The Lord's Prayer Guide

The Lord’s Prayer Guide
Matthew 6:9-13 // March 10, 2019
Introduction:
A. A number of months ago I was talking to two men who said they wanted to learn
more about prayer. Since we talked about prayer before I asked them “What in
particular would you like to learn about prayer?” – without hesitation they both
essentially said “We do not know what to pray about, other than God bless our
families and fix our problems!”
1. Today and next week’s messages will begin to answer that question for them
and any others here who have wondered that.
B. Turn to Matthew chapter 6 where we will see one of the most loved and repeated
prayers in Scripture, probably the most familiar prayer in Scripture and finally the
one that is primarily used just the opposite of that for which it was intended. We
call it the Lord’s Prayer.
1. Context
a) This portion on prayer we look at this morning is part of the Sermon on
the Mount that Jesus gave where He reveals to us the life and character
of the citizens of His kingdom.
b) At the start of chapter 6 Jesus speaks about “Not practicing your
righteousness before men to be noticed by them”
(1) Giving to the poor
(2) Prayer
2. Then he does a brief side bar during his comments on prayer in v 7-15 before
going back in v16 to “Not practicing your righteousness before men to be
noticed by them” when it comes to fasting
a) The side bar has to do with the way the Gentiles pray as they use
meaningless repetition thinking they will be heard because of their many
words.
b) Read v7-8
3. Now, as we look at the Lord’s Prayer, we will see right at the start that He
connects it with this meaningless repetitive praying of the Gentiles and shows
us how we ought to do it instead.
a) Read v9a
b) The Greek word for “then” simply means “in light of what was just said
so then do this”
c) What Jesus is going to teach us about prayer is to combat meaningless
repetitive prayers that are said over and over again
d) This is ironic because I do not know a prayer in Christendom that is
more often repeated word for word than the Lord’s Prayer.
C. That was not the purpose of the prayer Jesus gave. Listen again to v9.
1. “In this way” not pray “these words” but pray “in this way”
2. Warren Wiersbe says “Jesus was saying “Pray after this manner” that is “Use
this prayer as a pattern”
3. John MacArthur says these words carry the idea of praying “along these
lines” or “in the following manner.” He says “Jesus is giving us the divine
pattern by which kingdom citizens can pray in a way that is pleasing to God”
4. So in Pat Peglow’s simple words I am going to say that the Lord’s Prayer is a
divine prayer guide from the Lord leading us in the direction of the kind of
things for which we should be praying. Thus answering the question of those
two men.
D. So what I am going to do this morning is just talk through the prayer phrase by
phrase trusting that the different things will become clear and stick with us,
depending on what we each need.
• Let’s take a look at
I. The Lord’s prayer guide
A. Let me start by reading the entire prayer and seeing what we can learn from the
big picture structure of this prayer guide. As I do see if you can pick up a big
picture structure to this prayer
1. Read v9-13
2. Structure as I see it is two fold
a) V9-10 God’s agenda
b) V11-13 our agenda
(1) V 11 our daily physical and material needs in this world
(2) V12-13 – our spiritual life
3. That big picture structure alone should be enough to send us in the right
direction in our prayer life. If we spent, time praying about these areas and
even in this order, we would excel in our prayer lives.
B. Now let me just say a few things about each phrase in the prayer. Let’s start with
“Our Father who is in heaven”
1. I think the first thing we need to do is stop and orient ourselves to whom we
are talking.
a) That might best be done by a few transitional moments of meditating on
what you are doing and with whom you are doing it.
b) I am going to be talking with my heavenly Father and not just rushing in
and saying my prayers.
2. Note also he says “Our Father” in v11 give us, v12 forgive us, v13 lead us …
deliver us.
a) This is not just how we pray when we are by ourselves but this is meant
for corporate prayer.
b) Part of the divine pattern for prayer is praying with others and not by
ourselves.
c) A statistic I read this week done by the Barna Group is that 95% of those
who pray, pray by themselves. Only 2% with another person and 2%
corporately! Yet the model Jesus left us calls us to pray at least with
others if not corporately.
d) I encourage you if you have never been a part of a corporate prayer
meeting to join us for our 21 days of prayer at the end of this series. You
will be hearing more about that, as we get closer.
