“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Mt 6:12)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer. Last Sunday, we talked about the meaning of the prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mt 6:11). Even though we might not really feel the need to ask for our daily bread, it’s important to keep asking God to give us what we need on a daily basis because it reminds me of the truth that He is the One who sustains our lives and that everything that helps us maintain our lives actually comes from Him. That’s what the Israelites learned from their experience in the wilderness. In order to survive in the wilderness, they had to go out and gather manna every day. But, God set certain principles about gathering manna. They had to gather the bread every day. Therefore, they had to gather only enough food for each day. Manna was edible only on the day they gathered it because it became rotten the next day. By doing so, God made them humble and taught them the truth that their survival was solely dependent on His provision, not anything else. God wanted them to learn that what really sustained their lives was not the food they were eating, but God who gave them food to eat everyday. In order words, they learned that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Dt 8:3). That’s what we must also know as God’s people. Even though we don’t lack food, and therefore it’s easy for us to rely on our own power, possessions, and abilities more than God, we should know that the One who really maintains our lives and gives us life and breath every day is God. That’s what the prayer for daily bread reminds us. By being devoted to this prayer we learn to live on every word from God, not on what we have. This prayer is also important in Christian life because we also need spiritual food to grow spiritually. As God’s children, we should always crave spiritual food and be nourished by the truth of God’s word in order to grow to become more like Jesus. We should seek God every single day just as we eat food every day. And we can’t have the spiritual food on our own because God gives it to us. No matter how many times we’ve read the Bible, if we don’t try to listen to God, we will gain nothing for our souls. We may have some knowledge, but nothing will happen in our relationship with God. Jesus said that He is the bread of life coming from heaven. Those who eat the bread will remain in Him and live forever. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh. He is the ultimate and final revelation of who God is and the culmination and fulfillment of His word. We find true food that makes us alive, change, and grow in Jesus. That’s the spiritual food we should always be nourished by every single day. We can’t live today with the grace we received yesterday. We need today’s grace to live today in God’s will because our sinful nature is renewed every day. Because he knew this, Paul said, “I face death every day” (1Co 15:31). Jesus also told His followers, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23) To truly live as God’s people, we must first acknowledge that we can’t live out our faith without being nourished by His truth every day. That recognition will make us humble before Him and more eager for His word and grace. And I believe it can happen when we’re more devoted to this prayer: “Give us today our daily bread.” Forgive Us Our Debts Now, let’s move on to the next part in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus continues, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Mt 6:11). Here, we encounter one of the most important subjects we should know about as Christians—forgiveness. We always need forgiveness because we live in constant relationships with other beings. The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “Man is by nature a social animal.” What Aristotle emphasizes here is that one of the things that differentiates human beings from other animals is their reliance on social relationships. As human beings, we can’t live alone or in isolation. We need relationships and we need each other to fulfill those needs. I think that’s because God created us in His image. When creating the first human beings, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness” (Gen 1:26). Here, the word ‘our’ implies relationship. The triune God created human beings out of the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. We’re created to have a relationship with God, with others, and with God’s other creatures. It means that relationships are one of the unique characteristics of human beings. We can say that we’re created out of relationship, for relationship. So, relationships play a significant role in being human. But, we also know from experience that what causes the most problems in our lives is relationships. We can’t live without relationships, but at the same time, we often suffer because of them. That’s because the world we’re living in now is different from the world that God originally created. Sin came to the world through the first humans’ disobedience and it soon came to influence every part of our lives, including our relationships. Rather than loving one another, we easily judge and hate others. Rather than being selfless, we’re selfish by nature. Rather than taking care of others, we became indifferent to them. The Bible says that that’s the consequence of sin. From the moment sin separated us from God, we lost our natural inclination to love others more than ourselves. I think that’s the reason we need forgiveness. Having relationships with others is essential in human life. But we can’t avoid hurting each other in the process of establishing relationships with others because of our sinful nature. It’s inevitable. It’s impossible to have relationships with others without hurting and being hurt. Then, what should we do? At this point, I believe forgiveness plays a very important role in our lives because it allows us to recover our broken relationships and build more constructive and proper relationships with others. In other words, forgiveness serves as a medicine in our social health. When we’re hurt by others’ words and actions, the wounds remain in our hearts. The pain doesn’t just go away. If we don’t treat our wounds, they will become bitter roots in our hearts and grow. What’s worse, the wounds affect the other relationships we have. For example, I talked to a woman a few months ago who is Korean. She said she chose not to go any place where there are Koreans because of