New Thoughts (8/26/06-8/29/06)
There is so much to be said about this simple model for prayer that Jesus sets forth, and much has been written about it before. It is probably the most studied and commented upon portion of the New Testament, and yet one of its most striking features is its brevity. It is concise. It makes its points, declares trust and need, and then acts upon the trust that God will provide the need by stopping. Elsewhere, Jesus comments about the relative worth of lengthy prayers. He admonishes us not to go off in torrents of repetitive jabber. Long prayers may seem impressive to us, but God is not looking at the length of our prayers, only the sincerity and the motivation. With that, let me look at each part of this model prayer as Jesus presents it.
The first thing He does is to remind us Who we are praying to. In this reminder, He actually does more than remind. There is a lesson contained in His choice of words. He does not instruct His disciples to pray to His Father, but to Our Father. More often, we hear Jesus speak of His Father, or simply the Father. As He instructs us on how we ought to pray, though, He makes it clear that His Father is Our Father, too. Well! If He is Our Father as He is the Father of Jesus, then Jesus is my brother. Furthermore, we have seen how His prayers are heard. If my Brother’s prayers are heard and answered by Our Father, then I can have confidence that mine will be, too.
At the same time as Jesus calls our attention to our family connections, He also calls our attention to the position our family holds. Our Father is in heaven. Well, if our Father is in heaven, where does His Son come from? If His Son is our brother, where do we live? Our Father is, as we should well know and understand, not only a citizen of heaven, He is the King of heaven, the highest power and authority. He is Power and Authority! Yes, He is our Father, and we are given the blessed opportunity of knowing Him on such personal and affectionate terms. He is also our King, and must be honored, revered, and obeyed as a King ought to be. We must understand that our relationship to Him is on both of these levels, and we must understand when His Lordship outweighs His parental role with us.
So, Jesus tells us we are to address our prayers to our Father. Does this restrict us from addressing our Brother, or from addressing the Holy Spirit personally in our prayers? I don’t think so. Yet, by turning our attention specifically to our Father, we are kept aware of the Office He holds, of the Authority to Whom we speak. By keeping our attention there, we are made less inclined to pray frivolously. “Hallowed by Thy name.” Let us ever hold His office, the very thought of Him, everything that He represents and everything He is as something holy, pure and worthy of all praise. In particular, when we come to Him in prayer, let us come with that proper sense of His office, let our prayers be of a sort that honor Him, honor Him as a loving Father, and honor Him as a mighty King. Let our prayers be with understanding that He is both to us.
You see, when we speak of His name, it is so much more than ‘YHVH’ that is in view. The word is not the point, the One Who has called Himself by that word is the point. The One we know by that word is the point. As we read through the pages of Scripture, we find many names, many titles given to this God Who is I AM. When we come to prayer, and we say, “Hallowed be Your name,” every last one of those titles and names is included. Every bit of what we know about God – every bit of what He means to us, what He has been to us – is wrapped up in the thought of His name.
When I think of my wife’s name, it carries with it everything she is to me. It carries the joy of being wed to her. It carries the thought of her as mother to my child. It carries the friendship we share. It carries the responsibility I have for her. It carries her weaknesses and her strengths, her pleasures and her sorrows. Everything that I have come to know of her over these last fifteen years is there in her name.
This is sort of what we’re getting at with honoring God’s name. Honor the thought of Him. Let your understanding of Him be pure, free of any distortion. Let His power and His majesty be held always before your mind’s eye at the mere mention of Him. Therefore, let us mention Him always; and particularly, let us mention Him as we come to Him, that we may be put in mind of all He is, of His love and His power, of His Law and His mercy. Daddy God, You are my King.
Being reminded of this, my Lord Father, come with Your Kingdom. I’ve been away from home so long, now. I have labored to see Your Kingdom expand into these territories, to see Your Kingdom restored to You, so come. Come win the day. Come reclaim what is Yours by right. As these lands are restored to Your dominion, surely what is done here will be of one accord with Your will, with Your good pleasure, just as it is in heaven today. So come, Victorious King, come! Establish Your boundaries about me that I may dwell once more a citizen in my native land. Let it start in me. Let me be, as Your child, a child that reflects my Father. Let me be a child that honors my Father, doing as You have taught me, pursuing the way modeled by my Brother. Let me manifest the training You have invested in my upbringing such that my life may be a source of pleasure to you, and not of regret. You are my Holy King. I pray You find me doing what You would do, doing what I should be doing as I seek Your purposes.
