Sermon Text
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen.’
your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 “But if you do not forgive men,
then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
Introduction
Let’s look at an overview [Slide #4] of the Lord’s Prayer for a brief review
An Overview of the Lord’s Prayer
A. The first three petitions focus on God
• The Name of God – Let it be Sanctified
• The Kingdom of God – Let it Come
• The Will of God – Let it be Fulfilled
B. The next three petitions [Slide #5] focus on the worshipers’ needs:
• Our Bread, Provide us daily
• Our Debts, Forgive, as we forgive, likewise.
• Our Temptation, Protect us from sins & the evil one.
I. The Fourth Petition: Give Us This Day our Daily Bread
The fourth petition is not praying [Slide #6] with the expectancy that bread will fall from the sky to us.
A. The Israelites in the Wilderness
During the Israelites’ journey to the promised land,
God did provide them “bread” from the sky – the Manna.
That was a period when food couldn’t be found in the desert.
The people could not plant or grow any crop.
So, God had to intervene to feed them with bread from the sky.
However, God’s supply of Manna stopped [Slide #7] the day
when the Israelites entered the Promised land.
In Joshua 5:12 we read,
ESV And the manna ceased the day
after they ate of the produce of the land.
And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel,
but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
When food were available in the land,
the people had to resume their normal work routines
to put food on the table..
B. Praying for Bread in the Contemporary Contexts
Q: So, what are we asking [Slide #8] when we pray
“Give us this day our day bread”?
Many destitute believers living in war-torn countries
literally have to ask God,
“Give us this day our daily bread”.
They have to trust God, day by day, for their meals.
Today, when we, living in Singapore, are hungry,
we can always cook our own meal,
or go to the Food Court to eat.
For us to pray for our daily bread,
we are actually requesting,
“God, provide me with what I need to bring ‘bread’ home.”
We need strength good health to work;
we need to perform well, in order to keep our job.
For those doing farming industry,
they have to depend on God for the sunshine, the rain,
and for God to keep pest infestations away.
C. The Timeless Reminder: Do not forget the LORD God
Even though the Israelites had to work to eat [Slide #9],
Moses reminded them,
Deuteronomy 8:11, 17-18
11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God …
12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied …
13b and your silver and gold increase …
14 …your heart will become proud
and you will forget the LORD your God …
17 Then [Slide #10] you may say to yourself,
“My power and the strength of my hands
have produced this wealth for me.”
18 But remember the LORD your God,
for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth
So, for us, in Singapore, to pray, “Give us our daily bread”
Is to keep ourselves from becoming proud.
Pride tells us, “My hard-earned money brings me everything I need.” But that we should remember that
God is the One who gives me the ability for success.
For us, to pray for bread is to ask our heavenly Father
for the strength, the health, and the ability to work everyday.
D. The Depth of the Meaning of epiousios
In all the English translations
The Greek word epiousios [Slide #11] is translated as “daily”
That translation was a good guess,
Actually, for about two millennial no Greek scholars,
knew the meaning of “epiousios”.
After much searching for meaning,
now we learned from the Aramaic Culture that …
“Epiousios” means more then “daily”;
it refers [Slide #12] to the Quantity and Continuity of supply
So, Jesus was actually teaching us to pray
“Give us enough bread to sustain us,
today and tomorrow,
and do not stop the supply.”
E. Why Didn’t God Give Me Any bread?
However, some people might wonder [Slide #13],
“How come when I prayed,
‘God, give me some food,’ I get nothing”;
“but when you prayed for food, and God gives you so much?”
This reality should lead us to examine ourselves:
Have I been praying “Give ME this day …”
instead of “Give US this day?”
When God provides the food, do I see them as
“MY daily bread”
instead of “OUR daily bread?”
Jesus had actually taught us to pray for another,
and to share with one another [Slide #14] what God gives,
but we miss the point …
So, let’s learn to pray, “Give US this day, OUR daily bread.”
II. The Fifth Petition: Forgive Us [Slide #15], as We Forgive Others
Sins are often associated with debts
NET Colossians 2:14
He has destroyed what was against us,
a certificate of debt…by nailing it to the cross
While the Tefillah [the Jewish 18 prayers] includes
seeking God’s forgiveness for our sins,
Jesus emphasizes the forgiving people who sinned against us.
A. The Struggle to Forgive Some Debtors
As We also Forgive Our Debtors
This clause, “…Forgive our debtors” [Slide #16] is vitally important
because Jesus elaborates it in verses 14-15,
14 For if you forgive others their sins,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive others,
your Father will not forgive you your sins.
In Matthew 18:23-34, Jesus expands this theme with a parable about
a servant [Slide #17] whose master forgives an enormous debt.
