WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.240 We're reading today from Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 to 15. 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:18.859 And when you pray, you shall be like the hypocrites, for they shall love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:23.980 Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:34.939 But when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut the door, pray to your father who is in the secret place. 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:40.120 And your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 00:00:41.140 --> 00:00:50.960 But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:59.880 Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things that you need before you ask him. 00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:02.799 In this manner, therefore, pray. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:07.939 Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:13.599 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:16.780 Give us this day our daily bread. 00:01:17.919 --> 00:01:21.459 And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:27.379 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:32.319 For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 00:01:32.899 --> 00:01:33.359 Amen. 00:01:34.739 --> 00:01:40.739 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. 00:01:40.739 --> 00:01:50.539 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will the father forgive your trespasses. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:56.039 Well, the topic of forgiveness requires no introduction, really. 00:01:56.659 --> 00:01:58.759 Everybody recognizes it's essential. 00:01:59.259 --> 00:02:03.780 It's essential in all our relationships if they're to survive and thrive. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.479 But after that, it gets complicated. 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:08.800 We live in terrible tension. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.180 We do relationships. 00:02:11.260 --> 00:02:16.120 We have to do relationships with people who, like ourselves, are flawed, naturally self-centered. 00:02:16.660 --> 00:02:21.040 And that means hurts and injuries and pain and injustices are frequent. 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:21.840 They're common. 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:22.420 They're normal. 00:02:23.660 --> 00:02:26.540 And sometimes that means we just want to give up on relationships. 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:28.240 It's all just too hard. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:43.200 But then our longing to be known, to be accepted, to be loved, draws us back into those very relationships we feel like quitting sometimes, even though we feel vulnerable and broken. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:49.639 And on top of that, there's more tension because we live with two standards of forgiveness. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:51.780 At least I think we do anyway. 00:02:52.819 --> 00:02:58.199 We know we need to be forgiven repeatedly for all the wrongs, for all our wrongs. 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:04.439 We know we need to be treated with generosity, with mercy, with love, when we don't deserve it. 00:03:04.579 --> 00:03:06.599 Otherwise, the relationship we're in will collapse. 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:14.419 But at the same time, we find it hard to treat others in that relationship in the same way. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:19.639 We find it hard to be forgiving of others when their wrongs impact on us. 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:24.859 Of course, sometimes the tension is understandable. 00:03:25.239 --> 00:03:32.039 Sometimes the hurt we experience are such a betrayal or such an unwarranted personal attack. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:36.519 Sometimes they even wreck our lives forever in more extreme circumstances. 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:42.579 And when those sort of things happen, well, it just seems impossible to forgive. 00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:50.100 And I know some Christians who just find that concept to be so real and so raw for them. 00:03:50.760 --> 00:04:01.960 And so we find ourselves nursing anger, pain, bitterness, a desire for justice, even sometimes a desire for revenge. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:06.200 And all those sort of things threaten the overwhelm us at times. 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:14.939 And inevitably, those things impact all our relationships, not just the ones where the hurt comes from, but all our relationships. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.480 Now, here's the point this morning. 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:22.819 We bring all of this tension with us as we come to pray. 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:36.079 Asking for forgiveness and offering forgiveness to others is a normal part of our daily prayers, if praying as Jesus would have us pray. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:49.060 In fact, when you look at Matthew 6, such is the fundamental challenge of forgiveness that Jesus adds extra comments for emphasis after the prayer. 00:04:49.159 --> 00:04:50.399 Look at verse 14 and 15. 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:53.459 He doesn't do that for any other part of the prayer. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:05:00.360 And I think that says something about how difficult we find the challenge of forgiveness. