Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / The Sermon On The Mount
Raising The Bar With Prayer (Part 6) 1/27/08
Message: ‘Raising the Bar with Prayer’ pt.6
Text: Matthew 6:12; 14-15
Introduction: Children understand the truths of God’s Word much better than we think. Sure they don’t comprehend the fullness of what they know…(but neither do we really) however I have found and I am sure many of you will agree, they often mean it with all their hearts and I believe God is pleased.
ILL: A mother walked by her young son’s room one night and heard him praying, "Andy, please forgive me for my sins". This worried his mother; so she asked her son why he was praying to "Andy", not God. The son said, "I was praying to God, Andy is his nickname." This caught her interest so she asked where he got that from. The little boy replied ‘The Garden.’ The mother asked how he got that God’s nickname was Andy from that song. The little boy put his head down, then looked up and began to sing, ‘Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own.’ (C.C. Coburn)
He may have gotten the name wrong, but he understood that it’s God who forgives sin and he knew tat he needed to be forgiven by God. There are adults who come to the same understanding and they too often display it in rather unique ways.
ILL: There’s an unusual epitaph on a large headstone in a cemetery outside of New York City. The name of the person in the grave is not on the headstone. There is no mention of when the person was born or when he died. Nor does it indicate anything about the person’s being a beloved mother, father, husband, wife, brother, sister, son, or daughter. Just one word stretches across the headstone: Forgiven. Clearly the most significant fact of this individual’s life was the peace he or she knew as a result of God’s forgiveness.
Forgiveness….what a glorious, wonderful, liberating word, a word that bring’s peace and great joy.
· Then why do so many people back away when we bring up the word?
· Why do so may people refuse to talk to us when we bring us the word?
· Why do so many Christians tip-toe around this most wonderful and blessed word?
Why? Because for the Christian and non Christian the word forgiveness implies we have a problem and for the Christian it also implies a challenge. So non-Christian and Christian alike, often keep their distance from this most joyous and gracious of words.
Transition: Open your Bibles to Matthew 6:12 (pg 741 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) In our study of the Lord’s Prayer, we’ll find that we continue to raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in our lives by prayer
Read: Matthew 6:12; 14-15
I. The Problem of Sin
I said that the word ‘forgiveness’ for the non Christian implies they have a problem so they really don’t want to hear about it. What’s the problem with the word ‘forgiveness’? Very simply another word… ‘sin’.
· Sin…promises to damn the sinner forever while at the same time rob them of the fullness of life by burdening their conscience with unrelenting guilt.
· Sin…is the king of every sinners heart, it’s the virus that contaminates every part of their lives.
· Sin…in the sinner, dominates the mind, the will, and the emotions, it brings the sinner under the influence of Satan, and leads them to suffer God’s wrath.
· Therefore, sin separates the sinner from God making it the sinners greatest problem.
The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote:
Read: Romans 3:10-12 ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’
Read: Romans 6:23a ‘For the wages of sin is death’
To make this perfectly clear, this is God speaking to the Prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament who has this to say about sin and it’s consequences.
Read: Ezekiel 18:4 ‘For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.’
‘The wages of sin is death’ The non-Christians problem is addressed in this prayer….they owe a debt that they can’t pay and the only remedy is to ask God for forgiveness through faith in his Son, Jesus. But that means admitting not only to their sin but to their inability to do anything about it…that’s why it’s a problem.
The non-Christian doesn’t want to ever have to admit that…even to themselves.
· And that’s why so many people remain separated from God
· that’s why the word ‘forgiveness’ doesn’t bring joy
· and that’s why sin is the greatest problem of all those who reject Jesus as Savior.
Transition: BUT, before you all start thinking you’re safe, sin…is also the greatest problem of the Christian. The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is a prayer for Christians, for Believers, for sinners turned to saints…who still have a problem with sin. What kind of sin are we talking about?
II. The shape of sin.
There are 5 Greek words used in the New Testament to refer to different aspect of sin.
1. Hamartia: This is the most common and carries the meaning of ‘missing the mark’ Our sin causes us to miss the mark of God’s standard of righteousness.
