Teach Us To Pray

SCRIPTURE TEXT Matthew 6:5-13

Prayer is religion in action.
Prayer is as old as civilization itself.  Man has always found much which perplexed him, natural phenomena he could not explain.  To help release himself from the fear of the unknown, primitive man often placed his faith in ONE who could help.  In the beginning he prayed to fire, wind, the moon and the sun; thunder lightning streams, lakes, mountains, and trees.  He attained communion with "another" who could bring about something that man alone could not achieve.

Man today is still beset by problems, anxieties and fears fears as binding as those man has faced through the ages.  Although science has given him many answers, he is still surrounded by much that bewilders him.

This was the condition of the disciples in out scripture reading.

The disciples seeing and realizing that Christ spent much time in prayer, and witnessing the fact that Christ received great spiritual strength from his communion with the heavenly Father, desired also to pray after this manner.  On various occasions they desired that Christ should teach them to pray.  It is natural that they should have this desire, for all men should pray.  God made man to be in communion with Himself, He did this first of all because He cherishes that communion.  But the importance of prayer lies in the further fact that man is dependent upon God.  Men ought to pray always because one single step apart from His wisdom and gracious providence would start man in the direction of destruction.

Jesus first of all set the pattern for prayer in verse 5-7.  We are not to stand and pray to be seen of men.  Rather we are to pray to our father in secret.  He tells us our prayers should be communion with God not just a recital.  And he tells us our Father knows our needs and will honor the fervent prayer of a righteous man.  Prayer is not to inform God or persuade him.  He knows and loves us, but he has set prayer as a mysterious law of approach to him.  It has something that prepares the way for the answer.  The important distinction in this connection is that, although we should pray, we must put our trust in God rather than trusting in prayer.  The question may follow, why should we have to ask him or tell him if he know?

The simple answer is that God has made it a law, in a sense as truly a law as the law of gravity.  It is a prescribed method of approach to our Maker, and we may assume that there is something in the very effect of prayer that prepares us to receive the blessing we seek.  Two of the universal requirements for victorious prayer are clean hands and a humble heart.  In I John 3:22 we read that we have a standing access to answered prayer, if we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

And so Jesus tells them beginning in verse 9 when you pray, pray then like this--.  And so he gave to us what we call today the Lord's Prayer, it is brief as prayer goes, it is simple and meaningful.  The prayer begins by declaring God as our heavenly Father.  This was Christ' usual address to God when he prayed.  he establishes God as the divine Ruler and Maker and enthrones his name with the words "hallowed be Thy name".  Our Father is the highest and dearest name we know, embracing both father and mother and embodying both justice and mercy.  Our first petition then is-- Hallowed be Thy name.  The second and third petitions-- Thy kingdom com, Thy will be done.

God's kingdom cannot come to man until man does God's will.  Thus we petition that God's will be accomplished in our lives that His kingdom may come.  This should be a joyous petition, for the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace.

The fourth petition-- Give us this day our daily bread.--  This prayer is concerned with our day by day needs both temporal and spiritual.  The bread that we seek is bread for the body and bread for the soul.  This is supplied to us in direct proportion to our submission to God's will.

The fifth petition-- And forgive us our debts, as we forgive or debtors.--  We seek in this prayer forgiveness of sin, both sin against God and sin against our fellow-man.  Forgive us our debts-- but along with this is the prayer, as we forgive or debtors.  The two forgivenesses go together, we cannot hope to obtain forgiveness if we refuse to forgive.  An unforgiving spirit closes God out of our lives.  He is ready to forgive but often we are not ready to be forgiven.  Eph. 4:32 tells us: "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted forgiving one another, even as God for Christ' sake hath forgiven you."

The sixth petition-- And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  This prayer is probably best explained as the plea of conscious weakness.  We do need testing.  It is no sin to be tempted, it is sin only when we fall prey to temptation.  This prayer admits our weakness and asks God's help for deliverance.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. amen.

This ascription to the Lord's Prayer was almost certainly not in the original prayer.  But we may be glad for the addition.  This doxology of the Lord's Prayer is the churches praise for his risen power.

No one has yet exhausted the power of prayer in a lifetime.

"Your contribution," says Dr. Laubach, "can be titanic beyond all imagination.  It depends upon one thing only-- how much time and heart and mind and soul and strength and prayer to give to God's world task."

And so in this manner Christ taught his disciples and us to pray.

Man ought always to pray-- Luke18:1-8 says "and he (Jesus) told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying vindicate me against my adversary; for a while he refused, but afterwards he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming."

And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night?  Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily."

We too can talk with God-- for ourself --that our experience of Christ right now may be as fresh and vital as the air we breathe.

For others that we right now may share the concern of Christ for others.

For the world-- that continuing peace of Christ may become the peace of the whole world.

Finally-- see that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another, and to all.  Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Let us join in prayer-- Dear Lord, who makest all the commandments of the law to consist in love toward God and toward man, grant to us so to love Thee with all our heart, with all our mind, and all our soul, and our neighbor as ourselves, that the grace of charity and brotherly love may dwell in us, and all envy, harshness, and ill will may die in us.  And we beseech Thee, so to fill our hearts with true affections that by constantly rejoicing in the happiness and good success of others, by sympathizing with them in their sorrows, and by putting away all harsh judgments and envious thoughts we may follow Thee, who art the Way the Truth and the Life.  In Jesus name--
                                                       Amen.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit and go with you.
                       Amen.

Nottingham Methodist Church 7/14/1963 -- Evening
Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio