Forgive us our Debts

This morning we’re continuing our series on the Lord’s Prayer, and this week we come to what may be one of the most common petitions we ask God, but also one that we often avoid. “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” We all want to be experience forgiveness. There are sins in our lives that we’ve committed against God and against other people that are holding us in bondage, and we’re captive to guilt and shame over them. We desperately want forgiveness, because we all know on some level that in order to be free, we need the freedom that only comes through forgiveness. We all want to be freed from that prison of guilt and shame, and those shackles are only removed through forgiveness. Forgiveness brings freedom.

But not only that. We all have wrongs that have happened to us. There are people in our lives who we lack forgiveness towards. And again on some level we know that those wrongs that have happened to us that we have refused to forgive, they keep us in bondage. When we refuse to forgive the sins of others, those sins continue to have a grip on us. And what we desperately want is to know freedom. The freedom that comes when our sins are forgiven, but also the freedom that comes when we forgive the sins committed against us.

So turn with me to Matthew 6:7.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Sin is a debt.

Matthew’s prayer says debts, but our liturgy says transgressions.

So first let’s address a point of potential confusion. In Matthew we see, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors,” but what do we say week-in-and-week-out here at Redeemer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” And in the parallel passage in Luke, we see another rendering: “Forgive us our sins.” So, we may ask, which is it? Are we asking for forgiveness from our debts, our trespasses, or our sins? And the answer is: yes.

So why the differences? Well, Luke seems to boil it down to the essence, because what Jesus is talking about here is sin. Our liturgy is probably porting verses 14 and 15 into the prayer itself, because Jesus seems to expand on the idea of forgiving others and he uses the word for trespasses. But in Matthew’s account, we see this introduction of economic language, as we pray, “forgive us our debts.” And that’s what I want us to look at this morning.

Scripture describes sin as a weight.

There’s a number of ways to think about sin - a number of ways that the Bible actually looks at sin. We often think of sin as a burden - something that weighs us down. When we think about Jesus on the cross we often see him as carrying the weight of our sin. Sin is something that we carry that weighs us down. Think about the Old Testament sacrifices, when the priest would place his hands on a scapegoat, and the scapegoat carries the weight of Israel’s sin out of the camp and into the wilderness. Sin is a burden.

Scripture describes sin as a debt.

But there’s another way the Scriptures talk about sin. It’s not just a weight, it’s a debt. Specifically, a debt that you cannot repay. Now, in the ancient world, two things would happen if you accumulated a debt that you could not pay. One, you could be sold into slavery and that’s how you’d repay your debt. You’d be sold into indentured servitude, and the money from that sale would go towards your debt. Or two, you’d be placed in debtors prison. Essentially, you were held hostage until your family could pay off your debt and redeem your freedom. So too if you were sold into slavery, your family could redeem your freedom by buying you back.

Sin is fundamentally a loss of freedom.

This is the metaphor used so often by the prophets of the Old Testament. When Assyria overtakes Israel and God’s people are forced into exile, how does Isaiah describe it? They’ve been sold into debtor’s slavery because of their sin. Their sin has landed them in prison. Because of their sin, they’ve lost their freedom. Sin is fundamentally viewed as a loss of freedom - a slavery or a prison. And I think any of us who have wrestled with sin in our lives would say that is exactly what it feels like.

Christ is our Redeemer.

Jesus was all about freeing people from their slavery to sin.

But now, with this understanding of sin in mind, we can see Christ’s words in a new light. In fact, at the very beginning of his public ministry in Luke 4, Jesus says this:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor [the people who could not pay their debts]. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The metaphor that Jesus uses time and time again to describe his work in the world is to set those who are enslaved and those who are imprisoned, to set them free. This is why we say that Jesus is our Redeemer. He is the one who buys our freedom. He is the one who pays our debts and frees us from the power of sin. And how does he do it?

While we were languishing in our debtors prison because of our sin, while we were yet racking up an infinite debt that we could never hope to repay, what did Jesus do? He came to take our place in prison, to serve the full sentence, all the way to death. On the cross, takes our place as slaves to sin, and he goes all the way to die a debtor’s death for us. And because of this, our sin is forgiven. Our debt has been payed. When the debtor’s life was ended, the debt was gone. And when Christ’s life was ended for us, our debt has been paid in full.

We have been forgiven so that we may know freedom.

But what was Christ’s purpose for paying our debt? Why has he taken our place in debtor’s prison and in slavery? To set us free. So that we could know freedom. As the Scriptures say, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” As Jesus says:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Why has Christ paid your debt once for all? To set you free forever. We are not redeemed from prison to live a life of debt again. No, when we pray “Forgive us our debts,” we are proclaiming the reality that they’ve already been forgiven in Christ.

