North Anderson Baptist Church
Matthew 6:9-15 NIV
Remember when we started speaking about the Lord’s Prayer we said that the first part is about God and what He desired from those who pray and then the rest of the prayer involves those who pray. Those who pray are asking for physical needs or spiritual needs to be met. From verses 11 to 13 we see the next 4 petitions that are presented by people who pray. Jesus told us to pray for our needs, both physical and spiritual.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
Verse 11 - Give us today our daily bread.
The fourth petition is about our daily physical needs that everyone has. Jesus uses the idea of “bread” so we all can relate to the statement. In Christ’s day the people could not keep their food for very long because it would spoil. So, they would have to find and prepare food on a daily basis. Jesus is helping us to realize we should be asking God to supply the daily needs we have, everything necessary to sustain life, be it food or shelter or whatever it may be.
Notice the prayer says “us.” How do we understand the plural rather than the singular? One writer has said he thinks that it refers to the family and their asking for their daily personal needs. A perfect picture of the father or mother gathering the family around and praying for the needs that day. What a special way to teach your children dependence upon the Lord for one’s life needs. Even though our God knows all of which we have need, He still desires that we pray and ask, recognizing that we are in great dependence on Him for everything.
1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Philippians 4:19 NIV
Let us remember that Jesus once said that it is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. When Jesus was teaching about being the Bread of Life in John 6, the people responded, not really understanding all that He said, by saying, 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus said back to them, 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Before we go to the next petition, I wanted to speak about Jesus being the “Bread of Life” and that we need to be reminded that we should have at some point in time asked for this eternal bread that gives life everlasting. But we can also look at the verse this way, daily we should be asking for the “Bread” from God, the Word of God, to be actively filling our soul, with His bread, so we can become what God the Father desires for us to be.
Verse 12 - The fifth petition asked of God - 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
You know in this verse the word debts and trespasses are the same. Debts are sins that we have committed and for which we need forgiveness from God our Father. We all sin. (Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”) Therefore, we should be asking forgiveness from the Father. You might say, “I don’t sin that often.” Really! Whenever you do sin, then you need to seek from God forgiveness from the sins you have committed. This almost looks like you can just make a blanket statement and not have to spell out your sin for the Lord to hear. But, John reminded us in 1 John 1:9 that we should confess each sin to be cleansed and forgiven. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” So, specify the sins that you have committed: lying, stealing, anger, hot temper, ridiculing someone, bullying people, looking at pornography, bad language, pride, gossiping, strife, etc…, take them to the Lord and confess them, agree with God that they are sins and then He will do what He does, cleanse and forgive.
Notice the wording of the rest of the verse - “as we also have forgiven our debtors.” There seems to be a condition for the first request of asking God to forgive our debts. That condition is... that we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us or those who are indebted to us because of their sin.
The Interpreter's Bible Exposition says, “There is no easy forgiveness. Forgiveness can be defined as laying aside revenge and claim for requital, but a dictionary definition cannot plumb the depths that true forgiveness must sound. A mother forgiving a wayward son has no thought of revenge or requital. Jesus washing the feet of Judas is not concerned with claims and equities. Forgiveness is possible only by one morally sensitive and therefore grieved, who is willing to give all and bear all that the wrongdoer may be won back into life. Only God can do this work for man. The Cross is the thrust of God's pardon—the incarnation of his pain and self-giving. But for the Incarnation how could we have seen the work of pardon, or accepted it? The gift of pardon is sheer bounty. "Give us our bread," and forgive us our debts: just as the earth brings forth food in multiplied harvests, so the love of God brings forth forgiveness. It is not purchased by our "good works": to imagine that would be to add the sin of self-righteousness. The hymn is right:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.”
Interpreter's Bible, The - Exposition - The Interpreter's Bible – Volume 7.