2. Paraptoma: This is a ‘trespass’ or ‘oops’ sin and is more the result of our careless living than intentional disobedience.
3. Parabasis: refers to stepping across the line, going beyond the limits prescribed by God. It’s often translated ‘transgression’
4. Anomia: refers to ‘lawlessness’ and is intentional sin. It’s our direct and open rebellion against God.
5. Opheilema: refers to moral or spiritual indebtedness. It’s a debt that must be paid to God.
Opheilema is the word used here in the Lord’s prayer and it’s why many faith traditions rightfully say ‘Forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors.’ But, the idea of owing God a debt certainly includes all the 5 words used in the Bible for sin.
Transition: For the Christian there is a multitude of ways we can sin. We must remember that while the Bible never refers to a Christian as a sinner, we still sin…and continue to need forgiveness.
III. The need for forgiveness
ILL: A cartoon in the newspaper once showed a therapist listening to his patient ‘Mr. Smith’, the therapist finally said ‘I think I can explain your feelings of guilt. You’re guilty!’
Since our greatest problem is sin then it makes sense that our greatest need is for forgiveness. That’s exactly what God provides. And there are two aspects of forgiveness that we need to understand to experience the joy it brings.
1. Judicial Forgiveness: Non-Christians receive God’s judicial forgiveness the moment they place their faith in Jesus as their Savior. This is what’s called ‘justification’. Their sins are all forgiven. They are declared righteous by God through their faith in Jesus his Son. They are no longer under God’s judgment, condemned to die and destined to hell.
Wonderful…isn’t it? And there’s no limit to God’s forgiveness…it’s mindboggling:
Read: Psalm 103:12 ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’
Read: Jeremiah 31:34b ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’
But…God could not just overlook our sin, remember ‘the wages of sin is death’ the debt had to be paid and it was paid in full when Jesus died. ..he paid the wages for our sin by his death on the cross. That’s judicial forgiveness.
2. Parental Forgiveness: Unfortunately, Christians still sin because we have not yet reached heaven and the perfection it brings. So we still need forgiveness, not judicial but parental forgiveness, the kind offered by our Heavenly Father…remember the prayer begins ‘Our Father in Heaven?’
As King, God forgives sinners, as Father he is eager to keep on forgiving the sins of his beloved children.
Read: Nehemiah 9:17b ‘…you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…’
The one who desires to follow Jesus doesn’t see God’s promise of forgiveness of sin as the means to spiritual growth which will be displayed by a decreasing frequency of sin and an increased sensitivity to sin.
And while our sin doesn’t affect our relationship or standing with God, it will hinder our intimacy with him and with each other in the family of God… Remember…‘Forgive US OUR trespasses as WE forgive THOSE who trespass against US.’
To maintain and nurture intimacy with God and open and warm fellowship with each other we must seek forgiveness for our sin…this is called the act of confession.
I admit it’s difficult to confess sin….because it means having to accept the blame for your sin. Because it’s difficult, that one reason we do it each Sunday during our Worship Celebration. I hope to help you develop a habit of regular confession so it won’t be so difficult when you’re home during the week.
Before we move on, let’s review the themes of the Lord’s Prayer to date.
· The kingdom is where the King is.
· Those living in the Kingdom obey the King.
· The King provides for the needs of his people.
Today we find
· The king grants forgiveness to his people.
Transition: Both the non-Christian and Christian alike, need to experience the continuing forgiveness of God in their lives that only comes through repentance and confession. But those experiencing God’s forgiveness are further challenged by this petition in the Lord’s prayer.
IV. The challenger of forgiveness
ILL: Chris Whalen sent this illustration to me. A 4 yr old boy prayed ‘And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.’ Think about that…pretty good understanding for a 4 yrs old, don’t you think?