Afterward, the servant turns to his fellow servant
and refuses to forgive a very small debt.
The master confronted the servant,
“I forgave you all that debt because you begged me
3Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow-servant,
just as I showed it to you?”
B. The Importance of This Petition
As this teaching of Jesus is theologically troubling,
many Christians ask [Slide #18],
“Does that mean that God would not forgive me,
if I don’t forgive others?”
Does that also mean that I will not be saved
since God would not save me?
Firstly, I will affirm that
1. The doctrine [Slide #19] of Salvation stays.
The doctrine of Salvation assures us that
our sins are forgiven in Christ.
NLT 1 John 2:12
I am writing to you who are God’s children because
your sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus [His Name]
That means that the sins that we do not deserve to be forgiven, are forgiven for Jesus’ sake,
because of our union with Christ.
Then the Apostle Paul also assures us [Slide #20] that
NIV Romans 8:1
… there is now no condemnation for those
who are in union with Christ Jesus,
2. Jesus’ Warning is not Merely a “Pre-Cross” Teaching
A Pre-Cross teaching is what Jesus taught
before He was crucified to atone for our sins.
It does not follow that
since we are forgiven in Christ,
and we can dismiss or discard the teaching [Slide #21] to forgive others as just a Pre-Atonement teaching.
Jesus stresses “forgiving others”
because [Slide #22] it is God’s will that we,
as His children, should learn to forgive.
“Forgive our debtors” petition is in line with
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
If we care about God’s will be done on earth,
Then we should also pay attention to
The “as we forgive our debtors” petition.
It means that [Slide #22] we ought to live out
our experience of God’s forgiveness before others.
This is why Paul exhorts the Colossians [Slide #23],
“Forgive as the Lord forgave you”
NIV Colossians 3:13 [cf. Ephesians 4:30-32]
Bear with each other
and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
I should clarify that …
C. Forgiveness Does not Mean [Slide #24] “Never mind”
“Forgiveness” is not to encourage
evils to perpetuate, and sins to continue.
It means that when we pursue justice,
we don’t pursue justice with hatred
and with a desire for revenge.
The Day when injustices are vindicated
will not become a Day for vengeance for us.
D. Critical Reactions to “Forgiving Our Debtor” Teaching
I will share with you some strong reactions [Slide #25] To the “Forgiving our Debtor” teaching.
Some people assert that:
1. Jesus is talking about forgiving minor offenses.
Some sins are like “debt”; you can say “Sorry”
and then compensate with money.
Some sins are so evil that “Sorry, no cure!”
and no amount of money can recompense.
So, Jesus was talking about minor offences,
when He said, “As we forgive our debtors”
In the Middle East wars,
when you see your loved ones being brutally killed,
shot before your eyes, “How could you forgive the shooter?” “How could you forgive the killer?”
2. Many preachers are [Slide #26] sheltered loud-speakers
Some Christians believe that
pastors can easily tell you to forgive
because his life is very sheltered.
He has not experienced much pains and suffering.
His sermon-application about forgiving is superficial.
Well, if you also see me as
a sheltered loud-speakers,
Do pray [Slide #27] for me,
“Father, forgive him for he doesn’t know what he preached”
Yes, I did not suffer as those who had suffered much,
So, I don’t feel the intensity of their pains.
I will need to understand people, and to be sensitive to them when sharing my sermon applications
There’s a song in the Baptist Hymnal by Raymond J. Reynolds,
“People to People,” with the lyrics
that pose [Slide #28] many questions to ponder,
How do you share the love of Jesus with a lonely man?
How do you tell a hungry man about the bread of life?
How do you tell a thirsty man about the living water of the Lord?
How do you tell him of His Word?
The composer made the point
that we need to pay attention to
the people’s urgent need first,
when we share about “Jesus is, and Jesus is that …”
I don’t think that Jesus would tell people with hurts,
“I can forgive, why can’t you?”
Jesus was never a sheltered loud-speaker.
He would say, “I understand”;
“I can help you, if you let me to.”
E. Hurting People Need Healing, First
In learning to forgive,
the victims who are in pain will need God’s healing first,
before I go on yakking about “Forgiving our debtors”
I believe that Jesus would hug them tightly, comfort and assure them of His love,
and touch and heal their hurts first.
God knows [Slide #29] when your emotional fuel-tank is EMPTY,
Because your tank is empty, you have no more love,
you are not able to forgive
Worse still, your fuel tank is leaking,
The love that you received only leaks away quickly.
But God understands; He is able to mend [Slide #30]
your leaking tank, and fill it up again with His love.
The Epistle to the Hebrews present Jesus as our Great High Priest,
As the Great High Priest [Slide #31],
Jesus is always praying for you.
