Sermon on the Mount: Forgive Us

Sermon on the Mount – Forgive Us

Matthew 6:9-13

1. Introduction – Over the next 2 weeks we are going to be looking at 2 impactful petitions.

a. 2 requests that both deal with a huge need…forgiveness.

i. And look at the 2 directions of forgiveness.

1. First, we ask God for forgiveness for the wrongs we have committed against him…

a. Then, we ask God to give us strength to forgive our fellow humans who have wronged us.

b. Forgiveness…is there anything more counter-cultural? In a sermon that teaches followers of Jesus how to live counter-cultural lives…this may be the most radical statement of all.

i. Is there anything more audacious than forgiveness?

1. Ours is a society that is quick to blame, quick to shame and long to hold grudges.

a. When someone does wrong – society isn’t satisfied until that person’s name and reputation has been thoroughly dragged through the mud.

i. We aren’t satisfied until their career is ruined.

ii. Forgiveness is something not readily offered in our world.

1. In our society – everything is permissible, but nothing is forgivable.

c. But the Christian faith, the Christian life is different.

i. Over the next 2 Sundays, we’ll be going on a journey of forgiveness.

1. We’ll ask what we are praying when we say “Forgive us our debts/trespasses.”

a. Next week we’ll discover what we are praying when we say, “As we forgive our debtors/those who trespasses against us.”

ii. We can rattle these lines off pretty quickly – but, as we have done with each petition – I want us to slow down and really think about what we are saying.

1. I want us to chew on these words, mull them over, so we don’t fall into the trap of mindlessly repeating this prayer.

a. This week we’ll look at what is quite possibly the most audacious petition of the Lord’s Prayer.

i. Next week, we’ll look at what is possibly the most sobering petition.

1. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

iii. Hear God’s Word – Matthew 6:9-13.

d. Here’s what we are going to do today.

i. Once again, we’re going to look at this petition backwards.

1. We’re going to start by looking at debts – or trespasses – I’m going to say debts because there are less “S’s” that way.

a. What are debts? Why do they need to be forgiven?

i. After establishing what debts are – we’ll then look at this fabulous word ‘forgive.”

ii. What is forgiveness? What is God’s forgiveness?

1. What does God’s forgiveness look like?

a. After we’ve looked at the parts of this petition, we’ll then look at the whole.

i. What are we asking for when we pray this?

2. Debts – So let’s start our journey by looking at the last word of this phrase.

a. Debts – what’s in that word? What does it mean?

i. In order to deepen our understanding of this petition – we have to hear it first from a 1st century perspective.

1. Whenever we read and study the Bible, we have to remember that the Bible was written for us and not to us.

a. So, it serves us well to understand the Bible the way the original audience – the people it was written to – would have heard and understood these words.

i. How would a 1st century Jew hear and understand this petition?

1. Jesus was, after all, a 1st century Jew who was speaking to 1st century Jews.

b. In the rabbis of Jesus’ day taught that sin created deposits of debts before God.

i. And the accumulation of these debts formed a separating wall between a person and God.

1. On the flipside, good deeds contributed to the accumulation of assets before God and so created a bridge to God.

a. So in 1st century thought, sins were demerits and good deeds were merits.

i. Demerits separated; merits connected.

1. And these demerits were known society wide as debts.

ii. And Jesus takes this well-known word and well-known concept – and tells his audience that they can have their debts wiped out.

1. That they can ask the Father to wipe their record of debt away.

a. So when the petition talks about debts or trespasses…

i. It is not referring to any sort of financial debt or going on to property that doesn’t belong to you…

1. It is referring to sin.

iii. And even though it isn’t a popular term or a popular subject – we need to talk about sin.

1. Some churches and pastors today gloss over sin, never mention it or try to downplay its heinousness.

a. But the Bible speaks openly, honestly, and frequently about humanity’s propensity to sin…so it is a subject we must address.

c. The word the NT uses for ‘sin’ is the Greek word ‘hamartia.’

i. In the ancient use of this word…it was an archery term. Or it was a word used when someone took the wrong road and got lost. They were hamartia.

