In teaching us how to pray, Jesus includes an essential element, “And forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4).
“Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
In teaching us how to pray, Jesus includes an essential element, “And forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). Though we are free to confess our sins in a variety of ways, Scripture is clear that this is something we all need to do. When we admit our sins to God and ask him to forgive us, we experience the freedom that comes as God releases us from the bondage of our guilt and shame. God’s forgiveness through Christ fills us with the joy of knowing that nothing in all creation will ever separate us from God’s love for us.
Some of pray, “Forgive us our trespasses” while other Christians pray, “Forgive us our debts.” No matter which of these we use, we understand that we’re not talking about literal trespasses or literal debts. Rather, these are metaphorical ways of talking about sin.
Well, just to make things more interesting, in Luke 11:4 Jesus complicates things even further by teaching us to pray, “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” I think it’s likely that Jesus actually said what we call the Lord’s Prayer in a variety of ways, two of which are captured in the New Testament Gospels.
Though the language may vary, what remains constant is the instruction of Jesus that we ask for God’s forgiveness when we pray. Though we know that we are forgiven through the work of Christ on the cross, and that God’s forgiveness doesn’t depend on our efforts, if we are going to experience that forgiveness, we need to ask God for it. As it says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We will enjoy the benefits of forgiveness when we tell the Lord what we’ve done wrong and ask him to forgive us.
I grew up in a church in which a Prayer of Confession was an essential element of every worship experience. A pastor would stand before the congregation and offer a prayer on our behalf, mentioning both sin in general and specific kinds of sin. This time of confession often included several moments of silence during which worshippers were to tell the Lord about their own sins. I must say that I found this particular practice a little odd because the time of silence was so short. I barely had time to confess one sin, not to mention the list of sins that I had accumulated during the past week. Nevertheless, after the brief moment of silence, the pastor would finish up, say “Amen,” and then speak the Assurance of Pardon, often reciting the passage from 1 John that I quoted above: “If we confess our sins . . . .”
These days, many churches continue to feature a Prayer of Confession in their times of worship. But as I worship in a wide variety of churches these days, I am struck by how rare a dedicated prayer of confession has become in many congregations. I don’t really know why this is, because these churches don’t shy away from talking about sin. But the regular corporate confession of sin appears to have been set aside, along with repetition of the Lord’s Prayer, I might add.
One of the things I miss when corporate confession disappears is the experience of admitting in public my own sin, not in words others can hear, but in my participation in our shared confession. Something essential happens when brothers and sisters can say together, “Lord, we have sinned. We need your forgiveness.” It’s as if for a few moments we let down our guard, we stop pretending, and we agree together that we are in need of God’s grace in our lives. Moreover, something equally essential happens when we hear together that we are forgiven. If we take this seriously, among other things it will help us to offer forgiveness to each other, something vital for healthy church life.
Christians are free to worship God in a variety of biblically-inspired forms and expressions. And I expect for some worshipers the familiarity of a certain form of confession may lead to a kind of spiritual dullness. But I do wonder if many believers are not being taught by their churches to confess their sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. Given what we learn from 1 John 1:9, not to mention the Lord’s Prayer, this does concern quite me a bit. I wonder if some who have been saved by God’s grace through faith are, nevertheless, missing out on the discipline and joy that come from regular confession of sin.
I am convinced, however, that you and I are both free and encouraged to employ the model prayer of Jesus in our personal communication with God. I believe we should regularly confess our sin – and our specific sins – and ask the Lord to forgive us. This can happen in a variety of ways and forms. I have many friends who employ the ACTS model of prayer in their devotions: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.
I also find it helpful to confess in relationship to the biblical passage upon which I am reflecting. Many times the prayers that come at the end of a devotion include a paragraph of confession that responds to the biblical text upon which the daily devotion is built. Again, I’m not saying this is the only way or the best way. But it is one more way we can include regular confession of sin in our prayers.
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