Sunday School - Prayer

integral to the Christian walk in life. So Lord, humble us, give us direction by means of your

Holy Spirit, and give us enlightenment to your word, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, let's go to Matthew 6.

This morning I'm gonna be preaching on the topic of prayer, so I thought I'd do a double hitter and do what

Jesus says about prayer, and then we're gonna focus on what Paul says about prayer later today.

So if we can go to the Lord's Prayer. We're gonna start in verse five, and we're gonna just dissect this verse by verse, have a conversation about what the word of God is saying here, and it says in verse five, and this is the

Lord Jesus Christ speaking. This is still the famous Sermon on the Mount. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. Let's stop there for a second.

What is a hypocrite? What's a hypocrite? Yeah, that's a common way of understanding a hypocrite.

There's a Greek word, it originates from hypocritas, and hypocritas was literally like someone wearing a mask.

It brings the connotation of a theater, right? And so when you're in a theater and you have those different masks, you may be seeing those old ancient

Greek depictions of a mask, like one smiling, one with sorrow and distress, and that's kind of the picture of a hypocrite is someone who is shifting mask and appearances.

And really, it's all about the exterior, isn't it? All about the exterior. Someone else had their hand up?

Yeah, yeah, it's someone who's making a showy display that may not comport with reality, right?

And so when Jesus says, don't pray like the hypocrites, what do you think he's referring to?

Pharisees, right. Yeah, and particularly, right, we pretty much have a good idea that Christ is specifically singing out the

Pharisees in this case. So he's saying, you Pharisees, you pray out in the open, in the market, and you pray in such a way that you're trying to draw attention to yourself to show others what?

What do you think the Pharisees were trying to show off? Their what?

Their godliness, or at least their exterior form of godliness, their religiosity, their zealousness, right?

Now, it's a little different back then where back in the first century, the clergy class, as we'll call them for the sake of today's discussion, or the

Pharisaical class, were well -respected within the city.

Matter of fact, if you read Josephus, was a first century historian who was Jewish, but who was writing for the

Romans, and he would talk about how the Pharisees were a pretty well -regarded class in the first century.

And of course, every group has its controversies, but for the most part, the

Pharisees were pretty well -respected as an authority of the Torah, of the law, of the teaching of the

Bible, and they had a lot of authority in regard to temple worship, even, and the regulation therein.

And so the Pharisees had quite an amount of political, spiritual, economic power.

And so when Jesus says, don't pray like the hypocrites, he's singling out the Pharisees, of course, and the

Pharisees would go out in public squares to kind of rally and show off their prayers, their self -importance, all these things, right, of what it meant to be a

Pharisee and to be a religious student of the Torah. And Jesus is warning us not to follow their example.

The Pharisees were more or less rabbis, many of them, of course, and they were to set the example for what worship and prayer and all these things looked like.

But Jesus is here saying, don't follow their example. Don't follow the hypocritas, the ones who shift and wear different masks, but instead, he gives us a new law, a new way to understand prayer.

Again, we're in Matthew chapter six this morning, looking at the Lord's Prayer, and it says in that same verse, verse five, it says, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.

So what's the motive there behind the prayer of the Pharisees? What's the motive?

Because when we talk about prayer, I want you to know that prayer, the motive behind prayer is so important, and it's at the heart of what

Jesus is getting at here in this discussion about prayer. So what do you think sets the Pharisees apart?

What were they praying for? Yeah, to be show -offs, to be demonstrating their level of holiness, and it's not really a genuine holiness, is it?

It's an exterior holiness, which is really no holiness at all. Jesus says of the

Pharisees that they are like whitewashed tombs. Ever heard of that phrase in the

Bible? Whitewashed tombs. What do you think that means? Yeah, outside it's beautiful, it's granite, it's got all this beauty on the exterior, but inside is what?

Dead man's bones, right? And so it shows that the exterior is not exactly the most important part of our worship or of our prayer life.

I mean, we can pray up a storm and have all these incantations and say all these wonderful big words.

I know sometimes when we pray, right, even when we pray in the afternoon, it can be sometimes intimidating.

Like we hear someone pray, and like, man, that's a pretty good prayer. And I don't think anyone in this room prays with the intention of being like a

Pharisee. I think we've got a pretty good church here. But we always have to guard ourselves from not comparing our prayers or ourselves with other people's prayers, right?

