The School of Prayer | Part 3 | Any Questions?
We’re there in Matthew 6. Of course on Sunday mornings we’ve been going through this series called “The School of Prayer”. And we’ve really been with Christ in the school of prayer. We’ve been learning from the Lord Jesus Christ how to pray. This will probably be our final week looking at what is known as “The Lord’s Prayer” from Matthew 6. Next week we’ll start looking at other prayers of Jesus. We started with a sermon called “Getting Schooled on Prayer” and we learned about the fact that the disciples came to Jesus after watching him pray. They came to him and said Lord teach us to pray. Apparently something about watching him pray made them realize that they weren’t doing it right. And then Jesus affirms that by saying yes, I’ll teach you how to pray. But before he can teach them how to pray, he has to correct them on how not to pray. We learned about that a couple of weeks ago.
Then last week we got into the Lord’s prayer and we talked about the purpose of prayer. Because if you remember, Jesus said that we should not turn our prayer time into this vain and repetitious ritual. We often apply this to the Catholic Church and of course that’s a good application. But the context is that we don’t have to constantly repeat the same thing because the Lord already knows what we need before you ask them. Then of course the question is asked “Well then why pray if God already knows what we want or need.”. And last week we saw that prayer is more about us remembering who God is than us reminding him about our needs. And we learned about how we ought to come to God in prayer and how he’s intimate and infinite and how the purpose of prayer is not to try to get God on our agenda but to get us on his agenda. Those are all the things we’ve looked at this far thus far.
This morning we’re going to begin right where we left off there in verse number 11. And in this portion of the Lord’s prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to teach us how to ask. And let’s be honest. When we pray, we usually begin with just asking requests and this is not where Jesus began. Of course he began with “11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”.
And I want you to notice a few things about these verses. First of all, notice that Jesus is not taking prayer requests. He is teaching us how to direct our prayers. Prayer is asking and receiving. We’re going to look at that here in a minute. But he’s teaching us in which categories and how we should approach God in prayer. As an introduction let me say that there are 3 categories that he gives us in regards to asking for prayer. Verse 11 – provision; Verse 12 – Pardon; Verse 13 – Protection. And what I’d like to do this morning for just a few minutes is kind of break down these thoughts in regards to these three categories in which Jesus teaches us to bring our request. Provision, pardon and protection. So we’ll start there with the first category of provision. Matthew 6:11 “11 Give us this day our daily bread.”. Provision. He begins with this request. Now go to Matthew 7. I want to show you some other famous passages on prayer.
Jesus teaches that prayer is asking and receiving. No doubt about it. When we come to God in prayer, we come with our needs. We come with our requests and there’s nothing wrong with that. What we’ve been learning about in regards to prayer up to this point is the attitude in which we come to God for our request. God is not Santa Claus. God is not some sort of a divine genie up in heaven in which we simply come to him and tell him all the things we want and all the things that we need. I’m not going to repreach my sermon from last week but we must remember that when we come to God, we must come to him as hallowed, as holy, as high, as lifted up, as our Heavenly Father who cares about our needs. But prayer is bringing our needs to God.
Notice Matthew 7:7. “7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”. Notice verse 11 in the same chapter. “11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”. So what is prayer? Prayer is asking and receiving. However, we need to remember that it is coming to God with the right attitude, with the right understanding. We come to God asking but understanding that we’re not building our own kingdom. We’re building his kingdom. “thy kingdom come”. We’re not pushing our agenda. We’re pushing his agenda. “thy will be done”. We need to come to God with the understanding that God is intimate, he’s our Father. And he’s infinite, he is hallowed. And we get on his agenda. We’re building his kingdom.
