Living the Lord’s Prayer, Part 5

Matthew 6:12, 14-15 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors…For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

At the outset, it is encouraging that a request for forgiveness is included in the template of the Lord’s Prayer. It’s inclusion means that sin, repentance and forgiveness is expected by God to be a normal part of the Chrsitian life. The Lord knew our weakness and made provision for it. So if you’re one of the poor beggars who come daily to the throne of mercy as a repeated offender, be encouraged, this is the way it is supposed to happen. We are strictly forbidden all throughout scripture to ever sin, no matter how great or small; sin is never tolerable or permissible, but the wonderful news is that regardless of the severity or frequency of our transgressions, we are still invited to return to our Father and receive mercy for our souls! Today, if there is unfinished business between you and the Lord, don’t delay: Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

But there is more to the story here with this prayer. There is a very important addition made to the prayer: a condition – it says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Then attached to the end of the prayer is another statement elaborating how important this condition is, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Remember, this prayer is not meant only to be prayed, but to be lived. Here’s the deal – If we want the freedom and invitation to come to God for forgiveness when we sin, then we must be willing to forgive others when they sin against us. Wow. This really seems to be the focus of the Lord in this part of the prayer. Our Father is a God of great, magnificent mercy, and if we have tasted of that mercy, we must – we are required – to extend that same mercy to others. This combination is beautifully illustrated by Jesus in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, found in Matthew 18… 

In Matthew chapter 18 Jesus speaks all about offenses, or problems between people, and how to deal with them. He strongly warns against offending others (v.6); reminds us that offenses are simply going to happen (v.7); and then he gives the instructions for the proper way to resolve conflicts (v.15-20). At the end of these instructions, Peter asks Jesus a question, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” So the Jewish teachers at that time taught that you should forgive someone three times, but not the fourth. Three strikes and you’re out! Peter, sensing that Jesus is calling for a higher standard of mercy and forgiveness than the status quo, upped the ante to 7. Jesus replied to him, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.” Jesus is obviously speaking symbolically here. He is not saying, “Keep track of how many times someone offends you, and when they reach 491 times, tell them that you are not obligated to forgive them anymore.” He means, “Keep forgiving them. There is no limit. Always forgive.” Knowing Peter, as well as the other apostles, there was most likely a pause, trying to process the teaching, not getting it. I also tend to this, because in Luke 17 we have a similar conversation (which may perhaps be the same occasion) where Jesus says “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4) Their response to Jesus’ teaching was, “Lord, increase our faith!” Haha! They knew right away, “Lord, if we are actually going to successfully do what you just said, we really need your help! Grace to understand why we should do that, and strength to be able to!” So in response to their plea for increased faith. Jesus delivers to them this parable: 

“Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion (pity), and loosed (set him free; let him go; released him) him, and forgave him the debt.”

In the parable there is a King who called his servants to give an account of their stewardship. One unfortunate fellow came, knowing that he had accumulated an astronomical amount of debt. He owed the king 10,000 talents. In Jesus’ day, 1 talent was equal to 6,000 days of pay, assuming an average wage. In modern terms this would be about $720,000 ($15/hr would be $120/day; Multiply by 6000 and you get $720,000). Now this servant did not owe 1 talent, but 10,000 talents. When we multiply $720,000 by 10,000, that gives us a whopping $720 Billion. Yes, Billion with a B. Saying that this kind of debt would be a sort of a problem would be an understatement! Do you think that however this debt was accumulated caused some problems for the kingdom? In fact, it seems very unlikely that this kind of debt could even be added up in real life by one person. The point that Jesus is making is that the servant accumulated a debt that was impossible to pay off. 

So to settle the debt, the King commanded that the servant, his wife and children should be sold into slavery until the debt could be paid. This meant a lifetime or servitude, most likely a complete separation from family. The servant, realizing that his entire life was over, did the only thing he could do – he fell prostrate before the King and begged for mercy, pledging that he would do everything in his power to pay it off (even though he and the king knew he never could without a miracle). This caused the King to have compassion upon him, to pity him, and to completely release him of his obligation. I’m not sure if this sort of debt has ever been freely and totally forgiven among men. I doubt it. But the point is that in a hypothetical situation, imagine if someone was actually pardoned of that much debt! Wow! What an dream that would be to experience. 

