Matthew 6:7-15 Part 4

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Introduction

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, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

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, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

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We concluded last week by saying that prayer ought to be rooted in a deep love for God, and that all of our prayers should be chiefly concerned with God and with God’s kingdom. That the primary purpose which undergirds and directs all of our prayers ought to be that his will would be done here on earth as it is done in heaven. That our own wills would ultimately be conformed to his in prayer.
Today we continue studying the Lord’s Prayer starting in verse 11,

11  Give us this day our daily bread,

Supplication
So we move from adoration to supplication. Now some of you may have heard of the acrostic ACTS used to aid Christians in prayer. The A stands for adoration, the C stands for confession, the T stands for thanksgiving and the S stands for supplication. We see these biblical components of prayer, either explicitly or implicitly, here in the Lord’s prayer. We’ve seen on the outset represented in verses 9-10 adoration,
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“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10  Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

We’re told to hallow God’s name and to seek his kingdom and his will, and today we move on to supplication, which is simply the act of humbly and earnestly asking for something.
God’s name is
Confession
And later in verse 12 we see confession,

12  and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

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which we’ll look at later.

Supplication

But what I want to look at first is verse 11 again,

11  Give us this day our daily bread,

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There’s a lot packed into this seemingly basic component of prayer that we call supplication, so I want to take some time unpacking some of the implications of this text.
First of all it’s important for us to understand what Jesus means by the phrase “daily bread”. He doesn’t mean simply bread alone, instead bread is representative of something bigger. The bread that Jesus speaks of here is representative of our daily needs.
Breadwinner
While less prevalent today, most of us are familiar with the term ‘breadwinner’, and we’re also probably aware that this word isn’t simply descriptive of someone who only buys bread for the family, we know that it means much for than that, not less but certainly more. The word communicates to us that this person’s role within the family is to provide for the needs of the family, whether that’s monetarily, providing shelter, and etcetera.
Our Father in heaven is our provider
Similarly, when we read “give us this day our daily bread” Jesus is speaking of our needs in general. Jesus intends for us to understand that we’re expected to come before our Father in heaven in prayer with our needs. This is consistent with what we read back in verses 8 and 9 when Jesus instructs us to address God as our Father in heaven and in verse 8 when he says, “for your Father knows what you need before you even ask him”. Jesus describes God as our father who is, biblically speaking, the typical breadwinner, who’s responsible for the care and provision of his family, and so it is with our Father in heaven, he is our great provider in whom we’re instructed to rely upon, and he cares for the needs of his children.
Prayer is our visible dependence upon God
So when you come before God in prayer you’re to acknowledge and vocalize your dependence upon him by bringing your needs before him. Prayer is, in essence, the visible practice of your reliance your upon God, so when a professing Christins lacks regular, daily and purposeful prayer it’s likely that they’re not relying upon God in their daily lives. And it isn’t that God isn’t still caring for them because they lack prayerful dependence upon him, it’s simply that they’re going about their business unaware that it is God who is sustaining their very lives.
Deceived to rely upon our own strengths
They’re secretly deceived into thinking that merely their own strengths and abilities are what provide for their careers, their checking accounts, and their circumstances, and it’s only when their circumstances change for the worse that they are jarred in such a way that they see how little control they have over their own lives, that it’s utterly foolish rely upon ourselves for they daily needs.
Dependence upon God creates stability
However, the man who regularly and purposefully prays out of a daily dependence upon God will not be so easily shaken when circumstances take a turn for the worse. Such a man has already acknowledged his complete and utter dependence upon God’s hand of providence, even during his times of plenty, so when times of famine or distress come he understands that his reliance upon God has not changed, and that God’s promise to take care of his needs has not been taken away, instead he continue trusting in God’s provision. Trusting in God’s care. Regular, and purposeful prayer trains us in this way, to rely upon God in both times of perceived plenty and in times of perceived lack.
Prone to forget God
I’m reminded of God’s warning to the Israelites in as they make their way into the Promised Land,

