Our Father, Our Forgiveness & Our Fasting

Chuck Swindoll summarizes vv.1-8 as "When we give, we're to do it simply, sincerely and secretly...and when we pray, we are to pray privately, to the Father, without meaningless repetition." Simple Faith SG p. 65

From the discussions I had in the foyer after last week’s service, my thoughts on how not to pray left some of us anxious about how we are to pray. This is why we take a little deeper dive this week.

First let me clarify that Jesus here is only talking about one type of prayer—the scheduled, public prayer that first-century Jews would have offered mid-morning, mid-afternoon and evening.

Professor Scot McKnight writes, “Praying recited prayers is only one part of prayer. Alongside recited prayers, and our Bible’s Psalter involves the use of set prayers, are personal prayers, spontaneous prayers, breath prayers, and meditative prayers done whenever and wherever we find ourselves. This too is how the Psalter arose: those were personal prayers raised to the level of set prayers.”[i]

To McKnight’s list I would add the intercessory prayers, the timely prayers, the unceasing prayers, the ceremonial and gathered prayers of a church, lamenting prayer and Spirit-prompted prayers that defy description. Please do not allow Jesus’ warning to pharisaic prayers to put you under any type of bondage in the communication of your heart to our God. What Jesus is advising is meant to be helpful direction toward power-filled prayer, not a restrictive set of regulations that creates a mental checklist.

Sometimes when we are reading through a book or watching a ballgame we progress at a normal pace and then something happens that makes us think “maybe I missed something” so we go back and re-read the last paragraph or the sportscaster goes back and shows a replay and perhaps analyze that replay in slow motion or from another angle.

That is exactly what is happening in today’s text. Jesus has been moving along talking about giving, praying and fasting, but he stops the action and does a replay on the subject of prayer and then goes into to super-slow motion to show us how forgiveness is involved within the prayer.

Transition: Jesus begins this slow-motion review by clarifying to whom prayer is directed. In contrast to the Pharisees’ wrong prayer that is directed at the crowd around them…

Prayer is directed toward Our Father (vv.9-10)

Explanation

1. These two verses are not preamble; they contain the first 3 requests that ought to shape our prayers.

2. Our Father – communal and relational

A. To the Father, in the name of the Son, as prompted by the Holy Spirit.

· “in Jesus’ name” is more than a closing line, it is more of a “My name is Jesus Christ and I approve this prayer.” Every word of our prayers should be aligned with Jesus’ purpose and authority.

B. The disciples occasionally made requests of Jesus, and Jesus never scolded them for “praying” to him; but He always taught and modeled that prayer was to be directed toward the Father. “Our Father in Heaven” occurs 20x in Matthew, only once in Mark and never in Luke (Luke 11 mentions “Father” not “Father in Heaven”.

C. While our prayers are often very personal, when we pray we should be aware of how answering our requests may influence others in the family of God.

D. Many of you saw my social media post this week where I mentioned frustration occurs when we confuse “abba, Father” with “abracadabra”

· We don’t pray to a genie in the sky, we pray to a loving, Father with whom we have a relationship.

“Jesus knows God as Father and as good, kind, and benevolent and as holy and just. That theology empowers him to teach his followers to approach God in confidence. Prayer is not informing God of something unknown but drawing oneself in the divine life of the Trinity and into the very mission of God in this world—this God loves us and invites us into his presence with our petitions”[ii]

3. Hallowed be your name – the act of hallowing is not done by the person praying, this is a request that God would permit us to observe the glory of His person being esteemed.

· The word “hallow” means to honor, sanctify, set apart, and treat with the highest of respect.[iii]

4. Your Kingdom – things are done flowing out of His authority. Prayer is aligning our desires with His authority over all that is created.

