1. The Purpose and Order of Prayer
Pastor David Jang offers a detailed explanation of why and how we should pray by reflecting on the meaning of each part of the Lord’s Prayer. He first underscores that “there is a clear purpose and sequence in our prayers” and highlights that, at the very beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, two prayer topics are mentioned. The first is that God’s name would be hallowed, and the second is that His kingdom would come. He stresses that these two points are “the purpose for which human beings exist” and “the reason we live”: our lives should glorify God and expand His kingdom on earth.
Yet we are finite and ignorant, sometimes not even knowing what to ask for. At this point, the Lord’s Prayer serves as a model and framework for prayer, personally taught to us by Jesus.
Pastor David Jang points out that the Lord’s Prayer is not just a “memorized prayer,” but rather an extremely important prayer that helps us internalize how to pray. Many people do not really know what prayer is or how to petition before God, so they end up repeating themselves vaguely or merely listing everyday needs, then stop. However, if one understands the Lord’s Prayer properly and continually meditates on it, one clearly gains the broad framework of “first seeking God’s glory and His kingdom,” after which one can also ask for the daily bread and other necessities of life in a balanced way.
He cites Romans 8—“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans”—to emphasize that because humans are weak, even our praying requires the Spirit’s help. Speaking in tongues or the gift of interpreting tongues is one form of that help, aiding communication between us and God. At the same time, praying in a language we can understand is also important. He suggests that we view the matter like this: “If speaking in tongues is an amazing gift that allows me to pray to God beyond my own understanding, then being able to pray precisely with my own intellect, emotions, and will is also a great blessing.” Citing 1 Corinthians 14:19—“I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue”—he teaches that conscious prayer, in which we recognize what we are asking for and what it means, can be even more beneficial.
In this way, Pastor David Jang examines the profound structure and meaning of the Lord’s Prayer. He explains that he has already looked at the first and second prayer topics—“May God’s name be hallowed, may God’s kingdom come”—and then moved on to the section about asking for “daily bread.” He notes that it is God who meets all our needs and that we should pray in faith to “the good God who rewards those who seek Him and provides for those who ask.” Referring to Matthew 7:9–10, where Jesus says, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”, he argues that because God is the One who gives us the best things, it is right to trust Him in prayer.
But here, prayer is not simply a series of wishes. Pastor David Jang stresses that we must first know “who God is.” “The biggest reason people do not believe in God,” he observes, “is that they do not realize how good He truly is.” When humans sense goodwill from someone, it is usually because they have repeatedly experienced that person doing good to them. In the same way that children recognize their mother as the first “good person” in their lives, people often fail to believe in God simply because they do not really know Him. Hence, it is crucial—whether in church or at home—to teach from the very beginning that “God truly is good.” Like the lyrics of “God Is So Good,” we need to familiarize ourselves with the image of God as the One who feeds us, clothes us, and cleanses us.
Pastor David Jang then focuses on the scene where Jesus’ disciples ask Him, “Teach us how to pray,” referencing the fact that every branch of Judaism or other religious groups had their own traditions and styles of prayer—like John the Baptist’s disciples. Jesus’ disciples, likewise, needed to learn how to pray. He emphasizes that the Lord’s Prayer, personally taught by Jesus, is indeed the most complete summary of our prayers, containing the essence of all that prayer should be. The Lord’s Prayer includes glorifying God, asking for our daily bread to sustain our lives, and seeking forgiveness both for ourselves and for others. And this very theme of “asking for and extending forgiveness” is what he identifies as the central topic of the day.
Pastor David Jang finds critical significance in the fact that “forgiveness” appears in the Lord’s Prayer right after “asking for daily bread.” The ultimate purpose of human survival and being provided for is to practice forgiveness and love. Once believers, symbolized by those who receive God’s abundant provision, are filled with that daily bread, the next necessary step is “forgiving others and being forgiven themselves.” Because the Lord’s Prayer follows a structured progression, it is not something we merely memorize; rather, he repeatedly urges that we ponder its content and meaning and apply them.