a wound that she got from a Korean before. She hadn’t gone to church for more than 10 years—not because she didn’t want to go, but because she didn’t want to meet other Koreans there. Her wound from a Korean affected her relationships with other Koreans and even her faith. We can easily find more examples in this matter. That’s what happens when forgiveness doesn’t work in our lives. When we’re hurt, we might want to continue to hate the person who hurt us. We might even want to take revenge. I once read a sentence somewhere that said “the best forgiveness is revenge.” That’s how people normally respond to their wounds. But we know revenge doesn’t really solve our problems. It actually makes situations worse. It makes our hearts more hardened toward others. So, even though it’s very hard to forgive those who hurt us, we should learn to forgive. It’s good not only for them, but for us. I personally believe forgiveness is one of the greatest blessings given to God’s people because it cures wounds in our hearts and restores our relationships with others so that we can live a happy and abundant life in our relationships. The reason I said forgiveness is a blessing is because it’s actually a gift from God. I think one of the reasons it’s hard for us to forgive is because we consider forgiveness a command. Of course, we find a lot of commands in the Bible related to forgiveness. But, forgiveness is more like a blessing and gift for me because God doesn’t only command us to forgive, but also gives us the power to do so. Those who haven’t experienced forgiveness can’t forgive others. Forgiveness is not something that we can do naturally because it’s actually against our nature. In this sense, we’re blessed because we see the greatest example of forgiveness in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and experience it every day. We’ve all experienced the power, love, mercy, and grace needed to forgive others in Jesus Christ. He has shown us what true forgiveness is and how to forgive through His sacrifice on the cross to give us the gift of forgiveness. So, even though it may still be very challenging, we can and should forgive others not with our own love and generosity, but with the amazing love and forgiveness He showed on the cross. The prayer we’re talking about today consists of two parts. In the first part, we ask that God would forgive our debts. And, in the second part, we profess that we have forgiven others. We’re taught to pray, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Mt 6:12) But that doesn’t mean that forgiving others is the condition for God to forgive our sins. As Paul said, Jesus came to the world to forgive our sins when we were still sinners who didn’t deserve His forgiveness. The forgiveness given to sinners is solely dependent on God’s grace, not our merit. But, I think the forgiveness given to God’s people, who have already experienced God’s great love and forgiveness, is different. God doesn’t require ‘sinners’ who haven’t yet received His love and forgiveness to forgive others in order to be forgiven by Him. It’s given by God’s grace alone. But, God does require His people to forgive others in order to be forgiven by Him. Now, it’s a responsibility and a command that we should follow. And I think it’s very important to distinguish between these two types of forgiveness. Otherwise, it would be hard for us to understand the meaning of this passage. This is what Jesus said right after He taught how to pray. “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” (Mt 6:14-15). This passage has been controversial because it sounds like Jesus is saying that our forgiveness toward others is the essential condition of God’s forgiveness toward us, which makes it hard for many Christians to understand the concept of God’s forgiveness because we’ve learned that it’s freely given to us by His grace through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. And, both are true in light of the Scriptures. When we’re sinners, we were freely forgiven when we hadn’t done anything to earn it. But I would say that for God’s people, who have already experienced the forgiveness that came by Christ, forgiveness isn’t given freely. We’re to forgive others in order to be forgiven by God. That’s what we learn from the parable of the servant who owed 10,000 talents. You may be familiar with this parable. In the parable, a servant owed the king ten thousand talents. Here, a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages at that time. So, ten thousand talents was a massive amount of money, equivalent to 200,000 years of wages. Of course, the servant couldn’t pay his debt to the king. So, the king ordered him to sell all his possessions to pay it. Then, the servant fell on his knees before the king, and begged, “Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything” (Mt 18:26). Hearing this, the king took pity on him, freely canceled the debt and let him go. The king didn’t require him to do anything. But, when the servant saw his fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii, he grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, “Pay back what you owe me!” (Mt 18:28). Here, denarii is the plural form of a denarius, which was the usual daily wage of a day laborer. So, a hundred denarii is equivalent to three months wages. That’s not a small amount of money. It’s about $10,000 today. The fellow servant who owed a hundred denarii did the same thing to the servant. He fell to his knees and begged him, saying, “Be patient with me, and I will pay it back” (Mt 18:29). But even though the servant just had an enormous debt canceled, he refused to forgive his fellow servant’s debt which was very small compared to what he was forgiven. Rather, he had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. Seeing this, the other servants became outraged and went to the master to tell him everything that had happened. Then, the master called the servant again and said, “You wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Mt 18:32-33). Then, the master also put him into prison. After telling this parable, Jesus concluded, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Mt 18:35) There are a few lessons we can learn from this parable. First, we know that the price of sin we owed to God is unpayable. The king in the parable refers to God. The servant owed him 10,000 talents which he could never pay on his own. This refers to the wage of sin we are to pay. The price of sin is priceless because its result