Forgive Us Our Sins (Matthew 18:21-35) Sunday School Lesson on Forgiveness, Lord’s Prayer Part 6

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Inside of the Wiped Clean Slate craft - a mostly blank page reading God's forgiveness gives us a clean slate and Forgiveness turns a page, with Romans 6:23

Forgive Us Our Sins — Sunday School Lesson on The Lord’s Prayer: Part Six. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that God would forgive us, and recognize that we have a role to also forgive others who wrong us. Forgiveness isn’t always easy, but out of love and appreciation for our own redemption and the grace God provides, we should be willing to pass mercy along to those around us. This lesson pairs with our Lifting the Burden children’s sermon and our forgiveness crafts for kids — and if you’d like the whole prayer in a print-and-teach format, start with the free sample lesson from Prayer Power Lab.

This lesson is the sixth in a series on The Lord’s Prayer, examining the prayer line by line to understand what it means for us and how it helps us have a blueprint for prayer. This lesson hones in on what forgiveness is and means. The parable of the unmerciful servant is examined as an example of the importance of forgiveness.

Passage: Matthew 18:21-35; Romans 6:23; Romans 3:23-25

Target Audience: Kindergarten-6th grade

Materials Needed: Money, erasers, Magic Erasers (stain removers), heavy objects, backpacks, Bibles

Lesson Opening

Forgiveness is an essential part of the Christian life, but it can be a confusing concept to grasp. Start off with some activities to illustrate principles of forgiveness and its importance. Here are some suggested ideas:

  • Clean it up! Allow students to make a mess of some sort in a room/area. Then take some time clearing it all away. Explain that forgiveness is like cleaning up something that is messy or disorganized. It always feels better afterwards!
  • The magic eraser: Have some fun with different types of erasers. Use pencil erasers on paper, white board erasers to take away Expo markers, and observe what a “Magic Eraser” can do to eliminate big marks on items that should not be drawn on (emphasize the “don’t try this at home” part there). Discuss how God’s forgiveness erases our sins. Sometimes our human forgiveness is imperfect and feels like it leaves “smudges.” But the mercy God grants us is completely clean!
  • Burden relay: Have several heavy items that will fit in a backpack, or a couple of weights that can be carried. Have students team up and race relay-style across a room, carrying the heavy weights or backpack. After feeling the burden, allow them to remove the weights and race again. Talk about how forgiveness lifts a burden off of our shoulders, both when we receive and when we give others forgiveness.
  • Debts Owed: Look at a budget or bills (for older students), or have younger students talk about money and what it means to spend it. When we can’t pay enough money for things, it’s called a debt. Discuss the debt we have because we sin and make mistakes. God forgives all of those things, and makes it so that we owe nothing!

Talk about what forgiveness is and why we need to forgive, just as we are forgiven. Explain that the Bible talks a lot about the concept of forgiveness.

Another tip: This lesson describes God’s mercy and grace. While they are similar and both important, the terms are not exactly the same. Help children remember the difference with a mnemonic:

  • Grace Gives: Grace means that we get something we don’t deserve (double “G” helps remember it).
  • Mercy is a Minus: (Double “M”) Mercy means we don’t get what we deserve. The punishment for sins is removed from us.

Ask: Have you ever been forgiven for something big? How did it feel?

Bible Lesson

This lesson features a story told by Jesus for illustration, as well as general reminders of what God’s forgiveness means. The parable of the unmerciful servant could be acted out, if desired. Students should be able to take turns reading verses, or you can read aloud for younger audiences.

Start with some highlight verses about forgiveness.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 6:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. —Romans 3:23-25

These passages remind us that God gives us an amazing gift we don’t deserve. Because of our sins, what we earn is death and punishment. We don’t get that, though! Instead, through the blood of Jesus, God gives us forgiveness and eternal life with Him. This is wonderful news for us. We should be excited and thankful for what God provides in His abundant grace. We should also be willing to forgive others who mess up. Forgiveness tells someone else “it’s okay” if they’ve hurt us. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “forgive us our sins as we forgive others.” Jesus told the disciples a story to explain how important it is that we forgive.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times! Because of this, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlements, a debtor owing ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned. Then the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Have patience with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him. —Matthew 18:21-27

In those days, seven was seen as a “complete number.” It seemed rather extravagant to Peter to talk about forgiving someone seven times. But Jesus went even further, saying that we should be willing to forgive seventy-seven times! Some translations include this as “seventy times seven” (that’s 490, if you do the math). Either way, what He was communicating was that there is no limit or “finish line.” God forgives us endlessly, so we can forgive others multiple times. Jesus then told a parable (a story with a lesson) about a servant who owed a lot of money to the king, so much so that he would never be able to pay it back. The king decided to forgive him, making it so that he didn’t have to pay back the burden. That was pretty generous! And probably made the servant feel pretty great.

Ask: Have you ever owed someone money for something? How does it feel when you get something for free that you didn’t earn or pay for?

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt. When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master. Then the master summoned him and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed. That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” —Matthew 18:28-35

Even after being shown such great mercy, the man did not pass it along. He found someone else who owed him money, just a little bit, and he demanded the funds. When the guy couldn’t pay, he threw him in prison. The servant couldn’t even wait on this little sum. It was like he forgot what God had provided for him! When the king found out, he was so angry that he threw the man back in jail. Jesus wanted to show that we should be thankful for the forgiveness and new life God has given. As a result, we should be ready to forgive others, since their sins are rather small in comparison. Forgiveness demonstrates our love for God and appreciation for what He has done for us. We need to forgive because we have been shown forgiveness!

Ask: Is there anyone who you need to forgive, or who you have already forgiven?

It’s also important to note that forgiveness is not always easy. Sometimes people do things to us that are very hurtful, and we might not want to forgive them. In those instances, we can always go to the Lord for help. There’s a beautiful forgiveness story about Corrie ten Boom, a woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp after helping Jews during the Holocaust. Later, after speaking somewhere, she was approached by a man who she realized was one of the guards at the prison she had been in. This man had tortured and abused her, but he came to ask for her forgiveness. She didn’t want to give it, but prayed for God’s strength and help. She shook his hand, and felt God’s grace work through her to forgive the guard. God can help when we don’t know how to forgive others, or don’t want to!

Review Questions About the Lesson

  1. Why is it so important to forgive others?
  2. How do we know that God always forgives us?
  3. What can we do if we need help with forgiveness?

Close with prayer, thanking God for forgiving us, and asking for His help to forgive others around us.

The Lord’s Prayer Series for Kids

See the whole series on one page: The Lord’s Prayer Sunday School Lessons for Kids (8-Week Series).

More Lord’s Prayer Resources

Heads up: we also have an older lesson on this same passage — The Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35) Sunday School Lessons for Kids. It takes a different approach to the same parable and includes printable PDF downloads.

Related Sunday School Activities:

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