"Be Not Ye Therefore Like Unto Them” (4 Of 4)

When you saw those children, you probably said to yourselves, “I do not want my children to be like those children.”

That is exactly the way the Lord felt about the Pharisees and Scribes except that He looked at them and knew that they were hypocrites more than spoiled brats. Because of this, He said in verse 8, “Be not ye therefore like unto them...” Jesus did not want His disciples to be like the hypocrites in their alms giving, in fasting, nor in their praying. Jesus gave them a model prayer to consider so that they would not follow the example of the Pharisees in using repetitious words.

Jesus did not give them that prayer just so they could recite it. He wanted them to pray prayers that included the elements of the model prayer. He said, “After this manner therefore pray ye...” That is, “When you pray, pray like this.” Then He proceeded to show them that a good prayer is like a good recipe. A good prayer has certain “ingredients.” Those special ingredients have to be included to make a complete prayer.

Jesus has shown us, verse 9, that every prayer should include:

(1) WHO HE IS - ”Our Father...”

(2) WHERE HE IS - ”...which are in heaven...”

(3) WHAT HE IS - ”...Hallowed be thy name.”

Let us continue to work our way through this prayer to see what every good prayer should contain so we will not be like the scribes and Pharisees. We have looked at

I. THE MANNER OF OUR PRAYERS.

but now let us look at...

II. THE MOTIVE FOR OUR PRAYERS.

Look at verse 10. We read, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” This verse reveals TWO reasons why many professing Christians will not pray this prayer.

A. First, because of selfishness.

If you do not already know this, it is time you find out. Not everyone who prays really wants God’s will in their life! So much of the praying that we do is about WHAT WE WANT God to do, NOT WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO.

Notice, this model prayer reveals to us that the person who desires to pray the right kind of prayer IS CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT GOD WANTS instead of what he wants. We are to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” You CAN NOT BE SELFISH and want God’s will to be done. The Pharisees did not want God’s will to be done. They wanted things their way. They wanted to BE SEEN and HEARD BY MAN! That was why they prayed.

There is another reason why many professing Christians do not pray this prayer.

B. Because they want to be seen.

The hypocrites would pray PUBLICLY, but not PRIVATELY. Why? Because their motive for praying was to be SEEN and HEARD by man. When we sincerely can pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, it will be when we want to be SEEN and HEARD by God instead of by man. The “will” of those who pray to be SEEN and HEARD of men is the same as that of the hypocrites. People basically deal with FOUR WILLS every day.

1. We deal with our will.

This is why the apostle Paul said, in Romans 12:1-2, “12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Paul recognized each person has a will of his own. He also admonished us not to submit to it, but rather submit to God’s will. Our prayers should reflect that what we want is God’s will to be done on this earth.

2. We deal with other people’s wills. Look at I Peter 4:2. We read, “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” Peter recognized that the man who does not have the mind of Christ lives his life now just to fulfill his own will, but Peter said that the man who suffers with Christ will live his life seeking that THE WILL OF GOD be done.

3. We deal with Satan’s will.

Look at John 8:44. We read, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” About lost people we often ask this, “I wonder why they do what they do?” They live sinful lives because they are “chips off the old block.” Their father is the devil. They live every day, making him happy as they live in sin. That was exactly what the hypocrites of Jesus’ day were doing. Most important of all...