THE MODEL PRAYER (Part 2) - Matthew 6:11-15

The first three petitions of the Model Prayer focused on God’s name, kingdom and will. But they are requests that God bring his people to hallow his name, submit to his reign, and do his will.

The remaining petitions request things for ourselves. 

This tells us it is acceptable to pray for ourselves and our needs. It should not  be the only thing we pray about, but God does want us to pray for our needs. Paul wrote: “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”. (Philippians 4:6)

First, Jesus says we should pray that God give us our daily bread. Bread stands for all food. It might even stand for all our needs. It does not stand for give us everything we desire.

In Jesus’ time, many worked as day laborers. They got paid at the end of the day. They could use that money to buy food for the next day. If they did not work, they did not get paid. If they did not get paid, they did not eat. 

That is why the Old Covenant law condemned the withholding of daily wages. Leviticus 19:13 says “The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning”. Some in Jesus’ day did it anyway. James condemned the practice, saying “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept  back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of tiger harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts”. (James 5:4)

You may not have been a day laborer, but you may have had times when you did not have enough money to feed your family or pay your rent. You might live “paycheck to paycheck”. 

This petition is for God to provide for those basic needs. It is not an excuse to not work. In fact, God may answer this prayer by providing work for you. 

But the emphasis is on daily needs, not long term needs. It is about dependance on God and not worrying about tomorrow. And it is about trusting God to provide for tomorrow. 

We have an example of this in the book of Exodus. The Israelites ran out of food in the wilderness. God rained manna from heaven on them. God rained manna from heaven on them day by day.

He did this for 40 years! 

They were only to gather enough for one day, except on the day before the Sabbath. (Exodus 16) God was teaching them to depend and rely on him day by day. 

Jesus will say more about this later in this chapter.

Paul picked up this theme when he wrote “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:19)

We not only need food for a good life, we need forgiveness of sins. Jesus tells us to pray for that. (12) The word debt here is a synonym for sin. Luke uses the word sin in his version of the prayer. (Luke 11:4)

Jesus is telling us to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. We know that, when we do this, God forgives us. (1 John 1:9) Since sin separates us from our fellowship with God, we need daily forgiveness to stay in perfect communion with him. This is not about salvation, which is secure. It is about relationship. 

There is a picture of this in John 13:10. Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples. Peter wanted Jesus to wash his hands and head also to signify he was fully united with Jesus. But Jesus said: “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean”. 

Since God forgives our sins, we also forgive those who sin against us.

Once we have seen the gravity of our offenses against God, the sins of others against us seem trivial and easily forgiven. 

Verses 14 and 15 take this command even further. If we forgive others, God forgives us. If we do not forgive others, he will not forgive us. 

Jesus made this point later in Matthew 18:23-25.

In that story, a servant owed his king a very large debt. The king intended to sell him to obtain the payment. The servant begged for mercy and the king granted mercy to him. Then, the servant accosted a man who owed him a small sum. The man begged for mercy, but the servant did not grant it. He put him into debtor’s prison. When the king heard of this, he said “should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?” Then he put the servant into debtor’s prison. 

The point of the prayer then is that we are forgiven when we truly repent. Repentance is evidenced by having a forgiving spirit toward others.  

Finally, we are to ask God not to lead us into temptation (or testing) but to deliver us from evil. (13) This is a prayer for protection. Certainly, we want to avoid temptation when we can and resist it when we cannot avoid it. God can empower us to do this when we ask him.

We also want to be delivered from evil, or the evil one, when he attacks us. Some people believe they can rebuke Satan. I do not believe the Bible tells us that. Jude 1:9 says even the arch angel Michael did not do it, but rather said “the Lord rebuke you”. I have asked the Lord to rebuke Satan in certain situations and he has done it. 

We are to resist the devil, however. James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

So this prayer is a model for you. You can use it to structure your prayers. And you can pray these words. Whatever you do, communicate with your Heavenly Father who loves, cares, and provides for you. 

THE MODEL PRAYER (Part 1) - MATTHEW 6:9-10

The Model Prayer

6:9-15

Instead of praying like the pagans with vain repetitions (empty phrases v.7; “babble repetitiously” NET), Jesus tells us how to pray simply and directly. Prayer is not seeing how many phrases we can string together. It is about meaningful communication with God. 

Jesus does not want us to speak words without our minds being engaged. That is the problem with reciting prayers someone else has written. You certainly can pray with those, as long as you are actually praying, communing with God. But, just reciting the words without engaging your mind to communicate with God is heaping up empty phrases. 

