MATTHEW 6:5-15  LESSON # 8
PRAYER

I. Greetings and Introduction:
This week we will look at how to pray. This section contains teaching on our attitude towards God when we pray, a model prayer (which is the Lord’s Prayer), and Jesus’ own commentary on the Lord’s Prayer.
Our study will therefore include three sections: words of wisdom on prayer (7-8), the Lord’s Prayer (9-13), and Jesus’ commentary on what is very important to Him about His model prayer (14-15).
Note: One of the most famous passages in the New Testament is the Lord’s Prayer. However, familiarity can easily lull us to sleep and we could miss what is actually before us.
II. Instructions on Prayer: Matthew 6:7-15.
A. A Word of Wisdom from Jesus about Prayer: Matthew 6:7-8.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:7-8.
Q What was Jesus warning us against in verse 6?
An = Jesus did not want us to pray to be seen by men, see 6:1. We are to pray, but if we pray to be noticed by others, then the meaning of prayer is lost. Praying in private can free us from a religious phoniness. We should pray a lot and say little about it.
Q Was Jesus forbidding us to repeat a prayer in verse 7?
An = Jesus was not saying that you cannot repeat a prayer. Jesus repeated a prayer many times in the Garden of Gethsemane (in the very book of Matthew, i.e. 26:36-42 and see also Luke 11:5-10). Rather, Jesus was saying do not take God for a fool. You cannot make God respond with a lot of words. He is an Intelligent Being. He wants us to pray to Him as an intelligent being just as you want your children or your friends to talk to you.
RQ Would you not be offended if a friend asked a favor sixty times, thinking that was the only reason you would respond?
Note: Oswald Chambers (Studies In the Sermon On the Mount, p. 60) reminds us that “God is never impressed by our earnestness.” Sometimes, we need to repeat the prayer for our sake and that is OK, but God cannot be controlled by repetitions. If repetition worked, Jesus’ teaching would move from encouraging a relationship with God to teaching us religious magic.

III. The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13
A. The Framework: 9 and 13b.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:9
Q According to this verse what is the purpose for giving this prayer?
An = Notice that Jesus did not say “pray these exact words” but “pray in this way” or as the NIV says it: “This, then, is how you should pray”. What we are given is a pattern for our prayers and the topics raised should guide our prayer life.
Note: Jesus knew that his disciples knew many public prayers from the Book of Psalms. These prayers were beautifully spoken or sung in the great Temple or in synagogue, what He was teaching here is a guide for their private prayer life. It is perfectly correct to pray the Lord’s Prayer in public but it is primarily a guide for our use in private communion with God.
Note: Before we go on, let me make one observation: if one examines the structure of the Lord’s Prayer as found in Matthew 6:9-13 we will find a curious but clear structure. So let’s look at that structure. The Lord’s Prayer could easily be seen to have six parts: An Invocation, Four Requests, and a Benediction. Let me explain further.
Note: Verse 9 opens the Lord’s Prayer with what is commonly called an “Invocation”.
Q What is an invocation?
An = It means to call upon, or address someone. >>> Turn with me to Psalm 46:1 and let me read it to you. Notice God is addressed as a refuge or shelter, now go over to Psalm 49:1, 2 and let’s read this. Notice here it is not God who is addressed but the peoples of all stations. Now go over to Psalm 50:1 and let’s read it. In this Psalm the invocation is to God but now a different aspect of God’s character is addressed, His might and power. The invocation is an indication of who and what aspect of that person is being addressed.
The Lord’s Prayer opens with an invocation:
Note: Our Father, who are in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. If we break this down, God is addressed as our Father. God is understood as our “dad”, in Aramaic it would be “Abba”, or “Daddy”. In the ancient Jewish culture, Fathers deeply loved their children and many families still understand how deeply the love can be towards “dad”. By calling God “our Father” we are saying we know God intimately, as a loving person who cares for us. He is not just God, but He is my father! As we draw closer to God we will increasingly feel and understand this closeness and this bond.
Q God is not only called “our Father” but also what?
An = Notice the next phrase, “who are in Heaven”. God is not only our father, but He is the Lord of the Heavens. He is not our personal guru or divine pet! He is in heaven, far away, and far above all that is on earth.
