The Lord's Prayer - Ep 11

2026.07.20 Lord's Prayer Monday

Welcome to the Lord's Prayer podcast by Bridgeway Christian Church. The Lord's Prayer has been recited by Christians around the globe for centuries, but more than a beloved tradition, this prayer invites us to live the way of Jesus, to be shaped by His priorities, to partner with His Spirit in bringing the Kingdom of God to bear on our world. Every Monday during our summer devotional series, we will read the Lord's Prayer and then members of our pastoral team will offer some devotional thoughts based on that text.

I'm Pastor Heather, and today I'm joined by Pastor Anthony and Pastor Kayla. And after I read the prayer, we'll discuss the opening line and forgive us our debts. Join me in praying, Matthew 6, 9 through 13.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Hello. How's everybody doing today? Doing good. Glad you're here.

Yeah. So glad you're joining us, Kayla. I'm excited to be here.

Well, before we dive in to today's line, forgive us our debts, it's helpful to remember that people in Jesus's day assumed that God existed and that we all needed forgiveness, that they didn't assume that they were good and they wondered if they'd sinned. They already assumed that they'd sinned and they'd wondered what God was like and how he would relate to him with their failures. For Jesus's Jewish audience, the framework was covenant.

They understood themselves to be in a relationship with God and called to live as his people. The law was not a way to earn God's love. It was the way that God's chosen people lived in response to his care for them.

They were deeply aware of God's holiness and their own inability to keep the law perfectly. They had lots of reminders, the temple sacrifices, sin offerings, the day of atonement, ritual cleanings, all of these things served as constant reminders that sin was real and that reconciliation with God was needed. So Jesus is teaching them how to interact with God and their failures by simply asking for forgiveness.

This is radical in their day. So let's think about what additional context would help us understand why forgiveness occupies such an important place in the teachings of Jesus in the Lord's prayer. So Pastor Heather, you mentioned that the law was not a way to earn God's love and therefore his forgiveness.

And that's such an important clarification because many Christians have, I think, long misunderstood grace as only a New Testament concept and that prior to Jesus, the Jewish way of relating to God involved completing ritual requirements that would bring Israel into proper alignment with God. But the biblical story is actually quite the opposite. Firstly, ritual sacrifice wasn't about earning God's forgiveness.

Rather, it was about how sacred space was maintained so that a holy God could dwell among humans in non-sacred space. And yes, there are some offerings like the sin offering that mediated reconciliation when the Israelites broke faith with God, but its primary end was to cleanse human space for God's presence. And then second, the Exodus event itself testifies to God making the first move to rescue the Hebrews from Egyptian oppression.

And he brings them to Sinai and then enters into a covenant with them. So God made the first move in the Exodus. He made the first move centuries later in Jesus.

In Romans 5.8, Paul writes, God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And then in Romans 2.4, Paul basically asks, don't you know that God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance, right? So in other words, we do not earn forgiveness. It's extended to us from a God who makes the first move within the context of covenantal relationship.

Yeah. Yeah. So, so now that we have some contextualization about forgiveness for Jesus and his original audience, what do you think are some common misunderstandings Christians have about forgiveness and being forgiven? Yeah, I think there's a misunderstanding that we can kind of just act however we want, right? That sin isn't that serious.

We can just ask God to forgive us and he'll do it. And Romans 6.15 addresses this too, right? Since we're not under the law, but we're under grace, should we just go on sinning? It says by no means, right? When we ask God to forgive us our debts, we're not just reciting these magic words that wipe the slate clean. We're truly repenting for the ways that we have caused brokenness in our relationship with him.

And praise God, he is faithful and just to forgive, even when we don't have it all figured out, but we need to make sure that we're willing to align ourselves with God and his ways too. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

And I think many Christians theoretically know that God's forgiveness toward us is sure and true, but you know, and that he means his forgiveness toward a sincere heart. But I think practically speaking, receiving God's forgiveness for others often feels like it should come with a brutal reprimand, like, so like on one end, it's like God's forgiveness is, like you said, say these magic words and it's like, you know, you shake the etch-a-sketch and it goes away. And then for others, it's like we need to do some like hard time or something.

We often believe or behave as if we don't really believe God's forgiveness is effectual after a sincere prayer. We beat ourselves up, we put ourselves down, and probably because we're conditioned to believe that punitive damages ultimately balance the scales. We might expect that we need to really pay in some way, and in turn, we expect and maybe even desire that those who wrong us need to pay as well.

Right? And I don't mean to negate the need to make things right, that whatever loss we might cause someone shouldn't be honored and rectified. So I guess the point I'm driving home is how our impulse for punishments, for some of us as a central component for forgiveness and righting wrongs, obscures the extravagance of God's grace towards us through forgiveness. First John 1.9 puts it this way.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yeah, and I think there's the other end of the pendulum too, you know, it's like there's that misunderstanding. It's like, well, I'm already saved.

