The Lord's Prayer

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Matthew 6:5-13

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

Replant Church

For those of you who may not know, we are a replant church

And what that means is that we were a church in decline

And rather than leaving or closing the doors

The congregation voted to make radical changes which included becoming a New Day Church

This means that the advancement of the gospel,

the desire for this church to have an impact for its community,

and the health and culture of this church

Was more important than any personal preference

And I want to submit to you that this is still the same even for today

For the past four weeks, Marianne and I have sat in a beautifully remodeled classroom

Hoping and praying for just one guest/visitor/new member/whoever to come into the room

Meanwhile, the Sr. Adult Sunday school is still in their older classroom and many times have 20+ people in it

And yet - I do not hear them complain as to why they cant have the new room

They humbly and freely give the newer classroom to whoever new may come

We are striving to be a church that glorifies God, Seeks to conform more into his likeness and image, and seeks to share Jesus with others

And so we meet, we have Bible studies, we have outreach events,

And as people come in, I hope one of the things that becomes evident about our church, is that we are a praying church

We believe in the importance and in the power of prayer

Prayer isn’t Easy

Prayer isn’t pointless

Prayer isn’t meant to be complicated

And prayer isn’t suppossed to be non-existent in the life of a believer

And at the end of the day - even though we may overcomplicate prayer - God is not looking for perfect prayer

God is looking for true prayer that comes from a pure heart

And so I ask, How is your prayer life?

What is the struggle you have with prayer?

Do you notice a difference when your prayer life is good compared to when you are struggling?

And as you answer the question - ask if that struggle has to do with knowing what prayer is or does it have to do with the posture of your heart?

And as we walk through this together today, know that whatever you wrote down, whatever came to mind, you are not the only one who has or does struggle with it

In fact, the disciples in the gospel of Luke, request for Jesus to teach them how to pray

THe disciples have witnessed Jesus’ prayer life - and they are seeking to pray as he does

And in our text of Matthew today - we find Jesus continuing the sermon on the mount

And in this discourse, Jesus includes a teaching as to how we are to pray

And in his teaching - he gives us characteristics of true prayer and the posture of the heart for prayer

If you are able to stand, I ask that you please do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it as you follow along,

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: “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 this day 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 evil.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 6:5–15.

This is the Word of the Lord - You may now be seated

Structure

Hypocrite

As Jesus is teaching about prayer, he tells how not to pray, but then he does give an example as to how we are to pray

But before he gives an example of prayer, Jesus gives an example of two kinds of people who pray with improper motives

And the improper motive of the first belongs to a hypocrite - Now in my study Bible, I like the way it describes the hypocrites -

In the NT, the hypocrite is one who claims to have a relationship with God and to love righteousness but is self-seeking, self-reliant, and even self-deceived.

R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 1681.

Now, this section of course has a direct coorelation to the preceeding verses about giving to the needy

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 6:1–4.

Notice the pattern - the hypocrite gives openly because he or she wants everyone to see that they have given to the needy

But Jesus says to give in secret and the Father who sees you give in secret will reward you

And by the way, the same thing applies to prayer - Dont pray openly so that all will see and hear your prayer

But go and pray in solitude - go and pray alone - go and pray in secret where no one but the Father will hear you

And as he hears you - you will be rewarded

The posture of your heart in prayer should be the same as the posture of your heart in giving - that you are not doing it to make yourself feel good, you are not doing it for praise for yourself, and you are not doing it to show how much better you are than others

Rather, you do it because you earnestly desire to glorify the Father, you earnestly desire relationship with him, and you submit yourself before him in a lonely, quiet place, that signifies your dependence upon him

And when you do this, you can know for certain that the Father doesnt just hear you - no, He sees you

He sees the posture of your heart and there is a reward for that posture

And notice that it doesnt say that the reward will be given in secret

Rather, the reward will be an open reward to others that honors your faithfulness

But will be used once again to magnify God

There can and will be a testimony of God’s faithfulness to you as you pray to Him

This reward can be an earthly reward or a heavenly reward - but whatever it is, we can take it to the bank that there is a reward

Gentile

Second, Jesus gives the example of the gentile

And the gentiles were those who were not Jewish

Who were not following God

They had other little g god’s

And we know that Jesus came for both the Jew and the gentile

But at the time of this sermon - as he is speaking to and teaching the disciples

He is speaking to Jewish people who would understand exactly what Jesus means

The gentiles put their faith in idols and little g god’s

And because they desperately want their prayers answered they repeat their prayers over and over and over and over again

They may chant their prayers in a song

They may say their prayers faster in order that they may say the prayer more

And ultimately - the gentiles believe that their prayers will be answered based off of their own action

That they can gain favor and an answered prayer because they have impressed the god

AND - If the prayer did not get answered then they must not have prayed enough times

If their prayer did not get answered then they must not have chatted rhythmically

If their prayer did not get answered then they must not have phrased the request correctly

The hope of having their prayer answered is based off of their own merrit

And Jesus says, Look - your Father in heaven already knows what you need

There is nothing going on that God doesn’t already know about

The answering of your prayer has nothing to do with how many times you can request it

It has nothing to do with how you say it or how fast you say it

How to Pray

BUt you are still suppossed to pray

And when you pray, pray like this:

And then Jesus gives The Lord’s prayer

And as he prays he starts by addressing the Father

“Our Father in heaven,

He starts by addressing the only person you need to pray too

And by addressing the Father - Jesus is also implying his relationship to the Father

You are the Father because I am your son - I am your child

And because I am your child - Because I am in relationship with you -

I can come to you

We then find a reverence for God - For who he is

hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

God you are King - King of earth and King of Heaven

And in earth and in heaven your will will be done

Then we find that he is source of everything that we need

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

We trust in God and in God alone to meet our needs and so we make our requests known to Him

And then we confess our wrongs to him and make that forgiveness known to others

12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

In Luke 11:4 he uses “sins” instead of debts

We confess our sin to God - knowing that he is sure to forgive

And because he forgives us we then show forgiveness to others

And then Jesus highlights again who God is

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

God is righteouss and because he is righteouss he can never be held responsible for our sin

He is a God that uses his righteousness to save and make a way for his people

And I do believe that it is important to note that in some manuscripts there is an ending that says

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen”

Which is also an exaltation and a reverence for who God is.

