The Lord's Model Prayer
Matthew 5:5-15:
5“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you false ly on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Why do you pray? What motivates you to pray? Being the father of two wonderful kids, I’ve learned that children can be very candid when they pray.
“Dear God, thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy.”
“Dear God, I need you to make my mom not allergic to dogs. I really want a dog and I really don’t want to ask my mom to move out.”
“Dear God, please make my parents understand that if I don’t eat salad, I do better at school.” “Dear God, can you get me a Smartphone, Santa must have forgotten.”
I think, most of the time, we make the same prayer. We pray to bring our list of wants and needs to God. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong about “making our requests known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Prayer is meant for that purpose. But, prayer is so much more than asking for what we need.
Matthew 6:5-15 is a masterpiece on prayer. Before Jesus gets into the model prayer, he warns his disciples against:
1) Superficial prayers
2) Superstitious prayers
I. Prayer bows to God’s Glory (6:5-10)
J.I. Packer, “The vitality of prayer lies largely in the vision of God that prompts it. Drab thoughts of God make prayer dull.
We see that the Lord’s prayer points us to bigger and greater things. This model prayer orients our hearts to that which is holy, heavenly and excellent. It orients our hearts to the goodness and glory of God and his kingdom. When our hearts are captured by God’s goodness and glory, our desire would be to ap-
proach him as our heavenly Father, for His name to be hallowed, and for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.
A. Jesus is stressing the Goodness of God (He is our Father)
The Lord’s prayer deepens our understanding that God is intimate and approacha
ble. To address God as “our Father” is new. The OT calls God as Father
(Deuteronomy 32:6; Psalm 103:13) only by way of analogy (a comparison between two things, typical ly for the purpose of explanation or clarification) and not a direct address. This opening address estab lishes the kind of God to whom prayer is offered – To the God who is near and who cares for us (his royal children) in a special way.
Deuteronomy 32:6: “…Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?” and Psalm 103:13: “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
“Grant that we may dare to call on thee as Father, and to say, Our Father” (Liturgy of St. Chrysostom). B. Jesus is stressing the Greatness of God
Take note of the balance between God’s intimacy and his loftiness. Sinclair Ferguson has this observation, “We do not live in intimacy with God in a way that destroys our reverence for him.” That is reason why Jesus adds, (literally) “who is in the heaven(s).” It reminds us of God’s transcendence and sover eignty. Prayer, then, is not merely a matter of petition (request), it is first and foremost a matter of praise (reverence). How do we revere him in our prayer?
1. By hallowing his name – “Hallow” is an old word and we don’t use it often in our conversations. Merriam Webster defines it as “To make holy or set apart for holy use; to treat something as sacred or as ulti mate.” The word ordinarily means “to sanctify.” Since God is already holy, the prayer asks that “God be known and regarded as holy” (Daniel Doriani). How do we exactly do this? We do this by making it sure that God’s name is used with reverence (We don’t profane his name - his name is never as an expletive, or a sudden word for shock, or a mindless filler). We hallow God’s name when our thoughts concerning him are truly worthy of him. And we hallow God’s name by making Him as the supreme aim of our life. Anything that is hallowed in your life dominates the horizon of your hearts. What dominates the horizon of your heart? What’s taking up the emotional space? That when you have free time where does your heart and mind go? There’s a lot of things buying for our time or attention or affection, and God wants priority.
2. By having a kingdom mentality – “let your kingdom come and your will be done.” This is not just a matter of seeking God’s kingdom, ultimately, it’s about surrendering our will to the God’s rule. It means that your will is bent to God’s will. R. Kent Hughes said that this means, “repentance.” When we pray for God’s “kingdom to come and for his will to be done” we are praying for God’s rule to manifest itself in our life, the church and the world. The kingdom of God has an already and not-yet dimension. It is a present reality that awaits its consummation (or fullness) when Christ the King returns. As God’s children, we pray for God’s kingdom to come in its fullness.
Illustration: Think about the unfinished things in your own life — Think about the the unresolved conflicts, unhealed pain from the past, uncertainties about relationships, the things that worry you, the people who have not yet heard of the gospel, the things that are not yet right, healed or whole.