11 “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,

We’re so prone to forget God in our daily lives, and it’s why it’s vitally important that we discipline ourselves in such a way so as not to forget that we rely wholly upon our Father in heaven and his provision.
Thankfulness for God’s provision
And finally, it’s important that when we bring our petitions before the Lord, when we seek his provision for our lives, that we come before him in a spirit of humility and gratefulness. Many of us are familiar with the practice of giving thanks around the dinner table. When family and friends gather around the table for a meal, we typically bow our heads and give thanks to God’s for his provision.
We see even Christ setting such an example for us during the Lord’s Supper. In we read, “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.”” And in verse 19 we read, “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them”. Habits such as these should constantly reinforce the reality that God is the source of everything we have.
If you’ll remember what we read last week in , we read,

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

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God’s provision for us in our lives ought to produce thanksgiving, and if it does not then it’s likely we’re approaching God wrongly. When Jesus says in , verse 22, “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” we might incorrectly assume that prayer is simply a means to getting what we want, that if we just ask, it will be given to us, but to presume such a thing would be to ignore the whole counsel of the Bible’s teaching on prayer. We read in , verse 3 for instance,

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

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Make no mistake, God certainly “know[s] how to give good gifts to [his] children,” and much more than us will he “give good things to those who ask him!” But those who ask him for things only to spend those things on their own selfish desires will not receive anything at all. You see asking with selfish ambition does not produce gratefulness.
God’s provision for our lives is wholly an act of grace. You’ve heard the old adage “life is a gift”, indeed it is, and it get’s at the heart of how we ought to perceive God’s provision, we should view all of his care for our lives as a gift. We do not deserve life, we do not deserve anything from God. He does not owe us anything. So in our prayers let us ask for our daily bread in a spirit of thanksgiving, in a spirit that takes delight in who God is, and rejoice in the loving care he has for us.

Confession and forgiveness

Now let’s look at verse 12,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors

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Concern for our spiritual wellbeing
On the outset of reading this verse it’s obvious that we should not only have concern for our physical wellbeing but our spiritual wellbeing as well. The practice of keeping with repentance is a hallmark of a true disciple of Christ. John the Baptist used this phrase of “keeping with repentance” when he spoke to the Pharisees in , verse 8. Paul also used the phrase “keeping with repentance” when he spoke of his conversion to King Agrippa in , verse 20. In John’s first letter there’s a clear implication that even as Christians we still sin, and that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, therefore as Christians we should make it a practice to confess our sins, seeking God’s forgiveness, who is then faithful and just to forgive us.
Living a life of repentance
In one sure sense we, as Christians, are wholly forgiven of our sin upon our repentance and submission to Christ, yet in another sense we, who are now justified before God, will live a life of repentance, constantly acknowledging the sin that still remains in us against our will, and daily turning from it. Keeping with repentance is a fruit of our genuine faith in Christ. It’s why in John the Baptist says to the Pharisees, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Make sure your lives bear the evidence of a genuine faith in Christ by keeping with repentance. And so we see here in the Lord’s prayer confession and forgiveness as a central component of our prayers.
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Therefore, because we wholly rely upon God’s gracious provision we ought to be thankful.
Explicit expectation to forgive as we’ve been given
And in addition to our Lord's instruction for us to ask for the forgiveness of our own sin we have the explicit expectation here to forgive those who have committed sins against us. What Jesus is saying is that we cannot expect mercy from God while we withhold mercy from one another. Again, prayer, in this way is intended to change us. That we would reflect the character of God by being merciful to one another as God is merciful to us, that we would be quick to forgive on another.
However, our sinful nature is not naturally inclined to have mercy on others when sins are commited against us, therefore we're constantly at risk of withholding forgiveness from one another while readily accepting forgiveness from our Lord.
This is why Jesus warns his disciples in verses 14-15,
This is why Jesus says in verses 14-15,

