When You Pray Pt. 2

Introduction

Have you ever notices something in the study of history that did not get the credit it deserved for a really long time?

After the enlightenment, the Bible was being picked a part and critically analyzed as being a fabricated document. One of the things that was constantly that was being picked apart in the early 1800’s was the idea of the “Hittite empire.” No evidence for such an empire existed—especially to the scale that was mentioned in the biblical text.

Nevertheless, in 1834, Hittite ruins were discovered. These were later confirmed to be Hittite by Egyptian documentation in the 1880’s. Think about that for a moment. The glory of an entire civilization in which thousands of people lived. An entire culture with all of its ups and downs. Gone. Vanished. And people had the gall, motivated by their disdain for Scripture, to say that it did not exist.

An entire civilization gone, and then the claim that it never even existed. It was forgotten, nearly completely. It’s a depressing thing, but also a reality. Ecclesiastes 1:4 “A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” Ecclesiastes 1:5 “The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.”

Certain individuals in the 20th century tried to ensure that same thing would happen to God. That memory of God would be erased from our minds. Nietzsche who is the father of Nihilism famously said, “God is dead, and we have killed him.” He said this because he believed we have no need for him in our philosophy or thought, or how we live our daily lives.

In 2008 and 2009, we saw the height of the New Atheist movement. They ran a bus ad campaign in London that read, “God probably doesn’t exist, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Andy Bannister in his book The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist critiques this very ad campaign. He wonders how the nonexistence of any entity could allow you to enjoy your life.

He says to imagine a scenario where a man who lost his job, lost his wife, lost his apartment, is not wandering the streets of London to find some hope. This penniless, loveless, and homeless man looks up to see this bus ad, “unicorns probably don’t exist, now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

This ad, whether about God or unicorns would not ad any enjoyment to this person’s miserable life. And though it accomplished nothing in the realm of convincing, it does accomplishing something in the way that God himself is perceived and known by people.

Most people have placed the existence of God on the back burner. They know smart people who believe in God, smart people who do not, and smart people who are unsure. Why put in the effort yourself to know whether God exists?

And yet this is how Jesus begins his model prayer. A prayer that at the forefront, God’s name might be honored among the nations.

God First

The model prayer is God-centered.

Matt. 6:9 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Note at the beginning of v. 9 that it says, pray “like this.” Jesus did not command “Pray this,” As if it is a script that should be memorized. I do not have issue with people who recite the Lord’s prayer, or recite any prayers. I believe it to be a fine thing to recite the Lord’s prayer together in worship. The problem would come in if the only praying one does is reciting from the mind without fervency of heart.

Hannah in 1 Samuel would be an example of praying with fervency of heart. She desired a son. When she went to the place of worship, she was praying so fervently that Eli believed she was drunk. Prayer can be done through reciting, yes; however, a prayer from the mind without the heart is no prayer at all.

Jesus prayed this prayer from the heart, as we will see.

Jesus addresses his prayer to “Our Father in heaven.” We talked about last week the balance of “reverence” and “boldness” in our prayers and how “Father” is a perfect balance of those things.

Jesus then prays, “Hallowed be your name.” And maybe more lengthy, “May your name be seen as holy.” This is the prayer of Psalm 113:1–2 “Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore!” Psalm 113:3 “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!”

His prayer is that people around the world, all of creation itself would revere God’s name.

We know the universe God created works to this end. Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” And yet certain people can work against it.

When I was in middle school, I was on a social media site that no longer exists (called Xanga). I would regularly go to one particular page in order to debate Atheists. Their profile picture was an image of the twin towers with the caption, “Imagine, no religion.”

And yet, I couldn’t imagine that those towers would even be there without religiously motivated pilgrims who traversed the seas to avoid further religious persecution.

Nevertheless, the prayer is, “May God’s name be revealed as holy.” To hallow God’s name is not just his name, but his entire reputation is at stake. Who God is. The question for us, do we live lives that center on furthering the revering of God’s name?

The idea is not that we would just list God’s name among a list of great people who existed. We’re not saying that God would be in the top 10. We are saying that God’s name is so revered it is in a different category.

Then Jesus prays, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Praying for the kingdom to come is a prayer that asks for God to bring an end to all of history. It’s a culmination of our own longings and desire to see God, to be called sons and daughters of God.

Asking that God’s will be done is very similar to this. Notice how God’s will works in the heavens. He commands and angel, and the angel does what is commanded. He hangs a star in its place and commands to to stay and it does so. He tells the seas “come this far and no further” and it obeys.