C. Hallowed be your name
1. I pointed this out to you two weeks ago - this is not a declaration of God’s
holiness so we should begin our prayer in worship of God, but rather a
request that God’s name be hallowed.
2. This is more about the fact that we would treat God as holy and revere his
name. That His name would be magnified and exalted not only in my life
but also in the church and in the world.
3. This is about God’s glory! This is the cry of Isaiah in 61:3 when he talks
about God’s people being called “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the
Lord, that He may be glorified.”
D. Your kingdom come
1. God’s kingdom has two aspects to it.
a) The present aspect of the kingship of Jesus over the lives of those who
are trusting in Him.
b) The future aspect of the kingdom which begins with the time when Jesus
will be king reigning from Jerusalem over all the earth for 1,000 years
which then ushers into eternity with the new heaven and new earth.
2. So we pray today for things like
a) The lordship of Jesus to be greater over the lives of His children, and
there would be more and more Jesus and less and less of us.
b) We also pray for the spread of His kingdom today with more and more
people coming to trust Jesus and live for Him
3. But we also pray for the future coming of His kingdom in the same spirit as
the next to last verse of the Bible.
a) Read Revelation 22:20.
b) Yes, we pray for the coming back of the Lord Jesus Christ
E. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
1. God’s will in Heaven is done fully and joyfully and that is what we should
pray for ourselves and for others
2. But also we should be praying with the same spirit Jesus prayed with “not my
will but thine be done”
a) The reality is that most of us really do not know if what we are asking
for is the wisest and best thing for both God and me.
b) So the disposition of our hearts should always be God give me what You
want in this situation even above what I want because this is what will
bring You glory and be best for me
F. Give us this day our daily bread
1. Now there is a transition to our agenda, our physical and material needs that
will be different for each one of us. From our health to our finances and
more.
2. Note his prayer is not to become wealthy but what we need to make it by day
by day. And Martin Luther believes that since this is a corporate prayer it is
for the material welfare of the whole community so everyone can have their
daily bread
a) I think the heart of this prayer is caught in Proverbs 30:7-9.
G. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
1. Now He is moving into our spiritual needs. Moreover, the kind of things that
we can pray about at this point are as big as the Bible!
2. However, He jump-starts this praying about our spiritual lives with
forgiveness.
3. This is the daily maintenance of our own souls with our walk with the Lord.
a) Lord, search me and try me and see if there is any hurtful way in me!
John says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”
b) This is about our fellowship, our daily walk with the Lord. – Our
salvation is so secure and strong that our sins cannot take it away but our
fellowship with the Lord is so fragile our sins can quench the Spirit’s
ministry in our lives.
H. Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.
1. This is praying about our daily battle we have with the world, the Devil and
our own flesh.
2. Temptation is going to come because we all have a flesh that is prone to
wander, a Devil who is seeking to destroy us and a world that is seeking to
squeeze us into its mold.
3. So the prayer is not to keep temptation from coming our way but rather when
it does come -- keep us from, lead us away from entering into that temptation
by being lured away and attracted to that pleasure or gain my flesh, the world
or the Devil is putting in front of me right now.
4. Deliver me Lord, keep me safe from their destruction that evil can work in
my life!
5. My friends there are plenty of weak spots, vulnerabilities and strongholds
that can keep us busy praying here.
II. Conclusion
A. Today we have had a divine prayer guide put in front of us. It answers the
question those two men asked me on what kind of things do we pray for besides
bless my family and fix what is broken.
B. These are the “kind” of things we pray for not “the” things or the “only” things
for which we pray! My goal was just to jump-start our thinking so we can excel
regarding the kind of things for which we pray.
1. We will learn more next week when we look at the prayers of Paul
C. Joel Brassfield pray for MVC in light of this guide
1. God’s glory deepen at and spread from MVC
2. That God’s kingdom would deepen and spread through MVC
3. That God’s will would be the joy and desire of our hearts
4. That God would meet the physical and material needs of the people of MVC
5. That God would search us by His Spirit and show us any sins in our lives that
would be quenching the Holy Spirit
6. That God would keep us from falling into sin’s trap and deliver us from any
sins that have already trapped us!
7. Any other spiritual concern God puts on your heart for MVC