Living the Lord's Prayer (Part I)

Living the Lord’s Prayer (Part I)

A sermon preached at Hebron Baptist Church, Denham Springs, Louisiana on January 27, 2013 by Pastor Joe Alain

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:5-13
John Ortberg, in his chapter on "The Practice of Prayer," writes that after Doug Flutie (of Boston College) threw a last minute touchdown against Miami in 1984, the phrase, "Hail Mary pass" became a part of our everyday language. The "Hail Mary pass" is a pass thrown under such desperate circumstances, that it could only be completed with the help of divine intervention. People sometimes say a quarterback in that situation "threw up a prayer." Ortberg says that the "Hail Mary pass" is a type of prayer used by Protestants, Catholics, and atheists alike.

Desperate people pray. That’s not new or necessarily a bad thing. Amazingly God does accept people when they turn to him in desperation, even when they have been ignoring Him for years. Desperation prayers have been the beginning of spiritual life for many of us. But by themselves such prayers are not sufficient to sustain our spiritual lives.

The first disciples of Jesus knew that prayer had to be more than just intermittent cries of desperation, "Hail Mary’s" in times of trouble. There had to be a better way to pray, so they asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Lk. 11:1). And Jesus did. Jesus teaches about prayer in many places in the four Gospels, but what makes our passage in Matthew 6:9-13 unique, is this is the only time that Jesus provides a "how to" on prayer.

This well-known passage, known as "The Lord’s Prayer," is also called "The Disciple’s Prayer" or "The Model Prayer," for the simple reason that Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray in response to their question.

That the disciples had a great desire to learn how to pray, tells us that they realized just how dependent they were on the strength and wisdom of the Lord. People that have walked with the Lord a long time do not find that they need to pray less, just the opposite, they find that they need to pray all the more. This was the case with the disciples. They realized that following Jesus could only be accomplished in the Lord’s strength.

But the disciples were also encouraged to learn how to pray because Jesus’ prayer life was so dynamic and effective. The disciples are seeing Jesus pray daily and they cannot help but notice his strong and consistent prayer life and the difference it makes in his life. He prays early in the mornings. He takes quiet retreats for the purpose of prayer. He spends long periods of time in prayer when he has an important decision to make. Jesus is a man of prayer and consequently a man of purpose and peace. The disciples saw Jesus’ example and were saying, "Lord, we want what you have, but more importantly, we need what you have!"

The powerlessness of the disciples became very clear once to them when they tried to help a desperate man’s young child and they failed. The man ended up going to Jesus and Jesus healed the man’s son of an evil spirit. The disciples later asked Jesus, "why could we not heal him?" "Why could we not help the man?" "Why were we so powerless to help?" And Jesus said that this kind of faith and power "only" comes through prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:21).

Jesus assumed that His followers would pray. In the context of our passage, Jesus says "when you pray," (6:5) not "if." Prayer is basic to who we are as Christians. Prayer is like breathing. To cease to breath is to cease to live. Likewise, to cease to pray is to cease to live spiritually. So basic to our life in Christ, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that "where there is prayer, there is the Church." A prayerless Christians is a contradiction. If prayer is so vital to our spiritual life, we should make much of prayer. We should spend time in prayer and to do that we need to know how to pray.

From this passage of Scripture I want to say a few things about the nature of prayer. Then we will begin looking at the specifics of what Jesus said concerning how we are to pray. Part 2 of this message will cover the specific areas of prayer that Jesus addresses in 6:9-13.

The Nature of Christian Prayer

1. At the heart of prayer is a personal relationship with God. We are to pray to "Our Father," Jesus says. This personal aspect is what makes Christian prayer different from so-called prayer in general. We often hear people speaking of prayer, and we wonder what "God" they are praying to, who are they addressing? Christian prayer is directed to "our Father in heaven" (6:9), in the Name of Christ Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere in Scripture do believers offer prayer directed to some generic and unknown deity. Because prayer is a relationship with God, only Christians can truly pray with assurance, with the expectation that God is really hearing and acting on our behalf.

2. Prayer is an expression of the Christian’s faith. If that’s true, what does that say about my faith? Do I largely trust in my strength, my life’s game plan, my resourcefulness? And do I tend to only throw up "Hail Mary" prayers when desperation sets in and nothing else is working? Jesus commended a widow once for her persistence in prayer. She would not give up! She had great faith as evidenced by her persistence. At the close of that parable in Luke 18, Jesus said when the Son of Man returns, "will he find faith on the earth" (Lk. 18:8), faith being expressed through our prayers? That’s a good question, will he find us praying, expressing faith?

