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Gospel of Matthew - Chapter 6 - Prayer

by Paul George  
4/02/2008 / Bible Studies

Matthew 6:5-14

"When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. In praying, don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. Therefore don't be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.
Pray like this: 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.' For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses'" (WEB).

Prayer is a very important thing. Prayer is a way of life for the disciple. If it is a way of life for us then we need to know to pray. In fact, the disciple's prayer here in Matthew 6 is the same prayer also recorded in Luke in response to the question, "Lord, teach us to pray," and so our Lord teaches us to pray.

Notice what Jesus doesn't teach us, He doesn't teach us about the posture of prayer because any posture will do, in the Bible people prayed standing, lifting up their hands, sitting, kneeling, lifting up their eyes, bowing down, placing their head between their knees, pounding on their breast, facing a temple, etc, etc. There was no specific posture. Notice He doesn't tell us anything about the place of prayer, people in the Bible prayed in battle, in a cave, in a closet, in a garden, on a mountainside, by a river, by the sea, in the street, in God's house. In the Bible people prayed in bed, in a home, in a fish, on a housetop, in a prison, by the sea, in solitude, in the wilderness, on a cross, and so forth. Notice, Jesus does not tell us about the times of prayer. In the Bible people prayed in the early morning, in the morning, three times a day, in the evening, before meals, after meals, at the ninth hour, at bedtime, at midnight, day and night. Jesus does not tell us a specific time, a specific place, a specific posture; He tells us to pray.

In the Bible people prayed in all kinds of circumstances and attitudes, sometimes wearing sackcloth, sometimes sitting in ashes, sometimes shaving their heads, smiting their breast, crying out, applying dust to their head, tearing their garments, fasting, sighing, groaning, crying loud, sweating blood, agonizing with broken hearts, broken spirits, pouring out their hearts, making an oath, offering a sacrifice, offering praise, singing songs, etc. In any posture, anytime, anywhere, under any circumstance and in any attire prayer is fitting. Because prayer is a total way of life, prayer is an open communion with God that goes on at all times. Sometimes it becomes more intense than other times, but prayer is a way of life. If prayer is a way of life then we need to understand how to pray and that is precisely what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:9-13.

Notice how Jesus begins this lesson on prayer, verse 8-9; "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then in this way."

The first thing Jesus told the disciples is they are not to pray as the Gentiles do (Matthew 6:7).

The second thing Jesus tells the disciples is in what way they are to pray, they are to first focus on the glory of God, because prayer is not trying to get God to agree with us, prayer is affirming the sovereignty and majesty of God. In John 14:13 and 14 Jesus said, "That when we ask anything in his name, he hears us, in order that the Father may be glorified." Prayer is not for us to get what we want; prayer is to reveal the majesty of God. It is that God may be glorified. Prayer is to give God the privilege of revealing His majesty. It is to bring our lives into harmony with His will. Prayer is all about setting God in His rightful place and then bringing our will into submission to His. Prayer is just bending and bowing submissively to the will of God.

The third thing Jesus tells us is the relationship between God and the disciples.

"Our Father, who art in heaven," is the invocation, prayer begins with a recognition that God is our Father. The key word is "our." The word "our" has reference to believing people, and so the negative fact of our Father is that it is a deathblow to the liberal teaching of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Liberals for years have taught the universal Fatherhood of God, God is everybody's Father, we are all the children of God and we are all brothers. There is only one sense in which that is true and that is in the sense of creation. We are only children of God universally insofar as God has created us. Malachi 2:10, "Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?" In a sense of creation, God is our Father, in a sense of relation, He is not. Jesus said in John 8:44 to the Jewish leaders, "You are of your father the devil." In First John chapter 3 John very clearly characterizes two families, the children of God and the children of the devil. The children of God do not continue to commit sin, the children of the devil do, and so he makes the clear distinction between the two families.

