Thursday, January 3, 2013

Matthew 6 The Disciple's prayer



Background: Luke 11:1-2 After Jesus had talked to the crowd about prayer being about you and God alone. The disciples in Luke 11:1 have apparently been watching Jesus pray in a certain place that He would go to. When He finishes, one of the disciples ask him, Lord teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples to pray. (This was a custom of their day as rabbi's would often teach their students how to pray. Think about how many of them had led a bad example though as we talked about last week.) Yet, John apparently taught his disciples how to pray. We should maybe practice this today. How many of us have been taught how to pray?



Matthew 6:9 ( ESV )

9Pray then like this:“Our Father in heaven,    hallowed be your name.£

·         The key is this prayer is a model, not words you have to say whenever you pray. This prayer offers us an example of how to pray. MacArthur-Of the six petitions in the prayer, three are directed to God-Matt. 6:9-10 and three t/w human needs. 11-13.

·         Father-Jn. 1:12, Luke 11:10-13 We can come to Him as sons.

·             Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne,    and the earth is my footstool;    what is the house that you would build for me,    and what is the place of my rest? Is. 66:1 J.F.B state the former talks about the nearness of our God while this part about Him being in Heaven talks about the distance there is between us.
·         He rules over Heaven and earth.  Is. 6 and Rev. 4/5 A sense of awe should come over us.

·         Hallowed be they name-Our Father is to be reverenced. He is the holy one. Ex. 20:7 and Phil. 2:5-11.  He hears His children's prayers but His answers will be in accordance to His holiness. We are not to treat prayer lightly we are coming before the God of the Universe. (The phrase I’m talking to the man upstairs should not even be a part of our vocab.


Matthew 6:10 ( ESV )

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

·         Your kingdom come-Though a Jewish concept it will also influence us as well. When we pray that His Kingdom will come here on earth we are also praying that He will return. We as believers should have a desire to leave this world far behind. (Matthew Ward-Far Behind)

·         When we pray for His kingdom to come we are joining in the prayers of the saints before the throne in Rev. 5:8 (David Brainerd is a great example in this area.) 2 Reasons why we are not comfortable with this part of the prayer. As believers there are sins in our lives that might cause us to not want to see Him lest we shrink away. As a non-believer there is no peace about the thought of meeting Jesus. You need to receive Him.

·         One of the things that makes Heaven an incredible place is that all that is taking place there is following what the Lord wants. I want what God wants for me in my life in this only, will I truly find perfect peace.
·         Do I pray, your will be done? In Matt. 26:42 Jesus says the following, “My father if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Now if Jesus wanted to do the Father’s will then how much more should I want to do what He would have me to do? Do I pray daily asking the Lord for wisdom in what He would have me to do with my life or do I simply tell Him, the one that I call Lord, follow me?


Matthew 6:11 ( ESV )
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11    Give us this day our daily bread,£

·         As the old saying goes not our greed but our needs might be met. The Lord wants to supply our needs in our lives. He wants us to rely upon Him for everything in our lives. We can come to Him and let our request be made known to Him.

·         Bread sustains us and gives us the carbs that we need in order to survive. The Lord loves to hear us when we pray to Him about our daily needs. He wants to answer that prayer.

·         I believe that one of the biggest reasons on why we worry is that we do not come to the Lord with our request, fears and worries. We need to talk to Him. Proof of this I believe can be found in Phil. 4:6. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.”



Matthew 6:12 ( ESV )

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

·         This is at the heart of the prayer our need to be forgiven of our sins towards God and how we are willing to forgive others in the way that they have wronged us. The word for debt in the parallel passage of Luke is that of sins. Matthew as a tax collector would call it this. We are in debt to God as we have violated his laws. In the same way that He has released us of our sin debt we should be marked as those who are in debt to us with their sins.

·         Our sins and need for fellowship with Him is talked of in I John 1:9-10.

·         We on the other hand are told in Eph. 4:32 That we are to, “Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.”



Matthew 6:13 ( ESV )

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

·         On the night in which Jesus was betrayed He tried to get His disciples to pray in this way as he knew that their spirit was willing but their flesh was weak. Matthew 26:40-41

·         God does not tempt us. He may allow it in our lives but He will not Himself tempt us with sin. This is the work of Satan, his followers and above all our own selves.

·         I like what Mead said years ago, “The idea is not that of to seduce but Lord please don’t allow me to be brought to it.”

·         Do we pray that God will deliver us when we are faced with temptations? Do we make this a part of our daily prayer life? Lord help me not to stumble or to fall into sin.

Special note: KJV has the phrase, “For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
·         Even though some of the oldest Greek ms. Do not have these words and Luke omits it completely, for me it seems to fit in the passage. One: Luke would not ness. have it as his gospel does not focus on the Jews and the Kingdom. Two: It fits Matthew’s perspective.  Three: II Chron. 29:11 states a similar prayer by David.
·         The focus then on the last part then would be that when we pray we should include praise to Him who reigns on high.

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