It acknowledges that all things are God’s forever - there is no end to his reign

And so what we find here from Jesus different elements that we can include into our own prayer

He said 9 Pray then like this:

And so if you are here today and you wonder why we do not say the Lord’s prayer every service

OR why we dont ask others to say it word for word

It is because we do believe that the Lord’s prayer is a model for us to pray

A beautiful, divine, model for us

But that the prayer itself does not give us added favor with God

Saying it over and over does not bring confidence

Jesus did not pray this prayer everytime

Application

Characteristics

And so when we do go to the Lord in prayer we can use this and model our personal prayers after it

So as you are taking notes, take notes that some of the characteristics of prayer is that it is private, simple, and confident

Private

Now it is private in the sense that it should be between you and the Lord

And it is ok to gather as believers and to pray out loud and to take turns praying

It is great to pray with your spouse, pray beofore meals, and the all the other times we may pray together as believers

But these public prayers should not replace our private and intimate prayer time with the Lord

The intimate times where you are alone, where you are vulnerable with the Lord, you are open

In the private times where you cast your burdens upon him, ask questions that you seek to be answered

We need to have a private and intimate prayer life with the Lord

Simple

The Lord’s prayer itself is simple on the surface

I say this because we can spend a lot of time breaking down this prayer

But when you read the prayer out loud, it is less than 30 seconds (I may have timed myself this past week)

When you pray, you do not have to have the most eloquent words, or the right length

But the prayer is to have substance, meaning that your prayers should be coming from the heart

And because the prayer is an overflow of your heart, it can by nature be simple since God already knows your heart

He already knows what you need, he knows your struggles

And even though we know that we can keep our prayers simple

We also want to intentionally get better as we pray

Not to puff us up, but to try to bring our best to God

So that our prayer isnt always repetitive or the same

ACTS

And so we see a model in Jesus’ prayer with specific elements

And we can take those elements and incorporate them into our prayers

There is an Acrostic called ACTS

Adoration - Addressing God and praising him for who he is

Names of God - Abba Father, Adoni, Alpha and Omega beginning and End, Jehovah Jirah, Jehovah Yahweh, Elohim the creator, El Shaddai (God Almighty), Immanuel God with Us, Messiah, Logos,

Characteristics of God - Loving, gracious, merciful, just, faithful, holy, good, patient, truthful, perfect, wise, powerful

Confession - Simply confess your sin to God and ask for forgiveness

You can for the Holy Spirit to continue to work in you

For strength, love, and obedience to take the way out when presented

You can detail how you got into that situation and reflect

But at the end of the day you are confessing and asking for forgiveness

Thanksgiving - Giving thanks to God for what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do

To be thankful for the needs that are met and the blessings that are given

To acknowledge that what we have is because of thim

We are thankful

Supplication - Make your requests known (For yourself and others)

This is where you ask God for what you need

You requests for the needs of others

Often, a person may want to focus on supplication

And make no mistake God wants to hear them

But supplication is strategically put last because we do have a tendency to focus on supplication and give very little attention to adoration, confession, and thanksgiving

And it is ok if you sit in supplication for awhile, again, God wants you to bring your needs before him

And so before you pray you can think of these four elements and try to incorporate them into your prayer

So we talked about prayer being private, simple, and now we will conclude with prayer being confident

Confident

We can be confident in our prayer because our God already knows what we need

We can be confident in our prayer because our God doesnt just hear us, he sees us

And when we have a pure heart, and might ask for something that may not be right or appropriate

Scripture tells us in Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

Even in the possible failings of our prayer, our God intercedes for us

And I am going to take this a step further - you need to only bring your supplication one time before the Lord

You request it once, and you can have confidence in your prayer that God has heard and seen you

And God doesn’t forget your request the next day nor does you asking for it a second time persuade God

But it is your faith - the confidence and faith you have in God that he hears you - and you can be confident that you do not have to bring it up again

Now, at the same time, it is not wrong - when you have a stirring or a desire deep within your heart,

To keep praying the same supplication - to keep making your request known to God

Not out of an effort to persuade him, not because you really really really want him to hear you

But because in our humaness, in our humility, we humble ourselves before God and because we are confident in him - because we know that he sees us - we acknowledge you got this Lord

Lord, here I am again praying for my child - I know you see them - I know you are guiding them - Please continue to reveal yourself to them - please continue to keep them safe

Lord, here I am again praying for my aches and pains - I know I’m human and I dont understand why this continues - But I am confident in who you are Lord and I know you can take it away or direct my path to someone with wisdom as to how it can be alleviated

Our confidence and the confidence of our prayers are in the Lord and in his faithfulness

So no matter where you are at in your prayer, no matter what your struggle may be in prayer

Know that there is grace for you in your prayer life, and that grace is made possible for you by Jesus

It is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that our sins can be forgiven because of our faith in him

It is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we are made righteouss, made children of God, and can call out to him

And it is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we need not to worry about perfect prayer

But that we do pray - that we pray in private - that we pray with simplicity - and that we pray confidently

Let us pray now

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