Summary:
First, prayer should be God-centered. When we begin our prayer with God it doesn’t mean that he is not concerned about our petitions. It only means that we understand that we cannot pray properly without recognizing that there is a greater glory in this universe than our own glory and that there are bigger things
than just our immediate concerns.
Secondly, prayer reveals whatever is on our heart. Prayer reflects our passion and what is important for us. The reason why Jesus is correcting our self-centered prayers with a God-centered one, is because he wants to rescue us from having a narrow vision of life and the kingdom of SELF.
We pray:
⇒ Not to put on a show
⇒ Not to prod a “passive” god into action
⇒ Not to persuade God
II. Prayer Believes that our Heavenly Father Gives Good Gifts to His Children (6:11-15)
Jesus reminds us here how dependent we are on our heavenly Father. In what ways do we see our de pendence on God in verses 11-13?
A. We depend on God for daily provision –At that time, bread was a staple in the diet of the Jews. Bread was a basic necessity and essential for survival. “Bread” was a powerful symbol of God’s provision for His people in the Scripture (OT: Exodus 16; NT: John 6). But take note that you are to pray for God’s provi sion “daily” and not only for yourself but also for others “give us our daily bread.” The prayer is for our need, not for our greed. Jesus encourages us here to go to our heavenly Father and ask Him for our daily (physical and spiritual) bread. He will not fail to provide it.
Illustration: Old Lady: There was a little old lady who would come out every morning on the steps of her front porch, raise her arms to the sky and shout, “Praise the Lord!” Well, one day an atheist moved into the house next door. Over time, he became irritated at the little old lady. So every morning he would step out onto his front porch and yell after her, “There is no God!” Time passes with the two of them carrying on this way every day. Then one morning in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, “Praise the Lord! Lord, I have no food and I am hungry. Please provide for me, oh Lord!” The next morning she stepped onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there. “Praise the Lord!” she cried out. “He has provided groceries for me!” The atheist jumped out of the hedges and shouted, “There is no Lord. I bought those groceries!” The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, “Praise the Lord! He has provided me with groceries and He made the devil pay for them!”
B. We depend on God for daily pardon – Jesus commands us here to ask the Father for forgiveness when we fail. We all know that we fail God often. The Puritans are known for prayers that are filled with ado ration, deep theological truths, and pleas for mercy. Oliver Heywood, a Puritan, asked in his book, “Why then are Christ’s Disciples bound to pray daily for Pardon?” He answered, “Because we are daily com mitting new sins, in many things we offend all (James 3.2).” So, we must ask God for forgiveness (for sins we are aware of and unaware of) and pray to God for a forgiving spirit.
Illustration: Robert Robinson’s “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”)
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above.
C We depend on God for daily power and protection – We need forgiveness of all past sins, but we also need the Lord’s help now for overcoming temptations that may derail our walk and worship of God. When we ask God for power and protection from the evil one, we recognize that we are profoundly
weak and liable to succumb to temptation. Remember that Peter failed Jesus big time because of his fleshly presumption. Tremper Longman and David Garland noted, “The Lord’s model prayer ends with a petition that while implicitly recognizing our own helplessness before the devil, who Jesus alone could vanquish, delights to trust the heavenly Father for deliverance from the devil’s strength and wiles.”
Conclusion: Why do you pray? Christ’s warning in verses 5-8 should not be taken very lightly because it speaks of a tendency/problem that is deeply embedded in our hearts. The struggle of our hearts is so deep that we can turn intimate moments of worship into something that God never intended to be. We struggle with…
A. Self-focus – We are driven by our selfish, personal desire and need. Whose “good” or “glory” drives your daily conversations with God?
B. Self-glorification –Whose glory motivates you to do what you do and to say what you say? This is a struggle for many of us. A daily struggle. But the good news is that there is grace and power for this battle. On the cross, Jesus did not only pay the debt for every selfish desire or deed to which you will ever give yourself. On the Cross, he also purchased power for you so that you can surrender your will to God and sin
cerely pray, “Our Father…” (Pray the Lord’s prayer).
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