Word of Salvation – Vol. 32 No. 05 – Feb 1987
Prayer: The Fifth Request
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Lord’s Day 51
Reading: Psalm 143; Matthew 18:21-35
Singing: Through all the changing scenes (BoW.034a)
And can it be (BoW.186)
Our Father, clothed with majesty (BoW.454 [1,6])
O for a thousand tongues to sing (BoW.408)
Theme: The request for forgiveness is related to the grace to forgive. (LD51)
Introd: There’s a well-known story of an American President, a man of few words.
Returning home from Church one day he was asked by his wife:
“And what did the Minister preach about?”
The President replied, “Sin!”
“Well, what did he say about it?” was the next question.
The answer came back: “He was against it!”
That sums up the most obvious answer to our questions about sin.
Ministers and elders should be against it. So should every Christian.
Because Scripture tells us that God is against it too.
In fact so much against it that unless God deals with it
and unless God forgives us for it we are going to be in a very bad way.
God is so much against sin that He must judge and condemn it.
That’s why Jesus taught us to pray this fifth request of the Lord’s Prayer.
It’s a request in which we imply that we often do that which the Lord God is against
A] THE NEED OUT OF WHICH WE PRAY.
1) A problem we often have is that we pray this request of the Lord’s prayer…
and quite naturally tend to think of specific instances of wrongdoing – of sin.
In fact the more conscious we are of specific sins
the more earnestly we will pray for forgiveness.
And at those times when we can think of no really serious sin in our lives
then we might even pray this request without thinking about it.
We may even wonder at those times: Why pray this at all?
What we often forget is that we have a far more serious problem than our wrongdoing.
That we are sinners not just because of what we DO..! But already because of what we ARE..!
One hot summer’s day a full-grown Copperhead snake slithered across our neighbour’s lawn.
She called me over to kill it.
At that point I could have asked, “Why kill it? What has it done?
That snake hasn’t bitten anyone – at least – not yet.”
But I killed the snake – not because of what it had DONE but because of what it WAS.
A venomous Copperhead snake…!
In a sense that is exactly how it is with us as human beings before God.
Even before we actually DO a sinful deed we are already under God’s judgment for what we ARE.
In our lives there are not only sins (plural) that we do, there is also sin (singular) that describes our nature.
We are conceived and born in sin. Sin is a state we are born into.
We share in Adam’s condemnation for we share in humanity’s fall in sin.
And that already puts us under God’s judgment.
And yet it’s strange – you and I often have the idea
that as long as we haven’t done anything really atrocious God will understand.
Often we don’t feel a pressing burden to pray this request of the Lord’s Prayer
because after all this is a request to be forgiven
for our sinful ACTIONS, our wrong DEEDS.
The Heidelberg Catechism is much more Biblical and realistic.
Its explanation of this request of the Lord’s Prayer relates not only to the sins we DO
but also to the reality that it is “poor sinners that we ARE.
I say this because some Christians say
we should really only pray this when we seriously fail God.
They say Christ has now renewed us
and thru His Holy Spirit now gives us full victory over sin.
Some even argue (without good grounds) that this request was an interim request.
It was just until Jesus had died on the cross for our forgiveness.
Now we no longer need it.
I have problems with that kind of thinking.
We must relate this request not only to specific sins against God’s law
but even for the evil that constantly… day by day still clings to us.
It is just not true (as some claim) that we can be fully perfect in this life…
Scripture tells us that believers are both sinners and saints at the same time.
By faith in Jesus we are saints… RENEWED.
Yet putting off the old sin nature is a life-long process.
In this life we are never done with sin.
The fifth request of the Lord’s Prayer then, arises out of our needs.
In fact two needs: The sins (plural) that we do.
And the sin (singular) of our old self that we battle against daily.
2) Of course this request DOES specifically mention our sinful acts.
It speaks of our TRESPASSES –
IOW of our actual breaking of God’s commandments.
In a way that does make the whole thing much more personal and to the point.