is death. The Bible says, “the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (Ps 49:8), “For the wages of sin is death” (Rm 6:23). And, the Bible says that the wage of sin is so costly that we can’t ever pay for it. But, very thankfully, the king had pity on the servant and forgave him without any conditions. You might think that it was easy for the king to write off the servant’s debt, but it wasn’t because 10,000 talents was a big amount to the king as well, which means that for the king to forgive the debt freely, he had to take a serious loss. Likewise, in order to forgive our sins, God had to pay an enormous price. We know what He paid for the ransom for our sins. He sacrificed His one and only Son to redeem us. From this we see God’s great, unimaginable, and unconditional love, compassion, and forgiveness for us. These are important lessons we can learn from the parable, but there’s another lesson I want us to focus on today, which is the responsibility of forgiveness. The servant whose enormous debt was canceled by the king now came to have the responsibility to forgive others’ debt. Even though the king had mercy on the servant and wrote off his debt, the servant didn’t have mercy on his fellow servant. He refused to cancel a hundred denarii and instead put him in jail. The servant didn’t have the responsibility to forgive the debt before he was forgiven. But, because his enormous debt was forgiven freely, he now had to forgive his fellow servant’s relatively small amount of debt. The reason the servant was judged for not forgiving a hundred denarii lies on the fact that he had already been forgiven a much greater amount of money. In other words, because he was forgiven by mercy, he came to have the responsibility to forgive others’ debts as well. That’s the responsibility we also have toward others. While living on earth, we may encounter people who cause damage in our lives as much as a hundred denarii. We may be hurt and attacked on a false charge. It may seem like a big deal to us. But, what Jesus is teaching us is that we should forgive them not because the injury they inflict upon us is not a big deal. A hundred denarii is a big deal. It is worth $10,000. Nevertheless, Christians should and are actually able to forgive those who harm us because we know that we were already forgiven 10,000 talents—much more than a 100 denarii. Because we were forgiven by God’s great mercy and Jesus’ amazing sacrifice, we can now forgive others no matter the amount of damage they’ve done in our lives. That’s what we should focus on. If we only focus on our wounds, we can’t forgive. But if we look up and focus on the great grace and love God has given us to forgive us and what Jesus sacrificed to save us from our sin and death, we’ll know that there’s no sin that we can’t forgive while living on earth. The reason it’s hard for us to forgive others is because we easily forget the fact that we were forgiven 10,000 talents. That’s what we should continue to remind ourselves of. So, it’s important to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Mt 6:11) because it reminds us of God’s great love, sacrifice, and forgiveness. It is deeply based on the confidence that God will forgive our sins no matter how big they are. But that’s not the end. This prayer also reminds us of our responsibility and ability to forgive others. We have a responsibility to forgive others because we were forgiven much greater debts. And, we have the ability to forgive others because we have experienced God’s amazing love and forgiveness. So, for us to forgive others is not actually a command. Rather, it’s more like a blessing that cures our hearts and makes us move forward beyond our wounds. Now, let’s read Colossians 3:12-13 before we wrap up. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col 3:12-13) This is the kind of life we’re to pursue as Christians. God has chosen us with His great love and forgiven all our sins through the redemption that came by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Then, it’s our responsibility to bear with each other and forgive one another just as Christ forgave us. In fact, that’s the one of the strongest pieces of evidence that we’re forgiven and saved. How can we say we’re forgiven without trying to forgive others? And, how can we say we’re deeply loved without trying to love others? So, let’s be devoted to praying, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Mt 6:12), so that we may be continuously filled with God’s love and forgiveness and so that we can forgive others with His love and mercy. Let’s pray. <Closing prayer> Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us about Your forgiveness and how we can forgive others. We thank You for forgiving our sins and giving us the power and blessing of forgiving others. We confess that we don’t have the love and power within us to love or forgive others as You have done to us. So we ask for Your mercy. Please let us realize what great forgiveness You’ve given us through Jesus Christ and fill us with Your unconditional, everlasting love so that we can stand strong on the firm foundation of the truth and reflect Your great character through our lives. We pray that only your name be lifted up and hallowed through our lives. In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. Have you experienced the power of forgiveness in your life? Please share your experiences if you have any. 2. What do you think is the biggest obstacle that prevents us from forgiving others as Christians? 3. Even after believing in Jesus and experiencing His blood cleansing our sins, we still need forgiveness every day. Then, is forgiving others necessary to be forgiven by God as Christians? Why or why not? “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.” (Mt 6:9-11)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer, one of the teachings written in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In the last two sermons, we explored the meaning of the prayer “Your kingdom come.” The importance of understanding what the kingdom of God truly refers to can’t be emphasized enough because it affects every area of our lives as Christians. We started to explore the prayer with a common misunderstanding about the kingdom of God. Even though the Bible widely uses the term ‘the kingdom of God,’ it is also called ‘the kingdom of heaven’ in the gospel of Matthew, which has caused some people to consider the kingdom of God as only a spiritual place where our souls will go