Manner of Prayer

Manner of Prayer Matthew 6:5-14

I’ve entitled chapter 6, Mind Your Manner, because Jesus instructs them to In this manner, therefore …in verse 9 and gives us the manner of how we live out this practical righteousness. We saw the Manner of Charity 1-4, today Prayer 5-15, Fasting 16-18, Money 19-24, Worry 25-34.

Manner of Prayer 6:5-14 ;

How Not-To Pray 5-8, How to Pray 9-13, How to Forgive 14-15

Prayer is how we interact with God. We supplicate, which is to repent, to worship, to make requests for ourselves Psalm 6:4 “ Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!”. We Intercede, coming to the Father on behalf of others. Ephesians 6:18 “ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” Its the primary battle of the Christians spiritual life and one we all moan about because we are so often bad at it. But where there is prayer, there is power.

It is said that the backbone of Charles Spurgeon’s magnificent ministry was the concern of an invalid in his church who made it her business to solicit prayers for her pastor and church.

Prayer allowed this woman to be the engine for the their fellowship. We should desire this.

Now there is a lot of text to cover so we’ll hit it as we go through instead of reading ahead.

How Not-To Pray 5-8

Matthew 6:5–7 “ “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. (pretenders) For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

v5, The descriptions he gives is often how the pharisees would pray. They would often have criers and trumpeters go before them to announce their prayer parade in case you wanted to hear the prayer of the famous SkittlePants. They are just actors putting on faces, pretending to be “holy”.

People do that today. We have concerts, conferences, etc. where the heroes or star pastors teach you how to fight demons or pray the dead up, be healthy, healed and of course, rich, etc.

Though there are people I know that truly seem to be blessed with prayer at the time, there are also those who just know how to sound more gooder-er and convince people they have power that they don't.

Jesus says, they get the rewards they got. Jesus is not pleased. God is not impressed. Your lasers, 10s of thousands of followers (who would follow U2 the same way) money, planes and copters mean nothing to Him. So in contrast he says

v6 To Jesus, the most Godly way (not the only way) to pray, is in a closet where only God hears.

having a prayer closet is great, but not necessary for any of us. The disciples prayed with and for others in public, Jesus prayed with other and in public at times.

The contrast is that they not be prideful, ostentatious about it. Many instead of praying to God, start preaching to those they are supposed to be praying with. We sometimes do this. Many don’t like going to prayer meetings because of this. Prayer is not your chance to impress everyone with your speaking skills putting on a show. Jesus locks it in

v7 He don't pray the same thing over and over. Don’t memorize chants and mantras to repeat. Now learning the prayer in the next section is good. And I love praying it with people.

as we said, in 9 he says manner - the prayer is a template or outline of how we can pray. But even the disciples and jesus don’t always hit every point. Praying the “anything” 9— times doesn't give credit to you = and Jesus seems to indicate that he doesn't hear them when they do it like the world. 1 Kings 18:26 “ So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.” That didnt please God.

Matthew 6:8 “ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Its hard not to emulate the popular folks, the Holy Ones, we think often its the method or the how, that we need to get Gods attention like a toddler that wants their truck back. The father knows your need and you know how parents feel about that :).

How to Pray 9-13

Matthew 6:9–13 “ In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father (pater) in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Essentially He tells them, pray like this. He says how to pray, not what to pray.

Your father. He is far above you but not far from you. Father is intimate, caring protector. You are not praying to a slave or someone you command. Your God is holy, literally in heaven.

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

We recognize the sovereignty of God, knowing He has all authority no matter where He is.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

You should pray every day for your needs because we have needs every day. At least I do. I need healing, love, help, finances, etc.

with our grocery stores, our houses, here in the states we have almost forgotten what is means to have daily bread. Where we wondered where the next meal, bit is coming from.

Here Jesus tells us, he cares about you every day! Later, Jesus will say, Matthew 10:30–31 “ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

The debt here is a moral debt. Luke 11:1–4 in v4 he will say, And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted or sinned against us. - 14 and 15 we’ll talk about that more consistent, constant forgiveness.

When I realize I have been forgiven, I have so much more power to forgive. Forgiveness is such a powerful thing, in our lives in Christ and from us to others. Forgiveness between us and God frees us, forgiveness toward others, empowers us to share the Gospel with them. They experience that freedom between you when they ask for forgiveness.

Matthew 18:21–22 “ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

We are all tempted are we not? The NLT says don’t let us yield to temptation, which we all have almost a constant temptation from the world and our own flesh. here he says we should ask for the evil one to fail. 2 Peter 2:9 “ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment”

Why don’t we ask more? Deliver us Lord. 2 Timothy 4:17 “ But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” He is our deliverer

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Do we believe this? Do I trust and rely on this? Is this a belief of mine? Revelation 11:15 “ Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!””

I shout he shall reign forever! And Ever! Is it my kingdom? No. its His. My power? My glory? No, forever it is His.

How to Forgive 14-15

Its strange to me how he adds this on to the end of the prayer.

Matthew 6:14–15 “ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

These two verses are missing from some texts, but that doesn't mean it should be dismissed. its a hard set of verses. Now a cursory reading impresses that if you don’t forgive, you wont be forgiven. That seems to be the plain reading of it we’re done.

now, does this mean you won’t go to heaven? Some do teach this. And the text somewhat supports it. Having experienced Gods forgiveness, how can you for one moment, not forgive? How can we experience this and not take that next step in knowing that God has forgiven those who have offended us from the cross.

But is this what the text is saying? Turn to Matthew 18 with me. We don’t have time to go through the whole

now look, we saw Matthew 18:21–22 “ forgiving up to seventy times seven.” This was after the forgiveness of the prayers mentioned in 6.

Jesus then gives the parable of talents (money) and the servants who would not forgive after having been forgiven. Then the one who held others accountable even throwing in prison after being forgiven, was held to greater account - Matthew 18:32–35 “ Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”” This is about an unforgiving, heart.

having experienced such majestic and total forgiveness, there is no way I would deny it to anyone else. How much of your sin debt was forgiven? All. We need to strive to live in the same.

Pastor I’m having trouble doing that. This person hurt so many or hurt so badly. They are wicked, etc. Weren't we all? Forgiveness from the heart doesn't mean let them back into your life, let them hurt you some more, etc. It means getting your heart right with your Lord.

I think this is about fellowship, that we can be at peace - to have experienced perfect relief and forgiveness - we can show that to others by not hating and holding onto bitterness. Trust in your redeemed heart.

But listen, to save ones self, you MUST exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. Praying perfectly, forgiving perfectly, if we judge ourselves by a standard, thats it. I am responsible for my behavior but I also make mistakes. I need a savior. We need a savior.

I am saying obey this teaching. We must get this - Jesus saves. Period - we are saved not by our perfect or imperfect obedience, but by a perfect savior. Lets pray.