The Model Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Good morning! Glad each of one of you are here with us this morning. Make sure if today is your first time with us or if you haven't done so yet you fill out a connect card or scan the QR code on the back of the chair in front of you so we can stay connected with you.
Announcements:
Announcements:
Sunday Afternoons @ The Olivers will resume next Sunday!bring food and come ready to relax and fellowship see me or Robyn after service to get our address.
Next Sunday will look a little different (explain the cardstock and pens and the importance of filling them out)
We will be kicking off our Exodus reading plan next Monday 6/12 reading plans will be available next Sunday.
Baptisms on Sunday 6/25! If you are interested make sure you sign up.
Why Prayer?
-Prayer is one of life’s great mysteries. Most people pray at least sometimes; some people, in many very different religious traditions, pray a great deal.
-At its lowest, prayer is shouting into a void on the off-chance there may be someone out there listening. At its highest, prayer merges into love, as the presence of God becomes so real that we pass beyond words and into a sense of his reality, generosity, delight and grace.
-For most Christians, most of the time, it takes place somewhere in between those two extremes. To be frank, for many people it is not just a mystery but a puzzle. They know they ought to do it but they aren’t quite sure how.
WHY WE PRAY!
Intimacy with God: Prayer is the gateway to intimacy with God. As followers of Christ, our ultimate goal is to know and experience a deep relationship with our Heavenly Father. Through prayer, we can freely express our thoughts, feelings, and desires to Him, while also receiving His love, comfort, and guidance. It is in prayer that we draw near to God and experience His presence in our lives.
Dependence on God: Prayer reminds us of our dependence on God. As flawed and limited beings, we acknowledge our need for His wisdom, strength, and provision. Through prayer, we humbly surrender our self-reliance and recognize that apart from Him, we can do nothing. It is through prayer that we actively seek His guidance and invite Him to work in and through us.
Prayer aligns us with God's will. By seeking His guidance and submitting our desires to Him, we open ourselves to His leading and direction. Through prayer, we invite God to shape our hearts and align our desires with His purposes. It is in prayer that we surrender our will to His, trusting in His perfect plans for our lives.
Worship and Adoration: Prayer provides an opportunity for Christians to worship and adore God. It allows us to express our love, gratitude, and reverence to the Creator of all things.
Prayer strengthens our faith. As we bring our hopes, fears, and struggles before God, we witness His faithfulness and experience His grace. In times of doubt or uncertainty, prayer becomes a source of encouragement and a reminder of God's promises. Through prayer, we deepen our trust in Him and grow in our reliance on His power and provision.
Prayer has the power to transform lives. As we bring our concerns, sins, and burdens before God, He works within us, molding us into the image of Christ. Through prayer, we experience His forgiveness, healing, and restoration. It is in prayer that we are transformed from the inside out, becoming vessels of His love and agents of His kingdom in the world.
Read Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
PRAY
The Context Section:
The Context Section:
Opening Statement: I love a good orange. I even enjoy peeling them..I know weird. While i was down in Florida I had some of the best oranges i’ve ever had LOL. one day some new oranges got dropped off and man it looked perfect on the outside even felt perfect! but i was in for a surprise when i went to peel it…it was disgusting, rotting on the inside.
Jesus didn’t know about/eat oranges, but he did know about things that looked fine on the outside but were rotten on the inside.
We are going to be in Matthew 6 today which is the heart of Jesus’ sermon on the mount., we find his shrewd comments on what it means to live a life that is, so to speak, good all the way through.
The word ‘righteousness’ in the first verse is actually used in 5:20. It’s a many-sided word, especially in Matthew’s gospel, but at the centre of it is the sense of the obligation which Israel had to God because of being his special people. In chapter 5, this focuses more on the law, and on what it means to keep (or not to break) that law in one’s inner life and motivation.
Now, in chapter 6, the focus is, to begin with, on the three things that Jews saw, and still see, as standard obligations: giving money, praying and fasting. In each case Jesus’ point is the same. What matters is the motive.
If these religious duties are done with an eye on the audience, they become rotten at the core.
Jesus doesn’t say that these outward things don’t matter. Giving money to those in need, praying to God day by day, and fasting when it’s appropriate—he assumes that people will continue to do all of these. What matters is learning to do them simply to and for God himself. All the Sermon on the Mount, in fact, is centered on God himself, who easily gets squeezed out of religion if we’re not careful.
Jesus also assumes that there is benefit to be had from doing these things. Many people imagine that he is asking us to do everything with no thought of reward, and are then rather shocked when he repeats, three times, his belief that our heavenly father will repay us (verses 4, 6, 18). Clearly, Jesus is not so bothered about the notion of disinterested behaviour, or ‘altruism’, as we sometimes are.
In fact, what he says is far more realistic. If we struggle to clear our hearts of any desire to do something, so that we are acting from totally pure motives, we will always find a little corner of desire somewhere—even the desire to behave altruistically! Then, instead of looking away from ourselves and towards God, we find ourselves focusing back on ourselves again, wanting to please not God but our own ideal of lofty, disinterested action.
Jesus, instead, wants us to be so eager to love and please God that we will do everything we should do for his eyes alone. Other eyes will be watching from time to time, and it’s very easy, particularly for clergy and others who are involved professionally with leading worship, to ‘perform’ for them rather than for God alone.
For that reason he gives quite specific instructions about how to be sure of integrity, of the outward appearance being matched by the inner reality. When you give money away, do your best simply to forget about it. You may have to record it in your tax return, but even that could suggest a calculating spirit, and the point here is to match the outgoing, spontaneous generosity of God himself. The best way to be sure is for nobody else to know.
The same applies to prayer. What you are in private is what you really are. Go into your inner room and talk to your father. You don’t have to make a song and dance about it, and indeed the fewer people that know you’re doing it the better. Nor do you have to go on mouthing pious phrases. You may find there are forms of words which help, as a framework or a starting-point; Jesus is about to give the disciples the framework/model he particularly recommends. But the point is to do business with God, one to one.
Jesus doesn’t say what kind of reward we should expect. That, too, is part of the point. Simply knowing God better is reward enough; but there may be other things as well. You never know till you try. What is clear is that he is inviting his followers to a life in which inside and outside match perfectly, because both are focused on the God who sees in secret.
The Model Prayer Section:
The Model Prayer Section:
Read Matthew 6:5-15
“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
I want to remind you in regard to verse 5....the issue is not the place but the purpose.
The hypocrites Jesus condemned love to pray in ways that cause them to be seen. When the purpose is to be seen, the reward comes from being seen and that reward is payment in full.
What the Lord’s Prayer provides, here at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, is a framework. Jesus doesn’t say you should always use identical words, and actually when Luke gives his version of the prayer it is different in small but interesting ways (Luke 11:2–4).
It looks as though Jesus intended this sequence of thought to act more like the scaffolding than the whole building, though of course the prayer is used as it stands (usually in the longer version we find here in Matthew) by countless Christians every day. Already by Jesus’ day the Jewish patterns of prayer were well established, with short but powerful prayers to be said three times a day.
What then does the prayer tell us about our regular approach to God? First, and so obvious that we might miss it, the prayer is deeply meaningful. It isn’t a magic formula, an ‘abracadabra’, which plugs into some secret charm or spell. It is something we can mean with our minds (though it will stretch our thinking) as well as say with our lips. It implies strongly that we humans can and should use our ordinary language in talking to the creator of the universe, and that he wants and intends us to do so. It implies, in other words, that we share with the one true God a world of meaning which he wants us to explore.
Second, everything is set within our calling God ‘father’ (as Jesus does throughout this Sermon—in fact, we could suggest that a title for the whole Sermon might be, ‘What it means to call God “father” ’). For Jews in Jesus’ day, this title for God went back to God’s action in the Exodus, rescuing Israel from Egypt and so demonstrating that ‘Israel is my son, my firstborn’ (Exodus 4:22).
Third, this God is not a man-made idol. He is the living God, who dwells in ‘heaven’, and longs to see his sovereign and saving rule come to birth on ‘earth’. This is, in fact, a prayer for the kingdom of God to become fully present: not for God’s people to be snatched away from earth to heaven, but for the glory and beauty of heaven to be turned into earthly reality as well.
When that is done, God’s name—his character, his reputation, his very presence—will be held in high honour everywhere. The first half of the prayer is thus all about God. Prayer that doesn’t start there is always in danger of concentrating on ourselves, and very soon it stops being prayer altogether and collapses into the random thoughts, fears and longings of our own minds.
Fourth, though, because this God is the creator, who loves his world and his human creatures, we can ask him for everything we need in the safe knowledge that he is far more concerned about it all even than we are ourselves. Much of the rest of the chapter spells this out. But if we are truly praying this prayer to God’s honour, we can never simply pray for food for ourselves.
We must pray for the needs of the whole world, where millions go hungry and many starve. And already we may sense, bubbling up out of the prayer, the realization that if we truly pray it we might also have to do something about it, to become part of God’s answer to our own praying. But more of that in due course.
Fifth, we pray for forgiveness. Unlike some religions, in which every single action carries eternal and unbreakable consequences, at the heart of Judaism and Christianity lies the belief that, though human actions matter very deeply, forgiveness is possible and, through God’s love, can become actual. Jesus assumes that we will need to ask for forgiveness not on one or two rare occasions but very regularly. This is a sobering thought, but it is matched by the comforting news that forgiveness is freely available as often as we need it.
There is, however, a condition, which remarkably enough is brought right into the prayer itself: we ourselves must be forgiving people. Jesus takes an extra moment afterwards to explain why. The heart that will not open to forgive others will remain closed when God’s own forgiveness is offered. Jesus will say more about this in chapter 18.
The prayer ends with a somber and realistic note. Jesus believed that the great time of testing was coming upon the world, and that he would have to walk alone into its darkness. His followers should pray to be spared it. Even now, in the light of the Resurrection and with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, we still need to pray in this way.
There will come yet more times of crisis, times when all seems dark for the world, the church, and in our own hearts and lives. If we follow a crucified Messiah, we shouldn’t expect to be spared the darkness ourselves. But we must, and may, pray to be kept from its worst ravages, and to be delivered from evil, both in the abstract and in its personified form, ‘the evil one’.
Here is the framework Jesus knew we would need. Here is your heavenly father waiting and longing for you to use it day by day as you grow in your knowledge, love and service of him.
KINGDOM…kingdom Section :
KINGDOM…kingdom Section :
As i read through Matthew 6 quite a few times this week i kept coming back to Kingdom/kingdom....and how Jesus is really addressing His Kingdom and our small kingdoms.
In a world filled with distractions and competing priorities, it is crucial that we remain focused on what truly matters—the kingdom of God. As followers of Christ, we are called to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Let us explore together the significance of this principle and how we can apply it in our lives.
Understanding God's Kingdom: God's kingdom is not merely a physical place but a spiritual reality. It encompasses His rule and reign over all creation, both now and for eternity. Jesus taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). This means that we should align our hearts and minds with God's purposes, desiring His will to be accomplished in every aspect of our lives.
Seeking God's Kingdom in Prayer: Prayer is our direct line of communication with God, and it is an essential tool for seeking His kingdom. By dedicating time to seek God's face, we acknowledge our dependence on Him and invite Him to work in and through us. In prayer, we should prioritize God's agenda over our own desires, surrendering our will to His perfect plan. Through prayer, we align our hearts with God's and invite Him to lead us in building His kingdom on earth.
Prioritizing God's Kingdom in Life: Keeping God's kingdom first in our lives means that we live in obedience to His commands and prioritize His values above all else. Jesus said, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). When we place God's kingdom as our top priority, we trust that He will provide for our needs and fulfill the desires of our hearts according to His will.
Letting God's Kingdom Transform Us: As we keep God's kingdom first in prayer and in life, we allow His transformative power to work within us. This transformation is not limited to personal growth but extends to impacting the world around us. Through our words and actions, we become agents of change, bringing God's love, justice, and mercy to those in need. We become ambassadors of His kingdom, shining His light in the darkness and pointing others to the hope found in Christ.
keeping God's kingdom first in prayer and in life is not always easy, but it is a pursuit worthy of our devotion. As we align our hearts with God's purposes, seeking His kingdom becomes the compass that guides our thoughts, decisions, and actions. Let us commit ourselves to daily prayer, inviting God to transform us and work through us as we participate in building His kingdom on earth. May our lives be a testament to the power and glory of God's kingdom, drawing others to experience the abundant life found in Christ.