after death. But, we know that that view of the kingdom of God is wrong based on many passages in the Scriptures. Jesus, who first proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God, often used the verb ‘come’ rather than ‘go’ when He taught about the kingdom. He said, ℗ “The kingdom of God has come near.” (Mk 1:15) ℗ “…The kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Lk 17:20-21) So, one of the important characteristics of the kingdom of God we should know is that it’s not a place we will ‘go’ because it already started to come on earth with the first coming of Jesus Christ, is coming now through His disciples who are devoted to following His will, and will perfectly come true on earth when He comes back, which means that we can and should experience the presence of the kingdom of God here in this world. Then, what is the kingdom of God? We can find its definition in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Here, we find the most important element of the kingdom of God, which is ‘God’s will.’ The kingdom of God can be simply defined as the realm where God’s will is done through His people. The Greek word for kingdom is℗ βασιλεία (basileia), which basically means royal power, kingship, or sovereign authority. The kingdom God wants to build on earth is the kingdom where His will is achieved through His people. I said that that’s what the entire Bible story is about. God created human beings in His image not only to have a relationship with them but for them to rule over all the creatures He had made. In other words, the garden of Eden was God’s kingdom where He reigned through His people. But, they ended up failing because they refused God as their King and tried to make themselves like God by disobeying the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, even though they failed, God didn’t give up on building His kingdom on earth. At this point, God’s mission goes in two directions. The first direction is to solve the problem of sin. And the second is to continue to rule over the world through His people that He set apart. That’s what we read about in the Old Testament. God ruled over the world through the people He had chosen, set apart, and consecrated: Israel. However, even though there were some great leaders in the Old Testament, the people of Israel ended up failing to achieve God’s plan. So God sent His one and only Son to the world, Jesus Christ. He proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God. In fact, the majority of His teachings are related to it. Now, the kingdom of God started in earnest with the coming of Jesus. And it will perfectly come true on earth when He comes back in glory and reigns over the whole world with the authority given by God. On that day, all those who believe in Him will join in His reign. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Rv 11:15) And “[we] will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him…” (Rv 20:6) This is the ending of the Bible. That’s the day we should be looking forward to as Christians. We should know that our salvation isn’t irrelevant to God’s greater plan to build His kingdom on earth. God saved us not only because He loves us but also because He wants to build His kingdom on earth where His message is preached, His will is achieved, and His reign is proclaimed. We’re chosen and set apart for this specific purpose. So we should be very careful not to allow our faith and salvation to become individualized. That’s the reason we’re to be devoted to praying, “Your kingdom come, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Give Us Today Our Daily Bread Now, let’s move on to the next part of the Lord’s prayer—"Give us today our daily bread” (Mt 6:11). It’s easy for us to overlook the importance of this prayer for a few reasons. First of all, we may feel that this prayer is less important than the ones for God’s name to be hallowed, for his kingdom to come, and for his will to be done. Compared to these great prayers, we may think that the prayer for daily food isn’t that spiritual and thus doesn’t really matter. Second, we may not feel the need to ask for our daily bread simply because we don’t really feel a lack of food in our lives. We live in one of the richest countries in the world. We may lack a few things, but none of us starve simply because we don’t have enough food to eat. So, we may not feel the need to pray for our daily food. Nevertheless, I think it is still important for us to pray for our daily bread because it makes us understand and acknowledge our absolute need for God and thus rely on Him more. Manna Bread serves as a powerful symbol of God's provision for His people in the Old Testament. When Jesus taught to pray for daily bread, the audience would have immediately recalled how God fed their ancestors and helped them survive in the wilderness for forty years. It was impossible for a massive number of people to live in the wilderness where there’s nothing to drink or eat for such a long period of time. They would not have lasted even a week in the wilderness without God's help. Because life in the wilderness was so hard, the people of Israel began to complain about all their difficulties and uncomfortable circumstances. They even said that it would be better for them to go back to Egypt where they had been slaves, because they at least had food to eat. This is what the people of Israel said to Moses. “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Ex 16:3) They forgot how hard it was to live in Egypt, and only recalled the good parts. So, rather than being thankful to God for His great deliverance from slavery in Egypt, they complained about what they didn’t have anymore which they had had there. That’s what happens when we only see the difficult aspects of faith. If we only focus on what we should sacrifice and carry out as Christians, and not what we’ve received and will ultimately receive from God, we will easily become tired and exhausted, stumble in little trials, and lose gratitude toward God. Rather than giving thanks to God for the spiritual blessings we came to have in Christ, we will complain about the suffering and hardships we may face as Christians. The people of Israel lost this perspective. Rather than remembering what great deliverance God had given them and relying on Him, they complained about relatively small matters without trusting in Him. In response to these complaints, God promised Moses that He would give the people bread to eat every day. But He set a certain rule