WEEK1
The Lord's Prayer
Focus Verses
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.
Lesson Text
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.
14 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.
Matthew 6: 5-15Focus Thought
Jesus gave His disciples instructions regarding prayer that are important for us as Christians to follow in our devotion to Him.
Outline
I. UNLIKE THE HYPOCRITES
A. They Want Others to See Them
B. They Have Their Reward
II. UNLIKE THE HEATHEN
A. We Are to
Avoid Vain Repetitions
B. God Knows
Our Needs Before We Ask
III. THE LORD’S PRAYER—THE
MODEL
A. Recognition
B. Praise
C. Submission
D. Petition
E. Forgiveness
F. Direction
G. Worship
IV. THE
BELIEVER
A. We Are to Pray in Secret
B. God Will Reward Us Openly
Culture Connection
Method Living
In the 1920s the techniques of method acting were introduced to America. Method acting is intended to help actors achieve better
characterization of the parts they play. However, some method actors have been known to take this to extremes. Daniel Day-Lewis built his own colonial house using only the tools available in the seventeenth century and lived without running water or electricity to get ready to play a particular role. For his role as a taxi driver, Robert De Niro obtained his cabbie license and worked
twelve-hour shifts in New York City. Billy Bob Thornton placed crushed glass in his shoes to get a distinctive walk. Nicolas Cage had a few teeth removed
without anesthetic to experience the pain, and went everywhere with his face
wrapped in bandages for five weeks.
To some extent we are all actors learning our parts as we
portray ourselves to the world. However, God’s method is an actual transformation of the heart. In His presence we can quit playing a role and
embrace a new reality. Instead of method acting, we are called to method living.
Contemplating The Topic
During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about prayer to
the masses of Galilean Jews, to whom daily prayer was a requirement of the Law (Matthew 6:5–15). After His disciples observed Him praying, one of them was moved to ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus responded with the words “when ye pray” (Luke 11:2). This phrase is significant in two ways:
(1) He did not begin with a discussion of why His listeners should pray or a
command urging them to pray; He simply understood that they would pray;
(2) these instructions concerning proper prayer do not apply only in special circumstances or for specific types of prayer; they apply whenever we are praying.
Searching The Scriptures
Although occurring under different circumstances and with
different audiences, the two lessons Jesus taught about prayer are so similar
as to be considered two accounts of the same event—the giving of the Lord’s
Prayer. The lesson on prayer found in Luke was to committed disciples who
desired to offer Christlike prayers; that in Matthew was to curious Jews who,
for the most part, knew prayer only as a traditional fulfillment of a religious
obligation. Given this difference, it is not surprising that the lesson in
Matthew begins with corrections to the corruptions in prayer brought about by
Jewish traditions (“thou shalt not”), while the lesson in Luke begins simply,
“say.”
I. UNLIKE THE HYPOCRITES
In the Matthew passage, Jesus began His lesson on prayer by
recognizing that prayer can be more about the one doing the praying than the
one to whom the prayer is allegedly offered. “Thou shalt not be as the
hypocrites,” He warned. The word from which hypocrite is translated literally
means one who plays a role on stage. An actor works diligently to adopt the
speech, mannerisms, and projected attitude of the character portrayed. So the
religious counterfeit must be skillful in Christianity in order to imitate it believably.
Thus, a convincing hypocrite can (at least temporarily) actually do right, but
for the wrong reason.
Some use the existence of hypocrites as a reason for being
hypocritical (like burning all one’s currency because someone discovered a
counterfeit). But hypocrites really do harm only to themselves. The authors of The
School of Biblical Evangelism wrote, “The hypocrite is like a man in a
plane who pretends to be wearing a parachute when he’s not. When he jumps, who
do you think will be the big loser? Him, or the other passengers who have their
parachutes on?” (Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort). The prayers of a hypocrite are
a make-believe parachute.
A. They Want Others to See Them
The problem with the hypocrites is not that “they love to
pray” or even that they pray “standing in the synagogues and in the corners of
the streets.” Jesus was not teaching us to be ashamed of praying, to stay
seated when we pray at church, or never to participate in public prayer. Rather
He was condemning those whose motivation for prayer was “that they may be seen
of men” rather than that they may be heard of God.
Some take Jesus’ words to “enter into thy closet . . . shut
thy door” and pray in secret as the normative form of all Christian prayer.
Instead, with these words Jesus was contrasting the humble attitude of the
sincere Christian with the arrogant self-aggrandizement of the hypocrite. He
was emphasizing that our purpose in prayer is not to impress others.
Obviously, if hypocrites prayed only to be seen of men, they
would have no secret prayer life. Lest our prayer life become hypocritical,
Jesus warned us to keep our private prayers private and keep all our prayers
directed toward Him.
