The Rhythm of Prayer (Week 4): God's Forgiveness (Matthew 6:9-15)

Throughout our series, The Rhythm of Prayer, we will delve into the transformative experience of prayer, focusing on the Lord’s Prayer to cultivate greater intentionality, intimacy, and illumination, seeking a rejuvenated prayer discipline that sustains spiritual renewal and challenges traditional, duty-bound approaches.

In Week 4, Pastor Jeff McLain looked at Matthew 6:13, and how this line in the Lord's Prayer causes us to intentionally reflect on God's Forgiveness in our lives. Through this Line in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to reflect on our own forgiveness and extend it to others. We are reminded to release harbored hate and unforgiveness, ensuring our prayers are not hindered by a sense of resentment towards others.

Who we are together.
River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together.

What we practice together.
Our small church community is uniquely caring, simple, laid-back, and intergenerational. As a church, we want to be a welcoming, safe, and healing community for those who are seeking, hurting, or need a place to belong. Our practices are contemplative (reflective) charismatic (Spirit-driven), conversational, and informative. The times we share together are intentional and intimate, and a mix between modern and traditional. We want to be a place in which love and honor are lived out, where humility is central, and where hospitality is woven into the threads of our community. There is room at the table.

When we gather together.
River Corner Church gathers weekly on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM to worship and experience God, study the scriptures, journey through life together, and partner with the Holy Spirit. We meet in a simple worship meeting house at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. You are welcome as you are, just be yourself. There are other times that we hold small groups, events, and more.

Our Pastoral Leader.
As the pastor of River Corner Church, Jeff McLain leads our church community and helps others to think differently about Jesus, life, and everything in-between. Jeff also serves as the Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission, where he works with those facing homelessness and poverty. Jeff, Katie, and their three wander-filled daughters look to lead quiet lives. Committed to lifelong learning, Jeff is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry at Kairos University and completing a Master of Business Administration with a focus on Executive Leadership at City Vision University. These academic pursuits complement the two masters he completed earlier at Fuller Seminary. Jeff has a passion for baseball, boardwalks, beaches, bays, and books, but above all, his greatest joy lies in spending time with his family and guiding our church community on our journey of faith together.

Learn more about us at rivercornerchurch.com.

Transcript

As I have continued to say over the last few weeks, most of us maintain a dedicated practice of prayer, integrating prayer into our daily lives. In our practice of prayer, we certainly experience moments of peace, but I think Jesus gives us a prayer that should bring about more than just peace. The Lord’s Prayer summarizes all of Jesus’ teachings and invites God to be part of our lives and our world in some powerful, revolutionary ways. Too often our approach to prayer is marked with a duty-bound sense of obligation and fluctuating consistency. Though I do not think that every prayer we pray will always be otherworldly, I do think our practice of prayer should be more expectant and experiential than we usually believe it to be. That is the point of the Lord’s Prayer.

This morning we continue our series, "The Rhythm of Prayer.”  Our series explores what it means to develop a more effective discipline of prayer. Through the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus has gifted us with a practice of prayer that is important to our spiritual formation. In this prayer, Jesus teaches us the secret of his relationship with God the Father. Through the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to have an intentional and intimate relationship with God the Father as he did.

Through the rhythm of this essential prayer, we are renewed and reminded about God the Father’s character, kingdom, provision, forgiveness, guidance, and protection. Throughout this series, we will explore each line of the Lord’s Prayer to uncover what the Lord’s Prayer can teach us about the Spirit-filled life. The hope is that we can cultivate new insights to foster a greater sense of intentionality, intimacy, and illumination in our prayer experience. 

The Lord’s Prayer is meant to be a relational encounter with the living and good God that encourages us and reprioritizes and reshapes our outlook, choices, actions, and faith. Throughout this series, I hope we find a rejuvenated prayer discipline “that sustains a sense of renewal in our spiritual journeys and challenges any duty-bound sense of prayer. We are diving into the transformative experience of prayer, focusing on the Lord’s Prayer to cultivate greater intentionality, intimacy, and illumination, seeking a rejuvenated prayer discipline that sustains spiritual renewal and challenges traditional, duty-bound approaches.” This morning we are going to look at how focusing on God’s Forgiveness is an essential and important aspect of effective prayer.

