Word of Salvation – Vol. 24 No. 25 – March 1978

 

The Costliest Petition

 

Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp, B.D. on Lord’s Day 51

Scripture reading: Matthew 18:21-25, Psalm 143

Psalter Hymnal: 45:1, 2, 3, 4, 7; 388; 95; 431:6; 472:5, 7

Theme: The fifth petition asks a lot from God and asks a lot from us too! 

 

Introduction:

The meeting was over and the chairman closed in prayer:
            “Lord... Forgive us for the wrong we have done
             for anything that was sinful in this meeting!”

The family was sitting down to their evening meal and father prayed:
            “O God... forgive us for all that was not right today
             for our sins in thought, word and deed!”

The congregation concluded its prayer of thanksgiving:
            “Father... forgive us our trespasses as we also forgive!

The prayer for forgiveness - that's a prayer that we pray very often
            sometimes several times a day;
            but I wonder how often w stop and think about it?
 Do we realise what a costly, expensive prayer this is?

A.  A PRAYER THAT ASKS A LOT FROM US.

To really and sincerely pray for forgiveness is expensive for us who pray.

i)  It costs us something to pray this... 
            because when we pray this prayer
            then we are admitting something about ourselves...
            something that is not really very nice...  nor very easy to admit.
Forgive us our trespasses, our sins!

That is an admission of wrongdoing. 

It is not easy to ask for forgiveness
            because when I do that then I am admitting I am in the wrong. 
And I don't like being in the wrong.
            Not with my fellow-man; and not with God either.
Father forgive... that is not only a prayer but also a confession.
  Then I am telling God in heaven
            that I belong with the tax collectors and with the harlots.
It costs us something to admit that.

ii)  One of our problems is that we've been conditioned to try to make up for doing what is wrong: We break a window and – of course we’ll pay for it.
            We lose someone's property and we replace it.
And then of course we would like to do the same with God too!
  Yes, we slipped badly today we did the wrong thing again.
  But tomorrow... we'll balance the books; we'll make up for it.
Ever found yourself thinking that way...?

And now Jesus teaches us not to pay for forgiveness; but to pray for forgiveness.

And that means another admission... another costly admission.
  It's an admission that we don't have the price to pay for it.
  “Lord I can't buy my way out ... I'm bankrupt.”

No we can't buy our forgiveness like an item of groceries on a supermarket shelf...
  we can only get on our knees and plead with God for it.
But that costs us something,
  to admit that we can't make things right anymore...
  that our only hope is for God to forgive us.

iii)  All this makes us realise that to really pray this prayer
            requires a great deal of humility from us.
We need humility to pay the price of such a costly prayer.
  It is not a prayer that we pray standing before God like a proud Pharisee
            but as a broken, humble tax collector 
            convinced of our guilt and of our inability to pay for our wrongs.

For natural man that prayer is 'far too costly.
For it is only by the grace of God
            that we are willing to stoop that low to get down on our knees.
Only God's grace can make us face our sin
            and confess it and ask God to forgive us for it.

A costly prayer for us to pray...???  Yes, of course it is.
  Too costly!
  But what we can't do because of our pride God does through His grace.
  Father, forgive us our trespasses. 

B.  A PRAYER THAT ASKS A LOT FROM GOD.

Let us also be aware this morning/evening
             that this prayer is not only costly for us to pray,
             it is even more costly for God to answer.

i)  Here we need to realise what it is that we are asking for in this prayer.
            And we need to know why we are asking.

Why is it that when I know I have wronged my fellow-man,
            that I ask him to forgive me?
Is it not because my wrongdoing has created a barrier between us?

Our relationship is no longer harmonious.
Our fellowship with each other is threatened.
So, when I ask you for forgiveness,
  then I am asking that our fellowship be restored.

Isn't it the same with God?
  In this prayer we're not just saying: "Lord, I'm sorry!"
  But we're saying: "Lord, please don't hold that wrong against us.
            Don't let it be a barrier between us any longer.
            Take away our sin so that it won't hinder our fellowship."

And God for His part doesn't just say: "That's okay - I know you didn't mean it.”
No!  In answering this prayer God actually takes away our sin.

He lays our wrongdoing – our vile tempers –
            our evil thoughts – our harsh words upon His Son...
  So that our fellowship is restored.
Behind our prayer for forgiveness there is a plea for restored fellowship with God.

ii)  When we think of what the Bible tells us about God's justice
            and about the wrath of God against all sin of man,
            then we realise that here it is no small thing that we ask for.

How can a perfectly holy and a perfectly righteous God
            not count our wrong- doing against us?
  We're asking God to do the unusual and the extraordinary.

Isn't it so in the world that anything that is common and usual is also cheap?
And everything that is rare and unusual is also costly?
Forgive us!!
  That is not only rare and unusual in the light of God's righteousness –
            that is absolutely miraculous.
  Restored fellowship – that is a miracle of God's grace.
  And God's grace is never cheap - it is terribly costly. 