Jesus chose to make a commentary to this verse in verses 14-15, 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew Henry said of these verses, “Here is a promise, If you forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive. We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. Those who desire to find mercy with God, must show mercy to their brethren. Christ came into the world as the great Peace-maker, not only to reconcile us to God, but one to another.” Can it be said any more clear? “Unforgiving, unforgiven," the two words are linked. Conversely, the man ready to forgive opens the door to God who always waits ready to pardon. Only God can cancel moral debt.
Jesus was not teaching that believers earned God's forgiveness by forgiving others; for this would be contrary to God's free grace and mercy. However, if we have truly experienced God's forgiveness, then we will have a readiness to forgive others
Ephesians 4:32 NIV
Colossians 3:13 NIV
When we forgive each other, we are not earning the right to prayer; for the privilege of prayer is a part of our sonship.
Romans 8:15-16 NIV
“Forgiveness belongs to the matter of fellowship: If I am not in fellowship with God, I cannot pray effectively. But fellowship with my brother helps to determine my fellowship with God; hence, forgiveness is important to prayer.
If God answered the prayers of a believer who had an unforgiving spirit, He would dishonor His own name. How could God work through such a person to get His will done on earth? If God gave him his requests, He would be encouraging sin! The important thing about prayer is not simply getting an answer, but being the kind of person whom God can trust with an answer.” Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - New Testament - The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 1.
Verse 13 - 13 And lead us not into temptation.
This sixth petition speaks of temptation. No one wants to be tempted if they are in their right mind. But sometimes it is necessary, like Jesus’ temptation in the desert after His baptism. Someone has said this is more like, “Let us not sin when we are tested”—rather than “Let us not be tested” Sometimes temptation is a series of tests for us by God. He does not tempt (James 1:13, “...He Himself does not tempt anyone.”) us but He does test our faith and our commitment to Him. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into that desert and while there He was tempted. Remember this is a prayer; “maybe we can say it is like a prayer about being ‘drawn or sucked,’ of our own will, into temptation.”
One writer has said, “It was precisely this which Peter needed to ask, but did not ask, when—of his own accord, and in spite of difficulties—he pressed for entrance into the palace hall of the high priest, and where, once sucked into the scene and atmosphere of temptation, he fell so foully. And if so, does it not seem pretty clear that this was exactly what our Lord meant His disciples to pray against when He said in the garden-
Matthew 26:41 NIV
Some have said this is a cry of the soul.
I think the other part of this verse and the seventh petition, but deliver us from the evil one, is a prayer for the help of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in caring for us in great times of need and temptation against and from our great enemy Satan, the evil one. The devil is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). And in the last days before Jesus comes again, Christians will suffer the severest trials. Many will fall away. In that day Christians will need to pray this prayer more than ever before. It seems to be starting as we speak.
Any man who stands for God knows the awful reality of Satan. The Apostle Paul surely did and he speaks of it in 2 Timothy 4:18,
2 Timothy 4:18 NIV
Those who work in any church, we become conscious of the presence of God and also dreadfully conscious of the presence of Satan. But we have this petition, "Deliver us from the evil one." Remember our spiritual armor. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
You have noticed that in Matthew’s Lord’s Prayer, we don’t see the traditional ending to the Prayer. The commentaries differ on whether it is there or not. Some have said that they are in the later manuscripts. The part we don’t see is this - “for Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, Amen.”
Let’s finish the prayer with these thoughts. Jesus is declaring that there is nothing beside God’s Kingdom, the greatness of it and all of which we have already talked about. It is the most powerful kingdom ever. We also see that Jesus has declared that the power of God has no equal, for God is omnipotent, all powerful. The idea of the glory of God has been seen in everything God has made and all that we have experienced, if we would just open our eyes and mind to the truth around us, and read His Word, the declaration of all the glory of God to be seen.
This is a three-fold doxology to end this prayer to a three-fold God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Would you like to know this God personally? Then accept Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, His burial, and then that He rose from the dead, all by faith. He will accept you into His family through your repentance of sin and belief in your heart of the Gospel.