But not only that, when Christ sets us free, we aren’t entering this newfound freedom with nothing. One of the great problems of our prison system in this country is when someone leaves prison, their debt to society paid in full, and they are given back their freedom. so often they have nothing. They’ve no family, no support, no home, no job prospects. And what happens? Many of them will end up back in prison. That should not be, and that is not how it is in the kingdom of God.

When Christ sets you free, you are set free into the family of God and into the riches of his kingdom. Christ forgiveness is not a reset. It’s not starting over in your old life but with a clean slate. No, when you are set free, you are set free into the riches of a new life in Christ.

And what is the greatest of the riches that you are given? What God’s greatest gift to you? It’s his Holy Spirit. In setting you free, Christ gives you the one who continues the work of freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” If you are wrestling with sin in your life; if you are walking in love with someone who is dealing with the slavery of sin, remember this great truth: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. When we pray, “Forgive us our debts,” we are calling on the Holy Spirit, to continue his work of freedom in our lives - because freedom from sin is never something we can do. It is always something that is given to us.

Christ’s forgiveness gives us the freedom to forgive.

And one of the most significant works of freedom that the Spirit does within us, is he develops in us the power to forgive. Our prayer is “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Jesus teaches us to pray this prayer because one of the hardest things to do in this life is to forgive our debtors. To forgive people who have wronged us. These aren’t people who’ve made small relational mistakes that are easy to overlook and move on. These are people who owe us a debt. And yet, what are we called to do? We are called to the incredibly hard and costly work of freedom: to pursue forgiveness through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus gives us a beautifully poignant parable on this very subject: forgiving others as we have been forgiven by God. We find this story in Matthew 18:

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

In this parable we see the lived reality of “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Here we have someone who owes an enormous debt to a king. Ten thousand talents is an unimaginable amount of money in the ancient world. It’s the equivalent of an entire state’s GDP. No one person could possibly pay it off. And yet the king forgives the debt. He gives this man a freedom that would otherwise be impossible. This is what Jesus does for us: he gives us a freedom that would otherwise be impossible by forgiving all of our debts, all of our sins.

But just like this man, having had our debts forgiven, what do we so often do? We withhold forgiveness from others. This guy in the story is owed a legitimate debt. A hundred denarii is not a small amount of money. It’s about 4 months worth of wages. A third of a year’s worth of income. So this isn’t an insiginificant amount of money. And yet, what’s Christ’s point? His point is that in God’s kingdom, because he has forgiven your infinite debt, you can forgive the finite debt of others.

Because what happens when we refuse to forgive others? What do we know happens to us when we refuse to follow the power of the Holy Spirit to extend a forgiveness that is not in our own power, but a forgiveness that is given to us in the Spirit’s power, what happens when we withhold that forgiveness? It’s the same thing that happens to the man in this parable. We end up back in prison.

How many of us have experienced a lack of forgiveness in our heart for someone that has held us in captivity for years? I’m not making light of the wrong that was done to you. It may have been unbearably great. But here’s what you know to be true: your anger, your bitterness, your resentment is not leading you to any more freedom. What often happens is that a cycle forms in our lives. Because we cannot forgive a sin that has been done to us, we harbor a resentment towards someone, and we grow mad at that person because we can’t stop being mad at them. And our anger doesn’t fade with time, it merely grows and festers.

Most of your know that I’m not in the least bit handy. I’m anti-handy, but I’m in recovery. So every now and then I try to do something around the house. This past week I tried to put up some wire shelves in Peter’s closet. Should be a pretty simple task, right? It wasn’t. Everything that could go wrong, did. I spent hours in the tiny closet trying to get this shelving to fit. I’m going up and down the stairs to hack off different parts. I’m measuring and marking and making countless holes in the wall, and as time went on I was getting more and more angry and frustrated. I hated that shelf. I hated that closet. I hated the builders who framed that closet at wonky angles. And Melanie, my dear sweet wife, kept encouraging me to put the tools down, because she knew that the only way I’d be free from this anger brewing in my heart was to let the hammer go.

So it is with our resentment towards those who have wronged us. Withholding forgiveness only imprisons us further. Freedom only comes by extending a forgiveness that you can’t extend in your own strength. A mark of your freedom in Christ is forgiving others with a forgiveness that is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Do you want to be free? Do you want to walk in the freedom of God’s kingdom, a freedom that he has purchased for you in Christ? Then pray for the work of the Holy Spirit to form in you a posture of forgiveness. When we pray, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors,” we are praying for a life of freedom. A freedom that comes from the Father sending the Son to redeem us, to pay our debts by taking them upon himself. And a freedom that comes from the Holy Spirit showering us with the riches of God, one of which is the power to forgive others. This is a prayer for freedom.