Because you know what God sees that we, no one in this room can see? It's the heart.

It's the heart, right? And so, for instance, like my kids, every day when we do our lesson, we all take time to pray.

And sometimes the prayers are not very eloquent, but you can really tell when a child prays from the heart, right?

I think you guys were at our home group a couple weeks ago, and you heard Noah pray. And he's, I mean, he's just so funny when he prays.

But he prays with such confidence, I love it. He prays like he knows he's being heard. And that's how we need to pray.

It may not be the most eloquent. It may not be the most high and lofty prayer, most theologically sound.

We may not sound like a Puritan when we pray, but for goodness sake, if our heart is aligned with God's, and if we're doing it from a place of holistic approach to scripture,

I think God honors that. And so, we wanna avoid being like the

Pharisees who are praying in the street corners. Does this mean that we shouldn't pray outside the church?

Does that mean that we shouldn't pray maybe at a restaurant or in a public square? Would it be wrong for us to pray?

I've heard of some Christians or in some movements say that we shouldn't pray publicly because of this text of scripture.

You think that's a right way of dividing the truth, the word of truth? Why do you think that that would be an inaccurate application of this text?

That's right. That's right.

That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah. So, that's what he would sound like if he was charismatic.

Yeah. Yeah. But the reality is like what

Pastor just said is exactly right. It's really, again, it's the heart, and God sees the heart, and that's what

Jesus is condemning. You know, Jesus was able to see the hearts of men as well, says it in scripture, that he knew what was in the hearts of men.

And so, Jesus here is condemning that show -offy, self -righteous spirit of the

Pharisees when they prayed. And then it goes on to say, truly

I say to you, they have received the reward. What reward do you think they've received? What is the reward? The praise of man, okay?

Gretchen? Yeah. That's right. Now, Jesus isn't using the term reward in a positive sense.

He's saying, you know, essentially they're getting what they want. It's like a Romans 1 issue, right? Where God hands over a people to their desires, and they get it fully and without limit, but it's to their destruction.

And that's exactly what Jesus is saying here in regard to the Pharisees. It's almost like Romans 1 all over again.

The Pharisees are getting their reward. That's the extent of the reward they're getting. They will be recognized. They will be seen by others, but that's about it.

Their prayers will not be honoring the Yahweh. Their prayers may not be heard. Their prayers may not be answered, but they've received the reward, the showy display of righteousness, and the smug feeling that comes alongside it.

Because there's a smugness when it comes to some religious people, isn't there? Right? And there can often be a spirit of self -righteousness of being, oh, well, you know.

One of the prayers that Jesus brings out in the scriptures is he compares and contrasts the prayer of a

Pharisee and the prayer of a poor beggar. And he says, the

Pharisee says, thank God I'm not like those people, right? Where the beggar prays,

God, forgive me, I'm a sinner. And Jesus goes on to say that the prayer that God accepts is the latter.

It's the prayer of the humble sinner who is acknowledging his fault before a holy

God, not the self -righteous Pharisee who's like, oh, thank goodness

I'm not like any of these people, right? Who sets himself apart and above others.

And that's where we have to be careful of our own prayer life that we're not setting ourselves apart and above other people.

Of course, you want us to be set apart from sinners, but not in a sense of we're better than you, we're above you.

Instead, even when we're in the midst of sinners, our heart should be to pray with them, not at them.

Now, that's an important distinction. Pray with people, not at people. What do you think is the difference there?

You're praying with, not at. So yeah, yeah.

You know, praying at someone's almost like a form of judgment. You know, it's like, you know, it's again, it's that pharisaical prayer.

Thank God I'm not like you, and you need to do X, Y, and Z, and God, you know, have mercy on your soul.

Something to that degree, you know? But when you're praying with someone, you're empathizing with them to a degree, and you're saying,

God, my heart breaks for this person. Lord, Lord, please intercede in this person's life. Big difference in the heart in which we approach these aspects of prayer, isn't it?

That's right. Amen, love it. It's a great way of putting it. Any other thoughts or questions?

That's right, that's right. Yeah, we gotta remember who the recipient is. It's the Lord. That's right.

Yeah. That's right.

That's why Jesus says, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

And so there was probably a time when the pharisees were pretty humble, and trying to humbly bring people to the word, and then they began to exalt themselves, and then they were humbled by their destruction.

