The Manner of Prayer
(Matthew 6:7-15)
By
Note: The text below was prepared for oral delivery
rather than for publication in print. As
such, be aware that sentence fragments are intentionally used and that this
document has not been edited to correct the errors in grammar, sentence
structure, etc.
I.
Introduction
Turn with me once again to the book of Matthew,
chapter 6. This is a continuation of our
study of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
We’re currently in Chapter 6 and we’ve covered verses 1-6 and verses
16-23. So today we will go back and
examine separately those verses we skipped over, our text for today being verses
7-15. Here we find Christ’s instructions
regarding the subject of prayer. And
beginning in verse 9, we find what is commonly referred to as The Lord’s
Prayer. Now I think that’s an
unfortunate title and inappropriate when you consider that it would make no
sense whatsoever for our Lord to ask to be forgiven for His own sins, for He
had no sin. The scriptures plainly
declare that he knew no sin (2 Cor.
You may recall that in the verses leading up to our
text for today, verses 5-6, that Christ dealt with the motive of prayer,
pointing out that if one prays to be seen of men, then the applause and esteem
of others shall constitute their reward – and that’s it – they have their
reward. But Christ commands that we are
to pray to God in secret, not to be seen of men. And in verses 7 and 8, where we’re going to
pickup today, I believe we see a transition from His discussion on the motive
for prayer to the subject of the manner of prayer as set forth in verses
9-15.
Look with me quickly
at the beginning of verse 9. There Christ
states, “After this manner therefore pray ye:…”
He does not say this is my prayer so pray like me. He
does not say repeat these exact words by praying them over and over. But rather He commands them, “After this manner
therefore pray ye…” Well as
you’ve often heard, when we see a “therefore” in scripture, it behooves us to
see what it is there for. So that’s why
we will begin our reading back in verse 7 where Christ says,
“But when ye
pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much
speaking. 8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Christ says do not use vain repetitions. That is, do not mechanically repeat maningless
or mindless recitations. And I believe
this is also properly directed at those who mindlessly repeat chants and
memorized prayers – and I believe that can include even the words of our Lord
found here in this very passage. You
know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with quoting God’s word. We esteem His Word as God’s truth – the very instrument
used by God the Holy Spirit to give spiritual life to men. Yet when men mechanically, without thought,
vainly repeat, even the words of our Lord given to describe the manner in which
we should pray (what so many call the Lord’s prayer here), then they are sadly missing
the whole purpose of what Christ is teaching.
There are religious denominations that make a practice to regularly and
methodically repeat verbatim (over and over again) these words of Christ that
begin with “Our Father who art in Heaven..” even though these words were given
to instruct men as to the proper manner of prayer because men are prone
to vain repetitions. When He said, “After
this manner therefore pray ye:…” – that’s what the therefore is
there for. It’s an ironically sad
observation, but consider this. He said,
don’t repeat these vain repetitions but instead pray after this manner, and confused,
fallen sinners such as we all are by nature, do just the opposite and take His
very words of instruction and, given our sinful tendencies, make them nothing
more than a vain repetition.
He goes on to say in verse 8, “Don’t be like that –
thinking you’ll be heard for your ritualistic endeavors to chalk up airtime
with God.” The gist of this is, “If your
prayers are directed to the true and living God – they are directed at one who
already knows everything you need, before you ever ask Him.” He doesn’t need to hear your voice over and
over again. So we can learn from this
that in addressing the manner in which we should pray, it is to be God-ward
directed. That is – (1) to the sovereign,
omniscient God who knows your needs before you’re even aware of them (and you
know, this should be a great encouragement for us to pray, to an all knowing,
all powerful God who knows what is best for us and is able to deliver
accordingly). And secondly, (2) your
prayers are to be directed to a God whose hearing of them is not at all
conditioned on how often, how long, or even how well you pray. Certainly by considering the context here,
this should help us to better understand the manner after which we should
approach God in prayer. So follow with
me now beginning in verse 9 where it reads:
“After
this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name. 10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11Give us
this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
In
Luke chapter 11, it’s recorded that one of the disciples approached Christ and
said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And He
answered by saying, “When you pray, say Our Father which art in
heaven…,” and He continues with a
similar, though condensed, version of the instruction He gave here in Matthew
6. Now I believe that many use the Luke
version where Christ says, “…say Our Father who art in Heaven”
to justify the compulsion of religious folks to publicly and frequently recite this
word for word as a prayer. However, the
gist of both of these passages is that we are to pray in this way, in this
manner. It provides us a pattern or
model for prayer. I’m not saying that it
is never appropriate to repeat these words, but I am saying that mindless, vain
repetition of even these words is totally contrary to the context.
