Introduction
It isn't difficult to learn to do
almost anything we want. If you want to learn mom or grandma's special recipe
you would go to her and have her show you how to do it. The other day I wanted
to learn how to sharpen drill bits and I went on You Tube and learned how. If
we want to learn something we ask someone, research it in a book or inquire
about it on the computer.
One day the disciples wanted to
learn something. In Luke 11:1
they asked Jesus, "teach us to pray." Several weeks ago I spoke about
why it is important for us to pray. Today, I would like to follow up on that and
talk about "how to pray." So we want to do the same thing the
disciples did and go to Jesus to learn how to pray. Instead of following the model
prayer which he gave in Luke 11 ,
however, I would like to examine the Lord's Prayer which is found in Matthew 6:5-15 .
If we want to learn how to pray
there are many things in the Bible which would help us learn and of course in
one morning we will not learn everything there is to learn about how to pray.
We will however, carefully examine what Jesus had to say when He invited us to learn in Matthew 6:5 when He said,
"whenever you pray." So let's learn how to pray from Jesus.
One of the things we will do is not
only speak about prayer, but during this message, we will also take time to
practice what Jesus teaches us and actually take time to pray because the best
way to learn something is by doing it.
I. Talk to God
I Googled "how to pray"
and was interested to learn that there are actually a lot of web sites that
talk about it and many of them are not Christian web sites. As I perused them,
I saw many answers to the question. Many of the answers given in those web
sites focus on techniques and on positions in prayer. In light of that it is
interesting to notice that the focus of Jesus is different. When Jesus answered
the question, he focused on one important thing – prayer is a conversation with
the Father. Errors in how we pray can creep in even for people who know God and
are known by him. Jesus mentions some of these and redirects our focus of
prayer to God.
A. Pray to Your Father
His first answer about how to pray
is given in verses 5 & 6. When some people read these verses, they read
"go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in
secret" and they interpret that to mean that prayer must be a private
thing. They use it to defend prayer that is personal and private and they
dismiss any participation in public prayer.
If we read only this verse, we might
get that impression, but if we read the rest of the Bible, we know that we
cannot defend such a position. Many of the Psalms are prayers which are offered
in public. Matthew 18:19 – 20Acts 4:24 we read, "When
they heard it, they raised their voices together to God…" Scripture
encourages us to pray in community, so we cannot use this verse to defend
private only praying. Although we must pray by ourselves in private, prayer in
community is also very important.
So if that is not what this passage
is about, what is it about? In these verses, Jesus condemns prayer that isn't
prayer, but performance. Their prayer wasn't "God help me, I need
you." Their prayer was "look at me, I am pious" Those who are
called hypocrites in these verses are people who are not actually praying at
all. What they are doing is putting on a performance. Evidently they were very
concerned about giving a good impression about their spirituality and so what
they did was for the purpose of being seen by others. Interestingly, their "prayer"
is answered. What they are asking for is that they will look good and they have
their reward. What is not happening, however, is that they have any connection
whatsoever with God. They are not interested in God, they are not interested in
hearing from God or speaking to God and so the extent of their reward is that
they look good.
The first point Jesus makes in
answer to the question "how do we pray" is that prayer must be to the
Father. It is a conversation with God. The key phrase in these verses is
"pray to your Father." We also need to be careful that the focus of
our prayer is on God.
B. Your Father Knows
In verses 7-8, Jesus identified
another error and teaches us more about how to pray. When we talked about why
to pray several weeks ago, I made reference to what Jesus talks about here.
Jesus warns against the use of "empty phrases" and "many
words" in our prayers. The danger which Jesus speaks about here is the
danger of seeing prayer as a way to manipulate God. The reference to
"Gentiles" reminds us that the view of the Gentiles was that their
gods were unfriendly but could be prevailed upon to act if the right words or
enough words were spoken.
As we come to God in prayer we come
to one who knows what we need before we ask and to one who is compassionate.
The key words in this lesson are "your Father knows what you need."
This corrects all kinds of errors in our prayers. It prevents us from seeking
to manipulate God. It reminds us that we are in the hands of a loving Father.
It encourages us to keep on relating to God and seeking Him, even when our
prayers are not answered in the way we wish they were.
So to simplify the answer to the
question "How do we pray", these verses tell us that we must pray as
one coming to a loving Father who cares for us and can be trusted to do what is
best. Barclay remind us, "The God to whom we pray is a God of love who is
more ready to answer than we are to pray."
