Forgiveness

The second request Christ encourages us to pray for is a request for forgiveness. This is the only part of the prayer that Jesus gives us a commentary on. In verses 14-15 He reveals the benefit of forgiveness and the danger of unforgiveness. We will break down these verses in the following manner. Our sin against God, sin committed against us and the sin of unforgiveness.

Our sin against God

Jesus suggests that each time we pray we should be asking God for forgiveness. The word “debt” is used to describe sin. It reveals that we owe a debt to God. That debt is canceled as we repent and God forgives us. The fact that Jesus instructs us to pray for forgiveness suggests some things to us.

* It suggests that believers do sin. 1 John 1:8 says “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”. It is the proud person who cannot see their own sin. The first character trait of kingdom people is that they are “poor in spirit”. The believer recognizes his own spiritual bankruptcy before God. It is not the religious elite who “fast twice in the week and give tithes of all that I possess” that are justified before God. It is the sinner who continually recognizes his need of forgiveness and cries out “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

* It proves that sin does not forfeit our standing as God’s children. Those who ask for forgiveness still identify God as their Father at the instruction of Jesus.

* It reveals that we need to continually ask for forgiveness to deepen our relationship with God.

In order to sincerely ask God for forgiveness on a daily basis there must be a genuine sorrow of heart over our sin. The person who is not broken over sin will not pray for forgiveness regularly. In the same way that those who are not burdened over the lost do not pray for the lost, those who are not burdened over their sin will not regularly repent. If we are not showering our prayers with repentance then our heart is not where it needs to be. A lack of repentance is a telling sign.

There is something that we need to clarify. We should be sure that every time we pray for forgiveness we are not praying to be saved again. That is unnecessary and it can lead to confusion in our spiritual life. Jesus taught an important lesson concerning this in John 13:10. Peter had allowed pride to keep him from allowing Jesus to wash his feet. Jesus responded by telling Peter that he would have no part with Him if He did not allow Jesus to wash his feet. Peter responded by saying “Not my feet only but my hands and my head!” Jesus words to Peter were “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit”. Jesus corrected Peter’s understanding of cleansing. Jesus was telling Peter that he was clean. That is, he belonged to God. He did not need to be completely cleaned again. He simply needed his feet washed. As we walk through this sinful world our feet get dirty. That is we sin and are contaminated. We do not need to be saved again, however. We simply need Jesus to come and wash our feet. We need that surface contamination to be removed. It is removed through repentance.

A daily recognition of sin in our life is important. It reminds us that we are not where we could be with the Lord. It is what urges us along the road of sanctification. It was Paul the apostle who recognized his need to grow because of moral imperfection. In Philippians 3:13 he said “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus”. As we come to God and ask for forgiveness we are admitting our need to grow in grace. We are saying, “Lord I have fallen. Help me stand”.

Recognition of sin is also important because it keeps us clinging to Christ as Savior. The more we recognize sin in our life the tighter we cling to Jesus. He is our righteousness. Nothing reminds us more of that than our own sin. We cannot be righteous before God without Him.

Finally, recognition of sin in our life leads us to appreciate the merciful character of our God. 1 John1:9 says “If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Every time we confess our sins to God we are proving His promises to be true and revealing His merciful character. It is important for us to experience God’s forgiveness. It deepens our love for Him. To hold on to sin is to forfeit the experience of His mercy. That can lead to a false understanding of Him.

Our sin is against God. He is the only One who can do anything about it. Every day we should come to Him in repentance.

Sin committed against us

Jesus instructs us to pray “as we forgive our debtors”. The debt mentioned here is a debt that someone owes us. That is, they have morally wronged us in some way. When we sin against another person we owe them something. We owe them an apology! Those that sin against us need something from us. They need our forgiveness.

Jesus words are very practical. People will sin against us. They will be rude to us, gossip about us, take from us, intentionally hurt us, etc. Sometimes this will be intentional; sometimes it will not be intentional. Regardless of how trivial or how terrible the sin is we are to forgive the person. The very fact that we are praying to God implies that we have indeed forgiven the other person.

Pride causes us to exaggerate the sins of other people. In fact, if we are not careful we will be more concerned that someone sinned against us than we are that they sinned against God. Ultimately all sin is against God. However, sometimes sin is against man as well. If we are more upset that someone has sinned against us than we are burdened that they sinned against God our thinking needs to change. For one sinful person to sin against another sinful person should not be surprising. What should break our hearts is that sinful man sins against Holy God. Bitterness, revenge, and hatred are fueled by an inflated view of ourselves. When we see ourselves for what we truly are, sinful people who have been forgiven, it will help us to forgive others.

