SERMON: THE LORD'S PRAYER: OUR DAILY BREAD

 Naylor Community Christian Church

I.  Introduction

      -- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13

 

Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

 

“‘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 today 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 the evil one.’

 

      -- back when Col Sanders was still alive, Kentucky Fried Chicken was going through bad times -- for three straight months, he watched as sales of chicken in his restaurants continued to drop -- so, he one day, he gets an idea and he calls up the Pope and asks for a favor.

      -- The Pope said, "What can I do?" -- Colonel Sanders said, "I need you to change the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken'. If you do it, I'll donate $10 million dollars to the Vatican."

      -- The Pope replied, "I am sorry. That is the Lord's prayer and I cannot change the words."

      -- So, Colonel Sanders hangs up -- After another month of dismal sales, the Colonel panics, and calls again. -- "Listen your Excellency. I really need your help. I'll give you $50 million dollars if you change the words of the daily prayer from 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken.'"

      -- The Pope responded, "It is very tempting, Colonel Sanders. The church could do a lot of good with that much money. It would help us support many charities. But, again, I must decline. It is the Lord's prayer, and I can't change the words."

      -- So the Colonel gives up again. After two more months of terrible sales. the Colonel gets desperate. -- "This is my final offer, your Excellency. If you change the words of the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken', I will donate $100 million to the Vatican."

      -- The Pope replied, "Let me get back to you." -- The next day, the Pope called together all of his bishops and he said, "I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that KFC is going to donate $100 million to the Vatican." -- The bishops rejoice at the news. Then one of them asked what the bad news was -- The Pope replied, "The bad news is that we lost the Wonder Bread account."

 

      -- this morning, we're going to be continuing our series on the Lord's Prayer and we're going to be looking at the fourth petition to God in this model prayer that Jesus gave us

      -- we find it here in Matthew 6: 11 -- "Give us this day our daily bread"

 

      -- as we go through this, notice that this is the only place in this entire model prayer where we actually ask God to give us something tangible in our lives -- in the first part of the prayer, Jesus taught us to praise God and to pray that His kingdom and His will would be made manifest on earth as it is in heaven

      -- in the rest of this prayer, Jesus tells us to ask for forgiveness and protection from temptation and sin and evil

      -- but here in this petition, we are asking God to give us our daily bread -- we’ll talk more about that in a minute -- but see that this is the only place where we make our daily needs known to God

 

      -- out of all the petitions in this prayer, I think this is the one that is the most misunderstood

      -- although it seems so simple on the surface, when we cry out to God to give us, this day, our daily bread, it means so much more than that

      -- this request is carrying with it a multitude of requests to God wrapped up in that one phrase, “our daily bread,” and it requires an expression of true faith and trust in Him as the God who will provide for all our needs

      -- so, there are two main things we need to understand and see in this petition that Jesus gave us in this prayer

 

II.  Our Daily Bread

      -- first, we need to understand what is meant by the term "our daily bread" -- as Voltaire said, “If you would speak with me, first define your terms” -- and that is important -- what did Jesus mean when He told us to ask God to give us our daily bread?

      -- I opened with the joke about Col Sanders wanting to change the prayer from our daily bread to our daily chicken just to help make you aware that this petition is really not just about food -- it's not about us just getting something to eat for the day -- it's about something more than that

      -- in the wilderness when Satan tried to tempt Jesus to turn the stones into bread, Jesus said, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' -- this shows us that this request is about more than just bread alone, because that is not all we need to survive -- we need more than bread -- and this prayer recognizes that -- it is a cry to God to provide everything we need for the day -- not just food -- but everything else that we might need -- even what we are not aware of

      -- so, when we pray this petition from the Lord’s Prayer, it is a recognition of our reliance on God for all our needs -- it is about recognizing our dependence on God -- and God alone -- for our daily sustenance -- for all the things that we need to keep us alive both physically and spiritually -- and we all know that we need more than just food to live

 

      -- when you pray, "Give us our daily bread," you are asking God to provide all the physical things that you need to stay alive -- food -- water -- air -- a place to live -- a place to sleep -- clothing -- protection from the elements -- protection from sickness and disease -- all the other physical things that you need in your life just to survive

      -- but it means more than that, too -- as Jesus pointed out, "Man does not live on bread alone" -- and when we pray this prayer, it means that we are asking for the other things in our life that we need each and every day

      -- the things that make life worth living -- family -- friends -- love -- mercy -- forgiveness -- grace -- daily communion with our God and our Creator -- the very word of God spoken into our lives and into us

      -- when you pray, "our daily bread" -- you are asking God to give you everything that you need to stay alive -- both physically and spiritually -- and it means that you are trusting in God's power and ability to provide what you need on a daily basis

     

III.  Give Us This Day

      -- the second thing that I think Jesus wants us to recognize in this phrase is the timing of the request and how that demonstrates our faith in God -- He tells us to pray, “Give us this day” -- not tomorrow -- not the day after -- today

      -- like I said, in its most basic form, this petition is a cry of faith in God -- it is a cry of trust in the power of God to sustain us and give us exactly what we need in our lives when we need it -- not worrying about the future, but trusting God in the moment and putting the future in His hands

      -- God's desire is to bring us to the point where we are in total dependence on Him for all the things in our life -- to bring us to the point where we don't worry about the future or what we will eat or what we will wear because we trust in Him and in His providence on a daily basis

 

      -- a marvelous picture of this is seen in the Old Testament, and when Jesus taught this prayer to His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount, I expect that they immediately thought about this example -- about God providing food to the Israelites in the desert

      -- as you probably remember, after God had led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, they were in the wilderness and they didn't have any food -- the people complained to Moses and Moses prayed to God to provide food for the nation of Israel

      -- in Exodus 16:4, it reads, "the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions."

      -- and the next morning, the Bible says that after the dew was gone, the Israelites saw flakes like frost covering the ground -- they didn't know what it was -- so Moses told them, "This is the bread that the Lord has provided to you" -- they called it "manna" and noted that it tasted like wafers made with honey

      -- God used the giving of the manna to teach the children of Israel to trust in His divine providence each day -- to not try to store up for themselves treasures on earth or stockpile food for rainy days -- He wanted them to trust Him to provide daily

      -- so, the Bible tells us that the manna would only last for one day -- if the Israelites tried to hoard it keep it for more than one day, it would rot and maggots would fill the jar where the manna was kept -- so, every single day, the Israelites would have to get up and gather enough manna -- enough bread -- to sustain them for that day

      -- God provided their daily bread on a daily basis -- teaching them that He would meet all their needs when they came up and not before -- teaching them not to worry but to trust in Him

 

      -- we have a hard time trusting God like that, don't we? -- we find it hard to trust God to provide our needs on a daily basis -- whether that’s food or money or whatever it is -- we want a security blanket -- we want to know that we’ve got enough stored away somewhere to see us through just in case God doesn’t provide -- and, so, we spend a lot of time worrying about what might happen in the future

      -- I know that this is something that I struggle with in my own life -- there's not much that I'm good at, but I am good at worrying -- the Apostle Paul said that he was the chief of sinners -- I'm the chief of worriers -- I can come up with more gloom and doom predictions of the future and more things to worry about than anyone else

      -- but God is working on me -- and He's trying to get me to see that I should trust in Him every day to provide what I need and not to worry about the future but to simply trust in Him -- to simply pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" and trust that He will bring it to pass -- to trust that, no matter what is going on in the world, God is still in control and He will take care of us and give us what we need when we need it, and not a moment before

 

      -- worrying about the future and a lack of true faith in God was a problem with the disciples, too

      -- look down at verse 25 here in Matthew 6

 

Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

 

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

      -- after teaching them to pray and to trust God to provide, Jesus makes a point here of telling His disciples not to worry about the things of life

