Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name.Earlier we talked about the Jesus Creed as Jesus' own revolutionary summary of his message and the essence of spiritual formation. As Scot McKnight mentioned in the last section, the Lord's Prayer puts that summary into prayer form. This is why it is critical for Christians to learn the Lord's Prayer.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen
However, we do not just mean that Christians need to memorize the Lord's Prayer and recite it over and over -- although that is a very good start. The Lord's Prayer also provides a great pattern or model for organizing all of our communication with God.
I am suggesting a simple five part prayer structure based on the Lord's Prayer:
1. Praise, Thanksgiving, Adoration (PTA)So, for example, as you are praying you would say the first line of the prayer -- Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name.
2. Intercession and Petition (IP)
3. Confession
4. Intervention
5. Celebration
Then you would pause and spend some time praising and thanking God.
After you have done that for a few minutes -- or longer -- you could go on and say the second and third lines of the Lord's Prayer out loud. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
Then you would pause at that point and spend some time making requests to God.
However, as we said in the last section, we are always making those requests in light of the God's kingdom agenda -- not so much that we get what we want but so that his will would be done, on earth, in your life, your situation. You are looking for "daily bread" to come in such a way that it fits with his heavenly will.
Once you have done that for awhile you would move on to the next section of the prayer, which is Confession. And you would start out by saying aloud Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Sometimes that section of the prayer is translated into English as Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. That is no longer a very good translation as the meaning of the word "trespasses" has changed over the years.
Jesus more literally taught us to say, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Debts is a reference to spiritual debts or offenses. For example, in Matthew 18:21-22 (NLT) we read,
Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?"That is, you need to be so generous with your forgiveness that you are giving it more than you can imagine -- even to the point of being audacious or silly about it. In this discussion 70 x 7 = unlimited.
"No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven!"
The reason for this emphasis on unlimited forgiveness is that this is what God does for us. And since we are his followers -- and we are loving others who are made in his image and for whom Christ died -- then we need to be equally as generous. If we are not forgiving others then we ourselves are not forgiven.
The Matthew 6:14 study note in the Orthodox Study Bible captures the idea well -- "To not forgive others is to willfully flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves." (1)
Jesus made this point in the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Matthew 18:23-35 (NLT)
Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.As you see, then, debt is a metaphor for sin or offense. The catechism I was taught as a child says, "Sin is all in thought, word, and deed, that is contrary to the will of God."
But the man fell down before his master and begged him, "Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all." Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. "Be patient with me, and I will pay it," he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, "You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?" Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.
When someone sins against us it is a sin against God. When we sin against someone else it is a sin against God. When we do something that the Bible says is wrong it is a sin against God. It is all so because it is all contrary to the will of God.
However, God not only desires for us to quit sinning and to seek forgiveness, he also takes things a step further. Jesus says that if we are really on God's side then we will quit withholding forgiveness from people who have sinned against us. It's a matter of loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
The Church Fathers clearly understood this important aspect of spiritual formation.
What does Jesus mean when he links God's forgiveness of our own sins to our willingness to forgive others when they have sinned against us? Gregory of Nyssa is quick to notice that in this petition of the Lord's Prayer, we ourselves resemble God. After all, who has the right and power to forgive sins? God alone. And yet as we image God in our willingness to forgive others their transgressions against us, it is as though, in Gregory's words, we leave "human nature" behind. Our forgiveness of others imitates God's forgiveness of us; by God's grace we are becoming little Christs to the world around us.Now, let us return to discussing the practice of using the Lord's Prayer as our own. Once you have said the line in the prayer, Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us you would then pause for a time of personal inventory. That is, you spend a few moments examining your own life and asking the Holy Spirit to bring to mind the things which you have said or done (or not said or not done!) which are contrary to God's will. Then you would ask God's forgiveness. And you would ask him to empower you to break free from anything that might be a sinful pattern -- something which happens a lot.