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:03.819 And how Jesus recognized that. 00:05:03.819 --> 00:05:14.519 But before we launch into the text, let's do, for some context, let's do some revision on the kingdom of God, the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus' model prayer for his kingdom people. 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:20.659 So Jesus' mission, going all the way back to chapter 4, verse 17, was to reestablish the kingdom of God. 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:25.079 And the kingdom of God is just a description of God's rule over his people. 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:29.639 How is the kingdom of God seen, the spiritual kingdom? 00:05:30.259 --> 00:05:36.000 Well, I said a few weeks ago, it's not a physical geographical form like the United Kingdom. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:47.939 It's a vast spiritual kingdom, but it does have specific form and definition because Jesus is the king and he rules over his renewed people, his community people, his church. 00:05:47.939 --> 00:05:54.300 And they enjoy the good life he provides as the ruler of the kingdom. 00:05:55.620 --> 00:06:01.980 And all that is in sharp contrast to the kingdom of this world, which the Bible talks about and which we experience. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:07.939 The kingdom of this world, which rejects Jesus and seeks the good life apart from God. 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:14.079 Now, zoom in a little bit into the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5 to 7 of Matthew. 00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:23.819 What that's about is Jesus spelling out in detail how his global community of died for people, the kingdom of God, will be recognized. 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:38.480 And Jesus is saying that each person in the kingdom, each kingdom person will understand that they cannot achieve God's standard of righteousness or obedience in their own resources. 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:49.620 And instead, they'll put out their hands and thankfully accept his righteousness given as a gift, a free gift to us, but a costly gift to him. 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:59.180 Each kingdom person, says Jesus, will desire to serve King Jesus, desire to be like him in every attitude and desire. 00:06:59.459 --> 00:07:01.519 We see that right through the Beatitudes. 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:11.939 And these things all together overflow as a powerful counterculture, the kingdom of God against the kingdom of this world. 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:20.079 And the idea of that is that we might be salt and light, radically impacting the world and ultimately bringing glory to the Lord. 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:32.980 Now, coming into the Lord's Prayer, we must remember that this radical counterculture, which is the basis of the whole of the Sermon on the Mount, is also, therefore, to be seen in our prayer life. 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:35.759 I suspect we don't think about it like that. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:41.259 We seem to lift the Lord's Prayer sort of out of the context altogether. 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:44.279 But it's meant to be a radical prayer. 00:07:44.659 --> 00:07:48.420 It's meant to be an expression of radical counterculture. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:57.620 It's meant to be an expression of what kingdom people will be like, their desire, their attitudes, and ultimately their actions. 00:07:57.620 --> 00:08:08.060 Now, last week, we examined the first half of the prayer with its focus on how kingdom people or Christians should engage with God. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.280 Dave took us through that really, really helpfully last week. 00:08:11.280 --> 00:08:14.040 And so we approach him as kingdom people. 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:20.280 We approach him with the ease and confidence of children approaching their father. 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:22.839 Our father. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:32.199 Recognizing at the same time his awesome power and authority, which made us his children, our father in heaven. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:33.639 And then it goes on. 00:08:33.899 --> 00:08:41.779 We long to see him honored, to see him served by all, even as we commit to being his loyal servants and everything. 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:44.500 Now, that's radical for us. 00:08:44.620 --> 00:08:46.279 That's a huge thing to pray. 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:55.399 But at the heart of all that, we can say the Lord's Prayer is always about relationship and delight in the Lord. 00:08:56.459 --> 00:09:02.100 It's never simply box ticking what is right, as indeed we've seen right through the Sermon on the Mount. 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:10.079 Now, with that revision, let's jump into the second half of the Lord's Prayer, the Lord's Model Prayer, remember, 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:22.680 and make the point that kingdom or gospel-shaped people will be marked or characterized by an attitude of extravagant forgiving spirit. 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:27.800 Now, an extravagant forgiving spirit. 00:09:30.300 --> 00:09:33.600 It's easy to say, but it's a scary term. 