Scripture Passage

This morning we will read Matthew 6:9-15. I invite you to follow along as I read from Matthew 6:9-15. I will be reading from the New International Version. As you follow along, I invite you to look at this passage with fresh eyes. Even though we have looked at this passage last week, still allow this story that may be familiar to you, to captivate you in new ways. Matthew 6:9-15 reads like this.

“This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Over the last few weeks, we have looked at Jesus’ teaching on the Lord’s Prayer in both Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts. We looked at the verses before these teachings on prayer, and we looked at some of the teachings of the early church on prayer. Additionally, we have looked at how Jesus was introducing something new, but also borrowing from some of the best prayers of their day and teaching his disciples to pray effective prayers. 

In exploring the Lord's Prayer, it becomes evident that Jesus's teachings on prayer emphasize authenticity and intimacy with God over superficial displays of religious duty. Through examining both Luke's and Matthew's accounts, it's clear that Jesus sought to redefine prayer as a deeply intimate and sincere connection with God, for both individuals and communities, rather than a public spectacle or performance. Jesus warns against prayers done for the sake of being seen by others, highlighting the importance of genuine, heartfelt communication with God. He encourages his followers to retreat to private spaces for prayer, emphasizing the significance of sincerity and focus in fostering a meaningful relationship with God.

In the first week of this series, we saw how Jesus introduced a revolutionary concept in prayer, inviting believers to first reflect on prayer on God the Father’s Character and Holiness, recognizing that God the Father is far and otherworldly, but also near and intimately known by his followers through prayer. In the second week, we saw how Jesus invites God’s Kingdom, God’s rule and reign, to be part of our prayer, so we align our desires with God's will and actively participate in the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. Last week, we saw the role of reflecting on God’s Provision in our prayers, an aspect of our prayer that emphasizes dependence on God's provision as the source of all good things, and the spiritual richness of asking for daily needs.

This morning we are just focusing on one line in the Lord’s Prayer, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” It is this line about God’s Forgiveness that appears after Jesus teaches us to start our prayers focused on God’s Character, God’s Kingdom, and God’s Provision. In this line about the forgiveness of debts, Jesus teaches us to reflect on our own forgiveness so we can be driven by forgiveness toward others in our lives. In this line, we are reminded of how much unforgiveness may inhibit our prayers. Jesus gives us a line in the prayer that reminds us to make sure there is no harbored hate, unforgiveness, or sense in us that someone owes us in some way.

Main Focus 

The word for “debts” in this line of the Lord’s Prayer is chosen with great intentionality. The word for debt, ὀφείλημα (o-fay-la-ma), speaks to the result of the effect of having a debt or obligation, which is a owed obligation, a level of offense with another person, or a sin. This word for debt can be used when talking about an obligation towards others or with God. Theologian Craig Keener points out that at this time, “Jewish teaching regarded sins as “debts” before God; the same Aramaic word could be used for both.” Jesus would have used the Aramaic word, the spoken language of the day, in his teaching. In this prayer, Jesus used a word in this line of the Lord’s Prayer, that in essence speaks to the way our lives affect others or our relationship with God sinfully, or creates an obligation.

The word for the debtor in this passage then just speaks of one who owes or is indebted to us, or in the Aramaic understanding is a sinner towards us. A debtor is someone who is under obligation to pay back a debt that they have incurred, or someone who has wronged someone in a way that needs to be made right.

Depending on how you grew up, you might have learned the Lord’s prayer in one of these three ways. First, you may have learned it as, “And forgive our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Or you may have learned it as we read it this morning, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Or you may have said, “And forgive our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” Truthfully, all of these ideas (debts, trespasses, and sins) are at the core of this idea of debt that Jesus would have used. All of them are also past tense because it is something we are supposed to make sure we have done before entering prayer. In this line of the prayer, we are reflecting on how we have been forgiven by God, at the highest level, which frees us up to forgive others. We remind ourselves that we are forgiven, no matter what debt, sin, or trespass we have committed or incurred. However, we make that right by liberating others from the prison we have created for them out of their obligation or anger we have harbored.

