How to Pray (Part 2)

Making personal requests to God

Intro:

Many call this the Lord’s Prayer. However, just as one of my favorite teachers in collage pointed out, when we look at the prayer and it’s context we can clearly see that it would have been impossible for the Lord, Jesus, to pray it. In verse twelve, specifically, Jesus says to ask God to forgive us for sin. But Jesus is the sinless Lamb of God. If the Lord were the one praying He would have been saying that He sinned and needed forgiveness. Therefore, our Lord was not praying here. This is further proven when you look down at verses fourteen and fifteen where Jesus continues to explain his meaning and mentions how ye/you should forgive. Also, when you read the parallel passage in Luke 11 you see that Jesus gave this example after the disciples had asked him to teach them to pray. Looking into the historical context we find that after the Babylonian captivity, Jewish leaders had developed a collection of rules to keep themselves from sinning that we sometimes call the oral law. They made up rules and boundaries to keep the people from falling back into the sins that lead to their captivity. Many of these traditions survive in what we now call the Talmud. The Jewish oral law contained pre-written prayers that the Jews would recite for every time of the day. The disciples grew up in that culture and did not know how to pray for themselves. That is why they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Last week, we looked at the first part of the exemplary prayer Jesus gave His disciples. Pastor Boyle lead us through the first three requests which emphasize the worship of God. We do include adoration and worship in our prayers nearly enough. I believe that is partly because we do not spend enough time remembering the glorious works that God has done both for us and for others. That is one of the reasons that we read the Bible at the beginning of our Sunday morning worship service. We read so that we can remind each other of just a few of the reasons God is worthy of our praise. As we continue to study the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray, remember that God’s glory aught to always be the first priority in our prayers. Turn with me to Matthew 6 and let’s read from verse nine down through verse fifteen.

King James Version Chapter 6

9 After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Pray with complete trust in God (vs. 11).

Jesus tells his disciples to pray for their daily bread. Too often our prayers are made up of petitions for our wants, fears, and desires. However, what Jesus is teaching here is a contentment that is based on a confident faith in God. We should not fear for our future because God is in control. Looking farther down at verses 25-33, Jesus was teaching that there is nothing we should fear when we are serving Him. Matthew 6:25–33 ““Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.” God has promised to provide and he always keeps his promises. You should not be stressed about your future, but instead trust God. He will provide. Every day has it's own pressures, so don't worry. Trust God instead and pray for the necessities of the day.

Pray without hypocrisy (vs. 12 & 14-15).

Confess your sin and recognize God’s position as the Just Judge. If you’ve been harboring unresolved conflict in your life, perhaps with a spouse or child, it’s essential to acknowledge your part in the issue. Set aside time to pray and ask God for forgiveness. Maybe you’ve held onto a grudge or reacted in anger—acknowledge that sin before God and the person you’ve wronged. You might set up a family meeting to openly discuss your feelings, ask for forgiveness, and offer it freely. This will transform your relationships to a place where you can point others to Christ. However, Jesus gives us a stern warning in about not forgiving those who have sinned against us. When we don’t forgive, we are pridefully acting as though our issue is of greater importance than our sin against our Holy God. Jesus tells us that if we don’t forgive others for the things they have done, He will not forgive us. However, the reason we can forgive others is because Jesus has forgiven us. This is a theme that is reiterated time and time again throughout the Bible.

A short time after these events, Peter came to Jesus thinking he was being extreme in his forgiveness when he offered to forgive seven times, because the pharisees were teaching that you should only forgive three times. Listen to our Lord’s response in Matthew 18:21–22 “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Jesus was not saying you should only forgive 490 times, but rather, that you should always forgive.

Much later in Peter’s life we can see that he truly had learned these lessons when the Holy Spirit inspired him to write 1 Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” When we love each other rightly, we will not allow grudges and bitterness to fester in our thoughts and actions. We will forgive.

I’m going to read a couple of verses and then I will ask you some questions about them.

Colossians 3:13 “Forbearing one another, and Forgiving one another, If any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” What should we forgive?

Anything that causes us to fight and quarrel.

Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Why should we forgive?

Because Christ has forgiven us for our sins.

How do we keep from sinning against both God and our neighbors?

Pray for the Grace of God (vs. 13a).

These are the last two requests in this prayer. The first is that God would keep us from “temptation” or hardships in a general sense. “Temptations” in verse thirteen is referring to hardships and trials. Jesus is saying to pray that God would not lead you into those difficulties. But when you do go through hard times remember that God is your shelter. Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: The righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” So, we should boldly go and put our trust in Him because He alone is our protector.

The second is that would use His power to keep us from Evil. No one can keep themselves from sin by sheer willpower because we have a sin nature. We need the grace of God. Because of the Adam’s sin, we all have the propensity and desire to sin. Romans 5:12 “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

So what makes us sin?

James 1:13-15 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Sin comes from our own selfish desires. We do not sin because the devil makes us sin and we absolutely do not sin because God wants us to. Satan does entice us to sin, but we sin because we want to.

When Jesus tells the disciples to pray that God would deliver them from evil. In the Greek, there us an implied pronoun in the word evil. It could possibly be better translated as “deliver us from the Evil One.” God is the only one who can keep demonic enticement away. If you rely on Him, He will deliver you from Satan’s evil encouragement to commit sin. 1 Cor 10:12-13 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

The only way out is to run to Christ.

God often refers to our propensity toward sin as the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-26 explains the struggle of the believer. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” If you are trusting Jesus and fully relying on Him, you will not fall into sin because God will deliver you from it.

Conclusion:

The whole theme of Christ’s example prayer is summed up in the closing statement you read at the end of verse thirteen. “For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.” Interestingly, when you read Luke’s parallel record of this event He does not include this doxological (worshipful) summary. This difference becomes more interesting when you read Matthew 6:13b in responsible modern translations because you will find that they, like Luke’s Gospel, do not include this doxology. This is because our earliest and most well preserved manuscripts of Matthew do not contain the latter half of verse thirteen. In fact, when you look at the manuscripts you do not find 13b until you get to the 400’s and even then it is not the predominant reading until the 500’s. However, another thing you find is that in many early records of Christian services dating back to the 200’s they would pray the Lord’s prayer and include doxologies like this during their services. As you look at the archaeological data you will find that many early Christians had some variation of this doxology on medallions that they would wear around their necks. Another interesting fact is that there are several different versions of this doxology recorded although the one we find in the King James is the most predominate. Here are a few examples: One manuscript from the late 400’s reads, “Deliver us from evil, through the only begotten [Son] for yours is the glory and the All-Holy Spirit, now, always, and forever and ever. Amen.” The one most commonly found on the medallions reads “For yours is the power, and the glory, and the praise, and the greatness, forever and ever. Amen.” In a few 2nd and 3rd century eastern translations it reads “For Yours is the power and glory forever” but does not include any reference to the kingdom. By the 5th century, the use of doxology from the pulpit after reading/praying the Lord’s prayer was common practice and often included references to every Person of the Trinity “For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever and to the ages of ages.” after which the congregation would respond in agreement with the word Amen. Likely, the copyists or scribes began to include the doxology because they always heard it used in tandem with the Lord’s prayer. Therefore, although the doxology is most likely not in Matthew’s original text it is still valuable. Like the early church did, we can look at it as a summary of the attitude we are supposed to have when we approach the Lord in our prayers. We must not become conceited and selfishly seek our own desires. Instead, as we prayerfully live our lives we must remember that we were created to bring God glory, and that we should be seeking to glorify Him in all that we do. We should rely on His provision while living as witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: For only to Him belongs the kingdom/dominion, power, and glory, forever. Amen.