And so, in our text in Matthew chapter six, let's look at verse six.

And he says, but when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your

Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Now again, I mentioned how there are some groups who say that public prayer is inappropriate because of such texts like verse five and six.

But when Jesus says, go into your room and shut the door, what is Jesus getting at?

What's the heart here that Jesus is trying to reveal that he wants to see in his people?

What is he getting at? Sincerity, humility. Remember, he's contrasting.

You have the public prayer of the self -righteous pharisees, where everyone's seeing, and everyone is observing, and yet he's saying to his disciples, go in secret, go in private, and pray.

And so, he's comparing, contrasting two different mindsets, two different hearts, two different approaches to prayer, two different approaches to God, right?

And the approach that he's getting at is a humble approach to the

Father in prayer, right? Where no one else will hear, no one will ever know. You'll get no standing ovation for how awesome your prayer was.

You'll get no recognition for it other than the recognition of your Father, who is in heaven.

And so, he's comparing, contrasting the idea of recognition here, okay? Man recognizes the pharisees' prayers because they're all in people's face in public, but the prayer of the disciple ought to be one where truly

God is the audience. Yeah, are we, what was the question?

Yeah, I think so. Right, I don't think there's. In private? Well, in private, the

Scripture doesn't say whether it should be verbal or not verbal. We would just be guessing at that point.

But I think that overall, the Scripture don't contradict themselves. There's no contradiction in Scripture.

And so, it says that we ought to pray. Part of regulative principle of worship is that we pray publicly amongst the saints.

Part of what the Scripture says is to pray without ceasing. And so, these are all things, these are all commands that can coexist with what

Jesus is saying. Matter of fact, because what Jesus is doing, he's going beyond it. And if you notice the Sermon of the Mount, it's not the first time he goes beyond what is written in the

Old Covenant, in the Old Testament. So, for instance, he says, you have heard, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say unto you, if you look at lust, you've committed adultery in your heart.

And he keeps bringing it back to the heart. He says, you've heard it say, thou shalt not murder, but I say to you, if you hate your brother, you're a murderer.

He keeps bringing it back to the heart because he understands that the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

And so, when Christ is talking about prayer, he's bringing it to the matter of the heart. He's saying, this is the heart that I want you to have when you're praying.

And so, whether it's quietly, out loud, publicly, in your private room, wherever you go, you bring this heart, you bring this spirit when you approach the

Holy God. Does that make sense? No, no.

Yeah, yeah, and I think there's a sweetness to praying out loud, to praying when you're having those sweet moments of prayer, that it is verbal.

I think there's a great blessing to it. There's something about those words echoing from your mouth we know that if you just do it in your heart,

God is gonna hear you, of course, it's not in question. But almost, you know, there's times in which

I pray, I can only speak for myself, there's times when I pray where my prayer becomes a message to myself, in a sense, where I'm hearing it, and I'm like, and I need to hear that,

I need to hear that come out of my mouth, you know? Yeah, yeah, and it's not a hard, fast rule, there's nothing in scripture that says you must pray that way, but I think it's a good exercise.

Charles? Right, that's right, that's right.

Any other thoughts or questions on that? That's right.

You know, let's actually go there for a quick second, it's in Luke 18, Luke chapter 18, and I think it starts in verse nine, yeah.

Luke 18, nine says, and he also said this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.

Now, that's the big difference here, right? That's what Jesus is comparing and contrasting in the

Lord's Prayer in Matthew six. It says in verse 10, two men went out into the temple to pray, one a

Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, sitting far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,

God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Wow, what an important distinction and model that we have there.

And so, again, that's what Jesus is really condemning. That's the heart of what Jesus is trying to get at here, with regard to his message about prayer.

Do not have such a heart in which you exalt yourself and not the

Creator. And so, with that in mind, go back to Matthew six.

Matthew, yeah. If you think you're self -righteous, does that mean you're necessarily, or do you know they're necessarily connected?

I think they would be, yeah. Yeah, I think so. You know, it's hard when,

I think, and I preached this a couple weeks ago, if you have a higher view of yourself than you ought, it's gonna be very clear in your relationships.

It's gonna be really clear in the way that you approach things like prayer, worship. And so, there should always be a humility in which, remember who we're praying to.

We're gonna get to that in a moment. But we just, we always have to keep in mind who we're praying to, why we're praying.

