Our Father
Today we’re starting a new 5 week teaching series called The Lord’s Prayer. We’re studying a time when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, so we can learn to pray like Jesus taught them to pray. It’s a great series that can help believers grow in prayer, but also help skeptics grow in understanding prayer. I know a lot of skeptics who trace their skepticism back to unanswered prayers. They trace their skepticism back to a time when they were suffering, they asked God for help, but God didn’t answer their prayers the way they wanted, so they became skeptical of God. This is a series that can help us grow in understanding prayer, and why God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want. It’s a series that can help both skeptics and believers learn more about who God is, and how God wants us to pray. But first Jesus will teach us how not to pray, before he teaches us how to pray. In today’s text he’ll teach us how not to pray, and then he’ll teach us to pray to God with affection and adoration. Let’s turn to Matthew 6 and get into it. If you open your Bible to the middle and keep turning right, you’ll find Matthew. We’ll be in Matthew 6:5-9, and the title of the message is Our Father. The big idea of the message is: Jesus teaches us to pray to God with relational affection and exalted adoration...Jesus teaches us to pray to God with relational affection and exalted adoration...
Here’s your context. The Lord’s Prayer is recorded in two different books of the bible. It’s recorded in both Matthew and Luke’s gospels. The reason we’re studying Matthew’s record is because he gives us more details than Luke. But what’s interesting is Luke’s record says Jesus is teaching this prayer because somebody asked him how to pray. Luke 11:1 states, “Now Jesus was praying, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’” The implication here is that prayer is something we need to learn. If we need to be taught to pray, then the implication is that prayer is something we need to learn. It’s something we need to grow in. So don’t beat yourself up if you struggle with prayer, because even the original disciples struggled with prayer, and asked Jesus to help them grow in prayer. We all struggle, we all have room to grow in prayer, and Jesus is about to teach us 4 things to help us grow in prayer. Let’s check it out.
Matthew 6:5-9 states, “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Jesus starts things off by teaching us how not to pray. He says don’t pray like the hypocrites. The word hypocrites originally referred to Greek actors who wore different masks to play different roles, but here it’s referring to corrupt religious leaders who wore different masks. They would look and sound holy with their public prayers, but they were really seeking the praise of people, not the presence of God. Jesus said they were praying to be seen by others, and he says don’t pray like that. Don’t pray like the hypocrites. Jesus isn’t against us praying in public, he’s against us praying to be seen or receive praise from others. It’s people who try to impress people with their prayers, so they’ll be viewed as super spiritual. They try to impress people using fancy words, like they’re paying in the King James version...Or they try to impress people using many words, dragging their prayers out so long, that everybody else starts praying for them to stop praying... They’re the ones you don’t ask to pray for the food, because they’ll keep praying until the food’s cold...Jesus is saying some people pray in public with fancy words and many words, because they want to be seen by others as super spiritual. So the 1st thing Jesus is teaching about prayer is...
#1 Seek the presence of God, not the praise of people. – When you pray, seek the presence of God, not the praise of people. This is really about checking the motivation of your heart when you pray. Jesus says don’t pray like the hypocrites, because they’re praying with the wrong motivation. They aren’t praying to seek the presence of God, they’re praying to seek the praise of people. Jesus said they’ve already received their reward, because they already received the recognition they were seeking from others. But they won’t receive any recognition from God, because their prayers weren’t really seeking God. Jesus says if you pray in a private room, if you pray in secret, your prayers will be more motivated by the presence of God, not the praise of people. We can still pray in public like I said before, but private prayers can be more private, personal, motivated by the presence of God, not the praise of people. Jesus is teaching us that God checks the motivation of your heart, not the word count of your prayers. He cares more about the motivation of your heart in your prayers, than the eloquence and length of your prayers. We often worry too much about the eloquence and length of our prayers, but God cares way more about our hearts when we pray. When we pray, we need to seek the presence of God, not the praise of people.
