Sermon Tone Analysis

The Sermon on the Mount exposes the state of the heart of the believer.

First, the Beatitudes (vv.

3–12) provide us with a description of the ideal character of the true believer.

Then after two convicting metaphors (vv.

13–16) we are given six illustrations of the surpassing righteousness to which we are called (vv.

20–48), a righteousness that supersedes and fulfills that of the scribes and Pharisees—and indeed that of the Old Testament.

This exposé of the heart brings us to an honest admission of what we really are, and it is not a pretty picture.

I Love the prayers in the Bible

……John 17:20-26…Psalms

Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1

15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit,v of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

Men who do works so they will be seen by men receive the applause of men.

Those who do works for God’s glory receive God’s smile.

The reward for the latter is overwhelming—and always will be.

Jesus was not condemning public prayer.

He was condemning the desire to be seen praying publicly.

The early church thrived on public prayer, as the opening chapters of Acts so beautifully attest (see 1:24; 3:1; 4:24ff.).

Jesus was emphasizing that prayer is essentially a conversation between the believer and God.

It is intrinsically private, not exhibitionist.

Man is to shut out every distraction and focus on God.

In verse 7 Jesus added further advice: “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

Our Lord was not and is not impressed with a lot of words.

He is impressed with what the heart is saying.

Perhaps a few questions would help us.

Do I pray frequently or more fervently when I am alone with God than when I am in public?

Is my public praying an overflow of my private prayer?

What do I think of when I am praying in public?

Am I looking for “just the right” phrase?

Am I thinking of the worshipers more than of God? Am I a spectator to my own performance?

Is it possible that the reason more of my prayers are not answered is because I am more concerned about bringing my prayer to men than to God?

Perhaps a few questions would help us.

Do I pray frequently or more fervently when I am alone with God than when I am in public?

Is my public praying an overflow of my private prayer?

What do I think of when I am praying in public?

Am I looking for “just the right” phrase?

Am I thinking of the worshipers more than of God? Am I a spectator to my own performance?

Is it possible that the reason more of my prayers are not answered is because I am more concerned about bringing my prayer to men than to God?

How Not To Pray

Prayer is not for the purpose of informing God.

Rather, prayer expresses to him (and to ourselves) the fact of our impotence to meet our own needs.

Biblical prayer is an act of faith, an expression of dependence on God.

Meaningless repetition signifies dependence on oneself to manipulate or badger God into compliance.

When are believers guilty of meaningless repetition?

For example, we add “in Jesus’ name” as a mere punctuation mark at the end of our prayers.

Would not it be better actually to pray in Jesus’ name (with his authority, according to his will), instead of merely adding the phrase?

We can pray in Jesus’ name without using those words.

When we pray over meals or with our children at bedtime, do we really think about what we are saying?

When we sing the words of a song of worship to the Lord, do we really mean them?

Pray Like Jesus Not Merely What Jesus Prayed

Not Merely What Jesus Prayed

How We Should Pray

The Lord’s prayer is a pattern for a servant in the Lord’s Kingdom.

This, then, is how you should pray (6:9).

The pattern of meaningful prayer is to begin by majoring on the person and nature of God and his kingdom interests, coming to personal requests and needs only secondarily.

Jesus says “this is how “you should pray” … as opposed to the techniques of the religious hypocrites and the Romans and Greeks who thought their loud voices were necessary to awaken their pagan gods and the repetition of words served to remind their gods of what their situation was.

we need to remember that God sees all.

The psalmist in Psalm 139 says, “If I make my way to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (v.

8).

He sees and knows all.

He knows the words that are forming on our lips.

Each day we should pray something like this: “God, because you know all things, you know my motivations.

God, help me to live my life for you.”

“Throughout the whole of this day, everything I do, and say, and attempt, and think, and imagine, is going to be done under the eye of God.

He is going to be with me; He sees everything; He knows everything.

There is nothing I can do or attempt but God is fully aware of it all.

‘Thou God seest me.’ ”

No where in the Old Testament is God referred to as Father in terms of having a relationship with HIm.

But when Jesus came on the scene, he addressed God only as Father.

He never used anything else!

All his prayers address God as Father.

The Gospels (just four books) record his using Father more than sixty times in reference to God.

So striking is this that there are scholars who maintain that this word Father dramatically summarizes the difference between the Old and New Testaments.

No one had ever in the entire history of Israel spoken and prayed like Jesus.

No one!

Our Father In Heaven (verse 9)

The plural pronoun our indicates that prayer should be an expression of corporate desires to God, and should often be prayed in fellowship with other believers.

To the traditional Jew, Jesus’ prayer was revolutionary.

Think of it!

God was referred to only fourteen times in the Old Testament as Father, and then it was always as the corporate Father of Israel—never individually or personally.

And now as his disciples ask him for instruction on how to pray, Jesus tells them to begin by calling God their Father, their Abba!

Hughes, R. K. (2001).

The sermon on the mount: the message of the kingdom (p.

155).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Hughes, R. K. (2001).

The sermon on the mount: the message of the kingdom (p.

155).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

To the traditional Jew, Jesus’ prayer was revolutionary.

Think of it!

God was referred to only fourteen times in the Old Testament as Father, and then it was always as the corporate Father of Israel—never individually or personally.

And now as his disciples ask him for instruction on how to pray, Jesus tells them to begin by calling God their Father, their Abba!

As Jeremias says:

… in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus authorizes His disciples to repeat the word abba after Him.

He gives them a share in His sonship and empowers them, as His disciples, to speak with their heavenly Father in just such a familiar, trusting way as a child would with his father.

Addressing God as Abba (Dearest Father) is not only an indication of spiritual health but is a mark of the authenticity of our faith.

Paul tells us in Galatians 4:6, “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father!’ ” The impulse to call on God in this way is a sign of being God’s child.

Romans 8:15, 16 says the same thing: “you received the spirit of sonship.

And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”