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.560 Okay, so let's unpack that a little bit. 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:45.239 If prayer is spreading out our helplessness before God and expressing our total dependency on him, 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:50.639 and you see that in verse 11, both for our physical needs, give us this day our daily bread. 00:09:52.379 --> 00:09:57.079 We depend on God for our physical needs daily, our physical well-being daily. 00:09:57.379 --> 00:10:03.719 But even more importantly, verse 12, we depend on God, therefore, for our daily spiritual needs and well-being. 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:05.079 The two verses are connected. 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:16.100 Now, most urgently, then, is the plea, verse 12, that we might be known for our forgiven spirit. 00:10:16.220 --> 00:10:17.700 That's what we're praying in verse 12. 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:24.720 We might be known for our grace and mercy in forgiving those who have injured or offended us. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:31.240 Rather than being a person with long memories of injustice. 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:33.259 Have you heard that term before? 00:10:33.460 --> 00:10:37.580 You come across people and say, oh, yeah, that person's got a really long memory. 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:45.300 And it's the person who's got long memories of injustice who ultimately will be nursing bitterness, anger, 00:10:45.299 --> 00:10:50.919 and probably living with strained or broken relationships. 00:10:52.479 --> 00:10:54.299 And there's the contrast. 00:10:55.099 --> 00:10:56.199 The two options as well. 00:10:56.359 --> 00:10:57.319 Forgiving spirit. 00:10:58.979 --> 00:11:00.839 Or those with long memories. 00:11:02.599 --> 00:11:07.199 Now, we ask the question, what is kingdom attitude forgiveness? 00:11:07.439 --> 00:11:12.740 Now, you see in the outline of the sermon there, I've hyphenated that just because I want you to try and keep it all together. 00:11:12.740 --> 00:11:14.639 What is kingdom attitude forgiveness? 00:11:16.100 --> 00:11:20.019 Well, Martin's already opened up in the children's segment. 00:11:20.180 --> 00:11:24.419 But sin here in verse 12 is described as a debt. 00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:27.000 Now, I think that's a really helpful picture. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:36.820 Because it pictures the fact that sin has a penalty or cost which must be discharged or paid. 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:39.680 That's what a debt is. 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:49.920 So, practically, when someone sins against me, that is hurting me or maligning me verbally, physically, or emotionally, 00:11:50.520 --> 00:11:53.300 then at the end of that process, they actually owe me. 00:11:55.860 --> 00:12:02.960 And likewise, whenever I sin against you or somebody else, there's a real debt to be settled, to be discharged. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:10.360 Now, with that in mind, we now can sort of make a stab at a definition of forgiveness. 00:12:11.540 --> 00:12:14.200 And so, forgiveness is a conscious choice. 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:19.620 It's a conscious choice and decision that I make. 00:12:20.400 --> 00:12:21.320 To do what? 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:29.220 Well, to cancel the debt properly owed to me by the actions of another person towards me. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:30.740 That's the first thing. 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:31.360 Cancel the debt. 00:12:31.899 --> 00:12:33.060 And then it gets harder. 00:12:33.820 --> 00:12:38.300 To absorb the cost of that hurt and offense and injustice myself. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:48.600 That is, as I'm forgiving, I'm giving up my right to be merciless in response to their actions. 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:50.899 That came out of Matthew 18 that Martin opened up. 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:58.679 I'm giving up my, in offering forgiveness, I'm giving up my right to anger, to bitterness. 00:12:59.439 --> 00:13:02.159 And those two things are part of portraying myself as a victim. 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:04.539 So, I'm giving up my right to victimhood. 00:13:06.259 --> 00:13:08.220 I'm giving up my right to compensation. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.000 I'm giving up my right to justice. 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.139 I'm giving up my right even to restitution. 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:21.080 And finally, because of all that, I'm releasing the offender from any obligation of payment or penalty. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.360 Now, I don't know how that's coming across to you, but as I was preparing this week, that's just huge. 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:38.960 Kingdom forgiveness is far more demanding than simply uttering the words, I forgive you. 00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:43.860 And so often that's what we do, isn't it? 00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:53.699 We say, I forgive you while inwardly continuing to save with anger and bitterness towards that person. 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:58.699 And continue to be unwilling to relate warmly and generously toward them. 00:13:59.019 --> 00:14:02.019 Sometimes continue to be unwilling to relate to them at all. 