      -- in essence, He was saying, "God knows what you need -- and God knows when you need it -- and when you pray to Him and make your needs known to Him then He will meet those needs on His timetable

      -- you'll have the food to eat when you need it -- the water to drink when you need it -- the clothes to wear when you need them -- if God provides all that to the birds and to the plants, don't you think He'll take care of you, too -- if God provided manna for the Israelites every single day, don't you think He will provide what you need, too -- so don't worry about tomorrow -- just ask Him to give you what you need for this day -- and trust that He will provide”

 

      -- the same principle that Jesus is teaching here holds true in our spiritual lives, as well -- have you ever heard the phrase, "grace for the moment?" -- that means that God doesn't give you grace to get through a situation until you need it -- but when you need it, then He will give it to you in abundance

      -- a few years back, I was reading the book, “Tortured for Christ,” an autobiographical account by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand of his time in a Romanian prison suffering torture and abuse because of his faith in Christ -- Rev. Wurmbrand points out that he did not know if he would have the strength to withstand the torture and the imprisonment -- he worried that he wouldn’t be able to bear what he was going to face -- but God gave him the strength at just the moment he needed it and Rev. Wurmbrand survived his ordeal and went on to develop the worldwide ministry “Voice of the Martyrs,” which ministers to Christians who are being persecuted for their faith, just as he was

 

      -- that's exactly what He does for us, too -- God doesn't give you the grace and the strength to deal with a death in your family until you face a death in your family -- He doesn't give you the grace and strength to face a severe sickness until you actually come face to face with that sickness -- He doesn't give you the grace and strength to withstand anything until you actually need it -- that is why it says in Lamentations 3:23, "God's compassions and mercies are new every morning" -- they come to us just like the manna did to the ancient Israelites -- every day, exactly when we need it

      -- that’s why Jeff Shreve, a preacher who’s on WAFT in the morning at 6:30 am, says that he likes to call God by the name, Jehovah Nick of Time, because He always provides in the nick of time, just when you need His help -- He’s never early -- He’s never late -- but He provides for us when the need arises

      -- I can give you story after story of times like this in my life -- of when I was needing something and didn’t know how I was going to get it -- like the time we were running short on money and had a bill that had to be paid and I just couldn’t pay it -- and I was praying about it while I was driving -- I stopped at the mailbox -- and someone had sent me a card with a check in it that covered the whole amount of the bill -- and it was almost to the penny -- I think it was for like $0.05 more than I needed

      -- but that’s the way God works -- He knew the need -- He knew the amount -- and when I prayed, “God, give me this day what I need,” He provided in the moment I needed it and gave me exactly what I was praying for -- Jehovah Nick of Time

 

      -- that’s the heart of this petition in the Lord’s Prayer -- when we pray, "Give us this day, our daily bread" -- we are also asking for God to give us the grace that we need to make it through that day -- He knows exactly what trials and tribulations and temptations that we are going to face that day -- and He knows what we need for that day -- whether it’s spiritual or physical or emotional -- and He’s going to give it to us at the moment we need it

      -- it would do no good for Him to give us grace now to handle a situation that may come up in the future -- it’s not like we can stockpile grace or strength or anything else -- that is why Jesus tells us in verse 34, "don't worry about tomorrow -- today has enough troubles of its own"

      -- when we pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” we’re making the statement that we trust God to deliver what we need, when we need it -- whether that’s for our physical, our emotional, or our spiritual needs

 

IV.  Closing

      -- I want to close by sharing with you the story of one of my heroes in the faith -- Brother Andrew -- Andrew is known as "God's Smuggler" and you can read his autobiography in the book by this same title

 

      -- Andrew is not a seminary-trained minister -- he's just a common man like you and me -- but a man with extraordinary faith that God has used in extraordinary ways

      -- when Andrew finally responded to God's call and became a Christian, he left his native Holland to go to England to attend missionary training at WEC -- the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade

      -- it was there he learned to truly trust in God and lean on faith in his daily life and what it means to pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread”

 

      -- the focus of WEC was to teach the students to trust God for everything -- in one exercise of trust, Andrew and four other students were told to go on a missionary tour of Scotland -- the students were each given a one-pound banknote -- in today’s dollars, that would be about $20 -- and from that $20 they were given, they were responsible for paying for all of their expenses on the trip -- their lodging -- their transportation -- their food -- everything -- and were told to never, ever ask for money from anyone to support them -- they were to depend on the Lord to mee all their needs -- in addition, when they got back, they were told they would have to return the $20 to the organization

      -- one day they were holding meetings in Edinburgh and decided to host a tea party for a group of young people they were witnessing to -- the only problem was they had no tea, no cake, no bread and butter, and only five cups, way short of the number of people who were coming to the gathering

      -- the young people they were ministering to volunteered to bring everything but the cake -- so, the young missionaries in training had everything they needed for their tea party, except for the cake -- and, as Andrew put it, "without cake, these Scottish boys and girls wouldn't consider tea, tea." -- their gathering would be a disappointment

      -- So that night the missionary group prayed a very specific prayer: "Lord, from somewhere we've got to get a cake. We don’t have the money to pay for it.  We don’t know how to get it.  Will you help us?"

      -- by this time, Andrew and the other four young men had started to truly believe and trust in God and His ability to provide what was needed -- so that night they went to bed expecting to wake up and find the cake ready for the party

      -- but morning came -- no cake -- they waited for God to send a heavenly messenger to their door bearing a cake as a present -- no one came

      -- the morning mail came -- they ripped open two letters, expecting to find money inside to be used to buy the cake -- there was none

      -- a woman from a nearby church came by to see if she could help -- Andrew said they all wanted to say, "Bake us a cake," but they trusted God and swallowed their words and shook their heads -- "Everything is in God's hands," they said

      -- the tea was scheduled for four o’clock in the afternoon -- at three, the tables were set, but they still had no cake -- Three-thirty came and went -- they put water on to boil

      -- three-forty-five -- fifteen minutes before the young people would arrive -- the doorbell rang -- they opened the door and the mailman was standing there with a large package

      -- he told them that the package had just come in and that even though the delivery day was over, he said it felt like a food package and he hated to leave a perishable package overnight at the post office -- so, he brought it on over on his way home

      -- they took the package and closed the door and saw that it was addressed to Andrew from a woman in London -- they handed it to him and stared at him with expectant eyes

 

      -- let me read you what Andrew wrote about this experience in his book, and I’m quoting here:

 

"I took the package and carefully unwrapped it -- Off came the twine -- Off came the brown outside paper -- Inside, there was no note -- only a large white box.

 

"Deep in my soul I knew that I could afford the drama of lifting the lid slowly -- As I did, there, in perfect condition, to be admired by five sets of wondering eyes, was an enormous, glistening, moist, chocolate cake."

