One of Ten Sermons
By Pastor John Skaggs
(Matthew 6:5-13 NASB) "AND WHEN YOU PRAY, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, IN ORDER TO BE SEEN BY MEN. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. {6} "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. {7} "And when you are praying, DO NOT USE MEANINGLESS REPETITION, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. {8} "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.
Jesus begins His discourse on the subject of prayer in verse five, with the words, "And when you pray. . ." This phrase assumes that Christians pray. Our Lord assumed that His disciples were praying men.
Prayer is one of the primary means of grace to the believer. Prayer is how we communicate with God and it is how He communicates with us.
In his worthwhile commentary on the Lord's Prayer Matthew Henry said this. "Christ saw it needful to show his disciples what must commonly be the matter and method of their prayer. Not that we are tied up to the use of this only, or of this always; yet, without doubt, it is very good to use it. It has much in a little; and it is used acceptably no further than it is used with understanding, and without being needlessly repeated. The petitions are six; the first three relate more expressly to God and his honor, the last three to our own concerns, both temporal and spiritual. This prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and that all other things shall be added. After the things of God's glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the needful supports and comforts of this present life. Every word here has a lesson in it. We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance: and we ask only for bread; not for what we do not need. We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread of others, nor the bread of deceit, Pr 20:17; nor the bread of idleness, Pr 31:27, but the bread honestly gotten. We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us constantly to depend upon Divine Providence. We beg of God to give it to us; not sell it to us, nor lend it to us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread. We pray, Give it to us. We pray that God would give it to us this day; which teaches us to renew the desires of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed. As the day comes we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we could as well go a day without food, as without prayer. We are taught to hate and dread sin while we hope for mercy, to distrust ourselves, to rely on the providence and grace of God to keep us from it, to be prepared to resist the tempter, and not to become tempters of others. Here is a promise, If you forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive. We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. Those who desire to find mercy with God, must show mercy to their brethren. Christ came into the world as the great Peace-maker, not only to reconcile us to God, but one to another. " End Quote
"In every expression, petition, and argument of this prayer, says Thomas Houston, we see Jesus. He and the Father are one. He has a "Name" given Him which is above every name. He is the blessed and only Potentate, and His "Kingdom" ruleth over all. He is the "Living bread" which came down from Heaven. He has power on earth to "forgive sins." He is able to comfort them that are "tempted." He is the Angel that "redeems from all evil." The Kingdom, power, and glory pertain unto Him. He is the fulfillment and confirmation of all Divine promises and gracious assurances. Himself "the Amen and faithful Witness." Well did Tertullian term the Lord's Prayer "The Gospel abbreviated." The more clearly we understand the Gospel of the grace of God, "the Gospel of the glory of Christ," the more shall we love this wonderful prayer, and glorying in the Gospel which is "the power of God and the wisdom of God" to them that believe, we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable as we offer the Divinely prescribed petitions and expect gracious answers (Thomas Houston).
Arthur Pink is encouraging as he reminds us that, "the word of God is perfect and without defect, therefore, the Lord's Prayer is the perfect prayer. It is the perfect model prayer and when used as a form it is perfect there as well."
I do not come to you in this lesson or in the many lessons to follow as an expert teaching novices, but rather as a disciple, together WITH YOU making this request, "Lord teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples", (Luke 11:1). I have come to listen WITH YOU to our Lord's reply.
On this occasion I wish to speak generally about prayer and then, in subsequent lessons we will study the particulars of the Lord's Prayer.
First, I draw your attention to the fact that this could NOT have been our Saviors prayer in the sense that He prayed these words in reference to Himself. This would be impossible. For in the prayer there is a request for the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord of course had no sin to be forgiven. This prayer should be called the Disciples prayer, for it was given to them as a model and form to study and use that they might learn to pray properly. So, this is the Lord's Prayer only in the sense that He formulated it and gave it to us as both a model and a form.
The first thing to learn about prayer itself is this. True prayer, like true religion must be God centered. Just as the chief end of man is to glorify God in his living so also prayer, if it be true prayer, must have God and His glory as it's goal.
Just as the Ten Commandments teach us how to relate to God first and secondly how to live with men. So also prayer must begin with God before it turns to our concerns and needs. Even then we should request only that which will glorify God in it's granting.
This does not come natural to us. Is it not your experience that when you think of praying you've been motivated to do so by some felt need, desire, or want? The natural impulse is to put self first, saying, "Hey God there's something I need." This is not how Christ taught the Disciples to pray. The Lord's Prayer begins and ends with God. "Our Father" and then "for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the Glory forever." God is to be the first and the last concern in our prayers.
As sons and daughters of Adam, such selfless concern in prayer doesn't come easy. It is contrary to our very natures. Adam, no doubt, had it right before the fall. Before sin entered into this life he was God centered in every thought and deed, but that was then and this is now. Sin has turned us in upon ourselves so that it is all me, what I want, feel, and need. Even the Christian is not free from self, yet. True, we are being freed, we desire more and more the things of God. We look forward to the day when we always, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." But for the moment we still have our eyes on ourselves, the spirit is willing but the flesh is still weak.
