Highlights: Recovery Begins Here (Part 6 - Lord’s Prayer)

“The central defect of evil is not the sin, but the refusal to acknowledge it.” (Scott Peck, People of the Lie) The practice of denial only allows the evil to grow worse. Recovery can only begin when we acknowledge the sin: “Forgive us our sins.
“Trespasses” and “Debts” are metaphors for the same thing - sin. (cf. Luke 11:4).
Different approaches to the problem of sin:
• Avoid it. In the short run it’s easier to smash the warning light on the dashboard of the car than the stop at the garage and figure out what’s wrong.
• Deny responsibility. “It is now known as the “Twinkie defense.” (Chuck Colson) We’ve constructed a world where all too often it’s everybody else’s fault. Blame it on our diet, our family of origin…etc.
• Resignation. We tell ourselves, “No one’s perfect. To err is human. Everybody’s doing it. Why beat ourselves up over something we can’t help?”

These strategies keep us from taking the steps we need to get better.
Why does God care? Because we have forgotten who we are and what he created us to do. We are all eagles, meant to soar, but we’re living the life of prairie chickens! We were destined for more than what we’ve become! ( Conformed to the Image of His Son, Haley Grandson Jacob) “We may be content to remain what we call “ordinary people”: but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan…He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine.” ( Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis)
How then should sin be defined? Sin is any action or inaction, word, thought, feeling or motive that doesn’t accurately represent the character and will of God. Sin is anything in our lives that keeps us from fulfilling our created purpose.
Is a generic prayer for forgiveness good enough? Do I need to name my sins? Well, the more specific we can be the better. I like the model of the 12 step program. “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and admit to God, ourselves and one other human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
What if I forget to confess a particular sin? If we come to God in good faith with what we know, he will take care of what we don’t know. Two categories of sin we tend to overlook: Sins of omission and sins of the heart.
What if I don’t want to give up my sin? One strategy: Tell God, “Please make me willing to be willing to give this up.” It’s a start. How many times will God forgive me if I commit the same sin repeatedly? We are works in progress. The Christian life is falling down, getting up, falling down, getting up. As long as we keep getting up…that’s the key.
What about the unpardonable sin? If you are worried you may have committed it, it’s the best evidence that you haven’t. Bottom line: It means to permanently reject Jesus.
How can I be sure God has forgiven me? Residual guilt may be subjective, but objectively, our guilt has been removed. “Problems with assurance usually stem from a lack of understanding about the key doctrine of justification by faith.” (Martin Lloyd Jones) We’re not forgiven because of our doing but Christ’s dying…not our works but his work. The legal principle of double jeopardy: Prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same charges following a valid acquittal or conviction. Our sentence has already been served by Jesus. If you are trusting Christ, your guilt is gone whether it feels like it or not. Case closed!
Our recovery, the way back to our crown starts here, “Forgive us our sins