 

      -- And thus began a life of trust -- Brother Andrew learned to trust God for every provision he ever needed, big or small -- he learned to trust that God would provide his needs exactly when Andrew needed it, and not a moment before

      -- He trusted God when he took Bibles across hostile borders -- He trusted God to blind the eyes of border guards who searched his car for illegal gospel tracts -- He trusted God to provide the resources needed to carry the gospel to people living in bondage behind the Iron Curtain -- and he continues to trust God today as he ministers to Muslims in the middle East

      -- Brother Andrew is an example of someone who understands what it means to pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” in true faith and trust in God

 

      -- when you pray that prayer, remember that this is more than just a request for food for the day -- it is a demonstration of our faith and trust in God to provide for all our needs for that very day -- whether those needs are physical, or emotional, or spiritual

      -- it is a reminder for us to put our lives and our future in God’s hands -- to not worry about tomorrow -- to not worry about the future -- but to trust God in the moment and to put our faith in Him, no matter how dark the days ahead might seem -- knowing that God is going to provide what we need at the very moment we need it -- just remember, Jehovah Nick of Time always provides

 

      -- before we close in prayer, let me share one more thought with you about this prayer -- this is prayer that Jesus obviously intended we pray at the start of every day -- it would make no sense to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” after the day had passed

      -- but remember, for the Israelites, the new day began in the evening, right before they would get ready to go to bed -- their day began at 6:00 pm, and ended at 6:00 pm the next day

      -- so, when they prayed this prayer, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” they went to sleep -- and Jesus is telling them to sleep in peace -- trusting in faith in the God who would provide -- they didn’t need to worry about what they would eat or what they would need after they woke up -- because God was already there and all their needs would be met

      -- it’s an enormous demonstration of faith to pray a prayer like this before you go to sleep, when you can do nothing on your own to bring about answers to your need -- and all you can do is trust in God to provide

 

      -- we look at time differently than the Israelites -- we start our day in the morning and end it at night -- but the same principle holds -- when we pray this prayer -- when we cry out, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” we need to do so in the peace and in the trust that comes through our faith in God to provide

      -- so, let’s close in prayer to the One who knows our needs -- who meets our needs -- and who provides for us every day what it is that we need to get through that day -- let us put our faith and trust in Him and rest in His goodness and grace

      -- let us pray

SERMON: THE LORD’S PRAYER: THE KINGDOM AND THE WILL OF GOD

 NAYLOR COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

I.  Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13

 

6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

 “‘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 today 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 the evil one.’

 

            -- as we begin this morning, I want to remind you of an event in the prophet Daniel’s life, recorded in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, Chapter 2

            -- Daniel had been taken into captivity into Babylon, along with other Israelites from the nation’s royal family and nobility and leading citizens -- as Daniel Chapter 2 opens, we find Daniel serving in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon

            -- one day, the king has a dream of a large statue comprised of different parts -- the head was made of pure gold -- the chest and arms of silver -- the belly and thighs were bronze -- and the legs were iron, with its feet made partly with iron and partly with baked clay

            -- and, in his dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a rock smash into the statue and break it into pieces -- and the rock grew in size and became a huge mountain that filled the earth

            -- Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by this dream -- and neither he nor any of his magicians could discern its meaning -- finally, the magicians proposed that the captive Daniel might be able to interpret the meaning of the dream

            -- under inspiration from God, Daniel explained to the king that the statue in his dream was an illustration of the great kingdoms that would arise in the world over the course of time -- the head of gold represented the kingdom of Babylon -- the chest and arms of silver stood for a lesser kingdom that would follow, which we know to be the kingdom of the Medes and Persians -- this was followed by the bronze belly and thighs, which represent the third great kingdom on earth, which we now know to be the Greek kingdom -- and the legs of iron and the feet of iron and baked clay represent the final great worldly kingdom, which we believe to be the Roman Empire

            -- the rock which came and struck these kingdoms and destroyed them completely is the Rock of Ages -- the Messiah of Israel -- the King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- who will establish a final kingdom that will last for all eternity, under divine rule and not human rule

            -- Daniel concluded his interpretation of the dream by telling Nebuchadnezzar of the kingdom to come in Daniel 2:44-45

 

            Daniel 2:44-45, “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people -- It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever -- this is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands -- a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces -- the great God has shown the king what will take place in the future -- the dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”

 

-- this morning, we are continuing our series on the Lord’s Prayer -- as I mentioned when we began this study, the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that Jesus gave to us as a model for us to use as we pray to God

-- in this prayer, there are seven petitions that Jesus tells us to make before the Father -- the first three petitions have to do with the name and glory of God -- they have to do with our praise and recognition of Him

-- the last four petitions are personal, as we pray for what we need and for our walk with Christ

-- last week, we looked at the first petition in this model prayer -- “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name” -- this is a petition -- a request -- that the name of God might be hallowed and revered and praised throughout all of the creation and in our lives

-- this week, we are going to be looking at the next two petitions in this prayer -- if you would, look back at verse 10 here in Matthew 6:

 

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

 

            -- so, in this prayer, we are praying for two things to be done -- first, that God’s kingdom -- the kingdom that Daniel spoke about -- would come -- and secondly, that His will would be done -- and I want to talk about each of these and how they relate together in practice and in hope

 

II.  The Kingdom of God

            -- I had a discussion this week with a friend who’s going through a difficult time in his life -- he comes from a Calvinist background, that emphasizes predestination and the sovereignty of God -- so, in his understanding of life, everything that happens is preordained by God and is God’s will for him

            -- and things aren’t going good -- he’s struggling right now with some trials -- and he told me that he’s angry with God -- he said that he’s been trying to serve God and be a good Christian, so why is God punishing him in this way? -- why is God allowing these things to come on him? -- why is this God’s will for his life?

            -- and I pointed out to him that not everything that happens in our lives or in this world today is God’s will -- bad things happen because we live in a fallen world -- bad people do bad things and both believers and unbelievers suffer as a result -- it’s a consequence of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden and the introduction of sin and death into this world

            -- for example, it is not God’s will that little children be abused -- it is not God’s will that babies be killed in the womb -- it is not God’s will that our youth be killed in school shootings -- it is not God’s will that war destroys nations and lives -- it is not God’s will that people experience violence and crime and all the others ills that beset us -- that is not God’s will

            -- we recognize that -- we know that -- and that’s why we cry out for answers when these things happen -- it’s because we know they are wrong -- but it’s not God that is causing them -- yes, God does allow them to happen -- He will, on occasion, allow us to suffer through trials and troubles -- but He is not the source of these wrongs in the world today

-- so, when bad things happen -- when we suffer the consequence of sin and living in a fallen world -- we cling to the promise of Romans 8:28, that reads: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”

-- this verse doesn’t say that all things are good -- what it says is that in the midst of the bad, God works good for those who love Him -- He brings beauty from the ashes -- He brings forth life from what death and sin have touched

 

            -- last week, we looked at the petition where Jesus told us to pray for God’s name to be hallowed -- it is a fact that God’s name is not being hallowed to the ends of the earth -- God’s name and presence are not being recognized and lifted up in all places, even here in our community -- maybe even, at times, in our own lives -- so, we pray, “Hallowed by Thy Name”

            -- in the same way, we recognize that God’s kingdom has not been made completely manifest on earth -- that His will is not always done -- and, so, we cry out to God in this prayer, “Thy kingdom come -- Thy will be done -- on earth, as it is in heaven”

-- as Phil Newton put it, “These two petitions ask for the Lord’s rule over our lives and the entire created order to be fully manifested -- it is the longing of kingdom citizens – that the kingship of our King might be honored and glorified -- and that the whole earth might submit to his rule.”

 

-- so, what do we mean by the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, as Matthew phrases it in his gospel?

-- the Kingdom of God is defined as God’s comprehensive rule of all creation -- it is all-embracing -- it is His kingdom -- His plan -- His program -- His will -- His complete and total sphere of influence -- the Kingdom of God is God’s will and rule made manifest in our lives and in this world and in all creation, including the heavens above

-- in other words, the kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of Israel’s God on earth as in heaven, exercised through David’s true son and heir

-- the Bible tells us that the Kingdom of God is found in Jesus -- just as Jesus is the Word of God made manifest and real in our world, so Jesus is the kingdom of God embodied -- the manifestation of God’s ruling presence

-- in other words, the Kingdom of God is defined by the presence of God -- where the King is, His kingdom is also -- so, when you see Jesus, you are seeing God’s kingdom -- when you have the Holy Spirit present, you are in God’s kingdom

 

-- we need to recognize that there are different dimensions of God’s Kingdom -- so, we speak of God’s Kingdom this way:  It has come -- it is coming -- it is to come.