1. In archery, if an archer missed his or her target – a spotter would yell out – hamartia – letting the archer know they missed the mark, missed the target.

a. This word let the archer know they weren’t lined up properly and they needed to realign.

ii. And Jesus, and the NT writers after him – take this archery term and they repurpose it.

1. Instead of the word referring to an archer missing the target, or a traveler taking the wrong word…

a. They used it to refer to someone missing the mark or the target of God’s standard.

i. And what is God’s standard?

1. Well, God’s standard is perfection.

a. So that is why Paul correctly writes in Romans that all have sinned.

ii. All have missed that mark. All have followed the wrong path.

1. Paul goes on to write…all have fallen short of the glory of God.

a. Other translations say all have fallen short of God’s glorious standard.

iii. So when it is put that like, we realized that we all miss the mark.

1. We all travel down the wrong road….we all sin.

a. We sin by things we say, by the things we do, by the things we think.

i. Sins of commission.

iv. But we also sin by failing to do the things that God calls us to do.

1. We sin when we don’t walk in obedience…when we fail to help someone in need…

a. When we fail to say or do the right thing.

i. These are sins of omission.

1. And what we have to understand about sin is that it is not simply some minor offense or some petty grievance…

a. Sin…all sin…no matter how big or small you think it is…all sin is an affront to God.

v. Sin is an assault to God’s goodness and grace.

1. It says that my ways are better than God’s ways.

a. It’s a statement that we don’t trust God to provide for us, we don’t trust that God has our best in mind.

d. Debts, trespasses, whatever your translation says – refer to those things we do – or don’t do – that go against the ways of God.

3. Forgive – Now that we have that established and you feel thoroughly terrible…

a. Let’s talk about this beautiful word ‘forgive.’

i. And right off the bat we have to take note of what this petition teaches.

1. Yes, it teaches us that we can ask for forgiveness. For people in the 1st century this would have been a liberating petition.

a. No more working on a system of demerits and merits…but a petition to have a debt totally wiped clean.

i. And living when we do, we know that Jesus’ death is sufficient to forgive our sins…we don’t work on a system of merits and demerits.

ii. So yes, this petition teaches us about forgiveness…but it also teaches us about what kind of God our God is.

1. Earlier in the prayer we learned that God is Fatherly…but we also learned that he is powerful – in heaven.

a. God is coming – bringing his kingdom with him…a kingdom that gives direction and purpose to history.

i. Last week we learned that God is giving.

1. He provides for us each day what we need to survive.

b. And here in this 4-word phrase, we learned that God is forgiving.

i. Isn’t this incredible? That the God of the universe…the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven of earth…

1. God, who is perfect in all of his ways…it’s incredible to think that this God is a forgiving God…that he wants to forgive us when we come to him in confession.

ii. In Veronica’s schooling this year, she had to read stories from Greek mythology…stories about the Greek gods.

1. And what we all learned as we were reading these stories is that these gods were petty, conniving, petty and vindictive.

a. If they were wronged, they made people pay. Most of all they were unforgiving.

iii. And some view the God of the Bible in this way.

1. As a tyrant, as a petty, small, unforgiving God.

a. Some picture God as ready to chuck lightning blots at you when you mess up…

i. But hear me…that’s Zeus…not YHWH.

1. God, YHWH, is more willing to forgive us than we are to ask for forgiveness.

iv. God himself exemplifies this radical, counter-cultural forgiveness.

c. So what does God’s forgiveness look like?

i. NT Wright in his book, “The Lord and his Prayer” compares this petition ‘forgive us our debts…’ to the Father in the parable of the Lost Son.

1. What does God’s forgiveness look like? It looks like a running Father.

a. And in order to understand how shocking and scandalous this image is – we must understand it from a 1st century perspective.

ii. In 1st century culture – men didn’t run.

