Teach us to Pray....
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning!
I am blessed to see you all my friends, There is joy in worshipping together with each other, it encourages us, it refreshes and renews us and it gives us strength for the week ahead.
You know as we walk through the week, and the circumstances and events can drain us, weaken us. But worship fills our tank back up...
Let me ask you… did you remember this week to pray everyday for the children in our church?
This morning we come once again to the Sermon on the Mount… in Matthew chapter 6.
And our topic today is the Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer is recorded in two of the gospels, in Matthew and in the Gospel of Luke.
The Lord’s prayer comes about because the disciples ask Jesus, teach us to pray as we see in Luke 11:1.
Since we are in the Gospel of Matthew, we will look at that text… Lets read it together...
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
So what is happening here...
As you look at the opening of the chapter Jesus is calling for the people to surpass the faith, the righteousness of the religious leaders. Jesus reminds them to live for God and not others.
The religious leaders often sought after the attention of others, and so they did things outwardly where all could see and they would be praised for their actions…In fact Jesus warns if you heart seeks after outward praise you have received your reward already instead of God’s reward.
Instead - they were to do things privately, for God and God alone. They were to give privately, serve privately and of course pray privately.
And then Jesus begins to teach them to pray...
As the Lord begins to teach those with him about prayer, He tells them in verse 9 something we need to pay attention too. Jesus says Pray like this… or this is how you should pray.
The idea is this… Jesus will teach us the key components or attitudes that we should incorporate into our prayer.
So listening to Jesus here, - we should pay attention to this my friends.
So lets look at the first thought for today....
1. Adoration....
1. Adoration....
As Jesus begins, He calls for adoration to be given to God our Father…
So in the last portion of verse 9, He says
Matthew 6:9b “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
The term “Father” here is a intimate term, like a child calling upon their own physical father. God the Father is accessible, He is present to us just as our own fathers are....
“In heaven”, speaks to his physical location, we are calling upon our Father who occupys, who resides in heaven. Heaven is His abode.
And then we come to the call to give Him praise. “Our Father in Heaven Hallowed be your name....”
The word Hallowed refers to HIS name, there is something about the name of God. His name represents His holiness, His character, His love, His mercy, His compassion… Your name oh God is to be reverenced, it is to be treated as Holy.
Here is a question: Do you treat his name as holy?
Sadly we hear people take his name in vain, they use is in a poor context, treating it as normal, as slang at times..
But Jesus says we are to adore it, to treat it as Holy...
Psalm 97 verse 12 says
12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
And there is another example in Psalm 30, verse 4
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
And finally as we Enter into His gates, into His courts… listen to Psalm 100 verses 4 and 5.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
We are to adore the Lord our God, there should be praise on our lips as we remember His faithfulness and just how He blesses us His children.
## As you rise up in the mornings and as you go about your day and when you lie down at night you should never forget to praise Him to praise His Holy Name...
And that leads us to our second thought for the day...
2. There is a Call for Kingdom Advancement..
2. There is a Call for Kingdom Advancement..
Again as with the opening of this model prayer, the call is for us to put and consider God first and with that His work…
Jesus says here.... in verse 10…( Matthew 6 )
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Listen to what Jesus is saying here. Your kingdom come and your will be done. What is the meaning there?
Your kingdom come… is speaking to the Kingdom that Jesus is ushering into the world with His coming…The Messianic Kingdom.
The Jews were waiting for the new kingdom of the Messiah, they were looking for His reign and power to come and release them from the oppression of foreign invaders…
They were thinking outwardly, expecting a King like David who would push back and expand their kingdom and borders like David had done...
But that isn’t what Jesus is speaking about… Jesus is building upon what has already been said.
Hallowed be your name. How can his name be seen as Holy in the world that doesn’t know God? It cannot..
So the call - “Your Kingdom Come...” God’s name, God’s character is Hallowed, is being made holy as His kingdom is advanced into every corner of the world.
As the children of God we want to see the kingdom of God advanced, we want to see His rule, His ways brought to every corner of the world whereby people have a opportunity to respond to the message of Jesus saving grace.
So when we pray, Lord your kingdom come...
We are praying to see all the nations rejoice in the glory of God.
We are praying to see Christ honored as King in every human heart.
We are praying to see Satan bound, evil vanquished, death no more.
We are praying to see every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
We are praying for God to complete His great work my friends!
And then we move on to the second part of the verse....
And then the second part of that verse..
“Your kingdom come ....... your will be done on earth as it is in heaven....” Matt 6:10b
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.... What is the will of God? We could mention many different thoughts here, He desires that all mankind to be saved, He desires that people will come to Him.
But sadly not all will.... He desired that Jerusalem to be saved, but they would not… do you remember Jesus in Luke 13:34
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
He desires that none would perish but all would come to faith and repentance in the risen Savior… 2 Peter 3:9.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
But sadly, many are led captive by Satan, held in the power of his grip and sin. And sadly many will die in their sin.
The will of God is that we, His children would do his will, that is what Jesus wanted, He wanted to do the will of the Father.
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
God desires the same from us.
You will be done, on earth as it is in heaven is the last portion of this passage.
We know that everything that God desires, that He wishes takes place in heaven, God desires that same happen hear on earth. We should be praying, joining with Him, God the Father that this does happen.
So let me stop here and ask a question....
Are you praying for His kingdom to come… Are you praying for His ways to be made manifest in your heart, in your family, community, state and nation.
Are you asking Him to use you to help advance His kingdom.
We should, it will come with us or without us…I want to be a part of God’s work my friends.
