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Sermon on the Mount: "The Model Prayer", Matthew 6:9-15 · Clifford Baptist

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  Speaker A: Welcome to Truth for the Journey from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Please join us today as Pastor Jeffrey Campbell leads us in an in depth study of the Sermon on the Mount. Today's scripture is Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 through 15. And the sermon is entitled the Model.
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  Speaker B: Prayer, Chapter number six, Matthew chapter number six. Tonight, as we study together and think of the model Prayer, that is the the title of the message tonight as we think about the Lord's Prayer, the Model Prayer, there's some that will argue that this prayer in Matthew 6 is not the Lord's Prayer. What I want to give you, it is a model prayer that the Lord gives. Some refer to John 17 or as the Lord's Prayer there, but I'm not going to get in that argument. I believe this is just the model of how we are to pray. And yes, we can define it as the Lord's Prayer because he gives us instruction through it. And so when we talk to Jesus, if you want to know how to talk to Jesus, this is the place to go. If there's somebody that says, I can't pray or I don't know how to pray, here's what you need to tell them. Go to Matthew chapter number six and just learn how Jesus taught his followers to pray. That is the goal of what Jesus is teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. To make his followers more Christlike in their walk and the things that they're doing in their actions and their forgiveness, but also in their prayer life. And so we understand that this is not the only prayer, but this is a model of how to pray. So tonight, if you're sitting here and say, I don't really know how to pray, this is the message for you. I prayed hundreds of times. I learned from this message tonight how to pray. We were reminded last week how not to pray. And I'm not going to re preach that. For those of you that were here, you remember, it's not about you, it's not about intention, it's not about the words that you say. Then Jesus goes from that truth to this truth, the model and how you and I are to pray. In the 1980s, a lady by the name of Helen Roseveare was a British doctor and missionary. And she told of these missionaries who ran an orphanage. That place, it was in the Philippines. And one morning, the cook came to the director of the orphanage and simply said this. There is not enough food, there's no rice, we cannot feed the children. The director gathered everyone together and began to pray. Part of their prayer were these words. Give us this day our daily bread. A short while later, a knock on the door from a local baker who had been up all night baking because God had told him to bake bread for the kids at the orphanage for the next day. Do you believe that that's just a good story, or do you believe that can truly happen? Absolutely, it can happen. And it can only happen through prayer. I'm grateful tonight that I believe that prayer works. And God has shown me that over and over again, just in three short years. But in a life devoted to him, God has shown me prayer works. And it often doesn't work how we intended, but it reaches heaven's throne room. And so tonight, if you want a prayer to reach heaven's throne room, it's not where you stand, it's not the words that you say. It happens in the secret place. Remember that from last week. And in that secret place. What we do in public should be an overflow of what we do in our private place before God. This model prayer is broken into two parts. Each part has three petitions. The first part, verses 9 and 10, look to heaven for heaven to rule on earth. And the second part, verses 11 through 13, look at the necessities of life and relationship with others and desires the Lord's help in those areas. And so tonight, as we open this word, we do with a reminder from what Luke records in Luke chapter number 11. The disciples asked this simple question. Teach us to pray. Teach us to pray. And Jesus gives these similar words. Not the exact same words, but very similar. Tonight, that's my heart's desire for our church, that the Lord would grow us in prayer. Let's pray, Father. God, thank you for the blessing of the night. As we open your word, we realize that it is the bread of life, Lord. We are to feed on it. And tonight, as we feed on your word, Lord, I pray God that you will teach us from your holy word how to communicate with you. God, thank you for hearing our prayer. Thank you for guiding our time together tonight, Lord. And we trust that by your spirit that you will continue to grow us, not only in our prayer life, but in our walk with you. We give you this time in Jesus name. Amen. Look at verse number nine, Matthew, chapter number six, verse number nine. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Point number one. Tonight, the model prayer looks to God our Father. The model prayer looks to God our Father. We talked about last week that. That many of the Religious leaders in the day prayed for attention. They prayed for others to see them. But what we are reminded here in this very simple verse is this, that you are to pray in order, that you are seeking God, that you are trying to get on his level, to match your will, your life, with his will for your life. And as we look at this prayer in the beginning of it, we understand the first word in verse number nine, or in this model prayer, is our O U R. Nowhere in this prayer will you find the words me or I. I'm going to tell you today as many times as I said this in the Methodist Church, it never registered till I sat at my desk this week that when we pray, we pray together as a group, as the family of God, as the body of Christ, and for one another. Many times. Maybe our prayers start out with me or my or I or God. Can you. Can you help me? But you will not find that in this prayer. Now, there are needs that will be met and we'll get to those. But that first word, our, is a possessive pronoun. I'm not an English guy by any means. But what this tells us is that we have a relationship. We have a father. He is ours. And as we understand that we are talking to our Father, that we must pray in that direction, not only for what you desire, but for us as believers. And so when we understand that word is for believers, that we are to pray for others, and we pray toward the Father, the work that he will do for us. Here's my first question tonight. And that is, do you know our father? Because if you don't, you can't pray this way. If you're not a child of God, you cannot pray to the Father. The second word, pater, father. It is the word that an adult would use to address their earthly father. Now, when you were a child, you might have called your father Daddy. But as an adult, I don't know what did you. You