Living in the Kingdom 14
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15; 34; James 1:13
This morning we are continuing with my series “Living in the Kingdom,” which is based on Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” This morning we will focus on what Jesus says in Matthew 6:5-15 where He speaks about how we are to pray. Please turn with me to Matthew chapter six and we will begin reading at verse five.
“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father Who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:5-15)
In these verses Jesus tells the disciples how to pray with a purpose and why they were not to be like the hypocrites, the religious leaders, who prayed loud and long in public to be seen. If you recall from last week’s message, the word hypocrite, in the Greek comes from a word that means stage-players or actors. It’s someone who “acts the part of others, or speaks not their own sentiments, but the sentiments of others.” What it means here, and in the New Testament generally, is those who hide their true feelings and assume or express other feelings than their own. It’s talking about those who, for purposes of showiness, gain, or applause, put on the appearance of religion. In these verses, Jesus is talking about those who prayed for the purpose of being seen by others.
Jesus knew that His disciples would be praying. I mean think about it. They saw Him praying to the Father. He led by example so it would be natural for Him to expect and know that they also would pray. He knew that for them to stay connected to the Father through Him, it would come through prayer and the Word that He would sow into them. In Matthew chapter six Jesus tells the disciples how to pray. But before He walks them through what we know as the Lord’s Prayer, He gives them some specific instructions on how to pray. In verses five through eight He tells them “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. (That’s the first thing Jesus tells His disciples.) Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (This is the second thing Jesus tells them.) And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. (And here we see the third instruction that Jesus gives the disciples.) So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Jesus tells His disciples not to pray to be seen of men. He tells them to pray at home, in their prayer closet or room. In other words, do it privately – having a personal, private, purposeful conversation with their Heavenly Father. Then He tells them not to use meaningless repetitions – a lot of words that are not truly from their hearts. What I believe Jesus is saying here is to pray with a purpose. We are to pray with specifics. We will see this when He gives them the example of the Lord’s Prayer.
In verse nine as Jesus tells them how to pray, He opens with: “Our Father Who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Although Jesus is teaching the disciples about praying alone, He is reminding them (and us) that we are joined by a spiritual relationship, a spiritual bond if you will, to many others who have the same needs as we do. In the true idea of a name, it is the designation of a person which exactly answers the questions about the person’s nature and qualities. In this case, Jesus is telling us to recognize God as our Father because that is who He is. He’s also reminding us of our relationship as a child of God and the expectations that exist between a parent and a child. The word “Hallowed” means Holy. In this statement, the prayer is that God’s manifestation of Himself will be acknowledged and revered as the one supreme standard of truth and the one means of knowing God and approaching Him. God’s name is supreme and when we approach Him with this recognition, we will not approach Him in any old way that we choose. Let’s continue.
In verse ten it says, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” “Your kingdom come” expresses the request that there come the full establishment of His realm here on earth through those who follow Him. It has a much wider meaning than the development and spread of the Church and the personal return of Christ. It speaks of that which shall be the issue of both this and that the final and perfect establishment of God’s realm in which all men will choose to serve Him willingly. When we pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” we are joining hands with God to bring His will into complete existence. This is not merely talking about our actions, but also the idea that God’s will, as a whole, coming into full being. On earth, God’s will is always a possibility by those serving Him and choosing to follow Him. In heaven, God’s will is already realized so our pray must be that the same happens here on earth. For this to become a reality, those serving Him must choose to deny self in order to allow God to use them according to His will. And let me add one final thought before I move on. What God desires to happen is not going to happen just because it’s a desire of His heart. We have to come into agreement with Him and pray for His will to be done. God cannot make His will manifest in the world without His children helping Him to make it so.