ILL: During a children’s sermon one Sunday morning, the pastor held up an ugly-looking summer shirt that he wore occasionally around the house. He explained to the children that someone said the shirt was ugly and should be thrown away. This really hurt me," He explained. "I’m having trouble forgiving the person who said those mean things. Do you think I should forgive that person?" He asked the children. Immediately, his six-year-old daughter, Alicia, raised her hand. "Yes, you should," she said without hesitation. "But why? The person hurt my feelings," he responded. To which Alicia wisely answered, "Because you’re married to her. (Glenn E. Schaeffer, Christian Reader)
All of us have experienced at one time or another, the pain when someone sins against us. And we struggled with the accompanying attitudes of anger and bitterness, even the desire for revenge. The irony of this is that when we do that we’ve forgotten the extent or fullness of our sin against God and his great grace in forgiving all our sin.
The Apostle Peter speaking about the relationship within the community of faith, the church, said ‘Love covers a multitude of sins.’ (1 Peter 4:8) And one of the most important ways it does that, is with forgiveness.
Why forgive others? Some thoughts.
1. Forgiveness is a characteristic of those whose citizenship is the Kingdom of God. Just as the king offers forgiveness to meet our greatest need, so we offer forgiveness to others.
2. Forgiveness is a characteristic of those who desire to follow Jesus’ example.
Read: Luke 23:34 ‘Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
Read: 1 John 2:6 The Apostle John wrote ‘The one who abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.’
3. Forgiveness is a characteristic of members of God’s family. Not only does our sin hinder the intimacy of our fellowship with God, so does our refusal to forgive the sin of others.
According to verses 14-15 there is a direct relationship between forgiving others and God forgiving us. This is where understanding the two kinds of forgiveness is important.
Jesus is not talking here about Judicial forgiveness…your position or the status of your relationship with God. That’s based solely on your faith in the death of Jesus on the cross for our sin debt to God. No, Jesus is talking about God’s parental forgiveness which maintains intimacy and fellowship with ‘Our Heavenly Father.’
If we want to maintain a close fellowship in the family of God we must forgive those in the family of God who have sinned against us.
Why forgive?
4. Forgiveness is a characteristic of grateful people. We’ve been forgiven an enormous debt, one we could never repay. In our gratitude to God it makes sense to be forgiving to others who owe us so much less than we owe God.
5. Forgiveness is a characteristic of obedient people. We offer forgiveness to others because God’s Word commands it. Remember we already prayed ‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ That includes God’s will and Word being obeyed in our lives.
Read: Ephesians 4:32 ‘…forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’
Followers of Jesus Christ are a forgiven and forgiving people.
Well, there’s so much more I could say and that needs to be understood about forgiveness, but I hope you’ll forgive me for leaving you some work to do on your own.
Conclusion: The Prayer of forgiveness
OK. How can we pray this petition in the Lord’s Prayer in our own words? Perhaps something like this.
God…you’ve made me realize that I’m a sinner. I feel the need for forgiveness and I now believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sin. I want your forgiveness, I need your forgiveness… Be my Savior and my God.
Heavenly Father, gracious Lord…like the disciples in the Upper Room, I have dirty feet. And as long as I have unconfessed sin in my life I lose the fullness of joy and the depth of intimacy with you. And Lord, I now realize that it builds walls of fear and embarrassment between me and my friends in the church. Jesus, cleanse me now, as I confess my sin to you.
Lord, I ask for your forgiveness…especially for the times I haven’t offered forgiveness to others. Holy Spirit, soften my heart and as your Word promises, pour out your love in my life so I might display that love to those who have hurt me.
Father, if there is someone I haven’t forgiven, then don’t forgive me until I make it right with them. I want to do the right thing, I want to be in close, intimate fellowship with you and I desire to be in right fellowship with your people, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Jesus, thank you for shedding your precious blood on the cross to pay for my sins. Thank you for saving me from God’s wrath and judgment.
· I don’t want to go around feeling guilty for something I did 10 yrs ago.
· I don’t want to go on carrying around that baggage of guilt that affect every other area of my life.
· I don’t have to listen to the voice of Satan whispering in my ear.
Thank you for setting me free from all that stuff…Thank you for the joy and contentment found in your forgiveness.
Father, I stand here with your people, and together we seek your forgiveness…and the desire and power , through your indwelling Holy Spirit to forgive one another. Amen
This week, think about how much God forgives you…
And remember…we raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in our lives by prayer.