1.
Our
Father which art in heaven,..:
So let’s
examine this phrase by phrase. First, it
begins, “Our Father which art in heaven,..”
Here we see the Object to whom we pray. It is to One with whom we have a most
endearing relationship – our Father – One who has our best interests at
heart. He is the father of all by
creation, but to those who discover their oneness with Christ – He is far
more. In John chapter 20, when Christ
appeared after His resurrection to Mary Magdalene, He said, “…Touch
me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren,
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” No – it’s not just my Father,
but our Father which art in heaven – emphasizing how everyone for whom
Christ lived, died and arose – are all equally blessed and forgiven based upon
the one righteousness He established in His obedience unto death.
We
see in the Old Testament this reliance on the relationship with God as the
Father of the Old Testament saints– and such is the case with all of God’s spiritual
children. Listen to what was written in
Isaiah 64, beginning in verse 6. There,
it was admitted, “But we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away. 7And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up
himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast
consumed us, because of our iniquities. 8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our
potter; and we all are the work
of thy hand. This is the mindset of one who sees God as
just to condemn them based upon any merit proceeding from themselves – the
filthy rags of their own righteousness.
Yet these also know that God is just to save them and justify them based
solely upon the merit of their Substitute, the righteousness established by the
Lord Jesus Christ and charged to their account.
They find their relief in “our father” – the potter as He is described here,
who alone chose us unto salvation in Christ to be a joint heir with the
firstborn as sons and daughters of the living God with an inheritance earned not
by us – but for us.
And notice Christ directs us to pray
toward our Father which art in heaven. Psalms 103:19 reads, “The LORD hath prepared his throne
in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” In studying
this, I was reminded again of the broader context of this entire sermon whose
theme is the Gospel of the kingdom – a kingdom or dominion – a rule or reign of
grace – as Romans 5:21 reads, “grace reigning through righteousness.” We approach God in prayer as one who is on
His throne – a throne of grace. And this
God who reigns by grace through righteousness – that is based upon finding
nothing meritorious outside of the perfect righteousness Christ established in
satisfying law and justice – this God is the one to whom we are to pray – with
an eye toward this God in heaven (ruling from this throne of grace where Christ
sits at His right hand) in contrast with the false gods concocted in the imaginations
of all men by nature who begin their quest for heaven traveling down the broad
road that leads to destruction – being subject to a throne not prepared in
heaven, a construction shaped not by the potter molding the clay, but in the
natural minds of fallen sinners – a position which we can all identify with
prior to God’s work of grace that causes us to see different. We are to pray to our Father in heaven –
where He has prepared a throne of grace by which His kingdom reigns and rules.
2.
Hallowed be thy
name
So we pray unto our Father in heaven and
our own desires and needs are secondary as our first consideration is “Hallowed
be thy name.” This should take precedence
in our prayers for the glory of God’s name is His first design and cause for
all things – including my and your very existence. All that God does is ultimately for His
glory. So every other request and, consequently our understanding of the rest
of this model prayer are subordinate to and consistent with this overriding
desire. This reflects a God-given respect
for the honor of the heavenly Father above all (and even if at the expense) of
all our earthly relations.