· What Jesus has in mind is clear: He wants God to act to bring in the kingdom in order to display God’s rule[iv]

· D.A. Carson writes, “To pray ‘your kingdom come’ is therefore simultaneously to ask that God’s royal rule be extended now as people bow in submission to him and already taste the [future] blessing of salvation and to cry for the [not yet] consummation of the kingdom.”[v]

5. Your Will – things that are accomplished (even if they are for our benefit) are done for His pleasure.

· “Godly Jews recited “Qaddish” (“Sanctification”), an ancient Aramaic prayer, at the close of each synagogue service. In its oldest extant form, it runs, ‘Exalted and hallowed be his great name in the world which he created according to his will. May he let his kingdom rule in your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of the whole house of Israel, speedily and soon. And to this, say: amen’” (Jeremias, Prayers, p. 98, emphasis his).[vi]

Illustration

Natalie Grant sings a song that was on Ann’s pandora station as we were getting dressed for church last Sunday:

I tried to fit you in the walls inside my mind I try to keep you safely in between the lines I try to put you in the box that I've designed I try to pull you down so we are eye to eye

When did I forget that you've always been the king of the world? I try to take life back right out of the hands of the king of the world How could I make you so small When you're the one who holds it all When did I forget that you've always been the king of the world

You will always be the king of the world.

Application

“These first three petitions, though they focus on God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will, are nevertheless prayers that He may act in such a way that His people will hallow His name, submit to His reign, and do His will. It is therefore impossible to pray this prayer in sincerity without humbly committing oneself to such a course.”[vii]

Transition: After Jesus cements the idea that our first desire is that the Father’s name, kingdom and will be expanded, He goes on to address our present human needs.

Our Greatest need is Our Father’s Forgiveness (vv.11-15)

Explanation

1. “Daily Bread” (v.11) – some have tried to spiritualize this as meaning communion bread or spiritual food.

· “The prayer is for our needs, not our greeds”. It is for one day at a time (“today”), reflecting the precarious lifestyle of many first-century workers who were paid one day at a time[viii]

· In 2 weeks, we’ll look at the verses at the end of this chapter that warn us not to worry about tomorrow.

· This request in no way diminishes the responsibility to work. But rather can be a prayer for community blessing, such as bless the farmer so that when I receive my daily wages, there is bread available for me to purchase at a reasonable price.

2. “as” (v.12) – some have tried to interpret “as” in such a way as to communicate progression or causation. i.e. “if we forgive first then we will be forgiven next” or “God’s forgiveness of us is caused by our forgiving of others”. The word can be translated “like” which shows comparison. I believe the idea is “help us to experience the grace of being forgiven which is similar to our experience of being gracious forgivers.”

3. “temptation” (v.13) – the word used by Jesus can mean either “enticement to sin” or the “testing of our faith”. Where James specifically states that God “tempts no man” but there are several verses that tell us that God allows our strength to be proven so that we will have confidence.

4. “trespasses” (vv.14-15) – this word (3x) is a different word from the one in v.12. 12 is “debts” or “obligations”; this one is “errors” or “shortcomings”.

· I remember advice that I heard from Dr. James Dobson years ago that instructed parents to never discipline an accident. I think these 2 verses are saying “if we can be gracious in our ‘on purposes’ in v.12, we should even more be grace-filled with people’s accidents.

· Or, stated another way, v. 12 is talking about sins of commission, vv.14-15 describes sins of omission.

Illustration

Friday of this week I spent a little time with brother Chuck Magathan. He explained to me how important Baumgardner’s meat locker in Elmdale was in his childhood. In the days before electricity and before each person owned a (or several) chest freezers to store a year’s worth of meat, a person would point out one steer that was ready for butcher and one of Bummie’s men would dispatch the animal right there, field dress and quarter it, then bring it to Bummie for butchering and storage. Once or twice a week momma would get just enough meat out of the locker that she could keep in her icebox before it would go bad or the ice block would melt.

1. Before chest freezers and Warehouse stores, people thought more in terms of today and tomorrow and much less about next week or next month.

2. Bread, forgiveness and deliverance are all “here and now” experiences, more than “fill out a form, let me check our policies, and I’ll get back with you next week” type experiences.

Application

1. This second half of the prayer is a request for God to extend grace in meeting our daily needs, our relational harmony and our spiritual protection.

