The Commands of Christ-20c

March 23, 2022 A Christian's Prayer

C. S. Lewis was once criticized for not caring for the Sermon on the Mount. He replied, "As to 'caring for' the Sermon on the Mount, if 'caring for' here means 'liking' or enjoying, I suppose no one 'cares for' it. Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledge hammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure."1

Lewis was right. Studying the Sermon on the Mount can be a devastating experience. It exposes the depth of our sin and the shallowness of our commitment. But the pain it inflicts is meant to heal not destroy us. In fact, the Sermon on the Mount could be called the Christian's job description. It is the most complete summary we have of Jesus' ethical expectations for his followers. Throughout church history it has been a helpful guide and a convicting challenge.

LifeGuide Bible Studies - Matthew: Being Discipled by Jesus.

So tonight we look at the portion of the Sermon that deals with how to pray.

Read Matthew 6:7-15

Matthew 6:7–15 (NASB95)

7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ 14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Let’s recite the Lord’s Prayer together:

Matthew 6:9-13 (NASB) "Pray, then, in this way:

'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 'Give us this day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. '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.]'

A couple of thoughts:

You could recite this placing emphasis on a different word each time.

The first 2 weeks of the study we delved into the first question:

What do our prayers tell about what we believe the nature of God to be (we looked at a Psalm as an example)?

Have you taken time to examine your own prayers?

It might change your prayers.

Bulletin (Our Identity in Christ)

Last week we are a child John 1:12

John 1:12 NASB95

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

This week, Jesus calls us His friend

What do our CORPORATE prayers tell about what we believe the nature of God to be?

What does the Lord’s Prayer tell us about the nature of God?

White Board

And we also mentioned how Jesus uses different words in the Gospel according to Luke.

Is this a contradiction? An error?

Luke 11:1–4 (NASB95) It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 3 ‘Give us each day our daily bread. 4 ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’ ”

Why does Luke look different than Matthew?

Matthew was written to (the Jews).

Luke was written to (Gentiles?).

Specifically it was written to (Theophilus) with the intention that it be read by others, too.

Luke 1:1–4 (NASB95) Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

The NIV Application Commentary says:

Luke Purpose

When one considers Luke alone, it is the person of Jesus and the nature of God’s work through him to deliver humanity that takes center stage. Theophilus is probably a believer, who as a Gentile, a non-Jewish Semite, or a God-fearer may well be wondering what he is doing in an originally Jewish movement that has faced so much rejection from the Jews. Does he really belong, and is salvation really found in that movement? Is this what God is about? Luke reassures Theophilus that Jesus does stand at the center of God’s redemptive plan by explaining how that rejection took place. He explains that the community Jesus formed must be prepared to walk a similar path.

If written to Gentiles, that is why Luke has Jesus saying, “Pray these words...”

Gentiles, as seen in Matthews version apparently do not know how to pray.

As we look at verses 7 & 8 I like what the POSB Commentary says:

The Three Great Rules for Prayer (Part II), 6:7-8

(6:7-8) Introduction: among the religious there is often a tendency toward long prayers, particularly in public. Too often people measure prayer by its fluency and length, thinking that length means devotion.

"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few" (Eccles. 5:2).

Christ puts the matter very simply, yet strongly: "When ye pray," follow three great rules.

1. Rule 1: do not use empty repetition (v.7).

2. Rule 2: do not speak much (v.7).

3. Rule 3: trust God (v.8).

Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary - Matthew I.

2. How do pagan prayers (Matthew 6:7) differ from the persistent prayers Jesus himself offered (Matthew 26:44)?

Matthew 26:44 NASB95

44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

Question 2. It seems that Jesus is not condemning perseverance in prayer but rather verbosity, especially in those who speak without thinking.

3. In what ways might we be guilty of mindless, meaningless prayers today?

We just go through the motions.

We have adopted some ritual, rote prayer that we don’t even think about before we pray it.