Vs. 7, “When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.” Notice Jesus says don’t babble, thinking you’ll be heard with your many words. The ESV translation says don’t use empty phrases, don’t use meaningless phrases when you pray. So Jesus teaches 1st seek the presence of God, not the praise of people, and now he’s teaching us...
#2 Seek a meaningful relationship, not a meaningless ritual. – When you pray, seek a meaningful relationship, not a meaningless ritual. Jesus says we shouldn’t babble or use empty phrases like the pagan Gentiles. They thought God would hear and answer their prayers if they ritually repeated certain words. They treated prayer as a ritual, not a relationship. But Jesus says don’t treat prayer like that, because prayer is about a meaningful relationship, not a meaningless ritual. This is one of the reasons we still pray even though the Father already knows what we need before we ask him. It’s because prayer isn’t ritual, it’s relational. It’s a chance to converse with God and grow deeper in our relationship with God. It’s a chance to allow his heart to transform our hearts as we pray. I know many people wrestle with vs. 8 thinking if God already knows what we need, then what’s the point of praying? The reason we still pray is to display our faith, our trust, our reliance on God. But most importantly, it displays our loving relationship with God. When we pray we’re essentially saying, “God I trust you, I want to rely on you, which is why I’m coming to you. It’s because I know I have a loving relationship with you.” One of the primary reasons we pray is to display our loving relationship with God. I’ll give you a quick example of this.
In the early stages of starting City Awakening, we moved back to Orlando and had a hard time finding a house. But thankfully someone in our church allowed us to stay in their little two-bedroom cottage until we found a home. One of the rooms wasn’t accessible, so it was really a one-bedroom cottage. We literally had our bed, and our kids sleeping in three tents around our bed. When they got in trouble we’d tell them, “Go to your tents!” since they didn’t have rooms, and they’d start kicking each other through their tents. Well outside the cottage there was a big tree fort with stairs, but the stairs were dangerous because my kids were little and could easily fall through the railings. So I decided to build little posts along the railings so they couldn’t fall through, and as I was building my kids asked, “Hey dad, can we help?” Now I knew what I was building, I knew how to build it, and I knew I could build it without their help. But I said yes, because I wanted them to come with me on the journey, and to enjoy the final work we did together. I said yes, because it was about us growing in our relationship with each other. City Awakening God is building his kingdom, he knows how to build it, and he’s perfectly capable of building it without us. But he invites us to build his kingdom, to come with him on the journey, so we can enjoy the final work we do together. He wants us to grow in our relationship with him. So even though he knows what we need before we ask him, we still ask because it’s about growing in our relationship with him. Jesus is teaching us when we pray, we need to pray seeking a meaningful relationship, not a meaningless ritual. In fact in vs. 9 Jesus starts The Lord’s Prayer very relational and conversational. He starts it like we’re having a loving conversation with our Father.
Vs. 9, “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven...” That’s relational... Jesus says we can call God Our Father, which is very relational...So Jesus teaches that when you pray, 1st seek the presence of God, 2nd seek a meaningful relationship, and now he’s teaching us...
#3 Seek God as a personal Father. – When you pray, you can seek God as a personal Father. Jesus says we can call him Our Father. He isn’t saying we have to call God Father every time we pray, because the Bible has several names for God and reasons for each of those names. The reason Jesus says we can call God Father, is so we’ll realize God is very personal and relational. He’s so personal and relational that we can call him Our Father. City Awakening this is huge, because it’s the first place in the entire bible where God gives us a personal invitation to call him Father. At this point in world history, people didn’t commonly refer to their gods in a personal way, because they viewed their gods as too holy to be personally and relationally involved in their lives like a Father. So this is a tremendous shift in religious world history, and Jesus is the one who makes that shift. If you didn’t have a good father on earth, Jesus is saying you can always turn to the greater Father in heaven. If you’ve ever wondered if God is loving and approachable, Jesus is saying he’s so loving and approachable that you can call him Father. What an incredible invitation he’s giving us to pray and approach God as our Father. Knowing this should cause us to want to have deeply personal conversations with the Father, instead of shallow transactional conversations with the Father. It should cause us to pray like we’re talking to a loving parent, instead of like we’re going to an ATM only seeking to make some withdrawals. Jesus is saying we’re invited to converse with God as our loving Father about everything. We’re invited to pray personally and relationally, but also reverently, which he mentions next.