-- “it has come” -- meaning, God’s kingdom is currently present here on earth in the hearts of believers and in those who do His will -- it is an invisible kingdom -- real, but existing spiritually in another realm -- as I said a moment ago, wherever the presence of God is, we find His Kingdom

-- as Jesus told Pontius Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world” -- it exists beyond this world in a spiritual realm -- and when we become believers in Christ -- when we submit to Him as both our Savior and our Lord -- we enter into this Kingdom and it becomes real in our lives -- we live in this Kingdom right now -- and our allegiance is to it and to God above all else

 

-- next, “it is coming” -- this is referring to the future millennial kingdom of Christ -- although the Kingdom of God currently exists in the spiritual realm where His presence is within believers and His church, we read in the Book of Revelation, that Christ will return and set up a visible kingdom here on earth -- that Jesus will physically reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years over those who remain after the Great Tribulation

-- this is the great hope of the nation of Israel -- this is the vision of the Messiah that Israel had, not understanding that the Messiah would first come as our atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross -- the hope of Israel has always been looking towards the final King from David’s lineage who will vanquish all the other nations and set up His kingdom on earth and rule from David’s throne in Jerusalem

 

-- and, finally, “it is to come” -- after the 1000-year reign of Christ -- after Christ has vanquished all His foes and sin and death are no more -- the eternal Kingdom of God will be made manifest -- thus will begin the reign of God on the new earth and the new heavens for all eternity -- then, finally, we will see God’s kingdom come and be made manifest as Daniel prophesied -- finally, God’s Kingdom will be established on earth as it is in heaven -- and His will and His plan will be made manifest in our lives and in all creation for eternity

 

-- you can see how the will of God is closely related to the manifestation of His kingdom -- God’s will is His rule and His authority over His Kingdom and the Kingdom subjects -- when we pray that God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, we are praying that His perfect plan would be accomplished in our lives and in the lives of those around us

-- it means that we acknowledge that God knows what is best for us and for this world --and that we surrender our will to His -- It also expresses a longing to see His will acknowledged throughout the world

-- we are praying that He would remove the evil and the consequences of sin and death in our world today and replace it with what He would have happen -- it is a prayer of submission of our will to His -- of surrendering our desires and our plans and our wants for His perfect will in our lives and in this world

-- Before we can pray, 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done', we must be willing to pray, 'My kingdom and my will go'.

 

-- When we pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," we pray for three things:

 

-- First, we pray for the final and ultimate establishment of God's kingdom. We pray for the day when all creation will freely call Him "Dearest Father" - "Abba." -- we pray for God to rule over all and for His name to be hallowed and lifted up throughout all creation

 

-- Second, this prayer is a plea for us to be conformed to His will in this world -- As we pray this, we hand ourselves over to the grace of God so He may do with us as He pleases -- we are basically saying, “Your kingdom come in my life -- your will be done in my life -- Use me for Your kingdom.

 

-- Third, this is a prayer that God's rule will come to others through us -- it is a prayer for restoration and renewal and revival -- It is a prayer for Christ to work His revolutionary power in a fallen world -- it is a prayer that God’s kingdom and His will would come and be made manifest and real in our families, our jobs, our cities, our communities, our nation, and this world²  

 

-- as Kent Hughes points out, “This is a big prayer that depends on a big God -- And when truly prayed -- [when truly prayed and understood from the heart] -- it makes for a big life -- Is your life -- is my life -- [is my belief and trust in God] big enough to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done"?

 

            -- most people don’t realize the gravity of this prayer -- they don’t realize the power that is being requested -- they don’t realize what we are really asking for when we pray this prayer as Jesus intended

            -- this prayer is a call for the Rock of All Ages to smash the kingdoms of the earth -- to destroy sin and death and their effects on this earth and in our lives -- it is a call for God to move and to reign and to rule in us and through us -- it is a call for an active invasion as we push against the very gates of Hell and bring God’s kingdom power and glory and majesty to all corners of this world

            -- to pray “Thy Kingdom Come -- Thy Will be done” is to pray for God’s very power and presence to be made manifest in all situations and for good to overcome evil once and for all

            -- it is a powerful prayer that we sometimes too glibly say or just recite without thinking of what we are asking -- if God’s people were to fervently pray this prayer from the heart, things would change -- our lives would change -- this world would change

 

III. Closing

-- let’s bring this to a close

 

-- A story is told about a man who needed to get his shoe repaired for an important event the next day -- he rushed to the shoe repair shop, arriving there just a few minutes after the store closed at 5:00 pm

-- in disappointment, he looked around the parking lot, and saw that it was empty -- apparently there was no one there -- and it looked like the shop owner had already left for the day

-- knowing he only had one opportunity to get his shoe repaired that day, he headed to the door to see if, by chance, the store was still open -- to his surprise, the shoe repairman was there and let him in, even though it was after hours

-- “I didn’t think anyone was here,” the man said, relieved. -- the shoe repairman replied,“You came just in time.  I was almost ready to go home.”

-- Remembering the empty parking lot, the man asked, “How are you going to go home? I didn’t see any cars.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” the repairman said. “Do you see those stairs over there?” -- He pointed to the corner of the shop. -- The man looked and noticed the stairs. -- He nodded. -- “I live up there,” the shoe repairman said. “I just work down here.”¹

 

-- what a perfect illustration of what it means to be in the Kingdom of God -- all of us who are Christians live up there, too -- as it says in Philippians 3:20, “Our citizenship is in heaven” -- that is our home -- that is the kingdom to which we belong -- We just work down here

-- we need to remember that -- we need to understand that as we pray this prayer and as we live our lives here on this mortal plane -- no matter where we live, work, travel, or vote, we are citizens of God’s kingdom -- and our prayer is for His Kingdom and His will to be done here, on earth, as it is in heaven

 

-- this prayer carries with it the power and the authority of God’s presence and sovereign rule on earth and in all creation -- with this prayer, we are praying for God’s hand to move and for His Kingdom to expand and to grow until Christ returns and His kingdom is established forever

-- so, when you pray this prayer, think about what it means -- step into the promise that is inherent in this petition to God -- know that when you pray for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done, it will be made real in your life and in the lives of those around you

-- submit to God as your Lord and your Savior -- trust in Him -- and pray His kingdom into existence in your life and in this world today

-- we can experience the righteousness, peace, and joy that are part of God’s kingdom by submitting to Jesus Christ as the world’s rightful Lord³ as we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven”

 

-- let us pray

 

----------------------------------------------------

1 Illustration modified from original by Tony Evans, “How Christians Should Vote”

2 Hughes, R. K. Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom. Crossway Books

3 Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Speaks: Learning to Recognize and Respond to the Lord's Voice

 

SERMON: THE LORD'S PRAYER: "OUR FATHER"

 Naylor Community Christian Church

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13

 

6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

 

“‘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 today 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 the evil one.’

 

-- several years ago, a nun who worked in a prison was asked by a prisoner to help her buy him a Mother's Day card for his mother -- she did, and the word traveled like a wildfire around the prison -- she was overwhelmed with requests for Mother's Day cards by all the prisoners -- so, she called Hallmark Cards, who sent huge boxes of Mother's Day cards as a donation to the prison -- the warden arranged for each inmate to draw a number, and they lined up through the cell blocks to get their cards

-- weeks later, the nun was looking ahead on her calendar and decided to call Hallmark again and ask for a donation of the same number of Father's Day cards -- she wanted to avoid another rush like with Mother's Day -- Hallmark sent the cards and as Father's Day approached, the warden announced that free cards were again available at the chapel -- to the nun's surprise, not a single prisoner ever asked her for a Father's Day card

            -- what is it about fathers that caused all of those prisoners to resent them and not to want to contact them on Father's Day? -- what is it about fathers that cause a lot of children to not respect them? -- have you ever wondered why football players never say "Hi Dad" on the field when the tv camera pans over them?