Next Jesus tells them to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Here begins the petition for our personal needs. The first is for earthly food, the means of sustaining our lives. The thought suggested here is of continuance supply on a daily basis. Now notice that Jesus did not ask for bread for tomorrow or for next month, He asked for bread for that day. What Jesus is sharing with the disciples is the need to focus on the present day and the needs of that day. I am not saying that it is wrong to plan ahead for God knows I do a lot of planning, but our planning should not hinder us from recognizing what is happening in our lives right now. I know that being in the here and now can be difficult at times, but it is crucial to recognize God’s daily activity in our lives. Let me share an example with you. As many of you know, I used to travel a lot for my former job, often driving 3-4 hours to get to my destinations. There were many times when I arrived at my destination without remembering all of the specifics of the trip. In case you’re wondering, no, I did not blank out and suddenly arrived at my destination without knowing how I got there. I often listen to music or just talk to God while I drove, so my driving became almost “automatic.” I did not notice all of the city signs or landmarks that I normally remembered passing, nor did I pay attention to all of my surroundings. Because I knew the route so well a lot of the small, simple details were over looked. This can also happens in our spiritual lives as we focus more on tomorrow’s achievements and milestones versus what is happening around us today. How many times have we missed our turns on the highway because we were too busy doing other things (talking on the phone, listening to music, etc)? How many times have we missed God’s blessings because we were focused on the “big one” that we really, really wanted and were waiting on? Jesus told the disciples to pray for the bread for the day. Jesus reaffirmed this in Matthew 6:34 when He says, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” I will go into more detail about this verse when we get to it in a few weeks. Let’s continue with verse twelve.
Verse twelve says, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” You have heard me speak on this verse and verses fourteen and fifteen which also speak of forgiveness. As a matter of fact, let’s read those two verses also and I can sum all three up together. Verses fourteen and fifteen say, “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” If we want our sins forgiven, we must have a forgiving spirit when dealing with others. Jesus makes it perfectly clear that if we are not willing to forgive others then God will not forgive us. Don’t you find it interesting that Jesus says that we are to pray this way? We are to actually ask the Father to forgive us “as we” forgive others. As we pray this prayer the ownership for our forgiveness from God falls on us because we are praying and asking God to forgive us as we are willing to forgive others. In verses fourteen and fifteen, Jesus tells us plainly why this is so important. If we are not willing to forgive others then God cannot forgive us. Notice it doesn’t say God doesn’t want to forgive us. It says God cannot forgive us. This is serious New Light. There is a reason that so much is recorded in the New Testament about forgiveness and our forgiving others.
The closing verse of the prayer, verse thirteen, says, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” We know that God does not tempt us as James tells us: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:13) The thought here is about watching over us and keeping us from evil. It is not merely “preserve or even guard us from impending dangers” but to actually “rescue” us when we are confronted with evil. As children of God, we will face attacks from the prince of this world, but Jesus is letting us know that God can rescue us when those times come. The last sentence is an acknowledgement where we recognize that God is supreme; that all belongs to Him. By our praise to Him, it prompts us to remember that it is to God’s Kingdom that we belong; that it is God’s power that lives inside of us and enables us to stand free from Satan’s grasp; and that it is for the furtherance of God’s glory that all has been done for us. Praise God!
I want to close with a few words about this prayer. This prayer begins where all true prayers must – by recognizing that God is our Father. In opening our prayer with “Our Father” we are confessing “I will arise and go to my Father.” As we make this profession in our hearts, we come to perceive the magnificence of our Father “Who is in heaven,” and offer our devout adoration with “Hallowed be Your name.” As we sincerely look to our Father, our love for Him brings up within us a desire that His will be done here “on earth as it is in heaven.” We experience this desire because of the love He has for us – we want others to experience the depth of His love as we do. Because He loves us so, we choose obedience over self-will. We choose His way over our way. In doing this we express our heartfelt dependence upon Him: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Being further led by the Spirit, we discover that we are not only dependent, but also sinful, entreating God for mercy, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” We want to be like Him so we learn to forgive because we know forgiveness draws us closer to our Father while unforgiveness pushes us farther and farther away from Him. And being pardoned of our sins, we ask God to keep us from it in the future: “Lead us not into temptation.” The person who is really forgiven is anxious not to offend again and asks that God continuously “deliver us from evil” as only He can. As the result of all this, there follows a triumphant acknowledgment of praise, “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.” Jesus gives us this example of how to pray. When you read what He says, you see clearly that this prayer is a prayer of a son or daughter to a loving Father. This prayer is about relationship, not formality. This is why Jesus says that we are to pray in private versus in public to be seen of men. We are to have a private, personal, intimate conversation with God Who desires this type of interaction with us. Have you prayed the Lord’s Prayer lately?
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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