Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we spoke about the warnings; doing to be seen or serving in order to gain.

Again this goes into the motive, or the heart of the one in whom is serving - is it to meet the needs or is it to be seen and recognized?

We find Christ instead instructing to not the the left hand know what the right is doing - that our giving be done in secret.

It is much better to give in secret and be rewarded by God that to receive an earthly praise and that be the end of it.

Doing to be seen or recognized is NOT pleasing to God.

This does not mean it is wrong to recognize contributions and service, but to not seek or desire that as a way of puffing oneself up.

The heart of prayer should also be examined.

Are we praying long, flowing, flowery oratory masterpieces with the hopes someone would see us and brag on our ability?

Christ calls them hypocrites - desiring to be seen and heard by others.

But the heart of prayer should be a closed communication with the Lord.

“Go into your room and shut the door”.

Honestly, this should be a time where we have an honest and confessional conversation with our Lord.

This should be when we get quiet and desire to hear from Him.

We should be pouring our heart out, and listening for a response.

Not praying empty phrases, or repetitive words, or a memorized prayer with the desire to be heard and praised by others.

This is where we start this week - how we should pray.

We hear these verses called the Lord’s Prayer or the Model Prayer; not for the words that were spoken, but to be used as a pattern of how we should model our prayer life with God.

The Lord’s prayer is verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore perfectly worded.

It is a revelation of how we should pray because it mirrors God’s will for His people.

It cannot be stressed too much that Jesus Himself is the formulator of it—every single word—and if you want to know at least once that you prayed in God’s will, the Lord’s Prayer is for you.

This prayer is designed for believers.

“Our Father in heaven” means He must be our Father!

There is the surrender of the believer to God and to God’s family.

When a person genuinely says “Father,” he is surrendering to God.

He is …

• denying humanism, self-sufficiency, and all other gods.

• surrendering himself to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

• acknowledging the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ to be his own Father.

When a person prays “our Father,” a person is surrendering his independency and accepting God’s family.

He is assuming his responsibility in the family of God.

There is the surrender of the believer to heaven, the spiritual world or dimension of being.

The believer surrenders and sets his mind and heart upon the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

His whole being is surrendered and committed to seeking the things of the spiritual world.

(See outline and notes—Ep.

1:3.)

There is the surrender of the believer to the holy name of God.

The believer just bows in total and abject poverty, in nothingness before the holy name of God.

He is swallowed up in the knowledge of the “hallowedness,” the sovereignty and majesty of God’s being.

God is all and man is nothing!

He is totally dependent upon God.

Note: when a person reaches this point of surrender, then he is ready to present his needs to God.

He is ever so conscious that only God can meet his needs.

God—Father: God is addressed as “Our Father.”

Father denotes a family relationship and shows three things.

1.

It shows that “God [who is] … in heaven” is the believer’s Father.

Thus, a relationship with the unseen heavenly world and the seen earthly world is established.

God represents the unseen world and the believer represents the seen world.

In the believer, a whole new being is created (a new creature) and a whole new world is recognized and established: a world of the spirit and the physical, of the unseen and the seen, of heaven and earth (2 Co. 5:17; Ep. 4:23–24; Col. 4:10.

Especially see notes—Ep.

2:11–18; pt.4—2:14–15; 4:17.)

2. The word Father establishes a relationship between a believer and all other believers.

All believers belong to the same family; they all have common interests, cares, and responsibilities within the family.

3. The word Father pinpoints God as the believer’s source.

God, as Father, is the Person who loves and provides and cares for the believer’s needs, even as an earthly father looks after his child (Mt.

6:25–34, esp.

33; Lu. 11:11–13; Ps. 103:13; Mal.

3:17; see He. 2:18; 4:15–16).

Heaven: the word is plural in the Greek, heavens.

The New Testament speaks of at least three heavens:

⇒ the atmosphere surrounding the earth (see Mt. 6:26, “the fowls [birds] of the air”).

⇒ the outer space of heavenly bodies (see Mt. 24:29; Re. 6:13).

⇒ the place above and beyond the physical dimension of being where God’s presence is fully manifested.

In modern language “the above and beyond” is another dimension of being entirely; it is the spiritual world, another dimension of being.

It is a spiritual world where God’s presence is fully manifested and where Christ and His followers live awaiting the glorious day of redemption.

That glorious day of redemption is the day when God shall take the imperfect heavens and earth (the physical dimension) and transform them into the new heavens and earth (the spiritual and eternal dimension).

(See note—2 Pe. 3:8–10, esp.

3:11–14 for more discussion.)

In Heaven” is the second point to be prayed.

The believer is to pray after this manner:

⇒ Father, thank you for heaven: the hope, the anticipation of heaven.…

⇒ Thank you that you are in heaven.…

⇒ Thank you for your promise that we shall be where you are.… (Jn.

17:24).

The believer must direct his prayers to heaven.

God’s throne is in heaven (Ps.

103:19), and it is before the throne of God that Christ is appearing as the Advocate or Mediator for the believer.

The heavens reveal the power and glory of God.

Space shows His handiwork (Ps.

19:1; 150:1).

When connected together, the words Our Father and the words in heaven put two great things together: the love of God and the power of God.

God through love has become our Father, and God in heaven has shown His glorious power which is at the disposal of His child.

The believer’s Father has the power to do anything, even to hang the world in space (Ep.

3:20; Ps. 121:1–8).

The believer’s true citizenship is in heaven (Ph.

3:20).

God is there; the Lord Jesus is also there (He.

8:1; see Ps. 103:19).

Therefore, the longing of the mature believer’s heart is to be in heaven where His Father and His Lord are.

He directs his attention, prayers, energy, and life toward heaven.

Hallowed be (hagiastheto): to be counted holy; to be treated holy; to be counted and treated as different.

The prayer is for men to count and treat the Name of God differently, to set His Name apart from all other names (see note—1 Pe. 1:15–16).

“Hallowed be thy name” is the third point to be prayed.

God’s Name is holy, righteous, pure.

It is above, before, and over all names.

Therefore, the believer’s prayer is for God’s Name to be adored and honored by all men.

God has done everything; He has made the world and given life to it.

Man owes his very life to God.

Therefore, the first thing man should do is praise God.

The first purpose of man is to glorify God by his life: “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Pe. 1:15–16).

Life includes speech; therefore, man should be praising God’s holiness by word as well as by life.

In fact, since the primary purpose of man is to be holy, then it follows that the first words spoken to God should be praising His holiness.

All prayer should be centered around praising God for who He is—in all His holiness and fullness.

His Name is hallowed, different, set apart form all other names.

And thank God that His Name is set apart, for imagine what life would be if His Name should be no more than a man’s name.