In his sermon, he connects directly to the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8) to illustrate the importance of forgiveness. When the teachers of the Law tested Jesus by asking, “Should we stone this woman or not?” He quietly wrote something on the ground. Pastor David Jang interprets that what Jesus wrote was “a new righteousness and a new law.” Jesus does not ignore the Law at all; in fact, He fulfills it and elevates it to a higher dimension. Rather than indefinitely postponing or nullifying the Law’s requirement to condemn sin, He makes people confront their own sin by saying, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone,” and eventually they all drop their stones and leave. Left alone with the woman, Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin,” showing a “forgiveness that releases her (lets her go).” In Greek, the word for “forgive” has the meaning of “to let go” or “to set free,” and thus Jesus here declares a righteousness of a new dimension beyond the Law’s demand for punishment.
He explains that this is precisely the core of the forgiveness taught in the Lord’s Prayer and is consistent with Jesus’ teaching to “forgive seventy-seven times.” Before we judge one another and grow angry, picking up stones, we must first examine our own sin and ask, “How can I condemn someone else when I have already had so much of my own sin forgiven by God?” Then, in order to practice the “new righteousness and new law” fulfilled by Jesus, we must extend forgiveness. Pastor David Jang stresses that “God loved even the woman caught in adultery, murderers, thieves, and the greedy,” and Jesus personally demonstrated this. We, too, must possess such a heart of the Father, a spirit of forbearance. He then reiterates that this naturally flows out of the Lord’s Prayer.
Additionally, he emphasizes, “Judging those who have sinned may seem like justice at a glance, but the ‘new righteousness’ that Jesus teaches is on a higher plane of love and forgiveness.” Escaping the perspective of the Law that asks, “Should we keep letting sinners get away with it?” means rising above the Law and reaching its ultimate end goal—“love and forbearance.” Jesus reveals in Himself what it truly looks like for human beings to fulfill the “right” thing God commanded. He does not abolish the Law; rather, the fundamental foundation of the Law—“the heart of God”—is achieved through forgiveness. Such forgiveness does not end after a single act but must be expressed through a life free of further sin, a life that spreads the grace received. Pastor David Jang teaches that this is the real beginning of living the life of forgiveness.
2. Grace That Surpasses the Law
Moving on, Pastor David Jang highlights the theological point that we lived under the Old Testament Law but are now called to a new era of grace through Jesus. First, he explains that there was a period before the Law (the “lawless era”), followed by the period when the Law was given, and now we live in the era of grace. The purpose of the Law was to make people recognize sin as sin and to uphold social equality and order. For example, Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, and Deuteronomy 19 mention the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” form of retributive justice, designed to ensure that the exact damage done was returned so that the scales would remain balanced. “The goal of the Law is fairness and justice, leading to social peace.”
However, Jesus proclaims a new dimension that goes beyond this Law. He says, “Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” This is on a plane far higher than “eye for an eye” and the principle of rightful retaliation. The Lord is telling us, “You cannot enter the kingdom of God by your own righteousness. But I have brought a new world, a world dominated by love, mercy, and forbearance. That is the real destination of the Law.” Pastor David Jang calls this the “era of grace” or “the new heavens and the new earth,” explaining that whoever enters this new era must live by these entirely different principles, not by the old law of retaliation.
Here, Pastor David Jang brings up various examples from the Old Testament, particularly the story of Cain and Abel. When Cain grew angry at God’s response to his offering, God warned him, “Why are you angry? Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” In the end, Cain could not control his anger and killed Abel. This tragedy occurred before the Law, in the lawless era—an ultimate example of violence and a stark display of the depth of human sin. Nevertheless, God comes seeking Cain, just as He sought Adam and Eve when they sinned, saying, “Where are you?” Even though humankind commits sins and tries to hide them in cowardice, God still extends His hand.
Pastor David Jang addresses the theodicy question, “Why does God allow sin and Satan to exist?” by explaining, “No matter how wildly Satan may thrash about, he is powerless before Jesus. When Jesus commands him to ‘come out’ or to ‘go,’ Satan has to obey. Therefore, if we remain in Jesus and follow His Word, Satan cannot recklessly harm us.” The problem is that people themselves will not abandon their sinful nature—pride, envy, jealousy, irresponsibility. This sinful nature tries to keep us bound to a lawless or law-based mindset, but Jesus wants us to go a step further by giving us “a new law” of forgiveness and release, even if it means we suffer some loss, so that the other person can live.
