Prayer has been called the most vital part of the Christian life. Yet, it is arguably the most difficult as well. We all know that we should do it, that communion with God should be our greatest joy and longing, but most of us are still mere novices at it. We struggle through our prayers, often not knowing what to do or say, wondering if we are doing it “right.” Sometimes we wonder if the words we pray even make it to the ears of our Lord.

With this in mind and with an eye towards alleviating this problem, we will examine the Lord’s Prayer as found in Matthew. Of course, the name “Lord’s Prayer” is not quite applicable to our text, for it is most certainly not a prayer of Jesus. Rather, it is his prayer for us.

Before we begin with the text itself, I want to point out a couple of things regarding the context in which Jesus teaches this prayer. In the verses immediately preceding the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches His disciples not to pray “like the hypocrites.” “Do not pray,” he says to them, “so that men may hear you; pray in order that God Himself might hear you. And when you do pray to God Himself, do not pollute your prayers with empty words, for your Father in heaven knows already what you need.”

In prayer, our audience is God Himself, the Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of all that is or ever will be. He does not want words from the mouth, but the desires, longings, and sighs of the heart and soul. Prayer not birthed in the soul and that does not pass through the heart is no prayer at all. At most, it is an empty thought. If you think that by simply saying this prayer, or any other one for that matter, that you have prayed, then you are sadly mistaken. Your lips can proclaim this prayer a million times over and again, but without the heart being moved to pray it you will have never prayed once. With that attitude about prayer in mind, let us move, then, to the prayer itself.

The Lord’s Prayer may be divided into seven sections: the introduction and the six petitions. We will examine the introduction and the first three petitions this morning and proceed next week to examine the final three.

Preface

The Lord’s model prayer for us begins with “Our Father in heaven.” A word that is quickly read over and forgotten, but which is very important to the prayer as a whole and to the prayer life of the Christian, is “our.” When I pray, I pray to our Father, not my Father. Certainly, God is Father to each individual Christian, but we are to pray to Him as the Father of us all. The insipid individualism of our day is tearing away at the coherency and unity of the Church. We construe our religion as “one man’s journey” and people often speak of “my journey of faith.” While it is not bad to think of one’s own spiritual life, most often that is done to the great exclusion of the community of believers. What about our journey of faith?

The New Testament as a whole and this prayer in particular teach us something very different than what modern culture preaches. What happens to a part of the community of believers, happens to the whole of the community. When Peter denied his Lord three times, Jesus’ instructions to him were that “once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32; emphasis added). The failings of one man and the grace shown to him in repentance are not for him alone: they are for the whole community, so that they too might be shown grace in their own lives. Paul exhorts the Romans to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). The joy of one is the joy of all; the pain of one is the pain of all. One of Paul’s main points in 1 Corinthians is that all Christians belong to the one body of Christ. Jesus’ prayer in John 17:20-21 even seems to indicate that our unity and fellowship with one another plays a significant role in the Church’s overall mission, which is to preach Christ to the nations.

The unity of the Church finds one of its most profound expressions in the opening line of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus has just taught His disciples about praying “in secret” (i.e., alone), yet when He gives them the model by which they are to pray, He tells them to pray to “Our Father.” Even in our most private moments of prayer, when we are our most alone with our God, we must never detach ourselves from the community of believers. Even when we are utterly alone, we are to pray “Our Father.”

Devote yourselves, therefore, to the building up of this body of believers. Get to know them. Pray for them. Cry with them. Laugh with them. Share in their struggles and pains, joys and triumphs. For we all are children of the same God, we all call Him “Our Father.” View and pray to God not as your individual deity, but as the Savior and Father of all your brothers and sisters.

The ramifications of calling God Father are scarcely felt today as they were when Jesus first instructed His disciples to do so. Most Jews of Jesus’ day would have had little problem attributing to God such things as sovereignty, glory, and grace, but rarely was He referred to as Father. Thus, Jesus’ first disciples would have understood the great privilege that was being bestowed upon them in their being allowed to call upon the sovereign, glorious, and gracious Lord as Father. Such closeness and intimacy was virtually unheard of to Jews of Jesus’ day.

It has been said that the word “Father” here is related to the “Abba, Father” of Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; and Galatians 4:6. That is probably the case, for Jesus was known to call upon God in that manner. It has also been taught that “Abba” was simply a Jewish child’s way of saying “daddy.” While “Abba” is what Jewish children called their fathers, the word does not quite have the connotation of “daddy.” Most likely, the nuance of the word lies someplace between the child-like “daddy” and the formal “Father.” The reason I bring this up is because often people will use that as an excuse to be flippant before the Lord. They have absolutely no sense of the greatness of God. To call God Father indicates and promotes intimacy with the Lord; it is not a license for frivolity.

There is a wonderful balance in the opening of the Lord’s Prayer. On the one hand, we have the privilege of unbelievable closeness with God, calling upon Him as dear children. We beseech Him as if to say, “Lord, listen to my prayer, for you have received me as a son, as your child.” On the other hand, the one upon whom we call is “in heaven.” He is close, but He is ever so far away.