might still call him Daddy. But that word there is a word of respect. It is a word of authority. But more than that is a word of relationship. It is a word of warmth. It is relational. And here's what we get just by that one word, Father. We get the picture of Jesus teaching to address God just like he would address God. Because we have been adopted into the family of God, we are joint heirs with Jesus, and we are able to call Him Father. And so tonight, don't start your prayers by Big Guy in the sky. That's not the relationship you have with God. You can call Him, Father. Not that you've earned that right, but you've been adopted into his family. And Jesus says, you address God the Father just like I address him as Father. The third part of that, our Father, which art in heaven. And so we recognize the location in prayer. We recognize that heaven is the throne room of God. It is from that place where he is in control. The word we use is sovereign. He is in control of it all. We acknowledge that. And yet it seems like that is so far away. It's where he is, but where we are seems like it's so far away. But here's what we understand from this place, from this heavenly realm. God hears your prayer, and God can answer that prayer. And God knows what you're going to say. Last week, far before you utter a word, we acknowledge that God is in heaven and he is in control, and he reigns on high. And then we move into verse number 10. Thy kingdom come. Excuse me. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There's a little part of verse number nine that I left out on purpose. I'm going to come back and get it. Well, let me just go on and get it now. Hallowed be Thy name. Point number two, tonight. Here's what you need to understand. The model prayer desires heaven's reign. That's R, E, I, G, N. And what we need to understand is when we pray, we first need to acknowledge that our God is holy. Hallowed. That's what that means. Hallowed is a holy God, yet He is approachable. We are approaching him as he is our Father because we have been adopted into the family. But we are revering him as the Holy One and we guard against his holy name. And here's what I need to make. Make sure that we know that when we use God, when we call on God. I was always told you do one or two things when you use God's name. You're either talking to him or you're telling someone about Him. And if you're not doing one of those two things, you don't need to use the Lord's name because his name is hollowy. His name is holy. And we live in a world that flippantly throws the name of our Lord around. And yet here we're told that that name is holy and it is to be used by his children. It is to be used to call and to approach our holy God. So when we think of how holy that name is, we are reminded to use it for a holy purpose. And that holy purpose is when you and I bow and go before the Lord and beseech him as prayer warriors. Holy, hallowed is his name. That's the first point as we think about desiring heaven's reign, that God's name is holy. The second part is that we desire the kingdom to come. God's kingdom to come. I'll go back to say this one more word about the holiness of God. It speaks to a form of worship. So when you use God's name, it's a holy, hallowed time that you are approaching God in worship, in acknowledging who he truly is. And then we desire in verse number 10, thy kingdom come. What does God's kingdom and his work look like? Do we desire God's kingdom? Do we desire that work? Do we desire to be a part of what God is doing? When we pray for God's kingdom to come, we aren't necessarily praying for Jesus to rapture us out of this world tonight. That's not necessary what you're praying, even though I've prayed for that before. Jesus, just come on back. You know, we're not really praying for Jesus to come end it all. But what we are saying as we pray for the kingdom to come. Thy kingdom come is Jesus. As you come to this earth, as you usher in the work of your Father, as you came, God, you came to save and to change people's lives. You came to establish your kingdom on this earth. And in doing so, in doing so, you and I desire the Lord's work. As the gospel transforms people's lives, we want to be a part of it. When we pray, we pray for the work of God and that we are to be a part of that work. Thy kingdom come. In Matthew, chapter number four, verse number 17, as Jesus began to preach, he says these words, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Those are the words he used as he began to minister. And so what he was announcing is his kingdom had come and his work on this earth had began. And so we believe that the gospel is the transformation power to change people's lives. And we need to be a part of that kingdom work. What is that rule? When we think of kingdom, we think of a rule. And so do we want the Lord to rule our heart? Do we want him to rule our lives? Do we want our will and his will to mesh up? That's what we're praying. And we'll get to the will in just a second. But do we desire through the Holy Spirit to be changed and to reach those who are without Jesus? And without hope do we desire the kingdom work to be done. And here, as children and followers of Jesus, we are to pray thy kingdom come. God, work through me, work through our church, work here in our community. Let the gospel reach those who don't know. That is the prayer when we pray, Lord, thy kingdom come, that you will continue to work and the good news of Jesus will continue to spread. There are times that work gets tiring or hard or the direction seems to be off. So it is a model prayer that we want to be in the work of God, but also in the will of God. And that's the second part in verse number 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. So the third part of this prayer is one that seeks the Lord's will to be done. When we think of that, of God's will, of seeking his will, of wanting his will to be done in every situation. I'm reminded that three times here in these couple of verses, the word thy is done or used. Excuse me. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Never is it my never. It's not God, I want it my way or else, but God, I want your will and your kingdom, and I want to be a part of what you're doing. And so we're reminded to seek God's will when we pray. Can God our Father, open a child's eyes and their hearts to his will? Absolutely, he can. And I believe God does that through prayer. If you're trying to seek what God's will is for your life, here's my answer. Pray for it. Pray God, open my eyes, open my heart to what your will is. Thy will be done. And do we trust that God's will is better than any plan that we would ever imagine? I wrote these words here as just a reminder, a personal reminder to me the goal that we see as we focus on heaven's reign upon earth. The goal that we see is not for heaven. Not to fill heaven with our wants and needs, but that heaven would fill.
