Every major religion teaches on the importance of forgiving those who have sinned against us. But no other religion provides the same rationale for forgiveness that we find in the teachings of Jesus. What Jesus taught is unique in history. And as we look closely at what he had to say, we find that its very radical.

The consequences for not forgiving others are catastrophic. The reward for forgiving others is something that surpasses imagination.

In this episode we look at the 5th petition of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’

On the surface, it seems like a basic request. We’re acknowledging that we have sinned. We’re asking God for forgiveness. And as a corollary, we’re making a commitment to God that we will forgive others. Beneath the surface of this seemingly simple petition, however, lies a very rich and challenging theology that many Christians have never deeply explored.

Today we are going to look at 2 elements of Jesus’ radical teaching on the importance of forgiving others.

The first point is that among the followers of Jesus a person’s eligibility to be forgiven by the father is dependent on his willingness to forgive others. That is to say that a Christian who does not forgive others is not eligible to receive forgiveness from God.

No other teacher, either in the Hebrew tradition of the Old Testament, or any other major world religion, ever taught that our forgiveness from God depends on our choice to forgive others.

The second point is that in biblical and Christian teaching, the choice to forgive others is at the very heart of transformation into the image of God, and the union of heaven and earth that is envisioned in the Lord's Prayer.

As we continue in our series on the Lord's Prayer, we arrive at the petition 'give us this day our daily bread.' We here find that the followers of Jesus are taught not only pray for their own personal needs, but for the needs of their community. This prayer does not say ‘give me this day my daily bread,’ but rather 'give us today our daily bread.'

In the Western, individualistic capitalistic mindset – our primary concern is often individual prosperity. We all want to gather to ourselves as much as we can possibly accumulate. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is not challenging the right of an individual to have wealth. But he is challenging the heart of the wealthy person who fails to pay attention the needs of those in his community.

As we continue our series on the Lord's Prayer, we arrive at the crucial phrase, 'on earth as it is in heaven' which only appears in Matthew. No other biblical author talks about Heaven more than Matthew. But what he has to say may come as a surprise.