It seems almost inevitable that, once reminded of our Father’s office, our first concern will be for His purposes. So it is in the example Jesus provides. “Thy kingdom come.” Certainly, this is an expression of desire. It expresses our earnest desire to see His reign expanded, His proper rule over all the domain of creation restored. At the same time, it is a personal request in its own right: Thy kingdom come to me. It is the cry of the sojourner in strange lands. We are, as it were, ambassadors in hostile territory. We are ambassadors sent ahead of the King into lands He would have under His rule. We are not unknown to the enemy that currently controls this foreign land. He knows who we are, he knows Whom we serve, and he knows why we’re here. Of course our heart will yearn for that kingdom to come to us, since we cannot return to the kingdom without abandoning our post. Yes, Lord! Your kingdom come to me, Your kingdom surround me. Make of this embassy a nation of Your own.
It becomes even more personal, though, if we allow it to. Let Your kingdom be found in me. Let my embassy stand as a true piece of Your kingdom here in this place. Amongst reasonable nations, the embassy of a foreign nation is treated as though it were a piece of that nation, operating by the rules of that nation, even though it be on our soil. So, too, our embassies in other lands. They remain American, operating under American law, whatever nation they may be in. Here, then, is the most personal application of this portion. Let me be an outpost of Your kingdom, functioning under the Law of Your kingdom, whatever may be the conditions of the nation I am posted in.
Likewise, the next portion: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is a direct expression of having set God’s plans and purposes foremost in our own thinking. We cry out to see it established amongst all peoples. Let this world become a place where all do as God is pleased to do Himself. Let this world become a place where everybody does what ought to be done, rather than a place where every man does whatever seems good to him.
That is, after all, the condition of the world today. Like Israel in the days of the judges, the typical situation is that every man does whatever pleases him, with little regard for any other and less regard for God. In a world that denies the very possibility of God’s existence, what else can be expected? Having rejected the only possible means of defining an absolute standard, all standards are eliminated. What is left is only opinion and predilection. In such an environment, surely our cry must be to see a restoration. Again, the model of Israel stands as an example. In its worst times, it would cry out for God’s will to be done. Come save us! Send us a hero. And, God was pleased to answer. He would send a judge, or a king that understood his position, and for a time Israel would pursue God’s will. Sadly, it was ever and always only for a time.
We are not much different, if at all. We, too, manage to pursue His good pleasure for a time. It seems, however, that the desires of the flesh regain our attention and draw us away. We will pursue them so long as we seem to be getting away with it, neglecting our God and King. Then, when trouble comes, we turn to Him once again with promises of fealty. Save us and surely we will be faithful to You. Thus the cycle continues.
The cry of this prayer is to see that cycle broken once for all. As such, it is a cry which, like the desire of His kingdom’s presence before it, is a cry for our own condition as much as for that of the lost.
Let Your will be done by me with that same alacrity and instantaneous obedience as I find in Your angels. As I go about my day, let my actions be such as You would do Yourself. Let my interests be in those things You are well-disposed toward. On this most personal level, in each situation of my day, let me do that which I should do as a man seeking Your purposes. Let me go beyond merely obeying Your command and come to that place of recognizing Your desires and inclinations. Let me be such a servant in Your kingdom as anticipates Your least desire and provides for it before You even ask it.
This is followed by a confession of our dependence upon our King. It is also a confession of faith in our King. As we confess that our daily provision comes from Him and not from our own power, we are simultaneously acknowledging His faithfulness in providing for every day we have come thus far. As we seek for today, it is an opportunity to reflect on His constancy through all our yesterdays. As such, it is not only a confession of faith, but a bolster to our faith. With each admission of need, with each request that He do as He does, we are reminded that He has ever done so on our behalf. We are invited to reflect upon those times in our past when He has come through in the most unexpected ways. We can look at those moments when we felt as though all was lost until His provision appeared on our horizon. Even in the worst of circumstances that we have ever known, He has been faithful to provide for us, to see us through. Like David before us, as we consider our lives to this point, we can only say that we have never seen the righteous forsaken by God. We have never known His children to be out begging for their bread – not from Him nor from any other (Ps 37:25).