Why do I need to ask for forgiveness again? You know, why is Jesus instructing me to do this daily? And for me, it's really helpful to kind of think of this in that marriage context. You know, it's like when there's conflict or hurt or distance between Dave and me, ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Well, I told him I loved him once.

I don't need to. I don't need to say it again. You know, it's like if I've said something hurtful or acted selfishly, it affects that closeness between us.

Yeah, we're still married. He still knows I love him, but my behavior didn't change that fact. But until we honestly address what happened, we're not experiencing that relationship, that love relationship the way that it was meant to be.

And I think our relationship with God works similarly. You know, it's like through Jesus, we're forgiven once and for all, adopted into God's family, secure in His love. But when we sin, it affects that intimacy of the relationship that we have with Him.

We hide, we avoid, we carry the guilt or shame, and we stop experiencing that closeness that God desires for us. And when I'm able to come to God and ask for forgiveness, I'm not trying to convince Him to love me again. I'm actually bringing my sin into the light on a daily basis and receiving that grace over and over and over again.

Yeah, that's right, daily. So kind of what does this prayer teach us about kind of sin and failure and our need for forgiveness? Yeah, I mean, I think Jesus here is teaching us to come to God with honesty, humility, and confidence, right, all at the same time. For this line of asking for forgiveness to even be included in the Lord's prayer that Jesus modeled, I think shows us that He expects His followers to have this ongoing need for God's grace, right? He's not expecting perfection out of us.

And He's teaching us not to hide our failures or to excuse our sin, but He invites us to bring them openly before our Father. And it takes a lot of humility to confess our sins and admit when we've fallen short. And I think we often try to cover up our mistakes or to justify them as if they're really not that bad.

But humbly confessing does something in our hearts that I think is meant to shape us. Our hearts, I think, become a little bit softer. They're more attentive to God's grace, especially, right, as we learn how to forgive others too.

And so Jesus is teaching us that it's important that we recognize our need for God and that we come before the Father with full confidence, knowing that He loves us and He wants that restored relationship with us. His mercy and His grace are far greater than our sin, and we can rest in the promise of His love. Yeah, and that can be so hard to wrap our minds around.

And I think because the magnitude of the forgiveness, you know, for those who are especially well aware of just how much forgiveness we need and that has been granted to us, it feels like we need to do more, right? And so it's why I love and I'm grateful for the simplicity of Jesus's prayer. Forgive us our debts. That's it.

Yep. We don't need to impress God with fancy words or emotional performance. That spiritual giant, Brother Lawrence, tells his friend that whenever he's brought to repentance, he simply asks for forgiveness and tells God, I can do no better without you.

And he just goes on his way and just continues to live the day for the Lord. And I imagine Lawrence taking a moment of silence to sit in the truth of God's forgiveness when he says that. And when God says we are forgiven, we can trust that He means it and not undermine His trustworthiness with our own efforts.

Yeah. I love that Jesus invites us to keep short accounts with God, you know, to just come to Him daily. And like you were saying, Kayla, I think it's human nature to resist kind of talking repeatedly about our shortcomings.

You know, it's much easier to minimize or justify or kind of, I mean, I'm so guilty of this to convince myself I'm doing better, you know, than I really am. And I think Jesus just teaches us to come to God daily and acknowledge our need for grace. And I assume this isn't a grand gesture, you know, of kind of forgive all my sins all at once, you know, kind of forgive my debts, the 15 I did today, you know, it's like, But rather, I feel like Jesus is inviting us into a thoughtful account of specifics as I pray.

And if I'm keeping a short account, that's a lot easier to do, because I only need to remember what I did today, you know, not 10 years ago. So Jesus is inviting us into this daily rhythm of confession and forgiveness. Imagine if someone began praying this way as a young adult and continued until age 70, they would come before God daily, nearly 19,000 times, acknowledging their need for forgiveness.

Now, see, that doesn't sound like a God who's surprised by our failure or reluctant to forgive. This is something He's asking us to do. It creates that posture of vulnerable dependence rather than self-reliance.

Coming to God daily for forgiveness protects us from both extremes, right? That crushing self-condemnation on one side and an inflated view of ourself on the other. It's such a beautiful invitation. Absolutely.

And you're so right when we can keep short accounts with daily repentance. It gives us space, I think, to do what you were saying, Pastor Heather, is actually name the sin that we're confessing. I forget who said it, but when we can name our wrong, then it makes the transformation about that wrong in our lives more real.

It puts us, holds ourselves accountable to something that is like, you can pinpoint it rather than wash it over with a generality. Yeah, that's good. Yeah.

So that's great. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you, Pastor Kayla, for joining us on this podcast.

Thank you for having me. And thank you, listeners, for joining us and being a part of this journey. Check out more resources in the show notes and then join us on Thursday for our Lectio.

Take care.