Consider that one is identified by their
name. Likewise, His name refers to the
true and living God as He is identified and revealed. And we know from 2 Cor 4:6 – that God reveals
something unique to the citizens of His kingdom that is only understood in the
“face,” i.e. – the person and work, of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it’s only under the sound of God’s true
Gospel that any receive an understanding of how God can be both a just God in
pouring out His wrath on sin, not on the sinner but on His Substitute – Christ
on the cross, yet also a God of mercy – showing mercy to a sinner (one
deserving of God’s wrath if judged on his best efforts). And as we are brought to see and value how
God can and does bestow his mercy without denying His justice based solely on the
Person and work of Christ, then God’s name is hallowed, sanctified, or set
apart, distinguished in the heart of the sinner as He is beheld as a just God
and a Savior – not a divided God who must deny one aspect of Himself (e.g. –
His justice) in order to show mercy to sinners.
And only in the impeccable, sinless Christ, do we see law and justice
satisfied based upon the sins of His people being charged to Him and the merits
of His life and death being charged to all for whom He lived and died as a
Substitute – doing for sinners what they were hopeless to do for
themselves. And thereby God gets all of
the glory.
Consider that our Savior suffered and died
all for the glory of his Father’s name.
In John
3. Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Next we see the
phrase, “10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Now again
let’s consider the context of this entire sermon. The theme of the Sermon on the Mount is the
Gospel of the kingdom – that is the good news of how God saves sinners based
upon the establishment of righteousness – a reign of righteousness. Christ has already set forth the
righteousness that was needed – He said that this is why He came – not to
destroy the law but fulfill it – that you needed a righteousness you can’t
produce. And he proceeded to show the
folly of imagining you could produce righteousness and summarized by telling us
that it would require no less than the perfection that He Himself came to
render in obedience to the law of God, even unto His death. He said in chapter 5, vs 20: “For I say unto you, That except your
righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, (the best of the
best put together) ye shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of heaven.”
Now I believe Christ is staying on subject
here when He says that our prayers should be focused upon the establishment of
this kingdom – “Thy kingdom come.” I
recognize that many believe that this speaks to the kingdom coming into the
minds and consciences of sinners when God the Holy Spirit gives them life. Certainly that takes place – but I think here
He is continuing to point to the work that He had come to complete. The literal Greek reading of that is “Let thy
kingdom come.” I believe Christ is
telling this multitude that they are to be looking to Him and to that which he came
to accomplish on the cross – in essence saying “let it happen – I desire the
certain success of the Savior because that’s what I need – that’s where my hope
is.” Now based upon this interpretation,
a verbatim repeating of these exact words as a prayer in our day saying, “Let
his kingdom come,” would not make sense and actually would amount to a denial
of the work He has already completed and finished in establishing the kingdom –
this reign of righteousness – on the cross.
Why would any today pray for the
establishment of His kingdom – the establishment of this reign of righteousness? Well they won’t if they are trusting in the
one and only righteousness that meets the requirement of a holy God – that is,
the perfect satisfaction made by Christ in His life and death? He meant it when hanging on the cross He said,
“It is finished.” That kingdom, that throne
is established and He sits even now at the right hand of the Father, reigning
and ruling over this kingdom. His
kingdom has already come! Does this
suggest that these words are not useful to us today? No – this manner of praying with a focus on
the cross – on that which establishes the kingdom – is no less important in our
day. While the mindless repetition of
these exact words doesn’t make sense in our day, still the hearts of the
citizens of His kingdom are always drawn back to this same place – to His
finished work. As Paul said, “God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross.”
Now note that it
reads, “Thy will be done in earth, as it
is in heaven.” Turn with
me over to Matthew chapter 26. Jesus had
gone into the Garden of Gethsemane and in contemplation of the suffering he was
about to endure on the cross, we read in verse 36: “And he went a little further, and fell on
his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” And then look down at verse 42 where we
read, “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if
this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” You
see, it had to be done in earth.