Indeed, knowing and reflecting upon this mighty Truth, it seems to me we must recognize that our prayers are not supposed to be of that begging and pleading variety that they often wind up being. The spirit behind this attitude of begging and pleading is a spirit of unbelief. It expresses nothing but doubt. I really don’t think You’ll do this, God, but maybe if I whine about it enough, You’ll do it just to shut me up. This expresses an understanding of God that fails to exalt Him above our own feeble abilities. As parents, we may well capitulate to such whining and pleading. But, that is not an expression of good parenting. It is not an expression of compassion and love. It is just weakness. God is not weak that He should bend to our petty begging. Further, the things we are given to ask for here are not of a sort that would require such begging. What child ever needed to beg for food from good parents? What child of good parents ever needed to beg for a place to sleep and shelter from the elements? Why, then, would we think we need to beg and plead for such things from our perfect Father in heaven?
On the same note, if our prayers are in regard to such things as conform to a desire to see God’s will accomplished, what reason do we ever have for begging and pleading? Shall I really need to cajole God into doing what He wants done? Do I really need to beg God to pursue His own good pleasure? Of course not! The reason we are begging and pleading must, therefore, be at best a total misunderstanding of who He is and who we are in Him. At worst, it is acknowledgement that we know our prayers are not really anything to do with His purposes. They are the petty demands of a spoiled child. Give me a sunny day, God, because I want to play, and I’ll pout if You don’t. That is not a prayer of faith! Faith believes. Faith knows that God is faithful. Faith knows that God hears and answers. There’s no spirit of, ‘can You hear me now?’ That’s the spirit of Baal worship, of idolatry! That’s the sort of belief that Elijah laughed at. It has nothing to do with trust in God. Nothing.
When Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily provision, it is not a case of God needing to be reminded. God does not hear us and suddenly say, “Oh yeah! Phew! I almost forgot. Better send some food down.” It’s not about reminding God to be faithful. It’s about reminding ourselves that He is faithful. Don’t misunderstand this. Faith needs to be reminded. I would venture to suggest that ninety percent of prayer (if not more) is about reminding ourselves and putting our faith on a solid foundation. God is not a man that He should forget. He doesn’t have need of our reminders. He needs us to remind ourselves of Who He is at every possible opportunity, because we are forgetful and easily distracted.
While He has us thinking upon our needs, He turns our eyes upon the greater need. Food and shelter are necessary, but they are temporary. We can be as well-fed, well-clothed and well-furnished as could possibly be desired and still not know and understand forgiveness. Where provision meets our physical needs, forgiveness meets our spiritual need. Apart from that forgiveness we cannot come into God’s presence. Apart from that forgiveness we cannot know His love for us.
There is something that cannot be missed in the wording of this prayer, though, and it comes of having been reminded of our position as ambassadors. When we come looking for forgiveness, Jesus shows us the grounds upon which we can expect to receive it, and the nature of the forgiveness we can expect to receive. In Luke’s accounting, the delivery is ‘forgive us because we have likewise forgiven everyone.’ Now, I am again going to say that God does not need to be reminded of things. God is not unaware of our activities, that we must catalog our virtues for Him as we confess our sins. That’s not the point. The point is to remind us. Unless we can come to Him honestly able to make this confession that we have forgiven everybody we have been offended by, we have no cause to stand before Him asking to be forgiven for offending Him.
Things are phrased a little differently in Matthew’s record of this prayer. Here, the prayer says, “forgive us in the same fashion as we have forgiven.” How often is this prayer offered up in churches around the world? How often have those reciting this prayer really thought about what they are saying here? There are times I would cringe to consider asking God to forgive me the way I forgive. Do I really want to stand before a God who says, “I forgive you,” but then makes a notation in His book so that the next time I screw up, He can add this current failure back into my account? Yet, as often as not, this is the way we forgive. We’re still counting up that seventy times seven, waiting for the offense for which we can finally retaliate. It’s not going to come, you know.
