Matthew 6:7-15, “the Lord’s prayer” – part 2 [Listen]

As you may know, the concept of prayer and the topic of prayer runs throughout Scripture. Some of Jesus’ most amazing promises were made about prayer.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:7-8)

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:21-22)

For many, verses like these create problems. We are insulted when we see that God giving us what we long for is conditioned upon our longing for his purposees. I often want to imagine God serving my self-serving plan instead of me being cought up in Gods eternal purposes.

If we are aligned with Jesus (if his heart is our heart, if his goal is our goal, if his intentions are our intentions, if his passion is our passion) he will give us whatever we ask. God wants to answer our prayers, and God’s IS activly and perfectly bringing his wonderful plan to completion, and his will is that you and I are a part of that.

Let’s look at our passage for today:

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘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 today our daily bread.

12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Just a couple things in review:

This is not THE SACRED PRAYER that carries a magical impact if we simply recite it. This is a prayer Jesus modeled to illustrate the point he was making in verse 7 – don’t babble in your praying like a heathen might. Instead do it like this…

Even though the words of this prayer are not magical we do see some of the things Jesus would consider important such as, “God our main thought and hope is that you be seen as holy in this world.”

Verse 11 – “give us today our daily bread”

All we have is a result of God’s grace. Daily our needs are met by Gods kindness. We are dependent on God for EVERYTHING.

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth… (Deut 8:18)

Verse 12 – “forgive us our debts (sins-Luke 11:2-4), as we also have forgiven our debtors”

This is stated in a very interesting and completely logical way. Following God results in a person who understands forgiveness. The person who follows God has a sense of how much has been forgiven. This results in a person who must be forgiving because they truly understand they deserved nothing and yet were given everything.

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35)

It is VITAL that we learn this. Love and forgiveness live together. There is no way I can show the trademark of Jesus (love) if I can’t forgive.

Verse 13 – “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”

Verse 13 is very difficult. There is not broad-based agreement on what this verse actually means. One reason is that God does not tempt anyone! (James 1:13)

The thought behind this is probably more like, “Do not lead me toward trial which create the possibility of sin”

When Jesus moves into our hearts we will start looking at everything differently. The power of God’s salvation is so life-shattering that change in the way we think and act must follow. After all, when Jesus claims us for himself we:

• Gain a new heart
• Have the HS living in us
• Union with Jesus

When we refuse to align with God’s will, God lovingly moves us toward those trials that will help us understand the frailty of this world and the fulfillment there is in giving ourselves to him.

Verse 14-15 – “ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

If, as a result of our salvation, we don’t gain a forgiving spirit, we may not actually have a salvific relationship with Jesus. This is VERY important.

The prayer in Matthew 6 not only models what we should ask for, it paints a picture of who we should be. We should be people that above all, first and foremost, long for God to be seen by all. They long for God’s complete reign to be established here. They are not independent people – they are completely dependent on God. And as a result of knowing how much has been forgiven, they live lives of mercy and grace.