Our willingness or refusal to forgive our debtors is a clear indicator of how close we bear and manifest the character of the God who has continually, consistently, mercifully and graciously forgiven us throughout our lives. God is "good and just," "forbearing and kind," "benign and gentle," willing and lovingly communicating "good things" to us and dispensing "mercy to everyone." (2) A refusal to forgive others demonstrates a hardened, unresponsive, insensitive heart; we have forgotten how much we have been forgiven by God. What could be more ironic, perhaps even perverse, than for one who has been forgiven much to refuse to forgive little?(3)
There is danger at this moment in the prayer. And that danger is that the devil might bring to your mind the things which are already forgiven and past. He wants to make people feel shame and guilt over things which have already been handed off to Christ.
If we allow him to play with our minds in that way we are in a sense denying the work of the cross. And that's really what he wants -- to confuse and disorient us -- to turn our focus from Christ and his good news of forgiveness -- back onto ourselves and our failures. If that happens repeat for yourselves some Bible verses such as:
- But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. ~ 1 John 1:9 (NLT)
- Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord."
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. ~ Psalm 32:5 (NLT)
Let all that I am praise the Lord;If past sins continue to haunt you find a pastor or wise mature Christian and tell them your story. Confess your sin to them and hear their words of encouragement and assurance.
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The Lord gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
James 5:16 (NLT) says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."
While you are praying through the Confession portion of the Lord's Prayer you should also be asking yourself if there is someone who has sinned against you and who needs forgiveness. Perhaps they will not acknowledge their sin but you need to forgive them anyway, just as Jesus forgave his tormentors from the cross -- "Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing." ~ Luke 23:34 (NLT)
Sometimes it is easier to talk about forgiveness than to actually do it. This is true especially if you have been deeply hurt. Start with saying the words, even if you do not mean them at that point. "Heavenly Father, just as you forgive all of my sin I want to forgive ________ who has really hurt me."
Real forgiveness might become a long process because occasionally it ends up being something that happens a little at a time. You think that you have forgiven someone and then something happens and the feelings of hurt come back again. Repeat the words again, "Heavenly Father, just as you forgive all of my sin I want to forgive ________ who has really hurt me."
If you are having a hard time forgiving someone it would be good to talk with a pastor or wise mature Christian about the struggle. There is no shame in having this kind of a struggle.
As we close this section I want to share with you some wise words from John Ortberg and his book The Life You're Always Wanted. He writes:
The inability to accept the reality of forgiveness is the reason that God has given us the practice of confession. Sometimes people wonder, "If I'm a Christian and God has already forgiven me, why should I have to confess?" This is looking at confession the wrong way.
Confession is not primarily something God has us do because he needs it. God is not clutching tightly to his mercy, as if we have to pry it from his fingers like a child's last cookie. We need to confess in order to heal and be changed.
Nor is confession simply an accounting procedure: "That sin was on the debit side of God's ledger; now I have confessed it, and it got erased." Confession is not mechanical. It is a practice that, done wisely, will help us become transformed.
When we practice confession well, two things happen. The first is that we are liberated from guilt. The second is that we will be at least a little less likely to sin in the same way in the future than if we had not confessed. Sin will look and feel less attractive.(4)
SECTION 13 NOTES
(1) The Orthodox Study Bible (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2008), p. 1278.
(2) Gregory of Nyssa On the Lord's Prayer 5.
(3) Christopher Hall, Worshiping with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2009) pp. 188-189.
(4) John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 2002) pp. 129-130.
ASSIGNMENT #13
1. Describe in your own words why you think that you deserve to have your sins forgiven. (5 points possible)
2. In your own experience, which is harder -- asking God to forgive the sins that you have committed or to forgive the wrongs that have been done to you? Explain your answer with as much or as little detail as you would like. (Well developed responses can earn up to 15 points)
3. Is it possible to experience forgiveness in your own life and not forgive others? Why or why not? (Well developed responses can earn up to 10 points)
4. Who gets the most benefit when we confess our sins? Explain the nature of that benefit. (Well developed responses can earn up to 10 points)
Again, email your essay to me at bboydston@piu.edu. Write your essay in the email itself -- or if you use a word processor, copy and paste the essay into the email. Make sure that your name, the name which you used to register for this class, appears at the top of the essay.
I will respond to you as soon as possible. Do not wait for a response from me before you start working on your next assignment.
