WELCOME
THE LORD’S PRAYER
I thought I would begin this week with an untypical story. This has to do with our text this morning, but not indirectly as I usually do. In our passage today we will hear what has become known as “The Lord’s Prayer” and this prayer is quite famous. We see it used widely in popular culture.
The Lord’s Prayer used to be used as a time keeper. Cooks would time their recipes before everyone had clocks in their homes using the Lord’s prayer. For example, a recipe might have the length of cooking be: “simmer the broth for three Lord’s Prayers.”
The number of recording artists who have at one time or another recorded the Lord’s Prayer as its own song or using words as lyrics is in the thousands.
And as recently as last week, on the quiz game show Jeopardy, the answer to one of the categories was “Our Father who art in heaven” THIS “be Thy Name…” and like most Jeopardy contestants who are considered geniuses and have memorized so many facts about the world around us, the Bible questions always stump them. No one even ventured a guess as to the question. If you don’t know, the question is “What is hallowed?”
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
When we last met together in our series, we learned about the 3 pillars of Ancient Judaism and the practices they considered important. We spent our time on the first which was giving. We talked about Jesus’s imperative “when you give to the needy…” and in giving, “sound no trumpet…” Jesus was calling these people to not boast about their giving. It is hypocritical to do so. For the ancient Jew, they found honor to boast about their good deeds. Jesus was telling them to not do this.
The other 2 pillars are in prayer and fasting. This week we will address the second pillar of prayer. Let’s read our passage from the Sermon on the Mount and get into the details.
MATTHEW 6:5-15
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
So Jesus now shifts the conversation from giving to a second spiritual discipline: prayer. Prayer in its simplest and most basic sense is a conversation with God. God has a large ear ready to hear from his children. He is ready and open to hearing our words to him. He will hear the prayers of his children.
Statistical surveys have historically shown that a large percentage of professing Christians spend little time in sustained prayer. While we say, yes prayer is important, we as average Christians don’t spend much time communicating with our Father in heaven. Many times, our prayers become rote, repeated lines that we say every time we pray and our hearts are not in the words. It is very easy to make people feel guilt about our failures in prayer and I don’t want to take it there this morning. I want to commend us to praying and show us that it shouldn’t be something difficult to do, but actually prayer is something that should bring us joy and show evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives.
This passage gives us some basic guidelines and principles in praying.
1. PRAY SINCERELY TO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER
Jesus expects prayer to be a part of our regular habits. In the life of a disciple of Jesus, prayer is important. You will notice that Jesus makes a huge assumption in this passage just like he did in the last. Jesus says, “And when you pray…”
This statement brings in the idea and assumes we will pray. Not if, but when. We must be a praying people. Jesus again addresses a hypocrite attitude in prayer telling his hearer that you don’t need to go out and pray in the streets to be seen by others. One way to ask if you are being sincere in your prayer is to ask yourself this question: Do you pray differently in public than you do in private? Are your prayers little mini sermons you want to deliver to other people? Are your prayers reciting lists? Are your prayers using a particular language? Are your prayers repeating gossip you have heard? If you answer yes to any of these, then maybe check the motive and reason you are praying?
2. PRAY SECRETLY TO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER
Jesus doesn’t condemn public prayer. He condemns the attitude behind why you might be praying in public. What Jesus is telling us also is that public prayer is not a substitute for personal, private, and individual prayer time with God. Because of this, Jesus is saying when you pray, go find a quiet and private place. In our passage this morning, he says go to your room and shut the door.
I know someone who has a closet in his house that he has converted to his personal place of prayer. I don’t know about it because he is bragging or trying to gain some kind of acceptance of his personal prayer life. But I know about it because he uses it so often it comes up in conversation. Some of his greatest sermons were developed as he worshiped God and prayed in that closet. He can spend hours in there praying for the people he knows who need prayer.
What are your prayers like when no one is watching? Do you know you don’t have to use any kind of special language or vocabulary when you speak to God? He’s not looking for correct grammar. He’s not waiting for you to speak to him with the perfect diction or phrases. I don’t even believe that there is only one way to pray.
Something I do is I have conversations with God where I might say things the way I would a friend sitting right there with me. A lot of times, my prayers begin with, “I did it again God…” Because I often catch myself and have to begin with confession to Him.
3. PRAY SPECIFICALLY TO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER
Jesus also teaches us about using senseless, mindless, rote incantation-like recitations. The pagan religions would often repeat the same words over and over again because they believed that the power they sought came from these magic spells using the same words.
Although Jesus was devoted to prayer, they were not memorized recitations given at a special or specific time. Jesus’s prayers were very intensely personal, often spontaneous. Jesus prayed with expressions of deep communion with God His Father. He didn’t pray, honestly, like the pagans, using nonsense phrases over and over. Sincerity in prayer doesn’t come from speaking innumerous words either. There’s not a guarantee made just because you have used a large number of words. God cannot be manipulated. So when you pray, speak to him as though you know he’s there.
God knows what you need before you even ask for it. But still tell him specifically what you need and what you would like prayers for.