The Bible gives examples of those who forgave others regardless of hideous sin committed against them. Joseph forgave his brothers even though they sold him into slavery. Stephen cried out “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” even as his enemies stoned him to death. And of course Jesus is the ultimate example. He cried out “Father forgive them” while He was on the cross.

When we are sinned against we are not to get angry. We are to forgive and come to God with a tender heart of intercession for our offenders. To come to the great and merciful God with bitterness toward others is an insult to His grace in our lives. Jesus teaches us that we can live in forgiveness because we have been forgiven.

The sin of unforgiveness

Verse 15 teaches that the unforgiving will not be forgiven. We will look at this in two ways. First we will consider that unforgiveness can be a sign of an unredeemed heart. Second we will consider the effects of unforgiveness in the life of the believer.

1)We all battle with unforgiveness. However, some are settled in unforgiveness and have no desire or intention of being a forgiving person. That type of attitude is revealing. It shows a corrupt heart. Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 18 that illustrates this. A certain king forgave a servant an enormous debt of ten thousand talents. Later that same servant had a man thrown into jail that owed him 100 talents. The king found out about the man’s evil actions and called him to himself. He sentenced the unforgiving man to be tortured until he paid back the original debt he owed the king. Jesus followed the parable with “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.” If we are unapologetically unforgiving we should be concerned about our salvation. If we are unwilling to forgive the sins of others we should wonder if our sins have been forgiven.

2) There are effects of unbelief in the believer’s life. First, let us say that God does not forgive us because we forgive others. He is not looking for the virtue of forgiveness in our life so that we can earn His forgiveness. Forgiving others is fruit of the forgiveness that we possess in Christ. Without Him we would not have the desire or ability to forgive others. If God forgave us because we forgave others that would be a works salvation (Eph. 2:8-10). A forgiving heart does not earn salvation it reveals salvation.

There are people who struggle with the guilt of unforgiveness. We should note that there is a major difference between struggling with unforgiveness and refusing to forgive others. Sometimes we go through the steps of forgiveness and when we are through we still experience feelings that suggest we have not forgiven the person. A sensitive conscience and a soft heart can sometimes make us feel guilty when we are not. Scars do not mean that we have not healed. Hurt does not mean that we have not healed. Feelings can be deceptive. It is the job of the believer to do his/her best to forgive others. If the desire to forgive is there and we have done all we know to do, we can be sure that God knows our heart. We may never feel like we have forgiven some people. What is important is that we do not seek revenge, wish them harm, hate them, speak evil of them, humiliate them, etc.

There are cases when believers decide that they do not want to forgive someone. When this happens we should be aware of the effects it will have in our life.

* It will hurt us. Unforgiveness transforms us into bitter people. It sucks the life out of homes and churches. People who hold grudges are joyless. Not only does it hurt us emotionally but it also invokes the discipline of God. God loves His children too much to allow them to live in sin. (Heb. 12:6). We can expect uncomfortable circumstances as well as God’s heavy hand of conviction if we fail to forgive others.

* It will hurt our relationship with God. The Psalmist said in Ps. 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me”. Peter said in 1 Peter 3:7 that husbands and wives should dwell together according to knowledge “that your prayers be not hindered”. Unforgiveness hinders our prayers from reaching the heavens. We should not expect God to answer any request or be pleased with any praise we offer Him in prayer with an unforgiving heart.

* It can affect our eternity. If the believer lives with unforgiveness he can expect to lose rewards in heaven. It is clear from Scripture that believers are judged for their actions while on this earth. This judgment has nothing to do with where we will spend eternity but how we will spend eternity. To harbor unforgiveness is to risk losing precious reward in heaven (1 Cor. 3:15). Rewards enable us to worship God in a deeper manner. Revelation 4:10 tells us of individuals casting their crowns before the feet of Jesus. The more crowns a person has, obviously the more they have to cast at His feet. To risk wasting those crowns because our feelings have been hurt is foolish.

Repentance plays an important part in our prayer life. Each time we pray we should be appealing to God for His forgiveness. We should pray often and sincerely enough for God to show us our faults. As He does it is our responsibility to confess and forsake our sins. As He forgives us it is our duty to imitate His behavior by forgiving others. As we do we continue to experience deeper levels of His grace and forgiveness in our own lives.