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  Speaker A: Us.
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  Speaker B: And sometimes 100% transparency. When I pray, I feel like I'm trying to put all my needs in God's basket. And God, you just take them and you figure them out and turn. What the prayer should be is God, here I am. Fill my life with what is reigning in heaven. Look at the end of. Look at the end of verse number 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. And so as you are reigning there, God, I want you to reign here in my life. And God can only reign in our hearts and our lives when we desire and seek his will, and we desire and seek his kingdom to come, and we understand that he is holy and hallowed. What you see is a relationship.
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  Speaker A: That.
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  Speaker B: Is crucial in our prayer life. You must have a relationship to call Him Father, to acknowledge who he is in your life. But you also must then submit control of it all because he is holy and you desire his will to be done. Tonight. As a church, do we desire God's will more than our own? I don't know how many people are here tonight, but if 50 or 60 or 70 people prayed for God's will to be done instead of what they desire, what they have ideas about, or what they want. Wow. Watch out. Watch out. Do we want God to reign? Your prayer life should model that through knowing that he is holy, through desiring his will to be done and his kingdom, his work to be done through your life. There's one more point tonight, and that is found in verses 11 through 13. I'm going to read those verses. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. I'm going to read verses 14 and 15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Point number three, the model prayer depends on God's help. There are three parts to this section as well. And here's what I need to remind you of. We need to pray for each one of these daily. Daily. These each should be a part of what our prayer life represents in verse number 11. You see. Give us this day our daily bread. Notice the language here that is still being used, that we need our daily, our daily needs need to be met. Now, I will acknowledge this. It's a very different world than biblical days. Very different. We go shopping, I go shopping and I buy groceries for a couple weeks. I'm sure you probably do the same. We get paid weekly or bi weekly or monthly in Jesus Day. Here's what happened. Each day they got paid and each day they went to the store with what little bit they had and they tried to barter and to buy what food they would need for that day. They would go back to work tomorrow to work for what they had, and they would barter again for the meal for the day. And so what we understand that in Jesus Day there was no sick leave or vacation. And you don't work, you don't get money and you don't eat. There are people that live like that, very close to us. Here's what I'm saying. It is so easy in America to realize that we don't need Jesus to help meet our daily needs. Cause we can take care of ourself so long. We got a Walmart, we're good. But Jesus says this. My disciples will be dependent upon their heavenly Father to meet their daily needs. It could be food and shelter and clothing. It could be water. No matter how much or how hard you work, here's what you need to realize. Even in America, the very gifts that you have to meet your daily needs are not by your hand or by your work. It's by the hand of God. And so I'm not bashing people for making more money or I'm not. That's not my job. It's just a reminder. What we have daily, daily comes from the Lord. And will we be reminded to be thankful that God is the giver of the daily bread? Verse 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Forgiveness. Some versions use the word trespasses. Remember, that is when you cross the line. But I do like the King James language of debts. Debt is something you owe. And that word reminds us that we owe a debt because of sin. And daily we need to be seeking forgiveness and seeking God's direction for our life, for the forgiveness of our sins. But not only forgiveness from the Lord for our sins, but as we or as we seek forgiveness, then we are to forgive others. That is a stern warning in prayer. And even after this prayer, as I read verses 14, as I read verses 14 and 15, the stern warning is this. If you can't forgive somebody, don't expect forgiveness from the Lord. So why would Jesus not only teach us to pray for forgiveness and to forgive others, and then right after it, give that stern warning, if you can't forgive, I won't forgive you. Because here's what happens. God's people have a hard time forgiving. And so when we think relationally, not only to God our Father, but to our fellow brothers and sisters, if we are forgiven, then we are expected to extend forgiveness to others. Jesus followers will forgive. And you need to seek that daily. Daily provisions, daily needs should be a part of your prayer life, but also daily forgiveness as we come before him. And I think part of that forgiveness is confession. God, this is where I screwed up. Sorry. I shouldn't have said that word. This is where I messed up. This is where I've messed up today. Thankfully, you don't have to go before a man or a priest or anything to do that. You've got direct connection