NOTE: When I list a verse number or passage, it is intended for you to read the indicated verse aloud
______________________________________________________
(OPEN BIBLES TO Matthew 6)
In my lesson tonight, I do not expect that anything I say to you will be new and different than what you’ve heard said about this before.
-But I don’t think everything that’s new is always necessarily better.
-The Model that Jesus gave us for how to approach God was effective in his time, and I believe it is every bit as effective for us now.
We don’t need a new and revised Lord’s prayer…the original one works just fine, and gives us plenty to think about.
Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by talking about WHERE to pray.
Matthew 6:5-6
Jesus begins by saying, “When you pray, don’t do it for the sake of getting lots of attention.”
-We do need to point out that in this passage, Jesus is not arguing it is WRONG to pray publicly.
-In the early church, prayer was certainly a part of what they did when they were assembled.
-I believe it would be wrong to STOP praying publicly.
-What I think Jesus is trying to say is that if the LONGEST prayers you lead are the ones you lead publicly, you might out to rethink your motives.
If you can always be done praying in 2-3 minutes at home, but when you lead a public prayer, you just can’t help but talk to God for 10-15 minutes, you might want to reverse that habit.
-If you lead a long, eloquent prayer that everyone gets to hear, then your reward is that everyone will say, “What a nice prayer that was.”
ILL.- Preacher D. L. Moody said, “A man who prays much in private will make short prayers in public.”
ILL.- When Lyndon Johnson was President, he had several guests in for a meal at the family room of the White House. LBJ had given the honor of giving grace to journalist Bill Moyers (an ex-Baptist minister). As Moyers began to softly say grace, LBJ - who couldn’t understand what was being said, interrupted Moyers, "Speak up man." Without looking up and barely stopping in mid-sentence, Bill Moyers replied, "I wasn’t talking to you."
When we pray, let’s remember that we’re not in showbusiness…we’re talking to God.
Jesus says we can pray a lot better if we find a place where no one else CAN see us or hear us.
-It’s hunting season now, and I have no doubt that some of you guys are going to be out in the early mornings waiting for deer.
-Why not take the time to talk to God when you can sit there in silence and solitude?
Jesus gave one other piece of advice about how NOT to pray…
7-8
By rambling on and using the ‘right’ phrases, it doesn’t make your prayer any better. Say what you have to say. If you have nothing left to say, don’t feel obligated to keep going on just because you can…
ILLUS: ILL.- A little boy was afraid of the dentist. So his father decided to set the example and have his teeth examined, too. The dentist looked inside the father’s mouth and said, "Oh, there’s a tooth there that has to be pulled."
The father asked, "How much will it cost?" The dentist answered, "We charge $35 a tooth." Then the father asked, "How long will it take to pull the tooth?" The dentist answered, "About a minute."
The father protested, "I get paid by the HOUR! That means I’m paying $35 for just a minute’s work! That’s a terribly high hourly wage!”
-The Dentist replied, “I can pull it a lot slower if you want me to.”
Jesus says that God knows what we need. Pray for what’s on your mind. Don’t ramble on for hours if you have nothing else you want to say.
So Jesus’ teaching on prayer begins with an encouragement to pray privately, and pray sincerely.
Verse 9 begins what we typically call the Lord’s prayer.
I want to break it down and look at it. I want us to see how it is focused. If we pray this prayer with sincerity, to say some of these things to God requires us to examine ourselves, and to live differently…if we really mean what we say.
Before we study it, I’d like us to all pray it together one time. Most of us probably memorized it from a King James Version, so if you would, bow your heads and pray it with me.
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
”
We begin by praying, “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name.”
-To say something is hallowed is another way of saying it is ‘made holy’.
Whenever you write a letter, before you say anything else, you begin by thinking about who you are writing to.
-You want to begin with an appropriate introduction.
-When you write a letter to a Senator, it is VERY different from how you would write a note to your buddy.
-To a Senator, you would write a return address. You’d list their full name and Title. You’d begin by saying, “Dear Sir.” You would keep it short and to the point.
-If you were writing a note to your buddy down the aisle, he would think you were weird if you wrote his address, and a return address, and dated it, and said, “Dear Sir: You want to get some food at the Rambler after church? Sincerely, Your Buddy”
-God is unique, because God is much more important than your Senator, but he knows you much better than your closest friend.
-He loves you like a Father, but he’s also the most powerful being in the universe.
-Jesus addresses both of these aspects in how he tells us to address our prayers to God.
We acknowledge his closeness to us and his personal love when we say, “Our Father.” God is Dad.
-But in the same sentence we say, “Who is in HEAVEN; Hallowed be your name.”
-Just as we acknowledge God’s closeness, we address his HOLINESS.
-In the Bible, at the root of holiness is understanding that something is DIFFERENT. Holiness could also be called “OTHER-NESS”
-When Moses approached the burning bush, God said, “Take off your shoes because this is HOLY ground…you are encountering a being who is something very DIFFERENT than what you are!”
