How to Pray (Part 2)
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 30:34
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· 64 viewsJesus teaches us to begin our prayers recognizing to whom we are praying and revering his name. Find out what that means in this week's message from Matthew 6:9.
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In our message last week, we looked at two misconceptions about prayer: it isn’t a show, and it isn’t all about using lots of words or using the right words.
However, as we wrapped up, you may have still been left wishing you had a template to get you started as you think about prayer.
As we keep going and look at Matthew 6:9 this morning, we are going to see Jesus giving that to his disciples.
Many of you are familiar with these verses, because they are often referred to as The Lord’s Prayer. I prefer to think of it using the term that is in the heading above this section in my Bible, which is, “The Model Prayer”.
Jesus is giving us a model, not necessarily a specific set of phrases to repeat. Remember, he just said that prayer isn’t about repeating the same phrases over and over again, so he isn’t going back on what he said.
Instead, he is giving us a model of the kinds of things we should have as a regular part of our prayer life.
There are times when we pray for longer periods of time, and we may include most or all of the different elements.
Other times, we just have a quick moment to ask God’s help, like Nehemiah did in Nehemiah 2, and we may not get to each of these things.
However, the model Jesus gives us in verses 9-13 give us a framework, or a template, or categories for us to think about as we develop our prayer life.
So, if you are still struggling with what to say to God, let these verses serve as a guide to help you.
You may still be asking questions about what we believe and who this God is we talk about, and this is a great way to get to know who he is.
I know that some of you are on the opposite end of the spectrum, and you are very comfortable with your prayer life.
As we go back through this model prayer, I would encourage you to let God highlight areas where you may fallen into a pattern and either neglect certain kinds of requests or have lost sight of the beauty and power of what you are saying in prayer.
I want us to read through the entire prayer, and then we will go back and focus this week, just on verse 9...
Depending on which version you are using, yours may finish with the phrase, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
We don’t have time for a full discussion of it this morning, but the reason this translation doesn’t include that phrase is because scholars believe that may have been added in later by a scribe, perhaps to round it out for times when the Bible would be read publicly in a service.[1]
If you have questions about that, let me know.
For the rest of the time we have together, I want us to drill down into this first part of the Model Prayer, found in verse 9.
As you think about how to pray, we see from this verse that prayer begins with recognizing and revering the person we are addressing.
The words you use may change, but these concepts should be a part of the prayers you and I pray.
So, then, where do we start? We start our prayers by...
1) Recognize to whom you are praying.
1) Recognize to whom you are praying.
Jesus begins by teaching us to address God as, “Our Father in heaven...”
There is a lot packed into those few short words, so let’s look at them.
First, notice that Jesus starts by saying “Our Father”.
For those who have been with us throughout the year, I want you reach way back in your memory and think back to the target audience for the Sermon on the Mount.
Although Jesus was speaking to massive crowds from all over, he was directing the teaching to the group closest to him: his disciples. Look back at 5:1-2...
When Jesus calls us to pray to “our” Father, we need to realize that not everyone can call God their Father.
There was an idea that made waves over a century ago that we still run into today called “The Universal Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man.”
It is the idea that, since God created everyone, then he can be described as the father of everyone and we are therefore all brothers.
The important kernel of truth in that is that yes, we are all created in the image of God by God with equal value, worth, and dignity.
However, the Bible indicates that only those who have been adopted into God’s family can call him their Father:
But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,
who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
You see, you and I are created by God for a relationship with him, but our sin—all the things we have done wrong or all the good things we should have done but haven’t--has separated us from God.
Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead so he could offer us new life. Anyone who will turn from their sin and receive Jesus as both their Savior and the Lord (or leader) of their life will be adopted into the family of God.
That’s not based off what we deserve, but based off what Jesus has done.
From the very beginning, then, we see praying this way is only available for those who have a relationship with God through Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and Lordship.
Now, here’s the flip side of that: If we have been adopted into his family, then we have the privilege of praying to God as our Father.
He isn’t just the distant, detached king of the universe; no, he is our loving Father who, as Jesus has already said in chapter 6, sees what is done in secret and knows what we need before we ask him.
The terminology Jesus uses here is unique—this isn’t the way that the Jews who heard Jesus would have thought about prayer.
It is more intimate, more personal than what they had thought.
Jesus balances that intimacy, though, by reminding us that God is still much greater than we are.
We are here on earth, and God sits enthroned in heaven.
Think about how God described himself through Isaiah
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
“For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God isn’t like us! He operates on a whole different level than we do, and we need to keep that in mind.
If he is in heaven and higher than me, then that means he has all the power in the universe.
The fact that I can pray to him should humble me and encourage me at the same time!
Yes, for those who are in Christ, we know that God is our loving heavenly Father who wants us to come to him in prayer.
At the same time, we need to remember that he is the God who sits in heaven and is over all the earth, so I should approach him with humility.
That plays out in the first request Jesus actually teaches us to make.
Not only should our prayers recognize to whom we are praying, they also should...
2) Revere him as he deserves.
2) Revere him as he deserves.
That statement sounds weird, doesn’t it?
In our culture, we don’t really revere people anymore.
We have seen so many scandals that it is hard to find people to look up to anymore.
Our culture has taken to “cancelling” people who fall short of their standards, which has brought about a skeptical cynicism that just waits for someone to cross the line and lose our trust.
For crying out loud, even Lori Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky from Full House and Abigail on When Calls the Heart is headed to prison!
It is hard to find a hero right now!
Maybe that is ultimately good, as God is showing us that every human being has problems and will fail you at some point.
This is what sets the God we are addressing through prayer apart. He isn’t like us, and he isn’t like the gods we make up in our myths and stories.
Here, Jesus calls us to pray for God’s name to be honored as holy.
What does that even mean?
As one commentator said it,
“‘Name’ refers to one’s person, character, and authority.”[2]
Have you ever heard of someone talking about “having a good name”?
When people moved around less and you got to know generations of a family or a business, “having a good name” was the idea that people could trust you. You were reliable, honest, hard-working, kind—those kinds of things.
Now, we might use the term “reputation” or possibly even “brand identity”
There is a great part of the Old Testament that deals with God’s name. It is found in an exchange between God and Moses in Exodus 33-34. Moses is being very bold with God and asking him to reveal himself to Moses to he can understand as much of God as he possibly can:
Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.”
He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
God told Moses that he would proclaim his name as he passed by.
Remember, this was the personal name, that “I AM” name we talked about a couple weeks ago, that set the God of Israel apart from every other God.
Not only is he going to say his name to Moses, he is going to explain what his name represents, his “person, character, and authority”, if you will:
The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.”
The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,
maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
Woah! That’s the God to whom we are praying—that’s his name: he is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love and truth, forgiving those who call on him, yet justly punishing those who reject him.
When Jesus tells us to honor his name as holy, this is the idea behind it!
So, if that’s his name, then what does it mean to honor it as holy?
The basic idea of holiness is being set apart.
When God saves us, he sets us apart. We are no longer slaves to sin, and now we are set apart to serve him and honor him and do what he tells us to do.
To honor his name as holy is to set him apart from everything else—to acknowledge and tell others that there is nothing else in all of creation that compares to the God to whom we are praying.
Honoring him as holy is declaring that he is the source of compassion, grace, love, and justice.
Honoring him as holy means I won’t elevate anything else to the position only he holds, because nothing else could ever measure up to him. I am not going to look to my job or my spouse or my kids or my grandkids for my ultimate purpose, my ultimate source of love, or anything else—I will seek to revere his name as holy.
The first request that Jesus tells us to make is to ask God to work in us and in the world around us so that his name would be revered and honored for who he truly is.
Is that how you prayed this week? Did you begin your prayer by asking God to move so he would be made famous, so he would be exalted, so others would see how great he is, or did you just launch right into your laundry list of needs?
Yes, he is our Father, and he sees our private prayers and he knows what we need, but we need to acknowledge that he is to be set apart in our lives and in our world.
So Jesus tells us we recognize to whom we are praying, and to revere his name.
What do we need to do with that?
First, if you are here and you have never entered into a relationship with God through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, then you need to see that the compassionate, gracious, just God is inviting you into a relationship with himself, and he can become your Father today.
If you are here and you know that God has brought you into his family through Jesus’ sacrifice for you, then take a look at both the prayers you pray and the way you live. Do you come to God as your Father who loves you, yet lives in heaven and is worthy of honor, or do you treat him like Santa or a vending machine, trying to just get from him what you want?
As you pray for God to work to honor his name, how are you allowing him to do that through you? Could the people around you look at your life and see how great your God is? If not, then make your prayer that God would honor his name through the opportunities he gives you to show him to people.
Endnotes:
[1] Translator’s commentary on Matthew 6:13. The NET Bible First Edition Notes. Biblical Studies Press, 2006.
[2] Blomberg, Craig. Matthew. Vol. 22. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.