And it's such a sacred obligation that we have in prayer. And it's such a sweet thing.

And when you truly recognize the Father of the celestial lights, you'll understand there's no room for boasting in your own flesh.

There's no room for you to have any of the glory in your worship and your prayer. Even in your

Bible studies and things like that, it's all about Jesus. And so, back in Matthew six, again, we see, back in verse six, he says, when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, pray to your

Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. What is the reward for those who pray in secret?

What is the reward? Intimacy, amen, that's part of it.

For sure. What else do you think could be a reward? Absolutely, absolutely.

I mean, if anything, that's where I'd rest my hat. You know, answered prayer, how many of you have ever had a prayer answered before?

I mean, we should all raise your hand. We've all had answered prayers. Isn't that sweet? Isn't that amazing?

I mean, there's nothing in the world like answered prayer. But there is one thing that's even better. Just the fact that we get to commune with the

Creator God, He Himself is enough, right? Whether He answers our prayer or not, whether He gives us the petition of our heart, that's irrelevant.

Just the fact that we get to commune with the living God and speak to Him and be heard by Him, we take that for granted.

We truly take it for granted. I mean, it's even more taken for granted than a child who is born in today's world where all they know is cell phones and touch screen technology.

And they take for granted. I mean, you know, if an ancient person saw what we had in our hands, they would be blown away and they'd probably run screaming witchcraft or something.

Because it really is magical, the technology that we have today. And today's kids, they just take it for granted.

They have no idea what it took to get here. In the same way, oftentimes

Christians take prayer for granted. And we have no idea what it means and what it took for us to get here so that our prayers can be heard.

And it took no less than God sending for His Son in the fullness of time to bear our sins, die for us, so that He can open it in His flesh better in a new way for us to have fellowship with the

Father. I mean, that is just incredible. And that's what's at stake in prayer is understanding our fellowship, our communion, our standing before a holy and a righteous

God through Jesus Christ. That is the reward. It's God.

God is the reward. He Himself is the reward. Verse seven says, and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the

Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Boy, does that, you know, we Christians can do a lot of that too. And I want to instill in us this morning and then when

I preach, because I'm preaching on prayer as well, is this hope and this anticipation that in prayer, that in prayer, we're not simply there to utter words to make ourselves look better or big or spiritual or holy, but rather prayer is a recognition of God and who

He is in His righteousness and holiness. So it's really a time for us to remember and to remind ourselves of the holiness and the righteousness and just the grandeur of God in prayer.

And I hope that that comes across. And I think that's what Jesus is trying to get at. He's not saying that many words are bad, right?

There are times in which we can pray and even in our prayer circles here at our church, and we can pray many words and they'd be good.

And those are good things. We're not saying that prayer should be short. Jesus is not saying that prayer should only be in private.

He's not saying prayer should only be short. He's just setting a model for us as to essentially what not to do and the heart of what we ought to do.

Does that make sense? Any thoughts or questions so far? Okay. Another thing is that oftentimes, even as Christians, when we don't feel it, we don't feel the presence of God or we don't feel like praying, sometimes, in order to substitute the feeling of God, we insert many words so that we have the appearance as if we feel

God. Does that make sense? Have you ever experienced that? I mean, I've been there, right?

So, and in a sense, we become like the pagans. We become like the Gentiles where we're just battling.

We're thinking that our words are gonna bring us closer to God. What brings us close to God in prayer? What's that which brings us near?

Faith. Faith in what? I wanna say this.

Faith in the blood. Faith in the blood of Jesus. That's what brings us near.

Remember that a sacrifice was made for you to have fellowship with the triune

God. There was a sacrifice that was made. There was a shedding of blood that was made, and that blood, that precious blood of Jesus, all that flow that comes from his side and from his brow, that is what brings us near.

And so our words are not what's gonna bring us near. It's faith in the blood. And when we have that underpinning in our prayer, and that's why we pray as Christians in whose name?

In the name of Jesus. Now, let me remind you, when we pray in the name of Jesus, that's not a special incantation.

We're not pagans. This is not some special ritual where if we say the right word in the right way, we'll get the ear of God.

That's a very pagan concept, as a matter of fact. And we see that in the

LDS Church, if Mormon Latter -day Saints, for instance, where in their temple rituals, they are taught signs and sigmas and handshakes that you have to learn exactly right because when you die, and they say when you come across the veil of heaven, you have to give

God the Father this very particular handshake, and you gotta say a very particular set of words.