Then he says you can ask and he says you should ask. “7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”. So prayer is asking and receiving. However, let me say that there is a limiting factor to our asking. Now realize the limiting factor is not on God but it is on us. The Bible says about God that he is able to give us exceeding abundantly about all that we ask or think. God can do all things. God can do that which is impossible. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Nothing is impossible for the Lord. However, when we come to God in prayer, there is this limiting factor. Look at Matthew 6:11 “11 Give us this day our daily bread.”. He doesn’t say “Give us the bread we need for the year.”. The limiting factor is focusing on the present day as opposed to asking for food for the next 10 years. Isn’t it true that when we do ask, we often ask for this unlimited amount of money. God is unlimited but Jesus shows us that when we ask, we ask for provision. What does that mean? Well, there is nothing wrong with asking God to help with your bills and your rent and things like that but just realize that there is a limiting factor to the things we ask.
Proverbs 30:8 “8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:”. Vanity is emptiness or shallowness. He also says to give him neither poverty nor riches. The Bible gives us the principle of not asking for riches. The pattern Jesus showed us is to ask for our daily needs. He prays that God doesn’t make him rich or poor. He says “feed me with food convenient for me”. The word convenient means suitable or appropriate. It means feed me with my needs for today.
Why should somebody pray this way? Here’s what I want you to understand. Jesus is teaching us in the Lord’s prayer how to approach to God in prayers. I don’t want to keep repeating myself but we realize who God is. High, holy, lifted up. We realize our place in God’s position. We’re not pushing our kingdom or our agenda. We’re pushing his kingdom and his agenda. And when we finally get to the place where we can ask for something, there is still a limiting factor. What does that mean? It means give me neither poverty or riches.
Proverbs 30:9 “9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”. Riches can distract you from God. Too much success and money can cause you to deny the Lord. Jesus said “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.”. Here he even says someone who is saved can be distracted if God gives them too much. So Proverbs shows us that we should ask not to be rich or to be poor.
Here’s the other extreme. “or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”. We often talk about how we should bring the gospel to the poor. And Jesus did that. Generally the poor areas are more receptive. When we go soulwinning, these rich neighborhoods are not that receptive. The poor areas are more receptive. But if you’ve been soul winning for any length of time, you also know this is true. There is such thing as being too poor. And I’m not talking about the value of an individual. I’m saying you can get to neighborhoods that are so ghetto, so poor that they’re actually unreceptive as well. I mean you get to some places where everyone is just strung out on drugs. Everyone’s sleeping until noon. Everyone’s just drunk. Sometimes as soulwinners we should maybe pray that God helps us find an area that is not too rich or too poor. Just help us find a normal area. Because there is a such thing as being too poor.
Let me let you in on a little secret. You live in the United States of America in 2021. You’re not poor. However poor you think you are, you’re not. By historical standards, by current world standards, you’re not poor. We fall under the category of rich. But you know what I’ve noticed is that people will often have this poor mentality. They’ll have this poor mentality. The Bible tells us to be generous. Give and it shall be given unto you. He says that there are those who don’t spare, who give out. But there are people and even Christians who have this poor mentality. You can’t show up to a baby shower because you don’t want to give away a gift. You are so broke in your minds though you’re rich by world standards. You are so stingy and it becomes this bitter and angry thing. Let me tell you something, we ought to live the Christian life with a positive attitude and with an understanding that though I may not have everything that I want, God has given me what I need. He’s given us this day our daily bread. If you have food and raiment then you should be content. God says you have enough to be content. Let me help you understand something. Being poor has nothing to do with how much money you have in the bank account. It has to do with your mindset. People that say that they would just be happy if they had more money will never be happy. What you have is all that you need.
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. We basically get a seat in his class to learn how to get our requests from God. Jesus shows us that before we get there, let’s talk about who God the Father is. It says “hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done”. Let’s remember who we are. Then we get to the asking part. When we pray for provision, there is a limiting factor. Proverbs 30:8 “8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”. Matthew 6:11 “11 Give us this day our daily bread.”. There is nothing wrong with asking for your provision and needs but let me tell you something. Sometimes when we get that bonus or job raise, it can be the worst thing for us spiritually. So instead, Jesus says that we should pray that the Lord gives us what we need. Here’s a good prayer request. “Lord, give me what I need so that I can serve you faithfully. Lord give me enough money so that I’m not broke and trying to work on Sunday. Don’t give me so much money that it’ll draw my heart away from you.”.
