The Lord’s Prayer (6) Forgive Us Our Debts

​“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?