now to the Heavenly Father, to the Holy One. And so part of our daily prayer should be, lord, this is where I messed up. Will you forgive me? And then when you raise your head and you walk out of that time of prayer, you go to your brother and your sister and the neighbor and the enemy and you offer forgiveness because you have been forgiven. There's one other thing besides our daily bread, forgiveness. The third thing is in verse 13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. The third part of this prayer is the prayer that we won't be led into temptation. Reading a book that I've had the privilege to go through with a couple of people, I'm going to share this with you tonight. The importance of the orientation of your heart. When we think about temptation, when we think about being delivered from the evil or the evil one, here's what you need to understand. This is not asking Jesus to ask Jesus not to lead you into temptation, because Jesus won't tempt you. Jesus is not the tempter. So you're not praying. Jesus, don't lead me there. Here's what you're saying. Jesus, will you keep me from going there? And there is evil, an evil one that desires not only to tempt me, but through that God, you can deliver me even from the hand of the evil one. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Don't let the evil one tempt me. Deliver me from the grasp of his hand. And so tonight we need to understand and we need to pray against temptation, against that affects every single one of us in this room. God can help keep you from temptation, but we need God's hand to lead us away from that evil that is there. The orientation of the heart. Let me get back there. Your heart is always oriented one of two directions, and I think it's covered here. It's oriented toward God or righteousness, or it's oriented toward evil or unrighteousness. 24 hours a day, your heart is tuned into one of those two directions. And this prayer is this. Lord, help keep my heart pointed towards you. Keep me from the temptation to orient my heart toward the evil one that will ensnare me, entrap me and take Me down the wrong path. We understand temptation is real. And daily, daily, we must pray for God's help and deliverance from that temptation. So tonight, as we close this portion of our study in Scripture, the model prayer, I hope tonight you don't close your Bible and say, I already heard that a million times. You know, as I sit down at my desk, I said, I've prayed this prayer a million times. I don't know that that's right, but it felt like it through the years. But it was always a recitation. It was done out of duty. Everybody else in the room was praying, so I needed to pray it. I told you the story. One thing that I did when I took over that little Methodist church is I cut that prayer out, but I brought it back. Why is this prayer important? Not that we repeat it over and over and over, but that we are reminded through what we have learned tonight that the Lord can help us. That we desire his work and his will. And we need his help every single day. That we need to be people of worship as we understand and address him as our Holy Father. But we also know that there's an evil one lurking. And it is the hand of the Lord that will deliver us. Tonight I hope and I pray that this strengthens our church and our desire to grow in prayer. We've learned what not to do. And tonight we've learned what to do when we pray. Let's bow together, Father. God, thank you for this night. And God, tonight we do desire your will. And, Lord, I pray, Lord, as we just continue on in our prayer time, in our service of worship, as we come before you now, God, I just pray in this moment of reflection as we sing a song together, Lord, and then we'll spend some time in prayer, God, that you will just guide our hearts, guide our prayer. Strengthen us, Lord, I pray. God, thank you. I thank you for this body of believers. And, Lord, I pray that you will continue to allow us to seek your will. Thy will will be done. God, I pray, Lord, that your kingdom will come, that your work will continue through this body of believers. God, thank you for the privilege and the honor. Because we are unworthy, because hallowed is your name. God, thank you tonight as we are reminded we need you every day. Every time we sit down for a meal, pull up next to a friend, put on a warm jacket when it's cold outside. God, we thank you for meeting our needs, our daily provisions. Lord, thank you for spiritually helping us as well, God, for your protection from temptation and from the evil one. And God. I pray, Lord, tonight that you will continue, Lord, to lead us as we walk with you, Lord. Teach us forgiveness. We need it from you, but our brothers and sisters and enemies need it from us. Teach us how to forgive, God. We pray tonight from what we have learned, Lord, that you will reign not only in our hearts and in our lives, but, Lord, that you will strengthen our walk with you, Lord. We pray that you will get glory from anything that is said and done here tonight. And we'll be careful to give it to you in Jesus name, Amen.
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  Speaker A: You've been listening to Truth for the Journey from Clifford Baptist Church. You're always welcome to visit Clifford Baptist Church for Sunday School at 9:45, worship at 11am and Wednesday evening worship at 7pm p. M. Join us again next Sunday for Truth for the Journey.