TEACHING NOTES Introduction Today we’re ending our series about praying biblical prayers. In this series we have studied several prayers recorded in the Bible so we can learn how to pray. Now we’re going to learn directly from Jesus how we should and should not pray from Matthew 6:5-15, which we call the Lord’s prayer. ‌ Matthew 6:5–6 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. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ‌ When you pray = Notice that Jesus does not say, “If you pray” but “When you pray…” Jesus will use this phrase three times in this passage. This indicates that prayer is a regular part of following Jesus. ‌ Don’t be like the hypocrites = Jesus is referring to the Jewish leaders here. They loved to “stand and pray in the synagogues and street corners, that they may be seen by others.” Being seen by others is a major theme of this chapter (Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”). If we do anything to be seen by others, being seen by others is the only reward we will get. ‌ Pray to your Father who is in secret = Prayer is between us and our Father in heaven. Our Father is unseen, so there is no need to be seen praying by others. This also implies the element of personal relationship in prayer. ‌ Matthew 6:7–8 7 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the pagans 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. ‌ Empty phrases as the pagans do = The Greek word for “pagans” here is ethnikoi, which is literally “the Gentiles” who were religiously pagans. Pagan worship often included repeating phrases loudly. Pagan believed they needed to repeat loud phrases to get their gods to hear them. The idea was if we are loud enough and say the same thing enough times, the gods will hear us and give us what we want so we will be quiet. ‌ Your Father knows what you need = Contrary to pagan prayer, our God already knows what we need before we even ask. Pagan gods did not know the future and were able to be manipulated. Our God knows everything and cannot be manipulated nor bent to our will. ‌ Matthew 6:9–10 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. ‌ Pray like this = Jesus is telling us exactly how to pray. ‌ Our Father = 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 hagiazo, 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. In God’s kingdom, He is the King and He rules. To ask for God’s kingdom to come, is to ask for God to rule our world. ‌ On earth as it is in heaven = God’s throne and glory is in heaven. Therefore, in heaven God’s will is done absolutely. This prayer is asking that the will of our Father would be done absolutely on earth as well. This part of the prayer is about alignment. We are not praying for God to get in line with our will. We are praying that we will get in line with God’s will. ‌ Matthew 6:11–12 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‌ 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. This is important for American Christians who often pray for, and expect God to give, more than we need. ‌ Forgive us our debts = The Greek word for “debts” here is opheilemata, which can refer to debt or obligation, but is used here as a metaphor for sins. When we sin, we are obligating ourselves to repent and make it right. Jesus is teaching us to ask God to forgive us, which logically reminds us to confess and repent. ‌ As we have forgiven our debtors = This should be the most difficult line to pray for any honest person. Jesus says that we should ask God to forgive us “as” or “in the same way” that we forgive others. Why? Because this forces us to acknowledge any unforgiveness or bitterness we may have. It’s hard to ask God to forgive us when we know we have not been forgiving. ‌ Matthew 6:14–15 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. ‌ Matthew 6:13 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.]” ‌ Lead us not into temptation = 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.” If God doesn’t tempt us, why would need to ask God not to lead us into temptation? It’s true that God does not tempt us with evil, but that does not mean that He will never lead to a place where the evil one can tempt us. Matt. 4:1 tells us that after Jesus was baptized, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” In the Bible, anytime God chooses to use a person greatly, they are always tested first. Jesus was not tempted by God, but was led into a test with the devil. We pray to avoid the testing, but the next phrase tells us that sometimes we will need to be delivered. ‌ Deliver us from evil = Grk. rhyomai ego apa ho poneros - Literally, “rescue us from the evil one.” In the context of Matthew 4-5, Jesus was tempted by the evil one in the chapter before the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus resisted the devil by quoting the Torah. Don’t miss the connection—Jesus’ beat the devil by meditating on the Torah of Yahweh day and night (Ps. 1:2). ‌ There will be many times of temptation and testing in this life. Many times we are too weak to fight temptation and simply need to be delivered. So we must “submit to God and resist the devil” (James 4:7) and pray for God to save us or show us the way out of temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). ‌ Yours is the kingdom, power, glory forever = Just as this prayer began with the holiness of the Father and asking for His kingdom to come, the prayer also ends with God’s kingdom. This last line is a reminder for us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). ‌ Why is the last line in brackets? 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. ‌ What the Lord’s Prayer teaches us: ‌- God wants to be a Father like no other. - ‌God’s kingdom/will must be our priority. - ‌God wants to provide for His children. ‌- God forgives those who forgive others. - ‌God wants to lead us out of temptation. - ‌God’s kingdom cannot be shaken. ‌ Hebrews 12:28–29 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. ‌ How to Respond ‌Prayer: Ask God to reveal what needs to change. Repentance: Agree with God and repent of sin. Worship: Thank God for what He is doing in you. Communion: Take Christ in and renew faithfulness.