Forgive, Don’t Tempt, Deliver from Evil

March 14, 2010 

A story is about old Jack and old John, two board members of the same Church who were always at odds with each other. They were constantly at each others’ throat especially in board meetings. When one of them said “yea,” you could be assured that the other would say “nay.” So, one day old Jack dies and arrives at the pearly gate. He notices how St. Peter asks everyone a question, before they proceeded. When it was his turn, St. Peter said: “Hi Jack, to see if you qualify for heaven, I need to ask you to spell Jesus for me.” “That’s easy,” says Jack, “J-E-S-U-S.” Peter said: “great, you’re in, but could you do me a small favor and take over here for a while; I just need to check on something. I’ll be back.” Jack didn’t mind and asked everyone in line to spell Jesus. Just then, old John was coming through the line. “What are you doing here?” asked old John. Said Jack; “O, I am just filling in for St. Peter asking everybody to spell a word before they can pass through.” So John says,  ”Okay, what’s the word?” Jack said: “spell Albuquerque!”

I told you that because we are still looking at the prayer that Jesus taught us in response to the request, “Lord, teach us to pray!” Today we look at the last three requests or petitions in this prayer, and the first one has to do with forgiveness.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

This petition is perhaps the most misunderstood portion of the Lord’s Prayer. Many people see this as a bargain we are striking with God, that He will forgive us because we forgive others, or when we forgive others, or as much as we forgive others. But that is not the case at all. We are asking God’s forgiveness for our sins, confident that because of our trust in the death of Jesus as payment for all our sin, we are indeed forgiven. The phrase as we forgive those who trespass against us is not the reason we are forgiven, but rather a promise on our part to be forgiving towards our brothers and sisters just as God has been forgiving toward us.  We forgive because He first forgave us. When you and I realize that God forgives our sins, though they are great and many, we will be ready to forgive the sins that others commit against us.

God’s forgiveness toward us and our forgiveness toward others go hand in hand. God does not forgive us because we forgive others. It is the other way around.  If a person says, “I’ll never forgive you for what you have done to me,” he can hardly be in the mood or mindset to receive God’s forgiveness. That person is more concerned about his own vengeful pride that He is about God’s grace. God is always ready to forgive. For Jesus’ sake, God wants to forgiven, but in our stubbornness we are not always ready to be forgiven. Nor are we always ready to be forgiving. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul restates what Jesus said in this prayer: Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Have you ever stopped to think about how we are so quick to judge the sins of others while making allowance for our own faults? If you are honest with yourself, you know that what God has forgiven you is too large to count. Compared to what you have been forgiven, your neighbor’s sins against you are nothing.

And lead us not into temptation.

The first words of Luther’s explanation to this petition are revealing: God indeed tempts no one.  We recognize that God is not a source of evil for us, but only good. He is not the one who leads us to sin. What we are asking here, then, is that He would guard and protect us so that we do not give in to the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. Temptations will and do come to us daily. Each time you are tempted, you must make a choice either to give in to sin or to resist and follow God’s desire for your life. Our prayer is that we would draw upon the strength God offers to us to resist the temptations that do come to us. That this strength is available to us is without question. The Bible tells us God is faithful.  He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13). No matter what the temptation may be that comes to you, there is a way out with God’s help. You do not have to give in.

Another part of this petition is that we would not place ourselves in situations where we know we will be tempted. A compulsive gambler should not be going to that place just across the river. A recovering alcoholic would not want to go to a bar every night. Someone struggling with the desire to look at internet porn should not spend all their spare time surfing the web every night. Asking God to deliver you from temptation includes staying away from those places where you would inevitably be tempted.  You don’t run into a fire and expect not to be burned. And in all of these things, God will give you the strength you need if you will just ask Him. He wants only the best for you. That’s why He sent Jesus to pay for your sins.

But deliver us from evil.

The Lord ’s Prayer is recorded for us in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11. This last petition does not appear in Luke’s Gospel, but it is in Matthew. It is a kind of summary of the last two petitions. All of the parts of the prayer we are looking at today are asking for a deliverance from evil of some sort. We have already asked that our sins be forgiven and that we would draw upon God’s strength to resist further temptations to sin. In addition to these greatest evils, we are now asking that God would deliver us from every other evil that might come to us.

When you look at the Lord’s prayer in Matthew (and the footnote in Luke), many of the modern translations have “deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew’s Gospel has a footnote that says “or from evil.” The oldest copies of the bible in the original languages, what we call the “biblical manuscripts” are divided–some have “evil” and some have “the evil one”. it really does not make a lot of difference whether we speak of evil in general or of the “evil one” in particular. We know there are forces working against us in our lives that invite us to sin. Luther spoke of evil as a trio: The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. This petition covers all of them. This prayer is that we may be protected from all evil. This request asks for God’s help in our battle with every kind of evil. This would include things like

• Evils of Body:  sickness, pain, hunger, accidents
• Evils of Soul:  superstition, unbelief, sorrow, despair, worry
• Evils of Property:  fire, floods, wars, famine, poverty, natural disasters
• Evils of Honor:  disgrace, slander, anything that would ruin our reputation

The list could go on and one. The fact that we ask for this does not necessarily mean that these things will not come to us. Many times they will. As long as you are in this world, you will have to endure many evils which are the consequences of sin. But part of God’s deliverance from evil is the final deliverance that He gives to those who have recognized their sin, repented, and believed in the one and only Son of God as their Savior. This final deliverance is the forgiveness of all sins and eternal life with God. This final deliverance from evil is given to all who trust in Jesus Christ. That is what Paul was talking about in the Second Scripture reading that you heard earlier in the service.

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. …  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21)

You will be delivered from evil, you will be taken from this vale of tears to the joy of heaven, where you will live in peace forevermore with your Savior. That should be part of what you are thinking when you pray this petition, “But deliver us from evil.”

We’ll finish our look at this prayer next week with the conclusion.