Series: Summer on the Mount

Title: The Lord's Prayer (Pray like dis)

Matthew 6:1 & 5-18

¹ “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Verse one is important to our study today as it encapsulates all acts of righteousness and deals with the hearts intent in doing such acts.  Though obvious it must be stated that as believers we are to be practicing acts of righteousness.  Yes, we are saved by grace and by faith alone, we are not saved by works.  In fact, there is not enough good works that you can do to earn your salvation. But good works should be an overflow from the life of a Christian. 

The first work or act of righteousness that Jesus mentions is the idea of giving to the needy.  Giving to the needy is a good thing and should be done with wisdom.  Jesus warns not to sound the trumpet when giving to the needy and that those who do so have their reward.  He also calls them hypocrites.  They do not give to meet the need nor to show the kindness of Christ, but they do it to be seen of men.

Then the next righteous act that He mentions is prayer.  Again, the same stipulation is given.  That those who do so to be seen of men have their reward.   So, we see that it is a heart condition.  God always looks at the heart of man, whereas man almost always judges by the outward appearance.

So, both the person who gives to be seen by others and the person who prays to be seen by others suffer from the same condition, a prideful heart.  Both equally lose their reward.

Jesus would say beware (guard yourself) for the consequences of doing acts of righteousness with the wrong motives brings about no reward.  The opposite can be stated as well; there is a reward for giving and praying with a right heart.

Pray Requires a Pure Heart

⁵ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

Hypocrite - a dissembler, pretender, hypocrite

What makes someone a hypocrite, they pretend to be something that they are not.  They put on this front about loving Jesus on Sunday morning, while acting like the devil the rest of the week.

Jesus calls us to put aside all falsehood when we do acts of righteousness. But when you pray, you come to the Lord as you are.  As He created you to be; as open, honest and humble as you can be.  For nothing is hidden from the Lord. 

Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Why even try to pretend to be someone different than who you are before God. He sees all and knows all.  He knows our thoughts, actions and even our motives for doing the actions we do.

For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners,

Up to this point it looks like they are doing all the right things, going to the synagogue, not only do they go but they love going, it’s a routine of theirs.  When they go, they are found standing and praying.  Standing is a suitableposture for praying, but even more so is kneeling.  They are not just standing idly but they are engaging. These are all good things to be doing as a believer.  But here’s the problem:

that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 

This tells me they received what they went for, the praise of men.  They went, they stood, they prayed aloud, people noticed, they robbed the Lord of His praise; they received their reward.  A very short-lived reward.  In doing so they forfeited the real reward for those who seek the Lord with all their heart.  For what does a man gain to have the applause of men but be rejected by the Lord?

This is the difference between religion and relationship.  Religion emphasizes going through the motions and looking the part on the outside, yet never allowing the change to occur on the inside.   Religion strives for earthly, perishable rewards which are here today and gone tomorrow.  While the true man or woman of God lives for eternal rewards that are stored up in heaven.

            Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Churches are filled with people who are religious on the outside, they do everything that is necessary to look the part, yet are empty within.

Prayer Requires Solitude

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. (KJV shall reward thee openly)

Room - inner chamber'; a secret room

Of course, corporate prayer is biblical, necessary, and very beneficial to the body of Christ.  Many good things come from corporate prayer.  People are encouraged, young disciples learn to pray by hearing others, it builds unity, and establishes a heart for missions.

But when we pray corporately it is simply an overflow of what is taking place on the individual level.  When no one is looking, when you have nothing to gain, when it is just you and God, seclude yourself, shut out any distractions and pray to Him in solitude. 

What is to be gained by having moments of solitude while in prayer?

God sees it, and He rewards that kind of prayer.  Jesus encourages us to have this kind of one-on-one prayer life with God. It is in the solitude that God really speaks into your life and molds you into the person He has created you to be.  It is in the solitude that you find His peace, His strength, His joy etc..

Prayer Requires Authenticity

⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases (KJV use not vain repetitions)

Vain Repetitions – battalogeō - to repeat the same things over and over, to use many and idle words, to babble

Jesus says don’t’ babble in prayer by saying the same things over and over.  Yet in some religions that is exactly what they do.  They’ll even recite the Lord’s prayer repeatedly to earn God’s favor.  The Lord’s prayer is meant to correct wrongful prayer patterns. But it has been turned into a vain repetition by some. 

The other thing about empty phrases is that they consist of idle words.  Meaning they worthless, they do not come from the heart. 

as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for

There is a reason why you are not to be like people who just babble in prayer,

your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 

Prayer Requires Relationship

Your Father Knows,

• Is this talking about your earthly father? Then who is it talking about?
• Is everyone considered a child of the Father?

