LIFE IN GOD’S KINGDOM
IS A LIFE OF PRAYER
MATTHEW 6: 7-15

INTRODUCTION

How you communicate with another person reveals the kind of relationship you have. The way you communicate and the content of your communication reveal what you think about the other person and how you feel about them.

About a year ago Jane and I were looking for a piece of furniture. We went to 5 or 6 different stores comparing quality and price. On our first visit to one to the stores we happened to overhear a salesman talking with another couple. We watched and heard him, in a very charming and sincere manner lead the couple to purchase the most expensive piece of furniture rather than the more moderately priced one. He was very good. After shopping all the stores we decided that we wanted to buy at the store this salesman worked at. The evening we went there to make our purchase this same salesmen was working. He worked very hard to become our friend in the fifteen minutes we talked together. However, we were very guarded in our conversation. We didn’t smile much. We didn’t look him in the eye and we gave him as little information as possible. We concentrated on asking him questions and resisted his every attempt to get us to look at anything else but what we had decided upon. I’m sure an outside observer would have described us as cold and maybe even rude. We were focused on our objective and had absolutely no interest in getting to know him. How and what we communicated with this salesman revealed that we did not trust him. We thought of him as one who was only interested in himself and not in us. We felt no affection for him but were only interested in using him to get what we wanted.

Now if you were to have observed us in that conversation and then been in our house about a month ago when our good friends Mark and Bonnie McLane were here for a visit, you’d think we were different people. We stayed up late talking about our feelings and thoughts. We asked them questions about their lives and their children. It was an entirely different conversation. You would know that we loved Mark and Bonnie and that we trusted them because of how we talked with them.

It is this principle, that the quality and content of your communication with a person reveals how you feel and what you think about that person, that Jesus addresses in Matthew 6: 7-15. I want you to notice the structure of 6: 1-18, so you can see how important Jesus views your prayer life, your communication with God. You’ll notice that in v. 1 Jesus gives the thesis statement to this section of his sermon (read it). Then in vv. 2-4 he applies the principle to giving to the poor. In vv. 5-6 he applies it to prayer. In vv. 16-18 he applies it to fasting. But do you see how he breaks the pattern in vv. 7-15? It’s like he mentions prayer in 5 & 6 and cannot complete his thought without giving more instruction on prayer. I believe that the very structure of this passage shows us that prayer is the center of the Christian life. What activity most characterizes a true child of God? The answer Jesus gives is, "he prays." The Christian life is a praying life. The quantity, quality and content of our prayers show exactly what we think about God and our relationship to him. In Matthew 6: 7-15 Jesus shows us that…

MAIN POINT

True prayer displays the greatness of the living and true God by…

I. Relating to Him as our Father who is in heaven (vv. 7-9a)

Jesus begins his discussion of prayer by referring to how pagans pray. The emphasis in v. 7 is not on the babbling but on the attitude that is behind the babbling. Jesus is not telling us it is wrong to pray long prayers or to repeat yourself when you pray. He is condemning how people think about and therefore relate to God. The pagans think the reason they must use lots of words in their praying is because their gods won’t listen to them unless they do. They view their relationship with their gods on an employer—employee basis. If I do so much praying then the god is obligated to provide a certain reward. They did not believe their gods were really interested in them. They needed to do enough religious things to get their attention and to persuade them to give them what they wanted. If they followed the rules, maybe the gods would look upon them with favor. It was their efforts that determined whether or not the gods would look upon them with favor.

When a person approaches God in this fashion, who is all the attention focused upon? Who gets the credit when a prayer is answered? The person praying gets all the honor. Jesus condemns this kind of praying because it puts all the attention on men and diminishes the wonder of God’s gracious fatherhood. It is not only pagan’s that pray like this. It is the natural tendency of every human being to approach God in this fashion.

