Introduction

This morning, we get to study one of the best-known teachings of Jesus—what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Many of us have known it for years, and we can quote it perfectly. But every time I meditate on this text, I am amazed and thankful for its depth. God has used it to encourage my heart this week, and I know he will do the same for you this morning. For the sake of context, let’s read vv. 5–13.

Last time, we saw in vv. 5–8 that our prayers must be for God, not people. We don’t pray to build an image; we pray to spend time with God. Second, we saw that we must trust God’s wisdom and goodness. In other words, I don’t pray to convince God to do something better than he already intends; instead, I pray by faith that God cares, God fully knows what is best, and his purpose is always good. Jesus’ instructions in vv. 5–8 are so profound.

Then Jesus applies these truths in vv. 9–13 by providing a beautiful model of Christian prayer. So today, I hope we will give thanks for the privilege of prayer, and I especially hope that we will be motivated to grow a more fruitful prayer life and better equipped to do so. Before we get into the details of the text, I first want to make 4 observations about the text that are important for understanding Jesus’ overall message. 

I.  Introduction to the Prayer

A Model Prayer vs. a Required Prayer: I mention this because many churches have made reciting the Lord’s Prayer a vital part of their worship and personal discipline. Unfortunately, they often do so in a way that directly contradicts Jesus’ warning in v. 7 against “vain repetitions.” This prayer almost becomes a magic formula for obtaining God’s blessing.

But v. 9 does not say, “Recite this prayer”; it says pray “in this manner.” This is an outline or a model that should shape both the spirit and content of our prayers. The concepts are far more important than the actual words. That’s where we should focus instead of simply reciting what Jesus said.

Corporate Prayer vs. Private Prayer: We can easily miss this, so notice that the Lord’s Prayer is not so much a model for private prayer as it is corporate prayer. I this because all the pronouns are first-person plurals not singulars. Verse 9 says our, not my. Verses 11–13 say us, not me. That’s not to say that this model isn’t valuable for your private prayer time. You should feel free to use this prayer to guide your private prayer time.

But the plurals remind us that Christianity is a community faith and that our prayers together are just as important as our private prayers. The NT is not on board with the me-focused, privatized Christianity of many Americans. Our corporate relationship to God is just as important as our private one. Praying and worshipping together is a vital part of our spiritual life.

Substantive vs. Repetitive: Remember that v. 7 warned against “vain repetitions” in prayer. Specifically, pagan prayers consisted of repeating a god’s name or short phrases over and over. Sometimes they would speak gibberish. It wasn’t a thoughtful prayer; it was an incantation for the purpose of getting something.

In contrast, Jesus models thought out, substantive praying. Prayer should not be a mindless ritual about securing forgiveness, or merit or about buying the favor to get something. Instead, God wants us talk to him like a person about things that matter and about the burdens of our heart. We don’t just, “Say our prayers.” We talk to our Father.

Therefore, it’s important that we don’t let prayer become a mindless routine. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that we must engage our minds and pray substantive prayers about things that matter.

God-Focused vs. Man-Focused: Remember that v. 5 confronted the Jews for turning prayer into a public spectacle for the purpose of building an image. That’s very different from the God-focused spirit of the Lord’s Prayer. It has a beautiful simplicity and sincerity that are very important. Prayer is about humbly seeking the Lord, not about putting on a show.

Notice as well that Jesus includes 6 requests. The first 3 are entirely focused on God’s eternal purposes (recite). So often our prayers are consumed with temporal, selfish concerns, but Jesus teaches that a godly heart longs to see God be glorified and to see his eternal will accomplished.

Yes, it’s true that the final 3 requests focus on our needs (recite), but only the first one is concerned with temporal things. Verses 12–13 are entirely about spiritual needs.

That’s important, because so often our prayers are a laundry list of temporal cares. We should pray about them; otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t include v. 11, but this prayer should cause us to consider the balance of our requests and what it says about our values.

Yes, you should leave all your cares with the Lord. Philippians 4:6–7 teaches that you should turn every anxiety into a prayer request. But you must also work to focus your attention to the things that truly matter—God’s glory, God’s purpose, and spiritual warfare. These are the things that matter most to God, and they must matter most to us as well. With that said, let’s dive into the prayer. I’d like to break our study into 3 challenges.

II.  Pray reverently to the Father (v. 9a).

It might be easy to skip over this line, but it is very important. First, it reminds us that…

God is our Father. On this side of the cross, we are so used to addressing God as Father that may just skip over the word, but Father certainly caught the attention of his original audience.

This is because the Jews did not typically address God as Father. Yes, the OT occasionally compares God to a father, but it never addresses him as Father. Therefore, one commentator I read this week said that addressing God as Father was Jesus’ greatest contribution to Jewish prayer. That’s quite a statement, but I believe it is true.

It’s certainly worth our meditation when we pray. I’m not talking to a genie for whom, “My wish is his command.” God is not my vending machine in the sky. And he is not merely a contractor or businessman with whom I am doing business. No, prayer is fellowship with my Heavenly Father.

