Matthew 6:9-15

This Morning We Looked at Jesus’ Teaching On How Citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom are Not to Do Good Works With the Purpose of Being Seen

He Spoke of:

Giving to the Poor (Our Relationship to Others)

Praying (Our Relationship to Our Father)

Fasting (Our Relationship to Ourselves)

In the Middle of His Teaching on Prayer, We See What We Jesus Give His Listeners an Example Prayer

We Sometimes Call it “The Lord’s Prayer” or “the Model Prayer”

But in My Studies, I Discovered Another Name People Often Call it That I Like

“The Disciple’s Prayer”

This Prayer Was Given to His Disciples to Teach Them How to Pray

Tonight We are Going to Focus On This Prayer

Matthew 6:9 (NASB)

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

There are a Lot of People Who Believe Christians Should Recite This Prayer Every Day

In the Didache (did-uh-kay), a 1st or 2nd Century Christian Writing, Says that Christians Were to Say This Prayer 3 Times a Day

It’s Kind of Ironic That This Has Been Taught, Especially in Light of the 2 Previous Verse

Jesus Just Told His Listeners Not to Pray With Meaningless Repetition

It Doesn’t Seem Like Jesus Meant This Prayer to Be Something That is Recited Word For Word

It’s More Likely That He Was Giving His Followers a Model of How They Should Structure Their Own Prayers

He Didn’t Say, “Pray This”

He Said, “Pray in this Way” or “Pray Like This”

But We Also Shouldn’t Go to the Opposite Extreme and Say a Person in Wrong if They Were to Pray This Prayer Word For Word

Every Word of This Prayer is Good and True

There’s Nothing Wrong With Praying This Pray So Long as We Mean it When We Pray it

Matthew 6:9 (NASB)

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Notice the 1st Person Plural Word “Our”

This Shows Us That This Prayer is Not Simply a Private Individual Prayer

It Was a Model For Assembled Christians to Pray Together

And the God We Pray to is Our Father, if We Cover Ourselves With Christ His Son

Not Just My Father But Our Father

We are Connected as Brothers and Sisters Because We Have the Same Father

And Our Father Resides in the Heavenly Realm

Matthew 6:9–10 (NASB)

Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

I Want to Keep These 4 Statements Together Because I Believe They Were Meant to Be Kept Together

“Hallowed” = to Sanctify or Make Holy

“Name” Refers to All of Who God is, His Character and Reputation

So the Prayer Begins With “Sanctify/Make Holy Your Name”

But God is Already Holy

The Prayer is Not That God Be Made Holy But That He Be Regarded as Holy

This Request Will Make More Sense After We Look as the Rest of Verse 10

Matthew 6:9–10 (NASB)

Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

This is the Part of the Prayer That I’ve Always Been Told is Not Applicable to Us Anymore

I Was Taught This Was the Equivalent of “Your Church Come”

And the Church is Already Here, Therefore, We Aren’t Meant to Pray That Part Anymore

The Problem With That Interpretation is That it Shows a Lack of Understanding of What the “Kingdom” is

The Kingdom is More Than Just the Church

The Church are the Citizens of the Kingdom

But Christ’s Kingdom = Christ’s Rule/Reign

The Kingdom/Rule/Reign of God Has Come, But it Hasn’t Come in Its Entirety Yet

Jesus’ Kingdom is Prophesied to Fill the Whole Earth

And He is Supposed to Reign Until All of His Enemies Have Been Made a Footstool For His Feet

The Kingdom Has Reached Many Parts of the World and Millions of People Have Subjected to Him as King

But There are Still Billions of People Who Refuse to Subject Themselves to His Authority and Reign

In Essense, There’s Still More Kingdom to Come

And it Will Come in it’s Completeness When Jesus Returns

So We Absolutely Can Continue Praying, “Your Kingdom Come”

It’s the Same as Saying, “May Your Reign Continue to Increase More and More!”

Matthew 6:9–10 (NASB)

Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

We Understand This Part of the Prayer

We Pray For God’s Will to Be Done Because We Know His Will is Best

His Will is For Blessings and Salvation Through Jesus Christ to Reach All People

We Pray For That Very Same Things to Be Donem, Glorify Him, and Be Reconciled to Him

We Pray For That Very Same Thing to Be Done

Matthew 6:9–10 (NASB)

Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

Here is the Most Interesting Part of This Section of the Prayer

Most Translations Connect “On earth as it is in Heaven” with “You Will Be Done”…

But They Disconnect it From the 2 Clauses That Come Before it

When You Look at the Greek, it Becomes Clear That All 3 Clauses are Meant to Be Attached to “On Earth as it is in Heaven”

I’m No Greek Scholar, But Here is the Way I Would Translate this Text:

“Your name be hallowed, Your kingdom come, and Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Essentially, Here is What is Being Prayed

“Father, May You Be Hallowed on Earth as You are in Heaven.”

