The Lord’s Prayer: Forgiveness Required

We return, this morning, to look at the petition of the Lord’s Prayer that deals with forgiveness. We spent last week on this, and it appears that we will be returning to it next week also. There is much that is going on here. And I want you to understand as much of it as possible. It is as you grow in your understanding of the truths of Scripture that you will grow in your devotion to Jesus.

Everything that I will say about this petition turns on one small word.

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6.12

The little word that I want you to notice is the word ‘as’. What’s it doing here? It’s expressing a relationship. We are to pray that the Father forgive us our sins against Him even as we have forgiven others their sins against us. This little word makes a very big difference.

What if some Christian refuses to forgive someone who has asked for that forgiveness? Jesus is teaching that that Christian will not be forgiven by the Father. He forgives as we forgive. The Father’s forgiveness is conditional. And, of course, what that means is that your salvation is conditional. It depends on something that you are to do.

I’m guessing that you’re thinking something like, ‘Wait a minute. That sounds wrong. We are saved by grace and not by works. It can’t be that my being forgiven by the Father depends on something that I do. That can’t be right.’ If that’s what you’re thinking, then well done.

However, I am confident that what I’ve told you is, in fact, correct. But let’s consider some other Scripture to check out this idea that seems to be taught by this text. And we don’t have far to go. This is the next thing that Jesus says after presenting this prayer.

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. Matthew 6.14-15

I could point to other Scripture, but I think that what Jesus says here is clear enough. Your being forgiven depends on your being forgiving. It’s conditional.

Before we go on to deal with more questions about this, I want to pause. What did I just do? I looked at a text of Scripture. I considered the words of that Scripture. In so doing I came upon the interesting word ‘as’, and, based on that, it appeared to me that forgiveness is conditional. I then considered another Scripture to make sure that I had come to the right conclusion. That Scripture confirmed my understanding. As a result, I came to a conclusion about forgiveness, a conclusion that has many implications for Christian living.

What I just did - that process of understanding a text of Scripture - is increasingly a lost art. It is, sadly, becoming less common for Christians to do this sort of thing. And as a result, important truths of the Gospel are missed. That means blessings from God are missed. Instead, errors are embraced, errors that attack a lively faith in Jesus.

So, please, for the sake of the flourishing of your souls, for the sake of the advance of God’s honor and kingdom, please be thoughtful about your reading of the text of Scripture. Look at the words, and look at them very carefully.

Now, back to the Lord’s Prayer. The last thing that I said was: Your being forgiven depends on your being forgiving. It’s conditional.

So, here’s the first question. How does this fit with the teaching that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone and without our works? The two do fit with each other. They have to. They’re both God’s truth. So, how?

To answer this let’s consider some more Scripture. Let’s go to the classic text on salvation by grace alone.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2.8,9

Here’s another Scripture that is quite clear. Note the key words: grace, faith, salvation being a gift and in no way due to our works. There’s a reason why this is the classic text on our being saved by God’s grace and quite apart from our works. And anyone who departs from this teaching or who tries to trim it to allow for our works, in some way, to do something to earn us our salvation will find himself or herself confronted by a very angry God. It is most unwise to mess with His Gospel. You really don’t want to do that.

But what about our question? How do the two teachings fit together?

Paul gives us an answer to our question about how our salvation is tied to some condition. And again, we don’t have far to go. Listen now to what Paul wrote right after that classic text I just read.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2.10

Let’s take this apart. We are ‘created in Christ Jesus.’ Paul is using this language to describe the salvation he just wrote about. We are ‘created in Christ Jesus for…’ There is a goal, a purpose for this salvation. What is it? We are ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works…’ This is the reason why we have been rescued - to do good works.

And it’s not as if we have to hunt around for some good works to do. Paul also writes, ‘which God has prepared beforehand’ for us to do. What might these be? They are things like hallowing God’s name, bringing in His kingdom, submitting to His will and doing those things in complete dependence on Him supplying each day what we need. And that’s just a start. The Bible is clear about what He wants us to do.

So, do you see what’s going on here? Being a Christian isn’t about getting converted and then waiting around until you get to heaven, all the while working a bit at being a nice person. Being a Christian is about the work that needs to be done. It’s about participating in the restoration of humanity that God - Father, Son and Spirit - is in the midst of accomplishing. There is work to be done. And you have been rescued from your sins so that you will do that work.

Now, we’ve made some progress in understanding what’s going on. You will note, though, that I still haven’t answered our question about how Jesus’ statement about forgiveness being conditional on what we do fits with Paul’s statement that we are saved quite apart from what we do. But now we have enough information to arrive at an answer.

Those who refuse to submit to the Father in things like granting forgiveness have not experienced the regenerating work of the Spirit. They have not been born again. And the logic is simple. A changed heart will show as a changed life. You have been changed in order to pursue a goal: the works God has prepared for you to do. You have been changed into that kind of person. So, anyone refusing to pursue that goal and to be that kind of person shows that he hasn’t actually been changed. He’s the same person that he was before. He’s not a Christian.

