How To Pray
The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsWe pray to God because we are dependant on him.
Notes
Transcript
5 “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. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “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. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 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.
How many of you have started watching Christmas movies now that thanksgiving has passed?
How many of of you have already watched five Christmas movies?
Sarah and I watched a Christmas movie the other day
A kid was racing the mail man to get his Christmas list to Santa so he would get the gifts that he wants to get.
Cosmic vending machine…
as if prayer is just about getting what we want…
this is a wrong view of prayer…
Jesus tells us two wrong ways to pray
5 “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. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matt 6:4
giving
fasting
We don’t practice our righteousness in front of others to be seen by them
We should not pray in order to be seen by men.
We should not pray in order to be seen by men.
Similar to how what he said regarding:
giving
fasting
We don’t practice our righteousness in front of others to be seen by them
7 “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. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
:
We should not pray as if God does not already see our needs
We should not pray as if God does not already see our needs
We should not pray in order for God to see our needs.
We should not pray in order for God to see our needs.
What all does this mean
Jesus says
We pray because it demonstrates our relationship with God that is based on trust and dependance on him.
We pray because it demonstrates our relationship with God that is based on trust and dependance on him.
do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words
Does it mean we should only pray for something once and not repeat our prayers?
No:
Listen to how Jesus prays in
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
Matt 26
Matt 26:39-
Listen to Paul
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
What Jesus isn’t saying is that we shouldn’t be persistent in prayer
2
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Is Jesus saying our prayers should be short?
do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words
No…
23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
So then what is Jesus teaching in this later section?
He tells us that God is all knowing!
Omniscient
Before we even tell him what we need, he knows our need
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
God has a greater awareness of your need than you do
So then why do we pray if God already knows our needs?
We pray because we have a relationship with God and we are dependent on him.
We pray because we have a relationship with God and we are dependent on him.
And if all we do in our prayer is ask for provision… then our prayer will be stifled…
To be clear
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
But prayer is far more than just a list of things that we want
It’s not just a express our anxieties to God
Scripture tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our head
(none of us know how many hairs are on our head)
So if God knows even the things about us that we do not know… surely he knows the things that we need.
Here this:
God is not a cosmic vending machine by which we get the things that we want
Do not make him out to be like Santa who needs a list of what we want in order to give us what we need
God is far greater than how we often view him in our prayers… and so our prayers ought to reflect his greatness
So then how are we to pray?
Jesus tells us:
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
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.
Matt 6:
I want us to see an overview of the Lords prayer....
Two main sections
How we relate to God (v9-10)
How we depend on God (v11-13)
how we relate to God - who he is
How we depend on God - what he does
Let’s start with how we relate to God - that is to say, who is God
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
He is Father
He is Father
and you can put also, he is a heavenly Father…
This is incredible… and we could spend hours just pondering on this aspect alone in our prayer:
What does it mean for God to be our heavenly Father
We like children are dependent on him…
This is an aspect of being a child that is different from adults
Adults are independent, but children are dependent
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
As kids we have access to God much in the same way that a child has access to their dad!
But he isn’t just a father … he is our heavenly Father
Meaning this:
He rules and reigns over all creation
He is all powerful so as a father that we are dependent on, we can rely on him to meet every need of ours
As our heavenly Father, he is different from earthly fathers in that he is perfect
he can always be trusted
always be relied upon
always be approached… if you are indeed his children
But as our heavenly Father, he is also to be held in reverence, and that’s where the prayer continues:
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Matt 6:
He is holy
He is holy
In order to understand what hallowed means, we need to understand it’s root word: holy
Holy - that is, to set apart from the rest…
The opposite of something that is holy is something that is common
consecrate - that means to set apart for a special use
And so when we pray Hallowed be your name”
we are praying that the name of God would be made holy.
