SERMON ON THE MOUNT TEACHING SERIES PART 8

8

A Pattern for Dynamic Prayer

Matthew 6:7–15

The fundamental difference between various kinds of prayer is the fundamentally different images of God that lie behind them.

Group Discussion. Imagine that your prayers, like those in the Psalms, were recorded for others to read. What would people learn about your image of God?

Personal Reflection. What are you pleased or encouraged about regarding your prayer life? What area do you struggle with?

The Lord’s Prayer was given by Jesus as a model of what genuine Christian prayer should be like. According to Matthew he gave it as a pattern to copy (“This is how you should pray”), and according to Luke he gave it as an actual prayer (“When you pray, say …”). We are not obliged to choose, however, for we can both use the prayer as it stands and also model our own praying upon it. Either way, Jesus not only teaches us about prayer but also gives us a greater vision of the God we call “Our Father.”

Read Matthew 6:7–15.

What natural divisions do you observe in the Lord’s Prayer? What is the focus of each?

2. How do pagan prayers (v. 7) differ from the persistent prayers Jesus himself offered (Matthew 26:44)?

3. In what ways might we be guilty of mindless, meaningless prayers?

4. If, as Jesus says in verse 8, God already knows what we need, why should Christians pray?

5. What does the phrase “Our Father in heaven” (v. 9) tell us about God?

6. What does it mean to “hallow” God’s name (v. 9)?

7. God is already King. In what sense are his kingdom and perfect will still in the future (v. 10)?

8. In our self-centered culture we are often preoccupied with our own little name, empire and will rather than God’s. How can we combat this tendency?

9. Some early commentators allegorized the word bread (v. 11), assuming that Jesus could not be referring to something as mundane as our physical needs. Why is it perfectly appropriate to pray for actual “daily bread”?

10. How is our heavenly Father’s forgiveness related to our forgiving others (vv. 12, 14–15)?

11. If God cannot tempt us and trials are beneficial (James 1:2, 13), then what is the meaning of verse 13?

12. In what ways do your prayers need to more closely resemble this model prayer?

Take time to pray, using the Lord’s Prayer as your model.

LATER

The disciples whom Jesus trained to pray the Lord’s Prayer later became great examples of prayer themselves. Study one of their prayers in Acts 4:23–31. What image of God is revealed in this prayer? How does this prayer resemble the Lord’s Prayer? What further insights does this passage give for improving your prayer life?