This part of the parable is an illustration of God’s mercy and forgiveness. The King represents God and the servant represents Mankind. Every person born into this world has an account with God; not a money-account, but a moral account. Mankind is made in the image of God. We have been loaned a body, soul and spirit, and have been commissioned by God to invest our lives in his service and in things that please Him. We are obligated to reflect his character in the world, thereby giving God a “return” to him for his investment.

The big problem? You guessed it – we have all abused this loan. Every sin we commit is another swipe of the card. Our “sin-card” is more like a credit card than a debit card – the deeper we go into debt the more we accumulate compounding interest (by this I mean that “sin will always take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.” Some people have so much debt from various places they have even forgotten that certain ones exist. Our moral-account is similar – we cannot even begin to trace back all of the times we have plunged our moral obligations into the red. We have done this with every account we have – our bodies, our minds, our affections, our possessions, our relationships, etc. The Bible is abundantly clear: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20) Like the servant in this story, our debt is impossible to pay off. The longer we live, the more we sin, and the more our debt piles up. We can attempt to pay it off, but it is too massive and compounding to actually do it. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) The only way we ourselves can pay the fine for our crimes is to spend the time – this is what Hell is. 

The only way out is to be prompted by sheer desperation and to cast ourselves on the pure mercy of God for forgiveness. We must plead, “God, please forgive me. I’m wrong. I’m guilty. I deserve this judgment, but please forgive me.” Thank God, that just as the King in this story, God will forgive us when we come to him with humility and repentance. Our debt with God cannot simply be overlooked; that would be an affront to the infinite holiness and justice of God. This debt had to be paid, and God in His wonderful love and tender-mercy, He gave his Son to pay the debt for us, in full at the Cross! 

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us (canceling the public record of debt), which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:13-14) Also Psalm 103:2-3,10-12, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Praise God for his wonderful mercy and love! We have been eternally set free! 

But this is not the end of the story. Nor is it the main point of the parable…

Here is the second half of the parable: 

“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst (begged) me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth (from O.English – wrath, writhe; hot), and delivered him to the tormentors (torterors; scougers), till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” 

We see the most preposterous event occur after this servant was forgiven of his unimaginable debt. He leaves the King’s presence, now a free man, debt free! You picture him on cloud-9, overjoyed by this miracle that happened in his life. But what does he do? He goes out and finds one of his fellow-servants who was in debt to him. We are told this other servant owed him 100 pence (denarii), which is equal to about $12,000. Some sources place the currency exchange much lower than this, but either way, these are servants answering directly to a king, who were most likely wealthy. Whatever the amount actually was, the point of the parable is to show that it was an insignificant amount that could easily be paid off. 

The forgiven servant seizes his fellow-servant, violently grabs him by the throat, and demands from him immediate payment, “Pay me what you owe me!” The fellow-servant responds to him in the same exact way he did before the king – with humility, begging for mercy. But instead of having mercy, or even having patience, the forgiven servant casts his fellow-servant into prison, to be a bondsman, until payment could be made! Unfortunately for this “forgiven” servant, some other servants saw the whole thing go down, and came and told the king what happened. Can you imagine how angry this king would have been? It is unimaginable, unthinkable, that this would be the actions of a servant who was forgiven of so much! It says that the king was wroth – he was hot, in wrath, enraged.  The then king calls in the servant and gives him a scolding reprimand, “You wicked, degenerate, vicious servant. I forgave you all of that debt, because you begged and besought me. Shouldn’t you have have had pity on your fellow-servant as I had pity upon you?” Then the king delivered the servant who would have been forgiven to the tormentors (torturers, scourgers) until he could pay his debt…which he would never be able to pay. 

Can you imagine to gall; the nerve it took for this man to do this to his fellow-servant? There is absolutely no reason why this should have happened. The amount of pity, compassion, mercy and forgiveness the servant received from the King should have prompted his heart to feel obligated to extend that same mercy to his fellow-servant, especially since the debt that was owed to him was NOTHING in comparison to the debt that he was forgiven of.  