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:05.379 And yet we still say, you know, I've forgiven them. 00:14:05.379 --> 00:14:14.419 So, kingdom attitude forgiveness is radically difficult. 00:14:15.059 --> 00:14:16.080 Radically difficult. 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:26.919 And it's also radically different to the easy, self-interested, I guess these days respectable forgiveness of our popular culture. 00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:30.939 Forgiveness is very common in our culture. 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:39.419 Not so much repentance, but forgiveness is very popular in our culture because our culture has made forgiveness all about me. 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:49.399 That is, I can offer forgiveness because what I'm doing when I offer forgiveness is taking back power and control from the person who's offended to me, offended against me. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:55.879 That they're a toxic person, and so I'm sort of disengaging myself with them as I forgive them. 00:14:56.579 --> 00:15:03.019 Or perhaps they'll even think, I'm actually, in forgiving that person, I'm showing that I'm better than they are. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:09.019 It's very common for these people, for people today to say, look, you know, they're not my values. 00:15:09.620 --> 00:15:14.399 And so in forgiving somebody, I'm making a statement that my values are better than their values. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:22.860 Or sometimes forgiveness is a form of revenge because we actually cut off relationship with the person who's offended. 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:26.860 And that's very popular in our culture as well. 00:15:27.819 --> 00:15:30.039 It all goes under the banner of forgiveness. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:34.459 But you can see how different it is from kingdom attitude forgiveness. 00:15:37.199 --> 00:15:38.939 So it's a huge thing. 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:42.679 Far, far more demanding than uttering the words, I forgive you. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:54.860 Therefore, an even harder question is, why will I desire this kingdom attitude of a forgiving spirit? 00:15:55.199 --> 00:15:56.919 It's one thing to understand what it is. 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:00.959 But why will I desire it as a kingdom person? 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:09.659 I've already said, look, it's a challenge to pray any sentence of the Lord's model prayer without sinning. 00:16:09.659 --> 00:16:16.980 And what I mean by that is that we can easily pray those sentences and actually not believe them, not act on them. 00:16:17.299 --> 00:16:21.799 And that means essentially we're sinning when we pray the Lord's model prayer. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:27.379 And goodness only knows what that means in how we've taught our children to say the Lord's model prayer over the years. 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:31.039 And we've taught them to sin because they recite it mindlessly. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:37.120 So it's a challenge to pray any sentence of the Lord's model prayer without sinning. 00:16:37.719 --> 00:16:42.879 But especially verse 12, requesting that the Lord forgive us. 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:50.339 Because we can't ask this of God without also reflecting on our forgiving of others. 00:16:50.439 --> 00:16:56.839 Verse 12, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debts. 00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:58.440 That's in the past. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:05.480 In other words, I'm asking you, Lord, this on the basis of what I've already done for my debtors or to my debtors. 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:17.299 Now, I want to start moving down a particular line here by saying there is no qualification offered here by Jesus. 00:17:17.299 --> 00:17:23.599 There's no situations where Jesus, well, okay. 00:17:24.139 --> 00:17:29.839 I'll soften this a little bit by saying, look, in this situation, this situation, this situation, this situation, there'll be an exemption. 00:17:29.980 --> 00:17:30.819 You don't have to forgive. 00:17:31.579 --> 00:17:38.579 Now, we can go to other parts of the scripture and we can find some situations that require some more negotiation and navigation. 00:17:38.579 --> 00:17:43.859 But here in this model prayer, remember, this is given, this is what kingdom people we look like. 00:17:43.919 --> 00:17:44.919 That's the context here. 00:17:45.199 --> 00:17:47.919 There's no qualification or softening. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:18:01.100 If we ask the Lord for forgiveness, it's assumed we have already forgiven those in our debt as a matter of obedience. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:10.539 Now, so far in my talk, if you're following me, then you'll be thinking, this is getting harder and harder and harder. 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:16.360 Is Jesus being realistic in this kingdom demand? 00:18:16.360 --> 00:18:16.720 Right. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:19.920 And you might be thinking, well, great. 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:21.759 Prayer is already hard enough. 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:22.960 I already struggle with it. 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:25.960 So how could I possibly pray with joy and excitement? 