We are looking at Matthew chapter 6 verses 9-13. A lot of people can recite the lord’s prayer without looking in the bible. Check your scripture say it out loud. Beautiful isn’t it. Could we expect any less from the Son of God. No. The words He spoke were Spirit, were life. It is the perfect prayer. In it are found all the vital aspects of prayer :- adoration, thanksgiving, confession and petitions.if we look at the prayer carefully we will see 7 petitions.
1) Hallowed be thy name.
2)Thy kingdom come.
3) Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
4) Give us this day our daily bread.
5) Forgive us our debts.
6) Lead us not into temptation.
7) Deliver us from evil.
Notice the first 3 are towards God and the last 4 are towards man, ( A bit like the 10 commandments where the first 4 are Godward the last 6 manward.) Notice to the first 3 are towards God and start high in the heavenlies the last 4 descend earthward. The last 4 starts on the lowest human level with us asking for our basic needs, our daily bread then ascend upwards to the highest spiritual plain of man the deliverance from evil, the living in the Spirit.There are more comparisons to see but now I want us to consider verse 9.
A SONS AFFECTION
I would like us to consider first .A SONS COMMAND.
First of all I want us to look at the first phrase “AFTER THIS MANNER THEREFORE PRAY YE”. Depending on the commentary you read there are two opinions one a model to work with others it is a commanded set format. To know what’s right it’s best to examine the greek text ‘after this manner’ which means ‘in this way’ refering to what follows or it means ‘on this fashion’. There is no command here is there? There appears no indication in the meaning to suggest an exact duplicate or a direct command for us to pray. The next word ‘ THEREFORE ‘ means certainly, accordingly, so truly, likewise then. No direct command there .A model to work with then? The next word in the phrase is “PRAY” which means to supplicate, to worship God, to pray earnestly for. Pray comes from 2 words to a)wish and b)towards…..to wish towards God and this is a command but on the word pray not on the manner of prayer. The word “YE” is in the plural of you and is speaking of believers. And so we see that there is the possibility of saying this prayer each time we pray but there is no direct command to follow it verbatim. However there is the COMMAND TO PRAY that is given to everyone. So the emphasis is really upon the fact that this is a model prayer and not one we are commanded to repeat. However there is this thought to consider, the scriptures. The scriptures is God’s word, the lord’s prayer is God’s word, therefore we should not abandon this word because of formalistic tradition because it is God’s word that is meant for us.
But watch out for vain repetition and do it with thoughtfulness reverence and awe.
A SONS COMMUNION.
OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.
The first word here is ‘OUR’ which suggests our usage of this prayer is meant for communal use. If I pray the Lord’s prayer at home out of frequent formalistic usage do I say OUR FATHER or do I say MY FATHER which I believe takes you to more personal encounter with the Lord.
‘OUR FATHER’ ‘which art in heaven’ helps us to take our eyes from our earthly surrounds to heaven and to His throne of grace. Whereby we will have communion with Him and bend our will to His. This phrase takes us into deep waters straight way, it takes us into intimacy.We step into the comfort of a close relationship with God.As Jesus spoke God the Father we can see the personal relationship of them knowing each other. In the Lords prayer this intimacy is open to us OUR FATHER. A good father always loves his child, always tries to guide in the right direction, gives what is needed and firm hand when he needs to be. We have a wonderful heavenly father.
Our heavenly father tells us of His divine character that He is the source of life, that His love is flowing like a river to His children.
The truth in this phrase is that the only way we can say this prayer to the Father is if we are a son. What does John 1:12 say, ‘but as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God’.
Moving on to the phrase ‘WHICH ART IN HEAVEN’. The word heaven is derived from an old Anglo Saxon word ‘heave-on meaning to be lifted up or uplifted and implies the thought of a place or a state which is above that of the common place of earth. In scripture the word heaven is used to describe 3 different realms 1 the earths atmosphere. 2 outer space where the sun, moon and stars are. 3 the third heaven, where the realm of Almighty God is beyond the stars. Our scripture says Our father which art in heaven. Is He in the first heaven -yes. Is He in the second heaven – yes. Is He in the third heaven – yes He is . God is Spirit, God is omnipotent, God is in heaven. Read Psalm 139:1-14,15a and many more scriptures. Our Father which art in heaven tells me that as a son I have a special place in His heart and that as I look up and around me I know He is there. I know that as a son the Father has gone to great lengths so that He can be with me and I can have communion with Him.
A SONS COMMISSION
‘HALLOWED BE THY NAME’
This is the first petition and takes us heavenward putting our mind on the Lord. This petition must come first because the glory of God’s great name comes before all else.
The word hallowed is translated quite often as sanctified. It means to set apart for a sacred use. Our petition then is ‘let thy name be set apart for sacred use’. Let thy matchless name be reverenced, adored and glorified. We are saying God let thy holy name be set apart so much that people will revere, glorify and adore you.
The word BE is present tense and it is emphatic……exist Lord in this way.
THY… means thine own.
NAME….. means, authority, character.
And so we have a petition from the saints to the Lord.
It’s saying ‘Lord let us show thy name is set apart’.
Demonstrating your holiness, demonstrating your character that one and all may see.
How can the Father be hallowed here by us , by allowing Him to be set apart in our lives. To revere, to worship and to glorify Him with our lives. It means casting off those old sins and taking the Lord’s prayer seriously and let His name be hallowed in our hearts.
God bless
Michael Whitehouse