There is a law of sin in our members, as the Apostle put it, warring against our new and holy desire to worship and pray aright. It is this law that makes it very hard to pray as we ought to pray. It makes prayer a drudgery, a laborious duty, an empty exercise, a cold and pointless communion with the air, not with God. It is this frame of mind that makes me cringe when I sing of that, "Sweet hour of prayer." I cringe for, I do not hasten to the place of prayer and enjoy HOURS of sweet communion with my God. That is, not often, for my flesh rebels, my mind is caused to wander. I have nothing left to say when I have delivered the list of fancies I must have to be more comfortable. When I have offered my complaints against the providence of the day I am finished with this thing called prayer. It is likely I have not prayed at all if this is the character of my prayers for TRUE PRAYER MUST HAVE THE GLORY OF GOD IN IT'S EYE, IT MUST HAVE GOD AT IT'S BEGINNING AND END.
When I hear of one who enjoys spending hours in the closet alone with God I am reminded of my own coldness. I recall the occasions when I have been determined to pray but could not find the time or keep my mind on task. I for one am reminded of the scene set before our eyes in Matthew 26:36-46, in fact I could have been one of the characters there.
"Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." {37} And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. {38} Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and KEEP WATCH WITH ME." {39} And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt." {40} And He came to the disciples and FOUND THEM SLEEPING, and said to Peter, "SO, YOU MEN COULD NOT KEEP WATCH WITH ME FOR ONE HOUR? {41} "KEEP WATCHING AND PRAYING, THAT YOU MAY NOT ENTER INTO TEMPTATION; THE SPIRIT IS WILLING, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK." {42} He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." {43} AND AGAIN HE CAME AND FOUND THEM SLEEPING, FOR THEIR EYES WERE HEAVY. {44} And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. {45} Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, "ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING AND TAKING YOUR REST? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. {46} "Arise, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"
Why were these men so cold and lazy? For one thing they had no sense of need, or danger, there was nothing in them to sound the alarm. Had they been the ones about to die they would not have been asleep. Yet, my friends, we are all about to die, we are all about to be tempted, we are all in desperate need of at least spiritual graces. Why then do we not spend one hour in prayer. Why especially do we not come into God's presence just to worship Him as we ought. Why do we need some alarming reason? Is not love for God enough? It ought to be and will be some day but not now. For most of us are still too full of ourselves to worship for the sake of worship, to pray for the sake of fellowship with God. It is sin remaining in us that causes this, that makes us dull and sleepy, and selfish. Should we not pray like this, "Oh dear Jesus, teach us to pray, give us a heart for true and proper prayer."
As with all things in Christianity I believe that the desire and the ability to pray as we ought, comes to us by grace. The ability to pray with God's glory as the motivation behind every request flows from a redeemed heart, made sensible of it's weakness, and educated by the scriptures. Trusting in these gifts and graces we are to put forth an intelligent and concentrated effort to learn what Jesus has to teach us about prayer.
One of the obvious things about this prayer is it's simplicity. There are no high sounding words or poetic phrases like men often include in their prayers. From this we should learn to keep our prayers plain and simple. There is no need to dress our prayers in the fancy clothes of pious language. Prayer is at least the simple clear and plain expression of the heart and soul. It was never meant to be evaluated by men but only to communicate to God our desire for His Glory and dependence on His provision.
Then we notice the prayers brevity. None of the six, some say seven petitions, are comprised of more than ten words. The whole prayer consists of only 68 words. This is a prayer that any child can and should learn as soon as possible. Here are a few words that cover every necessary element of prayer. There is nothing left out therefore nothing needs to be added, the prayer is comprehensive. Just as we can work out the whole of our living from the ten commandments so we can work out the whole of our prayer life from these six or seven petitions.
(Matthew 6:5-8 NASB) "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, IN ORDER TO BE SEEN BY MEN. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. {6} "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. {7} "And when you are praying, DO NOT use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their MANY WORDS. {8} "Therefore do not be like them; for YOUR FATHER KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED, BEFORE YOU ASK HIM.
Prayer is not for men, but God to hear. Prayer is not informing God of anything for He knows our needs before we pray. Prayer is many things, but it is at least the bowing of the heart and soul in submission to the will and purpose of God. It is men declaring their dependence upon God's daily provision. Prayer is an exercise whereby we remind ourselves that God is God and we are not. That He knows best and we do not. That He is the creator and governor of all things and all men disposing of them as He sees fit. Perhaps the last word here should be given to Brother John Bunyan. In his book on prayer he said this, "Prayer is a sincere, affectionate pouring out of the heart, of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to his Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God."
Prayer is given an important place in the scriptures, it is a means of God's grace to us, therefore, we say together, "Lord teach us to pray like John taught his disciples to pray." The Lord's Prayer is the answer to that request.