The Disciples Prayer- Version 2
Notes
Transcript
The Disciples Prayer
Text: Matthew 6:5–15 (KJV 1900)
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
( For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.)
Introduction:
A “Model” prayer
* The prayer in which we call “the Lord’s prayer” has been mislabeled by us for many years.
* The pray in our text this morning would be more accurately called “the Disciples Prayer.”
* Jesus did not actually pray this prayer. The prayer that we call “The Lord’s Prayer” was not a prayer that Jesus prayed, but it was in actuality a model prayer for His disciples to pray.
* If you wanted to read how Jesus actually prayed, they we have a actual prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father in John chapter 17.
* We usually refer to this prayer as the “High Priestly” Prayer of Jesus because in this prayer He prays to the Father for his disciples.
* The prayer which we have before us in our text this morning, is not a prayer that Jesus prayed, but it is actually a model prayer in which Jesus gives to His disciples in response to them asking Him to teach them how to properly pray.
* Most of us here this morning use the Lord’s prayer as a prayer that is to be recited word for word in a ritual type of manner, but before we are through this morning, I would like for you to see that this is just the opposite of what Jesus had intended for this prayer to be.
* The Lord’s Prayer, or more accurately The disciples prayer, was given by Jesus to his disciples as a sort of “outline” of how proper praying should be done.
* The Lord’s prayer was never given to be a ritual prayer, but it is a guide to proper and right praying.
* Now, don’t get me wrong, there is great value to memorizing this prayer, and praying this prayer in public gatherings as we often do, but the intended way this prayer was to be used is as an outline, a guide, a pattern if you will, to proper and right praying.
The context of the Model Prayer
* We need to look at the context in which this prayer was given in order to see the true use of this prayer this morning.
* When Jesus arrived on the scene and began preaching to the people of Galilee and Judea the religious scene of that day was dominated by the religious rulers.
* The Jewish religion of that day had become like the Catholic religion. It had become a source of national and spiritual pride.
* The Lord had given the Scriptures containing the Law, and the feasts, and the sacrificial system, to Israel so that they might reveal the character of who God is, and what He is like, to the nations of the world.
* The nation of Israel was to be a witness for God to all the nations, but instead they had become full of pride both national and spiritually.
* Numerous times we see the them in the Bible in their pride arguing with Jesus that He was wrong, and they were right because they were the children of Abraham.
* Rebuking their pride, John the Baptist said:
Matthew 3:6–9 (KJV 1900)
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham!
* Jesus rebuked the religious rulers and their pride calling them hypocrites and children of the devil:
John 8:37–44 (KJV 1900)
39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.
Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
* In their pride, the nation of Israel had become full of pride, and their Jewish religion had become a system of ceremonies and religious rituals, full of works of the flesh, but empty of a heart toward God- the had become hypocrites.
* Jesus told the woman at the well that God was searching for those who would worship Him, not as the Jews, but in spirit and in truth:
* Turn with me for a minute to John chapter 4 and verse 23:
John 4:23–24 (KJV 1900)
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
* I want to insert a note here- The Jews had become a nation of false worshipers!
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Isaiah 29:13 (KJV 1900)
13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, And with their lips do honour me,
But have removed their heart far from me,
* Now I want you to see that this is always the case of religion. Religion is nothing more than man in his pride trying to do good works to gain God’s approval.
* These religious rulers of Jesus day thought that they had gained the favor of God by their religious activities, their works.
* There are many hundreds of religions and religious denominations in the world today, but they can all be separated into two groups:
1). False religions that emphasize man’s teaching, and precepts, and works and
2). True religion. True religion honors the work of God, not the works of man.
Isaiah 29:13 (KJV 1900)
13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, And with their lips do honour me,
But have removed their heart far from me,
* Now let me read the rest of this passage in Isaiah 29:13
And their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
* That was the pinnacle of the false religion of religious pride that engulfed the people of Israel in Jesus day- the precepts of men!
* I want you to see this morning that God in not interested in what you can do for Him. God does not need you, but you desperately need God this morning.
* Jesus expounded this scripture in Isaiah 29 in Matthew 29, to those religious rulers of His day in Matthew 15. Turn with me to Matthew 15 and verse one:
Matthew 15:1–9 (KJV 1900)
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3 But he answered and said unto them,
* Now, Jesus in his wisdom answered their question with another question. Jesus was in the habit of doing that you know.
* Many times when the Jews would ask Jesus a question to trip Him up, Jesus would simply ask them a question they could not answer.
Someone once asked a Jew “Why do you Jews always answer a question with another question?” to that the Jew replied “What’s wrong with that?”
* So Jesus answers their question with another question…
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free.
Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites,
well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
* Now, let me bring this all into focus now as to how this gives us the context of what we call the Lord’s prayer this morning.
* Jesus was saying to these prideful, Pharisees that their worship of God was deficient! Their kind of worship was not pleasing to God!
* Look back in our text chapter in Matthew 6-
* First back up to chapter 5 and look at verse 20. This lets us in on what Jesus is talking about when He gives the Lord’s prayer:
Matthew 5:20 (KJV 1900)
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
* This sets the stage for what Jesus is talking about in chapter 6. Jesus is saying to his disciples “the way that the Pharisees worship God in insufficient, their worship is inadequate- you need to worship God different if you are going to worship God correctly.