We ought to cherish the privilege and give thanks to him for the opportunity. And then we need to talk to him as our Father not as a customer sales rep at a store. Don’t ever forget that prayer is much more about relationship than it is about requests. Praise the Lord that God is our Father, but v. 9 also reminds us that…

Our Father is God. Our Father is “in heaven.” Young children generally believe that daddy has superpowers. They think that daddy is bigger, stronger, and smarter than everyone. But eventually, they figure out this is not so. Dad has some real problems and real weakness.

But not God. Our Father is “in heaven.” This reminds us that while he is near as a father, he is also set apart in heaven. He is holy, perfect, and almighty. He is God. As such, he deserves our reverence and fear. He also deserves our absolute confidence and trust.

Your earthly father may be great disappointment, but not your Heavenly Father. You can respect him and trust him, and he will never let you down.

Don’t ever forget that, as you pray. Prayer is about worship before it is about my need. It’s a good discipline to begin like Jesus by taking time to praise God for his glory and to thank him for his gifts before you get to your needs. Praise him for his attributes, and thank him for his blessings, especially the gospel. Prayer reverently to your Father. The second major challenge is…

III.  Pray that God would accomplish his purpose (vv. 9b–10).

Notice that the six requests in this prayer neatly break up into 2 groups of 3. The 1^st 3 concern God and the 2^nd 3 concern us. This order is intentional. Prayer is not bringing your Christmas list to Santa Claus. We come to fellowship before we come to get, and I can only think rightly about my needs if I see them from the perspective of God’s eternal purpose.

Therefore, you don’t always need to follow this structure, but there is a lot of value in regularly beginning your prayer times by praising God and forcefully turning your mind to his glory and will. Don’t let yourself regularly jump right into requests. That being said, we should first pray that…

God Would Be Glorified: Jesus says, “Hallowed be your name.” Hallowed is an archaic word, so just to be clear, it has nothing to do with Halloween. Quite the opposite, the Greek verb is hagiadzo. It comes from a root that describe holiness, sanctification, and separateness.

Therefore, the request is that God’s name, which in biblical thought is basically synonymous with his person, would be set part as holy and different from all else.

Of course, God’s holiness never changes. He is as holy as he has ever been, so I don’t pray that God would become more holy. Rather, the issue is how I see God and others see God. We need to see more clearly how glorious God is. We need his name to be more hallowed in our hearts.

First and foremost, we make this request because God is worthy of our worship and praise. God deserves glory and honor. But this request is also the highest expression of neighborly love in this prayer, because the greatest good man can enjoy is to see God in his glory and to be near to him.

Last weekend was the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, and Sunday evening I listened to a radio interview that John Piper did on 9/12/01. People were in shock at the horror of what had happened. They were angry, sorrowful, and hurt. But Piper said in that interview that as horrible as 9/11 was, God’s glory was worth it. That’s a heavy pill to swallow on 9/12, but it’s true.

Our only hope for true joy, rest, satisfaction, and salvation is to see God as he truly is. So, we should pray that God would be glorified more and more in our own hearts and in every corner of the earth.

God Would Establish His Kingdom: This request is often misunderstood because we misunderstand the kingdom. But Jesus’ Jewish audience would have only thought of one thing—the earthly kingdom God promised Israel.

It is the earthly kingdom that was lost when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and it’s the righteous, redemptive kingdom that Israel’s kings could never establish. It’s the kingdom that God promised David that Messiah would one day establish in Israel.

And Revelation tells us that someday, Jesus will return in glory, he will crush every enemy, and he will establish a perfect kingdom of righteousness and justice. And ultimately, he will reconcile all things to himself. He will not just save sinners; he will restore all of creation to its original beauty and order. He will reign over a perfect kingdom without any sorrow, suffering, or pain.

It’s going to be glorious. And Jesus says that we should pray that this kingdom would come soon. We should not be at home in this world; instead, we should have a holy discontentment in this world, because we long for the kingdom of Christ. And because we long for that kingdom, we pray that it would come soon.

You may wonder why pray for it to come? Hasn’t God already determined when all these things will happen? He has, but 2 Peter 3:12 commands us to “Look for and hasten the coming of the day of God.” We saw this spring that our prayers for God’s kingdom to come and our evangelism are part of God’s means to bring in his kingdom.

That’s incredible! So, we should pray hard that God’s kingdom would come, and as we do so, our hearts will also be turned from the passions of this world toward our true hope in God’s kingdom. 3^rd, we should pray that…

God Would Accomplish His Will: I should mention that Jesus is not talking about God’s sovereign, decreed will, because this will is always accomplished both in heaven and on earth. Rather, he is referring to God’s moral will as revealed in Scripture. Heaven is perfect; therefore, God’s moral will is always done in heaven. But we know all too well that the same is not true here.

Our hearts should grieve over all the evils of our world. Abortion, the sexual revolution, the constant lying, and many other things are rebellions against God and his Word. They should bother us. But of course, we should especially grieve over the rebellion in our own hearts. Every day I fall short of God’s standard. I am not what God saved me to be.