In heaven, in the presence of God there is no sin. The Father’s will is perfectly and completely
complied with by the angels and the glorified saints. And it must be accounted so for any
inhabitant of the earth if he or she is to enter His kingdom. They must possess a righteousness that was
established in their name and nature. It
must be done in earth.
Look with me quickly
in Galatians 4 for I want you to see this.
Beginning in vs. 4 it reads, “But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To
redeem them that were under the law, (His will had to be done in the
earth!) that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. (Our Father who art in Heaven) 7Wherefore thou art no
more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Paul
said, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified (2 Cor. 2:2). This whole
book, this whole sermon, this text on the manner of prayer – It’s all about Christ
and the accomplishment of the work He finished on the cross. Thy will be done in earth!
4.
Give us this
day our daily bread.
Now consider the phrase,
“Give us this day our daily bread.” I
believe this is a proper acknowledgement that our sovereign God is the source
of all things and that we are to recognize, acknowledge that, and rely upon
it. And we need a daily application of
bread both for the body and for the soul – in particular, we need to be
constantly aware of what sustains our eternal life – the bread of life – Jesus
Christ. In this petition, there is a
tacit acknowledgement that as fallen sinners we have no inherent right
to all the outward blessings of this life or of the life hereafter and apart
from His mercy, merit none of them. So
we rely upon the providence of God and of our blessings in Christ, day by
day. The reading in the original has the
connotation of a request for the bread that is needful. So we bow to the fact that He knows our needs
better than we know our own and we trust that He, our loving Father shall
supply accordingly.
5. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors.
So let’s look at the
phrase in verse 12 where it reads, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors.” I think it’s helpful
if we consider this along with Christ’s own explanation given in verses 14 and
15. There we read, “For if ye forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.” I think this is to be understood much like we saw earlier
in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Just as
we saw there, in consideration of the whole of scriptures, those eternally
blessed of God do not obtain His mercy because they are merciful. Likewise, there is no suggestion here that we
are forgiven because we forgive others.
That would be a denial of the Gospel of grace. You may recall our previous review of passages
such as Colossians 1:13 where it speaks of God the Father as He, “Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In
whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” Later in Matthew, in chapter 26, Christ Himself said
in the last supper with His disciples that the wine represented His blood that was
to be shed for the remission of sins. I
John 1:7 tells us that “…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin.” He
doesn’t forgive us of our sins because we forgive others. Let’s never place anything in rivalry with that
which only the precious blood of Christ can and did produce.
It was interesting to
learn that in Jewish writings, sins were commonly called “debts” as recorded
here. They are called debts because on
account of our sins, satisfaction to the law and justice of God was owed
– a debt that we, as sinners, are incapable of paying. So great are our sins before an infinitely
holy God that it took the payment of the blood of the impeccable, sinless
God-man. As such, to pray after this
manner presupposes an inability on our part to make or even contribute toward
this satisfaction, denoting our inability to pay the debt – an acknowledgement
that only God can forgive our sins on the one basis of the bloody, satisfying
sacrifice of Christ Himself. Listen, if
you think your forgiveness is conditioned on your repentance or on your
willingness to ask your concept of Deity to forgive you, then think again. If that’s the case, you don’t really need the
forgiveness from this God whose holiness and justice required no less than the
life and death of His dear Son. You
don’t need His mercy. Your forgiveness
is in your hands, in the asking. You
might as well ask that wall to forgive you to meet that condition. Listen, it took the shedding of infinitely
valuable blood and where and for whom it was shed, there is forgiveness,
remission for sins – they were put away then and there. This request for forgiveness that we need to
daily ask for is that God would continually manifest and apply His pardon to
the consciences of His sheep. We’re to
pray “forgive us” – “us” being His sheep, everyone for whom His precious
blood was shed – those who are translated into His kingdom.
