Matthew 6:1-18 Lord's Prayer

Sermon On  The Mount

Matthew 6:1-18

The Lord's Prayer

First an overview of Parts 1 and 2

The first two sections dealt with the heart of a Christian and how we should present ourselves to God and man First we covered the Beatitudes and learned about the essential features and characteristics of a Christian by learning how the law is now written on our hearts.

1. Beatitudes

1. The Beatitudes point out the difference between a Christian and a Non-Christian

2. The 1st4 beatitudes progress with the believer as their faith grows

3. The 1st4 deal with the heart and mind and how we present our inner self to God, who searches the heart

4. The last 4 beatitudes display certain character traits that other men can see

5. The attitudes of the 1st4 are manifested in the last 4

6. All 8 Beatitudes have a continuity that builds upon the one before

1. “The poor in spirit” denotes the fact of sin

2. “They that mourn” means to repent of sin

3. “The meek” describes not the weak, but rather strength that is surrendered to God in a new birth

4. To “hunger and thirst after righteousness” signifies the strong desire to become more Christ-like

5. “The merciful” show an attitude of forgiveness

6. “The pure in heart” strive daily for clean living

7. “The peacemakers” exert a calming influence in the storms of life

8. “They which are persecuted” denotes faithfulness under stress

7. Finally, each one carries a strong promise of ultimate good for those who develop the blessed life

2. Jesus said we are “Salt and Light”, we are God's representatives in the world

3. Then we studied how Jesus clarified the Laws that the Pharisees and Scribes twisted for their own benefit

1. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill the Law

1. 300 prophetic details of His Life completely and literally fulfilled

1. From His birth, throughout His life, His death by crucifixion and His ultimate resurrection

2. "I have come as it is written of me in the volume of the Book." (Hebrews 10:7)

3. All the scoffers had to do was "Search the scriptures." And watch Him. (John 5:39)

2. He fulfilled theMoral,Judicial, and CeremonialLaws

1. Moral 10 Commandments. He lived up to them completely

2. Judicial (Laws to a particular nation applied for time and place)

3. Ceremonial - Sacrifices and offerings for sin

2. The Law was to lead men to the need for a redeemer

1. The Law is a mirror, Christ is the soap

2. The Law was tutor to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24-25)

3. It was the Law that told us what was sin as Paul said in (Romans 7:7)

3. Jesus clarified the Law for His disciples, and showed them how their heart is were it really counts

1. Murder begins in the heart

2. Adultery begins in the heart

3. Marriage is sacred and binding, God never made provision for divorce, Moses did for hard hearts

4. Jesus said a Christian should go the extra mile as an example of God's loving kindness to all

5. Jesus clarifies that you should also love your enemy as you do your neighbor

6. Finally Jesus said we should be perfect as our Father in heaven is. (Perfect as in Complete)

7. All these attributes start our hearts which God looks at

8. We need to think more about that room in our temple that only God sees, then what men can see

Today's Study

Sermon On  The Mount part 3

“The LORD’s Prayer”

Matthew 6:1-18

Chapter 6 is divided into two sections, our religious life, and the our worldly life

1. The religious life we live is covered in verses 1-18 and is revealed in

1. Our giving

2. Our praying

3. Our denying the flesh

2. The worldly life we live is covered in verses 19-34 and is revealed in

1. The way our heart cherishes certain treasures

2. What our eyes reveal about our hearts

3. Who we serve God or money

4. How strong is our faith 

   
   

Today’s study will be on the religious life of prayer 

verses 1-18

2. Doing charitable deeds to be seen by men, instead of God

1. Do humbly before God not loudly to please men, men see then you are rewarded, let God reward you

2. Not as the Pharisee, who did what they did to get recognition from men

3. Pray in secret and our Father will reward openly, pray openly and you already received reward from men

1. The phrase“go into your room”comes from theGreek word (tam-i'-on), and this is word comes from the root word (tam-i'-s).Tamis means dispenser or better put it was a military term for magazine, (a storage shed used for military armament). In a normal home it would be either a storehouse, a separate apartment, or one’s private chamber. Today, we call these private chambers “an office”, however most people do not have the financial means to afford a private office so it would be a closet. Thus the phrase “Your prayer closet”is where one can withdraw from the world to shut out its noises and distractions, as we commune with God.

2. What if you cannot get to a prayer closet, let’s say you are at the mall and really need to pray? Well, I found something by Adam Clark that I will paraphrase for you.

Whether you are a Jew, Pharisee, or a Christian, enter into your closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse ones soul can have with God for it is truly a conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and deceitful to be part of this secret and sacred discourse. We must shut the door and try our best to ignore it, what with all its affairs that busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least of the heart, for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God. For a Christians body is the temple of God, and it is in this temple where we find the Holy of Holies, our heart to commune with God. It is this closet we ought to retire to, even in public prayer when we are in the midst of company.

3. We are told by Paul that a Christian’s body is the temple of God (1Corinthians 3:16)

4. Be not like the Pharisees who timed their prayer time to be in the midst of a busy market or other public area full of people to get the approval of men. They already received their reward, respect from men. In secret we should pray, then our reward will come from God and our reward will sometimes come openly.

4. God always knows what you need, even before you know what you need

1. God is omniscient and knows the future and so He knows our future, so surely He knows what we need before we do.

2. Paul tells us the Spirit will pray for us because we do not always know what we need. (Romans 8:26)

5. Our Lord’s Prayer

1. “Our Father” (denotes a personal relationship with God and other believers)

1. The word “our”signifies the believer’s brotherly relationship with all other Christians. While the Bible nowhere presents the universal Fatherhood of God, it does declare the universal brotherhood of believers

2. The word “Father”signifies the relationship between God and the believer

2. “In heaven” (Faith)

1. This denotes faith in the belief that there is a place where God resides

2. Paul declares that without this element, our prayers are useless (Hebrews 11:6)

3. “Hallowed be Your name”(Worship)

1. King David felt that worship was such an important part of prayer, that he appointed a special group of men who did nothing else in the Temple but praise and worship God (1Chronicles 23:5 and 25:1 and 25:7)

2. In Revelation, John sees four special angels who exist solely to worship God and who “rest not day or night, saying Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8)

3. Jesus says that God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24)

4. “Your Kingdom come” (Expectation)

1. There is an expectation for the millennial Kingdom spoken of in the OT (Isaiah 2:2-4 and 25:8 and 65:25) Later John eludes to the same Kingdom we have an expectation of (Revelation 20:1-6)

5. “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Submission)

1. We should always submit our will to His, and in time ours will always be as His will is

2. Jesus gives us the perfect example of submitting to God in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39)

6. “Give us this day our daily bread” (Petition)

1. Our praying should be like our eating habits, daily, so we can be refilled daily as we are leaky vessels

7. “And forgive us our debts” (Confession)

1. Our sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ, but we must never make excuses for our faults

2. We need to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness and He promises to forgive us (1John 1:9)

8. “As we forgive our debtors” (Compassion)

1. Jesus told Peter that we should forgive those who offend us 70 times 7 (Matthew 18:21-22)

2. Jesus went on to tell the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35)

9. “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Dependence)

1. It must be pointed out that God never promised to keep us from being tempted

2. He does however promise to see us through the temptations and give us a way out (1Corinthhians 10:13)

10. “For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen” (Acknowledgement)

6. God reigns over all, It is all His creations, He is the forever “I AM”

1. He can accomplish anything we ask should he so desire, we are weak He is strong. Whatever He desires He can do with His power. If He so desires, He could even change the laws of nature, He made them

2. God is the Glory, He is the abundance, the wealth, and the treasures we should seek (Psalm 19:1)

3. To be fair I must point out that none of the ancient manuscripts have this ending doxology

4. However let's compare it with what David said in his prayer to God (1Chronicles 29:10-19)

7. Forgiving and being forgiven

1. You gain a sense of peace inside when you forgive others for sinning against you. You will feel compassion for the person who wronged you. Even if they don’t ask you to forgive them, we need to. An unforgiving heart will destroy the one unwilling to forgive. We need to let it go and live in peace with God.

2. The greatest of all the commandments is to love God, the 2nd is to love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40)

3. And last time that we learned we should love our enemies and bless them who curse us(Matthew 5:43-48)

4. To forgive is to love, John tells us if we love God and hate our brother we are a liar (1John 4:20-21)

8. Today’s final teaching from Jesus is, we are to fast for God’s approval, not man’s approval.

1. When you fast do not let anyone know, act as though you just had a 7 course meal, God knows you’re hungry

2. To desire men’s approval is to covet their praise, and we are not to covet anything. Not even praise.