The scriptures had called for a rhythm of forgiveness that we found in the First or Old Testament. Just as the seventh day was a day of rest, the seventh year was a year of rest. In the seventh year, the land was given a rest, the poor were allowed to gather and collect from the field, and wild animals were given rest to scavage fields. The blast of a horn, what a jubilee is, was declared on the seventh cycle of seven years, 49 years. The following fiftieth year was a time of great celebration. People were released from their obligations, bondage, and debts. That means in this year “all prisoners and captives were set free, all slaves were released, all debts were forgiven, and all property was returned to its original owners.” Even more, all work ceased for one year, giving people, nature, and the fields the ability to experience true rest. However, by the time of Jesus, scholars have pointed out that as humans do, “Jewish lawyers had found a way to circumvent the release of debts so that creditors could continue to lend” and enslave people. You and I can justify a lot of reasons to remember our sins or the sins of those who have trespassed against us in some way. But when we come to prayer, they are supposed to be gone.

However, we must see that the idea of the year of jubilee is caught up in this line of the Lord’s prayer. However, not just financial freedom, but spiritual freedom. Not just with each other, but also with God. Through this prayer, Jesus reminds us that the forgiveness of debts is no longer something that we practice every fifty or even seven years, but rather it is something we practice daily, every time we pray. As we saw in the Didache (did-a-kay) two weeks ago, the early church practiced praying this discipline of the Lord's Prayer three times a day. Anytime they prayed, three times a day, they were practicing the year of jubilee, the forgiveness of obligation and debt. The Lord's Prayer reminds us to accept God’s forgiveness, and to forgive others in the same way, which is essential to effective prayers, but also to living the Spirit-filled life. 

When you hear this idea of debt forgiveness, another story may come to mind. A few chapters later in Matthew 18, Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother or sister who sins against him. Peter rationalizes seven times, keeping with some sort of year of jubilee thinking. However, Jesus answers with a number that reflects an ongoing forgiveness. Then, according to Matthew, Jesus answers Peter’s line of questioning with a parable about a king who forgives a man who owes more than he can pay back. That man, in turn, goes home to find that someone owes him money. Though he has been forgiven of a great debt, he looks at this man who only owes him a little, and is ready to take his life over it. The king gets word of this, imprisons, and tortures the man until he can pay him back, and then says “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” In this parable, Jesus reveals a lot about God the Father, about the Kingdom, but he echoes this idea of forgiveness that shows up throughout all of his teachings. We who have been forgiven much must also be a people of forgiveness. Jesus calls us to live a life of forgiveness. To love those who hate us. To bless those who curse us. To pray for those that make themselves our enemies. to turn our cheek to those who harm us. In this line of the Lord’s prayer, we reflect and remember, that we enact and live out God’s command to live as prisoners to no sin and to imprison no one for their wrongdoings. As someone who has been harmed, and injured by the intentional wrongful acts of others, this line hurts. It is unfair. However, this is what it means to live a spirit-filled life. 

The Lord’s Prayer is a reminder of all Jesus taught. It realigns us to the ways, works, and words of Jesus. In this line of the Lord’s prayer, we remember the heart and intent of God that we see through the teachings of Jesus. Jesus tells his audience in Matthew 11:25, "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive your trespasses." John, an early follower of Jesus, reminds us in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." In Luke 6:37, Jesus teaches to "forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew includes this line, Matthew includes this line, I don’t know if Jesus followed his teaching with this line or if Matthew includes it because it is associated, but Jesus says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” In this line that follows up to the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is teaching that forgiveness is a two-way street. Like in the parable, Jesus is emphasizing that if we expect to receive forgiveness from God for our own mistakes and wrongdoings, we must be willing to extend forgiveness to others who have wronged us. The more we embrace God’s forgiveness the more we will forgive others. At the same time, the more we forgive others, the more we experience God's forgiveness. The Spirit-filled life is about recognizing this interconnectedness of forgiveness. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us to cultivate a spirit of forgiveness in our interactions with others, knowing that it's not just a moral obligation but also a fundamental aspect of a right relationship with God.

