The Model Prayer – Part 1
Griffith Baptist Church – 7/30/06
P.M. Service
Text: Matthew 6:9-13 (verses 9-10)
Theme: The elements of Christ’s model prayer give us a glimpse into a living, breathing example of form and structure that God desires for effective prayer.
Introduction:
During the afternoon a mother had to paddle her four-year-old daughter because she deliberately disobeyed her. That evening when the little girl prayed she said, “Dear Lord, please help me understand my mother. Amen.”
We need help understanding prayer
The disciples had not been around Jesus that long when they requested, “Lord, teach us to pray . . .” Luke 11:1
Sometimes we learn to pray by hit and miss
• We hear others pray and imitate what they do
• We approach prayer in the way we think it ought to happen
• We use natural reasoning to approach a supernatural, Holy God
There is a reason that Jesus set this example down for His disciples and us
It was not to fill up space in His Word.
We need a framework, a blueprint to work by
This is what that framework does:
• It tells us how God thinks
• It lets us know structure we need to have
• It tells us what opens God’s heart and ears to receive what we have
We may be seeing some success in our prayers, but we can always see more
We just need to understand Him more and this prayer helps us do that
Impact Statement: To pray properly is to pray our way from heaven to earth; God first and ourselves last.
1. Element One: Identification with who God is (Our Father who art in heaven)
A. I was riding with retired Air Force officer Wally Hall. We were approaching the guard house at the entrance to Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan. Wally was about to give me my first tour of a military base. I wondered how I would get in. Would they ask me a lot of questions and make me wait while they did a security check?
When we arrived at the gate, a burly sergeant waved us through without hesitation, “How did we get in so quickly?” I asked Wally, “This sticker,” he said, pointing to a decal in the corner of the car’s windshield. “It lets me and my guests onto the base.” Because I was with Wally, who had previous clearance, I could get through the gate with no difficulty.
This made me think about getting into heaven. On my own, I wouldn’t stand a chance. I do not deserve the right, and I could never earn it. But when I trusted Jesus as my Savior, I became identified with Him. Because I am “in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6), I have free access to God’s favor in this life and a sure hope of entering heaven’s glory. (v. 7).
Our Daily Bread, September 8, 1992
B. Creator - Isaiah 64:8 – But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.
C. Connection with Jesus - John 20:17 – “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”
D. Closeness with God the Father - Romans 8:15 – For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
i. Galatians 4:6 – Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
ii. ABBA – is father in Greek and implies intimacy
iii. It is like saying “daddy’ in today’s vernacular
E. Our Judge - 1st Peter 1:17 - And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;
2. Element Two: Reverence for who God is (hallowed be Thy name)
A. Revere – to lift up and to place in a position to worship; To regard with awe, deference, and devotion.
B. Psalm 2:11 - Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling.
C. The Angels preoccupation with God’s holiness - Isaiah 6:3 – And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
D. We are ambassadors of His holiness - Ezekiel 36:23 – “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
E. The immensity and awesomeness of God - 1st Timothy 6:16 – who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
3. Element Three: Affirmation of God’s authority (Thy kingdom come)
A. God’s kingly rule or sovereignty. The rule of God
B. In His parables Jesus spoke of the kingdom in many different ways. He said that the kingdom is like
i. a farmer (Matt. 13:24),
ii. a seed (Matt. 13:31),
iii. a yeast (Matt. 13:33),
iv. a treasure (Matt. 13:44),
v. a pearl merchant (Matt. 13:45),
C. Jesus never said that people are to build the kingdom of God.
D. The establishment of the kingdom is a work of God.
E. The kingdom of God present – invisible (in His children here and now)
F. The kingdom of God future – visible (the millennial kingdom)
G. Salvation’s Transition (invisible) - Colossians 1:13 - For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
H. The millennial kingdom of Christ (visible) - Isaiah 2:2 – Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
i. Daniel 2:44 – “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
ii. Daniel 7:27 – ‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
I. The participation of the saints in the millennial kingdom - Revelation 20:4 - Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus, for proclaiming the word of God. And I saw the souls of those who had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
4. Element Four: Submission to God’s universal will (Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven)
A. Submit - To yield or surrender (oneself) to the will or authority of another.
B. God’s will is not a joy stealer
i. Psalm 40:8 – I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart.”
C. What is God’s will exactly?
i. Salvation for mankind - John 6:40 – For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life—that I should raise them at the last day.”
a. 2nd Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
ii. Obedience - Acts 13:22 – “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’
a. Hebrews 13:21 – equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
iii. Seeking maturity - Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
iv. Submission to human authority - Ephesians 6:5-8 – 5Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.
a. 1st Peter 2:13-15 - 13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
v. Moral purity - 1st Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;
vi. Thankfulness - 1st Thessalonians 5:18 – in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
D. Bottom Line: Surrender of ourselves completely to God to fulfill His desires
i. It does not mean that we cannot and do not have our desires
ii. Our desires will not conflict with His desires