Not everyone is a child of God. 

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

• How then does a person qualify as a child of the Father?

Galatians 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 

It is because of Christ that we are children of God.  Furthermore, as a child of God you have access to your heavenly Father and He knows what you need even before you ask.

⁹ Pray then like this: (KJV After this manner) in other words the structure of this prayer is a good model to follow.

1. Start with Praise and adoration.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

From the revelation that He is Our Father we can boldly approach the throne of grace.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We acknowledge that He is in heaven and that we are not.  He sees all things through a heavenly lens while we see with limited perspective.

Hallowed be your name - to render or acknowledge to be venerable (make sacred), to hallow (to make holy or set apart for holy use)

To Hallow God’s name is to honor, esteem, reverence, value, treasure etc… his name.

In our prayer we acknowledge His deity and that fact that He alone is holy.  It is out of our total dependencyupon Him which we make our petitions known.

2. Pray for God’s will to be done in your life

¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Last week Tara preached on asking, seeking, and knocking according to His will.  Often His will is much different than our own will.  Praying according to God’s will often involves sacrifice and even suffering on our part.  Because His ways are not our ways. 

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

However, to pray according to His will is also to say that He is creator God, and we are not.  He is the one who uniquely designed us.  He holds the blueprint of our lives.  He has given each of us traits, talents, abilities, that are to be used for His glory.  

As painful as it was for Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus surrenders to the Father’s will and prays:

Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 

Jesus knew that suffering was at the end of that prayer, yet He prayed for God’s will to be done regardless of what suffering He may encounter. 

Hebrews 12:2  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

The apostle Paul also discovered the difference between God’s will and his own will.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9   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. 

When we pray for the will of God, we must consider it looks very different than our will.  That sometimes praying according to the will of God means “no or not right now.”  We must trust that God knows what is bestfor us. 

In a sense God tells Paul “no” that He would not remove the “thorn in the flesh” because the thorn was keeping Paul humble and dependent upon Him.  But He also tells him “My grace is sufficient for you” Which leads us to the next part of the Lord’s prayer.

3. Make Your Petitions Known

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,

He provides for our every need.  He instructs us to pray this way because He is a good God and He cares for us.  If He had no intent on providing for us, then He would have not told us to do so.  But Jesus, the second person of the triune God, tells us to pray for our daily bread.  

         Bread -artos – food of any kind

With the expectation that when we pray, we believe that we will receive what we have asked for.

We know that He is the “bread of life” and He provides everything we need pertaining to godliness, but word deals with our physical needs as well.

First, we begin with prayers of adoration, then we pray for His will to be done, thirdly we ask Him to providefor our daily needs.

¹² and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

In praying for our daily needs, we consider the daily needs of our spiritual well-being as well.  We are in constant need of His forgiveness for our sins.  The Good News is:

Lamentations 3:22-23

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

However, there is a stipulation: If want forgiveness then we must also forgive those who have wronged us.  We must let go of all bitterness and forgive the offender the way that Christ forgives us.

Jesus encourages us to pray for forgiveness.  He knew we would mess up time and again even after becoming a Christian.  So, He instructs us to ask for forgiveness of our sins. 

Matthew 6:14-15 

¹⁴For 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.

4. Pray to Overcome Temptation

¹³ And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Jesus knows how frail we are and that we are prone to fall into temptation.  He looks upon our frailty and as the Master physician He provides the cure.  Ask the father that you would not fall into temptation.

            1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

God knows your limits.  In moments when you are tempted, pray that God will provide the way of escape and that you would have the strength to walk in the way which He provides.

Some manuscripts add “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen”

Ending the Lord’s prayer the same as it was started by declaring God’s worth and adoring His name.

Right after Jesus gives some instruction on prayer, He goes on to talk about fasting.  Because prayer and fasting go hand in hand.

Prayer Requires Fasting

¹⁶ “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Fasting - an act of self-denial, and mortification of the flesh, a holy revenge upon ourselves, and humiliation under the hand of God.  It is a means to curb the flesh and the desires of it.

Hypocrites- pretended to be humble and contrite.  They appeared to be humbler than they really were.  They made sure people were aware that it was their day to fast.

The same concepts that we talked about earlier with giving alms and with prayer also apply to fasting.  Don’t do it to be seen by men.  Don’t do it to gain the pity of men for you will have your reward.  Do it in secret for your Father sees it all.   Fast in a manner that honors God, not flesh.  When you fast, it is expected that you would set aside time to fast.  Anoint you head and wash your face.  Today’s vernacular we may say, put some make up on, fix your hair, take a bath.  There is no gain or reward for disfiguring yourself to appear more holy than others. Again, He promises rewards to those who fast correctly.