And if you don't say those words, if you don't do the handshake, then you'll be left on the other side of the veil, okay?

Very pagan, very demonic teaching. But lest we fall into the same trap, we have to recognize the truth that what

Jesus is getting at here is again, it's the heart. It's the heart. That and faith in the blood of Jesus, that's what brings us near.

That's what brings us near. Not our special words or saying a special incantation or we don't wanna treat this phrase in the name of Jesus that way either unless we void the power of Christ's name.

And so when we pray in the name of Jesus, we're not just using that as a phrase to, oh,

I gotta make sure that's in there. It should be in there, obviously. But that's not like a, you know, it's not a special code.

It's not a charm, right? We're talking about the means by which we can be heard by the

Father, and it's in and through Jesus. Does that make sense? Any thoughts or questions on that?

That's right. Right.

Yeah. That's right. You know, and part of it too is that, you know, let's be honest.

We're all human. We all have a fallen flesh. And there are times where we just don't wanna pray, right?

There are times when we may even be here on Sunday. I don't know, should I stay for prayer service?

I don't really, I'm not really in a praying mood. I got enough prayer from the pastor in the morning.

I think I'm set. I think I'm good. And this is not to make anyone feel bad. People can come and not come for various reasons to the prayer service.

But one of the things that may often happen, and I'll speak for myself, like, man, I'm just not feeling it. What do we do when we're just not feeling it?

What should we do? What's that?

Pray. I like it. Right? Yes, I love it.

That's right. You kind of alluded to James 4. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you, right?

And one of the reasons why the Puritans were just so famous for prayer and were just so good at it is because they prayed even when they didn't want to.

Right? And it's usually, and I think the Puritans found this out. I forget which Puritans said something to this degree, but I'm paraphrasing.

But it was said that when I feel like I need not to pray is when

I pray the most often. And so when that emotion stirs up in our soul,

I'm just not feeling it. I don't want to pray. I've got this going on. I've got that going on. That's when we most need to run to prayer.

Right? And it's a spiritual discipline. I think Pastor Conley gave a great message last week when he talked about essentially having a taste for certain things and how we have to develop these tastes.

We have to develop these spiritual disciplines in our life. And prayer is one of those spiritual disciplines that we have to develop, that we have to get a taste for.

And for me, my problem with prayer is I'm often chasing the dragon.

Chasing the dragon is a phrase used in addiction circles for chasing a high that they once had that was just so amazing.

Now they just have to chase it. And every time a person uses illicit drugs, one of the effects of it is that the same amount of drugs no longer will produce the same amount of effect.

And so you always have to amp it up in order to get that high, to chase that dragon.

And in a spiritual way, in my earlier days as a Christian, especially when

I was around 18, 19 years old and I had these friends who all we did was talk about Jesus until two in the morning.

We'd go to diners and we'd talk about Jesus and we'd preach to the waitresses and we'd just have these dynamic prayers.

Like I miss that. I miss that. And I'm always kind of like chasing my God. I just wanna have that prayer where I feel so connected to you like I did in those earlier days.

And sometimes it's almost elusive. Like I just wanna be there again. I just wanna have those experiences.

And maybe you have a similar life experience or struggle. And so, but even when we're chasing,

I think that's a noble thing. I think we ought to chase and pursue this discipline of prayer.

I think it's worth chasing. I think it's worth going after. But we need to be careful when

I'm speaking to myself here in that, in our pursuit of this dynamic, powerful prayer, that doesn't become our idol.

It doesn't become the reason. You know, we pray, we worship, we do what the Lord commands, not out of a sense of feeling, but out of a sense of obedience and duty, right?

And so we do it. We do these things whether we feel it or not, right?

It's just like in a marriage, okay? Most marriages, 50, 51 % of marriages in America fall in divorce.

And the reason they do often is irreconcilable differences, which is just a fancy way of saying, I no longer feel the same way.

You don't make me feel the way you used to make me feel. That magic of early marriage is gone.

And now you've got the monotony of life and responsibilities and duties. Now, there's two things you can do in marriage.

You can divorce and say, well, this is not what I signed up for.

I don't feel it anymore. Therefore, that's justification for me to dissolve the relationship. Or you persevere.

You love even when the person is being unlovable.

You love and you persevere, you push through even when you don't feel it, right?