By saying that God is in heaven, Jesus teaches us two important aspects of the Christian life and the God we adore. First, He is not to be approached lightly. He is “in the heavens; He does all that He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). He is the Fear of Isaac (Genesis 31:42). The Psalmist describes Him, saying, “You are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent” (Psalm 104: 1-2). Isaiah says of Him in his famous vision, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” (Isaiah 6:1-3).

It is to this God that we come in prayer. It is his name upon which we call. It is this glorious, Almighty Lord that we have the magnificent privilege and delight to call “Father.” We will never understand, either in our hearts or minds, what it means to call God Father unless we understand the greatness of Him upon whom we call.

That God is in heaven indicates another thing: we pray to a God who has boundless power. As we have seen, the Scriptures testify that “our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” We know, then, that He is not bound when it comes to answering our prayers. We do not have to worry that He will not be able to do what we ask for. Certainly, He may not do as we wish, but that will be because He wills not to, not because He cannot. Paul is most definitely right when he says that God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

Thus, we must strike the balance that Jesus’ does here. We must approach God in a lowly manner, realizing who He is and who we are before Him, exercising a holy fear and reverence before Him; yet we must also come before the throne with boldness, as a son coming to his loving Father. This attitude and the recognition of the awesome privilege in which we are participating should never be far from our hearts when we draw near to God.

First Petition

The name of the Lord in the Bible most often has to do with who He Himself is. God’s name is thoroughly bound up with His character. His character, who He is by His very nature, is holy (“hallowed” is the verbal form of the word “holy”). Why, then, should we pray for His name to be made what it already is?

Perhaps it will help if I make an analogy. In 1 and 2 Samuel, God repeatedly says that a house will be built for His name. Of course, this is referring to the Temple that was ultimately built by Solomon. What do we read in 2 Chronicles 5:14? The house that was built for the name of God was filled by “glory of the Lord.” I believe it is no stretch to say that to be concerned for the name of God is to be concerned with His glory, which is something that Lee has faithfully preached here for 3 years. Thus, to hallow the name of the Lord means that, as one Christian writer has put it, we “give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, so that men may never think or speak of him but with the deepest veneration.”¹

There are two aspects to this. First, we should seek that God’s name be hallowed in the world, that more and more people would begin to give Him the proper glory due to Him. This means, of course, missions and evangelism, for men will only give God the glory due Him after their hearts have been made new. Second, we should seek that God’s name be hallowed in our own lives, that we would be more and more molded into the image of His Son, that we would be made more and more holy. As I said earlier, Christianity is not a lone ranger religion. This means that, as we seek holiness, we seek it for ourselves in community with others. As we seek our own holiness, we should also, and just as vigorously, seek that of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

To seek in our own lives how God’s glory might be advanced, we must put His glory above all things. If we are to grow in holiness, we must deny ourselves and become obsessed with the advancement of the glory of God. We do that by turning to His Word, praying to Him, learning to hear His voice, learning submission to His will, learning humility. You only learn these things by doing them. You learn to hear His voice by actually listening for it. You cannot devote 10 minutes a day to hearing God’s voice and then wonder why you do not hear it. You listen for God’s voice all day long. You listen for the still, small voice in the loudest, noisiest moments. Do you think God cannot speak over all the clutter and business in your life? You learn submission to His will by submitting to Him. Read His word with an eye to doing it. Come to His word and prayer with an attitude that says, “Yes, Lord.” Deny yourself and submit to His teaching. You learn humility by marveling at the magnitude and the greatness of our God. Seek out who God is and who you are before Him: humility will not be far behind.

Second Petition

To be concerned with the glory of God is to be concerned with His kingdom, for as His kingdom advances, so does His glory. However, we must ask: What does it mean to pray for the kingdom of God to come? I believe that there are two aspects to that prayer that we must consider if we are to come to an understanding of it.

First, we must realize that the kingdom of God is present with us now. In one of the controversies with the Jews of His day, Jesus says, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). Certainly, we would say that Jesus casts out demons by the Spirit of God; therefore, we must say that the kingdom of God has, in some way, entered into the world through Christ. In another place, Paul speaks of two of his companions as “fellow workers for the kingdom of God” (Colossians 4:11). Elsewhere in the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, the kingdom of God is spoken of as a present reality, something that has come with the ministry of Jesus, something that is shown forth in the present working of the Spirit within the people of God, something that is shown forth especially in the conversion of sinners.

Therefore, to pray for the kingdom of God to come we pray that God would grant His salvation to ever more people, displaying His might and power and rule in the repentance and belief of those who once hated Him. We also pray in this second petition that God would continue to work out His salvation in our lives, for our salvation does not consist simply in a past act of repentance and belief, but is worked out all the days of our life. Thus, we should pray that God’s kingdom would come in our own lives, that we would be made ever more obedient to His Word and conformed to the image of His Son.

Both of these things are done in two ways: by the preaching and reading of the Word and by the “secret power of the Spirit.”² We should, therefore, be all the more diligent in the Word, both in its private reading and its public proclamation, and all the more intent in our desire that the Spirit would move in our own heart, the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and in the hearts of those who have never believed.

