05 - Grace To Forgive 2008

In this manner, therefore, pray: 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 forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.—Matt. 6:9-13

So far we’ve seen that the first half of the Lord’s Prayer is totally occupied with God and His interests. The second half focuses on personal petitions.

We also saw that to pray for His kingdom to come is to be prepared to live an obedient life to His word, for God’s kingdom is characterized as the place where His will is done.

And finally, we looked at the difference between heaven and the Kingdom of God. Heaven is a place, while the Kingdom of God is a condition, characterized by “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Then last time we saw that God cares about the “bread issues” of our life. He is a God of provision; He cares for His children. Jesus taught that before we even ask, He knows what we need.

Now this time we’re going to explore the subject of forgiveness.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

I. The willingness to forgive is crucial to our relationship with God.

In His prayer, Jesus indicates that we owe a debt to God, and that others owe debts to us. Jesus says that we can’t and haven’t lived up to the righteous standard of living God requires to be in relationship with him, and in the same way others haven’t and will not be perfect in their relationships with us. Forgiveness, therefore, is a part of life.

The word "debts" or “trespasses” means “something owed, moral obligations unfulfilled--our shortcomings, our sins, something due.” The word indicates that we have cheated God.

As the debtor in the creditor's hand, so is the sinner in the hands of God. We owe to Him a life of righteousness we cannot provide of ourselves. And through the power of forgiveness He is willing to write it off.

Jesus’ message is that God expects us to forgive others when they don’t provide us what they should. The question is, Are we willing to write off what we feel other people owe us?

The test of forgiveness comes when we encounter situations like, “You owed me honesty and lied instead.” Or, “You owed me loyalty and were disloyal instead.” Or how about, “You owed me love and abandoned me instead.”

In these types of situations the call of Jesus to the Christian is, “Forgive them, even as your Father in heaven has forgiven you.”

Here’s the fact: God could just as easily say, “You owed me righteousness and gave me sin instead.” Or, “You owed me worship and worshipped an idol instead.” Or how about, “You owed me your thanks and were thankless instead.”

And yet God forgives us all our failings in our relationship with Him when we repent. The message of Jesus’ prayer is, “you go do the same.”

The Psalmist said "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18) This is referring to holding grudges.

Peter asked about forgiveness one day. “At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven times?"

Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.”—Matt. 18:21

II. The choice to not forgive brings tough consequences.

Jesus one day gave a sobering parable on forgiveness.

"The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

(So far, Jesus is illustrating the high cost of sin. Without forgiveness from God, we are destined to a life of misery and bondage.)

"The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

(Here we have a beautiful picture of forgiveness thru Christ. The debt of sin has been utterly erased.)

"The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'

"The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

(Jesus is now illustrating the absurdity of someone that has experienced incredible mercy from God yet shows no mercy at all to someone else.) What was the King’s response?

“The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and turned the man over to the tormenters until he paid back his entire debt.

And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

(Jesus has now brought home the sobering reality that the former recipient of mercy and forgiveness from God who does not, in turn, forgive another has a grim payday of chastening coming.)

I’ve always wondered who the “tormenters” are that Jesus refers to.

The Greek word Jesus used means, “pain, toil, vexation.”

Jesus used the same Greek word in other places. For instance, in His parable about the rich man who went to hell, Jesus pictures him with full awareness, along with the ability to see into paradise. The rich man sees his former servant sitting in Abraham’s bosom.

“So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in torment (same Greek word) in this fire.'”—Lk. 16:24

In another place, Jesus tangles with a demon spirit who screams:

“What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture (same word) us before the appointed time?"

So, whoever the tormenters are, what they do is not pretty. The experience of the person who refuses to forgive is anything but good and desirable.

Blocks to forgiveness

We do not think the offender deserves it.

The truth: They don’t, and neither did we from God.

We believe we are giving the offender the punishment he deserves by our anger and bitterness.

The truth: God holds the corner on the vengeance market. The scripture says, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord, “I will repay.’”—Ro. 12:19

We fear that if we don’t punish them, they will get away with what they have done.

The truth: No one gets away with anything in God’s universe. “For he who deals wrongfully will [reap the fruit of his folly and] be punished for his wrongdoing. And [with God] there is no partiality [no matter what a person's position may be, whether he is the slave or the master].”—Col. 3:25

We don’t feel like forgiving. When we feel like forgiving, we reason, we will forgive.

The truth: Forgiveness is not a feeling. It is an act of obedience. It doesn’t require a feeling to do it, nor to be successful at it.

We fear that forgiving our offender will reopen a painful, even destructive relationship. To not forgive, we conclude, keeps him or her at arm’s length.

The truth: Forgiveness and reconciliation are two different things. It takes one to forgive but two to reconcile. Forgiveness can actually be the key that releases you from a relationship that needs to dissolve. Reconciliation often requires change in the offender before reuniting can take place. That may or may not happen, but forgiveness is not dependent on either one.

When we stand praying, we must strive to practice forgiveness in order to experience answered prayer. Jesus said:

“And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it's not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins."