Sermon Tone Analysis

The Disciple’s Prayer

We see the

We see the specific setting of the disciple’s prayer – usually called the Lord’s prayer, except this is the prayer the Lord gave to us.

Jesus was praying.

When He stopped, one of the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, as John the Baptist taught his disciples.

records an abbreviated form of the prayer found in .

Warning Against Engaging in Non-Prayer

matt 6 5

Jesus sets the context by beginning with two warnings.

First, we not to pray like religious hypocrites, who only pray so that other people see them.

Second, we are not to pray like pagans, who utter repetitive, superstitious prayers.

As to the religious hypocrities, Jesus says,

matt 6

This is not a prohibition against praying with other people or in a group, it is a prohibition against praying with the sole goal of being noticed and praised by others.

This is not prayer at all.

It is a speech that invites congratulations and applause.

Instead, Jesus says,

We must remember that prayer is essentially a personal appeal to God.

Some say that prayer is a conversation with God.

That’s only true if God’s part of the conversation is His Word, the Scriptures.

He speaks in His Word, and we respond in prayer according to His promise, and He works according to His perfect will.

Praying According to the Will of God

You know, there are people who react negatively when someone mentions praying according to the will of God.

There is a lot that could be said, but I’ll just say this.

If someone thinks that the will of God is a problem or an obstacle to faithful, believing prayer, then they don’t understand His nature and character.

Not only is His will not an obstacle to prayer, it is the only means by which we could ever expect an answer to prayer!

As to the pagans, Jesus says,

Jesus then goes on to say,

“Heap up empty phrases” is a single word in the Greek text, and it means to repeat the same words over and over and over.

Many religions do this, of course, and some even use the Disciples’ prayer in this way, which is about as rebellious a response as someone could have to the Word of God.

Hundreds of years before Jesus spoke these words, the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of the false god Baal.

Both would set up a sacrifice.

The prophets of Baal would call out to him; Elijah would call out to Yahweh.

Whichever one answered with fire would be recognized as God.

The prophets of Baal spent an entire morning crying out, “Oh Baal, answer us!”, with absolutely no result.

After being provoked by Elijah, who suggested that perhaps Baal was on a journey, or asleep, or in the bathroom, they intensified their efforts, cutting themselves until the blood ran all over them, and raving until late afternoon.

a warning not to heap up empty phrases like the pagans.

That phrase is a single word in the Greek text, and it means to prattle, to stammer, to repeat the same words over and over again, to speak aimlessly, to babble.

When Elijah’s turn came, we read,

The Prophets of Baal

The Prophets of Baal

Hundreds of years before this took place, the prophet Elijah had a spiritual showdown with the prophets of the false god, Baal.

They set up a simple experiment.

Elijah would prepare a sacrifice; so would the prophets of Baal.

They would appeal to their respective gods – Yahweh, for Elijah, and Baal, for his prophets – to receive the offering with fire.

The prophets of Baal went first.

They prayed all morning, “Oh Baal, answer us!” It’s very sad, really; they worshiped a false god, but they were convinced Baal was the true God.

This was Baal’s moment to shine, his opportunity to prove himself.

At noon Elijah mocked Baal’s silence: maybe he’s daydreaming; maybe he is in the bathroom; maybe he’s on a journey; maybe he’s asleep.

And so the prophets of Baal doubled their efforts, continuing to cry out, cutting themselves until the blood flowed, and raving like madmen all afternoon.

How incredibly tragic.

There was no voice.

No one answered.

No one paid attention.

It’s not that Baal failed to answer their prayers to send down fire; it’s that they had utterly committed themselves to a god which was nothing more than a demonic lie.

What a contrast when Elijah prepared his sacrifice, and prayed one time:

1ki 18 36-37

God does not require endless repetition from us; He doesn’t have to be persuaded to answer; He doesn’t tease us by making us fulfill some mysterious condition.

He commands us to ask, and then trust Him to do what glorifies His name and achieves His purpose.

We are to persevere in prayer, which is not a reference to heaping up empty words, but returning daily with the same concern.

Prayer is not pulling on some cosmic slot machine, believing that if we pull the handle enough times we’ll get lucky, but calling out to our Sovereign, All-Mighty, All-Powerful God to act according to His will and glory and purpose.

; or like pagans, who, like the prophets of Baal, went on and on and one.

The Prayer Itself

The Disciples’ prayer itself is an excellent model for prayer.

Our Father in heaven

Jesus teaches us to direct our prayer to God the Father.

But notice something else.

The Father is OUR Father, not simply MY Father.

Prayer, by its very definition, is personal between us and God.

But Jesus tells us that, at the same time, no one can claim a special, unique, exclusive relationship to God the Father.

He is OUR Father.

Let me also point out that there is not a single first-person singular pronoun in the Disciples’ prayer.

We see our, us, and we, not my, me, and I.

As each of us prays, we pray for all of us.

Give all of us our daily bread; forgive all of us our debts; lead all of us not into temptation but to deliverance.

Hallowed be Your name

Hallowed means holy, and holy means separate, untouched by sin, uncontaminated.

To say that God is holy is to say that He is separate from His creation, even while He is present at all places at all times.

He is untouched and uncontaminated by sin.

No matter what we do – even if every human being were to shout curses at His name and commit the worst possible sins – He is never anything but who He is.

His perfection is the source of tremendous hope.

He never lies, He never gets it wrong, He never acts in any way apart from His own perfect, flawless nature.

Your kingdom come

There is a period at the end of these words in the Greek text.

You all know that as we recite this prayer “Thy kingdom come” and “Thy will be done” get thrown together without a space, but we really ought to separate them.

One day Jesus is going to establish His kingdom on earth, and no other earthly kingdom will be allowed to stand.

He is not going to use the best human government or nation that He can find.

They are all corrupt, all wicked, all rebellious, all opposed to Him.

They will all crumble into dust.

When we pray for His kingdom to come, we are asking for that exact thing.

We agree that no earthly kingdom – ours included – can compare to His, or should be allowed to stand in permanent hostility toward Him.

More than that, we shift our loyalty from the kingdom in which we live to the kingdom He will bring.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

The will of God is His intended purpose and desired outcome.

Asking for His will to be accomplished is to surrender our own will in favor of His.

We need to recognize that God has decreed all things that take place on earth, and that nothing happens apart from His will.

says,

That is, He has the power to block and and redefine every human desire, but nothing blocks or redefines His will.

He is truly sovereign over all things.

We pray to Him as the One who is sovereign over every circumstance of life.