PONDERING... Praying To Our Holy Father (Matthew 6:9)

Teach Us To Pray: A Brief Series Dissecting the Lord’s Prayer

Praying To Our Holy Father

GIST: The first portion of the Lord's Prayer is all about remembering who we are and to whom we pray.

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 6:7-13 ESV (Focusing on 9)

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [some manuscripts add For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen]    

A Little Background:

     When Brother Driggs asked me to preach these next two weeks, I started praying about what to preach on. I bounced around a lot of ideas, but I really believe I should always preach and teach what God is teaching me. Undoubtedly, this year God has been speaking to me most about prayer. As such, the youth and I have been studying prayer for the past few months in Sunday School (and I have been indebted to a book by Tim Keller which dives into the Biblical teaching on the subject).  

     For the sake of time, I don't want to belabor this point too much, but we see in Scripture how very essential prayer is. All other evidence aside, Jesus did it constantly. His disciples specifically asked Him to teach them to do it (Luke 11), and in response to that request Jesus taught us to do it. Pair this with the many verses like those in Luke 11:9 where Jesus promises not only to hear, but also to answer prayers prayed in His name and according to His will, and it is impossible to ignore the importance of this privilege. We are called by God to come and speak with Him. Coupled with the reading of Scripture, it is how we come to know God. Yet, we tend to miss out on this blessing by limiting our prayers to occasional request for help or nominal blessings over food. 

     That being said, for the next four services, I want to look at the Lord's Prayer--the most concise and direct teaching of Jesus on prayer. Now, this is one of the most quoted passages of Scripture in the world, especially in Catholic circles. Unfortunately, we have this tendency to ignore or discredit the familiar. Like John 3:16, people tend to repeat the Lord's Prayer without really thinking about what it says, or to avoid it altogether in search of "less common" passages. I have been equally guilty of this. So, as we study this, don't let familiarity destroy the gift from Jesus--His lesson on how to pray. 

     This is something we are intended to pray, not just repeat. So to be able to do this, we need to understand what each line is saying. So, in the interest of time and application, we're going to take one statement at a time, and my hope is that we can walk away from these lessons with a practical understanding that can immediately impact our prayer lives. I know it has been changing mine.

Our Father in Heaven:

The first portion could be called "The Address". It reminds us both of who we're talking to and the position from which we're doing the talking. I think we can glean a few points of applications from just these first four words.

1. We are not Han Solo
   • First, something I missed until recent study is actually the first word here: Our (and all the following plural pronouns). God is my Father, but not mine alone. When we come to God in prayer, we come before Him intimately..."for God so loved the world". This point is really staggering actually. Every believer addresses God as Father, and receives that kind of love. I am a dad. I love all three of my kids equally. However, it's hard to show love to all of them at the same time. Despite our best efforts, parenting is a constant juggling act...because I'm limited. He's not. There is no "I'll be there in a second" with Him.
   • Likewise , and this is definitely a bigger topic for another day, but it is this very relationship that connects us to all the believers in the world. That person that bugs you in church--yeah, Jesus died for him, too...and you're family.
   • Lastly, this reminds us of the importance of corporate prayer--praying together. Again, this is something to talk about another time, but it is important to remember how important it is to pray together.
2. We pray in the name of Jesus...to our Father
   • This is an important reminder. When we call God Father, we are expressing a our privileged position. Which, of course reminds us that those who are praying this prayer are, indeed, Christians, because non-believers are not the children of God. In fact, this issue is one that puts Christianity at odds with nearly all other religions. Muslims, for example, pray to Allah as holy and powerful, but to call him Father is serious blasphemy. Yet, we know that, though we deserve Hell, when we're saved we can come before God as His beloved children. But why? How? Because Jesus paid our price. He took our place. He endured our punishment, so we could be adopted as children. So when we call God Father, we are praying "in Jesus' name" because it is only through Jesus that we can call God Father.
   • Likewise, when we call God Father we are reminded of why we can trust Him. I'm going to talk about this at more length in the next section, but it is important to establish this here. We are not just speaking with some "powerful force". We are speaking to the God who created us, died for us, and loves us as His children.
3. Yet, we are praying to our Father...in Heaven
   • Nonetheless, God is Holy, and we must never forget that. That's foundational to the Gospel. God is both Holy and loving...that's why He cannot ignore sin, but provided a way of escape from in through Jesus' death. Every time we pray, we need to remember this.

Hallowed be Your Name

This second portion confuses people because it employees a word we don't really use anymore: hallowed... Unless, of course, it's October. It means holy, or set apart, or righteous. Unfortunately, in this case, knowing the meaning, does not really clarify the statement. Holy be Your name. Wait, isn't it already? Can we do anything to make Him more or less holy? No. But this is a request, right? It is something we are to be asking of God. So what does this mean? I think there are two applications here.

1. In Our Lives
   • Martin Luther said this request meant, “Keep us from dishonoring Your name.” Let that sink in. When I first read that, it really hit me. God is Holy. We don't impact that by our actions. He's not a fairy that loses His power when too many people stop believing in Him. However, we are called Christians: followers of Christ. We are His representation. Our actions are to reflect Him to the world. In fact, Jesus told us to in Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  But what about the opposite. What if it isn't light that's shining from us? If we claim to be representing Christ, but don't live like Him will the world just assume we're missing out, or that He's not all we claim? To ask that God's name be Holy in our lives is to ask that we not mar His character, that we would be pure and holy as He is.
   • Of course, this should be our desire in all things in life. Again, another topic for another day, perhaps, but we would do well to ask ourselves if honoring God was our primary motive for coming to church this Sunday.
2. In Our World
   • Again, though, we're not in this alone, nor should we want to be. The other side to this request is asking that the world honor God for who He is. However, that will only ever happen if the world comes to know Him as savior.

So right here in the first sentence of the Lord's prayer we are reminded of the Gospel. We come before God as part of His church, but also as His child who He loved so much He endured Hell for you. Faced with that reminder, we immediately fall at His feet and ask to be like Him, not to spoil this gift; and are moved to pray for those around us who are missing out on it entirely.

It's about remembering who you are and to whom you pray. Try to start your prayers this week like this.