I think that this is exactly why Jesus moves immediately, in this prayer, to the matter of testing. Yes, the wording says, ‘lead us not into temptation,’ but then, we know that God does not tempt any man (Jas 1:13). On the other hand, He often puts His children to the test so that they can see where they need work and so they can see where they have grown. How we cringe at the thought of being tested, particularly by God. Yet, with each passing grade, we find cause for confidence. With each test we get through, faith is built up, because we can see that God has indeed been moving upon us. We are not who we were at the start, because His ongoing work of renewal and rebirth is a reality in us. So, when we pray in this fashion, it is not against temptation that we pray, but against the hard tests. See, temptation in this sense of testing is a matter of being put to proof.
God does this for our benefit. Like so much in this prayer, it’s not about reminding Him or letting Him know about us. He knows. It’s about letting us know about us. When we are put to proof by God, it is for the express purpose of letting us see what He has done in us. Remember, that when God brings the test, He always – ALWAYS – provides the way of escape (1Co 10:13). He wants us to pass the test. In fact, He knows we can pass the test. Our problem lies in the fact that we either don’t know this, or don’t yet really believe it. Therefore, when the testing comes, we are not looking for the escape. All we see is the temptation. That’s a recipe for failure. God’s recipe is for success. He wants to put us to proof by allowing the experiment of our experiencing the trial. For, we cannot experience the victory of passing the trial that we never face. We cannot know the victorious thrill of successfully shooting the rapids if we never get in the river!
So, the prayer here might better be understood as requesting that the trials not be too severe, that we would learn what we need to learn by less painful means. We cannot think to pray that there would be no trials whatsoever, for we know that the God who loves us as His children will surely discipline us, and we know that those times of discipline, as unpleasant as they are, come for our benefit. How could we pray that God not do what is beneficial to us? That’s not it at all. The cry is to make us quick learners, such that the discipline need be no more severe than absolutely necessary. Again, we are only asking that God do what He does anyway. It is a reminder to ourselves, not Him. We who face the trials need to remember that they are never more severe than absolutely necessary. We need to remember that there is always a way through to victory.
I mentioned that these are connected thoughts. That they are connected is, I think, supported by the fact that Jesus, having concluded His example, returns immediately to the issue of forgiveness. So, I think we must understand that the offenses that we must learn to forgive are one of the greatest trials we face. Real forgiveness is exceedingly difficult to manage. To forgive in the fashion that God forgives cannot happen unless God is actively at work in us. In such situations, anger is the natural response, but it is not the way of escape. If we fall into the habit of keeping an account of this one’s wrongs against us and that one’s annoying habits, we are falling into a failing grade on this most difficult of tests.
When God forgives, He puts the matter so fully and completely in the past that it will never be brought up again. The matter has been dealt with and wiped from the record. In that accounting of seventy times seven, the bank book shows no debits. The full balance of seventy times seven is available for us once again.
Well, we get pretty good at doing this with our fellow believers. We’re really good at doing it with ourselves. We’re just so forgivable! When it comes to our children, it gets tougher. Yet, the command hasn’t really changed. We are not given the right to rub their noses in every past failure just because it’s happened again. On that count of seventy times seven, we’re always supposed to be counting to one. What about the work-place? Ouch! Here’s my challenge. Even as I write this, getting ready to go back into work after a brief vacation, I can call to mind the petty annoyances of this one, the aggravations of dealing with that one, the childishness of another. Oh, I could maintain a logbook to condemn any one of them! But, that would be failing the test with flying colors. Never again could I come to this prayer. Never again could I come to my Father and ask Him to do forgive me according to my standard of forgiveness.
Lord, here is the test. Even as I move on in my day today, let those records be wiped clean. Let me look upon the workplace with all past offense done away with, starting fresh. If offense comes, and by Your own word I am assured it will, let it bear no burden of history, and let my forgiveness be swift in coming. You know as I know that this is a particular weakness of mine, a place in need of work. Else, why would I face it on such a regular basis? Father, as I am Your ambassador and Your child, I ask Your help in this today, that You might be shown strong in my weakness. Blessed by Your holy name.