The Apostle Paul makes a clear distinction between children of light and children of darkness. There is not simply one family of mankind under one universal Fatherhood of God; there are two families in the world, the children of God and the children of the devil. Jesus makes that abundantly clear; there is no way around that. Peter says in Second Peter 1:4 that only those who believe "have been made partakers of the divine nature." Only those of us who have been born again have been born in to the family of God, "Only as many as received Him, have the right to be called the sons of God." John 1:12. There are two families. Therefore, the very statement of Jesus, "Our Father," eliminates a world of unbelieving people. There is a positive side to this, "Our Father," is an affirmation of an intimacy with God.
The Old Testament Jew, the saint of God in the Old Testament understood something of the Fatherhood of God. He understood that God was a Father. However, he understood it more in a national sense than they did in a personal sense. He understood it more in terms of God's overall care of the nation Israel than they ever understood the intimacy of a relationship with God as a personal Father. As time went on and you come to the time of Jesus they lost the Father concept of God, as they moved away from true religion, as they moved away from true worship and redefined their system to tolerate sinfulness they cut themselves off from God's Fatherly care, they even stopped using God's names, it became a blasphemous thing even to mention the name of God. They lost the sense of God's Fatherhood even in a national way. Therefore, when our Jesus used the term, "Our Father," it was a shocking thing to them. It awakened in them something lost long ago in the past and introduced a new kind of intimacy that they had never even understood.

In the Old Testament, the Jews realized that God was a Father in terms of His begetting. They saw the begetting of God as an act of a Father. Secondly, in the concept of Father the Jews saw the nearness of God; a father is one who is in a family relationship. A father is not like an uncle, a cousin, or a friend or a neighbor. Thirdly, the Jews concept of God as a Father is His loving grace; a father is forgiving, a father is tenderhearted, a father is merciful, a father is gracious to his children. Fourthly, the Jews of the Old Testament saw the Fatherhood of God in terms of His guidance. A father guides his children, he leads them, shows them the direction to go, gives them wisdom and instruction. Fifth, because God was their Father they were required to obey Him. Therefore, they understood Him as a Father. Perhaps in a more general way, but nonetheless they understood Him as a Father, begetting, loving; living along side, guiding, and training them in obedience and they knew they were responsible to obey.

When Jesus uses the term, "Our Father" He introduces something special, something intimate, not just in the word that He says, but in the way He brought God to men. Jesus made that intimacy possible.

When we go to God and say, Father, we are not talking to some supposed deity who is a father only in a sense of leadership or headship, we are talking to a beneficently loving, somebody personally involved in our lives. The Jew of Jesus' time saw God as a Father only in a remote, distance, faded past sense with little meaning. To all of that confusion Jesus simply utters without explanation two words, "Our Father," and in so doing opens new dimensions of meaning.

What does it mean that God is our Father? What does it mean that we can go to Him as Father, number one; it means the end of fear. Missionaries tell us that one of the greatest gifts that Christianity brings to heathen society is the certainty that God is a loving, caring Father because heathen people live under the fear of their gods. They believe in gods that are jealous, hostile, grudging and vengeance prone. When Jesus says, "0ur Father" it puts the end to fear, you do not have to fear God; He is your Father through Christ.

Secondly, God as a Father settles the matter of hope, in a hostile world. There are iron laws in this world and when you break those laws, you do it at your own peril. You sin and consequences come, and the wages of sin is death. No wonder people say that life is a bad joke; they have no hope, because they do not have a loving Father.

Thirdly, God as Father settles the matter of loneliness. If God is a Father then that is something lonely people need to know about. The heart knows loneliness, bitterness, the loss of self worth, unworthiness, self despair and we desperately need respect. Where are we going to get that? Is there anybody who knows us for what we are and loves us for that, is there anybody who can lift us up and give us value, is there anybody who can make us feel like we have a friend? God can, He is our Father.

Fourthly, God as Father settles the matter of obedience. There used to be a commitment to obey your father and I do not know if it is around anymore. It was so important that in the Old Testament God said if you find a disobedient child stone him, because I want the world to know that you are to obey your father, because that reveals how you are to respond to God your Father. The whole point of the Fatherhood of God comes down to the fact that we are to obey Him. Jesus obeyed the Father, He said, "I did not come to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." He said, "My meat is to do the Father's will."

Finally, God as Father settles the matter of wisdom. If God is a Father then He is infinitely wiser than we are.

What happens when you know God is your Father? First, it removes fear; second, it provides hope; third, it ends loneliness; fourth it demands obedience, and finally it declares wisdom. So to begin a prayer, "Our Father, which art in heaven," is to indicate an eagerness to come as a child to a loving Father, to receive all that His love can possibly give us.

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

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