B. They Have Their Reward
Jesus admitted hypocrites “have their reward” (Matthew 6:2,
5, 16) but contrasts their reward from men with the far greater reward from the
Father. The positive reaction of the audience is a great reward for an actor.
So it is that the hypocrite relies on onlookers for purpose and meaning. True
Christians have a purpose not bound up in what others think of them but in
their relationship with their Father.
Three times within the space of a few verses Jesus said,
“Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” This was in
reference to charitable giving (Matthew 6:4), private prayer (verse 6), and
fasting (verse 18). Giving, prayer, and fasting were the three great pillars
upon which the Jewish life was to be based. All three are important
manifestations of the Christian life, but they are easy for the hypocrite to
imitate, and they lend themselves readily to wrong motivations.
II. UNLIKE THE HEATHEN
The phrase “vain repetitions” (Matthew 6:7) is translated
from a single compound word that is used nowhere else in the New Testament and
is rare in non-Christian literature. As a result, it is difficult to pinpoint
the exact meaning between two possibilities: (1) to stammer or speak
incoherently or (2) to say the same thing over and over. Either way, Jesus
refined His use of the word by pairing it with “much speaking.”
It is common for pagans to pray by monotonously uttering
meaningless sounds, repeating a single phrase over and over, or reciting
flowery, formalized prayers. According to I Kings 18:26 the priests of Baal
prayed, “Baal, hear us” from morning until noon. For two hours the Ephesian
pagans cried out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:34). Often the
heathen believed that their gods had to be placated so they would not punish,
bribed with inducements and accolades so they would bless, and persuaded to
change their will to provide the petitioner’s needs. The first impact of the
admonition not to pray like the heathen is to keep our prayers simple and
meaningful, refraining from over
-flowery prose and pompous verbosity which cannot impress God
and may stand in the way of true and intimate communication.
A. We Are to Avoid Vain Repetitions
The problem with prayers full of “vain repetitions” is that
they come from a heart that does not understand the character of God and the
purpose of prayer. It does not violate Jesus’ instructions to repeat portions
of prayers, or even to occasionally recite entire prayers as long as in doing
so prayer does not become empty words attempting to impress.
Jesus was criticizing the belief that long repetitive prayers
were needed to get God’s attention. “They think they shall be heard for their
much speaking,” Jesus said, thus raising the question: “Why do you think you
shall be heard?” Jesus’ answer to that implied question was “for your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” We know our prayers
will be heard because God is our Father, and He knows and cares about our needs
even before we pray.
B. God Knows Our Needs Before We Ask
If we misunderstand prayer as only for the purpose of receiving
our needs, the fact that God is our Father and He knows what we need before we
ask seems sufficient to argue that we do not need to pray. If He knows we have
a genuine need and yet He fails to provide for that need until we ask Him, it
seems He is being an abusive father. This is especially true when He
understands that “we know not what we should pray for as we ought” (Romans
8:26).
Out of context, James 4:2 “ye have not, because ye ask not”
then seems like a bludgeon to get us to perform the unpleasant duty of prayer.
On the other hand, if we venture to ask for those things we think we need, it
seems we run the risk that He will provide things that are actually harmful for
us because we asked for them so persistently. But if He is loving enough to give
us good things even when we do not pray for them, and gracious enough not to
give us harmful things even when we do pray for them, then some individuals
might think it does not matter whether we pray.
These are the ways unbelievers think of prayer. Jesus gave a
model prayer through which we can rid ourselves of such misconceptions while we
delve into the depths of the relationship established and nurtured by true
prayer.
III. THE Lord’S PRAYER—THE MODEL
In both Matthew and Luke, the Lord’s Prayer begins with the
command, “When you pray, say” which naturally leads to the idea that we are to
recite this prayer. However, while “say” may refer to the actual words of a
direct discourse, it primarily refers simply to the act of verbal
communication. That is, Jesus is providing a model or pattern by which we may
order our communication to God. When using this pattern, we express in our own
words genuine communication with the Lord God.
A. Recognition
The first words of the model prayer are “Our Father which
art in heaven.” For the Jewish hearers this must have been a startling way to
begin a prayer. “Father” was used in reference to God only fifteen times in the
Old Testament, and nowhere in the prayers recorded in the Old Testament do we
find God addressed as Father. Herbert Lockyear (All the Divine Names and
Titles in the Bible) noted that references to God’s fatherhood in the Old
Testament were “merely figurative, and used by way of illustration” with the
single exception of Isaiah 9:6 where the promised Messiah was called “the
everlasting Father.”