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:28.820 Because remember, this is what the prayer is. 00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:32.140 It's talking to our father like a little child. 00:18:32.140 --> 00:18:38.700 How could I possibly pray with joy and excitement, given such high standards, given such scary standards? 00:18:40.300 --> 00:18:45.500 Well, the balance of my time, I just want to give three great motivations. 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:49.059 I think I can, well, I believe I can discern in the text. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:50.319 You can be the judge of that. 00:18:51.140 --> 00:18:52.319 The first one is this. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:19:00.380 I will desire this kingdom attitude forgiveness because I appreciate deeply God's mercy to me. 00:19:00.380 --> 00:19:05.060 And then the hyphen and I live spiritually because of forgiveness. 00:19:06.580 --> 00:19:13.160 I just say that again to you, so I live spiritually because of forgiveness. 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:26.759 In kingdom terms, we owe God total, tireless loyalty all day, every day. 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:34.579 In terms of chapter seven, seeking first his kingdom and righteousness, no matter the cost. 00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:37.920 That's what we owe. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:45.220 Our sin is repeated failure to pay what we owe to God. 00:19:46.140 --> 00:19:47.920 So again, we come full circle. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:56.019 That means that even as Christians, our daily debt to the Lord is massive. 00:19:56.019 --> 00:20:04.500 You just need to read back through the various sections of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:11.079 And it just shows us how poorly we do in all of those things. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:20.279 Whether it's our internal thoughts, whether it's the way we deal with our enemies, whether it's the attitudes we display towards God, and so on and so on and so on. 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:29.539 But it's against my massive debt that God displays his forgiving spirit. 00:20:31.879 --> 00:20:33.279 God made a conscious decision. 00:20:34.139 --> 00:20:34.619 There you go. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:43.119 That's the thing, a conscious decision, a choice to cancel the debt I owed him, but could never have repaid him. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:51.819 He then went on to absorb the pain and cost of my sin, my debt, in himself. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:57.379 And he satisfied the demand of justice in and through the death of Jesus. 00:20:57.919 --> 00:21:03.539 And finally, thereby, he released me from any obligation of penalty or payment. 00:21:04.059 --> 00:21:08.439 That's the story that Martin told us in the children's section. 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:14.259 So just close your eyes and reflect on that for a minute. 00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:18.700 It is God in all his glory. 00:21:19.660 --> 00:21:33.500 And by that, I mean, Father, Son, and Spirit working together in grace, love, mercy, compassion, justice, faithfulness, covenant purpose, all of those things and more. 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:44.299 God in all his glory, God in all his glory, that working together, that resulted in my forgiveness, resulted in restored life and relationship with him. 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:48.940 I live spiritually. 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:53.680 I'm accepted before God spiritually because of forgiveness. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:22:02.600 Now, verse 12, we need to see here, it's not a tit-for-tat command. 00:22:03.539 --> 00:22:11.140 It's not, and I know some people who've read it like this, it's not, I forgive person X so that the Lord will forgive me. 00:22:11.539 --> 00:22:12.420 That's tit-for-tat. 00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:16.680 I'm only doing it because I want something from the Lord. 00:22:17.580 --> 00:22:20.039 That's not what the sense of it here is properly. 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:29.039 What it's doing here is highlighting a forgiving spirit which overflows towards those who owe me. 00:22:32.259 --> 00:22:36.379 As Martin said in his children talk, the forgiven forgive. 00:22:38.700 --> 00:22:45.480 And what's more here, and that's why there's no easy way out, no mitigation here, 00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:49.180 the Lord will not allow me a double standard. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:56.960 The Lord will not allow me to come to him in prayer expecting him to discharge my massive debt 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:06.120 while secretly in my heart feeling justified in refusing to forgive the relatively small debt that others owe me. 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:10.620 And yet, how often do we do that? 00:23:10.619 --> 00:23:17.179 So it boils down to this. 00:23:18.919 --> 00:23:24.319 If I display practically an unforgiving spirit in my dealings with others, 00:23:25.239 --> 00:23:27.299 then it shows one of two things. 00:23:28.339 --> 00:23:34.399 It shows either that I've not experienced mercy, repentance, and forgiveness of myself. 00:23:34.479 --> 00:23:38.259 In other words, it's something that's completely outside my experience. 