So we know that in verse 14, Christ
is not speaking of the basis upon which God forgives us. That is God's grace and mercy in Christ
alone. He is describing those who have
been forgiven, as evidenced by their willingness to forgive accordingly. In verse 15, it is as if He is posing the
question to those who refuse to forgive others, “What kind of a sense of pardon
can they have? Have they experienced the
forgiveness of sin which would influence them to forgive those who have
offended them?” If not, they are only
fooling themselves. Believers are to
cultivate a spirit of forgiveness.
How? We do it by being ever
mindful of God's love and forgiveness in Christ. Whenever our thoughts concerning those who
have done us wrong are that we will forgive them only when they have met
certain conditions, stop and think of God's forgiveness of our sins. It was Christ who met the conditions, not
us. It was Christ who satisfied law and
justice, not us. And it is Christ's
having met all the conditions of our forgiveness that produces our ashamedness
over sin. When anyone offends us, our
forgiveness of them is what ought to produce their sorrow and ashamedness
rather than their sorrow and ashamedness meriting our forgiveness. This establishes what our attitude ought to
be towards ourselves and toward one another.
Our desire to forgive others is a mark that we ourselves have been
pardoned by God. His connecting together
here our forgiving others with God's forgiving us is to show that this spirit
of forgiveness is not an option but rather that this spirit will necessarily
manifest itself to some degree in those who have come to see their complete
forgiveness and pardon in Christ.
6. And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil
Next
in vs. 13 it reads, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil:” Just as we need
our daily bread, we know that we daily need His grace to keep us from the power
of temptation that would cause us to be overcome by it. There are all sorts of temptations that
appeal to us as sinners. Consider what
Christ prayed in John 17:15: “I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil.”
All temptations (trials and troubles) are not evil in their design or
outcome. Consider Job’s suffering and
the temptations he was confronted with.
Such trials are used by God to humble us, to try and ultimately
strengthen our faith and patience. I
believe this is why this request is linked with the deliverance from evil – this
being understood by many to refer to deliverance from the evil one – Satan
Himself. As such, I think our prayers,
offered in accordance with His will, are not to be for a total exemption from
all temptations, but for a removal of the judgment of them – that we be kept
from the evil one, the accuser. And
where is that judgment removed? Do you
see how even in His instruction on the manner of prayer and in this specific
petition how all is pointed toward the cross where Christ receives all the
preeminence?
7. For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Lastly,
in the latter part of verse 13, “ For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen.” This
ascribes everlasting kingdom, power, and glory to God and this should be the
attitude and that which we acknowledge in approaching the throne of grace,
ascribing to God the glory that is due unto Him. He has all power to give us our daily bread,
to keep us mindful and ever looking to the forgiveness of our sins in Christ,
to preserve us from and deliver us out of temptation to keep us from judgment
and accusation of Satan – and all of this forever. Amen – This “amen” expresses the fervent
desire, “so be it” – expressing our focus on Christ’s fulfillment of His will
in the earth. And it also is a
manifestation of God-given faith and confidence in Our Father – in
acknowledging “Amen” – as in “it shall be so.”
I hope you’ve seen today that it’s all about the one whose name is sometimes called the “Amen” – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We should ever look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. God’s name is hallowed in our hearts when we see and value with the eyes of God-given faith how that it was in Christ that God’s perfect will was done in the earth. Let’s always pray after this manner.
Footnote from the author: While this sermon was prepared and delivered
by me, I often utilize the commentaries, study helps, and teachings of others
to supplement my own prayerful study of the scriptures. Since this document was not originally
prepared for publication in print, please excuse and recognize that it was
unfeasible to properly identify and credit all of the various original sources
used to develop the content herein.
Ultimately, it is my sincere and foremost objective to accurately
present the gospel of God’s grace found in the only infallible source, God’s
word itself – the Bible.