To be sure, a person with a changed heart will need to learn what a changed life looks like. And this person will stumble at times. But still, by the grace of the Spirit who gave him new life, he will repent of his sin and return to work at living that changed life. He will submit to the Father’s will. He will forgive when he is supposed to, even though that might be very hard.

This is where it’s good to remember Jesus’ warning.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ​On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ​And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7.21-23

Now, again, consider the words. Jesus is clear that it will take more than a profession of faith to enter His kingdom. Saying, ‘Lord, Lord’, doesn’t cut it. But also notice that Jesus isn’t interested in someone doing religious works, even dramatic works like prophesying, casting out demons and other mighty works. How does He label these? What do His words say? These are works of ‘lawlessness’. These are works and they are striking works, but they are not done in response to what God calls for, things that He has made clear in His Law, the Bible.

There are many who are quite busy doing what they think are good works. But on the last day Jesus will label those works as worthless lawlessness. They aren’t the works that the Father calls for. So, profession of faith notwithstanding and regardless of a full resume of impressive works done, these people will spend eternity in hell. Jesus wants works that come from submission to the will of God revealed in the Scriptures, things like graciously forgiving someone. And these kinds of works will happen because a changed heart will show as a changed life.

Good works, like forgiveness, are required because they are the necessary consequence of a real faith. They are the inevitable result of a changed life.

Now, last question. You might say that this is the point of the sermon. Why is this important? Here are a few reasons.

First, I want to make as clear to you as I can that the God of the Gospel has expectations of you. He has goals that He expects you - requires you - to diligently work toward. And it’s just a fact that some of these goals will appear to be completely unreasonable.

Last Wednesday I was with Jon and Lisa and Dave Bull. We were looking at something from Ephesians.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Ephesians 5.1

Be imitators of God? Are you kidding? Really? Well, that’s what it says. God expects us to diligently work at doing exactly that.

Here’s my concern. Expectations like this one are not being taken as seriously as they should be, that is, as serious as God demands. There are so many Christians who look for loopholes and excuses. And it also needs to be said that there are many Christians who just don’t know about these expectations because they aren’t taught them. This is one reason why so much of the Church in America is doing so poorly.

But what happens when they are taken as seriously as God intends? What happens when a Christian really works at forgiving some very painful sins, or doing other really hard things as he works at imitating God? Some very good things happen.

He comes to see reality more clearly. He comes to see that doing such things is beyond him. He comes to see his weakness due to his sin. And that’s when a Christian begins to learn about the grace of God. That’s when he prays, ‘Father I know that You want me to do this, but I can’t. I used to think that I could obey You quite easily, but now, as I take Your requirements seriously, I am seeing that I can’t. I know that You are the God of grace and that You promise to supply what I need so that I can work at this and make progress. So, please bless me with what I need to do that.’ And the Father, hearing that kind of prayer, acts. He blesses by His Spirit and brings about more change in that Christian’s life. And that Christian then actually makes progress doing what he could not do before. That is why some Christians are so much more mature than others. They’ve hit the wall of their complete inability and have come to believe in grace.

God has requirements that He expects us to diligently work at. But we will not make progress meeting those requirements until we see that our only hope is His grace.

Here’s another reason why this is important. Sadly, there are many people who think that they are Christians, but they actually aren’t. And lots of them are completely unaware of this. They have been led to believe that as long as they profess faith in Jesus they’re on their way to heaven. Actually, they are on their way to hell. I certainly hope that this is true of none of you. But it just may be that you know some people who are in this category. It would be good, as you have opportunity, to warn them of their danger.

Last thought. This is important because in far too much of popular Christianity these days you will not be encouraged to view Christian living in the way I have described. There isn’t the vibrancy of faith that is so greatly needed these days, a lively faith that shows in the pursuit of Godly goals that the world knows nothing about. There’s a lot of coasting, along with excuses for that coasting. The requirements of God are toned down. Things are adjusted so that people can seem religious. There is no need of grace. And as a result, there is no progress in Godly living. I don’t want that to be anywhere close to true for any of you.

But it is all around us. And as a result, when you find yourself facing hard decisions about following Jesus or compromising with the world, you won’t get much encouragement to choose wisely from those who embrace popular Christianity. In fact, they will encourage you to give in to the pressure. They don’t understand that we serve a God who has some very serious expectations of us. Knowing that makes a difference.

And with that in mind let me close with two bits of Gospel that will be very helpful for you as you face the coming pressure.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.  2 Chronicles 16.9

Loyalty to God is what is behind working hard to meet His expectations. God promises to strengthen those who are loyal to Him. You will need His strength as things get hard.

All of that will result in this.

…the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. Daniel 11.32

The days are coming when you will need to stand firm against the pressure and take Godly action. It is my great desire that you all would be well-prepared to do that.

And at the heart of being well-prepared is knowing your God well and understanding not only His expectations of you but also the grace that He has lavished on you because of Jesus.