So, God is both intimate and God is great and awe-inspiring. He is not only “immanent” (close and near) but also “transcendent” (above and beyond anything a human being can imagine).
Note: To make sure we understand this, Jesus followed up with hallowed be your Name, or “Holy is your Name”. He is to be sanctified and holy in our understanding. The Jews knew that to truly come before God with joy they needed to understand His Holiness: >>>> Turn to Psalm 34:3 and have someone read it to the group.
Q So, what attitude towards God are we to have when beginning our personal prayer life?
An = We should approach God with confidence that He is our father but also aware that He is awesome in power! He is both intimate and yet almighty. We should know that He deeply loves us, but that we are also addressing the Lord of the Entire Cosmos. We should know that we are approaching not only He who loves us but He who is to be worshipped in awe. In Hebrew, the word for “holiness” (qadosh) stresses God’s otherness and stresses that holiness is dangerous.
B. The Body of the Prayer: Four Requests: Matthew 6:10-13a.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:10.
Note: Now we move onto the body of the Lord’s Prayer. It opens with a request in verse 10. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Q How do you understand this phrase: “May your kingdom come”?
An = It is where God is king and His will is followed. We are being told to ask for God’s lordship to begin.
Note: Asking God’s kingdom to come and then for His will to be done is an example of Hebrew parallelism. In Hebrew poetry a phrase is often repeated with a different set of words. There is a variety of forms these reappearances can take. Here the parallel phrases of “Thy kingdom come” and “Thy will be done” are saying the same thing, but the second phrase gives the listener a bit of explanation on what the first phrase means. Jesus is structuring His prayer in the familiar pattern of the Psalms. Turn to Psalm 112:2, 7 and have someone read these two verses to the group. See how the phrases are repeating some of the same thoughts in different ways. Now turn to Psalm 114:4 for another example. Have someone read Psalm 114:4. One more thing, when Hebrew speakers repeat a matter, it shows its importance!
Q What was Jesus saying? What should our prayers be like, if we follow His direction?
An = Perhaps, another way of seeing what Jesus said would be: “May you be truly King, not only in heaven and in the ages to come, but with me on earth, now”. It is a prayer of submission. He must be king, not us. His will, not our will, should dominate. Taking the Bible seriously allows us to know what God thinks or wants. We learn here that true Christians ask God to help them conform to God’s will. If we ignore the Bible, then we can make up a god and reflecting our wishes because we have made up a god that is in our image. In addition, we could be asking God to let us hear from the Holy Spirit. When we do this, we have chosen to ask God to make us aware of His will so that we do not remain trapped in our own agenda.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:11
Q What did the second request mean?
An = Give us today our daily bread. Notice Jesus wanted us to ask for our daily sustenance. Jesus did not say ask for luxury, but to ask for our daily needs. God does care about our needs and so He commands us to ask for them to be fulfilled. What you really need you are to ask for. This “daily bread” can take many forms as the phrase in Hebrew is designed to be taken in a broader manner than just bread. Maybe our daily needs would entail a positive relationship or a job or health.
Q What would you think of the college student who said: “Dad, or Mom, give me ten thousand dollars, so I do not have to be bothered this semester with talking to you again?
Q What does it mean that I am to ask for “daily” bread? Why is the word “daily” there?
An = So many times we want to be given our needs twenty years in advance, where God wants us to be daily dependent upon Him. We want security we can see and control but He wants relationship. God wants us to daily come before Him with our needs. Some people have called it living on the edge.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:12.
Q What was the third thing we are to ask for?
An = The third thing we are to ask for is something that Jesus knew we have need of: forgiveness. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Knowing we need daily sustenance, the Lord also knew we needed to submit to His will, and He knew we needed forgiveness. So, He said: “Ask for it.”
Note: Of the four requests that we are going to look at in the Lord’s Prayer, only this one has a condition. Jesus did not say, ask for daily bread, but first fast six hours then I will supply your need. He did not say ask for My will to be done only after you have given your tithe. There are no conditions attached to these requests but here there are stipulations. There are conditions to forgiveness. You must forgive those who have hurt you.
Note: Charles Williams says the word “as” is the most terrible word in the English Bible. It is so hard to forgive those who have hurt us, but Jesus said it was not optional. You must forgive to be forgiven.