When Jesus prays for you, He prays with strong empathy.
In John 11, read that Jesus wept
with Mary and Martha over Lazarus’ death.
Although He could raise the dead, He understand Martha & Mary’s loss of a loved one.
He is able to empathize with them.
In your hurts and pains, Jesus the Great High Priest
also weeps with you, as He prays for you.
When I find myself struggling to forgive others,
I will pray [Slide #32], like the tax-collector who prayed:
“God, be merciful to me; for I am a sinner” [Luke 18:10-14]
The tax collector, however, stood far off
and would not even look up to heaven,
but beat his breast and said,
‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’
I tell you that this man went down to his home justified
rather than the Pharisee ….
I can tell God [Slide #33],
“God, I want to forgive, but I can’t”
I don’t have the strength to”
“I’m sorry!”
Then I will pray.
“God, Help me to do your will.”
When you are honest with God in your praying,
The Spirit of God could work in your life.
The Holy Spirit will strengthen you, heal you, and transform you to do God’s will.
“Forgiveness” begins with our willing to let God
work in us and transform us.
God understand your hurts;
He can heal your soul of pains and sufferings.
Bring your hurts and pains to Him.
F. God Desires Worshippers to Get their Relationship Right
God wants us to get our relationship right with fellow believers
who have wronged us [Slide #34],
before we bring Him our offering of worship.
Matthew 5:23-24
23 So then, if you bring your gift to the altar
and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there in front of the altar.
First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift.
In view of this teaching, the Apostle Paul exhorts [Slide #35] worshippers to examine themselves first,
before they partake the Holy Communion.
1 Corinthians 11:28
A person should examine himself first,
and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup.
When Jesus spoke about reconciliation,
He also taught a basic procedure
for the disciples to reconcile with others.
G. The First Century Jewish Procedure for Reconciliation:
The Procedure for reconciliation [Slide #36] is recorded in
Matthew 18:15-17
A Procedure for Reconciliation [non legal disputes]
15 “If your brother sins,
go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone.
If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.
16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you,
so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses
every matter may be established.
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.
If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.
The principles for reconciliation run [Slide #37] as follows:
1. Approach your brother who has wronged you privately to resolve the conflict..
If he does not listen, then …
2. Bring one/ two person, as witnesses, to resolve the conflict
If he still does not listen, then …
3. Bring the serious matter up to the “church” [synagogue].
The word “church” here means an assembly.
It refers to the Jewish synagogue’s set-up of elders.
If the offenders is obstinate, then
4. The body [represented by the elders] shall subject
the unrepentant to community discipline [temporary excommunication] – “treat him like a Gentile”.
For Jews to treat a fellow-Jew as a Gentile is
to stop talking that person; stop eating meals with him,
and stop associating with him.
The Community Discipline is to help the wrong-doer
realize that his conduct is unacceptable to the group, and that he needs to repent.
5. Relapses of Conflict are Expected.
Matthew 18:21-22 Peter asked Jesus [Slide #38] …
21 Then Peter came to him and said,
“Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me?
Peter’s question infers that relapses can happen
even after a conflict is resolved.
When relapse happens, the procedure should be repeated.
When relapse is perpetual,
seeking reconciliation can become
Tiring, vexing, energy-sapping, and time-consuming.
Thus, Peter raised the question,
“How many times must I forgive my brother …?”
Peter: Seven times, enough?
Jesus says, “Seventy-seven times”
To put it simply, Jesus is saying,
“Tell your brother, ‘I will always forgive you’”.
III. The Sixth Petition:
Do Not Let Us Fall when Tempted by the Evil One [Slide #39]
And do not lead us into temptation;
But deliver us from the evil one.
A. The Aims of Temptation
Temptation by the devil aims to
Damage our relationship with God;
Destroy relationship within our family, and
Devastate relationship in our workplace/ church
Degenerate the image of God in our personhood
In this prayer concerning Temptation and the Evil one,
Jesus Himself was tempted by the devil, the evil one.
Hence, Jesus understands well what it’s meant to be tempted by the evil one.
B. Jesus’ Experience of Temptation [Matthew 4:1-11]
Jesus was tempted to [Slide #40]:
1. Satisfy his hunger via illicit means [Matthew 4:3b-4] in telling the stones to become bread.
What’s wrong for Jesus to turn stone into bread?
In Deuteronomy 8:2-4 Moses explained that
God had subject the Israelites to hunger to test the people, whether, or not,
They would still be obedient in times of hardship,
Jesus understood that his experience of hunger
is also God’s testing of His obedience.
For Jesus to satisfy His hunger via illicit means
Is to drop out if God’s classroom before the lesson is over.