* Now let’s skip down to verse one of chapter six:
* In chapter 6 and verse 1 Jesus tells them that their giving is inadequate…
Matthew 6:1–4 (KJV 1900)
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
* Jesus said “don’t give like the Hypocrites!
* Look with me now at verse 16:
* In verse 16 Jesus tells them that their fasting was inadequate…
Matthew 6:16–18 (KJV 1900)
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites,
of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
* Jesus said don’t fast like the hypocrites!
* Look now at verse 19- Jesus tells them that that their faith in God is inadequate…
Matthew 6:19–21 (KJV 1900)
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:24–25 (KJV 1900)
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
* Jesus says to His disciples “Don’t trust God like the Hypocrites!
* Look now at chpate7 and verses 1-5- Jesus tells them that the way they Judge others is inadequate…
Matthew 7:1–5 (KJV 1900)
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
* The Pharisees were guilty of Hypocritical Judgment.
* This scripture is taken too many times quoted out of its proper context and the meaning is distorted and twisted in something different than what the Bible intends for it to mean.
* In context with setting in which Jesus said this, He is not saying to not ever Judge. Jesus is saying that when you Judge, Judge righteously, not like a hypocrite.
* How does a hypocrite judge? He judges others for what He is guilty of himself.
* The gay crowd quotes this passage from the Bible to us and tells us that we have no right to judge them and keep our children away from the propagation of their shameful debauchery.
* Who is the devils crowd to misquote the Bible to us? I’ll tell you who they are- they are hypocrites!
* Jesus says to His disciples here “Don’t Judge unrighteously like the hypocrites do!
* Now look with me at chapter 7 and verse 6:
* Look now at chapter 7 and verse 6- Jesus tells them that that their evangelism is inadequate…
Matthew 7:6 (KJV 1900)
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
* Jesus tells them not to give their pearls, “The precepts of God, the Law, and the ordinances of worship that God had ordained for true worship, by true believers-
* Jesus tells his disciples not to give the things of God to the unsaved and undegenerated in the name of “reaching them for God.”
* We live in a day in which this is happening right before our very eyes.
* We are being told that in order to reach people with the teaching of Jesus that we need to attract the world to Jesus.
* Churches are changing their music to look like the world’s music so they can bring the world into the church. As a result the church has become more worldly.
* Preachers have toned down the preaching about Hell and Judgment and changed their sermons to speak only about the love and forgiveness of God, and have totally neglected the righteous anger of a Holy God over sin!
* We have removed any talk of the precious blood of Christ as only payment for man’s sin from our sermons and our hymnbooks and the result has been a churches full of “so called” Christians who live in sin and ungodliness, who glory in being “politically correct.” but they reject the Word of God because it is offensive to the world.
* The result of the Church casting its pearls before swine is churches full of people who live ungodly, unholy, sinful lives and yet they still claim the name of Jesus Christ!
* Thinking that we need to be more like the world, Churches have filled their membership roles with unbelievers who take the pearls of the church like Lord’s supper, they are Baptized in the name of Jesus, they use our Bible, they use the name of our savior, but they are unsaved, undegenerated, unbelievers who have a form of religious worship, but they are like the Pharisees in Jesus day- hypocrites!
* Jesus said beware “lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you !”
* Thinking the that they were doing God a favor, churches, in the name of evangelism, have cast their pearls before the unbelieving swine and it is going to cost the church of God in the long run.
* These unbelievers in the church are the ones who will ultimately rise to power in the denominations of the major protestant churches. We see this happening right before our very eyes.
* This is why the Episcopalpailains, the Methodists, the presberterians,
All have lost the fight for the Word of God, and now ordain openly homosexuals and have expressed their support for same sex marriage.
* We should have learned when the early church fathers cast their pearls before the swine of the pagan religions in the time shortly after the last apostles died.
* We should have learned from History when we saw the church become mixed with the world and was taken over by the ungodly, unsaved system of Popes and Cardinals and the political power and corruption that filled the entire world from the 15th to the 17 centuries!
* We should have learned not to cast our pearls before the swine of the Politics of the world.
* Under governments that endorsed the Roman Catholic Church true believers suffered cruel tortures and were burned at the stake under the Spanish inquisition, the inquisition under bloody Mary, and the murderous crusades of the of the Roman Catholic Church!
* Jesus warned us in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 6 that if we cast our pearls before swine it would turn around and bite and us!
Matthew 7:6 (KJV 1900)
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
* Jesus says to His disciples here “Don’t cast your pearls before swine like the hypocrites do!
* Now, I want you to back up with me to our text in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 5.
* I have left out something in Jesus sermon about not being like the Pharisees, the hypocrites on purpose.
* Here, now that we have set our text of the Lord’s Prayer in context with what comes before it, and what comes after it, I believe that we are now equipped to understand the Lord’s prayer.
* Jesus told his disciples in verse 5 that their praying was inadequate!
Text: Matthew 6:5–15 (KJV 1900)
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
( For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.)