Why do people stop serving God? Some people don’t show up for soul winning because in their minds they’re so broke that they have to work. Some people don’t show up for soul winning because they are so busy working. Some people don’t show up to church on Sunday mornings because they’re poor and they have to go to work and save money. Some people don’t show up to church on Sunday because they’re so successful and busy that they don’t have time for it. Do you understand what I’m saying? “lest i be full and deny thee. Lest I be poor and steal.”. So he says give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. Give us this day our daily bread.”.
Go back to Matthew 6. So we see the first category which is provision. Prayer is asking and receiving. No doubt about it. You should ask and you should receive. But never forget the limiting factor. “Lord, give me what you believe I need. Lord, give me what you know I can handle. Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches. Lest I be full and deny thee.”. People wonder about all of the rich people in the Bible. What about Solomon? Remember that Solomon did not ask for riches. He asked for wisdom. And in fact, God said that because he didn’t for money that God was going to give him because. Because he didn’t ask for success, God was going to give him success. He didn’t ask for money so God gave him money. God gave him success, strength, the life of his enemies, etc…Maybe you think that just asking for daily bread won’t give you what you want but maybe God will give you things that you didn’t even ask for.
The first category is provision. Asking and receiving for God to supply our needs. But there’s a limiting factor. The 2nd category is pardon. This is something that you should pray for. Matthew 6:12 “12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”. The Bible also tells us that “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”. So we should ask God to forgive us. However, Jesus again the master teacher, the master communicator, turns it around on us. In this Lord’s prayer, we see that it is not about the things that we want but it’s about God’s will.
Then we get to this part which if there is a humbling, sincere and authentic part then it would be this. When we get on our knees and ask God to forgive us, we confess our sins and ask him to forgive us and say “Lord, I’m sorry for this and for that.”. You would think that that would be the most unselfish part of prayer. But Jesus shows us that sometimes even in asking to be forgiven that we can be selfish. The pattern we have is that we ask God to forgive us but also “forgive our debotrs”. When we dig a little further, verse 14 says “14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”. There’s a limiting factor to forgiveness and it is that we make sure that we aren’t holding grudges against others or bitterness toward other people as we also ask God to forgive us.
Go to Matthew 18. I’m going to show you this parable but I want you to see the context of why Jesus brings up this parable first. Matthew 18:21 “21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”. Let me remind you of something. If you’re a Christian and here today, I’m assuming it is because you actually love the Lord and you’re saved. I’m assuming that’s why you are here. If you are not just saved but you are also trying to follow God (Because you can be saved without really following the Lord), you are required to forgive.
You might think, “I don’t feel like forgiving.”. That’s not what he said. That’s not what he asked. Even if you don’t think they’ve earned it, we are still required to forgive. Peter responds by asking how often? He thinks 7 times is a generous number. Jesus says 70 times 7. My guess is that if you started to keep track of how many times you have forgiven someone, you will lose count before you get to 490 times.
Verse 23 “23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.”. Let me help you with this parable. The certain king in the story is a representation of God. Often these parables are stories. They’re earthly stories with heavenly meanings and these different characters represent different things. The certain king is God. Verse 24 “24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”. The word reckon means to take an account or begin to judge. “One was brought unto him” represents us. 10,000 talents is a lot of money. “25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.”.