Then he looks at us and commands us to pray and we say, “No!”

Not only does Jesus’s prayer yearn for the conclusion of history, final justice, for all wrongs to be made right, for us to be done with sin and in the presence of God; these same words that have future yearnings have present implications. May God’s name be revered across the world now. When I pray this and truly yearn for this, I’m under obligations now: I must spread the good news; I must live in such a way that God’s name is revered.

I think it’s also important that the prayer is God-focused first. I think our entire lives should be God-focused first.

So what if our check book is balanced; if we are entertained and feel good about ourselves; if we are healthy and have nothing wrong; if we have our daily basic needs of food, water, and shelter met. If God’s name is not hallowed, all of it means nothing!

Is what is forefront in Christ’s prayer forefront in our prayers? Is it forefront in our lives? Are we passionate about the glory of God’s name?

Jesus was passionate about it at great cost to himself. When he was wrestling with his coming death, Jesus said, “John 12:27–28 ““Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.””

This is the prayer that Jesus prays when he wrestles in the garden of Gethsemane. Matthew 26:38–39 “Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

Jesus’s prayers were filled with exalted God’s name, spreading God’s glory. Submitting to his will, even at the point of sacrifice. Is that what consumes our prayers? Is that what fuels our souls? Are we motivated to get on our knees to make God’s name great?

Needs Next

The model prayer narrows down our needs.

Matthew 6:11–13 ESV

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Every culture throughout history has perceived list of needs and wants. When one of my kids was in kindergarten, he had an assignment that was trying to help them distinguish the difference between wants and needs. It had a thing where you would cut out various things like video games, water, friends, etc. and place it under the category of either wants or needs.

Of course, marketing strategies also want us to place certain things from our wants lists into our needs lists. And other things in culture, like pop psychology has tried to tell us we need to place certain things from our wants list into our needs list.

The Lord’s prayer is succinct and to the point. This is not saying that these needs for which Jesus prays are therefore the only needs. However, it could be argued these are the needs here which are most essential in Christian living.

First, Jesus asks for “our daily bread” This is similar to the wilderness journey in which the people of Israel are dependent upon God for their daily food. Every day they would come to God.

The prayer purposefully asks for the most basic needs to be met so as to avoid losing one’s sens of dependence upon God.

The problem would come in when we start expecting God to take care of the “big things” but I’ll take care of the food on my table. We, however, are not just dependent upon God for the big things, but even our basic daily necessities. And when God has provided those basic things, we should be content. 1 Timothy 6:6–8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

The next part of the prayer focuses us on our needs as well: forgiveness. Just as food, daily food, is a basic need for which we depend on God, so is forgiveness of our debts.

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”

Truly, our shortcoming of the law, only God can forgive. We are utterly and ultimately dependent upon him. This was only accomplished through the sacrifice of his Son who took the punishment in our place.

This dependence we have on God’s forgiveness, should in turn motivate us to forgive others. Prayer is a transformative experience. When we orient ourselves Godward, we have to think in different ways, yearn in heavenly ways, and that spills over into the rest of our life.

The similar request is made in the following line Matthew 6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Just as we are dependent upon God for our physical survival, we are also dependent upon God for our spiritual survival.

I have a book in my office, that is a very good book by a very good author. The book is called A Dangerous Calling. It’s written by Paul Tripp. The edition that I have in my office, every one of the pastors who recommend the book have fallen from ministry. Some had fallen into sexual sin, one hired a hit man to kill a family member, some fell into doctrinal error.

Temptation is ever and always out there. But we are never to approach it with a brash, “I can handle this” attitude. We see this is exactly what the disciples did in Jesus’s time of dire need.

Just before Jesus goes to the garden to pray in his final hour, the disciples, especially Peter, vow to give their life for him. But when Jesus, emotional as he must be, is praying his heart out that he will do God’s will no matter what, his disciples are sleeping. They do not have the fortitude to pray not to be lead into temptation. Confidence in self rather than dependence upon God will always lead to downfall in temptation. And thus we pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”

The second half of the prayer is an expression of dependence upon God. Dependence upon God for our physical needs and our spiritual needs, and especially our standing before God.

Jesus concludes with teaching on forgiveness. He says this in the negative and positive. Matthew 6:14–15 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Forgiveness, true forgiveness, is at the heart fo dependence on God.

Joseph narrative with his brothers.