-- it all goes back to the fact that many men in our society today have failed to live up to their calling to be Godly men and fathers and, as a result, this unfortunate circumstance has corrupted our view of God as our Father

-- this morning, we're going to be continuing in our sermon series on The Lord’s Prayer by looking at the invocation to this prayer and God as our spiritual and heavenly Father

 

II.  Our Father

A.  Real Meaning

-- so, when we pray, “Our Father who art in heaven,” what are we saying? -- what does this phrase tell us about God and our relationship to Him -- what did it mean to the Jews who first heard Jesus’ teaching on prayer?

-- in order to understand that, we need to keep in mind that this prayer that Jesus gave us here was a radical shift for the Jews in how to relate to God -- good spiritual Jews recognized God as their God and Creator and King, but they didn't think of Him as approachable in the same sense that we do -- they didn’t have an understanding of God as a personal God who they could speak to on their own in this way

-- generally, the Jewish people looked to God as unapproachable for the average believer -- they would rely on the priests to serve as their intercessors, who would pray and minister to God on their behalf at the Temple -- and while prayer was certainly a part of their lives, their prayers tended to be to God as subjects speaking to their King

-- as we talked about last week, they tended to pray memorized prayers from the Scriptures that were written or taught to them as children -- they would pray these prayers word-for-word -- never deviating from them -- and didn’t offer up personal prayers from the heart

-- this made God seem distant and impersonal -- rather than the New Testament view that we can approach God as His sons and daughters speaking to Him as our Father, the Jews looked at God as someone they prayed to and followed, but not someone they could have a relationship with

-- the idea of anyone relating to God in a personal way -- especially as a child approaching their Father -- was not something the Jewish people understood or even accepted -- it would have been considered blasphemous to do so -- and we see the people reacting to Jesus and accusing Him of blasphemy for daring to call God Father in the gospels

 

-- we have to remember that the primary relationship between God and the Jews was through the Law and through the priests as their intermediaries -- because they feared violating the Law above all and because they feared potentially taking God’s name in vain in violation of the commandments, they would not speak or write God’s name at all, even during prayer -- they would use a substitute name for God rather than His personal name -- and would certainly never think of calling God Father for fear of violating the Law

 

-- what do we mean by God’s name? -- in the Bible, we see many names for God given to us -- El Shadddai -- the Lord God Almighty -- Lord Sabaoth -- the Lord of Hosts -- Adonai -- the Lord -- Jehovah Rapha -- The Lord our Healer -- Jehovah Shalom -- the Lord is Peace -- and in the New Testament, we see other names given for God, including Jesus and the Holy Spirit -- the Alpha and Omega -- the Beginning and the End -- our Comforter -- our Counselor -- our Savior -- our Redeemer -- so, what do we mean when we speak of God’s true name?

-- it all goes back to the Book of Exodus when God appeared to Moses at the burning bush and commanded Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out and bring them into the Promised Land -- after Moses had finally accepted this call, he asked God what His name was -- God told Moses that His name was “I Am” -- “I Am who I Am” -- the Hebrew word for that is Yahweh -- Y - A - H - W -E - H -- Yahweh is the name of God that God Himself gave us

-- every Jew knew this story and this name by heart -- but because the Jews feared saying or speaking the name of God, when they wrote the name of God in Scripture or in any Rabbinical teachings, they would remove the vowels from His name, which would prevent anyone from accidentally saying the name of God when they read from the Scriptures -- so, we see the name of God written in the Hebrew text is what we call the tetragrammaton -- it is represented only by the four consonants -- YHWH

-- when the scribes copied the Scriptures and ran across this tetragrammaton, they would write the name Adonai -- which means “Lord” -- above it -- and this is what would be said out loud when the scriptures were read instead of Yahweh

 

-- just as an aside, this is where we get the name Jehovah from -- the early translators of the Bible blended the tetragrammaton YHWH with Adonai by taking the vowels from Adonai and inserting these into YHWH -- it resulted in the word YAHOWAH -- and because Ws are pronounced as Vs and Ys as Js in Latin, we get the transliterated name of God as Jehovah

-- William Tyndale, the English translator, was the first person to use the name Jehovah as the name of God in a translation of the Old Testament -- and this was continued in the King James Version and some of the other earlier translations

-- if you have one of those translations, you’ll often see Jehovah as the name of God in the Old Testament -- if you have a newer translation, you’ll usually see the name of God written as LORD, all in uppercase, to show that it refers to the tetragrammaton and the original name of God as Yahweh

-- so, despite what you might hear from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the true name of God that He gave Moses was Yahweh, not Jehovah -- the name Jehovah did not even appear until about 1520 -- but it’s okay for us to use this name for God since we understand what it means and Who it refers to -- when we say Jehovah, we are saying “Yahweh is our Lord” -- “God is our Lord”

 

-- let’s get back to our discussion of God as our Father -- so, knowing what you now know -- knowing how the Jews regarded their relationship with God and the name of God, you can see how this opening to this prayer that Jesus gave us was earth-shattering -- it introduced a radical shift in thinking about and relating to God, especially to the Jews

-- rather than being a normal prayer offered up by Jews in the temple to God as their Creator and King, this prayer was relationship driven -- Jesus presented God in this prayer and in His ministry not as an unapproachable king but as a Father who longed to be approached by His children -- who wanted a personal relationship with them as Father to child -- one of the main complaints the Jews had with Jesus was that He called God " My Father" and spoke of Him in such personal terms

-- the word "Father" used in this prayer is actually the Aramaic word "abba" -- it is best translated, not as the formal word "Father," but the more affectionate word "Daddy"

-- there's a big difference between the terms "Father" and "Daddy"

-- a father is someone on your family tree -- a daddy is someone you love

-- a father is someone who is far away and distant emotionally -- a daddy is someone who is always there for you

-- a father is someone who produced you -- a daddy is someone who raised you to be special and to know right from wrong

-- a daddy is someone who changed our dirty diapers -- who sat and comforted us when we were sick or feeling down -- who provided not only the necessities of life but also their love, caring and nurture

-- daddy implies an intimate and personal relationship

 

-- Jesus is telling us here that this is how we should see and know God -- as our Father -- but more than that -- as our “Abba” -- our Daddy

-- yes, He is our King and our Creator and our God -- yes, He is the Lord God Almighty -- but He's also our loving Daddy -- and Jesus tells us here that when we pray -- when we come into His presence and say "Daddy" -- because of that relationship -- because we know Him in that way -- He's going to stop everything that He's doing and listen to us

 

-- a great illustration of this can be found in the movie "Anna and the King" that starred Jodie Foster -- there is a scene in the movie where a disturbance breaks out in the class for the king's children that Jodie Foster is teaching -- the king's youngest daughter -- about four years old -- takes off on a run for the king's court -- she enters the court that is filled with servants all bowing down to the king and with important men petitioning the king to hear their problems

-- the king’s daughter ran right through the middle of the crowd and crawled up into the king's lap and whispered in his ear -- immediately, he dismissed the court and went with her to the place where Jodie Foster was teaching

-- why did this little girl get such an immediate response from the king? -- because he wasn't only her king -- he was her daddy -- and when one of his children crawled in his lap and said, “Daddy,” and asked for his help, he dropped everything to run to her aid

-- that is the picture of God that Jesus gives us in this prayer and that's why He told His disciples -- and us -- to begin our prayers by saying, “Daddy”

-- what we learn from Jesus here is that God is more than creator or abstract power or distant king -- He is our Daddy who is in Heaven -- and this whole prayer is based on this relationship that we should have with Him

 