The Lord’s Prayer is rightly understood to be the most important prayer for Christians, but it’s more than that. J. I. Packer cites Tertullian, who called it a “summary of the gospel,” and Thomas Watson, who called it a “body of divinity.” Packer himself said the Lord’s Prayer is “a key to the whole business of living,” adding, “What it means to be a Christian is nowhere clearer than here.”

Notice Jesus did not say this is “what” to pray, but how to pray. (9) So, he evidently did not intend for this prayer to be liturgical. However, it is often employed that way. It often becomes a kind of chant.

Jesus said prayer was addressed to the Father, our Father in heaven. The Jews addressed God in prayer, but Jesus referred to God as “Father” and is the first to do so. Now tells us to do the same. 

This tells us that God is personal. He is not the impersonal power or spirit of the universe. And he is in heaven. He is the sovereign who rules over the universe. 

He relates to us as a “father”, establishing the relationship between him and Jesus’ disciples, who are his children. 1 John 3:2 says “Beloved, we are God’s children now”. 

He is also a loving father who wants to provide for his children. God is love. He loved us before we loved him. (1 John 4:16-19)

So we address our prayers to the sovereign ruler of the universe who cares for us as a loving father cares for his children. Addressing him as our Father in Heaven reminds us of who he is, giving us the right state of mind to pray. 

To do so reflects the great blessing believers have of being brought in to the family of God as his child. This makes us brothers and sisters of Jesus and fellow heirs with him.

However, this address also recognizes that each believer has an intimate relationship with God and speaks to him out of that relationship. 

As God’s children, we want God to be praised and recognized as holy. His name should be revered, especially among his children. God is holy. Therefore, his name is holy. And so we pray “hallowed be your name”. (9) "Hallowed" translates the Greek word hagiazō, meaning to treat as holy, sanctify, revere, or honor. We pray that God would make his name holy on this earth. 

We should cringe when we hear God’s name taken in vain. It violates the second commandment. (Exodus 20:7) And it it derogatory of the name of the one who made us, loves us, saves us, and provides for us. The Lord will not hold one guiltless who uses his name in vain. (Exodus 20:7) So we care about the holiness of God’s name and we are concerned about the consequences for those who defame his name in anyway. 

The second petition in the prayer is related to the first. We pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. (10)

God is already the sovereign king of the universe. But he began a special work of building the kingdom on earth through Jesus Christ his son. Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of Mark are: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel”. (Mark 1:15) So we know that the kingdom has been inaugurated by the coming of Christ. Or we might say it has broken in. It will be consummated when Christ returns. 

Therefore, when we pray “your kingdom come”, we are praying that God’s kingdom will be extended as he saves people. At the same time we are praying that the consummation of the kingdom will arrive. 

As God’s kingdom expands on earth, his will is done on earth as in heaven. But we also pray that God’s will be done now in the sense that our world will observe and obey God’s standards. 

RELIGION FOR SHOW - NO! - MATTHEW 6:1-14

Hypocrisy

6:1

After giving us 6 “you have heard” instructions, Jesus now gives us three things not to do. They all relate to doing things for show as opposed to doing them for God. It is a warning against religious hypocrisy. 

This should not surprise us since the Lord said: “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart”. 1 Samuel 16:7

The first teaching is general: do not do your righteous acts to be seen by people and to be acclaimed by them. If, instead, you do them to be seen, your Heavenly Father will not reward you for them. 

There were three things the Jews did to show their piety: giving to the needy, praying, and fasting. Jesus addressed all three of these.

Giving for Recognition

6:2-4

Next, Jesus gives a concrete example of hypocrisy. The picture Jesus gives for an illustration is a person, probably a Pharisee, having someone blow a trumpet to get everyone’s attention so they will notice his large gift and praise him for it. 

We do not have any historical writings documenting this practice. It is just hyperbole, to remind people of the grand gestures people with money do at times to draw attention to their giving. Hyperbole is extreme, intentional exaggeration for emphasis, humor, or dramatic effect. 

The common folks likely thought of Pharisees’ love for recognition and found the image funny. John wrote: “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God”. (John 12:43)

Today, we still have ways of being seen. Announcements appear in bulletins and magazines. Or, we name buildings after people. We build statues or design stained glass windows with their picture in them. 

Nonetheless, if you give to get attention for yourself, and you get that attention, you have received the only reward you will get. However, if you give privately he will reward you. 

Our aim should be to please our Father and to give mercy to others. 

Praying

6:5-8

Similarly, Jesus tells us not to pray for show. That makes you a hypocrite. Jesus said some stand in public places to say their prayers. They do this to be seen, not to lead others into prayer.

An example of this is the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. The Pharisee stood apart from others and prayed a prayer that was basically a brag. 

Instead, you should go to a private place and pray in secret. Then it is just between you and God. And he will reward you for it.