Now lets move forward my friends....
3. A Call for Provision.....and Forgiveness
3. A Call for Provision.....and Forgiveness
As we examine verses 11-12 we see that this portion of the Lord’s or model prayer is one that enables us to ask for His help in the course of our days
So lets look at the first part...
A. The Provision of Bread
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
Here we are asking God to provide for our need, for today and yes, it can refer to the next day.
Bread, very naturally refers to food. The sustenance we need for survival for the day. The call for this provision is very natural since we hold that everything we have, or hope to have is supplied by His own hand.
We will see this thought emphasized later in this chapter, We see that our heavenly Father is aware of our needs and while living for Him, He will take care of His children
Note that the call for His provision is Daily.
Do you remember the children of Israel, they were in the wilderness and God provided for them each day, every morning Manna fell from heaven and supplied their needs.
They were called to only gather a day’s worth except on the day before the Sabbath. On that day they would gather enough to take care of those two days, the Sabbath and the day before it.
All this taught them they could trust God for everything that needed for that day. With no promise of tomorrow there was no need to worry about that day. God had provided for them that day.
We are to come to each day asking for that day and that day only… physically and spiritually, the Lord will feed you, provide for you and sustain you.
Do you believe that?
Now lets look at verse 12, as the next petition is to seek forgiveness..
B. Forgive us our Debts....
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Now the term “Debt” Here in the Greek as mentioned here refers to transgressions or sins. Yes, debts refers to that which is owed, or an obligation (s) to another..
For us as His children, that which is owed or obligated to God is our life, lived in front of Him in an manner that is holy, upright and righteous.
But we know we “miss the mark”, we sin, commit transgressions in front of God and in that error we need forgiveness, to remain in a right relationship with Him.
So we seek the face of God, asking for forgiveness for sin of that day, whether sins of omission or sins of commission. Now I say that, omission because there are times we violate the ways of God and we may not be actively aware that we have violated His standard.
So we come to the Lord seeking forgiveness. And He will forgive
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But as Our Father forgives us, He expects us to practice forgiveness as well.
Remember from chapter 5, God sends rain on the just and the unjust. God treats all humanity the same. Will we choose to act the same...
He tells us to forgive as well. To bear no malice, to not react with retaliation
Seek forgiveness in all things and exercise forgiveness for all things my friends.
So a question begs to be asked?
Do you have un-forgiveness in your heart because of something someone did or didn’t do… if you do, How can God forgive you if you do not forgive?
We must practice forgiveness..
Now jump down to verses 14-15 for a minute, it is important we consider this right now.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Make no mistake about it, the topic of forgiveness is emphasized and amplified here in the Lord’s words, there is a positive outcome if we forgive and there is also a negative outcome for people who fail to forgive.
The parable of the unforgiving servant is one instance we could provide as an example of what the Lord says to us about this issue. And this parable is found in Matthew 18.
Now just one last thought for today...
4. Call to Remain Free....
4. Call to Remain Free....
You know we would like to think that world is safe and free from evil, but we know better, we know that evil exists and at times it is closer than we would like to think...
We know the devil and His demons are always at work, seeking to hinder, hurt and lead God’s people away from the truth.
So here in this portion of the prayer, Jesus says this… look at verse 13
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
So Jesus reminds His followers to pray regularly against temptation, so that we do not fall prey to sin and its destructive forces.
The devil uses sin to lure us away, and sin when not corrected can rule over our lives. Think about Cain with me.
Cain and Able brought offerings to the Lord their God, and Abel’s offering was accepted where as Cain’s was not.. and Cain grew angry and jealous… let me share Genesis 4:7
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Do you hear the Father’s word here. You must rule over it…not the other way around.
And so Jesus says here, in this prayer for us to pray… And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
This petition is one of Kingdom warfare, We are asking God to conquer the power of sin, Satan and all the powers of evil so that we might live for His heavenly kingdom.
So think about the word Temptation. Temptation can in internal and external as well.
Internal that sin can originate from our own desires. James reminds us that temptation emerges from inside out own hearts. We are each carried away by that desire...
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
And external from outside sources, that are everywhere. I heard a preacher once say.. The world is a circus of temptations… meaning there is everything and its everywhere.
We must be careful and not entertain sin!
And then the second portion of the prayer is this… “...But deliver us from evi.” Matthew 6:13b.
Evil is not just an action, instead it is a person. Albert Mohler once said that evil isn’t an inanimate object, it is a evil personal being. Satan the Devil.
With that in mind the truest sense of the prayer here is “...Deliver us form the evil one.”
Make no mistake about it the Devil is real, powerful and after the highest of God’s creation to seek to upset those and make them fall.
Remember the warning of I Peter 5:8
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The devil seeks to devour God’s people and if he can, he will.....
So we are to work together, we have been delivered from the clutches of darkness into our Father’s kingdom and as such we are to work together for each other’s good.
Remember the text says And deliver ‘us”.... plural, we are in this together, working and serving alongside one another. We cannot walk faithfully by ourselves, we are to work together and be faithful together. Cheering one another one for His glory and our good.
Listen to the writer of Hebrews..
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
My friends, we are to pray faithfully each day asking God for his Help as we navigate this world on our journey into the Kingdom of God.
So how are you praying?
Does your prayer life model the Lord’s prayer?
Do your prayers include a desire for His name to be declared as holy, for His Kingdom to come and for God to be glorified?
Are you seeking his help in your day to day life…
Are you asking Him to keep you from temptation..
One thing you can do is to journal your prayers, it is really a phenomenal aspect of your prayer life.
Please pray