The Lord's Prayer

Introduction

SotM

Kingdom Manifesto

Religious Devotion

Giving, Prayer, Fasting

Last Week:

How not to pray

To be seen by others

Long and complex prayers

Pray in secret

Pray simply

Today:

How To Pray

This is how a citizen of the kingdom prays

This is how a member of God’s family prays

The Lord’s Prayer

Center of the Sermon

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 6:5–15 (CSB)

“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

“Therefore, you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

your name be honored as holy.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not bring us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.

Lord’s Prayer Overview:

6 Petitions

3 pertaining to God

Orienting ourselves to him

3 pertaining to Us

Asking for the things we need to live out God’s will

Addressing God

This prayer, and all prayer should acknowledge the fact that we are actually speaking to someone

We aren’t just in our heads

We aren’t speaking words to an empty room

Not only are we speaking to someone but Jesus teaches us how we are to relate to God

What we think of someone changes how we speak to them

Ex. Someone your friends don’t like

Ex. You’re in trouble with your parents

How do we view God?

Genie

Angry and tired

Not concerned

“Unconditional love” that is okay with our sins

Jesus teaches us to relate and speak to God as our Father

EXPOUND: Father

Tension: Our Father in heaven

Personal and Powerful

This is the foundational ground for the rest of the prayer

We rest in the character of God (the care and authority/power)

Our Father in Heaven

Matthew 6:9 (CSB)

Your name be honored as holy.

Define: Holy

We live in a world where God’s name is not honored as holy

Matthew 6:10 (CSB)

Your kingdom come.

We live in a world of conflicting kingdoms

Historical/National

Personal Kingdoms

What does Jesus’s Kingdom look like?

What did his ministry on earth look like?

Healing

Reconciliation

Forgiveness

Love

Mercy

This is the kingdom we are inviting to come

Matthew 6:10 (CSB)

Your will be done

God has gifted humans with free will

We live in a world where this free will is abused and we face the consequences

This is a very personal prayer

We can only control our own will, not the person sitting next to us

This is a general prayer for God’s will to be accomplished but it is also a prayer of surrender

May your will be done in me

May I desire what you desire

Matthew 6:10 (CSB)

on earth as it is in heaven.

Now we reach the transition between focusing on God’s mission no to focusing on our needs

On earth as it is in heaven

We are a part of bringing heaven to earth

This has been the whole SotM

We are citizens in the kingdom of heaven that live in this fallen world

Honoring God’s name on earth

Being a part of his coming kingdom on earth

Accomplishing God’s will on earth

The next three petitions are all for our needs in order to accomplish this mission

God’s Provision

God’s Pardon

God’s Protection

Our Needs:

Provision

Matthew 6:11 (CSB)

Give us today our daily bread.

Bread

Discerning between NEEDS and WANTS

Praying for NEEDS and WANTS

God will always give us what we need

What we want isn’t always good for us

God as our father - Example

He promises provision

Physical

Spiritual

Emotional

Daily Bread

God will provide but how will he provide?

We would like it all at once, but he does it day-by-day

Like the manna in Exodus

This cultivates gratitude and dependence

Pardon

Matthew 6:12 (CSB)

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Not only do we have needs but we deal with hurt each day

Broken relationships are evident

We all hurt people (whether we intend to or not)

We are all hurt by people

Endless cycle: Hurt people hurt people

God comes and breaks this cycle

God absorbs the hurt and responds in love

Now we, as followers of Jesus, do the same thing

Matthew 18 Parable

This prayer reminds us of one of our daily needs

To forgive and be forgiven

We often forget but this prayer reminds us of this truth

Protection

Matthew 6:13 (CSB)

And do not bring us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

This is the most confusing petition

What does this mean?

A glaring question:

Is God in the habit of leading us into temptation?

Clarity:

Into Temptation

We have to make 2 things clear:

1. Does God tempt us to do evil?

No

James 1:13–14 (CSB)

No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.

2. Is being tempted by something sinful?

No

Hebrews 4:15 (CSB)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Being tempted is not a sin, but entering into temptation is acting out of that temptation and sinning

Martin Luther said:

“You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair”

So when we pray: “Do not bring us into temptation” we mean:

God, strengthen me to not fall into sin when temptations come

Jesus teaches us to pray against not just sin but temptation

We are being taught to be proactive in our fight and struggle with sin, not reactive

You know your weaknesses!

Jesus teaches us to acknowledge our weaknesses and the dangers around us

When we pray to not enter into temptation we are displaying humility

We are acknowledging that we are weak and in need of God’s strength

We are acknowledging that the world isn’t a playground but a battleground

“God we need your protection”

Just like praying for our daily bread, it draws us into a deep daily dependence on God

But Deliver Us

Battling sin and temptation is not easy

We all fail, everyday, myself included

This isn’t something we need to beat ourselves up over

But we must bring both our successes and failures to Jesus

Our failure and sin doesn’t surprise God

The results of our testing are for us and others to see what is inside

So when we say “And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

I like to think of it as:

“Do not bring us into temptation (proactive and humble) BUT IF I DO ENTER INTO TEMPTATION, deliver me from the evil one

We are saying, even if I do fall, please deliver (or rescue me) from the evil one

Rescue!

Have any of you ever been rescued?

Story of Chad

When we fall into temptation and sin we are in deep need of rescue!

We find ourselves attacked from different angles either:

1. Justifying our sins and explain it away

2. Beat ourselves us in condemnation and doubt God’s love towards us

And again this is proactive:

“Jesus, I know I am going to fail at some point today.”

“When I do, please rescue me from the evil one”

With all of the petitions done I want to talk about some very practical uses of this prayer

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus gives them this prayer when they ask him to teach them how to pray

A Model for Prayer

Daily Rhythm - Re-centering in Hard Seasons

Intercession (OUR)

Individual - Pray for someone

Community

Battling Sin

Temptation

Repentance

Asking

Wisdom

Desires

Anxiety

This way of praying will change us

Action-habit-character

What we do changes us

I can explain it to you

I can’t understand it for you

This prayer is a gift from Jesus

A mine full of gems

I am inviting you to explore and see for yourself