Amazing Grace

In our last sermon, we saw that we pray to worship, honor and glorify our Father in heaven. His glory, his holy Name, his kingdom, his will, must be the focus and priority in our prayers. Our prayers must begin in the right place and with the right heart attitude. We are talking to God, our Father in heaven, Creator, Savior and Ruler of everything. We pray that his holy Name will be sanctified, kept holy. We pray that his kingdom will come and his will be done, in our lives and in the world around us. All so that God will be glorified. In the second half of the Lord’s prayer, we continue to glorify God. Even though our needs are now in focus, it is ultimately still about God’s glory because God gives, God forgives, God protects and delivers us. All because of his amazing grace and all for his glory.

1. God Gives

“Give us this day our daily bread”

Bread here is symbolic of all that we need to live and function effectively — food, clothing, shelter, security, safety, health. This prayer expresses our faith, trust, and confidence in our Father. God is the sovereign Lord, ruling now, holding everything in his hands … now! Today! This moment God is present with us. Always! God is with us today and tomorrow. God provides what we need today and tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the same. God will be with us. God does not change.

This knowledge, this confidence, this trust gives us peace and contentment. It relieves us from all anxiety and worry. That’s why Jesus says in Matt 6:25 & 34 — “Do not be anxious” or, “do not worry about your life … Do not be anxious or worry about tomorrow.” When trials, sufferings, and difficulties come, we will not worry and be anxious, but “in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present [our] requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

When we believe and accept Jesus’ teachings on prayer, the kingdom of God, and the kingdom life, when we really, really, trust God, then we are freed from concerns, worry, and anxiety about our life, our needs, and the future. Then we experience peace, and we can live the kingdom life with amazing results in all areas of our lives.

2. God Forgives, We Forgive

“… and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

We are all sinners and under the power of sin. We all need mercy and grace. It is only God’s amazing grace that keeps us from being consumed because of our sins. Lam 3:22-23, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” God loves us and has mercy on us. He knows who and what we are. And yet, “He does not deal with us according to our sins.” (Willard)

Listen to the beautiful words of Psalm 103:8-12 — “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”

Once we believe in Jesus Christ, we become children of God, and we step into and live in his kingdom of love and grace; a culture, an environment of love, grace, mercy, and compassion. And it’s because of God’s extraordinary love and amazing grace that we can pray and ask God to forgive us.

But read this prayer carefully. Do we realize what we are praying here? In no uncertain terms, this prayer is saying that if we forgive others their trespasses, our Heavenly Father will also forgive us, but if we do not forgive others their trespass, neither will our Father forgive our trespasses. Charles Spurgeon said, “Unless you have forgiven others, you read your own death-warrant when you repeat the Lord’s Prayer.” C.S. Lewis wrote, “No part of his teaching is clearer: and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don’t, we shall be forgiven none of our own.”

Again Jesus speaks very hard words that turn our self-centered worlds, pride and egos upside down. This is so serious that Jesus explains this prayer about forgiveness more in verses 14-15. And look at his conclusion to the parable of the unmerciful servant in Mt 18:21-35, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

This takes us back again to the heart of the matter, the heart. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful. When we are poor in spirit we know that we are wretched sinners deserving death. Therefore, we mourn, we repent, confess our sins, and ask God to forgive us. And because we have experienced God’s grace and mercy in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, with Christ in us, we too will be merciful and forgive others.

So in this prayer, we pray that God will give us a forgiving heart and spirit. Because a merciless, unforgiving heart will receive neither forgiveness nor mercy. When we do not forgive others, when we maintain a grudge against others, cultivate hatred toward others, then there is a serious question about the authenticity of our faith, and whether Jesus is truly Lord of my life.

If we cannot forgive someone, have we really understood the gospel message? Have we really experienced, accepted and received God’s love, forgiveness, and grace? Praying this prayer sincerely from our hearts will cause us to seek reconciliation, to forgive others and make peace. Praying this prayer brings about healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, and cultivates love for others.

As true believers, who abide in Christ, we can forgive others, because Christ in us through the Holy Spirit enables us to forgive no matter what they have done to us. Their debts, their trespasses, their hurts against us, pale in comparison, is nothing in comparison to our sins and debts against God.

Is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive? Do so right now! Commit yourself in prayer that you will forgive. Then go and do it, if necessary, face to face. Otherwise, do it in your heart sincerely. Forgive today!

3. God Protects & Delivers

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

This prayer can be confusing. The Bible teaches us that God does not tempt us to evil or sin. “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13)

The Greek word for temptation also means trial or test. We live in a broken, sinful, evil world. Therefore, we experience suffering, pain, hurt. We go through trials. We are tempted by the evil one.

On the one hand, when we experience suffering and trials, we are tempted to sin. Suffering brings about a test of our faith. How do we respond? Do we rely on self, our own abilities, and power? Do we trust in worldly things and powers? Do we give up our faith, reject God, and stop following Jesus?

On the other hand, temptation to sin is always a trial, a test. Temptation to sin comes from the evil one and our own sinful, selfish desires. As sinners whose evil and sin have been forgiven, as saved sinners who have experienced God’s love, his grace, and the new life in Jesus Christ, we don’t want to experience again the rule of the evil one and sin in our lives. Therefore we pray, deliver us from the evil one.

God allows temptations and trials to test our faith, form our character, discipline us, grow us in our faith, and train us in kingdom living. James 1:2-6, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

So, this prayer is not to avoid trails and temptation, to avoid pain and suffering. In this life in this broken world, we will experience pain and heartache, temptation and trials. This prayer is asking that God will enable us to overcome these and to go through them triumphantly. We cannot do it alone. This prayer reminds us that not one of us is above failing and falling. We cannot stand up to the pressure of temptations, suffering, and trials. But we can do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. This prayer is a vote of no confidence in our own abilities (Willard), and a vote of confidence in the all-powerful living God.

When we pray this prayer daily we grow in our faith and trust in God that any temptation or trial that does come our way has a special function and purpose in God’s plans for us. And as God provides us our daily food, he will provide what we need in our trials. He is right there with us. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” And therefore we can say with Paul that we will boast all the more gladly about our weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on us. That is why, for Christ’s sake, we delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when we are weak, then we are strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10)

4. To God be the Glory

This prayer begins with the glory of God and the glory of God is still the focus here. In this second half of the prayer, we acknowledge our feebleness, weakness, and sinfulness. Only God can and will provide, only God can and will forgive us, show us mercy and grace. Only God can and will deliver us from evil and give us the strength to go through and overcome trials, temptations, and suffering, and to arrive on the other side stronger in our life and faith. God gives. God forgives. God protects. God delivers. This is amazing grace! When God does these he shows himself as our Father in heaven, his Name is made holy, his kingdom comes and His will is done. All for God’s glory and to God be all the glory. So it is no wonder that some scribe added the traditional ending to the Lord’s Prayer. Because when you pray this prayer sincerely, experience God’s amazing grace, you cannot help but burst forth in praise — For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Are you praying the Lord’s Prayer? When you pray — slowly, meditating on meaning. Use it as a framework for your own prayers. When stuck, don’t know how to pray, pray the Lord’s Prayer.