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

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Do not despise God's mercy
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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Do not despise God's mercy
We must not think that we can despise God's mercy toward us by withholding mercy from one another. And I'm convinced that within our local churches it isn't merely the initial act of sinning against one another that creates division and strife amongst us, but more often than not it's our unwillingness to forgive one another of that sin. Make no mistake we will hurt one another, we will sin against one another, the question is whether we will be quick to repent and quick to forgive one another.
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Forgiveness a visible distinctive
Its was just a couple of months ago that my wife commented one evening (I believe it was during bible study) that one of the visible distinctives of the Christian community that she immediately noticed when she first came to Christ was that believers were constantly in the habit of forgiving one another, that forgiveness was central to the Christian community, yet so many local churches often find themselves fractured by deep-seated resentment and hardness toward one another because of unforgiven sin. Let us therefore heed the words of our Lord and be quick to forgive others their trespasses.
And before we move on I think it’s important for us to note that while verse 15 is indeed a very scary warning against those who think they can obtain the forgiveness of God without having to forgive their brethren, that this warning is not meant to unnecessarily distress God’s children in such a way so as to make them think that unless we do this perfectly that we will not obtain God’s mercy. The reality is that we will not do this perfectly, but we ought to be diligent in forgiving one another, and not giving ourselves license to withhold forgiveness.
But before we move on I think it’s important for us to note that while verse 15 is indeed a very scary warning against those who think they can obtain the forgiveness of God without having to forgive their brethren, that this warning is not meant to unnecessarily distress God’s children in such a way so as to make them think that unless we do this perfectly that we will not obtain God’s mercy. The reality is that we will not do this perfectly, but we ought to be diligent in forgiving one another, and not giving ourselves license to withhold forgiveness.

Deliver us from evil

And finally, we read in verse 13,
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And it’s why we read in verse 13,
It’s why we read in verse 13,

13  And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

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Difficult to understand
This particular verse can be difficult because the first half seems to imply that God may in fact lead us into temptation, and that we therefore must pray against him doing so. Now obviously the idea that God entices anyone to sin is repugnant to anyone who knows anything about what the Scripture’s teach. explicitly says,

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

God does not tempt us
Scripture makes it emphatically clear that God cannot be tempted with evil, and that God himself tempts no one. So what does Jesus mean here when he says, “and lead us not into temptation”?
God does test us
Well, I think the most helpful piece of evidence that we have is that the Greek word translated ‘tempt’ here can also be translated test, and we know from Scripture that testing is a biblically permissible action for God. God tested Abraham when he commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac. In it specifically says that “God tested Abraham”. In , verse 2 Moses says to the Israelites,

you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

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And if you’ll recall back in Matthew chapter 4 Jesus is lead by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. On one hand Jesus is put to the test by God and on the other hand Satan tempted Jesus. So we’re not asking that the Lord would restrain himself from tempting us to do evil (for God can do no such thing), rather we’re asking him that if it’s possible he would not put us to the test.
Often times when the Lord puts our faith to the test he may in fact permit the Devil tempt us. And I believe it’s this distinction that begins to shed light on how we ought to understand verse 13 here in . We’re not asking that the Lord would tempt us to do evil, rather we’re asking him that it wouldn’t be necessary that we be put to the test.
The evil one
And lastly, if we look at the second half of verse 13, “but deliver us from evil”, the underlying Greek grammar equally permits translating the word that’s rendered here as ‘evil’ instead as ‘evil one’, which doesn’t change the meaning of the text much but can be helpful in discerning the meaning behind Jesus’ words here. So listen to verse 13 again in light of what you’ve just heard, “And lead us not into a place of testing, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Adam and Eve failed the test
I think this rendering of the text makes it more clearly reminiscent of and 2, when Adam and Eve were put to the test in the Garden of Eden. The tree of knowledge of good and evil was put in the Garden and they were instructed not to eat of it, they were being put to the test by God, and as we all know they failed that test, they succumbed to the temptations of the evil one.
Overcoming the evil one
So when we read in verse 13, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” remember that our aim is that we would overcome the temptations of the devil, that we would overcome the temptations of evil no matter their origin, whether it’s of this world, or our own flesh that we would prevail, that God would deliver us.
I’m reminded of ,
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Conclusion

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Paul writes in Romans that the testing of our faith produces str
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13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Conclusion

In summary, let us bring our requests before God in prayer, let us trust in his provision, and let us come before him in a spirit of thanksgiving. May we keep with repentance, asking God daily to forgive us of our sins, and not neglecting to forgive others their trespasses against us. And lastly, let us pray that God would help to overcome the evil one, to overcome temptation, that God would give us the grace to endure it.

Prayer

Let us pray.
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