about this. God said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” (Ex 16:4). The rule was that the people of Israel had to gather only enough food for each day. If they gathered more than they needed for the day and spared the rest until the next day, it would be rotten. The Israelites called the daily bread manna. While wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, God sent them manna everyday so that the Israelites could survive there without planting and harvesting. It means that the people’s survival was solely dependent on God’s provision. Why did God make this complicated rule? He could’ve just given them enough food for a week or a month so that they didn’t have to go out to gather the bread every day. It might have been easier for both God and the people of Israel. But still, God wanted them to follow this rule strictly. It meant that giving them bread to eat for survival wasn’t God’s only purpose in sending manna every day. There was a specific reason for this. We can find the reason God set the specific rule about manna in Deuteronomy 8:3. Moses said to the people, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.” (Dt 8:3-4) Here, we find the reason, the special purpose in God having the people of Israel gather manna every day. By doing so, God wanted to teach them an important principle of life they had to know as His people. God wanted them to know that their lives were actually dependent on Him, not their own ability or power. If God had given them all the manna they could eat for forty years at once and they had just stored it in a barn and taken it whenever they needed it, they wouldn’t have relied on God every day for their food. They might have given thanks to God for the bread at first, but they would’ve quickly forgotten His grace and started to rely on what they’d stored in the barn more than on God for their survival. So, what God really wanted them to learn by letting them go out to gather manna every single day was the fact that what really maintained their lives was God’s provision, not anything else. They had to know from experience that they could only survive in the wilderness because of God’s grace, guidance, and faithfulness so that they could rely on every word of God more than bread. That’s what they learned when they gathered manna every day. They experienced God’s faithfulness and provision every single day by seeing God give them manna each day and gathering it. Thus, they came to acknowledge that what really allowed them to live was not the bread itself, but the One who faithfully guided them and provided them with everything they needed. And this principle applies to our faith lives as well. Even though we don’t go out to gather manna every day, we still need to know that what really enables us to live each day is not the food, money, or other things we have, but God. What God teaches us through this story is not that material things don’t matter. God knows what we need because He is the One who designed and created us. But, what God really wants us to realize is that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” We can see the importance of knowing this principle and applying it in our lives by seeing how Jesus Himself was tested by the devil in the wilderness. When Jesus stayed in the wilderness for forty days, He fasted and was very hungry. And the tempter came to Jesus and told Him to turn stones into bread. But Jesus told him, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4) That Jesus was tempted in this way means that we face the same kind of temptation while living on earth. Jesus was tested so that He could understand us and help us overcome temptations and trials from the world and the evil one. So, the story of manna and the principle behind it should serve as a model for all God’s people’s lives. Because we’re not short of many things, we are very vulnerable to the temptation to think that what sustains our lives is our own power, possessions, and abilities. We often feel a sense of stability in what we’ve achieved and stored. It seems that many people, even Christians, go after money, love it, and even worship it because they think that’s what really enables them to do the things they want to do. In other words, money has replaced God. There’s nothing wrong with making and saving money itself, but we should always be careful not to rely on money more than God. What Scripture clearly teaches us is that the true reason we can maintain our lives is not because we have saved a lot, but because God sustains our lives every single day, gives us the power to live, and provides us with all the things we need for our lives. That’s why it’s important for us to continue to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mt 6:11), because this prayer allows us to humble ourselves before God and reminds us of the truth that what really maintains our lives is God’s faithfulness and grace that He gives us every single day. So, this part of the Lord's prayer teaches us to come to God with humility, asking him to provide what we need and to sustain us day by day. And, this prayer is firmly based on the truth that God loves us, cares for us, and provides us with all we need with his faithfulness and grace. Spiritual Food But, this prayer isn’t only about physical food. This prayer has a spiritual aspect as well. Just as we need food for our physical survival, we also need spiritual food to be healthy and grow spiritually. The apostle Peter said, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Pt 2:2). Paul also encourages us to be “nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching” (1 Tm 4:6b) so that we can “be a good minister of Christ Jesus” (1 Tm 4:6a). Moreover, Jesus also introduced Himself as spiritual bread for the world. He said, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:48-51) Here, Jesus compares manna, the physical bread that the Israelites ate in the wilderness, with the spiritual, living bread coming down from heaven, which refers to Himself. Physical bread is important in our lives because it helps us live a healthy life here on earth. But spiritual food, the living bread, is way more important than the physical kind because it is related to eternal life. Jesus said that the purpose of Him coming into the world was to give us this spiritual bread so that we can eat it, grow from it, and live forever. We should know that we have not only physical needs, but also spiritual ones. And, our spiritual needs are designed to be met only in