Jesus taught His hearers to address God not only as a
Father, but as our Father. The beginning of the prayer acknowledges a
relationship startlingly intimate. For this reason, of the more than 165 times
in the Gospels Jesus uses “Father” in reference to God, He is almost always
teaching His disciples. In this we see that believers uniquely have the right
and privilege to address God as our Father. We can scarcely overstate the
wonder of the invitation being presented to the Jewish multitude when in
Matthew 6:9 they are instructed to pray to “Our Father.”
B. Praise
The Lord’s Prayer begins with three “thy” petitions related
to God followed by three “us” petitions related to our needs. The first “thy”
petition is “Hallowed be thy name.” That this is a petition and not a statement
of praise such as “thy name is glorious” is clear from the grammar.
For God’s name to be hallowed (or glorified), He must
receive the praise and honor He deserves. For petitioners to request that this
be accomplished, they must first recognize the divine prerogative of exaltation
and then desire Him to work all things together to His ultimate glory. Whatever
we do in word or in deed is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus
(Colossians 3:17). All our prayers should glorify His name. According to John
MacArthur, “Prayer begins and ends not with the needs of man but with the glory
of God. It should be concerned primarily with who God is, what He wants, and
how He can be glorified” (Alone with God). E. M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer
honors God; it dishonors self” (Purpose in Prayer). The first and
governing petitions of the Lord’s Prayer form a recognition that our prayers
must be balanced between God’s glory and our needs, with the emphasis always on
God.
C. Submission
The second “thy” petition of the prayer connects with and
helps explain the first. When the believer prays “Thy kingdom come,” there is a
recognition of God’s plan and ultimate goal for creation. Only when His kingdom
comes will His name be hallowed as it deserves. His name is not hallowed when
we attempt to bring our own kingdom, secure our own good, and fulfill our own
lusts.
The third “thy” petition, “Thy will be done,” further
emphasizes the submission of the petitioners to the will of God in all matters,
both in Heaven and in earth. God’s will is perfect and His plan is perfect. He
loves us with an everlasting love and desires only good for us. As humans, we
are usually oriented toward short-term benefits. Without the help of the Spirit,
we are not very good at judging what is good for us (Romans 8:26). However, by
sincerely asking God’s will to be done, we petition God to ignore our requests
for those things that would not be for our good.
An important part of becoming Christlike is learning to
adopt God’s will as our will. We may see prayer as a chance to bend God’s will
to ours. “As a result, we tend to perceive prayer as important only for making
a difference in our circumstances rather than for the difference it can make in
us and for God’s glory. . . . When He draws you into conformity to His blessed
person and will, your circumstances, no matter how insurmountable they may have
appeared at first, will no longer be your priority” (Alone with God).
D. Petition
The three “thy” petitions are followed by three “us”
petitions, starting with a prayer for daily bread. Daily bread refers to those
things necessary for living and includes food, shelter, health, and so forth.
They are considered daily in that without a continuous and sufficient supply,
our comfort and survival are threatened. In addition to these material needs,
people also have social, spiritual, and psychological needs that must be met on
an ongoing basis. These, too, broadly fit the category of “daily bread.”
It is human nature to desire a reserve upon which we may
draw to meet our daily needs. But even if we were to become rich in these
things, riches are ultimately deceitful in their promises of security (Matthew
13:22). Therefore, Jesus continued His teaching by saying, “Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”
(Matthew 6:19–21). This petition recognizes God as the benefactor from which
all these goods derive (James 1:17), and God becomes our unlimited reservoir
and security. He is our inexhaustible treasure.
In the Matthew account the petition is for daily bread to be
provided “this day” while in Luke it is a continuous provision “day by day.”
God extends His loving kindness to meet the needs of anyone who sincerely
petitions Him, but there is a special relationship of continuous provision
available for His disciples.
E. Forgiveness
The second of the three “us” petitions deals with the
universal human need for forgiveness. Like the “daily bread” of the previous
petition, a continuous and sufficient supply of forgiveness is essential for
continued human comfort and survival. However, the lack of daily bread
threatens the temporal man while the lack of forgiveness threatens both the
temporal and immortal man.
The specific petition to the multitude in Matthew was
“forgive us our debts” while to the disciples in Luke it was “forgive us our
sins.” The word translated “debts” means that which is strictly due as
obligations. Debts include any offenses or trespasses that require reparation.
This would include moral transgressions (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word
Study Dictionary: New Testament). Jesus was directing the multitude to
their experiential wrongness with others, which included their inability to
keep the righteous deeds of the Law (Romans 3:20; Galatians 5:3).