Forgiveness, therefore, is never “calling evil good” but “choosing not to pay back evil by violent means, even if it costs me, letting it go and releasing that person.” Jesus specifically commands, “Forgive seventy-seven times,” and uses the parable in Matthew 18 about the servant who owed ten thousand talents. When the servant whose massive debt was forgiven refuses to forgive his fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii and throws him in prison, the master rebukes him: “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” Pastor David Jang says this is the core of forgiveness. Because human beings have been forgiven a debt (sin) that we could never repay to God, we are obligated to show the same mercy to those around us.
He then mentions the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20: “If I contracted to work from early morning for one denarius a day, and someone else who came at five in the afternoon—who barely worked—received the same wage, how would I react?” In this parable, when the early workers complain, the master replies, “Did I not promise you the wage I would give you? Why are you envious because I am generous?” This admonishes the type of “Cain-like jealousy” that resents the generosity shown to someone else. Pastor David Jang explains that God’s grace toward humankind transcends our ability to judge or calculate. We must constantly remember that we have received “incredible grace” from God. Hence, “forgiveness” is about taking that step forward to embrace even those who owe us or who have done us harm. That is what Jesus calls “the Father’s heart,” revealed as a “new righteousness.”
From the Old Testament perspective of retributive justice, this may seem unfair. Justice is normally understood to mean distinguishing the victim from the perpetrator and restoring what was lost or imposing an appropriate punishment to keep the balance. But the path Jesus shows is that “We are all like those who owe ten thousand talents. Nevertheless, God forgave us unconditionally, and we should therefore emulate Him.” This message is not just a “nice thing” but a fundamental teaching that transforms our roots and attitudes when we meditate on and recite the Lord’s Prayer every day. Whereas we used to be people who hated others and sought revenge, we are now recipients of grace, called to “love even our enemies.” And the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer—“forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”—vividly depicts this calling.
Pastor David Jang concludes this portion of the sermon by saying, “It doesn’t end with asking for daily bread. Immediately following that is ‘Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors,’ implying we must concretely practice this life of forgiveness.” In other words, if we are people who receive life through the provision of bread, we are then obliged to carry out that life-giving power toward others, releasing and forgiving them, ultimately imitating Jesus’ sacrificial forgiveness. Jesus completed the Law and opened a deeper, broader world of forbearance, commanding us to “live in that abundant world.”
3. The Absoluteness and Love of God
Lastly, Pastor David Jang expands on the spiritual and theological implications of this “new law” and “new era.” He states that while our present age has witnessed astounding technological advancements and transformations, true change starts in the human heart and value system. Sending people to Mars or launching satellites that enable global communication may be extraordinary feats, but no technology can transform the “sinful nature of man.” Although it would be wonderful if the gospel were spread everywhere, even once the gospel is heard, if people do not accept this “world of forgiveness and forbearance,” conflicts, envy, violence, and persecution will continue. However, the Lord has ordained that the gospel be preached “to the very end of the age,” and the core of that gospel is “forgiveness” and “reconciliation.”
He addresses a child’s question, “Why can’t we see God?” by talking about God’s absoluteness: since He can see above, below, left, right, before, and behind simultaneously—He sees all from every vantage point—whereas we are bound by our relative point of view, so we cannot see Him. This is evidence that God is not like us; He is absolute, and His absolute nature does not change no matter which way we move. Then, pointing to postmodernism and religious pluralism, he notes the trend of people claiming, “There are no absolute values,” but argues that humans, without any absolute truth, lose the fundamental meaning of life and drift aimlessly. For believers, that absolute standard is God, or God’s Word, and He is the One who upholds our center.
Once we truly know this “absolute God of love,” the conclusion follows naturally: “How could we not forgive others?” This is the pinnacle of why “we are to both receive and practice forgiveness,” Pastor David Jang insists. Having experienced the love and grace poured out by the heavenly Father, we too must extend the same heart to others. He points out that Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and sin was passed around in cowardice; Cain murdered Abel out of envy. Those same traits—envy, anger, blame—are still in us. Yet Jesus came to restore sinners despite this nature, walking the path of the cross as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
He further comments on doctrinal disputes such as “Calvinism vs. Arminianism,” which sometimes arise in churches. Citing Romans 14, he urges believers to “stop passing judgment on one another” and not to “treat brothers with contempt,” because we are all chosen by God’s tremendous grace and are simultaneously responsible to respond faithfully for our salvation. These theological issues fundamentally revolve around “God’s sovereign grace” and “human responsibility.” Yet what we must ultimately hold onto is the basic truth: “God unconditionally loved us and forgave our colossal debt, so we must forgive and embrace others.” Reflecting on parables like the workers in Matthew 20 or the prodigal son in Luke 15, we see how God deals with us with kindness far beyond our comprehension. Even after receiving that grace, we are apt to complain, “Why extend the same grace to that person as well?”—an attitude mirroring Cain. But that is precisely rejecting the “new world” that the Lord revealed.
