Our Appeal to God

Introduce the Text

Read the Text

Preach the Text

Introduce

We continue looking at the Lord’s Prayer this morning. The first three things in the Lord’s prayer are all addressing God and proclaiming God’s glory and holiness. So the prayer begins by first focusing on who God is and praying that God would accomplish and fulfill what he already intends to do.

Read the Text

Matthew 6:9–10 ESV

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.

Preach The Text

Outine

I. Introduction

II.Exegetical Analysis

III. The nature and glory of God.

Introduction

When we encounter this text it is important to remeber V.8 from last week. The only reason I split it up this way was for the purpose of time. It is important to remember that God already knows what we need when we pray. By praying this way we have a better understanding of what we need and what God has already planned.

Exegete

Pray then like this:

Pray like this: As Christ begins this prayer he makes the Father the object of the prayer. That when we pray, it is him that is addressed. The instruction to pray this way does not necessarily mean that every prayer we pray follows this form, rather it shows us what who we should seek and sets boundaries so we stay fixated on what is important when praying.  We address the Father in heaven which is to know that we have a close and personal God who loves us and who is so glorious that he reigns in heaven his name is sacred and wonderful We seek his kingdom and his will hear on earth We ask God to provide us with what we need to go through life We ask that God be merciful and forgive us and we seek to be merciful as well We ask that God would sustain us in our walk in life so as not to fall into temptation. 

Our Father in Heaven

God is our Father. The word father is used 1856 times in the ESV. In the Old Testament. There are a few times in the Old Testament where God is addressed like a father figure. Only seven times times is God understood as being our Father. None of these times was he addressed as Father in prayer. In just the Sermon on the Mount; Matthew 5-7, Jesus address God as Father seventeen times and he teaches us to address him as Father in our prayer. 

In heaven: Our Father is the highest being in all of creation. For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). By him the earth quakes at the might of his glory (Psalm 18:7-15). This God is our Father. He has pored upon an amazing love upon that we can never understand or see the fullness of. The Father that we address in prayer has been revealed in the Son (John 14:9). When we cling to Christ, when we seek Christ, and when we know Christ we know the Father. This love is the greatest love; this God is the greatest God. 

Hallowed be your name

Hallowed by your name: Even in some of the most modern English translations, the word "hallowed" is still used. This word simply means to venerate or to revere here. In other usages the word can mean to sanctify. By calling upon the name of God our prayers are sanctified, not by our words and devotions, but by who God is. He is already perfect and holy. God is his name (Exodus 3:14) and his name is far to wonderful to understand (Judges 13:18).

Judges 13:18 ESV

18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

God is His name

God is the being of being itself

You Kingdom come, your will be done.

These are in many ways the same things. Both will come whether we pray for them or not. Both will come whether we like it or not. We can know both by seeking after the Father. We see that his will and kingdom are just as beautiful, sovereign, and holy as he is. By seeking the Father we seek after his kingdom. We know that his kingdom are built upon righteousness and justice (Psalm 97:2) We know that it is God's will that all who come to him, who truly repent and believe will be saved. We know that his will is perfect and just, just as he is. We know that his will is this: that those whom he has worked salvation, he has regenerated, he has given faith, he has justified, he has promised his spirit, and he has promised eternal life. 

Some have taken up this idea that God’s kingdom won’t come until we do everything we’re supposed to do...

Others have taken up this idea that when we pray this prayer we are praying for Jesus to come back...

We are supposd to do what God has called us to do, and we are, in a sense, praying for Jesus to come back. However,

Luke 17:20–21 ESV

20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Some translation will say, “Within you”; that the kingdom of heaven is within you. EIther way the kingdom of heaven is here and now and it is a present hope and a future hope.

On earth as it is in heaven

We know that his kingdom and his will will come to earth, whether we like it or not. The justice and righrteousness that make the foundation of his throne will come. We know that his sovereign will to work all things together for his glory will come. 

The Narture and Glory of God

This is our appeal to heaven, or to God. When we come into prayer, we spend the first half of the prayer seeking after God.