This idea of liberating us from the power of our sins, the idea of liberating us from the prison our sins can make for us, and the way our unforgiveness imprisons others is exactly why Jesus game. It is why Jesus stood up at the beginning of his life and ministry and said, “The Spirit of the Lord  is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news….to proclaim freedom for the prisoners….to set the oppressed free.” In the Lord’s Prayer, we reminded ourselves Jesus came to liberate us from our sins, for us to see that, and to be a part of his work liberating others.

In understanding the significance of the use of the word debts in the Lord's Prayer, we uncover a profound truth about forgiveness and obligation. Jesus calls us in our prayer to reflect on the interconnectedness of our relationships—with others and with God. Just as we seek forgiveness from our heavenly Father, we're called to extend that same forgiveness to those who have wronged us. This reciprocity forms the foundation of a Spirit-filled life, where the liberating power of forgiveness not only sets us free from the burdens of sin but also enables us to release others from the prisons of our own resentment and anger. Through the Lord's Prayer, Jesus invites us into a daily practice of forgiveness, reminding us that in embracing God's forgiveness, we experience the transformative power of extending grace to others, fostering deeper connections and alignment with the heart of God's kingdom.

In Building A Discipling Culture, Author Michael Breen “God us give us territory that is ours, and his provision within that territory is full and without want. Yet for some reason we often stray from our land and try to take what is not ours. We trespass into our neighbor’s land and incur a debt we cannot pay. When we trespass against another we are saying, “God what you have given me is not enough.” You and I do this all the time. We also allow our sins, the shame, guilt, and memories of them to imprison us. We must make right with those we have wronged, and to make our wrongs right. However, it is also important we don’t plateau because we can’t accept God’s forgiveness. In this passage, Breen also points out that we are asking God to not only guide our steps but to also forgive those who “stray from their path onto ours, hurting us and abusing us, and causing us pain, then we need to forgive them as God has forgiven us." that too is an active action. It is an act we do before we pray. Conversation for another time. For now, I want us to see that forgiveness is essential to effective prayers. If God feels distant, maybe we have forgiveness to accept or extend.

Application

1. Our prayers experience greater effectiveness when we accept and extend forgiveness.
2. We should intentionally invite God’s forgiveness into our lives and the places we feel hurt.
3. The more we reflect on God’s forgiveness in our own lives, the more intimately we will be able to forgive others.
4. We pray for God’s forgiveness because it is meant to be experienced in our hearts and lives.
5. The more we focus on God’s forgiveness in our prayers, the more God’s presence will renovate our hearts and world, renovating our outlook, choices, and actions toward others.

Author Michael Breen says that at this point in the Lord’s Prayer we in essence are learning to pray “Keep us, Lord, from being indebted to you in withholding forgiveness from others.” This line of the prayer asks for God the Father’s guidance to prevent us from accumulating a spiritual debt by refusing to forgive others, recognizing that holding onto grudges can hinder our relationship with God the Father and with others. It is important for the effectiveness of our prayers that we remember we have been forgiven, and we do not imprison ourselves with remembering our wrongs.

Similarly, it is important for the effectiveness of our prayers that we make sure we are forgiving those with any sort of obligation or trespass towards us. This is a call to actively liberate them and make sure they are not imprisoned by our unforgiveness.  This line of the prayer underscores the importance of extending forgiveness to ourselves and others, as a means of maintaining both our relationship with God and others, by remembering what God has done for us and what God’s forgiveness has done in our life, but it is also important for the effectiveness of our prayers.

In response to this challenge of ongoing prayer, this week, I hope you will utilize the rhythm of the Lord’s Prayer, incorporate deeper reflection on God’s forgiveness in your life, and reflect through the places in which you still need to forgive yourself and others. In prayer, we remember that God is near to us, and cares, God is forgiving and God wants us to experience the freedom of forgiveness with others. That makes effective prayers.

Thank you for continuing to journey with me through this series. May God’s forgiveness become more central to your times of prayer. That is my hope for my prayer time as well. Next week, we will examine how God’s guidance is an important aspect of prayer. If you missed or want to revisit one of the lines of the Lord’s Prayer, you can find them all online in our website or wherever podcasts can be found.