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:41.400 It means I've got no experience of. 00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:49.559 Or it means I've forgotten about the cost of God forgiving me, 00:23:49.619 --> 00:23:53.099 and I've been distracted by the hurt of others. 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:55.140 I've forgotten the gospel, in other words. 00:23:55.140 --> 00:24:10.060 So my friends, let's give ourselves to praying that our attitudes, our words, and our actions actually reveal Christ and kingdom values in us. 00:24:10.059 --> 00:24:20.679 And practically, let's move into every relationship, every relationship, every time we engage in a relationship. 00:24:20.679 --> 00:24:29.200 Let's move into telling ourselves that no debt of sin that I might experience from this person or this relationship, 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:39.380 no debt of sin could come close to my discharge from sin that's come to me by God's grace. 00:24:39.380 --> 00:24:43.220 It's a perspective. 00:24:44.360 --> 00:24:46.840 And we need to keep reminding ourselves of it. 00:24:47.120 --> 00:24:48.860 And we need to keep praying for it. 00:24:49.560 --> 00:25:00.620 The second motivation, then, that will lead us to desire this kingdom attitude forgiveness is that I want most to reflect God's character to others. 00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:10.979 And so the hyphen here, then, is subtitle, as it were, mercilessness is incompatible with being spirit-filled. 00:25:14.979 --> 00:25:15.459 Question. 00:25:17.639 --> 00:25:21.879 What is the opposite of forgiveness or a forgiving spirit? 00:25:24.500 --> 00:25:25.539 Put the question again. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:29.159 What is the opposite of forgiveness or the opposite of a forgiving spirit? 00:25:30.619 --> 00:25:33.759 Now, we might simply say, well, it's being unforgiving. 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:36.179 The opposite of forgiving is unforgiving. 00:25:36.919 --> 00:25:38.759 Well, I don't think that's actually quite right. 00:25:38.819 --> 00:25:39.879 It's much stronger than that. 00:25:40.059 --> 00:25:47.699 The opposite of forgiveness or a forgiving spirit must be some attitude of merciless revenge in some shape or form. 00:25:48.339 --> 00:25:49.359 Some payback. 00:25:50.699 --> 00:25:59.379 If it's that, then you can see that an unforgiving spirit is actually the very opposite of God's character. 00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:03.800 And from there, it actually makes a mockery of the gospel. 00:26:06.020 --> 00:26:10.480 So once again, consider the glory of God in all of this. 00:26:11.760 --> 00:26:19.520 So it has always been the Father's plan and purpose that his people would reflect his glory to the whole world. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:27.139 This requires us to display his righteousness or his character. 00:26:27.140 --> 00:26:31.580 That was the message right through the Old Testament. 00:26:32.100 --> 00:26:38.200 Be like this so that everybody in the world will say, these are the people of the living Lord, Yahweh. 00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:43.840 But we could never display his righteousness or character. 00:26:44.280 --> 00:26:45.840 We can never achieve that on our own. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.819 But we've actually been given that in Jesus. 00:26:48.939 --> 00:26:52.720 We've been given his righteousness when we were saved. 00:26:53.480 --> 00:27:01.299 And with Jesus, we've also been given the Holy Spirit who now lives within us, whose job is to renovate and renew us from the inside out. 00:27:01.639 --> 00:27:09.899 Giving us both the desire and the ability to say, as it says in Romans, yes to righteousness and no to sin. 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:14.580 And that's what it is to be spirit filled. 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:29.140 So when it comes to prayer and praying and the kingdom attitude of forgiveness, then as a Christian, I have every reason, the overwhelming love of God. 00:27:29.140 --> 00:27:39.180 And every resource, Father, Son, and Spirit working within me, every resource possible to make me more like my Father in heaven. 00:27:39.700 --> 00:27:43.500 Every reason, every resource to make me more like my Father in heaven. 00:27:44.860 --> 00:27:52.800 Acting with strong, determined love rather than acting from hurt or fear. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:28:01.519 Acting for the best interest of the other person in spite of their failures towards me. 00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:12.980 So friends, applying this just even within the Lord's prayer, the Lord's model prayer here, it will go something like this. 00:28:12.980 --> 00:28:28.960 If I pray thoughtfully and genuinely, the first half of this prayer, as I express that my greatest desire is for the whole world to see my Father as I see him and long to be like him. 00:28:31.220 --> 00:28:40.319 Then I will most want to be like him in the aspect of God's glory that give me spiritual life, forgiveness. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:29:07.220 So again, my friends, we need to pray and we need to pray daily that my desire and delight and thankfulness to the Lord and for the Lord might exceed my hurt, my sense of injury from others. 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:12.220 Because that will cause forgiveness to the Lord. 00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:24.220 If we have such a satisfaction, such a delight that the Lord knows our hearts, the Lord knows our circumstances. 00:29:25.360 --> 00:29:26.779 The Lord loves us. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:31.620 The Lord's put a spirit within us specifically to be able to reflect his character. 