The second aspect of this prayer that I believe is important to understanding it is that, though the kingdom of God is present and among us right now, there is a future to the kingdom of God, a future in which the manifestation of the kingdom will be seen much more clearly and in much greater power. This aspect of the kingdom is when Jesus will come a second time, when the Great Judgment will occur, when the heavenly city will descend, when we will all know as we are known, when God Himself will say “Enough” and all things will be set right. We are to pray and long for that day. We are to groan with all the creation for the day that our salvation will be made complete. The final words of Revelation should always be upon our hearts: “Come, Lord Jesus!”

How easy it is, though, to say that we long for that day. How easy it is to preach it. How difficult it is to mean it. Our lips might pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” but our heart betrays us, for our heart says, “Come, Lord Jesus, but could you wait until I am a little older? Could you wait until I have at least finished school? Gotten married? Had children? Come, Lord Jesus, but wait until I am ready.”

However, if we are to pray for God’s kingdom to come, we should be ready and willing to see it do so. Our hearts must be in love with God and the thought of His kingdom coming in glory. Otherwise, we pray this prayer as hypocrites. If your heart is in the condition I just described, repent of your ways and beseech the Lord that He change your heart. Pray that His kingdom and glory would be made known in your repentance and renewed love for His kingdom and glory. Then, pray the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Pray it with renewed vigor. Pray it with meaning. Pray it until it is answered.

Third Petition

The third petition of the Lord’s Prayer is but a logical extension of what has gone before. The Lord’s will is that His glory be made known to all the world. It is the will of God that His kingdom be shown forth, both in its present and future forms.

Beyond even that, the prophet Isaiah (as well as the rest of the Scriptures) has shown us that the will of God cannot help but be done. Isaiah 14:27 says, “For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?” Isaiah 43:13 is even more pointed, saying, “Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?” Why, then, are we instructed to pray that His will be done?

I believe that what we are praying for is that God’s will should be done, as one author has put it, “without opposition, and without reluctance.”³ Right now, though God’s will is being done, there is rampant sin and disobedience. Terrorists kill people everyday in the Middle East. Here in our country, people kill one another every day. And that is just the “big sins.” How much more often is God dishonored in our private thoughts and actions?

So it is with this petition that we pray that God’s will be done perfectly and without resistance. I believe this contention is supported by the qualifier to this part of the prayer. We pray that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” The will of God is done perfectly in heaven, without opposition. This is shown quite clearly in the RSV translation of Psalm 103:20, which says, “Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word!” (emphasis added). In heaven, the will of God is done willingly and with a glad heart. That is what we pray for: that the will of God would be done that way on the earth.

With that in mind, we must see, like it was with the previous petition, that there are two parts to the prayer, and we are, in fact, praying for two things in this one prayer. On the one hand, we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven right now, in the present day, that He would convert sinners and sanctify His saints. On the other hand, when we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven, we realize that in this present age that will never happen. It is only when God’s kingdom has come fully that His will shall be done as it is in heaven. As I said, we are praying for two things, though these two things are not totally dissimilar, and are quite alike in many respects.

The First Three Petitions

In closing, I want to point out a few things about these first three as a whole. First, while the English does not necessarily show this, in the Greek the verbs in these sentences are all second person imperative. In other words, with each petition, the one who prays is saying to God, “You do these things!” It is an explicit reminder that we cannot do them. Without the gracious working of His Spirit, not a single one of us could give God any bit of glory, much less the glory His name deserves. Without God taking out our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh, we could never pray that His kingdom come, much less mean it and work feverishly for it. Without the saving work of Christ on the cross, we would be forever working against the will of God, hating Him who made us, and spitting in the face of the sovereign Lord of the universe.

Second, this is something that I have been saying throughout the sermon but it is worth repeating here: if we pray these things (that God’s name be hallowed, that His kingdom come, and the His will be done) we must live in accordance with them. In praying these prayers with sincerity, we commit ourselves to their fulfillment; we commit ourselves to their course. We should not rest until we see their fulfillment.

Third, while I have said a lot about what we should do in connection with these prayers, do not let that mislead you into thinking that we are the ultimate goal in these petitions. The goal to which these prayers aspire is that God’s name be hallowed, that God’s kingdom come, and that God’s will be done. Our holiness, desire for the kingdom, and obedience to His will are all means to an end. We must never misconstrue the improvement of our Christian walk to be the end of our existence. As some wise men once said, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”⁴

Dive into prayer. The key to a better prayer life is praying. Perhaps the greatest spur to us in praying is the realization of what it is that we are doing: we are conversing with God Himself. That should set our souls ablaze. We would probably get very excited about speaking to the President or some celebrity. How much more eager should we be to speaking with the sovereign Lord of all?

I beseech you: rush to the throne of God and lay hold of Him and His promises.

¹ John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 318.

² Ibid., 320.

³ Ibid., 321.

⁴ Westminster Shorter Catechism, First Question.

THE LORD’S PRAYER: JESUS’ MODEL OF A GODLY PRAYER, PART ONE