The Sermon on the Mount (20)
Notes
Transcript
Today we move on to verses 11 and 12 of the Lord’s prayer. This is where the prayer switches from God to us, remember there are six petitions in this prayer, the first three are towards God—your name, your kingdom, your will and the last three are for us—give us, forgive us, lead us not. It starts with an upward focus on God and then moves to us. Today we are going to talk about the give us and forgive us. Remember this prayer is our foundation for our prayer life—it is not just something we mindlessly repeat. This prayer although simple covers every area of our lives—great things, small things, inward things and outward things. We will read through all the verses and then go through 11 and 12.
9 Pray then like this: “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 also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
“Give us our daily bread” As simple as this sounds there is much more to it than what we see at first glance. The word Jesus used for “daily” was only found one other place, so there is some question of its true meaning. But it also carries the meaning of “bread for tomorrow”. A literal translation would probably read “Give us this day our bread for tomorrow”. It is a prayer for God to meet our daily physical needs. It is also a call for the coming fullness of God’s kingdom. We live in the here and now of God’s kingdom, but we are constantly working towards the not yet here part of God’s kingdom—our future hope for eternity with Him. When we pray this prayer we pray for the necessities of life large and small, we are asking God to provide. This prayer is an invitation to come to God with requests that others may think small. God cares for the simple, ordinary, day-to-day things of our lives. He wants us to bring our everyday needs to Him, even if they seem small, this shows our dependence on Him for everything. Remember He doesn’t just want to be your 911 call, He wants to hear about all of your day big and small. Think of it like this when we ask our kids how was your day, we want to hear about all of it. God comes to meet us where we are, when we come to Him with our little things it brings honor to Him, it shows our daily dependence on Him. Now there is nothing wrong with independence or planning for a rainy day, but if those are your consuming goals then there is a problem. Rich or poor God wants us to depend on Him daily, He wants us to pray for our daily needs, and thank Him daily. There is another aspect of praying for God to provide our daily bread and that is for us to be a part of the solution as well. For us to help provide for the needs of others. We are also asking for spiritual nourishment—our spiritual bread. We ask for our physical and spiritual needs to be met.
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
This verse actually contains two petitions, the first is for God to forgive us, and the second is to give us a forgiving spirit. To put this verse literally would be “forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us”. Now Jesus is very clear the one can not happen without the other. A merciless unforgiving heart will receive neither forgiveness or mercy. Do we have no mercy towards a person like our self (a sinner) and turn around and pray for our own forgiveness. This is absurd—we extend mercy and grace to others just as it has been extended to us. There is no doubt what Jesus is teaching, if we do not forgive we will not be forgiven Vs 15. Sometimes our unforgiving hearts make our prayers die on our lips. We must be forgiving as our Lord has forgiven us. If we refuse to forgive others we need to take a close look at ourselves, and what we think our relationship is with Christ. These may be hard words to hear, but we need to hear them, especially that religious person, who can give all the right answers, who lives that outwardly moral life, but who has a death grip on their grudges. Now this is not the person who has forgiven, but who is still struggling with bitterness, it is not the person that is struggling with forgiveness, but the one who refuses to forgive, the one that has not desire to forgive. If we have a true relationship with Christ we will be forgiving to others. This question requires some serious honesty, does the state of your heart regarding forgiveness indicate grace or not. This also helps us monitor our spiritual health. We all have a tendency to be more conscious of the wrongs done to us than the wrongs done to others. When we forgive we are closer to God and we are more like God. You have heard the saying “to err is human, but to forgive is divine”, well that is very true, we are never more beautiful, noble and healthy than when we truly forgive. The fundamental qualification for praying this prayer is that we are “debtors”—sinners. If we have that true saving relationship with Christ, our sins have been paid for, but this prayer shows us the importance of a daily, ongoing confession of our sins.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
There is no trick to forgiving, it is a miracle that God can help us with. It is only through a relationship with Him that we can truly forgive others. Just as this prayer starts with God so does our forgiving spirit.
The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount
So, the question we must ask ourselves is this do we forgive others when they sin against us? If not you must then ask yourself have you been forgiven, does God reside in your heart.