Therefore, the forgiveness Jesus teaches in the Lord’s Prayer is not optional but essential for every believer. “Forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” is not a suggestion but a directive for practical living. Rather than upholding law-based justice that imprisons the debtor to satisfy fairness, the heart of forgiveness is humility, remembering “I too was forgiven an enormous debt,” and thus showing an even greater love. Pastor David Jang calls this “the heart of God.” The Law once maintained a stage of “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” retribution, but Jesus invites us to go further—“Love your enemies.” If we have received this invitation, then we must treat “forgiveness” as a central theme in our daily prayers and, starting with ourselves, lay down our grievances and anger, following the sacrificial love of the Lord.
When we speak of having entered “a new era, an era of grace” through faith, it is an era characterized by forgiveness, reconciliation, and love. No longer are we content to “balance the scales” by returning to the offender the measure of harm done to us. Instead, following Jesus’ example, we go beyond what is owed—at our own expense if need be—to save the other person’s life and redeem their soul. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery; He told her simply to sin no more and personally offered a path of repentance and restoration to all sinners. We should continually recall this message in our daily lives, practicing the words of the Lord: “If someone strikes you on the left cheek, turn to them the right cheek also.”
Throughout the sermon, Pastor David Jang reiterates that although we still carry within us the cowardice and violence of Adam and Cain, we have become new creations through the blood and grace of Jesus and must completely renew our thinking and attitudes. While science and technology rapidly progress and the world seems to undergo sweeping changes, true peace is impossible if “pride, envy, anger, and hatred” remain unresolved in the human heart. Only God can transform all things into “a new heaven and a new earth,” and Pastor David Jang repeatedly proclaims that the key value of that new heaven and new earth is the law of forgiveness and love.
Ultimately, the law Jesus taught on earth can be summed up as: “Just as God first loved and forgave you, so do likewise.” We cannot accomplish this by our own strength, but the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, helps us walk that path. Romans 8—“The Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans”—demonstrates that God aids us in our weakness, and the Lord’s Prayer also serves as a foundation that enriches our prayer lives in the Spirit. If we rely on this prayer power to obtain our daily bread and live each day, then forgiveness must likewise flow out from the same source of prayer. By obeying the Lord’s teaching, our prayers will bear genuine fruit: “Hallowed be God’s name, His kingdom come, He provides our needs, and we become more reconciled to God by forgiving one another.”
Summarizing these teachings, Pastor David Jang urges us to “meditate again and again on the glory and kingdom of God, our survival, and mutual forgiveness” whenever we recite the Lord’s Prayer. He suggests that real spiritual maturity involves establishing our Christian identity and purpose while also practicing love for enemies and forbearance in everyday life. Reciting the Lord’s Prayer daily with the attitude, “Lord, thank You for giving me the daily bread I need today. Now help me pass on the love and forgiveness I have received to others,” makes us instruments of the new era Jesus opened—an era full of grace, love, and forgiveness. He reminds us that the core of the Christian faith is not just a set of religious obligations but the act of taking on God’s heart toward the world and putting it into practice.
In conclusion, forgiveness in the context of the Lord’s Prayer is a foundational task in the believer’s life. Rather than enforcing the Law’s retributive justice, we pursue the higher righteousness revealed by Jesus: “Just as the Lord forgave us, we too must forgive others.” Such an attitude aligns us with God’s character and serves as the pivotal key that completes the Lord’s Prayer’s blueprint for life: “Exalting God’s name, seeking His kingdom, receiving our daily bread, and reconciling with one another through forgiveness.” As Pastor David Jang emphasizes, this challenge is not merely for rote recitation within the faith community but must be practiced daily, lest we forget its deep meaning each time we repeat the Lord’s Prayer.