Prayer is an expression of our faith because in prayer we are acknowledging God’s reality and our dependency. We are saying He’s real. Furthermore, we, by our praying our saying that we are dependent upon him. In prayer we are leaning upon him. That’s not a lack of faith, it’s faith. Hebrews 11:6, a passage about the nature of faith, also helps us connect the practice of prayer to our faith. It says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." People that pray, first of all, believe in the Lord, "that he exists." Otherwise, there would be no reason to pray. But we not only believe that he exists, that God is real, but that He answers prayer, "he rewards those who earnestly seek him." This is why prayer is an expression of faith. People who pray much, have much faith. That is, they believe in the Lord and that He is true to His promises.

3. Prayer is an ongoing dialogue with the Lord who initiates all prayer. In a sense there is a circular relationship in prayer. We pray because God puts it on our hearts to pray. He initiates prayer. But we also know that He already knows what we need, "your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (6:8). So why does God want us to pray about what he already knows we need and what he’s put on our hearts? Your Father knows what’s on your heart, but he wants to hear from you. He wants you to trust him, to relate to Him as your heavenly Father on a personal level and on a daily basis. Prayer is daily dialogue, communion with God.

4. Prayer is learned behavior. Nobody is born an expert at it. No one ever masters prayer. Thomas Merton writes, "We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else but beginners all our life!" Prayer is a learned behavior and it is a spiritual discipline that needs to be cultivated. The "take away" in prayer, aside from the fact that we receive from God in response to prayer, is that God uses prayer to conform us into His likeness. The mystic Julian Norwich is quoted as saying, "Prayer unites the soul to God." It is no wonder that the disciples above all else asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Two Prayer Models to Avoid

Before Jesus teaches us the direction of our praying, in the larger context, he identifies several ways not to pray.

1. The Hypocrite’s Prayer (6:5)"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites." The word for "hypocrite" in biblical times was associated with the theater. A good actor was called a hypocrite. That is, he played the part so well that no one knew he wasn’t who he portrayed himself to be. How does a hypocrite pray? The hypocrite prays to "be seen by men" (6:5). Jesus says that he "loves" to pray in the Synagogues and marketplaces. The problem here was not the public praying, it was praying for show.

What motivate the hypocrites prayer is the applause of men that is received. Jesus makes it clear that the hypocrite gets what he’s after ("received their reward in full"), but that’s as far as his prayer goes. The question for us here is, "are we following Jesus for earthly affirmations? For the applause of men?" "Are we willing to take the road less traveled, the narrow way?"

2. The Heathen’s Prayer (6:7)"When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans," (NIV, "meaningless repetitions"). These are empty words repeated over and over again. Now why would someone pray like this?

(1) This person thinks that they will be heard for the amount of praying they are doing. "For they think that they will be heard for their many words" (6:7).

(2) Because they do not know the character of God. If they did, they would know that God is not so much interested in the amount of words we bring him or the way we say them, God looks at the heart of the worshiper.

Behind both of these negative examples of prayer, Jesus is saying to us that prayer that is true prayer is honest, sincere prayer that recognizes the character of God. Jesus sees the heart of the one who is praying and he’s not impressed with the show or our babbling on, He looks at our heart. (Compare 1 Kings 18:26-29 and 18:36-39).

Behind these faulty examples of prayer, which is not Christian prayer at all, is a failure to understand the character of God and a lack of personal relationship with Him. Through these examples Jesus is saying to His followers, "Your Father is not like this. Your prayer life will be different, it will be a personal relationship with God because He is your Father."

I began this message by saying that prayer is a relationship with God. If we have little desire to pray, it may be that we need to get acquainted with the Lord as "our Father." Is God "your Father"? "Are you His child?" John 1:12-13 tells us how we become a child of God. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."

Have you "received" Jesus? Have you "believed in his name"? Are you "born of God"? It’s impossible to be a part of a family and not know that. But you can become a part of God’s family when you sense God drawing you, convicting you, opening your eyes, giving you faith to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. If I’m talking to you, today is the day of salvation. God is opening your heart and life so that you will believe on His Son Jesus. Give Him your life. Confess Him as Lord and Savior.

And if you are a follower of Jesus but have little desire to pray, you may need to turn away from sin and turn back to God. Sin will keep you from prayer, but prayer will also keep you from sin.

For His Glory!

Pastor Joe