Again vs. 9, “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Jesus says hallowed be your name. The CSB translation says your name be honored as holy. It’s the 4th and last thing Jesus teaches us about prayer. He’ll teach us more things over the next few weeks as we study the rest of the Lord’s Prayer. But for now, the 4th and last thing is...
#4 Seek to exalt the Father over your requests. – When you pray, seek to exalt the Father over your requests. Jesus says hallowed be your name, and the word hallowed means holy or reverent. Jesus is teaching us to begin our prayers with personal and relational affection saying Our Father, but also with exalted adoration saying hallowed be your name. But many of us skip this when we pray, and we jump right into our requests. We skip over affection and adoration, and jump right into transaction. When we do this we’re exalting our requests over the Father, instead of exalting the Father over our requests. There are certainly times when you need to jump right into requests, we shouldn’t make it our consistent pattern of prayer. In a book called “Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools,” author Tyler Staton states, “This hallowing business isn’t for God’s benefit; it’s for my own benefit, and yours...When you and I open our mouths and begin to pray, almost certainly, another name is being hallowed in our hearts. The names of accomplishment, success, productivity, approval from another person, comfort, easy execution of our own plans, self-will in all its destructive varieties...So we must begin by inviting God to reorder our affections. Adoration isn’t always the overflow of our hearts. In fact, it rarely is. It’s an act of rebellion against the empty promises of this world, and an act of defiance in the face of circumstance.” What he’s saying is there’s always something we’re hallowing in our hearts, we’re exalting in our hearts more than the Father. But when we start our prayers out hallowing, exalting, giving affection and adoration to the Father, it’s a reminder to recenter our hearts on the Father. It’s a reminder that he’s far greater than any requests we’re asking for. We’re saying, “Father, I’d love to get this job, get into this college, get healed from this suffering. But if you don’t give me what I want, I’ll still hallow and exalt your name, because my relationship with you is greater than my requests.”
Now we’ll start struggling with prayer whenever we make our requests primary and our relationship with the Father secondary. It’s because our prayers will become more transactional than relational. They’ll feel more like a duty than a delight. I’ve been reading a lot of books on prayer, and all the authors admit to having similar struggles. But they all said eventually there was a shift in their hearts to where their prayer life became more of a delight than a duty. They all said the delight comes when your prayers become more conversational than transactional. The delight comes when you delight more in the Father than in the things you’re hoping to get from the Father. The reason so many of us don’t delight in prayer, is because we don’t find enough delight in our relationship with the Father. It’s because we have a hallowed problem, and we’re exalting our requests over our relationship with the Father...But Jesus is teaching us to exalt the Father over our requests. He’s teaching us to focus on our relationship with the Father, before we start asking for requests from the Father. Spend some time doing that this week. Create a 5-minute daily habit of private prayer, sit in a private place free from distractions, and pray to the Father. Train your heart to have a conversation with the Father, before making your requests to the Father. Train your heart to express in your own words, some form of “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
The big idea of the message is Jesus teaches us to pray to God with relational affection and exalted adoration...Jesus teaches us to pray to God with relational affection (Our Father), and exalted adoration (Hallowed be your name)...The reality is we shouldn’t get to call God Father, because he’s so hallowed, so holy compared to us. But the good news of the gospel is Jesus died on the cross for our sins so we can enjoy an eternal relationship with the Father. He died on the cross for our sins so we could call God Our Father. Jesus didn’t tell us to pray, My Father; he told us to pray, Our Father, because he wants us to know we can have a personal relationship with God through faith in him. He wants us to know we can always spend time with the Father, converse with the Father, seek guidance from the Father. You don’t have to worry about using fancy words or a word count. You can talk to him freely and relationally, calling him Our Father...Let’s pray...