“Father, May Your Kingdom/Reign/Rule Come on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

“Father, May Your Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

God is Hallowed Above All Else in the Heavenly Realm

But He Never Enters the Minds of Millions Here On Earth

We Pray For That to Change

God’s Reign is Full and Complete in the Heavenly Realm

But Most People On Earth Make Themselves the Lord and King of Their Lives

We Pray For That to Change

God’s Will is Done and Followed to Exactness in the Heavenly Realm

But Most People On Earth Seek to Do Their Own Will

We Pray For That to Change

This is the First Section of the Model Prayer

I Hope This Prayer That You’ve Probably Heard a Thousand Times is Becoming More Amazing to You!

Matthew 6:11 (NASB)

‘Give us this day our daily bread.

Jesus Wanted His Disciples to Live in a State of Constant Dependence on God

Each and Everyday We are to Pray That God Provide For Us Our Daily Necessities

The More We Recognize God as the Giver of All Things…

That Each and Every Breath, Step, Meal, and Heartbeat Comes From Him…

The More This Short, Simple Prayer Will Become a Necessity in Our Daily Prayers

Matthew 6:12 (NASB)

‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Sin Places Us in Debt to God

A Debt That We are Incapable of Paying Back

That is Why Our Only Hope is Forgiveness

The Greek Grammar Indicates That We Only Ask For Forgiveness From God After We First Have Forgiven Others Who Have Asked Us For Forgiveness

As We Will See in a Moment, Forgiveness is Only Offered to Those Who Forgive Others

One Thing That is Easy to Overlook in this Verse is the Fact That True, Faithful Followers of Jesus Need Forgiveness

Jesus Shows Us That Citizens of His Kingdom Need to Pray For Forgiveness

That Means Citizens of His Kingdom Sin

It Brings Me So Much Comfort to Know that Jesus Knew I Still Would Struggle With Sin After Becoming a Christian

Otherwise He Wouldn’t Tell Us to Pray For Forgiveness

Matthew 6:13 (NASB)

‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

“Do Not Lead Us into Temptation” Doesn’t Mean:

“Don’t Allow Us to Be Tempted”

Or “Don’t Cause Us to Be Tempted”

The Spirit Has Already Allowed Jesus to Be Tempted Back in Chapter 4

And James Tells Us That God Does Not Tempt Anyone

So What Exactly Does Jesus Mean When He Tells Us to Pray This?

I Believe He Means This:

“Don’t Allow Us to Succumb to Temptation”

Or “Don’t Abandon Us in Temptation”

We are Going to Be Tempted Daily…

And Jesus Knows That We Will Sometimes Give in to it (He Just Told Us to Ask For Forgiveness Daily)

But God Has Promised to Always Provide a Way of Escape Out of Temptation For Us (1 Cor. 10:13)

He Tells Us to Pray For God’s Help in Finding and Using That Way of Escape

To Go Along With “Do Not Lead Us into Temptation”, He Says…

Deliver Us From Evil/the Evil One

This is Just Another Way to Say What We’ve Already Established

“Father, Help Us Not to Succumb to Temptation Today, But Deliver Us From the Devil.”

The Last Part of This Verse is in Brackets Because it Isn’t Found in All of Our Oldest Manuscripts

It Was Most Likely Not a Part of the Original Gospel Account of Matthew

But the Words are No Less the Truth

The Kingdom is God’s

All Power is God’s

And All Glory is God’s

Matthew 6:14–15 (NASB95)

“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

Jesus’ Words in Verse 12 Led Him to Teach This Last Thought On Forgiveness Before Moving On to Fasting

In Order to Be Forgiven, We Must Forgive

If We Do Not Forgive, We Will Not Be Forgiven

These Verses Don’t Require Any Commentary

They Require Obedience

If We Want to Be Citizens of His Kingdom, We Must Forgive Others

Application

This Request is Made Up of 6 Requests Arranged in 2 Sets of 3

The 1st Set of 3 is Directed Toward the Glory and Praise of God (Verses 9-10)

For God’s Name to Be Hallowed On Earth as it is in Heaven

For God’s Kingdom/Reign/Rule to Come On Earth as it is in Heaven

For God’s Will to Be Done On Earth as it is in Heaven

Can You Imagine the Impact on the World if God’s People Prayed This Everyday?

Jesus Wants Us to

Jesus Was in Heaven

He Knew the Goodness of Being in a Place Where God is Worshiped By All, Submitted to By All, and Served By All

He Knew What a Great Place This World Would Be if That Were the Case Down Here

The 2nd Set is Directed Toward the Daily Needs of the Disciples (Verses 11-13)

To Provide Us With Our Daily Needs

To Forgive Us of Our Daily Sins

To Help Us in Our Daily Temptations

By Structuring the Prayer in This Way…

Jesus Tells Us His Disciples to Put the Interests of the Father and His Kingdom Ahead of Our Own Daily Needs

That is the Be the Mindset of a Citizen of the Kingdom

This Prayer Has Absolutely Blown My Mind

I’m Going to Make it My Mission This Next Week to Structure My Prayers After This Model

Who Greater to Learn How to Pray From Than Our God and King?