The Lord's Prayer - Part 2 Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

We are moving through the Sermon on the Mount and last week we entered into what is a familiar prayer in Scripture - The Lord’s Prayer. Over the last several weeks, I’ve challenged you to strengthen your prayer life. I believe the greatest weapon we have in our lives and the most potent power available to us is also the most neglected. I can say that for myself as a pastor, I face an onslaught of warfare spiritually daily, and if I could do one thing to overcome these forces better, it would be to pray more.

Last week I shared with you some principles on the opening lines of the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father who is in heaven, Hollowed be Your name.” And within these ten words are some of the most glorious mysteries for us to behold about the Almighty God. We could spend weeks unpacking the depth of these words, the character of God, and the holiness of His name.

The other week during Wednesday Bible Study, I share a story with our group about “The Sparkle Creed.” It is a modification of the Apostle’s Creed to accommodate wokism and liberalism in the apostate church. Their changing of the character of God created for them a false god that is nothing like the god of the Bible. It is blasphemy.

So it is essential for us to realize not only how to pray, but also who it is we are praying to in the first place. When a man begins to create or change God in our own image, we quickly and easily shift to idolatry. And the more we understand the character and nature of God, the better we can know Him. That truly is part of the key purpose of prayer is to have fellowship with God.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian, it is more than knowing the right information and the right theology; it is about having the right relationship. We can master information about God and fail to know Him. We can be so busy studying God’s word that we fail to hear His voice. Likewise, we can make prayer into a discipline—a personal “quiet time.” If we need quiet time to have a good day, we miss the point. We pray to meet God. So with that, we need to know who we are praying to: Our Father in Heaven.

Today we are going to look at verse 10 of the Lord’s prayer, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.” Let us stand together and read these words together:

“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]” (Matthew 6:9–13)

Now you will notice the little brackets on the last phrase in verse 13. That is because some (not all) of the early texts did not include it. For example, the Didache is a Christian text written in the first century AD (around the year 90AD) shortly after the Bible itself was completed. It has the long ending of the Lord’s Prayer in it. So we know that this line was used in worship from the earliest times. (https://pastortimlecroy.com/2012/09/06/long-ending-lords-prayer)

People will ask me what the Lord’s prayer is about. That’s a good question because we meet the significance of the blessing if we merely recite this prayer without contemplating its meaning. At its core, the Lord’s Prayer (or the Disciple’s Prayer, as some like to call it) is all about making sure our priorities align with God’s.

New York Stockbroker had just purchased a brand-new porsche. He parked it in front of his office to show it off to his colleagues. As he’s getting out of the car, an SUV comes speeding along too close to the curb and takes off the door before driving off. The man gets very upset. He grabs his cell phone and calls the police. It takes them five minutes to show up.

Before the office has a chance to ask any questions, the man starts screaming hysterically, “My Porsche, my beautiful silver Porsche is ruined. No matter how long it’s at the body shop, it’ll never be the same again!

When the man finishes his rant, the policeman shakes his head in disgust. “I can’t believe how materialistic you are,” He says, “You are so focused on your possessions that you don’t notice anything else in your life.”