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:36.900 That then will fray us to overflow in forgiveness to others. 00:29:37.220 --> 00:29:52.779 The third and final motivation then that will make us want to desire kingdom, attitude, forgiveness is that the prayer itself expresses my desperate need of God's help daily. 00:29:53.220 --> 00:29:56.920 Now, I want to come back again to praying without sinning. 00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:08.480 Dave did the bulletin this week and said, when I sent the sermon outline yesterday, there's an immediate text come back and said, do you mean praying without sinning or should it be praying without ceasing? 00:30:08.600 --> 00:30:11.160 And I said, for better or for worse, it's praying without sinning. 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:12.000 So here we go. 00:30:12.060 --> 00:30:12.800 We'll see how it works. 00:30:13.100 --> 00:30:14.160 It might be a disaster. 00:30:14.620 --> 00:30:17.039 But I wanted to be confrontational at that point. 00:30:18.080 --> 00:30:21.240 Because those two same things sort of jar really hard, don't they? 00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:24.039 So here it goes. 00:30:24.859 --> 00:30:28.920 We need to pray daily because we fail daily. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:36.579 And because we depend on God's protection and help for our spiritual well-being. 00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:44.940 And that's primarily expressed in seeking forgiveness for myself and a forgiving spirit towards others. 00:30:44.940 --> 00:30:49.559 Now, when we pray for forgiveness, we need to be careful here. 00:30:50.580 --> 00:30:55.660 We're not asking for forgiveness daily as a means of acceptance before God. 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:01.480 That point in time forgiveness became ours when we were saved. 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:17.539 So when we're praying this prayer as Christians, we're asking as adopted children, children who know that we failed today, like we failed yesterday, that we've hurt our loving father today and yesterday and the day before. 00:31:18.019 --> 00:31:21.200 And we just want the relationship to be right again. 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:32.440 We want to make sure that the father will continue to overlook our sin as he has done in that point of time forgiveness when we became Christians. 00:31:33.120 --> 00:31:34.440 And so it's right. 00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:37.259 We're praying to him every day saying, father, I've mucked up again. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:40.039 Forgive me again. 00:31:42.420 --> 00:31:49.259 And perhaps that explains verse 13, where it says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:53.319 So that at first glance seems like a nod request of God. 00:31:53.420 --> 00:31:54.660 Lead us not into temptation. 00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:57.200 Would God lead us into temptation? 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:02.400 Don Carson suggests there's various alternatives to explain that. 00:32:02.460 --> 00:32:04.279 But Don Carson, I think, is the best. 00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:05.319 At least I'm going with his anyway. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:07.960 So he's suggesting it's a figure of speech. 00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:14.900 A figure of speech that negates something to actually emphasize it. 00:32:14.900 --> 00:32:21.380 And he references several points in the text in the gospel for Jesus actually does that thing. 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:27.580 So we, for example, we might speak of some event and say, well, that event was on down there. 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:28.480 And you know what? 00:32:28.580 --> 00:32:30.040 Not a few people turned up. 00:32:30.740 --> 00:32:35.880 What we actually mean there, even though we use the negative, is that a huge crowd turned up. 00:32:35.880 --> 00:32:44.700 My dad used to be rather famous for saying after a lovely meal that mom cooked, well, there wasn't much wrong with that. 00:32:46.140 --> 00:32:49.200 It was his weird way of saying that was delicious. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:57.319 So if you read that back in here, and I think it makes some sense, it would be something like this. 00:32:58.700 --> 00:33:06.600 Given our own failings, given our own weakness, given our inability to recognize and avoid the tricks and traps of the evil one, 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:20.919 please lead us into circumstances and situations which will produce righteousness as we are protected and assisted by your powerful spirit working in us. 00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:32.819 And if that's the case, then perhaps verse 13 is a prayer that we add to verse 12 in the sense that it's a prayer for ever increasing maturity. 00:33:32.819 --> 00:33:38.939 And what does maturity show like in kingdom people? 00:33:39.299 --> 00:33:43.980 Well, maturity often shows in a greater knowledge of our sin. 00:33:46.220 --> 00:33:58.259 And so therefore, perhaps the mature prayer in verse 13 is knowing that our greatest temptation in this particular matter is to default to a veneer of forgiveness on the outside. 00:33:58.259 --> 00:34:01.019 Right words. 