to take off from work? It’s a day of atonement. God, I’m sorry! And every 50 years, that day of atonement is followed by a very real expression of forgiveness. You have a debt? It’s paid. You had to mortgage your house? It’s yours again. You a slave? Welcome to freedom.
You see, when God first gave the Israelites the land of Israel, he said, “This is good, and I want to see it kept that way. So, here’s what you’re going to do. Every 50 years, you get a do-over. We’ll all start clean.
You see, you’re just not in the position of being owed. But here’s the good news. You don’t need to be in the position of owing God.
God wants to be in relationship with you. Not one of obligation or domination or exploitation. He wants to be your God. He loves us. All debts are off. If our very God isn’t going to hold his position of creditor over us, why should we try to hold it over others.
We don’t have to wait 50 years to be forgiven. Whenever we choose, he’ll wipe it clean. As far as the east is from the west – that’s how far your sin debt will be from him.
Our debts are really only ever held by the only one to whom they were ever due. And he’s just torn up the papers. How does that make you feel?
Well, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I forget that I don’t have to keep paying the mortgage on my soul. I want to live as though I’m still morally in debt. But I don’t have to. My mortgage has been paid.
That’s why, this morning, I want to have to a little time of seeing those debts paid. In front of you, there’s an index card. I’d like you to take it out, and write your sin on it. Nobody needs to see it, and you can just put down whatever you want that would help you to see what’s going on.
Often, when a mortgage gets paid off, people will have a time where they burn the mortgage to show it’s gone. Well, this morning, that’s what I want you to see has happened to your sin. We lit an advent candle this morning. We’ll have a time of quiet meditation, where we can use that very same candle to get rid of our debt.
Would you pray with me?
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #79
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”
Lighting of the Advent Candle
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
Scripture Leviticus 25:8-14, 38-43
*Offertory Hymn #64
“Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners”
Offertory Special Music “O Holy Night” Alicia Walp
*Doxology
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
Sermon
“Paying off the Mortgage in God’s Economy”
Forgiveness Meditation Mr. Witt
Final Prayer
Invitation Hymn #339
“It is Well with My Soul”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you;
by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins, from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, rise, take your mat and go home.”
“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand year’s wages was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.
So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred days’ labor; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.
When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him,
‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’
And this is the covenant that I will make with them:
I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.
- Acts 13:38-39; Matt 9:6-10; Matt 18:23-33; Heb 10:16-17