I have often felt this. As many of you know, I became a Christian in the spring of my junior in college. During my senior year I was very involved with a student Christian group called CCC. I was in at least two bible studies every week. I was involved in sharing the gospel with others, leading a bible study of my own, praying in groups and involved in a church. Jane and I were married the summer after I graduated. We remained in Stevens Point while she finished school. I worked with a general contractor building houses. Between work and marriage my involvement in Christian activities was severely diminished. I remember one evening trying to pray and feeling so overwhelmed with guilt because I wasn’t doing anything for God that I was sure there was no way he would listen to me. As I was wrestling with my guilt I read Romans 5:6, "For while we were still powerless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." I was feeling especially ungodly at the moment. It hit me like a ton of bricks that Christ didn’t die for me because I was seeking God and intent on loving God. He died for me and made me God’s child when I wanted nothing to do with God. God was not going to pay attention to me because of what I had done and he wasn’t going to ignore me because of what I hadn’t done. He was committed to me, as my Father, because of what Christ had done.

The whole point of Matthew 6:8 is to show us how committed God is to us. (Read it) He is paying very close attention to us and knows exactly what we need. We should not view our praying as necessary to inform him of what we need or in order to persuade him to give us what we need. We approach God with the same confidence a trusting child goes to a kind parent, knowing that He loves us and that he is committed to providing for His children. In this way all the attention is on God as the faithful Father and not on our effort.

So we begin our prayers by addressing our Father who is in heaven. This title shows that we are going to one who loves us perfectly and has the power to give us everything we need. Our nation recently lived through another tragedy in the Kennedy family. John Kennedy, the son of the late President John F. Kennedy was killed in an airplane crash in August. There were some remarkable pictures of him shown as a little boy on his father’s lap and playing games in the Oval Office. This little boy could run down the halls of the White House and burst into the office of the most powerful man on the planet and know that he would be warmly welcomed. He could run past the guards and secretaries and advisors and no one would stop him. We have that same privilege only we go into the throne room not just of a human president but of the king of the whole universe.

Jesus wants us to begin our prayers by remembering who it is we are addressing and what is the nature of our relationship with Him. All the attention is then upon God, not us, as we consider how amazing it is that God relates to us as his children. From Jesus’ point of view, nothing is more stunning than that we can address God as our Father. When you consider His absolute sovereignty in the world it is amazing he places himself at our service as a loving Father. When you compare his absolute perfection with our complete rebellion against Him, it is incredible that we can address him as Father. It is no small thing that any of us can call God our Father. We must never take this for granted. In your praying, make much of your ability to come to him with the freedom of a beloved child to a dear Father.

True prayer displays the greatness of the living and true God by…

• Relating to God as our Father in heaven
• And by…

II. Delighting in and seeking His fame (vv. 9b-10)

Christian praying, in opposition to the praying of hypocrites who are only concerned with their own reputation and in opposition to pagans who only view God as a means to get what they really want, is first and primarily concerned with the fame of God. The first three petitions that Jesus teaches us to pray have to do with God’s fame. (read 9b & 10) Jesus, as we have seen throughout this passage, is radically God-centered in his view of reality. God is not living in our world, we are living in his. Life is not about us, life is about God. So, the person who has God as his Father is first and foremost concerned with God’s reputation in the world.

The word translated "hallowed" in verse 9 is a huge Old Testament word. It is used almost 200 times in the OT and always in relation to God. The word means "to treat someone or something as holy", "to make someone or something holy", "to set someone or something apart for a holy use." God, we are told is holy. That is, he is absolutely unique. There is no one and nothing like Him. He is to be treated with the utmost respect and fear and love and submission. It is the chief duty of man to be absolutely impressed with God and to treat him as he alone deserves. This is what the verb means. I want you to see a place in the OT where the word is used, to get a better idea of what Jesus is commanding us to pray.