B.  Rejection of "Father"

-- but just as my opening illustration about the Father’s Day cards in prison pointed out, there's a lot of people who object to this prayer and praying like this because they don’t like to think of God as "Father"

-- some don't like to use the term "Our Father" because of gender equality issues -- they think that calling God "Father" puts too much of an importance on men and that it raises men above women in authority -- that is one reason why there is a current push now to make new translations of the Bible "gender neutral"

-- but this is an invalid criticism and a misunderstanding of the nature of God -- I would hope that we all understand that God is neither male or female -- He is transcendent -- He is above gender

-- and while the Bible does generally refer to God in a masculine tense, it also includes several feminine images of God -- for instance, in Deuteronomy 32:11, we see God compared to a mother eagle who protects her young in the nest and in Matthew 23:37, Jesus looks out over Jerusalem and says that He had the desire to gather them to Himself like a hen gathers up her chicks -- so, the image of God in the Bible includes both masculine and feminine images

-- however, Jesus chose to use the image of God as a Father several times in the Scriptures as a means of illustrating how God relates to us -- for instance, in the story of the prodigal son we see God portrayed as the loving father who is searching and longing for the return of His wayward son

-- we also see it here in this prayer, when Jesus tells us to pray to God as "Our Father who art in Heaven" to help us see how God hears our petitions and prayers -- as a Father hearing the call of His child

-- so, while some people object to the term Father because of feminism or gender equality issues, the important thing that Jesus is trying to get us to see here is the relationship between God and us -- Jesus chose to use the relationship of a Father to a child for a reason, and we should not try to change the Bible to fit changing cultural norms, whether that makes us uncomfortable or not -- as Ralph Wilson points out, "we should not change the Scriptures in places where it is clear that it is meant to impart a level of importance by using specific masculine terms"

 

-- other people object to this prayer because of their concept of fatherhood -- not everyone grew up with loving, caring, and nurturing fathers -- some people grew up with bad fathers -- abusive fathers -- harsh fathers -- distant fathers, both emotionally and physically distant -- while others grew up without fathers

-- because of their poor relationship with their earthly father, they look at God the Father in the same way as their earthly father -- they impart their own father's faults and failures onto God, leading to a poor perception of God that is not what Jesus intended when He told us to pray to "Our Father in Heaven"

 

-- these concerns and criticisms about the term "Our Father" in this prayer are not happenstance -- they are planned -- they are planned by our enemy, Satan -- he knew that God wanted to relate to us as a father to a child, and so Satan has done everything he can to destroy our families and our understanding of fathers and their role in a family

-- think about the state of fatherhood in our country -- do you think it's a coincidence that the divorce rate is as high as it is? -- do you think it's a coincidence that a large percentage of children grow up in single parent homes? -- do you think it's a coincidence that abortion and pornography and adultery increased exponentially around the same time that the feminist movement took off? -- do you think it’s a coincidence that so many people are struggling with the concept of gender right now?

-- remember what we talked about a few weeks ago -- Paul warned us in Ephesians 6 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of darkness and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm -- we can never forget that we are in the middle of a spiritual battle

-- Satan's goal is to warp our relationship with our earthly fathers and to destroy the biblical concept of marriage and families so that we cannot relate to God as our Father in the way Jesus intended with this prayer

-- anything that destroys the family destroys our concept of God and our relationship with God -- it changes our thinking about God -- and things like abortion -- pornography -- adultery -- same-sex marriages -- all of these degrade the concept of fatherhood and the family and cause us to not give God the Father the honor and glory that He deserves

 

-- when we pray "Our Father" it should evoke something special in our minds -- according to Ralph Wilson, in Jesus' day the term "Abba" included the concepts of care, love, responsibility, and discipline -- the term "Abba" carried hopes and dreams for one's children and represented a figure of respect and authority

-- we have lost that in our country today and we should do everything we can to restore the true meaning of fatherhood to our children and our families so that we can relate to God as a child, crawling up onto the lap of our loving and caring heavenly Father, knowing that He is going to listen to our concerns and will take action on our behalf

 

III.  Who Art in Heaven, Hallowed Be They Name

-- real quickly, let's look at the rest of the invocation in the Lord's Prayer -- Jesus tells us to pray to God in this manner, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name"

-- by telling us to pray to “Our Father who is in Heaven,” Jesus wants us to recognize the difference between our earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father -- God is not just any father, but the Father of us all -- He is our Creator and our Lord -- and by praying in this way we acknowledge God and all His holiness and His position of power and authority              

-- the other thing this phrase, "who art in heaven," does is specifically identify who our Father is -- it tells us that our Father is the Lord God Almighty -- El Shaddai -- Yahweh -- the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

-- keep in mind that the Jewish people were surrounded by pagan societies and cultures that were polytheistic -- they had many gods who lived in various places -- by identifying Heaven as the abode of God in this prayer, we are affirming that this is not just some nebulous 'god' like the Romans worshiped but the true living God of Israel

 

-- the phrase "hallowed by thy name" literally means "holy by Your Name" -- this recognizes the sovereign claim of God over the world and anticipates a human response

            -- as I pointed out a few minutes ago, without this phrase, our understanding of "Father" can be distorted -- God is not like our earthly fathers -- God does not have faults and never fails

            -- in this invocation to the prayer, Jesus reminds us that God is holy -- He is set apart from sin and cannot look at sin -- this phrase points us to the fact that God -- in all His holiness and goodness -- can only be reconciled to sinners through the atoning death of Jesus on the cross

            -- when we pray, "hallowed by thy Name" -- we are actually saying, "Father, may you be treated with the respect and honor that your holiness demands" -- God may be our "Daddy in Heaven" -- but He is also the holy God of the universe (Dr. Ralph Wilson)

 

VI.  Closing

            -- so, why is all this important? -- it all comes down to God’s desire to be in relationship with us -- God’s desire for us to come into His presence through His Son Christ Jesus

-- after Moses had brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt, God appeared to all the people on Mount Sinai -- He called out to them through Moses and invited to come into His presence -- to enter into a personal relationship with Him -- but the Israelites were scared -- they refused to draw near to God out of fear -- and so God began speaking and relating to them through intermediaries -- first, Moses and Aaron -- and then later the priests and the prophets

-- their fear of relating to God in a close and personal way kept the Jewish people distant from God in their prayers and their worship for centuries

 

            -- but through Jesus, God is once again offering a close and personal relationship with Him -- through Jesus, God calls out to us and invites us to draw near to Him -- to be with Him in a personal relationship as a Father to His children -- as a Daddy to His beloved sons and daughters

-- this prayer reflects this call and longing of God to be in relationship with us in this way -- this prayer is an invitation to us to come -- to draw near to God as a child to our Father in Heaven -- to view God -- the all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful creator of the universe -- holy and perfect in all His ways -- as our Daddy in Heaven, who is waiting for us to crawl up on His lap and tell Him about our day

            -- will you join me? -- there's plenty of room in His lap for all -- all it takes is a cry from your heart, “Daddy” and a desire to be with Him -- and if you call out to Him like that, I guarantee He will hear

-- let us pray

SERMON: THE LORD'S PRAYER: INTRODUCTION

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

 

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13

 

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

 “‘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 today 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 the evil one.’

