The Lord’s Prayer
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
SHELBY READS THE SCRIPTURE
Today we will be studying the Lord’s Prayer —- this is how Jesus teaches us to pray —-
a pastor once told me —-if you want to have plenty of seats available at a church gathering — just have a prayer gathering
note that the backdrop of this teaching here in chapter 6 is the opening teaching of Jesus in the Beatitudes —- in which we discovered that a good test of our neediness for Jesus is our prayer life —— the only reason I would not pray to the creator of heavens and earth is because I feel as if I can accomplish the task on my own
heres is the truth: we can accomplish nothing within the kingdom of God outside of Gods movement — and The Lord graciously gives us access to him —- He does this through the vehicle of prayer
Let us not forget: in many years within church history it was taught that you must go directly to someone else —- so they could take your requests to God —- no, no, no —- Our Father in Heaven has given us the right to directly approach Him with all things
have you ever played the game telephone? where the end result is often something completely different that the original phrase? it is not this way with our heavenly Father
what about communicating to a boss but your information was sent through a middleperson? and they didn’t communicate what you intended on communicating? it is not this with our father in prayer
this is good news friends!
As we enter into todays portion of the Sermon on the mount we are entering the very center of His teaching —- the Sermon on the Mount is broken up into 3 sections:
Kingdom Introduction: 5:3-16
A Greater Righteousness 5:17-7:12
The Choice and Conclusion 7:13-27
the second section is the main body of the sermon and as it was custom in many Hebraic and Greek literature for one to put the most important content in the middle.
and todays passage is the center of the middle section —— Meaning that the actual epicenter of Jesus most famous sermon is todays text: The Lord’s Prayer
I don’t know about you but I grew up praying this prayer merely as a ritual, most notably my high school football team would pray this prayer before each game and 90% of the team would not identify as a Christian.
if we aren’t careful, we can lose sight of Jesus teaching us to pray and this can become just a simple repetition
there are literally hundreds of commands in the scripture to pray —— why?
why would I pray if God already has the outcome figured out? I don’t know about you but this is a question i’ve asked in the past —-
well, Christian theology and doctrine has an answer for us and its rooted in Jesus’ Teaching!
the question I posed earlier is similar to this one —- why would I need faith if God already knows the corridor of History —- meaning He already knows who will believe in Him and who will not for he is Sovereign and outside of time and space —- except we don’t struggle to answer that question as much —- the BIble says “repent and believe and you will be saved” — Jesus says greater is it to those who believe in Him without needing to see Him —- this is faith — believing in something we did not see —- therefore the Function of Gods saving power is done through the means of faith. —- God does the saving, and yet we have to believe
so what does the Bible say about prayer? is prayer simply telling God things? is prayer wishful thinking? is it paying homage to God so He is nicer to us?
James 5 says the fervent prayer of a righteous person produces much
Jesus says “whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so the Father may be glorified in the son”
Prayer is a means or a function — in which He accomplishes His ends! the function of Gods sovereign movement within the world, in part is done through the function of prayer
all of the sudden prayer takes on a whole new meaning when when God so kindly gave us the gift of prayer as a function of His movement —- Prayer is the backbone of the Church
I don’t tell you this as a normative standard —- but my friends and I were once praying for someone to commit their lives to Jesus —- through some way, not audible, the Lord told me to send one of our friends home —- through much grumbling and embarrassment we told our friend to go home —- He, in much confusion as well, drives home —- and as he pulled into his driveway the guy we were praying for to commit to Jesus was standing outside.
once again —- it would be wrong of me to expect that from God as if I am making the calls — however, God heard the prayers of His people and God made a way for the gospel to be shared that night!
Prayer is the function of Gods sovereign movement in us and through our world —- it is that only because God chose for it to be one of the vehicles for His movement
is this to say that we hold the power of Gods movement? no in fact it means the opposite — we are fully dependent on God to move for we can do nothing in the kingdom of God if not for Gods movement —- so, then, in prayer the goal is to deepen our dependency on the Lord —- and if dependency is the goal, than weakness is our advantage
with this posture in prayer —- we go to the Lord who is eager to hear His peoples prayers and we ask Him to move, and depend on Him for the results.
this is not a judgment question —- but this hit me like a ton of bricks one day — a pastor once asked me — if all the of the things you prayed about this week all of the sudden come true how much would it impact the world for the kingdom of God?
Matthew 6:5-13
English Standard Version (Chapter 6)
The Lord’s Prayer
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.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
We are to pray with God alone in mind
Matthew 5:5-8
The Lord’s Prayer
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.
when prayer is offered with earnest feeling, the tongue does not go before the heart
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 6:5–8)
whether a someone prays alone, or in the presence of others, they ought to have the same feelings, as if they were shut up in their closet, and had no other witness but God.”
John Calvin
Jesus, here, is teaching us what prayer is by giving us what prayer is not —- it is not a show, it is not for an audience to revel at your 5-star words, and it is not to impress God
I want to focus on both sections endings here —- “your Father who sees you in secret will reward you” and “your father knows what you need before you ask him”
first of all — how beautiful is it that the creator of the heavens and the earth knows your hearts desire? and wants to reward His children? sometimes when we talk about Gods intimacy with His people that feels a little far fetched for me —— but, Jesus here is telling us that the Father, in His omnipresence, is with you and he knows the depth of your being
and yet, He still wants to hear from His children!