2. Notice in the first 3 requests they each stood alone. In these last 3 they are connected with “and” so that these later ones are seen as a unit.

3. One could say the first three request are all concerned with God’s glory and the last three are all related to our good.

Transition: After this instant replay and slow-motion evaluation, it is as if Jesus resumes the early verses by saying, “and now we return you to your normally scheduled programming”. He re-established the form of verses 2 (when you give) & 5 (when you pray) by saying “when you fast...

Our Fasting is Rewarded by Our Father (vv.16-18)

Explanation

1. “when you fast” (v.16) – Jesus presumes that fasting would be just as normal as giving to the needy and praying on schedule.

· In the OT there were times of scheduled fasts – in preparation for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). There were times when people were called to fast for a specific purpose (Esther) or when they needed specific direction (Joel 2:15).

· Even during OT times fasts were frequently done with a wrong motivation (IS 58:5)

· By the time of Jesus this had morphed into an obligation twice a week (Luke 18:12) done every Monday and Thursday. And Jesus was also questioned as to why his disciples didn’t observe this tradition (MT 9:14).

· Jesus fasted before his temptation in the wilderness, but there is no record of him fasting any other times.

· Acts 13:2 & 14:23 tell of prayer and fasting by the early church

· The Didache 8:1 which was a church manual from late 1st century instructed believers to fast not on Mon & Thurs as the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day, but on Wed and Fri.

2. “anoint your head and wash your face” (v.17) – The anointing of oil is not necessarily a ceremonial anointing, but rather Craig Keener writes, “Palestinian Jews used oil to clean and anoint their skin, especially on their heads probably to lubricate dry scalps.”[ix] I understand some people put conditioner on their head after shampoo if they have hair. (something to think about is if James 5:14 is ceremonial anointing or massaging in essential oils. But that’s another sermon). In Gen 43:31 we read that Joseph washed his face in private so that his brothers would not know that he had been weeping.

3. “your fasting may not be seen” - this is not an absolute secrecy, just as good works and public prayers may be observed by others, but the idea that is to be avoided is the motivation to be seen. There are many reasons people today fast for part of a day - before a blood test, or surgery, or to cut weight for an athletic competition or to get into that special dress. You may need to let your family know that you won’t participate in breakfast, but you don’t need to make a production out of it.

Illustration

1. Fasting is an act when we abstain from some otherwise good gift from God for a season of reflection.

Have you noticed that the burger and steak joints have been advertising their fish sandwiches? Those in Catholic, Lutheran, and other liturgical traditions are entering the last week of a 40-day fast. The schedule for the Lenten season is established by counting back 40 days from Easter (not counting Sundays when they would be expected to celebrate eucharist/communion).

Application

1. Just because some people fast for wrong reasons (observing Lent won’t make God like you more than if you don’t) is no reason for us not to consider a time of intense reflection.

2. Just because you didn’t start on Ash Wednesday, doesn’t mean that you couldn’t choose some behavior to abstain between now and Easter. It may be food, it may be some other indulgence. Some find a media fast is great to re-center one’s thoughts on Christ.

3. Just identify the good gift that you are going to abstain and whenever you crave that item, use it as a reminder to pray.

Conclusion:

To tie together last week’s message and this weeks’ here is the summary.

1. When you give to the poor, do it compassionately to meet needs, not to be seen!

2. When you pray, direct your words toward God. Seek first His glory, then humbly ask Him for the things that lead to our immediate good.

3. When you fast, it is primarily for your own reflection, not a public commendation.

Acts of righteousness done in these ways leads to our Father’s reward.

[i] Scot McKnight, Sermon on the Mount, ed. Tremper Longman III and Scot McKnight, The Story of God Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 189.

[ii] Ibid., 173.

[iii] Ibid., 177.

[iv] Ibid., 177.

[v] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 170.

[vi] Ibid., 170.

[vii] Ibid., 170–171.

[viii] Ibid., 171.

[ix] Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), 227–228.