C. "Our Father in Heaven"
As we get into the model prayer
which Jesus taught His disciples, the same point comes out once again in the
address which Jesus teaches us to use as we pray. We are called to pray,
"Our Father in heaven." Once again our focus is directed to
conversation with God.
We are to address Him as
"our" Father. He is not just my Father, but our Father. This helps us
remember that we have been called into community. As we pray, we do not only
pray our individual prayers, but we pray with each other and for each other.
As we address God as Father, we come
into the presence not of some distant sovereign who is unapproachable, but to
one who is related to us in the most compassionate and intimate way. He is our
Father. Therefore we can come boldly, trusting in His care for us.
Yet
as we address Him, we also acknowledge that He is not our earthly father, but our
Father in heaven. As fatherhood speaks of imminence, His being in heaven,
speaks of transcendence. This reminds us that we must respect Him as we come to
Him. He is the sovereign Lord of all the universe who is above all and worthy
of honor and glory and able to help.
II. About God's Will
Following this powerful and clear word
to direct our prayers to God we come to the actual petitions which Jesus models
for us. As we examine these petitions, we notice that they address two primary
areas. They address God's will and they address our needs. So as we pray, these
two things must also concern us. We must be concerned with the things of God
and we are invited to ask about our needs. Yet as we consider this, we need to
note that the concerns of God are addressed first and so our prayer must also
address God's concerns first. I like the way Andrew Murray puts it "First
Thy name, Thy Kingdom, Thy will; then give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver
us."
I also found it interesting that the
prayers are stated as imperatives. That tells us that we can have boldness in
our prayer. We come humbly, but not groveling. We come trusting and with
boldness. So let us look at the three petitions that have to do with God's
concerns.
A. Let Your Name Be Holy
If we listen to the language of many
people in this world, we know that the prayer which must be our beginning in
prayer is one that needs to be answered. Many if not most people do not hallow
the name of God. Many people use the name of God carelessly or even violently,
so we need to pray this prayer.
In order to understand this prayer,
we need to understand what it means to hallow the name of God. To hallow means
to consider holy. To consider holy means to recognize that He is different than
anything or anyone else in all creation. Holiness means set apart. God's name,
as God Himself, is set apart. It is not like everything else and must not be
treated as anything else. He is special, perfect and pure. To hallow His name
is to treat it as special and to handle it with care. It is not to be treated
commonly or carelessly. The Jews have a special way of obeying this. They will
not even pronounce the name of God. In so doing, they seek to honor His name.
In order to treat God's name in that
way we must first of all be aware of God. He exists and He is all knowing and
He is everywhere. If we are unaware of God and His presence everywhere, we will
not treat Him with respect.
To hallow God's name also means that
since He is special in every way and is Lord of all, He must be obeyed and we
must submit to Him.
So what does it mean to pray such a
prayer? It means that we come to God with a an awareness of Him in our world
and therefore also in our lives. It means that we come humbly, bowing before
Him and recognizing His Lordship in our lives. It means that we are praying that
all people on earth will also recognize God and hallow His name. Andrew Murray
writes, "Our prayer must be for God to reveal the holiness, the Divine power,
and the hidden glory of His name in ourselves, in all His children and in the
world."
Can we get really practical? I have
noticed that some people, even Christians, use the phrase OMG on Facebook or in
other correspondence. If we pray this prayer, then we cannot use those letters
for if we do, we would not be honoring the God to whom we pray.
B. Let Your Kingdom Come
In order to understand the next part
of the prayer, we need to understand the meaning of the "kingdom of God kingdom
of God kingdom
of God coming, but He also speaks of
the kingdom of God kingdom of God Kingdom of God
If that is the case, it is not
difficult to understand what it means to pray, "Thy kingdom come…" It
means to pray that the reign of God will come into our lives and that the reign
of God will come into this world. It is a prayer that God will make us into His
subjects who follow His way in the world. Therefore it is a request for God to
help us obey His purposes and His way every day. Can we pray this prayer if we
don't mean that we intend to obey God? Can we pray this prayer if we have no
intention of submitting to Him? It is also a prayer that the kingdom of God
To pray this prayer is a powerful
thing and we better be ready to do more than say the words. It is important in
our prayers because it draws our attention to what God wants, not what we want.
C. Let Your Will Be Done
Barclay points out that to pray
"your will be done" can be stated in different ways. It can be stated
with hopeless resignation. We can pray it and mean, "You are sovereign
and, I have no choice but to submit to your authority, so your will may as well
be done because it will be done anyway." It can also be stated with bitter
resentment if we say the same thing, but add the attitude that we don't like
what God is up to, but we will submit to Him because we know that there is no
choice. But if we know God as Our Father in heaven, then we have the blessed
privilege of being able to pray "Your will be done" in perfect love
and trust.