Q Why is it so hard to forgive?
Q Can we afford to forgive? Can we afford to forgive those idiots at work? Can we afford to forgive certain relatives? Can we forgive those who have abused us?
An = If we forgive, then the devil tries to tell us, we will be diminished. We must have our due! Our debts must be recognized and covered. The real enemy is not those who hurt us, but the devil, the “evil one”. Satan does not want us free. He wants to use the mistakes and selfishness of others to enslave us. The real enemy is the devil! Beat the devil; we do not need to beat the one who has hurt us. There is a power and a freedom that forgiving others brings and it is His will that His people be free.
Q Can we afford to forgive?
An = If we will forgive, we do so because we have faith in God. If we have such faith we will not be diminished instead we will be like our heavenly Father. There is one difference to being like our heavenly Father, Chrysostom reminds us, that we have need of becoming great, God already is! He merely wishes to show us the way to be truly great!
Q What was the fourth thing we are to ask our Father for?
An = The fourth thing we are encouraged to ask for is also in parallel form: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We are to ask our Lord for help in temptation. We are to anticipate and pray about the needs we have or others have in temptation and pray before the trouble begins.
EX You can give an example of your own here. The key issue is that one anticipates a problem and then begins to pray. We are not asking God to take all temptation away but to help us not to succumb! There is another bonus here. I believe this opens the door for us to pray not only for ourselves but for our friends, our children, and relatives. Perhaps, we need to begin praying for those we love when see them being drawn into temptation. Do not gossip about them! Do not worry about them! Pray for them! It is the last thing the devil wants us doing. Again, we have a parallelism, a repetition, i.e. it is important to seek help for ourselves and others against temptation, through prayer!
C. The Closing or the Benediction. Matthew 6:13b.
Note: Our prayer ends in some translations with this as the closing phrase or a Benediction, an ending of the prayer. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen. Scripture has many of these types of closings;
Note: Some of your translations do not have this part because some of the earliest manuscripts do not have this closing benediction.
Note: In affect, what this phrase is saying is we affirm that God is totally in control, with endless might, power and glory. So our part is to verbalize this and acknowledge to the world that in Jesus is eternal power and glory. It will help the world and most of all it helps us to realize that this is reality.

IV. Jesus’ Own Commentary or Emphasis on His Prayer: Matthew 6:14-15.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:14-15.
Note: Notice that Jesus was referring back to only one part of the Lord’s Prayer.
>>>> Have someone re-read Matthew 6:12.
Q What was the condition for our being forgiven?
An = Forgiving others! Jesus did not want us to miss that! If we do, we can slip into being a hypocrite, a religious phony, a spiritually dead person, who everyone sees as religious but is not pleasing to God. We could totally miss the boat if we do not forgive! Most of all we would be left in our sins. We would remain guilty before God.
Note: So notice Jesus repeated the issue twice! He loves us and knows our tendency to forget unpleasant issues. Jesus spoke of this issue of forgiveness three times: 6:12, 14, and 15.
Note: He first tried to persuade us with a promise in 6:14, and then He tried to persuade us with a threat in 6:15. He promised and threatened because He wanted to persuade us to the fullest extent.
Note: Those of you who are teachers or parents know that you have to motivate both ways to be affective with students or children.
EX I used to assign some tremendously hard papers in my classes and I would promise them that if they did them they would never forget what they wrote and it would be one of the best things they experienced in my classes. I was right, it was true! However, I would also say if you do not do the paper you do not pass the class.
Q How many students would put 75+ hours into a paper without the threat?
An = Not many. But without the promise they would get discouraged when the going got rough. We humans need both positive and negative encouragement. Jesus knows this and so wisely, lovingly repeated only one part of the Lord’s Prayer.
Note: Let me tell you a secret. If you learn to forgive others who have terribly hurt you it could be the key to your spiritual success. It could be the key that unlocks your relationship to God.
Q Is Christ asking too much of some of you today?
An = If we have been truly hurt by another human being, we need His supernatural grace. He will give it. If we have been hurt deep enough, we need help to forgive. He knows our hope of pleasing Him depends upon it. Some of us have been hurt so badly, that only God knows how deep that hurt is. He has seen what has happened, and He is present right now so the process can begin that will free us. He will enable our efforts.