What begins prayer is a felt awareness that God is your Father — the more you will have a desire to pray
In public prayer I find two things that are consistent —- some are too afraid to mess up or sound bad to pray out loud // some like to preach-pray and use the big words and derive attention
but, hear me say this — there is only one bad type of prayer and its if we pray with ourselves at the center of the prayer —- there is no such thing as a bad prayer that is centered on God and dependent on His movement
2. Prayer is Communion with the Father for all of life
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.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
there are five things Jesus teaches us to pray about in the Lords Prayer:
That Gods name will be honored
That Gods Kingdom will come
That God will provide what we need
that He will forgive our sins
That God will deliver us from temptation
all we could ever ask or desire or need — falls under one of these petitions
each title here act like a hook to hang your prayers upon:
Gods name / Gods Kingdom / Gods provision / Gods forgiveness / Gods deliverance
meaning that the way Jesus teaches us to prayer is a template for praying through all of life.
the beauty of the Lords prayer is that it is not just a guideline for prayer, and it isn’t even meant to be exclusively repeated word for word —- rather Jesus is using this teaching to stir our hearts around the things he teaches us to pray!
so, with the knowledge that I know God gifted us prayer as a function of His movement —- prayer also acts as a function of stirring our heart up towards the things of God —- that in the act of praying my heart becomes more drawn to Gods design for His people —- that His kingdom would come, that His will not our will would be done, that He would provide for us because He wis the provider, and so on.
our hearts are guided by what Jesus tells us to pray
lets look at each category of the Lord’s prayer to best understand how we may apply this and live this
That Gods name will be honored
v. 9
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
our father in heaven — Jesus begins His prayer with the word OUR —- this is to signify our communal nature as brothers and sisters in Christ coming to the father, even though it often is said by an individual
Hallowed be your name —- honored be your name in and through all
think about these this reality — honored be your name —- one day this will be the only reality for all who lived — past, present, and future when our Lord Jesus returns and all see him and revere Him wether or not they placed there trust in Him or if they did not —- some revering Him for His Faithfulness and His love to them — some stunned and shocked at the reality of their permanent seperation from Him
so, one day this will be fully fulfilled, but what about today?
Isaiah 52 gives a beautiful picture of how this is to be: on the one hand many despise the name of God which is the antithesis of hallowed or honored
Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
Gods answer to a world that despise his name is a people that know His name
Father, raise up a people who know you, love you, and honor your name —- and let others find you and honor your name!
now here is the challenge…. Paul also references this same passage of Isaiah 52 in Romans 2:24
For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
here is the challenge… we have all seen the damage and the reputation to the name of God when someone who bears His name does not live for the glory of Him and acts in a way that is obviously inconsistant with his name.
2. That Gods Kingdom will come
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
i think there are two great places to begin when thinking about the kingdom of God —
1st - Genesis 1 & 2 where humanity lived in perfect relationship to God — not a question of who they are or whose they are — for that was natural — they were made in Gods image, living in Gods created world, and made to glorify God
2nd - in the book of John where Jesus says “unless one is born again they cannot see the kingdom of God”
the kingdom of God is where God rules, in our sin-stricken world the kingdom of God is seen by those who enthrone Jesus as Lord of their lives —- for then you begin to see the kingdom, and you are in it, and it is in you!
When we pray your kingdom come, we are praying that our lives would be more fully submitted to christ, the King
here is the challenge:
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
so, when we pray this — your kingdom come — one day it will come in fullness when the king full inhabits the world once more —— but this future 2nd coming will not only come as glory and joy to the believer, but it will also come as a judgment to those who do not know the lord Jesus as their savior
so—- this prayer ought to ignite in us an evangelistic urgency —- a go and tell the world mentality within us —- not that we do the saving…. no but that the Lord has called and us and commanded us to go and tell
3. That God will provide what we need
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
this is the lords provision in our life —- the needs he knows we have that He provides for us
from food, to relationships, to community, to salvation, and every where in between our Lord sustains every piece of us down to each and every cell within us
Heres the challenge:
it is so easy for us to think that we can provide for ourselves
4. that He will forgive our sins
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
The beauty of our savior is that He came to save us from the very thing that was going to kill us….. sin
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
it is by His grace that we are saved and our debt was erased ——- now let us go on forgiving others foe their debts against us
heres the challenge:
we tend to be ok with God forgiving us….. but we play God towards others and lord over them with what they have done to you instead of forgiving them
5. That God will deliver us from temptation
Here is the truth —- Jesus ends this prayer with asking the provider, our father, to protect us from the very thing that can lead us away from everything we just talked about… temptation can make us get so short sided that we would risk all of that in Christ for what we want right now, in sin.
The Lords Prayer
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.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
Spirit led, Scripture fed prayer:
1. Father, help me honor your name in __________
2. Father, give me an urgency to tell _________ about you!
3. Father, remind me that you are the provider in ___________
4. Father, we praise you that you forgive us! help me remember that in my _________
—————
pray for temptations