Turn to Deut. 32:48-52 on page _____ (read it). God is referring to an incident where the Israelites were in the desert and had run out of water. They began to complain and accuse God of bringing them out into the desert to die of thirst. So God told Moses to speak to a rock and he would make water come out of it. But what Moses did was gather the people in front of a rock and say, "Must we make water come out of this rock?" Then he hit the rock twice with his staff. God graciously sent water out of the rock but he told Moses, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them." What Moses and Aaron did was act as though they were the ones who were going to get the water from the rock. They were not careful to give all the credit to God by simply speaking but rather they claimed to be able to bring the water and then struck the rock to prove they could do it. They robbed God of the credit that was due to him. They did not "hallow" his name but rather tried to "hallow" their own reputation. They did not draw attention to God but to themselves.

What Jesus is commanding us to pray is that God would be seen and admired and worshipped and treated with respect. This is the first passion of the Christian. It is what we want more than anything else in life. This is not a hard passion to understand. Every person who is a true fan of a sports team understands this desire. It’s not enough for the true sports fan to watch their team play the game. They want others to join them and to enjoy watching. It is this desire that moves sports fans to invite groups over to the house to watch the game together. It is this passion that motivates dads to go through the hassle and spend the money to take their children to the game. They want others to be as impressed with the greatness of their team as they are. Every parent understands this desire. Parents are not satisfied with enjoying their child’s performance in the school play or on the team or in the band. They want others to come and witness and enjoy their child’s success as well. I love inviting people to come watch my children perform. When others are delighted with their ability, it makes me happy. Every collector understands this ambition. Collectors are not merely satisfied with finding the rare coin, the unique figurine. They want others to be impressed by their collections. They display their collections in their homes. They love to describe what makes each item in the collection great. They contribute their collections to museums for others to see and admire and find joy in. In the same way the Christian is not merely content to know God but he desires to have others see and admire him as well and this is what he asks God to do. He asks God to do whatever it takes to reveal himself so that others see and admire him. Jonathon Edwards says it this way: "God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it."

God’s fame is made great wherever his rule as king is being felt. Wherever God’s power to destroy evil and to protect and provide for his subjects is seen, there is God’s name being glorified. So Christians pray that God’s kingdom would come. It is a prayer that he would destroy the evil in me and in his church and in the world. It is a prayer that more and more people would submit to his rule in their lives. It is to pray that Jesus would come and punish all the wicked and save all his people. Parents, don’t you pray this way for your children? Don’t you pray this for your loved ones and neighbors and friends? When you look at this world don’t you yearn to see Christ rule over more and more people?

God’s name is made great wherever his will is being done. When we ask for God’s will to be done we are actually asking for two things. First, we are asking that his word be obeyed by us and by others. We yearn to follow God’s word and for others to do so as well. The second thing we are praying is that God’s will in all the events of our life and in the whole world would be accomplished. The amazing thing is that God tells us that his will is going to be done on the earth and yet he commands us to ask that his will be done on the earth. Psalm 33:10-11 "The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." God accomplishes his purposes through our prayers.

The phrase, "on earth as it is in heaven" does not apply to only the prayer for his will to be done but to all three petitions. We want God to be as famous on earth as he is in heaven. We want his sovereign rule to be felt and submitted to with the same enthusiasm as it is in heaven. We want God’s will to be obeyed with the same gladness on earth as in heaven. We are praying for these to take place in greater ways in our lives and in the church and in the world now but we are ultimately looking for their fulfillment in heaven. We are to continually ask God to come and establish heaven on earth through the return of Christ to judge evil and save his people and create a new heaven and a new earth.

Are your prayers full of requests that God’s fame, God’s rule and God’s will be rejoiced in on earth just like in heaven? Is this your highest passion? Jesus is not only instructing us about how to pray but challenging us to examine ourselves to see if we are actually one of his children. Can you pray these first three petitions and mean them?