 

-- this morning we're going to be starting a series on the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples -- the prayer that we know best as "The Lord's Prayer,” although this prayer was clearly not a prayer that He prayed, but a prayer that He gave to us as a model for us to use in our personal prayer lives

-- this prayer is found in two places in the Bible -- here in Matthew 6 and then we see a parallel passage in Luke 11-- we're going to be looking at the two passages together in order to learn as much as possible about this prayer and how we are supposed to apply and use this prayer in our lives today

-- while most of us know this prayer from the King James Version, we’ll be studying it here in the NIV, so that we can get a slightly different perspective and hopefully get a little deeper understanding from hearing it and looking at it from a more modern translation

 

-- as we begin this series, let me share with you a story about Charles Haddon Spurgeon and his thoughts on the power of prayer in the life of a Christian and in our churches

-- Spurgeon is known as the greatest preacher that England ever produced -- through his ministry, England experienced a great revival and thousands of people came to Christ and experienced God's hand working in a mighty way in their land and in their lives -- as such, people would travel from great distances to hear Spurgeon share from God’s word and speak on the Bible

-- one day, a group of American evangelists had occasion to visit Spurgeon in England and attend a worship service with him -- after the service, they met him at the door of the sanctuary as they were leaving and commented on what a great sermon he had preached and how much they had enjoyed the service

-- he asked them if they would like a tour of his church -- they were ecstatic and, of course, took Spurgeon up on his offer -- Spurgeon left another minister at the door to say goodbye to the parishioners and began to lead this group of evangelists from America through his church

-- Spurgeon showed them through the main sanctuary, pointing out the pulpit and choir areas, as well as some other features of the facility -- as they were finishing their tour, he asked them, "Before you go, would you like to see our power plant?" -- they weren't really interested in seeing the power plant, but it was Spurgeon, so they followed

-- he led them into the basement and opened a door -- the room was filled with people on their knees, praying and interceding before God for the ministry of the church and for their pastor -- Spurgeon turned to the American evangelists and said, "This is the powerhouse of our church -- if anything happened in the service today, it was not because of anything I did but because of what went on in this room this morning."

 

II.  The Decline of Prayer

-- there is an important lesson there that we have forgotten in our churches in America today -- by and large, the church in America is in decline -- all of the major mainline denominations have steadily lost members over the past 20-30 years -- we have seen major splits within denominations on social and cultural issues -- and concerning the pandemic and the other serious issues plaguing our society today, the church has been mostly silent

-- yes, there have been minor pockets of revival in some churches and in some denominations -- especially among the younger generations -- but by and large, we are not experiencing power in our churches and we are not seeing God moving through our land as He has in the past

-- there are a lot of reasons for why this is happening -- but I believe that the main reason for the decline in the church today is because we have forsaken prayer -- we have forsaken our communication and relationship with the Father -- and we’re seeing the results of a church that is missing its source of power -- it’s as the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: our churches today have a form of godliness, but we lack the power to truly be witnesses of Christ in our world today -- all because we have eliminated prayer from our churches and our lives

-- and when we do pray, our prayers are brief and generic and void of true intimacy and power -- we have become too hurried in our lives to take time to pray as we are taught in the Bible -- we have become a people who are accustomed to getting what we want right now, and we do not want to wait for anything, including the hand of the Father in our lives -- our desire for instant news, instant weather, instant food, and instant entertainment has carried over into our spiritual lives

-- we might throw up a quick "McPrayer" or so, but we rarely take time and pour out our hearts before God asking for His blessings or His power to come upon our lives and our churches -- we may sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer" but there aren't many of us who are going to the Lord in prayer for more than just a few minutes a day or right before a meal

 

-- secondly, we have forgotten the power and the purpose of prayer -- we tend to treat prayer as an afterthought -- like a spiritual spare tire -- something that we throw in our trunk and don't think about, just pulling it out from time to time as a last-ditch effort when emergencies crop up

-- I once heard about a church administrative council meeting where a large argument came up -- the people were divided about an issue and both sides were getting angrier by the minute -- finally, someone spoke up and said, "I think we need to take a moment and pray." -- another member dropped his head in his hands and said, "Oh no, has it come to that?"

 

-- another indicator of how we have forgotten the power and the purpose of prayer is evident in the derision we see in our culture today concerning the phrase we often use when consoling someone in the aftermath of sickness or death or a disaster, “you are in our thoughts and prayers”

-- I’m sure you’ve seen the backlash and the mockery of our culture today for those of us who use such a phrase today -- after one of the recent school shootings, political cartoons and memes were published that showed what our culture thinks of prayer today -- one cartoon showed a trash truck with a sign on the side that said, “Thoughts and Prayers” -- another showed a van pulling up and opening its doors to show nothing inside -- the caption read, “Great, the first truckload of your thoughts and prayers just arrived”

-- and, honestly, this derision is warranted when all we offer are empty prayers and nothing more -- when the response of the church to school shootings or natural disasters or other events is simply a glib, “We’ll pray for you”

-- the point of the critics is that action is needed to prevent future shootings or disasters, and their point is well made -- but it dismisses the reality of the power and purpose of prayer in the world today -- true prayer touches the heart of the Creator -- true prayer moves the heart of God -- and while we may not see His hand moving in observable ways, we know that prayer changes things -- that prayer causes God to act and to move in our lives

-- how many school shootings have been averted because of “thoughts and prayers?” -- how many lives have been saved because God moved in response to the prayers of the faithful? -- we cannot know this side of heaven -- but we have to know that true prayer -- prayers offered in faith and from the heart -- changes things, regardless of what the culture might say

 

-- John Wesley once said, "Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth -- God does nothing but in answer to prayer."

-- If we want to experience God's power in our lives and see God bring about a revival in our church and in our land like He did in so many cities and nations in the Bible and throughout history, then we need to get serious about prayer in our lives and in our churches today --we need to be on our face before God asking Him to once again work in our midst -- asking Him to restore us spiritually -- asking Him to grow His church and to reverse the membership declines that we are seeing in our country today

 

-- finally, I think we have forgotten the importance that Christ placed on prayer -- Jesus was a great man of prayer -- throughout the gospels, we see a picture of Him putting an emphasis on prayer -- before and after major events in His life and ministry, Jesus sought the Father through prayer -- when He got overwhelmed with the crowds, Luke tells us in 5:16, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" -- it was normal for Jesus to go to a solitary place and spend the night in prayer -- seeking God's face -- seeking God's guidance -- seeking God's presence -- Jesus saw the necessity and power of prayer, even in His life

-- but we tend to look at prayer as a minor part of our spiritual lives and our worship services -- we might open our meetings in prayers and we might have prayers in our services, but rarely do we gather and pray for the programs and ministries going on in the church

-- just consider this -- how many of us spent time in prayer this morning prior to this service? -- how many of us spent time asking God to move in our service today -- to reach down and touch our lives -- to be present with us in our worship and our fellowship? -- how many of you are in prayer for this church -- this community of faith -- outside of our time together here on Sundays? -- probably not very many

-- if we're honest with ourselves, we'd have to admit that we are not putting the importance on prayer as we should -- prayer should surround and bathe everything that we do in our churches and in our lives

-- God commands us to pray  -- He expects us to pray -- in addition to the example of Christ, throughout the Bible God commands us to: "Pray without ceasing” --  “continue in prayer” --  “in everything by prayer, let your request be made known unto God” --  “pray always, pray and not faint”  -- “men should pray everywhere” -- “praying always, with all prayer and supplication." -- and of course, "humble yourselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from your wicked ways."