In fact, congregation, all this is so costly it is well outside our price range.
  We can only ask God to give it to us as we pray. 

I guess it is a little like when we receive an expensive gift
            that doesn't cost us anything
            but it may cost the one who gave it a great deal.
And that forgiveness that God gives us so freely, that cost God a great deal too.

iii)  Perhaps we don't always realise this when we ask for forgiveness.
            We say the words so easily.
            But do we always realise at what price we receive it?

Dr. Leighton Ford once told the story of a man who had been unfaithful to his wife.
  When he realised what he had done
             he decided to confess to his wife and ask her forgiveness.
  His wife fully forgave him,
            but when she heard his confession,
            there was a look of great sorrow and pain on the wife's face.
  It did something to that man.
  He said: "For the first time I realised something of what it cost God to forgive me!!"

Yes, it's a costly prayer for God to answer.
  For it cost the Son of God His life's blood.
  Nothing less could pay the price of our forgiveness.
  Nothing less could buy our restored fellowship with God.
  And then we realise that in this petition
            we are dealing with the heart of the gospel
            because forgiveness and restored fellowship,
            that is God's good news in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Father, don't count our sins against us for His sake.

C.  GOD'S FORGIVENESS AND OUR FORGIVENESS.

We began by saying that this prayer costs us something too.
Not, of course, the answering of it – not the forgiveness -
            Jesus paid that price...  the cost of that.
  But it costs us something to pray this sincerely,
            to own up to the fact that we need forgiveness,
            to admit that we can't earn it ourselves...
            that costs us humility.

However, there is also another way in which this prayer is costly for us.
Because we not only ask God to forgive,
            but to forgive us our trespasses AS WE ALSO forgive others.

i)  Let us make quite sure that we don't misunderstand what we pray here.
            We are not saying that we would want God to forgive
                        BECAUSE we forgive others too.
When we say: forgive AS WE forgive those who trespass against us,
            then we are certainly not holding out our feeble efforts
              as an example for God to imitate.
  What an insult that would be to the Lord God.

We have a rather poor record of forgiving others –
  hardly an example for God to follow.
            It would go hard for us if that were the case.

Nor are we asking here that God might forgive us
            to the same EXTENT as we forgive others.
  If that were so then how half-hearted God's forgiveness of us would be.
  We can praise God that His forgiveness of us
            is so much greater than our forgiveness of others.
God's forgiveness – like everything else about Him is perfect.

ii)  What then do we mean when we say "Forgive AS WE ALSO forgive..."?
            When the Heidelberg Catechism explains this petition,
              then it points us here to God's grace.
  It is a work of God's grace in us that we want to forgive others.
  Yes, we do it... in a very sloppy way... and often not at all.

Yet in the born again believer there is that work of God –
            no matter how hard it may be suppressed at times...
            we do desire to forgive others.

What we are saying then is this:
            Lord, we see in ourselves – by Your grace – a desire to forgive.
            And if that is true of us,
                        then how much more can we not count on You to forgive us.
            Would You do any less?

No, of course we are not holding our puny works of forgiveness
            as an example for God to follow.
  But we are pleading with Him to do FOR us
            what we have already seen Him do WITHIN us.

iii)  We said before that this part of this prayer
            adds to the cost. of praying this prayer sincerely – and it is true.
For who of us dares to pray: Forgive... as we also forgive...!?
            Who of us dares to pray that...
              without also striving daily to do exactly that – forgiving our neighbour?

How easily we could become hypocritical in this prayer.
How easy to point to that work of God's grace in us
             while at the same time we do everything possible
             to suppress it and make it ineffective.

Here in this prayer we are dealing with the heart of God's gospel of free grace.
  But we also see here that our responsibility is not removed.
  What God gives us freely in Jesus Christ...
            what He, by His grace, works within us –
            that is also what He demands from us... FORGIVENESS!

Forgiveness is not only a gift, it is also a requirement.

That is why this petition is perhaps the hardest and costliest.
  To really pray it demands much from us...
             to live out this prayer in daily forgiveness of others.
Yet at the same time it is also one of the most rewarding prayers
  for it is answered in restored fellowship with God in Jesus Christ.

The story is told of a Texan Capitalist
            who marched his ranch hands to church every Sunday with the reasoning:
            "It will teach them a lesson."
            Once when a migrant worker was caught stealing a calf
                        the rancher croaked: "String him up it will teach him a lesson."
            When the Texan died he appeared before the throne of God and God said:
                        "Forgive him it will teach him a lesson."

Well, we can shoot theological holes in that story
            but it shows us that we need to be forgiven sinners
                        in order to forgive others.
            We need to learn God's lesson of forgiveness
                        before we can even say:
                        "Lord, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
                                    will You also forgive us our trespasses.' 

Amen