-This tells us that when we pray to God, it is appropriate to find a place to pray where we can acknowledge who it is that we’re talking to. We make time for God as we would for anyone that we love…but this God that we love is also a God that we respect.
10
-If I am going to say that to God, and MEAN it, what does that require of me?
FIRST, I have to give some thought to what God’s kingdom is, and to what his WILL is.
-This is a prayer that God’s Kingdom will grow and expand, and also a prayer that where there is Sin, people will repent and do what is Right.
-But when I pray for this, who is it that God intends to help spread his kingdom? Who is it that needs to do God’s will in this World, if not ME?
-When I pray this, if I’m honest about it, it means that I am going to look at myself and say, “What am I doing to help usher in God’s Kingdom?” “In my life, are there any dark places where I resist the will of God? What do I need to turn over to God that I keep trying to do MY way?”
-We say to God, “I want your Kingdom to come, and I want YOUR will to be done”, but we also need to think about how we are to be involved in that process.
11
-When you talk to God, it is completely OK to bring him the things you care about, and what you’re worried about.
-In other Scriptures, Jesus says that in our prayers we are to ‘ask, seek, & knock’.
But here, we’re asking God to meet our needs.
-‘God, I need to pay my bills. I need to eat tomorrow. I need my children to have clothes to wear to School.’
-So we pray and ask for God to give us what we need to get by.
-I don’t know about you, but honestly, I have MORE than what I need.
If you ask for the bare minimum, I bet you’ll be continually surprised how many times God will give you MORE than what you ask for!
-If I keep my greed in check and I pray, “God, just please put food on my table today.”
-It makes me more appreciative when God answers by saying, “Well, how about I not only give you food on your table; but I also put a roof over your head, I give you enough to afford a good vehicle to get to work in, and enough for your family to have fun and entertainment as well.”
We can suddenly sit back and say, “All I’m asking for is bread, but God gives me so much more!” That’s a good way to keep things in perspective, isn’t it?
-And if I pray, “Give me what I need to get by”, what does that require of me?
It requires me to be a good steward of what I have, doesn’t it? I’m not going to waste what God has given me. I’m going to use it for good. I’m going to use what it takes to get by, and whatever is extra, I’m going to count as a blessing from God, and use it as if it were God’s.
12
-This isn’t something you can say to God without first examining yourself. ‘God, please forgive me the exact same way that I forgive other people.’
-We all say we’re trying to follow the example of Christ. But here in his prayer, Jesus says we should tell God to follow OUR EXAMPLE!
‘God, forgive me the way that I forgive other people.’
-In his own teaching, Jesus says that it’s the measure we use that will determine the measure of forgiveness that God uses for us.
Jesus comments on this very phrase when he’s done praying:
14-15
-Jesus is saying, “Christian or not…if you won’t forgive people, you don’t deserve to be forgiven.”
What are the ways that people have DEBTS to us? Sometimes it’s financial. When someone has owed you money, do you squeeze the noose until you get the last penny?
-Do you have mercy?
-Maybe it’s time Spent…What about when someone owed you some time. Maybe it was for work done, or maybe it was someone in your family who deserved a visit from you, but you didn’t MAKE time for them.
-Have we not wronged God and trespassed against God in exactly the same way?
-Maybe I knew of something good that needed to get done, and I could have given some money to help, but instead, I went out and bought something expensive for myself so there was no money left to give. Haven’t I robbed God when I do that?
Maybe I had an opportunity to show up and help do something good for someone, or visit someone, or maybe I had a day where I could have spent some quality time reading my Bible, praying, and reflecting on my walk with God. Instead, I spent a couple of hours doing something that was not only unproductive, but that I would be embarrassed to death for someone else to know about me.
Jesus is asking a lot out of us when he says, “Tell God to forgive your sins in exactly the same way that you forgive the sins that other people commit against you.”
13
-This might be the most challenging part of the prayer.
-“God, help me to stay away from Evil. Help me follow YOUR way, and when evil is present, help me to RESIST IT.”
-To pray this, what does it require of you? It means that you’re willing to reflect on your life and think about what your doing…am I doing good or evil? This thing I do that I’m a little embarrassed about…is it something that really does need to stop? I have to think about what is right and wrong.
But this also means that I’m announcing my PLANS to God… “God, the next time temptation rolls around, I plan to do the right thing.”
-When I pray this, I’m asking God to lead me, which means I intend to follow him!
-If I’m going to tell God that I want his help to do what is right, and he’s willing to help me, I had better hold up my part of the deal, hadn’t I?
I want to read over this prayer one more time, and then we’ll close.
9-13
-If you think about what Jesus is asking of you, and you recognize that you are falling terribly short of his will for you, perhaps you would like prayers of encouragement this evening.
-Perhaps you are not a Christian. You look at what Jesus sets as the standard and you realize, just like all the rest of us have realized… “Without the grace of God, I don’t stand a chance.”
-God’s grace is extended to you, also. If you will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. If you will repent of what you’ve done wrong, and ask for God’s mercy by being baptized into Christ… God has promised that your sins will be washed away.
Even though you can’t measure up on your own, God will make up for what is lacking in us.