Therefore, especially considering the emphasis on practical righteousness in the Sermon, Jesus is saying we should pray that righteousness would reign in the earth. We should pray that sinners would turn to Christ and be saved, and we should pray that God would turn their hearts from darkness to light.

We should pray that politicians and leaders would perform righteousness, not what seems best for them or even what is popular. We should long for and pray that God’s will would be done on earth just as it is in heaven.

Of course, this will not fully happen until Christ returns and crushes evil. Therefore, this request is closely related to the previous one. We want Christ’s kingdom to come, but not just so that life is easier and more comfortable. Rather, if we “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (5:6), we will long for the reign of righteousness in the kingdom.

Is that you? Do you live every day with a clear vision and longing for the return of Christ and for the righteousness it will bring? Does it dominate your prayers with a passion that God would be glorified in the earth, his kingdom would come quickly, and his will would be done perfectly? We must pray that God would accomplish his purpose in the earth. The 3^rd challenge is…

IV.  Pray that God would meet your needs (vv. 11–13).

Jesus follows with 3 requests for myself. I heard someone else say this week, we should pray for provision, pardon, and protection. First, pray for…

God’s Provision (v. 11): “Daily bread” is something that we have a hard time comprehending, because our homes are generally full of food. A few months ago, my grandmother found a gallon of popcorn in her freezer that I shelled for her in 1998! Remarkably, it was still good, and even more remarkably, she had so much stuff in her freezer that she didn’t notice something from 23 years ago. We enjoy such abundance.

But we should never take it for granted. We should humbly recognize that we can lose our food, our heath, our homes, and many other things very suddenly. All that we enjoy is a blessing of God. We need to give thanks for all that he provides, and we need to daily acknowledge just how dependent we truly are.

Even if you are not anxious about money, food, or bills, it’s a good discipline to pray for these things as a way to acknowledge your dependence. And if you are anxious, don’t merely stew and fret about how you will get by. Bring every care about food, health, safety, and shelter to the Lord. And trust that he will provide. And remember the admonition that is coming in vv. 25–26. God will be faithful to provide. Second, pray for…

God’s Pardon (v. 12): Verses 14–15 expand on the thought of forgiving our debtors, so I’m going to hold off on that discussion until next week. Today, I just want to focus on the request to “forgive us our debts.” This word for debt was a commercial or financial term. Here, it pictures our sins as a debt we owe to God. It’s a helpful picture, because we like to minimize and forget our sin. But a holy God cannot do that. Our sin breaks our fellowship with him. And I want to emphasize that this remains true for Christians. This is a model prayer for Christ’s disciples, not for unbelievers.

Now, it is also true that if we are justified in Christ all our guilt and condemnation has forever been removed through the cross. My judicial standing with God is forever settled. But this does not mean that my sin can’t affect my fellowship with God.

My relationship to my kids is a good parallel. My 3 children will always be my children, and I will always love them no matter what they do. But we don’t always have perfect fellowship. My sin and theirs clouds it all too often. And the only way to fully restore our fellowship is repentance and forgiveness.

Our relationship with God is the same way. You can’t disobey his will and expect God to hear your prayers or draw near to you with grace. Psalm 66:18 states, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” And James 4 states that the only way I can draw near to God is with a pure heart.

So, when God’s Spirit convicts you of sin, confess it right away. And when you pray, discipline yourself to take a moment and ask if you have any unconfessed sins you need to address before going on in prayer. Don’t presume on the grace of God. Ask for forgiveness.

And then rest in the promise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

God’s Protection (v. 13): I must say at the outset that God never actually leads us into temptation. James 1:13 clearly states that God never tempts with sin.

Therefore, we ought to understand this request as a simple cry of a godly heart. A godly person hungers and thirsts for righteousness, but he also understands the weakness of his own heart. It’s been said, that he is confident in the Spirit but suspicious of himself.

As such, godly people don’t walk on the edge of the spiritual cliff; they want to stay as far away from sin and temptation as possible. Therefore, they pray that God would keep them from temptation, and when it does come that he will “deliver them from the evil one,” speaking of Satan.

Thankfully, God always answers this prayer. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor 10:13). God never abandons us to temptation. His grace is always enough.

Our challenge from this request, is first that we would truly hunger and thirst for righteousness. Do you passionately want to honor Christ in your conduct, and do you hate the smell of temptation? Do you hate your sin and long for transformation?

Your prayer life is probably a good litmus test for those questions. Do you pray often that God would transform your heart and grow Christian character? Do you recognize the danger of spiritual warfare and plead for victory? Jesus says that the battle is real, and we must pray for deliverance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jesus has provided us with a beautiful model of Christian prayer. We ought to rejoice that we can do more than pray to impress people and that we don’t have to impress God. We get to draw near to our Father. We can worship him and focus our attention on his eternal purpose. We can talk to him about our sin and trust that he forgives. We can give him every care knowing that he cares, and we can find the grace we need for every challenge.

Christian prayer is a wonderful privilege. If you do not know Christ, receive him today, so that you can know God as Father and enjoy this wonderful grace. And if you are saved, take advantage and follow the wonderful model of our Savior.