This does not mean you cannot pray in public, in front of people, but it does mean you should not do it for personal recognition or aggrandizement.  

The next instruction is do not pray by stringing together a bunch of empty phrases you have heard from someone else, trying to sound eloquent. Evidently, some pagans did this thinking a large collection of words would  make their god hear them. 

We have an example of this in 1 Kings 18. Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal. They shouted, cried aloud, and cut themselves for hours, but Baal did not answer. 

Elijah, on the other hand, prayed a simple prayer and the Lord answered dramatically, sending fire from heaven to burn up the sacrifice. 

Christians do not need to do this because their Heavenly Father actually knows already what they need. We ask because God tells us to, because we want to communicate with him, and because expressing our needs in faith builds trust in God. 

Fasting

5:16-18

The third area Jesus addresses is fasting. When we fast, we are not to make ourselves look like suffering saints so everyone will know we are fasting. 

We do not know exactly what the Pharisees did to look gloomy (ESV, NASB) or somber (NIV). Our equivalent, however, would be to look like we were sick or grieving intensely. When we are sick, women might not put on makeup and men might not shave. Our hair might be messy. 

Jesus said don’t do that. Instead, get dressed and groomed like you always do. Keep your fasting between you and God. Then he will reward you for it. 

We see from these three topics that Jesus made a contrast between the piety of the Pharisees and that of Christians. The Pharisees wanted to be seen and praised for their acts. Christians do these things private and are blessed for it by our heavenly Father. 

TOTAL LOVE - MATTHEW 5:38-42

 Total Love

5:38-42

That being said, we now come to a difficult part of the sermon. Some call it the high point of the sermon. It is certainly counter cultural. 

The first point of this section regards retaliation or revenge. Jesus said you have heard “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. People still quote that today to say I am going to get revenge for what you did to me or mine.

The quote comes from the Old Testament. It is stated in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. Let’s look at the Exodus passage. 

Exodus 21:1 through 23:33 contains civil laws. You might remember that the Old Testament law is traditionally categorized into three divisions: Moral (eternal ethical principles like the Ten Commandments), Ceremonial (temple rituals, sacrifices, and dietary restrictions), and Civil (governmental and judicial rules specifically for the ancient nation of Israel).

Exodus 21 contains many penalties for wrong doing. Verse 20 says, when men fight and hit a pregnant woman and cause the baby to be born, there are penalties. If the baby is injured, the one who struck the mother is penalized with the sam harm suffered by the baby, eye for eye etc. The Leviticus passage applies the same concept to injuring any person.

So these are prescribed penalties for assaultive offenses. But they are limitations as well. God limited the punishment to fit the offense. For example, you cannot kill a person who hits you and gives you a black eye. 

And we see that these are not set out as personal revenge, but for legal proceedings. But the Rabbis in Israel extended it to allow personal revenge. This might remind you of the American western movies. You would see that, if a person was hurt, the relatives would come riding into town and shoot or hang the offender. 

The Deuteronomy passage applies the concept to a false witness in a judicial proceeding. 

The Rabbis seemed to overlook Leviticus 19:18, which specifically prohibited taking vengeance (personal revenge) against a fellow Israelite. 

Jesus taught that the punishment provisions did not apply to personal relationships, only to the justice system. Instead, personal relationships are to be based on love. Leviticus 19:18 says “love your neighbor as yourself”. 

Here is the difficult part: our duty to of love even requires us to forego retaliation and accept injustice done to us. Jesus said “do not resist one who is evil”. (38) 

Jesus then gives four examples.

First, if someone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek, make it available for slapping. This refers to a backhand slip mean as an insult. You do not slap him back and escalate the conflict. 

Second, if someone sues you to take your tunic, let them have your tunic and cloak. 

Third, if forced to go a mile, go two miles. This likely referred to a Roman soldier requiring a person to help carrying their equipment. 

Fourth, give to beggars and borrowers. (42) 

All of the examples are about people imposing themselves and their needs or desires on you. But Jesus does not tell us to resist the impositions, rather, he teaches us to react to them in love. In love, we forgo revenge and retaliation, and in love we give people what they need. 

 We do not fully discover who this God is until we see Him in the person of Jesus, who bore our sin and suffering in His body. (Peter 2:24)

Who is this god I serve? He is the God who experiences the full range of human suffering in the person of Jesus. He is the incarnate God - the One who weeps at the tomb of death, only to seek life into His dead friend. (John 11:35-44) He is the God who bore the burden of our pain in his own person. (Isaiah 53:4) He is the God who knows your hurt, your suffering, and your pain. He is gentle and lowly calling all sinners and sufferers to find rest in Him. (Matthew 11:28) 

Dr. Michael Cooper