Here’s my outline (message notes) from Sunday. Like the teaching on giving, this teaching focuses on prayer as a good thing we pursue for the benefit of a spiritually disciplined life.
Jesus Teaches About Prayer
Matthew 6:5-15
FAMILIAR GROUND
- What Jesus said about GIVING, he also says about PRAYER.
Matthew 6:1 (NCV) “Be careful! When you do good things, don’t do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
- The underlying assumption is that CHRIST FOLLOWERS are generous, praying people.
WHEN YOU PRAY
- Don’t pray as an ACTOR.
Matthew 6:5 (NCV) “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward.
- Do pray for an AUDIENCE of One.
Matthew 6:6 (NCV) When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.
- Don’t pray as an ORATOR.
Matthew 6:7 (NCV) “And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
- Do pray as a PARTICIPANT.
Matthew 6:9-13 (NCV) So when you pray, you should pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name always be kept holy. May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. Give us the food we need for each day. Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us. And do not cause us to be tempted, but save us from the Evil One.’
WHY YOU SHOULD PRAY THE LORD’S PRAYER
- A necessary request to be involved as an active participant in the REDEMPTIVE work of God.
- A necessary discipline to curb your will and conform your way of THINKING to the mind of God.
- A necessary reminder that God is the source of true GENEROSITY.
We pray the Lord’s prayer to shift the focus from what we want God to do for us (he already knows what we need) to what God needs to accomplish through us.
ONE MORE (VERY IMPORTANT) THING
- It doesn’t do you any good to ask for FORGIVENESS if you, yourself, are unwilling to FORGIVE.
Matthew 6:14-15 (NCV) Yes, if you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also forgive you for your sins. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.
Randy Wray
November 24th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
That’ll preach!
November 24th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Your last point is one that seems most difficult for many of us to really wrap our minds around. As my friend (yes, I do have friends!), Terry Rush, wrote in his excellent book on mercy, “We write our own script for judgment.” If we are forgiving, God is forgiving toward us.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
“A necessary discipline to curb your will and conform your way of THINKING to the mind of God.”
It seems to me that we independent-thinking-western-minded-rationalists struggle with this one as well.