The Lord's Prayer Series

Matthew 6

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘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 today 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 the evil one.’

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

What a prayer!

I submit to you that this is the most recited prayer on mortal tongue!

This morning as we speak literally thousands of Christian congregations a reciting this prayer in unison in there time of worship.

Tonight at recovery meetings throughout the world NA and AA meetings are concluding with their meeting with its participants reciting this prayer

Catholic in confessionals are being told by their priests to recite this prayer a certain number of times as a part of their penance, as I had time so many times as I grew up in the Roman Catholic church.

BUT DO THEY REALLY KNEW WHAT THEY ARE SAYING? AND DO THEY REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE PRAYING?

I SUMIT TO YOU THAT THOSE SO MANY YEARS AGO WHEN I PRAYED THIS PRAYER – I DID NOT!

That is why I am so happy to return on our journey through the life and the ministry and message of Jesus, and why I am so happy that God providentially would return us to it at this time, at the beginning of a new year, and at this point of our journey thru the scripture the portion of scripture that we call…

The Lord’s Prayer.

Because I am convicned that what has kept my life on track, and in the Lord’s will, for these past 25 years now as a Christian, and what had secured me innummeral blessings, and kept me from untold calamities is my own personal commitment to THE LORD’S PRAYER!

Why is that?

Well I like what…

Samuel Wemmer - "Every possible desire of the praying heart is contained in this, it contains a whole world of spiritual requirements, it combines in simple language every divine promise, every human sorrow and want, and every Christian longing for the good of others."

Anyway what I would like for us to do is analyze this jewel of a prayer. Because….

An analysis of the “The Lord’s Prayer” will reveal to us several characteristics of what real praying contains.

The first characteristic of real praying is….

I. Purity.

By that I mean it is…

A) Void of hypocrisy.

What do I mean by that?

Well Jesus said…

Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Q: What is that all about?

B) Prayer was a big part of the Judaic lifestyle.

1. Jewish Law made it their duty to pray three times daily: in the morning, in the afternoon and at nightfall.

2. The custom/concept of praying three times a day was originally introduced by the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham introduced prayer in the morning, Isaac—in the afternoon, and Jacob added one at night.

3. These prayers are called:

a) The morning prayer - 9AM (shacharit = morning).

b) The afternoon prayer - 3PM (minchah = gift-offering) This hour of prayer was known as the "hour of confession."

c) The evening prayer (maariv = evening prayer). Began at sundown.

Wherever they would be – you would just begin to pray.

The People’s New Testament - The Pharisees took pains to be in some public place, where they could strike an attitude of prayer in the sight of many observers, to make a public show of their devotions that they may have the name of sanctity.

BUT REAL PRAYER..