our relationship with the heavenly Father, since He alone is eternal. But, tragedy occurs when we try to fill our spiritual needs with something else, which never works. How can finite things fill the desire for eternity that God has set in our hearts? So, as Christians, we’re to be fed spiritually by God every day. Just as the people of Israel went out to gather their manna every day, we should continually go before God’s presence every single day to receive His grace given through His word. Only the presence of God and His word can nourish our spirits and give us strength to live each day without stumbling. That’s the spiritual food we should seek every day. And, only those who desperately feel the hunger and thirst in their souls will try to find it every day. So, again, it’s important for us to continue to be devoted to praying for our daily bread because this prayer allows us to know our absolute need for God’s presence and His word and makes us seek Him more desperately. Going to church and listening to a sermon once a week can never be enough for our spiritual growth. If we only listen to God’s word one day a week and leave ourselves in the world for six days, we won’t be able to keep our faith and we will drift away from Jesus without even noticing it. God’s people need to be nourished by His word every single day. That’s how we work on our salvation and faith with trembling and fear. Remember that after one day, the manna God gave the Israelites started to decay, which means that the grace we received yesterday can’t feed us spiritually today. We always need grace every day. God wants to give us his spiritual food every single day. He wants us to eat it and grow spiritually. So, we should pray this prayer every day, asking God to fill us with His living bread and give us His voice every day in our lives. That’s how we can maintain a close relationship with our heavenly Father. I hope that all of us here realize the deep meaning of the prayer “give us today our daily bread” so that we can always be humble before God and rely on Him more than anything. And I pray that we can see our spiritual needs that only God can satisfy so that we can be more desperate in seeking His word, and be nourished and strengthened by it every single day. Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this precious time to learn what we should pray for through the Lord’s prayer. As weak human beings, we easily forget that You alone are the true Provider of our lives. We tend to think that what we have is from our own ability without realizing that even our ability is from You. In fact, there’s nothing we have that doesn’t come from You. Even our breath comes from Your grace that You give us each day. So Lord, please open our hearts and help us see You working in our lives so that we can humbly proclaim that all we have is from You and that we can’t live a day without You. Oh Lord, we ask that You would fill us with spiritual food every day. Please see the deep desperation of our spirits and fill them with Your living bread. Give us the desire to love Your word and let us listen to Your voice through it so that we can seek You and be nourished by Your word of truth every day. We thank you for Your faithfulness and all Your provisions for us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. Why do you think it is important for Christians to pray for daily bread? Why do you think it is essential for Christians to go before God’s presence on a daily basis? 2. What does daily bread represent to you personally? What are some practical things you can do to have it every day? “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” (Mt 6:9-10)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer. In the first sermon, we talked about to whom we lift up this prayer. It’s always important to remind ourselves of to whom we’re praying. We’re praying to our Father who is in heaven, who sacrificed His most precious one to adopt us as His children, who never fails to love and guide us, who knows all our situations and needs even better than we do, and with whom nothing is impossible. Remembering to whom we’re praying decides the kind of prayer we pray. If we’re really praying to this God who revealed who He is in the Bible, we won’t pray for things that others who don’t know Him pray for. We won’t ask what they ask. We won’t seek what they seek. So, after reminding us of to whom we’re praying, our Father in heaven, Jesus began to teach what we should pray for as His people and His children. First of all, Jesus taught that we should pray, “Hallowed be your name.” I said this prayer is not a proclamation but rather a petition. Through this prayer, we not only remember and proclaim how holy our heavenly Father is, but also ask Him to see to it that His name be honored, glorified, and treated holy just as He is holy. God is holy because of who He is. All of His characteristics such as eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and more distinguish Him from all other created beings. And the holy God wants His people to be holy just as He is holy, which means that He wants us to be distinguished from others who don’t know Him. So God gave His word to His people. When we follow His word, not the ways of the world, we’ll become holy and reflect God’s holiness. For that specific purpose, God has set us apart and made us holy through Jesus’ blood and the Holy Spirit. But God’s purpose in making us holy isn’t only for us but for all people on earth. God wants us to be holy so that those who don’t know Him can see how holy He is through His people and come to Him. This purpose is well described in Ezk 36:23. God said, “The nations will know that I am the Lord… when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.” (Ezk 36:23) What God wants us to do is prove His holiness through our lives so that all people on earth can know who He truly is. And God will never stop working for His holy name. He will never stop cleansing us through Jesus’ blood and sanctifying us through the work of the Holy Spirit. So, by praying, “Hallowed be Your name,” we constantly check if we’re living out this holy calling from God. And by praying this, we ask God to sanctify us and other Christians around the world through His word, Jesus’s redemption, and the power of the Holy Spirit so that God’s name would be treated holy among all nations as He deserves. Your Kingdom Come All right. That’s what we talked about last Sunday. Today I want us to move on to the next part of the prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10) I think this part is so important that I believe all Christians must be devoted to praying it. While living on earth, we all hope for or dream about something. We all have different kinds of goals in our lives and go after them. And what we hope for shows what kind of values we have. Some people seek wealth, fame, or power. Others chase after happiness, self-actualization, or recognition. These motivations make us act and move forward. And, there are things that we’re seeking as Christians. There are things that we’re hoping for and dreaming about as Christians. It can be said that the ultimate goal of every Christian life is to enter the kingdom of God. This will happen when Jesus comes back and brings God’s kingdom with Him. That’s what essentially makes Christians different and distinguished from non-believers. Christians are those who put their hope not in the world they’re living in now, but the eternal world to come, the kingdom of God. Even though they live in this world temporarily, they know that their true citizenship belongs to the kingdom of God, so they just live like travelers on earth. As Hebrews 11 says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth… they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13, 16) Here, “all these people” refers to the great people of faith listed in Hebrews 11. One of the common characteristics found in their lives is that they lived on earth as foreigners and strangers as if they had their own country to which they would return. While they were in the world, they lived by faith, longing for a better country that God prepares and promises to give them, which is in heaven. That was the reason they were able to stand strong and keep their faith despite all kinds of difficulties and hardships right in front of them. Because they knew that the life they had on earth was not the end and that a much better life was waiting for them in the kingdom of God, they could endure suffering and even rejoice in it. I think that’s the kingdom perspective we all need to have if we really want to follow Christ in this world. Unless we have this, unless we’re able to see what’s unseen and eternal, we’ll be easily swayed by temporary things in the world. So, to truly live out our faith and follow Jesus’ way in the world, we must have this kingdom perspective. So, it’s important for us to be devoted to praying, “Your Kingdom come.” This prayer helps us fix our eyes on what’s unseen and eternal, not what’s seen and temporary. It helps us value the things that we’re to value as Christians. And it helps us continue to be interested in what God’s interested in and live for it. Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33). I think this is one of the best ways to describe who Christians are. Christians are those who seek the Kingdom of God above everything else and are devoted to following the ways, principles, and rules of the kingdom, not their own interests or the ways of the world. Then, what does it mean for us to seek His kingdom? What does it mean for the kingdom of God to come? How can it happen and what must we as Christians do for it? These are what I want us to think about as we’re digging deeper into the prayer, “Your Kingdom come.” What Is the Kingdom of God? But before talking about what it means for the Kingdom to come, it may be beneficial to know what the kingdom of God refers to first. Let’s begin with what’s not the kingdom of God. It seems that there are some misunderstandings about the concept of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is also called the kingdom of heaven in the Bible. There’s no difference between the two terms. But, the term ‘kingdom of God’ is used much more frequently throughout the New Testament than the expression ‘the kingdom of heaven,’ which is only used in the gospel of Matthew. So, I think the term ‘the kingdom of God’ is more appropriate to use than the kingdom of heaven. That’s not only because ‘the kingdom of God’ is more widely used in the Bible, but also because I think the term conveys what the kingdom refers to more than ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ Many theologians guess that the reason Matthew used ‘the kingdom of heaven’ rather than ‘the kingdom of God’ was because the original readers of his gospel were Jews, and it was a common practice among the Jews to use the word ‘heaven’ instead of ‘God’ because they didn’t want to directly refer to God. It's like how they prefer to call God ‘Adonai,’ which means “master” or “Lord,” rather than YHWH, which is one of the names of God written in the Scriptures. Even though we pronounce it Yahweh, no one actually knows how to pronounce it. That’s because the Jews considered this name of God so holy, they would not pronounce it aloud. Because they were afraid of taking God’s name in vain, they would replace the word YHWH with Adonai when reading Scripture aloud. And theologians think that that may be the reason Matthew changed the term ‘the kingdom of God’ to ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ Thus, Matthew probably didn’t use the term to reveal where the kingdom is located. To Matthew, ‘heaven’ was simply an alternative word for God. The Jews at that time would’ve thought that way too. So, whenever you find the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ in Matthew, you can always read it as ‘kingdom of God.’ You might say that the kingdom of God is a more accurate way of referring to it. I also personally prefer to use ‘the kingdom of God.’ There’s nothing wrong with using the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’. It’s written in the Bible. Nevertheless, the reason I’m explaining this is because using the word ‘heaven’ can cause misunderstandings about the kingdom of God. Even though the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ only appears in the book of Matthew and the rest of the Bible uses the expression ‘kingdom of God,’ it seems that many Christians tend to use the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’ more frequently than ‘the kingdom of God’. Again, it’s not wrong to use ‘the kingdom of heaven’. But the problem is that their understanding of the word ‘heaven’ is likely different from the meaning Matthew intended. Matthew didn’t use the word to reveal what the kingdom is. But it seems that many Christians understand ‘heaven’ as the place where the kingdom of God is located. So they think of the kingdom of God only as a spiritual realm that Christians’ souls go to after death. That’s not what Jesus taught about the kingdom of God. If we carefully read what Jesus said about the kingdom of God in the four gospels, we’ll understand how it is different from what we might think it is. This is what Jesus first proclaimed as He started His ministry in earnest. “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15) Jesus didn’t say “believe the good news” to go to the kingdom of God. We should repent and believe the gospel because the kingdom has come with Jesus Christ. When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, the people around Him were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” The Pharisees definitely didn’t like it. So, out of jealousy, they said that Jesus could drive out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. And this is what Jesus said to them, “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?