The word translated “sins” is more specifically acts of
wrongdoing or the state of being in transgression against God. To the
disciples, Jesus emphasized their existential wrongness with God. Believers are
not yet perfect (Philippians 3:12). In this life we “groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans
8:23).
We are all debtors, accumulating offenses against God and
man. The Lord’s Prayer directs our pleas for forgiveness to God. “If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). However, the passage in Matthew adds
“as we forgive our debtors” and Luke has “for we also forgive every one that is
indebted to us.” The phrase “as we” shows that God’s forgiveness for us is
proportionate to our own for others, while “for we” shows that His forgiveness
is conditioned on our attitude of forgiveness toward others. “For if ye forgive
men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).
The verb “forgive” in both “as we forgive” (Matthew 6:12)
and “if ye forgive” (Matthew 6:14) is translated in the present tense, which
may be misunderstood as a habit or process of forgiving. Instead, the verb form
should be understood as “have forgiven.” That is, petitioners are to approach
God for forgiveness only after forgiving those who have wronged them (Mark 11:25–26).
In addition, if they had become a debtor to a brother, they were to be
reconciled to that brother before offering a sacrifice to God (Matthew
5:23–24). In contrast, “forgive” in the phrase “for we also forgive” (Luke
11:4) is translated from a present tense verb. Disciples are to continuously
forgive everyone who is wronging them. For disciples, forgiveness is a habit of
life coming from the process of Christian growth.
Forgiveness is not just a state of mind or emotion. The word
forgive is translated from a word which literally means “send away.” To
forgive a wrong is to dismiss it from further notice, let it go, and release it
from your power. If you forgive, you relinquish any claim you may rightfully
have for reparation or reprisal. When we forgive our debtors, the debt
continues unpaid but is no longer the responsibility of the debtor. However,
when God forgives, He not only relinquishes His right to the just payment for
our debts but pays those debts Himself.
F. Direction
The third and final “us” petition is expressed in the
negative: “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In this
phrase in the original language, “evil” is not a noun but an adjective
that has the definite article “the” in front of it: “the evil one.” This calls to
mind Matthew 4:1: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil.” The word translated here as “temptation” is often
used in the New Testament to refer to any kind of trial or struggle in
life.
Throughout Scripture we see that God often uses trials to
help His people grow in Him. Overcoming temptations, passing through trials,
and enduring tribulations are vital to our growth in Christ. It would be in
direct contradiction to the previous petition “thy will be done” if the
petitioners were to pray, “Keep us from going through bad times.” Instead, this
petition invokes the guidance and protection promised in I Corinthians 10:13:
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it.”
G. Worship
The Matthew account closes with an expression of worship
missing from Luke. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for
ever. Amen.” Such worship forms an appropriate conclusion to prayer, bringing
the petitioners’ minds back to the opening of the prayer and the three “thy”
petitions.
IV. THE BELIEVER
A. We Are to Pray in Secret
With the exception of verse 6, the entire passage in Matthew
6:5–13 containing Jesus’ teaching concerns corporate prayer. Such phrases such
as “give us this day our daily bread” speak of the interconnectedness of
believers and the concern we are to have for one another’s needs.
As believers we often join together as a corporate body in
prayer. We should also be ready to lead other Christians in prayer or, when
appropriate, offer prayers before our communities. However, we should never
allow public prayers to become the extent of our prayer lives. Jesus modeled
for us a life of prayer in public and in private.
Some people may want to impress others with their prayers
rather than keeping them secret. “Sin leads us to take shortcuts in all the
Christian disciplines, and when we succumb to its temptation often enough,
hypocrisy becomes the pattern of our lives without our realizing it” (Alone
with God). But it is in our secret prayers that we often find the most
intimate moments with God. We can be unguarded, candid, and unpretentious. In
our secret prayers we communicate the hidden things of the heart without
concern that others would misunderstand or not approve.
B. God Will Reward Us Openly
In addition to the wondrous blessings obtained through an
active prayer life, Jesus promised a public reward for those who pray in
secret. This reward no doubt takes many forms, but few who observe a believer’s
life will fail to note the evidence of being alone with God. According to
William Barclay in The Daily Study Bible Series, the rabbis say, “He who prays
within his house surrounds it with a wall that is stronger than iron.”
Internalizing The Message
The most perfect and beautiful blueprints are of little value unless the building is actually constructed. Jesus’ lessons on prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11 can either fall upon deaf ears and hardened hearts or provide the impulse for a glorious expression of prayer. Each of us should allow His words to motivate a vital secret prayer life. Also, because the Lord’s Prayer is in fact a model for corporate prayer, this lesson would not be complete without dedicating class time to join together in bringing our petitions and praise to “Our Father.”