The Sojourner's Prayer

The Sojourner’s Story

Imagine you were a gambler...

Family of gamblers | Inherited debt

At every opportunity, you gamble it away

Your debt is overwhelming, and you’ve lost all hope

A letter arrives, from a distant King

He has paid your debt

He has granted you a lavish inheritance in his distant kingdom

He asks that you leave as soon as possible, taking only what you need to speed your journey home

And every day you’re to send a note, listing your needs

What do you ask for?

You’ll need to ask the King for directions

You’ll need to ask the King for supplies

But this is where it gets tricky, because you’re still a gambler.

So you know you’ll need him to send money, but you don’t want him to send too much

And you know you’ll make mistakes, and you don’t want to be disqualified from citizenship in this Kingdom.

So you ask for just enough coin for the bread you need

And you ask for the King’s mercy, as you’re still a fool with debts

And you’ll ask for the clearest, quickest path to the kingdom, so long as that path doesn’t place me within reach of a casino

The Sojourner’s Prayer

The Exodus Narrative is the lens we’ve been given to understand our redemption.

Purchased from Slavery

Redeemed by the Blood

Passed through the Waters

Wandering through the Wilderness

To understand this prayer, you have to see yourself as a sojourner in the wilderness.

It makes sense of the first half

As you make the weary trek, you’re driven by a hope for Home

In the dark valley and the cold mountain top, your longing for rest is acutely felt

In the comfortable villages and cities, where you might be tempted to settle down, you recall the promise of a better land, a richer inheritance

It also makes sense of the second half

Any additional supplies, anything more than necessary,

…would slow your journey

…might tempt you to settle down

Any debts incurred along the way might compromise your citizenship

Jesus is teaching us

How to walk through the wilderness

So that we can make it to the promised land

And he’s doing it by teaching us how to pray.

The Text

Let’s read the passage together, and take it step by step.

Matthew 6:5–15 ESV

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Not too much Bread

I want to note something here about the order of these requests.

The first set (and most important)

God’s name honored, God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done

The second request, at least initially, seems like a shift in topic. It isn’t.

Take me home, God.

And give me whatever I need to get there in one piece.

In other words, these two sets of requests are fundamentally related, and every request in the second follows logically from the first.

So the first request relates to my simple, physical needs.

This is itself a reference and an allusion.

It’s an allusion to the Wilderness Generation.

It’s a reference Proverbs 30. Let me read it to you.

Proverbs 30:7–9 ESV

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

You can see from this text that Jesus has the same thing in mind.

He teaches us to ask for what we need — not in a distant sense, not in the sense of strategically planning for the future — but in a very simple, day-to-day sense.

You can see this same dynamic later in Matthew.

Matthew 6:25–33 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Notice that final encouragement feels very much like this prayer. Seek first the Kingdom — God’s Honor, God’s Reign, God’s Will — and he’ll give you what you need.

Another note relates to the ancient context.

Day laborers and desperate need.

We’re there too, whether we admit it or not

When we ask God for provision, we must be careful that our chief goal is speeding the journey, not making it comfortable

Forgive, as I Forgive

As soon as our immediate, physical needs are dealt with, we turn immediately — and dwell on — sin

When you think about this request as a sojourner, it’s clear why it’s so central an emphasis

We are the sort of people who amass debts

Our kingdom only welcomes debt-free

Arrival at the kingdom gates is pointless unless the King has forgiven our debts

I wouldn’t, though, have expected the following clause

“as we forgive our debtors.”

This is the only request that’s followed by an explanation

Look down at Matthew 6:14-15

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

What’s going on here?

First of all, the point is not that your forgiveness precedes God’s forgiveness. I can prove it in Matthew. Take a look at Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:23–35 ESV

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

The point of both passages is the same — Forgiveness shouldn’t be expected when it isn’t freely given.

Those who receive mercy should be known for their mercy, and it’s the only way to relate to the King who has forgiven our debts. Stott,

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke c) Model Prayer (6:9–13)

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

Don’t Lead Me Near Temptation

Let’s talk for a moment about the implications, because it seems like this passage suggests that, unless otherwise requested, God is leading us into temptation — literally steering us toward temptation to evil.

This word, peirasmos, in every biblical passage prior to this one, means testing, in the sense that God leads his people to situations to test them.

It’s the same word used in Matthew 4, when the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to be tested.

This word is tricky, though, because it’s used in James to describe what God never does — he never tempts anyone to do evil.

So in what way does God lead his people into “testing” or “temptation?”

Sometimes, God allows us to encounter situations that, because of our sin, might tempt us to falter.

He does this, it seems, for two reasons.

He’s reminding us who we were.

He’s proving who we’ve become.

This prayer, then, is an admission that we haven’t yet arrived, we aren’t yet so holy that we’d pass the test. So forgive us our sin, deliver us from the enemy who wants to see us sin, and keep us far from any situation that might tempt us to sin again.

This final request relates simply and logically to the other two.

We’re the sort of people who amass debts, so don’t give us too much

We’re the sort of people who amass debts, so forgive those debts

We’re the sort of people who amass debts, so keep us as far as possible from temptation to amass more

At its heart, this prayer is an admission of our frailty and foolishness against the backdrop of God’s mercy. And it’s a desperate plea not only for that mercy, but for more and more mercy every day.

As Christians mature, they see themselves as they are.

Our sinful motives are more visible

Our idolatrous hearts are more transparent

Our need for grace is more clear

We must reflect this awareness in our prayers.

We know how prone we are to sin

We know our enemy is lurking about, seeking to devour us

We know on our worst days we want to be devoured

So we ask God to keep us, if possible, from any arena which might include temptation to sin.

And that’s okay, because this prayer from start to finish is an expression of frailty and dependence.

Reflections and Challenges

So we’ve spent a few weeks now studying this prayer, and if that reflection doesn’t change the way you live and how you think, and especially how you pray, then I’m afraid for you it’s been a waste of time.

So here’s a few takeaways that might fuel those changes.

Your should be praying “us,” not always “me.”

You’re talking to your Father who loves you.

You’re talking to your King, who is holy.

Your prayers should be the prayers of a Sojourner.

Ask God to provide for your most basic needs. In other words, there is no request too small.

Ask God for the return of his Kingdom, the glory of his Name, the doing of his Will. In other words, there is no request too big.

If a significant portion of your prayer life isn’t about your sin, you should ask for eyes to see it.