Sermon On the Mount | MATTHEW 6:5-15 | PRAYER

I.  Greetings and Introduction:

            This week we will look at how to pray.   This section contains teaching on our attitude towards God when we pray, a model prayer (which

is the Lord's Prayer) and Jesus' own commentary on the Lord's Prayer.

            Our study will therefore include three sections:  words of wisdom on prayer (7-8), the Lord's Prayer (9-13) and Jesus' commentary on what

is very important to Him about His prayer (14-15).    

            Note:  One of the most famous passages in the New Testament is the Lord's Prayer However, what is familiar can easily become

meaningless and we miss what is actually before us.   

II.  Instructions on Prayer:  Matthew 6:7-15.

            A.  A Word of Wisdom From Jesus About Prayer:  Matthew 6:7-8.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:7-8.

            Q  Is Jesus forbidding us to repeat a prayer?

               An =  Jesus is not saying that you cannot repeat a prayer.  Jesus repeats a prayer many times in the Garden of Gethsemane (in the very

book of Matthew, i.e. 26:36-42 and see also Luke 11:5-10).  He is saying do not take God for a fool.  You cannot make God respond with a lot of words.  He

is an Intelligent Being.  He wants us to pray to Him as an intelligent being just as you want your children or your friends to talk to you.

            RQ  Would you not be offended if a friend asked a favor sixty times, thinking that was the only reason you would respond?

            Note:  Oswald Chambers (Studies In the Sermon On the Mount, p. 60) reminds us that "God is never impressed by our earnestness."

            Note:  Then He shows us practically how to pray.  

 

III.  The Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13

            A.  The Framework: 9 and 13b.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:9

            Q  According to this verse what is the purpose for giving this prayer?

               An = Notice that Jesus did not say "pray these exact words" but "pray in this way" or as the NIV says it:  "This, then, is how you should

pray".  So what pattern, or content should guide our prayer life.

            Note:  Jesus knows that his disciples knew many public prayers for they were beautifully spoken or sung in the great Temple or in

synagogue, what He is teaching is prayer for their private, closet prayer life as well.  It is perfectly alright to pray the Lord's prayer in public but it is

also a guide for our use in private prayer as well.

            Note:

            Before we go on, let me make one observation:  if one examines the structure of the Lord's prayer as found in Matthew 6:9-13 we will find

a curious but clear structure.  So lets look at that structure.  The Lord's Prayer could easily be seen to have six parts in my opinion:  An Invocation,

Four Requests, and a Benediction.  Let me explain further.  

            Note:  Verse 9 opens the Lord's Prayer with what is commonly called an "Invocation".  

            Q  What is an invocation?

               An = It means to call upon, or address someone.  >>> Turn with me to Psalm 46:1 and let me read it to you. Notice God is

addressed as a refuge or shelter, now go over to Psalm 49:1,2 and lets read this.  Notice here is not God who is addressed but the peoples of all

stations.  Now go over to Psalm 50:1 and lets read it.  Here the invocation is to God but now a different aspect of God is addressed, His might and

power.  The invocation is an indication of who and what aspect of that person is being addressed.

            The Lord's Prayer opens with an invocation:  let us read it in English, and see what it means.

            Note: Our Father, who are in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.  Lets break this down.

            --"Our Father"--God is understood as our "dad", in Aramaic it would be "Abba", or "Daddy".  In the ancient Jewish culture, Fathers deeply

loved their children and many Armenian families still understand how deeply the love can be towards "dad".  By calling God "our Father"  we are saying

we know God intimately, loving, personally cares for us.  He is not just God, but His my father!  As we draw closer to God we will increasingly feel

this closeness and this bond.  In my own case, as great as my grandfather and father were, God is more.  There is an intimacy that even supersedes that

closeness and love.

            Q God is not only called "our Father" but also what?

               An = Notice the next phrase, "who are in Heaven".  God is not only our father, but He is the Lord of the heavens.  He is not our personal

guru or divine pet!  He is in heaven, far away, and far above all that is on earth.  

            So, God is both intimate and God is great and awe-inspiring.  He is not only "immanent" but also "transcendent", above and beyond anything

a human being can imagine.

            Note:  To make sure we understand this, Jesus follows up with "hallowed be your Name", or "Holy is your Name".  He is to be sanctified and

holy in our understanding.  The Jews knew that to truly come before God with joy they needed to understand His Holiness:  >>>> Turn to

Psalm 34:3.