Hebrews 5:8 tells us that Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.
God wanted Jesus to learn obedience through His experience of hunger.
That’s why Jesus told the devil that
Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by being obedient to God [live by doing God’s word]
2. Put God to the Test God
Jesus was tempted [Slide #41] to test God
by casting himself from a high point [4:5-7]
Testing God is our attempt to see how far God would go
in His patience; how far He would go to protect us; and how serious God is
concerning His warning about judgment.
Lastly, Jesus was tempted to [Slide #42]:
3. Worship the devil for the power & authority
Likewise, the devil can lure us away
from worshipping God wholeheartedly.
We can be tempted to worship the devil for things we believe that God is not willing to give; or to worship fellow human [the celebrity-worship], or in self-worship.
Many people in the social media platform had allowed themselves to become object of worship
to their followers.
C. Red Alerts from The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments alerts us [Slide #43] to other areas
of temptation that God wants us to guard against.
Do not Murder
Do not Steal
Do not commit Adultery
Do not bear False Testimony [report]
Do not Covet
The last commandment “Do not covet” warns us against covetousness. Covetousness is deadly sin,
that can lead us to break the other commandments
D. Jesus is Interceding for Us as Our High Priest
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin.
David’s covetousness of Uriah’s wife led him to commit adultery, and then commit murder.
King Ahab’s covetousness of Naboth’s vineyard [1 Kings 21:1-16]
Led him to break four more commandments:
Ahab took God’s name in vain; bore flase testimony; commit murder; and “stole” the vineyard
by means of “legal repossession”.
Hebrew 4:15-16 [Slide #44]
teaches us that Jesus is our High Priest
As He had experienced temptations,
Jesus is able to empathizes with our weaknesses.
Because Jesus is interceding for us,
we will receive God’s Grace, Mercy and help
in our time of temptation.
The Luke Gospel gives us a glimpse of
what Jesus would pray [Slide #45] for us as our high Priest:
E. A Glimpse of Jesus’ Intercession for Us:
1. What Jesus had Prayed for Peter
Luke 22:31-32
31 “Simon, Simon,
Satan has asked to sift you [humas plural 你们] as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for you [su singular 你], Simon,
that your [你的] faith may not fail.
And when you [你] have turned back [回头],
strengthen your brothers.”
a. Jesus knew that
Satan wanted to tempt all the disciples, to cause them to fall away.
b. Knowing that Peter would deny Him,
Jesus prayed for Peter that
his faith would not fail.
That means, even when Peter fell, he would not stay fallen, but will stand up again.
c. Jesus prayed for Peter’s restoration,
and that he would restore the others
after he had been restored.
2. What Jesus would pray for us
This incident shows us [Slide #46] that
Jesus would prays that we wouldn’t fall into temptation.
Even when we fell,
Jesus also prays for our restoration.
Jesus desires us to help restore others who fell,
after we got up on our feet again.
This sixth petition actually marks the end of the Lord’s Prayer.
IV. The Appended Doxology
We are so accustomed [Slide #47] to the doxology,
“For Thine is the Kingdom and Thy Power,
and Thy Glory forever, Amen”
However, this doxology is not recorded
in the earliest copies of Matthew’s Gospel
After analyzing all the Matthew’s Greek manuscript copies,
most of the biblical scholars concurred that
some scribes had added in the doxology.
They felt that a good prayer should end with Praise.
So, the scribes [Slide #48] carefully selected a doxology
from king David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:11,
and embedded it to the Lord’s Prayer:
ESV 1 Chronicles 29:11
Yours, O LORD, … the power and the glory …
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD …
Do not be troubled by this scribal edition.
The scribe did not add in his own words;
He was linking the OT Scripture with Gospel.
David’s prayer was about the full manifestation
of God’s Kingdom in Power and Glory,
is linked with the Prayer of Jesus, the Son of David.
So the appended Doxology is still Scripture.
CONCLUSION:
When we meditate on the Lord’s Prayer,
Let us remember our parts [Slide #49],
with respect to what God would do in each of the six petitions:
1. Hallowed be Thy Name
God makes his own name holy,
I am expected to live a holy life.
2. Thy Kingdom come [Slide #50]
God brings in the kingdom,
I am to submit my heart/life to God’s reign.
3. Thy Will be done [Slide #51]
God fulfills His will,
I am to do His will.
4. Give us our daily bread [Slide #52]
God blesses the earth to produce food
I shall work to put food on my table.
5. Forgive our sins [Slide #53]
God forgives,
I must forgive.
6. Deliver us from the Evil one. [Slide #54]
God guides me away from evil,
I must live a life of righteousness.