Now, I feel I must point out a bit of a corrective to our usual thinking here. In Matthew 6:13, Jesus provides us with a typical bit of Hebraic parallelism. The first clause is to be understood as being firmly connected to the second. Don’t do this, do that. Don’t lead us into the place of trial, but rather deliver us from the trial. Alternatively: Don’t lead us into the face of evil, but deliver us from evil. The trial and the evil are parallels, and it is made clear, in this case, that God is in charge. He shall either lead us in or rescue us out of that evil trial of temptation. Now, this must, of course, be balanced with the words of James that I have already mentioned. God does not tempt by evil. We are not tempted by God (Jas 1:13). We are, as James points out, tempted when we get caught up in our own lusts (Jas 1:14). It is, however, in God’s hands whether we are called to our senses or not. This is a difficult point to make in such a fashion as to be accurate to God’s Truth and yet understood. It borders on mystery. If there is a leading into temptation, it is by God’s knowledge and assent, yet it is our own lusts – the continuing effects of the evil one’s plot against God – that do the leading. Likewise, when we stand up to the temptation and win through in righteousness, it is no credit to us. It is God’s doing. We may do the standing, but it is by God’s power. We may make the right choices, but it is the Spirit speaking to us that made us aware there even was a choice. Otherwise, our blinders would still be firmly in place.
With that in mind, I need to consider what John says in his letter. “This we know: nobody born of God sins habitually, for He who was born of God keeps him such that the evil one does not touch him.” (1Jn 5:18). That closing point is powerful. Yet, the experience of life tells me that it cannot possibly be understood as meaning that we are completely free of the devil’s machinations. For that matter, a look at the lives of the Apostles should make that painfully clear. Indeed, even physical death is not precluded by this rebirth we have in Christ. That is not really the point. Every saint that has ever been, with the possible exceptions of Enoch and Elijah, has known physical death. It is the second death they have been secured from and it is that same second death that we are secured from. Clearly, if the evil one did not so much as touch us, there would be no call to pray as Jesus teaches here. Why pray against the temptation which is the evil one’s touch if it is an impossibility? Why pray to be rescued from an evil that we know cannot come upon us?
I must come to much the same conclusion as Calvin did, that what we learn here is that though we may fall into an occasional sin, it will no longer be our habit. Though we still fall short, we do not abandon God. Though we may wander off the Way, He will not suffer us to wander away. He will come and draw us back. Yet, this is no excuse to walk in sin. Indeed, it is a warning in that sense. Nobody born of God sins habitually. Habitual sin, a willing and constant walking away from God, is a guarantee that we are not saved. If we are saved, though, we can know that though we are occasionally drawn away by sin, we are not snared. Neither can we ultimately be harmed by the enemy’s efforts, as Barnes points out in his notes on that verse. It comes back to what Jesus has so recently taught these same Apostles, for the devil, like man, can only kill the body. Our reverence must be reserved for God, Who alone can destroy both body and soul in hell (Mt 10:28). Don’t think it’s the devil whom Jesus is giving credit for that power. The devil is only the instrument God uses to this end, and will himself suffer the same destruction in the end. God alone has the power to determine this second death. Jesus holds the keys, for all power is given into His hands, and He is both your Brother and your Lawyer. The evil one cannot touch you with this office of final punishment, for your Lawyer is also the Judge.
Now, let me return with Jesus to the subject of forgiveness. There is something that I have been hearing in my spirit on this topic, particularly as it applies to God in His forgiveness. I have pointed out already that His forgiveness wipes the subject from the record, resets any counters on the offense, and establishes us on the legal footing of having never participated in the crime. Now, it occurs to me that God, Who has done so much to establish this offense as forgotten is not going to respond simply with a confused stare should somebody come to remind Him of the offense. To bring it up again is, in fact, a direct contravening of His own determination. Can you imagine His response when the devil, the accuser of the brethren comes into His throne room and starts bringing these matters up? If you thought the judges in our own court system dislike having their time wasted, just imagine how our Judge detests having His own time wasted! The court has already dealt with these issues that this foolish devil brings up, and it is hardly going to be pleased to hear of them again. The first ruling was that they were to be forgotten, wiped from the record. Why, then, is this lawyer bringing them up? He merely establishes his own guilt, his own constant predilection for ignoring the Law of heaven. Not only will the court, then, reject his attempted evidence as inadmissible, it shall become evidence at his own trial, and thereby increase the just punishment that awaits him.