… But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt 12:26, 28). Here, Jesus again used the verb ‘come’ rather than ‘go’ regarding the kingdom of God. In Luke 17, some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked when the kingdom of God would come. And Jesus answered, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Lk 17:20-21) These are some important verses that show what the kingdom of God is. The Bible doesn’t depict the kingdom of God only as a spiritual place somewhere in heaven which only our souls enter after death like some people think. The biblical kingdom of God started to be built here on earth in earnest with the coming of Jesus. It’s being expanded by those who believe in Him, repent, and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as truth, and it will finally and perfectly come true here on earth when Jesus comes back. We also see this in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus didn’t teach His disciples to pray to ‘go’ to heaven, but pray, “Your kingdom come” (Mt 6:10) So, the kingdom of God is not where we’re ‘going’, but what we’re waiting for, because it’s actually ‘coming’ to the world. Again, the kingdom of God started to come with the first coming of Jesus Christ. It has already started but isn’t complete yet. But it will perfectly come true on earth when He returns. On that day, we’ll see the kingdom coming in its glory with our own eyes. And, not only our souls but also our bodies, which will be resurrected like Jesus, will enter the kingdom of God. That’s the hope we have as Christians. That’s the day we’re waiting for. That’s what John foresaw in the book of Revelation. He wrote, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” (Rv 21:2) I think It’s very important how we think of the kingdom of God because the way we perceive the kingdom has a massive impact on our lives. If we think it is only a spiritual world in heaven, where only our souls will go after we die, we wouldn’t consider the things we’re doing here on earth as important. But, if we really believe that the kingdom of God came to the earth with Jesus, is coming and being expanded now, and will be complete someday, we’ll realize that everything we do here on earth is actually related to the Kingdom of God and we’ll be more devoted to being used as kingdom makers while living in this world by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, helping the poor, healing the sick, consoling the wounded, and more. I believe that’s what really makes the kingdom of God come through our lives. And I believe that’s what Jesus wants us to pray for as we pray, “Your kingdom come.” We’ll explore the meaning of the kingdom of God in more depth next Sunday, but the essence of it is God’s sovereignty. Wherever we are, if we obey God’s will and act under His sovereignty, the kingdom of God will come, which means that we can actually experience the presence of the kingdom of God in every place, whether at home, in our workplaces, in market places, with our friends, and more. On the other hand, even though we’re in church, if we’re not surrendered to God’s will and don’t acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our lives, we won’t experience the coming of God in our midst. Again, the kingdom of God is not a spiritual place we’ll go after death. It’s something that we should be devoted to making ‘come’ here on earth wherever we are. And it starts with our prayer. The more we’re devoted to praying the prayer Jesus taught us, ‘Your kingdom come,’ and the more we try to make it happen by surrendering our lives to God’s will, the more we’ll experience the presence of the kingdom of God in our lives. I hope that all of us here in this room know what it really means to pray “Your kingdom come” so that we can live blessed lives under God’s will for us. Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Dear Lord, thank you for teaching us how to pray and what we should really pray for as Your people. We pray that Your kingdom would come on earth and fill every place. We want to see the whole world being filled with Your will. We want to see many people turning back to You, having knowledge of Your truth and being saved through Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, please help us know the power of this prayer and how important it is in Christian life so that we will never neglect it but be more devoted to praying for Your kingdom and Your will. We want to be Your kingdom makers. Please give us the desire to seek Your kingdom and Your will more and the willingness to follow it so that we can experience Your kingdom coming and Your will being achieved through our lives wherever we are. We thank You for giving us this great chance to participate in Your mission for the world to make Your kingdom come and expand it. Please open our eyes, minds, and hearts and let us see the true value of Your kingdom so that we can be more devoted to seeking it. We pray that Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven through our lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. What are some misunderstandings about the kingdom of God? Where do you think they come from? Why do you think it is important for Christians to know what the kingdom of God really is? 2. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is in your midst” (Lk 17:21). What do you think this means? Have you experienced the presence of the kingdom of God in your life? 3. All Christians are called to make the kingdom of God come on earth wherever they are. What are some practical things you can do to make this happen? |