Being sinful BY NATURE is something we can easily shove aside or forget.
Sometimes we even use it is a handy excuse for not living up to God’s standards.
How often don’t we say:
“Sorry, but that’s just the way I am! I can’t help it that I am that way.”
But now this request zeroes in on our ACTUAL sins… our misdeeds.
It directs itself to the harsh words you spoke to your wife over lunch.
It speaks to the way you treated your fellow Christian this morning after church.
It brings your anger against Dad or Mum into focus, young people.
It reminds you of the way you gave in to temptation again last week.
Forgive us our trespasses – That shines the spotlight on very specific sins.
So whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are reminded
that we, nice respectable people,
are really nothing but TRESPASSERS before God.
Law breakers and guilty criminals.
Actually many Bibles translate this requests as: Forgive us our DEBTS…!
The image is of God, as it were, keeping an account book.
And all our sins result in “entries” in His books. But the entries are all in the red.
We are in debt… and our debts increase daily because of what we do.
We are in debt and the Debt Collector is coming to collect.
So in this request Jesus holds the bill before our eyes
and then teaches us to pray:
Father forgive us those debts we cannot repay ourselves.
B] THE FORGIVENESS WE ASK FOR.
1) In this prayer there is a peculiar twist we need to note carefully:
On what grounds does God give us what we ask for in this prayer?
Jesus did not just teach us to pray: Forgive us our sins… full stop.
He taught us to ask: FORGIVE US AS WE ALSO FORGIVE OTHERS.
It almost seems we are holding our forgiveness up to God
as an example He ought to follow.
Was Jesus suggesting that the basis for God forgiving me is the fact that I forgive others?
Obviously not!
That is not only a contradiction of the Bible… it flies in the face of the gospel.
True – the Bible DOES teach we may not expect God to forgive us if we ourselves are unforgiving
The parable of the unforgiving servant makes that quite clear.
But you and I know the only basis on which God forgives us
is the death of Jesus Christ.
Scripture repeatedly speaks of us having forgiveness thru His sacrificial death.
It is thru His blood that we are washed clean.
That can be the only basis of God forgiving us
and the only basis upon which we may rest our plea
for God to forgive us our trespasses.
2) We also know why it has to be that way.
Imagine you get a big fat bill for your use of electricity.
But you just tore up that bill and forgot all about it.
Can you do that with bills you receive? Hide them under the bed?
Of course not! That would only lead you into lots of trouble.
It would mean the power being cut off
and you being left in the dark and the cold.
Maybe you would like to just throw that bill away…
but that does not cancel out your debt to the electricity company.
The only way you can cancel that debt is by the amount owing being paid in full.
So too God cannot just ignore the debt of our sin… it’s too great to ignore.
The Debt Collector demands that payment be made.
God is a just God! He cannot merely “forget about it.”
Sometimes WE cancel debts that way:
I might say to you, “Look, don’t worry about it – just forget it.”
But there is a problem with that kind of cancelling of debt.
Later, if you do the wrong thing by me I may say:
By the way, you still owe me money.
God doesn’t forgive that way by just saying, “Forget it, it isn’t important.”
It is important!
So God deals with our moral and spiritual debt in such a way
that it can never, ever be brought up again – by paying the debt in full.
Let me use an analogy:
Imagine that one of our boys smashes a large plate glass shop window.
That window has to be paid for
and the boy has no hope of paying for it out of is pocket money.
So the Father gives his son the money
and makes him take it to the shopkeeper to pay for the glass.
Now the shopkeeper can never claim payment for it again.
So too our spiritual and moral debt HAS to be paid
but you and I are morally and spiritually bankrupt.
We cannot pay our debt. So God accepts payment from Jesus instead.
The price that Jesus paid has now been charged to our account.
That’s the gospel. And now payment can never be demanded again.
So what are we doing when we pray this request to God to forgive us?
Am I asking Him to charge these my latest sins to the account of Jesus
so that His payment for them can settle my debt?
