Learning to Pray – The Perspective of Proper Prayer

Introduction: We are now in the section of our Scripture passage on prayer where the Lord is instructing us how to pray. As I have spent time meditating upon this passage and studying its construction, it appears to me that the Lord is taking the tack of repeating the thought process revealed to us when He taught us how NOT to pray earlier in our passage. Our Lord first pointed out that we were not to be hypocritical in our prayers by seeming to be dedicated to addressing God when in reality we just want to be credited by our fellow men as prayer warriors. So it was that in the model of prayer that our Lord gave, He began by stressing that our focus in getting attention in our prayers was to be getting our Father’s attention rather than getting the attention of men. He is contrasting loving the praise of men with loving our heavenly Father. See how unlike the heathen’s prayers this is as well! Instead of praying to an angry deity who must be placated to avoid the evil things that he wants to do to us, we are addressing our Father who is already predisposed in kindness toward us, as our Lord will reemphasize to His disciples later on in this very sermon, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt. 7:11)

Finally, the Lord condemned the prayer of most worshipers of Jehovah as having the wrong priorities: they began with the things they perceived that they needed. Our Lord shows the lesser importance of this with the phrase, “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” (Matt. 6:8). Our Lord seeks to correct this wrong perspective with the phrase that we shall consider today, the very first phrase after the address of the prayer: “Hallowed be thy name.” In fact, our Lord will elaborate on this a little farther on in this chapter when He says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Hallowed be thy name is

I. A Request of Repentance (Matt. 6:9)

A. Because our human nature will naturally seek the glory of our own name

1. The example of Babel (Gen. 11:1-4)

2. The example of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:1-37)

B. Because focusing on God’s perfections will reveal and cause us to confess our own imperfections

1. The example of Daniel (Dan. 9:3-19)

2. The example of Jeremiah (Jer. 32:6-23)

II. A Request for Personal Enlightenment (Matt. 6:9)

Explanation: If we are to beg God to sanctify His name, we must have an accurate understanding of His character. Remember how the Lord revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:5-7, “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

A. Willing ignorance or wrong doctrine demonstrate irreverence toward God (Eph. 4:18; 1 Pet. 1:14, 2:15)

1. The example of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10)

2. The example of Simon the Magician (Acts 8:9-23)

B. Discovering and believing truth about God demonstrate reverence for Him

Quotation: As John MacArthur says, “We cannot revere a God whose character and will we do not know or care about.”

1. The example of the Bereans (Acts 17:10-12)

Quotation: “An awe of His majesty and holiness should so fill our hearts that our whole inner beings bow in entire and willing subjection to Him. For this we must pray, striving to obtain right views and a deeper knowledge of Him, that we may worship Him aright and serve Him acceptably.”

2. The example of Timothy (2 Tim. 2:14-16)

3. The example of all believers (1 Pet. 3:14-16)

III. A Request for Corporate Enlightenment (Matt. 6:9)

A. We desire that God’s people will increasingly bring glory to God’s name (John 17:17)

1. By having a transformed mind (Rom. 12:1-2)

2. By doing God’s will (Matt. 7:21; 1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:23-25)

B. We desire that more people will be drawn into relationship with God through Salvation (John 17:20; Matt. 5:16)

1. People being saved adds to the glory of God by its method (Eph. 1:6)

2. People being saved adds to the glory of God by volume (Rev. 5:9-12; Ps. 34:3)

IV. A Request of Perspective (Matt. 6:9)

A. This request shows the need for a heavenly perspective over an earthly perspective

1. My perspective tends to perceive through my five senses which are limited to the physical realm

2. My senses and my interpretation of what is sensed are influenced by the curse and by my sinful human nature

3. I am a finite being, even my correct perceptions are necessarily limited

B. This request shows that the proper perspective leads to proper priorities

1. This has been stated in Church doctrine through the ages

Explanation: The Westminster Shorter Catechism makes this most clear and succinct by having as its first question, “What is the chief end of man?” and as its first answer, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” (Ps. 86:9; Is. 60:21)

2. This was demonstrated for us by Christ (John 12:27-28)

Explanation: Even our Lord, Jesus Christ himself prayed that His Father would be glorified by His life.

Conclusion: What a powerful request is this first statement of the model that we have for prayer! It is an imperative verb. We are literally told that we come into God’s presence and call upon him to do what He must do. I’m reminded of Isaiah chapter 45 where God prophesies that He will raise up a man named Cyrus to further His plan, and to bring Honor to His name by doing so. To Honor God’s name: this is to be our first priority in prayer. If it is not, then we have the wrong perspective on prayer.