SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Matthew 6:9-15
PRAYER PRIMER
#17 - SERMON ON THE MOUNT
We know that God
wants to hear from us every day.
We know that we
should pray every day.
We know that
prayer is important.
However we often
fail to pray, and when we do pray, we often fail to pray properly.
James 4:1-3
When the Lord Jesus
taught the Sermon on the Mount He knew that his disciples would need help with
prayer. One of the things Jesus knew we would need is a pattern for prayer.
The Lord knew that
we would need help knowing exactly how to pray. So, in
Matthew 6:9-15 our Lord gives us what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”.
Our Lord begins by
saying in Matthew 6:9 After this manner
therefore pray ye:
Jesus was not
giving the only way to pray. He was not suggesting even that the same words had
to be used in the prayer. Instead he was giving a model. He was giving an
outline. He was giving the skeleton and expecting you and I
to put the meat on the bones. Jesus was saying, “Follow this pattern!”
PERSON – Our Father which art in Heaven
As we come to pray
we are to think about who we are talking to. So often our minds are cluttered
with thoughts on things which have happened or will happen. So often we are
burdened with worries and plans. We need to pause and focus on the object of
our prayers.
We are talking to
our Father in Heaven!
Not everyone can
come to God with that confidence.
To call God,
“Father”, we must be members of His family.
We were born once
into a human family.
We must be “born
again” into God’s family. John 3:3, 6-7
The first time you
were born, you were born a sinner.
Not only were you
born a sinner, but you quickly became a sinner by practice.
God is a righteous
God. God demands punishment for your sins.
Jesus took the
punishment for your sins upon his own sinless body on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus rose again
the third day from the dead.
Now you have a
choice to make. You can pay for your own
sins in hell for all eternity. Or, you
can accept by faith, the payment for sins that Christ already made for you on
the cross.
You accept that
payment by faith. And when you accept
that payment by faith you become “born again” and are then able to call, God
father. John 1:12-13
Now, if you have
been born again you can come to God in quiet, reverent confidence, calling Him
Father, and praying to Him in the name of His Son. John 14:13-14
PRAISE – HALLOWED BE THY NAME
The word Hallowed
means holy.
My coming to God
should be in an attitude of praise, adoration and worship.
Because God is
holy, I am to set Him apart in my life and thinking as holy. Before I ask Him for anything, unless it’s an
emergency, I should worship Him.
How can I worship
Him?
I can sing hymns
and worship choruses to Him. Psalm 100:1-2
How can I worship
Him?
I can tell Him specific
ways that He is wonderful.
How can I worship
Him?
I can give thanks
to Him for all that He’s done for me and others.
PRIORITIES - Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Let’s face it.
When we go to the Lord in prayer we often have our priorities out of order.
We are concerned
about what concerns us more than we are with what concerns God.
Before any other
request is made concerning our needs, we are to be concerned about two things
that center around God.
We are to be
concerned about God’s Kingdom.
We are to be
concerned about God’s will.
Thy kingdom come – As Christians,
when we think of God’s Kingdom coming, we think naturally of looking for the
second coming of our Lord Jesus.
We should be
praying for and looking for the soon return of the Lord Jesus. Luke
Another way I
should be praying Thy kingdom come
has to do with my own attitude. I should
be praying that God through His Son would have total rule in my life.
This has to do
with Jesus being the Lord of my life.
If I allow Him to
be in total control and to have total authority in my life, then indeed His
Kingdom has come to my life.
There’s another
way to pray Thy kingdom come.
I can pray for
every unsaved person that he or she will come into the Kingdom through faith in
Christ.
I can pray for
every saved person that he or she will allow Jesus to be Lord of their lives.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven
Another priority is
that God’s will be done in all situations.
When I know what
God’s will is, I can ask for it, and God promises to
answer. 1 John 5:14-15
I know that it’s
not God’s will that any should perish, so I can pray for the salvation of
souls.
I know that it’s God’s
will that my friends and I live Godly lives, so I can pray that we will live
Godly lives.
I know it’s God’s will that parents raise Godly children, so I can
pray that they will.
I know it’s God’s will that we rejoice evermore. I can pray for the joy of believers.
When I do not know
what God’s will is, I can ask God for guidance, and He will show me His will.
And when we are
not sure of God’s will in a specific situation, the best thing to pray
concerning it, is Thy will be done
How fast is God’s will performed in Heaven? Right
away.
We should pray
that God’s will is performed just as quickly here on earth.
PROVISION - Give us this day our daily
bread.
Does God care that
you are fed?
Does God care that
you have something to drink?
Does God care that
you are clothed?
You can read
Matthew 6:26-30 and find that the answer to each of these questions is “yes”.
Yes, God does care that we are fed, have something to drink and that we are
clothed.
God encourages us
to ask for those things as “daily bread”.
Martin Luther –
“Everything necessary for the preservation of this life is “bread”. This
includes food, a healthy body, good weather, a house, a wife, children, good
government and peace.”
Praying for daily bread
in our country seems to be something we forget to do. Food is so abundant.
Prosperity has ruled, even when we have been in economic slumps.
Yet, we are
missing something.
Because of our prosperity
we often forget to depend on God for these things. How less hassled and
frustrated would we be if we trusted God daily concerning such physical things
as:
Paying the bills
Solving a disagreement
Getting the car fixed
Having the right clothes
Finances for education
PENITENCE - And forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors.
Matthew
First of all,
please remember that God is talking to born again Christians, those who can
truly pray “Our Father”.
If you are truly a
Christian, all your sins were paid for on the cross. You will be immediately ushered into the
presence of Jesus in Heaven when you die.
God has designed
Christians to have fellowship with Him.
God has designed
Christians to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and produce the “Fruit of
the Spirit”.
Our Heavenly Father
does not boot Christians out of the “family” when they sin.
But God is grieved
when we sin. Ephesians 4:30
God will not
answer our prayers when we sin. Psalm 66:18
But, when we are
penitent, we find that God does forgive our sins. 1 John 1:9
As we pray we
should continually be examining our lives for sin and confessing our sins. And
as we confess our sins we should take time to forgive anyone who has sinned
against us.
Jesus makes it
very clear to the Christian in the verses which I read a moment ago that if we
fail to forgive someone else, we are not forgiven. If we want God to forgive
us, we must forgive others.
PRESERVATION – And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
Do not think that Jesus
is implying that God entices us to sin or tempts us. James 1:13-14
When we are told
to pray And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil we are asking God to keep us as far away from sin and the devil
as possible.
Actually, when we pray
“deliver us from evil”, it seems to mean “the evil one”. We should be praying for God’s help so we can
obey the command of 1 Peter 5:8
And remember this.
The closer I am to God the further away I am from the devil and temptation.
Also the closer I am to God, the easier it is to
resist Satan’s temptations. James 4:7
PREEMINENCE - For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, for ever. Amen.
We should end our
prayers the exact way we began them, with praise to our God. We should recognize His preeminence.
We should end our
prayers by admitting to God that the Kingdom is His.
We should end our
prayers by admitting to God that all the power is His.
We should end our
prayers by admitting to God that all the glory is His.
It is God who is worthy
of worship, not us.
It is God who is
worthy to reign, not us.
It is God who is
all-powerful, not us.
It is God who
worthy of all glory, not us.