1. Children ran, boys ran, teenagers ran…

a. But the older and man got, and the higher up the social pecking order a man climbed…the more dignified her became.

i. And running was beneath him.

iii. And the father in the parable is evidently pretty high in social status.

1. He had money to give as an inheritance.

a. He has servants, he had extra clothes to lavish on his returning son.

i. He had enough food for the eldest son to have his own party.

1. This man was rich, high up on the social pecking order…running was beneath.

iv. But this parable is shocking on so many levels. Shocking that his youngest son would wish his father dead.

1. Shocking that the son would squander what he was given.

a. But perhaps the most shocking image in the entire parable is the image of a running Father.

i. Who – when he saw his son returning – while he son was still a long ways off…ran out to meet him.

2. It should really be called the parable of the running father.

a. And the father ran out to his son – not to curse him out or lambast him or to ground him.

i. The father ran out to forgive the very person that cursed him.

1. The father ran out to restore his son’s status in the family.

3. If the father merely tolerated the son…he wouldn’t have run.

a. If he didn’t intend to forgive…he wouldn’t have put himself in the undignified position of running.

i. Society, Jesus’ original hearers, expected the father to punish the son….

1. But in a shocking twist, a twist that is characteristics of all Jesus’ parables…

a. Her forgave him…and he ran out to meet him on the road in order to do so.

d. What does God’s forgiveness look like? It’s scandalous…it looks like a running father.

4. What we are praying – So we looked at debts, we’ve looked at forgiveness.

a. So let’s quickly put the phrase together and ask – what are we praying when we say this petition?

i. What I want us to grasp about this request is that this is not a prayer for salvation.

1. This is not a ‘sinner’s prayer’ that we pray in order to be part of the family of God.

a. Not a prayer for justification.

i. Absolutely we must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord…

ii. We all must come to a place where we recognize that we are sinners in need of a Saviour…that no matter how good of a person you are…that’s not enough. You need a perfect Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

1. We all must recognize that Jesus died in our place and his sacrifice is the only way to attain forgiveness…not demerits and merits.

a. But this petition is not that prayer.

b. Know this – this is a petition of someone who is already a Christian.

i. This is the prayer of someone who already knows God as Father.

1. Yes, when we come to the Father through Jesus the Son – we are saved from our sin – original sin – the sin we are all born with. We are forgiven.

a. But that doesn’t mean we are instantly and forever perfected…never to sin again.

ii. I don’t know about you, but I still sin. I’m a long way from where I want to be and where I should be.

1. And I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say the same is true for you.

c. Remember, at the beginning of this study I said that this sermon was spoken to Jesus’ disciples – his followers….

i. Spoken to those who had already decided to follow Jesus – and this prayer – this petition is the prayer of an already disciple.

1. One who is not in need of salvation, but in need of forgiveness for the waywardness of heart, soul, mind and spirit.

a. This is a prayer for God to forgive us when we say the wrong thing, think the wrong think, do the wrong thing…

i. To forgive us when we don’t do what it is we were called to do or supposed to do.

d. This petition – is not a one and done kind of prayer…where we pray it once and we go on sinning profusely or purposely the rest of our lives – because we once asked for forgiveness.

i. No – this petition is the prayer of a serious and dedicated follower of Christ.

1. Who recognizes the enormity of the debt we owed god…and recognizes the audacity of asking for that debt to be forgiven.

a. And the crazy thing is this…God will forgive us.

i. If we confess our sins – he is faithful and just to forgive our sins -and to cleans us from all unrighteousness.

ii. Isn’t that wild?! Forgiveness of sins…an incredible thought. It’s a central tenet of our faith – preserved in the Apostle’s Creed.

5. Conclusion – but, as Uncle Ben says in Spider man – with great power comes great responsibility.

a. Because there is a phrase that comes immediately after this petition.

i. It’s a petition for us to act in the same way that God has acted towards us.

1. God set the example of counter-cultural forgiveness…

a. And his people are to be living examples of that kind of forgiveness.