4. If, as Jesus says in Matthew 6:8, God already knows what we need, why should Christians pray?

Question 4. Believers do not pray to God to tell him things he doesn't know or to motivate him to keep his promises or to urge him to do what he really doesn't want to do at all.

Rather, prayer is for our benefit—to exercise our faith and to cast our worries on him. As Luther put it in his commentary on this passage, "By our praying . . . we are instructing ourselves more than we are him."

5. What two natural divisions do you observe in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)?

Question 5. In the first part of this question you are simply looking for what verses are covered in each half of the Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:9-10 and Matthew 6:11-13.

What is the focus of each?

Then, in the second part of the question, look for the main subject of each half. If the group needs help, tell them to notice that in the second half of the Lord's Prayer the possessive adjective changes from "your" to "our," as we turn from God's affairs to our own.

The well-known phrase "for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever" is not found in the earliest manuscripts.

6. What does the phrase "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9) tell us about God?

Question 6. The words “in heaven” denote not the place of God's abode so much as the authority and power at his command as the creator and ruler of all things. Thus he combines fatherly love with heavenly power, and what his love directs his power is able to perform.

7. What does it mean to hallow God's name (Matthew 6:9)?

Question 7. The name of God is not a combination of the letters G, O and D.

The name stands for the person who bears it, for his character and activity.

So God's "name" is God himself as he is in himself and has revealed himself.

His name is already holy in that it is separate from and exalted over every other name.

But we pray that it may be hallowed, ("treated as holy"), because we ardently desire that due honor may be given to it, that is to him whose name it is, in our own lives, in the church and in the world.

8. God is already King. In what sense are his kingdom and perfect will still future (Matthew 6:10)?

Question 8. The kingdom of God is his royal rule. Again, as he is already holy so he is already King, reigning in absolute sovereignty over both nature and history. Yet when Jesus came he announced a new and special break-in of the kingly rule of God, with all the blessings of salvation and the demands of submission which the divine rule implies. To pray that his kingdom may "come" is to pray both that it may grow, as through the church's witness people submit to Jesus, and that soon it will be consummated when Jesus returns in glory to take his power and reign.

9. In our self-centered culture we are often preoccupied with our own little name, empire and will rather than God's. How can we combat this tendency?

Question 9. You might ask the group to think of situations in which we could demonstrate greater concern for God's name than our name, God's kingdom than our "kingdom" and God's will than our will.

10. Some early commentators allegorized the word bread (Matthew 6:11), assuming that Jesus could not be referring to something as mundane as our physical needs. Why is it perfectly appropriate to pray for actual "daily bread"?

Question 10. Early church fathers like Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine thought the reference was either to "the invisible bread of the Word of God" (Augustine) or to the Lord's Supper. Jerome, in the Vulgate, translated the Greek word for "daily" by the monstrous adjective "supersubstantial"; he also meant the Holy Communion. A more ordinary, down-to-earth interpretation seems most likely—just as the Lord daily provided manna for the Israelites in the desert (Exodus 16:4).

11. How is our heavenly Father's forgiveness related to our forgiving others (Matthew 6:12, 14-15)?

Question 11. Jesus certainly does not mean that our forgiveness of others earns us the right to be forgiven. Rather he means that God forgives only the penitent and that one of the chief evidences of true penitence is a forgiving spirit. Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offense against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offenses of others, it proves that we have minimized our own.

12. If God cannot tempt us and trials are beneficial (James 1:2, 13), then what is the meaning of Matthew 6:13?

Question 12. It is probable that the prayer is more that we may overcome temptation, than that we may avoid it. Perhaps we could paraphrase the whole request as, "Do not allow us so to be led into temptation that overwhelms us, but rescue us from the evil one." So behind these words that Jesus gave us to pray are the implications that the devil is too strong for us, that we are too weak to stand up to him, but that our heavenly Father will deliver us if we call on him.

13. In what ways do your prayers need to more closely resemble this model prayer?

14. Take time now to pray, using the Lord's Prayer as your model.

LifeGuide Topical Bible Studies - Sermon on the Mount.

LifeGuide Topical Bible Studies - Sermon on the Mount.