 

-- prayer should not be an afterthought or a minor part of our lives -- it should be the most important thing that we do -- just as Jesus demonstrated with His life -- just as Spurgeon showed the American evangelists -- prayer should be the powerhouse in our lives and in our churches

-- if we are going to see anything happen in this church and in this community, then we are going to have to get more serious about prayer -- prayer for our churches, our pastors, our communities, and our country

-- we spend so much more time on Facebook and social media than we do in prayer to the One who can actually change things for the better

-- so, we are going to spend the next several weeks talking about prayer, specifically the Lord's prayer, in the hopes that it might help us recognize the importance of prayer in our spiritual lives and that it might waken a desire in our life to become more dedicated in our prayer life

-- let's look now at some background information on the Lord's Prayer as we begin this study together

 

III.  The Lord’s Prayer: Background and Context

-- as I said, the Lord's Prayer is found in two places in our Bible -- Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4

-- the passage in Matthew 6 is the one that we traditionally recite in our Protestant churches -- Matthew places this prayer in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus taught His disciples on a variety of kingdom issues -- within the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer is found within a series of teachings by Christ on prayer and fasting

-- Luke places this prayer right after the episode with Mary and Martha -- when Jesus visited Martha's house and she came and complained because her sister Mary sat listening to Jesus teach rather than helping with the household chores -- immediately after this, Luke tells us that Jesus' disciples came to Him after He finished praying and asked Him to teach them to pray -- Jesus gave them this prayer in response to their request

-- if you think about it, who better to teach us to pray than Christ -- not only did He exemplify a life of prayer, but He is the One that we are praying to -- Jesus knew exactly what He wanted us to say -- He knew exactly how He wanted us to say it -- if for no other reason than that, we should study this prayer simply because God Himself gave us this model prayer and told us to pray to Him in this manner

 

-- Matthew's version of the prayer is longer than the version of the prayer recorded in Luke's gospel -- in Matthew, the prayer includes an invocation and seven petitions to God -- the first three petitions ask for God's glorification and the last four petitions request divine help and guidance 

-- depending on the translation that you use, Matthew's version may also include a doxology, a closing statement of praise to God, such as we find in the Lord’s Prayer from the familiar King James Version of it -- although most of the early New Testament manuscripts do not include this doxology

-- Luke's version of the prayer is more abbreviated -- it is shorter, with an invocation and only five petitions to God -- flip over to Luke 11 and let's read Luke's version together

 

Luke 11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

 

2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

 

“‘Father,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread.

4 Forgive us our sins,

    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.’”

 

-- a little different from what we normally pray, isn't it? -- when you read this version it just doesn't seem complete, does it?

 

-- so, why do we have two versions of this prayer in our Bibles? -- well, it appears, based on the context and background of the two passages, that Jesus gave this prayer to His disciples on two different occasions -- the first at the sermon on the mount and the second in a more private setting

-- but, more importantly, having these two different versions in the Bible shows that Jesus did not design this prayer to be prayed as a liturgical recitation -- in other words, Jesus did not give us this prayer to pray back to Him word for word as it is written -- if that had been the case, it would be exactly the same in both Matthew and Luke's gospels

-- instead, this prayer is a given to us as a model of how to pray -- a guide for us to use and modify for our own personal use and personal need

-- as Eduard Schweizer said, "the Lord's Prayer is an aid to prayer -- a guide to be followed without being bound to this or that precise wording"

-- the pattern is the same in both versions, and this is how we should approach using this prayer in our time with the Lord --first, we offer up our praise and thanksgiving to God and then we pray about our needs -- finally, we close by praising God again in recognition of His having heard this prayer and His desire to meet us at the point of our need

 

            -- this prayer model from Jesus teaches us that right prayer begins with worship -- it puts the interests of God and the Kingdom of God before our personal, human interests -- it accepts beforehand the Father's will and sovereignty -- His right as our Lord and Creator to either grant or withhold answers to our prayers -- and then it presents petitions for our present need only, leaving the future to the Father's care and love (Scofield)

 

-- if you would, look at Matthew 6:5 and let’s look at some additional teachings from Jesus about how to pray that come right before He gives us the model of the Lord’s Prayer

 

Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 

-- this prayer that Jesus gave us was different from the prayers traditionally prayed by the Jewish people -- their prayers were more liturgical -- they had specific prayers that they prayed every single day and prayers that were recited word for word during festivals and worship ceremonies -- their prayers were primarily restricted to praise and adoration and very seldom included petitions to God to work in their personal lives

-- prayers like these are great ways to commune with God -- but, a problem with liturgical prayers like this is that they tend to become rote repetitions -- they just become something that we say and that we don't really think about it -- and praying like this can cause us to forget what and why we are praying in the first place

 

-- in the sermon on the mount -- before Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer -- He warned us about our attitude in prayer and what our prayer life should look like

-- Jesus condemned hypocrisy in prayer -- it was common for the Pharisees and other religious leaders to make a show of prayer -- to stop on the street and to pray loudly towards heaven so that those passing by would see them praying and would praise them for their holiness

-- Jesus told us not to pray like this -- He said to not pray in public with the goal of seeking to gain the approval of man and not God -- and He told us not to pray with rote repetition of words and lots of words like the Gentiles, because the quantity of words was not what was important

-- praying like this is more to draw praise from man than it is to commune with the Father -- praying like this is for show and nothing more

-- I see this a lot when prayers are given in public settings, whether as invocations or as a prayer before special occasions, like retirements or anniversaries or other gatherings

-- time and time again, I hear the person leading the prayer and it sounds like they are giving a speech to the audience rather than to God -- they are not praying to God as Jesus taught, but praying to the crowd

-- I’m sure you’ve heard prayers like this before, too

 

-- Jesus says here that this is not how we are to pray -- and immediately after saying this, Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer as a model for us to follow when we prayed with the Father -- in doing so, He reminded us of the underlying purpose in prayer, which is to commune with our God and Creator -- to talk with Him -- to work on our relationship with Him -- to recognize Him in our lives and in all that is going on in our lives

-- in our prayers, we should praise Him and thank Him for what He has done and then tell Him what we need, recognizing that He and He alone is able to meet those needs -- our prayers should be personal and not merely mouthed dogmatic repetitions that are simply recited without meaning or understanding -- and our prayers should be directed to God, and not to a human audience

 

-- that is why this prayer that Jesus gave us here was a radical shift in the understanding of prayer -- instead of giving His disciples another prayer that they were to pray word for word like the rest of the prayers they had learned, Jesus gave them a model for prayer that was personal and relationship-based

-- we are told to come before God and to speak with Him because we are in a relationship with Him -- He is not an impersonal power but a personal God -- a God who knows us and loves us and cares about us and who wants us to talk with Him on a daily basis

-- we’re not trying to say the right words like in a magic spell so that God does what we want -- we’re not trying to find the right formula to get God to serve us or give us our heart’s desire -- no, we pray because we should be desiring a close relationship with God -- we pray because we want God and not what He can give us -- we pray in recognition of God as our Father and our Lord and our Creator

-- We need to recognize that prayer like this puts us into a close relationship with God -- It results in us turning ourselves over to God -- body, mind, and soul -- Prayer not only moves God to work in our lives, but prayer results in changing us, changing our hearts, and conforming our will to that of God

-- prayer like this changes everything

 

IV.  Closing

-- if we want to see a fresh outpouring of God's power and presence in our lives and in our church and in our communities, then we have to change our thinking about prayer and our practice with prayer

-- we have to get serious about prayer -- we must bathe our ministries in prayer -- We must bathe our worship services in prayer -- We must bathe our daily lives in prayer

-- To borrow a phrase from Maxie Dunnam, we must be immersed in prayer to such a point that prayer seeps from our bodies like a spring of refreshing water. 

-- We need to ask God to revive us.  We need to ask God to revive our church.  We need to ask God to revive our community and to heal our nation -- and we need to expect Him to move in response to our prayers

-- as we go through this series on the Lord's prayer, I want to encourage you to commit to becoming more dedicated in your prayer life

-- don't be satisfied with sending up little McPrayers while you're driving to work -- but spend time with God over these next few weeks -- spend time with His Word and spend time talking to Him and praying to Him for the things going on in your life and in this church

-- my hope in this series is that you come to a fresh understanding of the Lord’s prayer and that you use this to grow your prayer life and to grow your relationship with the Father

-- prayer is our avenue to communicate with the Father -- and as we pray, God moves and works in our lives in response to our prayers

-- let's start right now in this refocusing of our prayer life by going to the Father in prayer together as we close this message

-- let’s pray