The Lord’s Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

a. Praying to the Father (5:9-13)

2. INTRODUCTION

a. I love Father’s Day and I am so thankful to the Lord that He has allowed me to be a Father. Father’s don’t receive enough credit for what they do, and I believe it’s because the society has painted a picture that inaccurately helps us to see our own fathers. In the long run, it ultimately hurts our view of God and our view of prayer.

b. The Lord’s prayer are a multitude of petitions in which Jesus teaches us how we are to pray. The purpose of this prayer is to help us understand that we are in need of God’s grace upon us. It is a petition in which we are trusting in God. The Lord’s Prayer primarily teaches us that we are always to be trusting in God.

3. BODY

a. Praying to the Father (5:9-15)

i. There is much we can say about the Lord’s Prayer. But I would like to highlight one aspect of the Lord’s Prayer. My focus in today’s message is highlighted simply, Praying to the Father.

ii. The greatest truth in all of Scripture, particularly here is understanding this simple principle. When we pray, we are praying to God, but specifically the Father.

iii. But what are we doing when we pray? Verse 8 gives us the context. Verse 8 tells us that the Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Therefore, when we enter prayer, we are praying trusting in God. We are going in knowing that He is a good Father.

iv. The most foundational thing in God is not some abstract quality, but the fact that He is Father. All throughout the Old Testament the Scriptures equate the terms God and Father. In Exodus the Lord calls Israel my firstborn son (Exodus 4:22); He carries His people as a father carries His son (Deut 1:31) disciplines them as a man disciplines his son (Deut 8:5) and He has compassion on those who fear Him as children fear their father (Psalm 103:13).

v. Then in the New Testament we see Jesus enter the scene and Jesus also expresses the same statements. Jesus repeatedly refers to God as the Father and directs His prayer to our Father and tells His disciples He will return to my Father and your Father and God and your God (John 20:17).

vi. The epistles constantly refer to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and even in the book of Hebrews, in Chapter 12, it talks about a Father disciplining His son (Hebrews 12:7). So when we think about prayer, we should always be thinking of praying to the Father. This is after all how the Scriptures presents God primarily before creator or ruler, but as a beautiful father.

vii. When we speak of God as creator God or the King, these titles are important because they emphasize His job but how is He creator God or a king? He operates those functions as a father. He creates as a Father and rules as a Father.

viii. John Calvin writes “We ought in the very order of things diligently to contemplate God’s fatherly love… a forseeing and diligent father of the family. He shows His wonderful goodness towards us… To conclude once for all, whenever we call God the creator of heaven and earth, let us at the same time bear in mind that we are indeed His children whom He has received into His faithful protection to nourish and educate… So invited by the great sweetness of His beneficence and goodness, let us study to love and serve Him with all our heart.”- Calvin Institutes 1.14.2, 22.

ix. Now why is this point important? It’s important because it helps us understand how we are to trust Him. Why is it significant that we understand Him as Father over all over titles? Let me present an illustration.

x. If God is merely creator or ruler, we can be thankful to who God is. If God was simply creator, we can and are thankful for the creation He has given us. We are grateful for all that He provides us for our sustenance. If God is king, we are thankful for His leadership and His ruling over us because He provides us a safe place to live within His kingdom. In both instances, we are thankful. But what happens is, it doesn’t cause us to love Him. There is a fundamental difference to being thankful to someone, and loving someone.

xi. I want us to understand this clearly. The church is not a place where we should stop at being thankful to the people who are here. We can be thankful because they support us and help us and everything else you want to add to the equation. But that does not mean we need to love them.

xii. The only time we will love others is if they are family. What do I mean by this? Well, let me help you to understand within familial terms. If you have a sibling, a brother or sister, and they do something wrong to you, I am almost certain that you will forgive them more likely than other people. No matter how much our parents hurt us or our family hurts us, we are willing to forgive our parents because we know what? We know that they are family and they love us. You see, the familial relationship is what determines our love for them. It’s not just that our family does things for us. It’s so much more.

xiii. This is why we have a tendency to forgive our family over friends and even our church. Why? Because we believe that our friends and our church are not family. Why? Because we have stopped at being thankful to our friends and church. You see, it has not moved to love because we don’t see them as family.

xiv. This is the same concept we need to understand when we pray. When we pray, what Jesus is teaching us is to pray to the Father. Jesus is teaching us that God is His father and He is our father. When we look at Him as a Father, we will love Him. It will cause us to love Him. Why? Because we trust Him. We trust that He is truly looking for our best interest.

xv. And as Jesus focuses on this concept of our Father, He is the Father who is in Heaven. He is the Father who’s kingdom is coming and His will is done. He is the ruler of the universe, and He will accomplish what He chooses to accomplish.

xvi. But the prayer changes in verse 11. Jesus teaches us, to pray and ask God the Father for our needs. Why does He do this? Because He is our father. The Father is the lover and the Son is the one who is loved by the Father. This is why Jesus tells us to ask the Father about our needs. Ask Him to give you your daily bread. Ask Him that He would provide for you as a father who sacrifices for His son.

xvii. But don’t stop there. Ask God for forgiveness of our sins daily. Why? Because we sin daily. We need daily forgiveness of the sins we commit. In the same way, as we ask for forgiveness, we need to learn how to forgive daily. We can’t just ask for forgiveness daily without practicing that. So Jesus tells us, don’t just ask for forgiveness, but also go and forgive others the way in which you are asking God forgiveness.

xviii. Verse 13 is difficult because it seems odd that we are to ask the Lord to not lead us into temptation. How could this be compatible with God’s goodness? If God is good, why would lead us into temptation? Well we know from James 1:13 that God does not tempt. So if God does not tempt, what is Jesus teaching us to ask God to do? I believe it is the same in the usage in James as here. When dealing with temptation in James, it’s speaking of temptation to do wrong or to sin. Then this makes sense because it’s followed by deliver us from evil.

xix. In the same idea, what Jesus is telling us is that we will be tempted and tested. This is not to say that Jesus is asking for us to avoid all conflict and trials, but rather deliverance from evil. Deliverance from evil speaks about apostasy in which we could lose our trust in God.

xx. But again, all of this in prayer would not make sense if it was not a prayer to a personal Father. We must understand that all of these petitions to God are to a Father who loves us and cares for our good. We are not praying to a God who is withholding from us and wants to keep what is best for Himself. No, He is like our human fathers who sacrifice for us and are always wanting to give us the best.

4. CONCLUSION