That is his name would be set apart from all things and above all things
That we would love him… more than we love anything else
that means more than family and friends
That we would serve him… more than anythings else
in the way we work… we do so as his servants, not as people pleasers
in the way we interact with others… it is in service to him
That we would desire him above all things…
that is to worship him
to make his name holy in your life… means to worship him as you ought to:
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
97:
Hear this, we don’t pray this because God’s name isn’t holy…
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
We don’t pray hallowed be your name because it isn’t already holy. : we pray this as a request because we don’t always acknowledging that it is…
and in doing so we take the Lord’s name in vain…
when we disobey him we do not acknowledge God to be holy and set above all things
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
8 But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.
“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
In our prayer for God’s name to be made holy we do so so that we might rightly worship him for who he is
Matt
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
He is king
He is king
He is king
He is king
And he is a perfect king with a perfect kingdom…
and to be clear… as we make request for his kingdom to come let’s see that his kingdom is already here
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And while the angelic hosts recognize God to rule and reign over all creation
his kingdom hasn’t been fully realized here on earth - among all peoples and every nation
Not everyone submits to God as the king of kings
Not everyone loves his statues and keeps his law
and so as we pray this - let your kingdom come…
this is in part a prayer for missions:
that all people would bow down to him as king and recognize him as Lord
just as it is written:
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
phil 2:
And as we pray this prayer we are acknowledge that with his kingdom comes
no more pain
no more pain
no more death
no more suffering
no more injustice
perfect peace
and perfect and complete joy in him as king
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
His desire is perfect
His desire is perfect
That is what we mean when we pray that his will be done:
that what he desires to be done will be done
and in doing so we acknowledge that more than we want our desires to be accomplished, is that we want his desire, and his will to be done
We see this prayer demonstrated by Jesus right before he goes to the cross:
42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
This is the end of the first half: before we make any request to God we acknowledge all that he is -
and while we make many requests of him, may our ultimate desire and request be to submit to his perfect will over our imperfect desires that don’t line up with his
even when it comes to sickness…
unjust suffering that we experience
yes even death
Let’s continue:
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
Matt 6:
He provides
He provides
Notice that we aren’t praying for all the things we want
T
not even all the things that we need for the month…
or the week…
but instead we pray for enough bread just for today.
we do this because we are going to come back to the Lord tomorrow and ask again for the food and that we need to sustain us to do the will of God just for today… and we will pray again tomorrow dependent on him anew tomorrow
This should remind us of a story from the OT
where the children of Israel are wandering in the wilderness and they were dependent on the Lord to provide mana each day
Listen to the way it’s written in proverbs
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
God provides us with all things
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
Ps 104:
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
matt 6:
He forgives
He forgives
In this we acknowledge this: we have sinned… each and every one of us
We have defied God’s perfect law
We have rebelled against him
We have not made his name holy
We have sought our will above his own
We have built our kingdom instead of his
We recognize that which Jesus started in the Sermon on the Mount
WE ARE POOR IN SPIRIT
and in recognizing this
in confessing this
in repentance and asking for his forgiveness
we so prove to be those who are most to be blessed:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
and in repenting we and confessing we know this with confidence, that he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
and the reason he is able to forgive us… is because of the cross
Because Jesus died a sinners death…
he died the death that we deserve
And in exchange for this he gave us his perfect righteousness that he alone has achieved in his sinless life
Know this: HE FORGIVES
and since he forgives we should confess and and repent every day and in doing so we always walk humbly with great affections for the one who has redeemed us from sin and death
We call this JUSTIFICATION
that is to be declared righteous (with a foreign righteousness that we did not earn)
To be justified before God
mean it is just as if I have never sinned
And so when we ack him to forgives us our debt… we are justified
And if this wasn’t enough Jesus adds this at the end
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.
Listen: forgiveness is at the heart of Jesus’ mission
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matt 6:
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
He sanctifies
He sanctifies
Sanctifies: makes us more and more like Jesus
If you think you can fight sin by yourself… then you’ll never be able to defeat sin…
We are dependent on God even when it comes to our own holiness
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.