* This sermon will serve as an introduction to a series of sermons about the Lord’s Prayer that will take us about 8 to ten weeks as we look at how Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.
* We will take the Lord’s Prayer and break it down phrase by phrase so that we might fully understand what the Lord’s prayer teaches about how to pray.
* There are two spiritual activities which are to be unceasingly part of a believer's life. There are two great pillars that hold up the believer in the matter of daily living:
* One is the study of the Word of God, and the second one is prayer.
* The apostles confessed this truth in Acts 6:4, when they said "We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word."
* Prayer is our speaking to God. Studying the Word is God speaking to us.
* The Bible tells us that there are two things that we are to be constantly doing, things that we are command to do “without ceasing” every minute, every day- meditation upon the Word of God in our heart, and a constant attitude of prayer.
* Now I want to make a note here that one of this great pillars takes a priority over the other- it is more important to study the Word of God than is is to Pray for two reasons:
1). It is more important for us to hear what God has to say to us than for God to hear what we say to Him.
2). By reading the World of God, we learn how to correctly pray to God.
* Prayer and studying the Bible make up the entire communication between God and man.
* We are to be in constant fellowship and communication with God at all times.
* All the way back in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, God says that when He gave his law to man that it was His will man would talk of the law when he sat down, when he stood up, when he was lying down, and when he was walking in the way.
* The Psalms teach that man was to meditate on the law of God day and night.
* The law of God was to be a matter of his thoughts and a matter of his conversation all the time.
* And so it is with prayer also. The Apostle Paul says, "Pray
without ceasing."
* The Apostle Paul says, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication."
* The New Testament tells us that we are in everything by prayer, with thanksgiving to make our requests known unto God. We are to be praying at all times, we are to be studying the Word, taking it in, meditating on it, giving it out at all times.
* Those two things then become the consuming elements of the life of the believer, hearing God as He speaks in His Word and speaking to God in our own prayers.
* We have dealt with Studying the Word of God on other occasions, but for the next 8 to 10 weeks I would like to take some time to focus on praying.
* George Muller, that great man of prayer, was asked how much time he spent in prayer, his reply was, "I live in the spirit of prayer, I pray as I walk, when I lie down, and when I arise, the answers are always coming."
* Prayer for George Muller was a way of life. Jesus knew that.
* Jesus knew that prayer is to be a way of life.
* Jesus stops right in the middle of His discourse on the Sermon on
the Mount and deals with prayer.
* The Sermon on the Mount, which we just recently preached on in Matthew chapter 5, compares the false standard of religion of the Pharisees and the scribes with the true standards of God, and He interjects a word of instruction to all of those who name His
name in order that they might know how they are to pray.
* If prayer is a way of life for us, then it's needful for us to understand how to pray.
* In fact, this very same model prayer which Jesus gives here is also given in Luke in response to the question, "Lord, teach us to pray."
* If prayer is something we are to do unceasingly then we best know how to do it properly, and so Jesus here, teaches us to pray.
* Before I introduce you to what Jesus teaches us about praying, first I want you to notice what Jesus doesn't teach us about praying.
* He doesn't teach us about the posture of prayer because any
posture will do, in the Bible people prayed standing, lifting up their hands, sitting, kneeling, lifting up their eyes, bowing down, placing their head between their knees, pounding on their breast, facing a temple, etc, etc.
* In the Bible there was no specific posture for prayer.
* Notice He doesn't tell us anything about the place of prayer, people in the Bible prayed in battle, in a cave, in a closet, in a garden, on a mountainside, by a river, by the sea, in the street, in God's house. First Timothy says "Let men pray everywhere."
* In the Bible people prayed in bed, in a home, in a fish even. On a housetop, in a prison, by the sea, in solitude, in the wilderness, on a cross, and so forth.
* And He doesn't tell us about the times of prayer.
* I know you have heard a lot of people talk about praying early in the morning, but if you will examine your Bible closely, you find people praying in the early morning, in the morning, three times a day, in the
evening, before meals, after meals, at the ninth hour, at bedtime, at midnight, day and night, today, often, when they're young, when they're old, in trouble, everyday and always.
* Jesus doesn't tell us a specific time, a specific place, a specific posture is the correct way to pray.
* In this study we will be looking at what Jesus emphasizes as correct praying:
* In our study we will see that true praying is always focused on God not on us.
* As with anything else in the Christians life, true prayer focuses on Glorifying God.
I. God’s Paternity
* The pattern Jesus gives us to pray correctly begins with God's paternity, Our Father who art in heaven.
II. God's priority
* And then God's priority, hallowed be Thy name."
III. God's program
* And then God's program, "Thy kingdom come."
IV. God's purpose
* And then God's purpose, "Thy will be done."
V. God's provision
* And then God's provision, "Give us this day our daily bread."
VI. God's pardon
* And now God's pardon, "Forgive us our debts."
VII. God's protection
* Followed by God's protection, "Lead us not."
VIII. God's preeminence
* And then God's preeminence, "For Thine is the kingdom."
* Jesus taught us that all prayer should focus on God and His Glory if it is to be prayer that is not like the hypocrites pray.