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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

Chapter 14 How To Pray (Matthew 6.7-15).

We have seen that the answer to many of our spiritual problems is to die to ourselves. That it is to recognise that Christ is truly risen from the dead and in all His risen power seeks to come to live through our lives. That our lives are in the hands of the divine Potter and that He ‘makes us again’. And we have spoken of prayer. But we may ask, how then are we to pray? Jesus Christ knew that this was an important question, for the way that we pray very regularly determines the way that we live.

Like many teachers of His day Jesus taught His disciples a prayer. He gave them what we call ‘the Lord’s Prayer’. It may seem a simple prayer, but in fact it was both unique and powerful. No one ever taught a prayer like this. And yet because it has become so familiar to some of us we may even think that it is boring.

It begins with the simplest of expressions, ‘our Father’. But stop a moment. Have you thought what you are saying when you say this? You are addressing the Creator of the world. You are speaking to the One Who dwells in light that no man can possibly approach, a light which is a trillion times brighter than the largest and most brilliant fireball (1 Timothy 6.16). You are talking to the One Who holds the whole world in His hand. And you are calling Him ‘Father’.

And it goes further than that, for the expression that Jesus used when speaking to God as Father was ‘abba’. Among the Jews it was the word that even the smallest child used when he was addressing a loving father. And we can thus address Him as ‘Abba, Father’ (Romans 8.15) because we have received the Holy Spirit through Whom we have been adopted by the Father as His sons and daughters.

There could be no more powerful word than ‘Father’. For where the child has a good father the word ‘father’ indicates to a child a figure of supreme authority, a figure of the great provider, and a figure of great love and compassion. Today, sadly, in many families that role has to be taken on by the mother. And elsewhere God is likened to the perfect mother (Isaiah 49.15). But even then the picture might fail because of the inadequacy of the mother. But what our Father is to us is far better than any fatherhood or motherhood that we can imagine. For here the word is being used in the best sense.

So, says Jesus, as we approach God as Father we should do so with the recognition that He is the Supreme authority, and that He is at the same time filled with the greatest love for us that the world has ever known.

Secondly we are to say ‘our’ Father. This was one way in which Jesus distinguished Himself from us. To Him God was His Father in a unique way. He thus constantly spoke of ‘My Father’, and He even distinguished this from ‘your Father’ when speaking to His disciples (John 20.17). But He said that we, but not He, were to say ‘our Father’. That is because while Jesus was alone in His uniqueness, and God was His Father in a unique way, we are not alone as Christians, nor are we unique. We belong to a huge body of people who know and love Jesus Christ. And we are all to pray as one. Remember next time when you pray ‘the Lord’s prayer’ that you are coming as a representative of the world wide church. And somewhere in the world thousands will be praying it with you. And that gives us the immediate hint that in this prayer we are praying on behalf of all God’s people. And yet that God also sees us very much as coming as His little children.

Thirdly we are to say, ‘Our Father who is in Heaven.’ Suddenly everything becomes different. We are now not merely talking to One Who is supreme, we are talking to One Who is above and beyond the world. We are talking to One Who is indeed outside the Universe. We are talking to One Who constantly surveys the whole Universe and yet is so great that even the Universe could be held in His hand. We are talking to One to Whom the detailed concerns of earth are secondary (except where His people are concerned). For while He certainly watches over them all they are not His prime concern, for they are not interested in Him. His prime concern is for His people. And we are talking to One Who has all power in Heaven and on earth. What mighty resources we tap when we say, ‘our Father Who is in Heaven’.

But now we must stop for a moment because Jesus said that this fact carried with it certain implications. He said that if God is our heavenly Father (and if we are Christ’s He is), then our attention should be on pleasing our Father. Thus there were many things that we do not need to ask Him for. They are the kind of things that non-Christians ask for, but His own children do not need to ask Him for them. For, He says, your Father knows what you need such things before you ask Him (Matthew 6.8). How many children today wake up and in apprehension about the coming day go and plead with their fathers to give them food? How many beg them to provide them with some clothing? In countries where there is little poverty very few, if any. What unnatural fathers they would have. If my little boy had ever come to me and fallen on his knees and said, ‘Please Daddy, let me have some breakfast’ I would have been appalled. So Jesus tells us that when we pray there is something that we must not do. He says, ‘Do not be anxious about your food and clothing, what you shall eat and drink, and what you shall put on (Matthew 6.25).’ For, He says, the Father will provide these things without you asking.

Why, He says, food and clothing are what non-Christians ask for (Matthew 6.32). And they go on badgering Him for them (Matthew 6.7). They want the best food. They want designer clothes. So, He says, we should not be like them, for we know that our heavenly Father knows that we have need of these things (Matthew 6.32), and therefore to pester Him about them would be to show our lack of trust in our heavenly Father’s provision. Rather, He said, we should ‘seek first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us’ (Matthew 6.33). So that is what we should pray about. Seeking the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness.

And notice that all this is said in the context of not laying up treasure on earth, but laying up treasure in Heaven (Matthew 6.17). Of not trying to serve both God and Wealth (Matthew 6 24). He is speaking to those whose whole attention should be on something else. And what should it be on? We have already seen the answer to that question, it should be on seeking the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness. He is saying, ‘seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, and not on things on earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3.1-3). And why? Because when He who is our life appears, we will ‘appear with Him in glory’. And then everything that we have built up on earth will be seen to be the paltry things that they really are. And if you look at the Lord’s prayer you will find that that is what it is all about.

Of course, we should certainly thank our Father for His provision. That goes without saying. We recognise that He makes that provision because He loves us. But once we have recognised that fact, we should forget about it, says Jesus, and concentrate on what is really important. And that is what the Lord’s prayer does.

Of course that is not most people’s idea of prayer. ‘After all these things do the Gentiles seek’ indicates that what they do seek is things for themselves. They think of prayer as in order to obtain things. But that was not Jesus’ idea of prayer. Sadly many people see the first part of the Lord’s prayer as a kind of sop to God before they begin asking for the goodies. But it should not be so to us. Our hearts should be set elsewhere, on seeking His Kingly Rule and His righteousness.