To pray your will be done also
focuses on what God wants. As we pray this it is a way of aligning our heart to
His heart, our will to His will and our deeds to His work.
So the content of our prayer must
first of all be directed at God, His kingdom and His will.
Prayer is best learned not only by
talking about it, but by doing it, so this morning, I would like to invite you
to pray these three prayers. I would like to invite us to gather, as we are
able, in small groups of two or three people and to try to put in your own
words something of what it means to pray "hallowed be your name, your
kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Then I will
go on to speak of the other three petitions and then we will take time to pray
about those as well. Please take about 2 or 3 minutes to pray in a small group.
If there is no one near you or if you wish, you may also pray alone, but I
would encourage you to allow God to draw you into prayer in community.
III. About Your Concerns
The final three petitions have to do
with our needs. As I have already stated, the order is important. First we need
to pray about God's concerns, then about our own. To maintain that order will
help us keep a proper perspective on life and to keep the Lord always before us
instead of keeping our needs always before us.
William Barclay points out that the
three petitions deal with life in time. Bread is a request for what we need
today. Forgiveness is a request for failures of the past and help in temptation
deals with a request for what will happen in the future.
A. About Daily Bread Daily
What a blessing that Jesus taught us
to pray about our daily bread. It reminds us that God is concerned about our physical
needs. Yet it is interesting to notice the way the prayer is phrased. It says,
"Give us this day our daily bread." It sounds redundant, but that repetition
is required. It means that each day, we can ask God for what we need that day.
It is a prayer that keeps us daily in dependence on God. It is a prayer that
helps us to stop worrying about tomorrow. It is a prayer that reminds us of
Jesus' words in Matthew 6:34 ,
"“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its
own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
As people who have enough stored up
for many days, the need to pray about today seems almost unnecessary. But we
know it is not. The needs of today may not be for what will be placed before us
at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are many needs in our lives that require
God's help today. So let us be bold and bring them before the Father and trust
His provision.
B. About Forgiveness
Daily prayer may also apply to the
request for forgiveness. The longer I live the more aware I become of the many
ways in which I sin every day. What we sometimes forget is that each time we
sin it is a debt before God. We fail to realize what David realized in Psalm 51:4 , "Against you,
you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are
justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment."
If each sin places us into
indebtedness with God, each day must also bring with it this prayer for
forgiveness. Thankfully, we already know that God has promised to forgive us as
He says in 1 John 1:9 ,
"If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
The
awareness of our frequent sin leads us to daily confession and also daily
apprehension that we are forgiven completely. Such a recognition must also lead
us to forgiving the sins of those who sin against us. This is the only prayer
about which Jesus comments further in verses 14 & 15. How often we fail to
forgive, even though we have been forgiven so much. If we honestly pray this
prayer we will be led not only to the joy of forgiveness, but also to the
conviction to be forgiving.
C. About Rescue
The key word in the final request
has been variously translated "temptation, testing or trial." The
word itself can be translated temptation or testing, but I really like the
translation "trial" as in NRSV. The Bible tells us that God does not
tempt anyone, so God cannot lead us into temptation. God does, however, allow
us to go through times of trial which can be times of tempting or testing if we
are not careful. This prayer then is a request that God will not allow us to
experience the trials of life as temptation, but rather as times of turning to
God.
When we allow trials to become
temptations, the evil one is hard at work seeking to draw us away from God and
into disobedience. Whether we translate the word "evil" or "evil
one" does not much matter, for if we yield to that temptation, the evil
one will have victory and we will be involved in evil. So as we pray this
prayer, it is a request for God to work in us so that all times of trial, which
come to us or which He permits may become in us not times of walking away from
God, but times of growing closer to Him. If God invites us to pray this prayer,
we can be assured that He will also answer this prayer.
So God invites us to pray about our
personal needs and so we want to take some time to do that. I would invite you
to pray individually or in pairs about the needs and concerns that you have.
Keeping in mind the invitation to pray about daily needs, forgiveness and
trials, I invite you to bring these kinds of things that are on your heart
before the Lord. Then we will conclude the message by praying the Lord's Prayer
together.
Conclusion
As we read the text earlier in the
service, you may have noticed that it did not include, "For yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen." Most
translations do not include that because it most likely was not in the original.
However, it is a good conclusion to the prayer, so as we conclude the service let
us pray this prayer together as we have it on the overhead.
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