ISAIAH 65:24
Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Talk to God like you are one of His children. Because as followers of Jesus, as saved people of the kingdom, you are. He loves you. He wants to hear from you. He is there and is ready to hear you.
So why then does Jesus say to his disciples, “when you pray, say this…”? In Luke 11, we get this same prayer from a different context. Luke presents this prayer like so…
LUKE 11:1-4
1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
This prayer serves 2 purposes. First, it provides a model prayer, an easily memorized outline that serves as a lesson in approaching God and second, it serves as an outline of the whole Christian life observing the different areas of need and concern of the Christian. It helps focus our priorities as we approach God. It could be said that this is a model prayer from the model Teacher.
What do we say to God? We don’t have to address all these needs every time we pray, but if we want to spend significant time in prayer, this is the way to cover all your needs:
1. PRAY FOR THE LORD’S NAME TO BE HONORED
This is the question from Jeopardy. Holy or hallowed be your name. The idea is that as we pray, we spend time admiring and honoring God as holy. Because he is holy. He is perfect. He is deserving of this honor. It’s a great way to begin speaking to God. Honor him as he is: holy.
When we do this, we are showing how much we value him…even just his name is beyond our reach. He is holy…and yet, he hears us speak to him. What an amazing thing! The God of the Universe who is perfect and holy and we who do not dare come into his presence in our sin…he hears us! He WANTS to hear us! Isn’t that a blessing?!
2. PRAY FOR THE LORD’S KINGDOM TO COME
This petition, “your kingdom come” naturally flows from the beginning of this prayer. It invites us to realize what is most important and what we really long for and hope for. God’s kingdom to come. God, if you could today, can you bring your kingdom to earth? We’ve done enough of this “on our own” stuff. I want the rule and reign of your kingdom now. I want to witness your victory! I want all the wicked spiritual forces that attack me to be defeated and banished. I want all my tears wiped away. Are you ready and willing to pray this statement?
I know so many of us get caught up in the things here we love. We love our families. We love our husband or wife or our kids. We love our dogs and cats. We like where we live. I love the taste of the food I eat here. I enjoy the music I play on my Spotify account—or records, 8-tracks, tapes, CDs, mp3s, I don’t want to leave anyone out. I like going to the movies, to the park, the museums, art galleries. I like going shopping or taking a drive to the forest and camping. Are we ready to say, I would give all that up for God’s kingdom to come right now?
3. PRAY FOR THE LORD’S WILL TO BE DONE
If we believe in the kingdom coming and are ready for God’s rule, then we should pray also for God’s will to be done. I want God’s will done in my life. I want it done everywhere in this world the way it will be done in heaven.
So often, I am making plans for the future. I get caught up in what would make me happiest. To be honest, I am not seeking God’s will…am I? I have been through 2 separate instances in the recent months where I was seeking my own will and God had to humble me. I made statements to friends about some things and then I had to humbly say, “You know what? Those things aren’t going to happen now. It isn’t going to work out the way I had planned.” And then I’ve gone to God on my knees asking what his will is. “What are you planning for me? This is painful. I don’t like it. Whatever you have coming must be awesome because I thought those other things were going to be awesome. What are planning? What are you protecting me from?”
4. ASK FOR YOUR DAILY NEEDS TO BE MET
Jesus tells his disciples to pray for “daily bread.” This request recalls God providing manna in the wilderness for the Hebrew people during the Exodus from Egypt. Remember there is where they merely had to step outside their tents twice a day and pick this manna up from the ground and their stomachs were filled. No hunting, baking, making, cooking or anything else necessary. When the next day came, again it was there for them.
We live in a rich society where food is abundant and available. We let this fool us. We forget God’s involvement in the daily needs we have. It gets us to thinking we aren’t dependent on God for this. Much of the rest of the world prays this with urgency and desperation. They live day to day. They don’t know where the next meal is coming from. Their need is real and live every day.
This statement is also a recognition of our spiritual needs; our eternal needs. Jesus himself is the “bread of life.” Jesus is also the daily bread we need that fills our greatest hunger.
5. ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOU AS YOU FORGIVE OTHERS
I believe this is one we need to pray more. Not because God hasn’t forgiven us. Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was once for all and those of us who are being saved, this is real. But we sin every day and to take time to recognize that our salvation is completely dependent on God is humbling.
We should take time to say, God, I did it again. I messed up. I sinned. I need your forgiveness and I recognize that it is all up to you to do that. I don’t deserve it. I didn’t earn it.
And Jesus assumes that the hearer would want forgiveness, but he adds also the caveat, “as we also have forgiven our debtors.” If you’ve gotten the first part down, great. Now forgive others. Forgive like you have been forgiven. That’s harder.
6. ASK GOD TO DELIVER YOU FROM THE EVIL ONE
Our battle is not one against flesh and blood but against the evil spiritual forces. We need God’s deliverance from the evil one, from Satan and his demons. In standard Jewish prayer, asking to be protected from temptation was a regular thing. They would not find this an odd thing to say in a prayer to God.
God has this won.
A simple prayer with profound words. Say it with me this morning as we reflect on this passage:
“Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
INVITATION