            Q So how do we pray?  In what manner or pattern do we open our prayers, in what attitude towards God are we to have when opening in our

personal, private prayer life?

               An = We should approach God with confidence that He is our father but that He is awesome in power!  He is both intimate and yet

almighty.  We should know that He deeply loves us, but that we are also addressing the Lord of the Entire Cosmos.  We should know that we are

approaching not only He who loves us but He who is to be worshipped in holiness.

            B.  The Body of the Prayer:  Four Requests:  Matthew 6:10-13a.

>>>>  Have someone read Matthew 6:10.

            Note:  Now we move onto the body of the Lord's Prayer.  It opens with a request in verse 10.  "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on

earth as it is in heaven."   May your kingdom come.  Where God is king then His will is followed.  We are being told to ask for God's lordship to begin.  

            Note:  Naturally, another way of saying this would be "may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".   You see if God is king in heaven

when His will is obeyed, then we are to ask God's will to be on earth.  May God have His way!

            Note:  Asking God's kingdom to come and then for His will to be done is an example of Hebrew parallelism.  Again to see how Jesus is

structuring His prayer, turn to Psalm 112:2,7.  See how the phrases are repeating some of the same thought in different ways.  Now turn to Psalm

114:4 for another example, Jesus is saying in verse 10 the same thing twice!  For Hebrews to Repeat a matter shows its importance!

            Q What is Jesus saying?  How should our prayers be like, if we follow His direction?

               An = Perhaps, another way of saying it would be:  May you be truly King, not only in heavens and in the ages to come, but with me on

earth, now.  It is a prayer of submission.  He must be king, not us.  His will, not our will, should dominate.  1)  Many people do not like to take the

Bible seriously because then we will know what God thinks and then if we are true Christians then we would have to conform.  If we say the Bible is not

true, then we can make up a god and what we wish him to want in our own image.  Also 2), many do not want to hear from the Holy Spirit, but want to do

what we want.  When we do this, we have made a god in our image.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:11

            Q What does the second request mean?

               An =  "Give us today our daily bread".  Notice we are to ask for our daily sustenance.  God does not say ask for luxury, but to ask for our

daily needs.  God does care about our needs and so He commands us to ask for them to be fulfilled.  What you really need you are to ask for.

            Q What would you think of the child who said:  "Dad, or Mom, give me five thousand dollars, so I do not have to be bothered with talking

with you again?

            Q Do you like being dependent on God?

               An =  So many times we want to be given our needs twenty years in advance, where God wants us to be daily dependent upon Him.  We

want security but He wants relationship.  What would we think of the child who said, "Forget-you parents, I just want enough money for the next twenty

years and I do not want to need to talk to you to again."  God wants us to daily come before Him with our needs.  Some people have called it living on the

edge.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:12.

            Q What is the third thing we are to ask for?

               An =  The third thing we are to ask for is something that Jesus knows we need have need of:  forgiveness.  "Forgive us our debts, as we

forgive our debtors".   The Lord knows we need daily sustenance.  The Lord also knows we need to submit to His will, and He knows we need

forgiveness.  So, He says:  "Ask for it."  

            Note:  Notice of the four requests that we are going to look at in the Lord's Prayer, only this one has a condition.  God does not say, ask for

daily bread, but first fast six hours then I will supply your need.  He does not say ask for My will to be done only after you have given your tithe.  There

are no conditions attached to these requests but here there are stipulations.  There are conditions to forgiveness.  You must forgive those who have hurt

you.

            Note:  Charles Williams says the word "as" is the most terrible word in the English Bible.  It is so hard to forgive those who have hurt us,

but Jesus says it is not optional.  You must forgive to be forgiven.

            Q Why is it so hard to forgive?

            Q  Can we afford to forgive?  Can we afford to forgive those idiots at work?  Can we afford to forgive certain relatives?

               An = Strange question?  Not really!  Think of it this way, if we forgive, then the devil tries to tell us, we will be diminished.  We must

have our due!  Our debts must be recognized and covered.  Can we afford to forgive?  

            Q Can we afford to forgive?

               An = If we will forgive, will we not have faith in God?  If we have such faith we will not only not be diminished we will be like our

heavenly Father?   Note:  There is one difference to being like our heavenly Father, Chrysostom (p. 136) reminds us, that we have need of becoming

great, God already is!  He merely wishes to show us the way!

