TEACHING NOTES Introduction Last week Jesus taught us not to be hypocrites who do good deeds to be praised by others. Praying in public to impress others was part that teaching. This week, Jesus is going to teach us how to pray correctly. As we will see, this prayer has two directions of focus—the first half is focused on God, and the second half is focused on people. These two mirror what Jesus called “the greatest commandment”: (1) love God, (2) love people. (see slides above) Interesting Fact: A common literary device used all over the Bible is chiastic structure or chiasm. For example, in the Torah the book of Leviticus is the center of the five books and Lev. 16 (the Day of Atonement) is the center of Leviticus. Ancient authors organized their writings this way to help people memorize the story and to highlight the most important parts. Matthew organized Jesus’ teachings into five sections (just like the Torah). It’s as if Matthew wants to show us that Jesus’ teachings are the New Torah. Just as the Torah included blessings for obedience and woes for disobedience, Jesus’ teachings in Matthew’s Gospel begin with blessings and ends with woes. Matthew also organized the Sermon on the Mount in a chiastic structure. Notice that Matthew has highlighted the Lord’s Prayer as the center of the Sermon on the Mount. Recap: Here's how NOT to pray... ​ Matthew 6:5 ESV 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6:7–8 ESV 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. Now Jesus teaching how TO pray... ​ Matthew 6:9–10 ESV 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. Our Father in heaven = Notice that Jesus tells us to call God our Father. To the original audience, this was unique. By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Israel had long forgotten that God wanted to be their Father. Proof of this is found in Malachi 1:6, where God criticizes Israel for not honoring Him as their Father. In John’s Gospel, we learn that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because He called God His Father (John 5:18). This shows that no one was calling God “Father” until Jesus came. Hallowed by your name = The Greek word for “hallowed” here is hagiozo, which means holy or totally unique. We begin our prayers by honoring God as holy and that there is none like Him. In Revelation, when John sees into heaven, he hears what the heavenly hosts are singing to God. Rev. 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”” Your kingdom come, your will be done = This is about alignment. We pray that God’s kingdom will override all other kingdoms, even our own. We pray that God’s will/plans will override our own will and plans. Matthew has placed the kingdom at the center of all of Jesus’ teachings. Therefore, understanding the kingdom and living out the kingdom is the central focus of following Jesus. On earth as it is in heaven = In heaven, God’s will is perfectly carried out. Jesus teaches us to pray that God’s will be carried out on earth in the same way. This helps to remind us that God’s will in heaven should be connected to what is happening in our lives on earth. Prayer should begin with honor, reverence, and alignment with the Father. ​ Matthew 6:11–13 ESV 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. Give us this day our daily bread = In Greek this phrase literally reads, “Give us today our bread for today.” This is a request for God to give us what we need for today. In the first century, daily bread was not a figure of speech. Many people in Jesus’ audience were day laborers who worked for daily wages. Daily bread was a literal reality for most people in ancient Israel. God wants us to ask Him to meet our needs. Notice that Jesus does not tell us to ask God for our wants, but for our daily needs. We want God to give us an over-abundance, but Jesus teaches us to ask God to provide for our daily needs. A good example of this is found in Prov. 30:8-9 “8...give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors = The Greek word for “debts” here is opheiletes, which refers to an obligation to another. This is not about owing money but is used as a metaphor for sin or relationship trespasses. We are obligated to obey God and when we disobey we are indebted to make it right. The same goes for our relationships with others. Notice what Jesus is saying here. We are to pray that God will forgive us in the same way that we forgive others. Jesus will explain why at the end of the prayer. Think about the responsibility this prayer puts on us. We’re asking God to forgive us like we forgive others. This kind of prayer pushes us to forgive like we want to be forgiven. That’s Jesus’ point—how we forgive others is how God will forgive us. Lead us not into temptation = The Greek word for temptation here is peirasmos, which means a trial, test, or examination. This word is used in two ways: (1) being tested by difficult circumstances, (2) being tempted to sin. Context determines which meaning is implied. For example, in Matt. 4:1 Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness “to be tempted” by the devil. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to fast for 40 days (difficult circumstance) and He was tempted to sin by the devil. Matthew makes it clear that it was the devil, not God, who tempted Jesus to sin. Since James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” this kind of temptation is not about being tempted to do evil. If God doesn’t tempt us to sin, it wouldn’t make sense for Jesus to teach us to pray that He won’t. Therefore, this “temptation” must refer to being tested with difficult circumstances. Jesus says we should ask God not to test us with suffering. Deliver us from evil (or evil one) = In Greek there is a definite article, which means that Jesus is likely referring to the devil or possibly evil people in general. Jesus teaches us here that we are to pray for God’s protection and deliverance from the powers of evil. What happened to the last line? In the ESV and many other modern translations, you will notice that the final line of the traditional prayer is missing. There will usually be a footnote explaining why. The traditional line reads, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.” Modern translations put this line as a footnote, while older translations like the King James Version include it in the prayer. Older English translations (like the KJV) were based on later manuscripts. Newer English translations are based on older and better manuscripts that were not yet discovered when the KJV was first published. Some ancient manuscripts include this line, but some of the earliest manuscripts do not. Most likely, this line was included by early church scribes as a kind of quotation of David’s statement in 1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.” According to other early church documents (like the Didache), the line “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen” was always added to the end of the prayer in their worship gatherings. ​ Matthew 6:14–15 ESV 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Here, Jesus explains why He told us to pray, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” We cannot expect God to give us something that we refuse to give to others. God has every right to refuse forgiveness to sinners, yet He chooses to love and forgive. Because we are sinners, we have no right to refuse forgiveness to other sinners. To refuse forgiveness to others while asking for it for ourselves is being a hypocrite. Those who refuse to give forgiveness will not be forgiven. Prayer is WAR: Worship: address the Father as Holy Alignment: ask for His kingdom & will Request: ask for provision, forgiveness, guidance Conclusion Today, we are going to end our time together the same way that the early church ended their weekly gatherings—with communion and the Lord’s Prayer.