00:34:01.980 --> 00:34:08.219 While bursting inside with anger, bitterness and resentment and desire to lash out and hurt those who hurt us. 00:34:09.179 --> 00:34:19.099 Now, that view would actually fit well into chapter six, where Jesus has been talking about inside out religion that the Jewish religious leaders sort of prided themselves on. 00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:20.619 It was all show. 00:34:20.739 --> 00:34:21.579 It was all words. 00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:22.800 It was all on the outside. 00:34:23.500 --> 00:34:25.340 And it wasn't an attitude of heart. 00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:39.380 And perhaps then the mature kingdom person will recognize and pray daily, urgently, recognizing that our greatest temptation is to default to religion. 00:34:39.620 --> 00:34:41.760 That is saying the right thing on the outside. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:43.000 I forgive. 00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:55.079 But it's only a veneer while bursting inside with anger, bitterness, resentment, and as I said before, a desire to lash out, to hurt those who hurt us. 00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:58.840 So friends, here's the rub on this point. 00:35:00.739 --> 00:35:10.639 Let's not mindlessly sin as we pray these words by not being serious about forgiveness. 00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:11.679 Let's not mindlessly sin as we pray these words by not being serious about forgiveness. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:21.780 Let's not be looking for loopholes to ease the challenge of this. 00:35:22.579 --> 00:35:28.960 Let's not be looking for situations where we believe we can justify not forgiving someone. 00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:30.619 And how often do we do that? 00:35:30.619 --> 00:35:46.199 Let's not soften a principle the Lord has given us here without qualification in the context of what kingdom people will look like and how we will be different counterculture to the kingdom of this world. 00:35:46.199 --> 00:35:55.939 And wouldn't that forgiving spirit make us, according to kingdom attitude, make us a radical counterculture? 00:35:55.940 --> 00:36:05.420 Friends, let's beg the Lord for a forgiving spirit, no matter the cost to us. 00:36:05.420 --> 00:36:09.840 Knowing it will honor the Lord. 00:36:11.780 --> 00:36:16.300 It will honor the Lord most by displaying the changing power of the gospel. 00:36:16.659 --> 00:36:19.860 It will actually say to people all around us, the gospel actually works. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.740 How could that person possibly forgive that other person who's hurt them so badly? 00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:27.559 How could they forgive them so totally, so freely? 00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:30.699 And resume relationship with them again? 00:36:31.860 --> 00:36:33.860 Oh, that's the changing power of the gospel. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:41.000 So I want to conclude with J.I. Packer's question from the bulletin article. 00:36:41.139 --> 00:36:42.320 I would urge you to read that. 00:36:42.400 --> 00:36:44.299 It's taken from his book, I Want to Be a Disciple. 00:36:45.860 --> 00:36:50.579 And at the end of going through the Lord's Prayer, he turns them into a series of questions. 00:36:50.579 --> 00:36:56.139 And I want to pick up just one and leave it with you now. 00:36:58.340 --> 00:37:06.659 Is there a person whom hitherto you have refused to forgive for what he or she did to you? 00:37:10.119 --> 00:37:11.059 I'll read it again. 00:37:11.219 --> 00:37:17.799 Is there a person whom hitherto you have refused to forgive for what he or she did to you? 00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:29.480 Will you ask the Lord this moment, this moment, to help you change your attitude and get right with that person? 00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:34.880 Join me now as we pray. 00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:45.019 Lord, who can bear the teaching of your model prayer on forgiveness? 00:37:46.380 --> 00:37:52.519 Accept that, Lord, we come to it with the knowledge that we're not on our own. 00:37:53.579 --> 00:37:58.280 We have every reason to hate it and want to emulate it. 00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:05.180 For we're loved and loved totally as your beloved children, adopted children. 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:09.660 And Lord, we know that as we come to this challenge that you're not being unrealistic. 00:38:09.660 --> 00:38:16.420 Because not only have you asked us to be like this, you've actually provided the resources to be like this in the Holy Spirit. 00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:19.480 Teaching us to say yes to righteousness. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:22.380 And no to sin. 00:38:22.380 --> 00:38:26.099 Teaching us to say yes to a forgiving spirit. 00:38:26.619 --> 00:38:32.420 And no to a mercilessness and a merciless lifestyle. 00:38:33.680 --> 00:38:35.420 Help us, Lord, to hear your teaching. 00:38:35.579 --> 00:38:41.640 Help us to avoid casting around, finding ways to make it softer in the way we hear it. 00:38:41.639 --> 00:38:59.339 Rather, Lord, help us to cast ourselves before you and beg your mercy and grace to be able to live with such forgiving spirit that truly we can say, and others will say of us, that they reflect the glory of the Lord God. 00:39:00.359 --> 00:39:02.339 Help us, we pray, on a daily basis. 00:39:02.500 --> 00:39:03.960 We desperately need your help. 00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:08.259 And we know, Lord, that when we pray these sorts of prayers, you delight to answer them. 00:39:08.699 --> 00:39:10.659 So help us, we pray, in Jesus' name. 00:39:10.659 --> 00:39:11.940 Amen.