Because love is more than just an emotion. Prayer is more than just an emotion. Love is an action.

It's a sense of duty, responsibility. And so, as a father, I have a sense of responsibility for my children, for my wife, for my household.

And that's a huge motivating factor for me, right? I'm responsible for them.

God has given you much in Jesus Christ. And one of our duties, one of our responsibilities as Christians is we approach

God in prayer, that we stay in touch, we stay in communion, we stay in fellowship with our

Father. Does that make sense? All right, let's move it into Matthew 6.

It says in verse eight, do not be like them, for your

Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Your Father knows what you need before you ask

Him. Here we begin to see the heart of the Father. And the

Father that we approach in prayer, He's not a cold, meticulous

Father. He's a Father who's caring, who's gentle, who's loving. And very importantly in the context of what

Jesus is saying, He knows your need. He knows your need. He's the sovereign

God. He knows exactly what you're going through. So He's not a

God that you have to go and kind of explain yourself, though I think there should be some aspect in your prayer where you of course are sharing your heart.

But when you share your heart, it's not like He's unaware. It's not like He doesn't know. He knows perfectly what you're going through.

He knows perfectly what you need. But we approach Him. We approach this

Father in secret. He'll give us the reward and He knows what it is that we need.

In verse nine, Jesus begins the famous prayer, the Our Father prayer, the Lord's Prayer.

And He says, pray then like this. So now He went and said, this is how you ought not to pray.

This is now how you ought to pray. And He says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Now He begins very importantly. This is a very important text here. He says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

What does it mean, hallowed? What does that word mean? So we get the word Halloween.

What does that word mean, hallowed? Holy, sacred, sanctified, set apart.

That's what the word hallow means. When Jesus says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, literally meaning let your name be sanctified.

Let your name be holy. So Jesus asks us to begin our prayers with a focus on the holiness of God.

Isn't that incredible? That we're focusing on God's holiness. We're focusing on His person.

We're focusing on His grandeur, His greatness. Our Father who is in heaven, He's exalted. So we know where He is.

He's in heaven above. He says, hallowed be your name. Your name be holy. Your name be made great.

So the focus, one of the problems that I'm gonna preach on this morning is that the problem with most modern prayers is that most modern prayers go something like this.

God, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, and me. Where God wants to hear,

Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, let your name be sanctified. Big difference, right?

We treat God more like God the genie and less like God the Father. And so again, we should not fall into the trap of treating prayer as a means to get what we want out of the relationship.

If you only spoke to your spouse to get what you want out of that conversation, then that's not a healthy and dynamic relationship.

Likewise, if we only pray and approach the Father, when it's to receive and to get, that's not also a healthy relationship.

And so again, he starts with the holiness of God, the exaltation of God. God is the centerpiece.

God is the beginning. He's the alpha and the omega of this prayer. And he says in verse 10, your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the first two stanzas of this prayer is for God, the exalted one, the one who's in heaven, that his name be made sacred, his name be hallowed, his name be sanctified, and then for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done.

Again, most prayers, if you listen to the average American pray, again, it's

God, build up my kingdom. God, make my will be done. God, may it be on earth as it is in heaven for me to get my way, right?

And sometimes some charismatics, I think, sometimes pray like that too, it sounds like. I've been in prayer circles where charismatics are binding and loosing in heaven and trying to twist

God's arm to get their way. And I don't think that's a healthy form of prayer either.

Again, I think a prayer that God honors is a prayer that's centered focus on God, not oneself.

Right? So your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What do you think that phrase means? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What do you think that phrase means?

Someone exegete that text. What do you think it's the meaning and the purpose here?

Gretchen? Yeah, that's right.

Think of the implications of what that means when we say God, your will be done.

No one here knows God's perfect will for our lives.

We don't know the beginning to the end. We don't know what the outcome will be. We don't know if God's will for us is for God to be glorified in martyrdom, which was the case for many early

Christians. We don't know if God's will for us is to be destitute and wandering.

We don't know what God's perfect will is for us, but we place our fate not in our own hands, but in God's.

That's huge. The implications are just incredible here. We're saying,

God, my future, my life, my results are not in my hands. I'm gonna place them in your hand because you are alone the proper sovereign.

Incredible implications. And so when we say, your will be done, your kingdom come, that is a comprehensive desire for God's sovereign will to rule over our lives.