Here’s the point – when you received forgiveness from God, you forever forfeited the right to hold a grudge against others! Why? Because forgiveness has a price tag. You cannot receive forgiveness from someone else and then not give it to others. More specifically – how can you see yourself on the precipice of Hell, deserving to be there, hear God’s voice of pardon, then walk away and send other people into the hell of your own making, and then try to justify your actions??? That is craziness, foolishness, wickedness. 

We have all sinned against God, correct? We’re all the servant who was forgiven of the impossible debt? We all deserve the Lake of Fire for eternity? 

Now, since we have been forgiven we all still sin, correct? On a daily basis? And we still come to God regularly begging his mercy and forgiveness about the same sins over and over again?

And he still forgives us, correct? 

So why in the world would you ever think it is right for you to hold a grudge against anyone else in your life!!!??? 

You say, “You don’t know what they’ve done to me. They have ruined my life!” 

Oh, really? Have you not marred the image of God on account of your sins? You have brought shame on the name of God in the presence of the King of the universe! You have played the harlot with devils in His presence. You worked for such a long time to destroy his kingdom. Was it not your sins that put Christ on the cross??? And yet is it not you who surrendered to God while his enemy? Was He patient with you while you were committed to defaming his name? “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Have you had compassion, or pity, on that person who has wronged you? Have you hung on a cross for their offenses? Are you willing to go to Hell for them? 

One might say, “But you don’t understand, they keep doing the same thing over and over and over. If they really meant it when they asked for forgiveness, then they would stop!” 

Oh, ok. Well good thing that when you went to God for forgiveness, it was only for that sin you committed once! Good thing you don’t drag yourself to the mercy seat on a daily basis beseeching forgiveness AGAIN, for the same thing you always do…

Or, do you do the same thing all the time and keep coming to God for forgiveness? You don’t like the sin you keep committing, you love it and you hate it. You allow yourself to be deceived thinking it will please your flesh and bless your spirit at the same time. When it fails to do the latter, you come back to God for release from guilt and shame, and for his anointing to heal and restore your joy again. Have you ever thought that perhaps the people around you, who sin against you, are simply acting just like you are in your relationship to God? It would do you well, that when others sin against you, to try to see your face on their body. When you continually come back to God for forgiveness you expect nothing less than free, full, liberating forgiveness. Why don’t you give out the same, especially since what you are forgiving is nothing in comparison to what God forgave and continues to forgive you of? “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” You are under obligation to give pure mercy to others, forever, for the rest of your life. “Freely ye have received, freely give.” 

If Ye Forgive Not 

The King initially offered complete forgiveness to his servant, but when he heard what this servant did to his fellow-servant, the King changed his mind and now required him to pay the debt. What is God’s disposition towards those who refuse to offer mercy and forgiveness to others? Remember, the King in the story represents God. Jesus put it this way without mincing words: “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Does this mean that if you are a professing Christian, and you refuse to release others of their sins against you, that you will not have eternal life? Does Jesus actually mean what he is saying here- that if we do not forgive others then God will not forgive us? Before we answer that, let’s look at a few other Scriptures, just to drive home the point: 

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) 

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25-26)

“With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.” (Psalm 18:25-26)

The Scriptures are clearly telling us that in some way God is committed to dealing with us in the same manner that we deal with others. How can we truly, consciously be forgiven of Hell and then not give out forgiveness for something petty and earthly? If the Spirit of God has truly come to live in our hearts, how can we not have those same bowels of mercy? If you live in bitterness, unforgiveness, variance, strife, or any other sharp offense between you and others, then you should truly check yourself to see whether you are in the faith. On the other hand, if you know that you know that you know Him, yet are still an unforgiving servant, you must be in a horrific spiritual prison, under deep chastisement from God, and I urge you to simply repent, be reconciled to your brother, and be set free from your bondage. Accept any loss that comes as a result, so that you might gain back your joy.     “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:30-32)