            Note:  There is another parallelism here (a contrasting one), i.e. forgiveness is spoken about twice, because forgiveness is very

important!

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:13a.

            Q What is the fourth thing we are to ask our Father for?

               An = The fourth thing we are encouraged to ask for is also in parallel form:  "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the

evil one".  We are to ask our Lord for help in temptation.  We are to anticipate and pray about the needs we have or others have in temptation and pray

before the trouble begins.

            EX  You can give an example of your own here.  The key issue is that one anticipates a problem and then begins to pray.

Time I realized I would be tempted to fight with a close friend, and so prayed that it would never happen, it didn't.  We are not asking God to give us

not temptation but to help us not to succumb!

            Note:  The real enemy is not those who hurt us, but the devil, the "evil one".  Satan tries to use the mistakes and selfishness of others to

tempt us, but the real enemy is the devil!  Beat the devil, you do not need to beat the one who has hurt you.

            Q The text does not say:  "Lead me not into temptation", "Let us not into temptation."  I believe this opens the door for us to pray not only

for ourselves but for our friends, our children, and relatives.  Perhaps, we need to begin praying for those we love when see them being drawn into

temptation.  Do not gossip about them!  Do not worry about them!  Pray for them!  It is the last thing the devil wants you doing.  Again, you

have a parallelism, a repetition, i.e. it is important to seek help for ourselves and others against temptation, through prayer!

            C.  The Closing Or The Benediction.  Matthew 6:13b.

>>>> If you have to recite or read from the "King James" version the benediction.

            Note:  Our prayer ends in some translations with "For thine is the kingdom and power and the glory forever".  This is the closing phrase,

the Benediction, the ending of the prayer.  Scripture has many of these types of closing and we usually end our Sunday morning worship service with one.

            Note:  Some of your translations do not have this part because some of the earliest manuscripts do not have this.  

            Note:  In affect, what this phrase is saying is that God totally in control, with endless might, power and glory.  So our part is to verbalize

this and acknowledge to the world that in Jesus is eternal power and glory.  It is true, what we need to do is to proclaim that truth to the world.  It

will help the world and most of all it helps us, ourselves, realize that this is reality.

 

IV.  Jesus' Own Commentary or Emphasis on His Prayer:  Matthew 6:14-15.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:14-15.

            Note:  Notice that Jesus is referring back to only one part of the Lord's Prayer.

>>>> Have someone re-read Matthew 6:12.

            Q What is the condition for our being forgiven?

               An = Forgiving others!  Jesus does not want us to miss that!  If we do, we can slip into being a hypocrite, a religious prig, a dead

person, who everyone sees as religious but is totally not pleasing to God.  We could totally miss the boat!

            Note:  So notice Jesus repeats the issue twice!  He loves us and knows our tendency to forget unpleasant issues.  Jesus speaks of this

issue of forgiveness four times.

            Note:  Notice, He first tries to persuade us with a promise in 6:14, and then He tries to persuade us with a threat in 6:15.  He promises

and threatens because He wants to persuade us to the fullest extent.

            Note:  Those of you who are teachers know that you have to motivate both ways to be affective with students.  

            EX  I used to assign some tremendously hard papers in my classes and I would promise them that if they did them they would never forget

what they wrote and it would be one of the best things they experienced in my classes.  I was right, it was true!  However, I would also say if you do not

do the paper you do not pass the class.

            Q  How many students would put a 75+ hours into a paper without the threat?  

               An = Not many.  But without the promise they would get discouraged when the going got rough.  We humans need both positive and

negative encouragement.  God knows this and so wisely, lovingly repeats only one part of the Lord's Prayer.

            Note:  Let me tell you a secret.  If you learn to forgive others who have terribly hurt you it could be the key to your spiritual success.  It

could be the key that unlocks your relationship to God.  It could make you real!

            RQ Who is it that has really hurt you?  

            Note:  Bring that person before your mind and then let me ask you another question!

            Q  Is Christ asking too much of some of you today?

               An = If we have been truly hurt by another human being, we need His supernational grace.  If we have been hurt deep enough, we

need help to forgive.  Our very chance at pleasing God depends upon it.  Some of you have been hurt so bad that none of can understand how deep that hurt

is, but God.  

            Note:  He understands, and He is present right now to begin the process you need to be free.