No! They were already all paid for on the cross of Calvary.
But I need this request to give me peace…
it’s for God to reassure me that I am forgiven.
So we need this prayer request to help us to keep short accounts with God.
And we do that on the basis of the gospel being about our forgiveness.
If God forgiving us was just a matter of Him saying,
“Don’t worry, it’s really not that important, I’ll just overlook it!”
Then that would make it so much easier for us to sin.
Why not sin? What’s the big deal? God just overlooks it anyway!
But when we remember that this request is based on the gospel
then we remember the terrible price paid for our sins.
that we are asking God to reassure us
that our ledger has been wiped clean by His dear Son.
It’s easy to pray this prayer if forgiving comes by God just overlooking things.
But it’s never easy to seriously pray this
when we know that what we ask for came at a terrible price.
And that makes it twice as hard to go out and deliberately sin again.
This request should always remind us that the price HAS been paid.
And we may now freely come and ask God to forgive us.
Not because we are so forgiving…
But only because on Calvary the price was paid…
once and for all and for ever.
C] OUR FORGIVING OF OTHERS.
1) God’s forgiveness is never on the basis of my willingness to forgive others.
We know that our forgiveness of others is not our strongest point.
A sad refrain that elders and pastors often hear over the years is the complaint:
“I just cannot forgive him or her…!”
We know how hard it is to really forgive what someone did against us.
Forgiving others is not a natural moral virtue.
It is not something that we do in our own strength.
I don’t really need to remind you of times when families in the Church
have not been on speaking terms with one another
because people couldn’t forgive.
So for years they sit on opposite sides of the church.
There have been times when even within a family things turned sour
because of our lack of forgiveness towards someone else.
Some of the saddest divisions in the Church
were not really over issues of doctrine or principle…
they may have started out that way…
but it was carried thru to the bitter end
because people could no longer forgive each other.
Forgiving my brother in Christ when he sins against me…
that needs more than I can find within myself… it needs the grace of God.
Pardoning my sister in the faith when I have something against her…
that needs a power from outside of myself… God must do that in and thru me.
Forgiving someone means being willing
to humble myself before God and my fellow Christian.
Being willing to put aside my wounded pride and my hurt feelings.
But the point is that this is just what the outworking of God’s love and grace
does achieve in our lives.
When God has forgiven me so much… wiped my slate clean…
then I can also afford to let others make a new start.
2) So there is an important connection between the two parts of this fifth request.
And that connection is this:
That when we see God’s grace so at work in our own lives
that we are indeed able also to forgive others
then we are also assured that God will do no less for us.
He too WILL forgive when we ask Him.
That parable in Math.18 makes it beautifully clear
that we have already been forgiven.
God wiped out a great, an enormous debt.
An impossible sum. Ten thousand talents.
Millions of dollars. And the Master just cancelled it out.
In comparison to that the servant was owed just a few dollars.
Very little. Hardly worth making problems over.
That parable reminds us that in comparison to what God has forgiven us
what we have to forgive others is very, very small.
God in Christ has forgiven us for every hasty word, every angry thought,
all our pride, lust, discontent and lovelessness – He dealt with it all.
So this prayer does put an obligation on us.
That link is always there between God’s forgiveness and ours.
God has dealt with us in mercy.
Why then can’t we forgive a harsh word… an injustice done to us?
Okay, we’re not saying it’s always easy – it isn’t.
It takes a great deal of the grace of God and of the power of His Holy Spirit.
In fact it often costs us something to forgive… just as it cost the Lord something too.
Where there are debts to be paid… there are also costs to be met.
However this connection is especially to give us assurance and certainty.
We self-centred human beings
always tend to magnify someone else’s sin against us,
and we so often play down our own guilt towards other.
Yet by the grace of God and because of the gospel we can and do forgive others.
That is evidence of His grace at work in our life.
How much more then will our heavenly Father
not keep on forgiving us every day again.
In that certainty keep on praying this request of the Lord’s Prayer.
Amen.