And we don't get to choose the outcome or the future. When we pray in such a way like Jesus taught us, we're saying, we're leaving this in your sovereign and capable hands.

And that's a prayer that honors God, not a prayer that tries to usurp God's hand, usurp

God's authority, usurp his kingdom, usurp his will. It's not your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's Christ's will, it's

God's will. His kingdom come. And this is why it's so important when he says your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

He's praying for the manifestation of the kingdom of God in the lives and the hearts of the believers. This is that the kingdom would come not only in the visible, palpable second coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ, but that it would come daily even into our own hearts for where Jesus says the kingdom of God is in your midst.

So they're living in such a time that God's kingdom is reigning and ruling, and it's reigning and ruling now today in and through you and manifested by means of the church.

And so God's kingdom come every day. We pray for that. Your will be done. Part of God's will is for his kingdom to come.

And it will come. No one will stop it. No one will defeat it. It's a kingdom that will be set up.

And Daniel, we see that this is a kingdom that will have no end and no rival will ever be able to come against the kingdom of heaven.

Then in verse 11, we finally get to the me part. Okay, so we just spent the first half of the prayer focusing on the grandeur of God.

Now, now you get your turn. Now man can speak for his needs. And it says, give us this day our daily bread, our daily bread.

Now, if you know anything about ancient life, most people were in just abject, absolute poverty.

And most people were pretty, pretty handy. And most people had access to wheat, and they would be able to produce their own bread.

Even in the old days in America, most moms and dads and grandmas would make their own bread, and that's what the family ate.

Now we go to the grocery store for our bread. And we get Wonder Bread, and it's all pre -cut for us, and we don't have to think about it.

But in the ancient times especially, in like many cases here, even in California with the incredible homeless problem that we have, there are a lot of people who didn't know where their meal would come from.

We didn't know if they would even get their allowed bread, their daily bread. And what the

Lord Jesus is reminding us is that he's saying, you may not always get all that you want.

It may not always be a buffet table. It may not always be the most glamorous 16 ounce porterhouse steak or something.

But he's saying, pray that your needs are met.

Pray that you just even just get by. That you just get just enough.

And again, it's a posture of humility. And we pray,

God, Lord, meet and give us our daily bread, our daily need. Just enough to get by.

Just enough that we need. You know, there's a lot of people who, a lot of preachers who

I've met, rightfully so, who've prayed, Lord, give me enough where I'm not rich, but I'm not poor.

Just enough, right? And I think that's a God -honoring prayer. Lord, just give us enough.

And if he blesses in abundance, praise God, his will be done. But if he doesn't bless in abundance, would we still say, praise

God? Would we still say God is enough? I think we ought to, I think we should.

That should be the posture and the heart of the Christian, is regardless of how he supplies and how he provides, it ought to be enough.

Because it's coming from his bountiful hand. And so, that's the heart, that's the heart that we wanna have, and that's hard.

That's actually one of the harder implications of this text. Because we want, we want the newest iPhone, we want the newest things, we want nice things in life, especially in this commercialized system that we live in.

But will God be enough? Amen.

And then verse 12 in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus says, and forgive us our debts.

Some translations use trespass. As we've also forgiven our debtors. A huge, huge aspect of prayer is that Jesus is saying in the

Lord's Prayer, there's an implication there that we sin daily. There's an implication there that we have accumulated a debt and that debt needs to be rectified daily.

Yes? Say it again?

That's right, that's right. And so, even with regard to the idea of forgiveness, he's saying forgive us our debts, forgive us our trespasses, forgive us our sins.

Sin is a debt that cannot be repaid by one's own effort.

Remember what I said earlier, the way that we approach God is through, and in the name of Jesus, that means by the blood of Jesus, who opened a new and a better way for us to have access to the

Father, Jesus is the one who, in his life's blood, is able to help us receive forgiveness of our sins.

But with the forgiveness of our sins, we also have to forgive those who have sinned against us.

And that's another tough reality of life. In this world, you're gonna be sinned against. In this world, people will fall short of God's mark and glory, even in regard to how they treat you and in regard to your relationship with other people, whether it be a spouse, your children, your aunts, your uncles, your coworkers, your boss, people will fall short of that perfect mark and they will accumulate a sin debt even against you.

And that, too, must be forgiven. We have to freely forgive one another,

Ephesians 5 .32, just as God in Christ has forgiven you. And so, we have to extend the mercy that we so desperately need and ask for.

