FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS

AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS

MATTHEW 6:12

In almost 50 years of serving people as a pastor I have noticed again and again that people burdened by guilt.. and people who bear grudges.. are not free!

I have noticed it in my own life. When I feel guilty I am not myself. I do not enjoy life. I am not free. And when I carry a grudge I do more harm to myself than to the person I find it hard to forgive. Once again, I am not free.

Is there a remedy? Yes. We find it in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray.

He taught us to pray like this..

Our Father in heaven.. forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors [Matthew 6:12].

When we pray these words we admit that..

WE NEED TO BE FORGIVEN BY OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.

These days some people find it hard to admit that they need to be forgiven?

Are we sometimes like that? Do we say, ‘But I am not that bad. I cannot see that I need God’s forgiveness?’ Then think about this.

The Lord’s Prayer is found in two places in the New Testament.

In Matthew it reads.. forgive us our debts..

In Luke it reads.. forgive us our sins..

Is there a contradiction here? No. It appears that these are two ways of translating the same Aramaic word that Jesus used.. a word that meant both debt and sin.

Between them, Matthew and Luke remind us that we sin in two ways

– by doing what we should not do.. and by failing to do what we should do.

We may suppose we have not done many things we should not have done, but who can say we have done all we should have done?

Think of it like this. What is the greatest commandment? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength.. No shadow of rebellion.. or lack of love.. but pure and total love.

Which of us has loved God like that? We owed Him love.. and failed to pay.. we are in debt to Him. We all need His forgiveness.

When we pray these words we expect that..

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN WILL FORGIVE US.

When I say these words.. Our Father.. forgive us our debts.. I am reminded that God is a forgiving God.. and will forgive me.

And not only me. We do not say, Forgive me.. but forgive us.. and that reminds me that He will forgive others also!

The night before Jesus died on the cross He shared a special meal with His disciples.. the Passover meal..

We read in.. Matthew 26:26-28..

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

My blood.. poured out for the forgiveness of sins – your sins and mine!

Jesus died and rose again - to open the way for God the Father to forgive us!

It cost our Father in heaven to forgive us.

Forgiveness always costs.

When we choose to forgive.. we choose not to take revenge.. but to bear the hurt ourselves..

and that is what God did.. He bore the hurt.. in Christ.

When we believe that and put our faith in Jesus.. we are forgiven.. our guilt is dealt with.. and we are set free!

When we pray these words we recognise that..

FORGIVEN PEOPLE ARE FORGIVING PEOPLE.

When I pray.. Our Father in heaven.. forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.. I am reminded that forgiven people are forgiving people.

On one occasion Peter asked Jesus a question we might all want to ask..

In Matthew 18:21,22 we read..

Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. [or seventy times seven]

Jesus answered him with a story about a man who owed a huge debt to the king.. a debt of 10,000 talents.. in today's values something like $12 billion - a laborer's pay for 60,000,000 days at $200 a day!

An utterly impossible debt! Even if we were paid $20 million a year.. it would take 600 years to earn that much!

And the king cancelled the debt!

But what did the servant do? He found one of his fellows servants, a man who owed him 100 denarii.. about $20,000.. a laborer’s wages for 100 days at $200 a day.. and demanded he pay him back.. and had him put in prison until he paid it!

How do you react to that?

Impossible! How could that man behave like that? We expect forgiven people to be forgiving people!

So does God!

Jesus goes on.. Matthew 18:32,33..

The master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

Then he handed him over to the jailors to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.. the whole $12 billion!

In Matthew 6:14,15.. Jesus 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.

Read that in the light of the story Jesus told.. and it reads like this..

If you do not forgive others who sin against you..

it shows you have not really appreciated what God has done for you..

you are not forgiven.. and won’t be forgiven.

God has cancelled the huge debt that we owed Him.. even greater than the debt this wicked servant owed!

We were in an impossible situation.. had no hope of paying what we owed.. and Jesus.. Son of God.. came to earth.. lived.. and died.. in our place.. paid the price for us.. set us free..

When we believe that.. and receive that.. we will be different people. We will be forgiving people.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians.

In Colossians 3:12,13 he said..

As God’s chosen people.. forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

He also wrote to the Ephesians.

In Ephesians 4:32 he said..

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

When we pray.. forgive us our debts and come to the words, as we have forgiven our debtors.. we will not dare to pray these words if we are holding a grudge.. refusing to forgive someone!

We will stop.. and pray for help to forgive..

And when we do forgive.. we will be set free from our grudges!

And when we pray this prayer we expect that.,

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS WILLING TO FORGIVE US AGAIN AND AGAIN.

When Jesus taught His disciples this prayer, He said, When you pray.. go into your room.. in private.. do not keep on babbling.. but pray like this.. When you pray.

In other words, He intends us to repeat these words over and over again.. whenever we pray.

And this prayer is linked to the previous prayer.. He teaches us to pray, Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. The word and is omitted in the NIV.. but it is there in the Greek.. and in some translations.

The sense is.. Give us today.. and forgive us today.. This is a prayer we pray as we go into the day..

That tells me that God is willing to forgive.. again and again!

Not convinced? Then remember what Jesus said to Peter.. forgive your brother.. not seven times.. but seventy times seven! If God expects that of us.. do we think He will do less? No!

Down the centuries believers have erred in two ways. Some have said.. God forgives.. so let’s live how we like. That is wrong. Others have said.. once we believe.. we are perfect.. have no sin. That also is wrong.

The Apostle John has a very balanced view of this.

In 1 John 1:8-10.. He writes..

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

If we claim to be without sin.. or claim not to have sinned.. we deceive ourselves.. and call God a liar..

but if we confess our sin.. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.

Then John goes on..

1 John 2:1,2.. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John is a realist.. down to earth.

God does not want us to sin.. and we will not want to sin either.. but the plain fact is.. we will sin.. we do sin.

And when we do.. what do we do?

We go to Jesus.. and ask Him to forgive us!

And He will! He is on our side!

John says that Jesus speaks to the Father in our defense..

The Apostle Paul says much the same in Romans 8:34..

Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Jesus died for us.. rose.. ascended to right hand of the Father.. lives for ever.. to intercede for us..

and because He does.. our Father in heaven will forgive us again and again!

This is indeed a challenging prayer.. but it is also a liberating prayer.

Day by day let’s pray it!

Day by day.. ponder the grace of God to us..

and come to Him.. confessing our sins.. confessing our grudges.. forgiving others.. praying for them.. asking God to forgive us.

He will!

And we will be free!!