I cannot imagine that God is any less aggravated when we, the defendants, start bringing up the same issues – seeking to apologize for things that have already been dealt with. It shows a certain lack of faith on our part, don’t you think? If He has forgiven us, and if we really understand and believe that He forgives in such a fashion as to erase all thought of the event from the records, then why are we bringing it up? In our own system, there is the concept of a juvenile offense. When the terms of parole have been met by such an offender, those offenses committed prior to reaching the age of majority are erased from the record. It is as though they never happened. Should he appear before the courts again at some later date, no lawyer can bring these records up, for they have been destroyed. No defendant in his right senses is going to bring up such issues as the lawyers themselves cannot! It would only be wasting the court’s time, and aggravating the judge. If you have been forgiven, then walk in the state of forgiveness.
You were forgiven by God so that you could be liberated from the power of sin. Each sin we commit acts like a bond upon us. It is a chain that ties us to our prison. Forgiveness breaks those chains. The sins of our past no longer have a hold upon us. We are free to leave our prison and return to the road that leads to home. Zhodiates makes the point that this forgiveness is not to be thought of as God disregarding our sins. No. He doesn’t disregard them, but He does see the blood of His Son’s death, and in that blood, He sees that the just and due penalty of the Law has been satisfied. The Blood has erased the record. It has become inadmissible evidence, no longer to be mentioned in His presence.
So, when we cry out to God to forgive us in the way we have forgiven or because we have forgiven, we will want to have made certain that our forgiveness is modeled on His. Oh! It would be a terrible thing for God to forgive us like we tend to forgive. “I’ll forgive you, but if you ever do it again, know that I will dredge up every wrong you have ever done and lay it all before you. I’ll forgive you, but I’m writing it down for future reference.” That’s the forgiveness we tend to mete out. Then we come to God seeking something better from Him. But, God says that we will be judged by our own standard (Mt 7:2). That’s the warning in the promise.
Don’t come looking for a forgiveness you don’t practice. I cannot forgive what you haven’t repented of. You are My ambassador. If your forgiveness of others has not represented My kingdom properly, and you still refuse to forgive as I forgive, how then can I forgive you? Repent! For My kingdom is here in you. You are sent to make My kingdom manifest and so long as you continue to hold your petty grudges, so long as you continue to withhold your forgiveness, you fail in your duty.
Look at the confluence of these verses on the subject. Whenever you come to the Father in prayer, forgive. If you have anything against anybody, forgive. If you will not forgive them, neither will your Father forgive you (Mt 11:25-26). Whatever complaint you may have, whomever it is that has offended you, forgive. Forgive just as the Lord forgave you. Put up with each other just as the Lord puts up with you (Col 3:13). If you will not truly and earnestly forgive from the heart, and not just say the nice Christianese words, expect the same from My Father (Mt 18:35). I would note, in that last, that failure to forgive has moved Him from being our Father and my Father to being His Father. Unforgiveness separates us not just from the one we won’t forgive, but from Father God.
What makes it even worse is that our unforgiveness rarely if ever has anything to do with God’s standards and rules. Our unforgiveness is reserved for those who break our own rules, whatever those rules may be founded on. It’s often not even a rule, just a preference. They don’t do things our way. How can we forgive them? They do things I would never do! How can I forgive them? Whenever our thinking starts to wander in that direction, we need to return to the top of this prayer. Our Father is holy, sanctified and set apart. In reverent respect for His office, let us labor to see His kingdom established and manifest. Let us be worried about doing His will, not about everybody else doing His will. Let us focus on our own failures rather than everybody else’s. “If you forgive others for having broken your rules, your Father in heaven will also forgive you for breaking His.” If my focus is on all those who broke my rules, I have used up all the energy with which I ought to be pursuing my own course, I have lost focus and can be assured that I have broken His. If my focus is on doing my utmost to abide by His rules, I will find I have little time for worrying about others abiding by my mine.
I do not say this is easy. As my pastor spoke this last Sunday, Christianity isn’t easy. It isn’t even hard. It’s impossible. That has ever and always been the point. In a previous age, G. K. Chesterton said it this way. “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” It truly is impossible for a man to forgive as God forgives. It is impossible for a parent to forgive as God forgives. It is impossible for a spouse to forgive as God forgives. But, with God all things are possible (Mt 19:26), with God, the concept of ‘impossible’ does not apply (Lk 1:37).