I mean, how selfish would it be if we pray and we ask God for forgiveness and yet we're not willing to offer that same hand of forgiveness to others who have sinned against us?

It's a spiritual malignancy when we hold on to our own pride and hold on to our own hurts and we do not forgive those who have sinned against us.

Now, that brings us to a whole other topic that we don't have time for. How do we forgive and how do we apply that in real life?

Maybe I'll spend some time on that next time if I get a chance. But in verse 13, I wanna close this up and it says, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Deliver us from evil. But what do you think Jesus is getting at with the last part of that text there? Verse 13, lead us not into temptation.

What's the, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And that's not wrong. There's a strong implication here. The DNA and fingerprint of Psalm 23 is in this prayer.

Okay, and what does God say, or what does God's word say in Psalm 32?

That the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leads me beside still waters. So it's this idea of leading.

So Lord, lead me not into temptation, not into that fountain of sin, not into that fountain of temptation, but Lord, lead me to still waters for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me, right?

And he prepares a table for me, even the princes of my enemies, right? And so the heart and desire for God's people ought to be not to run towards temptation, but to be like Joseph and run from temptation, and to be delivered from evil.

Again, that's Psalm 23 all over that. And so again, with the heart that we ought to have as Christians, and most translations don't include this, but I love the

King James Version for including it, for thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory, and the might forever and ever, amen.

Because the reason, and the reason I love that is because again, brings us back full circle to the glory, the holiness, and majesty of God, and how we open our prayers.

God, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And then we give a summation of that at the end by saying,

God, it's yours. Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory, yours is the power forever and ever, amen.

And that should be the heart of the Christian, is to always attune our hearts and our prayers towards the glory and the majesty of God.

Any last thoughts or questions on the lesson? That's right, amen, amen, amen.

Last thoughts or questions? Yeah. Great question, it's because it's not in some, so most modern translations are, yeah, most modern translations are using older manuscripts.

And so the older manuscripts don't have that phrase. So it's very likely that that phrase was inserted sometime in church history.

So that's why we see it in the Texas Receptus, which is what the King James uses. That's that line of manuscripts. But the earliest manuscripts don't seem to have that statement, so it's up in the air.

I at least like it if they put it in brackets and say, you know. Yeah, it's an issue of textual criticism, so.

No, no, it certainly doesn't, yeah. It's very similar to actually one of the prayers of Solomon, very similar to,

I forget if it's in Chronicles or Samuel, or Kings, I think it's in Second Chronicles.

It's very similar to one of King Solomon's prayers. Very similar. Yeah, yeah, so.

All right, well let's apply this time that we've learned and let's pray before the Lord of heaven and earth.

God, thank you so much that you alone are King, sovereign ruler,

King of kings and Lord of lords. There is no one like you. Your clothe and majesty and power and might.

Oh Lord, what a privilege it is to be able to approach you this morning on the Lord's day. To receive from you from thy bountiful hand every good word that has come from the scriptures.

That you would feed us this morning our daily bread. Give us that manna from heaven. Feed our soul.

Help us to put away every sin, high lofty thing that would so easily entangle us and distract us from what lies ahead in our worship service today.

God, I pray that you'd be glorified, magnified in our time together. That your name would be made great and holy and magnified amongst the saints.

And I pray God that even today we would recognize the complete rule of your kingdom in our lives.

Knowing Lord that your will and your will alone is that which will be done. That your kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

We thank you God that you have given us even today our daily bread. You've given us just enough to get by and we are just so thankful for that.

And not only have you given us just enough but in many cases here in this room, you've blessed us in abundance.

We thank you so much Lord for every good thing that has come from your hand. For as the scripture says, you open your hand and you satisfy the desire of all living things.

God, I also pray Lord that you'd help us to forgive those who have sinned against us in our lives, in our walk.

We ask God and we beg in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our own sins through the shed blood of the cross.

We also ask God that you'd lead us not into temptation this morning or this afternoon as it's so easy

Lord when we receive spiritual nourishment and spiritual things that we often receive spiritual attacks.

Lord, protect your people. Be that good shepherd of the sheep who leads us by still waters, who grants us protection by means of your rod and your staff which comfort us.

And that you would lead us into your dwelling place even forevermore for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory both now and forever in Jesus name, amen.