If I Don't Forgive Others, Will Jesus Forgive Me? Matthew 6:9-14

The Lord's Prayer 

This is the prayer that pretty much every Christian knows and is said at worship services, funeral services and most other gatherings of believers.  It is even said at every A.A. or other 12 step meeting.  But today we are going to look a little deeper at the mean of each petition of the Lord's prayer. 

9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

Jesus isn't making a suggestion when he says, "This then is how you should pray!" For a Jewish person to call God "Father" was pretty radical, especially a rabbi.  But Jesus teaches us to pray to God as if he were our "heavenly" Father.  This makes us children of God.  When we pray "our Father" it reminds us that when we pray we are not just praying by ourselves, but we join Christians everywhere, both here on earth and also in heaven.  

Though we pray to God as "Father", that doesn't mean God is like a "buddy".  God is holy and as such we need to keep his name holy in our prayers.  This relates to the 2nd commandment to not use God's name in vain. We see here the great juxtaposition of our relationship with God.  God is both imminent and present, but also transcendant and wholly other.  We should hold these two qualities of God in tension as we pray to Him. 

10 your kingdom come, your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven.

I love what Martin Luther says about this petition.  He says, "God's kingdom will surely come, the question is will it come through me."    

And when do we know God's kingdom has come?  When his will is done on earth as it is in heaven.  The kingdom is God's "rule" or "reign".  When God is ruling or reigning in our hearts and lives His will is done here on earth.  God's kingdom also has a dual meaning.  God's kingdom has come in the person of Jesus. Remember when Jesus came on the scene John the Baptist said when he saw him, "Repent the kingdom of God is at hand."  Mark 1:15

When Jesus left, He sent His Holy Spirit to manifest his kingdom power in and through us.  Apart from the Holy Spirit's power working through us, we cannot engineer the kingdom on our own.  But with the Spirit's power, we can actively participate in God's kingdom activity.  This is actually what makes the Christian life exciting, but many miss out on it. Why?  They don't pray this prayer and mean it.

The other aspect of Jesus' kingdom is that he is going to come again and consumate it fully.  We call this the second coming of Christ when he comes again in "great and promised glory"?    

11 Give us today our daily bread. The Israelites would remember this saying when God provided daily manna to them in the wilderness, and told them to just take enough for the day and God would provide the next day's manna.  So bread represented daily provision in Jesus' day. But Jesus is also talking about spiritual and emotional provision as well.  

Most of our anxiety comes when we started worrying about our future, or what is going to happen tomorrow.  The wisdom of this short phrase is beyond measure.  When we pray in this in the morning we can release all outcomes to God for the day.  This doesn't mean tough and challenging trials are not going to befall us, but this reminds us that God will give us what we need to get through them.  There is always "enough". God doesn't always provide for us everything we want, but only what we NEED. 

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

There is a slight difference between the word "debt" and "trespasses".  Debts are something we owe or an obligation we need to fulfill.  Morally this means the good we should do. When we don't do what we should, we call it a "sin of omission".  Trespass means to cross a boundary. For example, when we steal from our neighbor, we pass their boundary and take that which isn't ours.  

"As we have also forgiven our debtors". The assumption is that as we have been forgiven, we will forgive others.  It is not a condition of our forgiveness, but a continuing result of it. 

“Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offence against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offences of others, it proves that we have minimized our own.” (John Stott)

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

A lot of people say, "Why would the Father lead me into temptatation?"  Remember the word "tempting" also can mean "testing".  In Matthew 4 the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to best tested/tempted.  

James 1:13-14 gives us some clarification here when he writes, "Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust."

The second part of these verses also gives clarification to the first part.  The fact is we will face trials of many kind in this life, but our prayer is that God would deliver us from the evil one. (James 1:2-4) 

Usually when we pray the Lord's Prayer in church, we say, "deliver us from evil." But the much better translation is "evil one".  Why the church took out the real meaning of the word is surprising to me.  Jesus is clear and Paul is clear that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities of this present darkness. I.e. the devil and his demons (Ephesians 6:10-12)

But the fact is Jesus has delivered us from the evil one on the cross.  The devil can only tempt us, he can't make us do anything.  But Jesus teaches this, so obviously he knows we will need to continued daily deliverance from the evil one. 

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Similar to verse 12, Jesus is not saying if we don't forgive, we won't be forgiven. If that were the case our salvation would not be based on grace, but works.  Here is a good commentary that helps us understand this tension,

"A second biblically plausible interpretation of Matthew 6:14-15 is that it is saying anyone who refuses to forgive others is demonstrating that he has not truly received Christ’s forgiveness himself. Any sin committed against us, no matter how terrible, is trivial in comparison to our sins against God. If God has forgiven us of so much, how could we refuse to forgive others of so "little"? Matthew 6:14-15, according to this view, proclaims that anyone who harbors unforgiveness against others has not truly experienced God’s forgiveness. Both interpretations strongly deny that salvation is dependent on our forgiving others. Whether Matthew 6:14-15 is speaking of "relational forgiveness," or whether it is a declaration that unforgiveness is the mark of an unbeliever, the core truth is the same. We should forgive others because God, through Christ, has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). It is wrong for someone who has truly experienced God’s forgiveness to refuse to grant forgiveness to others." (Got Questions)

What part of the Lord's Prayer do you focus on the most?  What do you think Jesus is getting at when he puts so much emphasis on forgiving others, as we have been forgiven by God? Is forgiving others who have hurt you a challenge for you?  How do you think our own sense of God's forgiveness for us affects how we forgive others?  

Remember Jesus isn't offering us a suggestion here, but a command in the form of a prayer.  Pastorally I know some of you have been hurt in much worse ways than others. These injuries often leave deep scaring, which need healing over time.  It is really hard to forgive others if they have shown no remorse for what they did to us.  But in the end when we forgive others it is an expression of thanks for what God has done for us.  As we forgive others we release them to God and can be free of the anger and resentment.  Forgiveness sets us free!