Today, we will take a look at one of
the key elements of the Christian faith: forgiveness. It makes sense that in
the prayer that He calls His disciples to pray, Jesus includes this petition:
and
forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12
There is much going on here, much to
understand and much to enjoy. So, we’ll just be looking at the first part of
that petition today and return next week to look at the rest.
We’re going to start where we often
start, by looking carefully at the words. Being sure to understand the words is
so critically important. Many problems arise because people aren’t clear on the
words. And much that will benefit can be missed because people aren’t clear on
the words.
So, let’s consider the word ‘debts’.
It’s obvious that Jesus is referring to our sin. What may not be so obvious is
why He chooses this word, ‘debts’. He could have used the word ‘trespasses’ or
even the simple word ‘sins’. He does use those words elsewhere, but He doesn’t
use them here. Here, He uses the word ‘debts’.
So, what is it about this word ‘debts’
that Jesus wants us to get as we offer up this prayer? Well, what’s involved in
a debt? It’s all about owing someone. We usually think of that in terms of
money owed, but here Jesus uses it to describe our sins.
When we offer up this petition we are
acknowledging something important about our sins. We are acknowledging that
when it comes to our sins the Father is thinking, ‘You owe Me! You owe Me big
time.’
Jesus does the same sort of thing in
His parable about the two servants in Matthew 18. It’s a parable about
forgiveness. This is how it starts.
…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. Matthew 18:23-24
Now, I’m guessing that you don’t know
how much ten thousand talents is. Let’s just say that it’s a ton of money. That
servant owed the king a bazillion dollars, something that he could never repay.
And yet, as the parable goes on to explain, his debt is forgiven. In this
parable, Jesus is teaching about forgiveness, but the first thing that He does
is make clear the immensity of our sin. We are that servant.
When we pray this petition, we are
speaking to the Father about the great debt of our sins, the debt that we owe
Him. The size of our debt owed to the Father is incalculable. It’s huge and far
beyond our ability to repay.
And that explains something of why
Jesus uses this word ‘debts’ in this prayer. He wants us to be confronted with
the enormity of our sin against the Father. And He wants us to be confronted
with that fact every time we pray this prayer.
Now, what about this other word, ‘forgive’?
What’s going on here? What are we asking the Father to do when we ask for the
forgiveness of our sins? When you say it without church words it really is
quite striking. We are asking the Father to overlook what we just did. That
awful thing that we did, that awful thing that has just added more to the pile
that we owe the Father, that act that was the exact opposite of what is good
and right - we’re asking the Father to just forget about it. We want Him to
disregard it, to brush it aside. We want Him to refuse to collect on the debt.
That’s what forgiveness is.
So, with all this in mind, let’s
translate this petition. Let’s translate, ‘and forgive us our debts’. What are
we actually praying?
‘Father, please ignore that sinful
thing that I just did. Just act as if You didn’t notice that evil act and
thought and attitude. And though the result of my having done that is like
owing You a huge pile of money, please just zero out that debt.’
Well, what do you think? Isn’t that
what we are asking the Father to do when we ask for the forgiveness of our
sins?
Now, let’s take this request and
consider it from a different perspective. Let’s translate it with some different
issues in mind. Let’s translate it like this:
‘Father, please compromise Your
character for my sake. Yes, You are the holy God who is all about justice. But
I’m asking You to adjust who You are and set aside these qualities that display
Your glory so that I won’t have to deal with the consequences of my sin. Please
forget about Your holiness and justice and just let my sin slide. Compromise
Yourself for my sake.’
Now, that sounds all wrong, but isn’t
that how this prayer for forgiveness is often offered up? ‘Compromise Yourself
for my sake.’
And what is the Father’s response to
such a request? That’s easy. ‘Not a chance!’
Bear in mind how He has revealed
Himself, how He has revealed these glorious qualities of His character to us,
His holiness and His justice. Listen to just a few places where He does this.
Cursed
be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. Deuteronomy
27:26
For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men… Romans 1:18
the
soul who sins shall die. Ezekiel 18:4
Jesus adds this.
The
Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all
causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In
that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:41-42
Jesus is talking about a punishment
for sin that will never end. He’s talking about hell where there will be
cursing and wrath for everyone who has sinned. He’s talking about eternal
death.
So, asking the Father to simply forget
about that sinful thing you did - it’s just not an option. The Father’s sense
of holiness and justice, His zeal for His own glory - those are the things that
are at stake here. Do you actually think that He will compromise those things
for you?
Sadly, the all-too-common opinion is
that the Father’s love will trump such things. He will, in fact, compromise. He
will forgive because He loves. So, we don’t need to worry about things like His
holiness and justice. Let’s not trouble ourselves about any zeal for His glory.
What wickedness! People who think this
way do not understand God. In thinking like this they insult Him. That’s not a
wise thing to do.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. ‘But
wait a minute. I believe in Jesus. Doesn’t that change all of this? Isn’t there
forgiveness for Christians because of what Jesus has done?’ Oh, yes, there is
forgiveness because of Jesus. But it’s important for you to grasp something.