True prayer displays the greatness of the living and true God by…

• Relating to God as our Father in heaven
• Delighting in and seeking His fame
• And by…

III. Depending upon God for all things (vv. 11-15)

John Stott captures well the transition that takes place between the first half of the prayer and the second. "Having expressed our burning desire for his glory, we now express our humble dependence on his grace...To decline to mention our needs at all in prayer is as great an error as to allow them to dominate our prayers." Jesus commands us to ask him to provide for our daily needs, to forgive our sins and to rescue us from the domination of evil and the evil one. There are several things that I want you to see about these three petitions.

• First, notice we are to ask God to provide "our" daily bread, to forgive "our" sins, to not lead "us" into temptation but to deliver "us" from the evil one. Jesus is commanding us to ask for these things not only for ourselves but also for other Christians. My praying is not to just be consumed with what I need but also with what my brothers and sisters in Christ need. These pronouns are the motivation for being a part of our prayer chain. These pronouns tell us to be asking each other regularly, "How can I pray for you?" These pronouns show us that you cannot be a Christian by yourself. You must belong to a praying community, that is, to the church. These pronouns tell us that we must have other Christians in our lives that we are telling our sins to and talking about our temptations with so that they can ask God on our behalf to forgive us and to deliver us from the evil that threatens to destroy us.
• To ask for our daily bread is to ask God, as D.A. Carson says, "to provide our needs, not our greeds." Martin Luther describes our daily bread this way, (It is) "everything required to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food and clothing, house and home, fields and flocks, money and property; a pious spouse and good children, trustworthy servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government; seasonable weather, peace and health, order and honor; true friends, faithful neighbors, and the like." God commands us to ask him for these things as a child asks a loving father to provide for her needs. This shows off God’s love and power.
• When Jesus commands us to ask that God would forgive our sins he is teaching us that Christians sin. Any time you hear someone say that true Christians don’t sin you can know they are lying. However, Christians don’t delight to sin. They know their sins offend God and so they quickly go to God to seek his forgiveness. Repentance and confession of sin is the daily work of the Christian. If you are not daily going to God with your sin you are not obeying Christ and obviously do not understand how offensive your sin is to God.
• This would be such a great prayer if it wasn’t for that little phrase Jesus stuck on the end of v. 12, "as we have also forgiven our debtors." Then to make us really uncomfortable he adds his little commentary in vv. 14-15. Why does Jesus want us, when we seek God’s forgiveness, to tell him that we have forgiven our debtors? First let me say that Jesus is not teaching that you earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. If you owe someone $10,000 and someone owes you $100 you are not going to be able to get out of your debt by forgiving the debt you are owed. I think there are 2 things that Jesus wants us to remember when we are seeking his forgiveness. First, we all know how angry it makes us when someone sins against us. When people do evil to us we immediately want justice. So Jesus wants us to reason like this. If it is so offensive to me when others sin against me how much greater must God be offended by my sin. If I, who am not perfectly just and holy, am so offended by the sins of others, how great must be God’s wrath against me. Reflecting on this causes me to mourn over my own sin in greater ways. Second, it is only those who have received and felt the greatness of God’s mercy who are able to extend mercy to others. When I am able to confidently tell God, who knows my heart, that I have forgiven my debtors, I am declaring the certainty I have that God has forgiven me. How can I hold a grudge against anyone else when God has forgiven such great sins in me? The absence of a vindictive, judgmental spirit in me assures me that God has indeed given me a new heart and washed away my sins.
• The final petition, to not be led into temptation but to be delivered from evil balances the previous petition for forgiveness. While Christians do sin and therefore must confess their sins, yet Christians don’t want to sin. In fact they are in a battle to overcome sin and know that the only hope they have of overcoming it is if God enables them to do so. I love how Martin Luther describes this final petition in his catechism:

True prayer displays the greatness of the living and true God by…

• Relating to God as our Father in heaven
• Delighting in and seeking His fame
• Depending on him for all things

© Copyright 2000 John Swanson.
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