That doesn’t change the Father’s insistence on maintaining His holiness and
justice. His zeal for His glory is not abated. It’s still true that He will not
compromise what makes Him who He is. He will not compromise His glory for you.
Never! But He will forgive you.
So, how does that work? How does God
maintain His zeal for His glory and at the same time forgive your debt? And you
know the answer. God takes all that cursing and wrath - He takes all that
eternal death and puts it on Himself. God endures the punishment of hell. Oh, I
know that it’s the Father who places all of that on the Son. But remember, we
don’t worship three gods. There is only one God who exists in three persons.
So, it is completely proper, and quite helpful, for me to say that God has
taken the punishment for sin, for your sin, on Himself. And what motivated Him
to do that? Well, it’s something else that displays His glory, that makes Him
who He is. And that is His love.
So, again, what are you asking the
Father to do when you ask for forgiveness? Let’s go back to how I translated
this petition earlier, and see if it still works.
‘Father, please ignore that sinful
thing that I just did. Just act as if You didn’t notice that evil act and thought
and attitude. And though the result of my doing that is like owing You a huge
pile of money, please just zero out that debt.’
What do you think? Is that what you
are asking the Father to do? Is that what this petition is about? I actually
think that it is a very good translation of our request for forgiveness. It
captures what’s going on - as long as you add this sentence.
‘And do all of this by suffering Your
own just and holy response against my sin: eternal cursing and wrath. Suffer
eternal death for me.’
Every sin that you commit, every
wicked act and thought and attitude, is like a debt you owe the Father. And
each and every day, you add to that debt, you add lots to that debt. So, like
that servant whose debt to the king was a pile of money that he could never
repay, you owe the King of glory a debt that you could never repay. The Bible’s
teaching about forgiveness will amount to nothing but sentimentalism if you don’t
understand what you owe the Father. Your debt of sin is enormous.
And yet, at the same time, I want you
to fully embrace this truth: the Father zeroes out all that you owe Him. He
completely ignores the sinful thing that you did and acts as if you never did
it. And that is amazing grace!
All of that is the forgiveness of the
Gospel.
So, I will say here what I often say at
this point. Believe the Gospel. Believe this part of the Gospel. It always
comes back to that. You will never get beyond the Gospel.
So first, believe with all your heart
that you are a sinner. You are a great sinner. The debt of your sins is
immense, absolutely immense, beyond repayment, a bazillion dollars. You deserve
hell. Maturity in the faith shows as a growing sense of how true that is.
Grasping that is crucial, but don’t
stop there. Here is the second thing that I want you to believe. You are
forgiven, completely forgiven. That huge debt that you owe the Father, the debt
that is mountains high, it has been zeroed out. It’s gone. And even though you
add to that debt every day - and you do - every day it is zeroed out. You owe
nothing. So, at every moment the Father deals with you as if you’ve never sinned
- never, not even once. You’re forgiven.
And here’s the third thing to believe.
All of this is yours because of Jesus. This is what the Cross is about. On the
Cross Jesus suffered your hell. And He did that willingly. The Cross is the
display of God’s zeal, His zeal for His own glory, for the qualities that make
Him who He is, His zeal for His holiness and His justice - and His zeal for His
love. It is His zeal for such things that results in your debts being forgiven.
So, again, I would encourage you to
make the Lord’s Prayer a regular part of your prayers. But pray it
thoughtfully. Remember what you are praying about as you offer up each
petition. Remember what you are praying about as you offer up this petition.
As you do that you will be changed.
You will see reality more clearly. You will grow in wisdom because of how the
Spirit will use this prayer in your life.
You will grow in wisdom because you
will understand God better. He is the holy and just God who compromises His
character for no one. But He is also the God who loves in amazing ways. He has
suffered His own wrath for you.
You will grow in wisdom because you
will understand yourself better. You are a sinner, and that sin isn’t just
breaking some rules. It is much more personal than that. It’s like owing
someone a pile of money. It’s borrowing and borrowing and borrowing, knowing
that you will never be able to repay. And yet, you will also understand that
you are forgiven. The debt is gone. Zeroed out. The Father views you as debt
free. This is also who you are.
You will grow in wisdom because you
will understand people better. Those who do not believe the Gospel have a huge
debt, and at some level, they have some sense of that debt. It may just be some
vague unease, but unless they have completely destroyed their conscience, they
feel it. It used to be that the façade of belief in some god eased that
feeling. But that facade is falling apart. And that is one reason why so many
people are falling apart. They are in debt, and they feel it, but they have no
solution to that problem. But all of that can be dealt with. The debt can be
zeroed out. There is forgiveness in Jesus. They need to know these things so
that they too will come to Jesus and believe the Gospel.
Believe the Gospel and make this
petition a part of your prayers. As you do that the Spirit will act. He will
open your eyes to see more and more of the beauty of the Gospel. And out of
that will come things like joy and peace and heartfelt worship.