I’m not preaching on the gospel this morning but let me just say this. Every single human being owes a payment to God in regards to their sin. Verse 26 “26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”. Think of a man who owes a big amount of money and has his family sold to pay off his debts. “27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”. That is salvation. That’s what happened. When you got saved, you owed a debt that you could not pay. He paid a debt that he didn’t owe. He forgave the debt that was owed. Then in verse 28 “28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.”. The fellowservant is basically just another person in our lives. This owes him 100 pence which we can tell is a lot less than the 10,000 talents that the first servant owed. Notice how he reacted to this individual. He laid hands on him. He is grabbing him and hurting him. He takes him by the throat.
Verse 29 “29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”. This is the same thing that the first servant had asked. Verse 30 “30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.”.
Could you imagine that you owe somebody a huge amount like $200,000 and you don’t have it and you will be cast into prison and your family sold as slaves to help pay off the debt. Then you find someone on the street who owes you only $200 and you grab him by the throat and refuse to forgive him. That seems like a bit of a ridiculous story like who would actually do that. Yet this is exactly what it is like when we refuse to forgive people in our lives. We were forgiven so much by God and yet we often don’t forgive people for something much lower. Verse 35 “35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”. Here’s the truth. You were forgiven much. And I’m not minimizing what people have done to you and I’m not minimizing how people have hurt you. But I am telling you from the authority of the word of God, in comparison to what you owed God, it’s ridiculous that we would not forgive.
Ephesians 4:32 “32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”. Why did Jesus say that we have to forgive others before God will forgive us? If you remember in the Christian life, there are 2 areas that are connected to each other. I’ve taught you this in the past and I’ll just briefly mention it to you. One day Jesus was asked “What is the greatest law? What is the greatest commandment?”. And he said “The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.”. It is a direction vertically between us and God. But Jesus also says the 2nd greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (horizontal).
How are these connected? I’ve done Bible studies on it. I’m not going to take time to do it now. But the point is this, you can’t be right with God while you’re wrong with others. You can’t be fighting and bitter and angry and unforgiving to your brothers and sisters in Christ and think that you’re right with God. These things are connected to each other. Your relationship with those around you influence and impact your relationship with God. Let me just give you another example. 1st Peter 3:7 “7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”. You can’t be wrong with your wife and be right with God. And the reverse is true. You can’t be wrong with your husband and be right with God.
He says you ought to pray for provision, asking and receiving. No doubt about it. He says but there’s a limiting factor. Remember your walk with God. And don’t ask for so much that it will draw you away from God. Ask God to just give you what you need. “Give us this day our daily bread”. “Give me neither poverty nor riches”. If you do that then maybe God will treat you like a Solomon. When God saw that Solomon was a man who asked for wisdom, he said that was someone he could trust with money as well. Then he tells us that we should ask to be forgiven but make sure that we also are willing to forgive others also. Because our forgiveness we receive from God is connected to how we forgive others.
We should ask for provision. We should ask for pardon. We should also ask for protection. Matthew 6:13. I’ll be honest with you. This is a verse that I used to struggle with. I understood obviously it’s the word of God. It’s the King James Bible. When I said that I struggled with it, the problem was on my end and not God’s end. Maybe I misunderstood what God was saying. Because Jesus taught us to pray and lead us not into temptation. And to me it kind of sounded like we were asking God “God would you not lead us into temptation or would you stop leading us into temptation” as though God was leading us into temptation. And by the way, God’s not. The Bible is clear about that. In fact, go to James 1. Why is Jesus asking us to ask God to lead us not into temptation? Because God doesn’t lead us into temptation.
James 1:13 “13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”. We understand that there are different types of temptations in the Bible. The Bible says that God did tempt Abraham. And the word temptation or tempt there means attempted or adventured. He put him up to a test. But here the Bible is talking about leading into temptation of sin. And the Bible says “13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”.
The Bible is clear that when we are tempted to do wrong, it’s because of our own lust. It is possible that the Devil put you in a place to try to tempt you but it was still your own lust that drew you into that sin. So we lead ourselves into temptation. I want you to realize the biggest mistakes and regrets you have in life, you were the mastermind of those. You made those decision. Why? Because the heart is desperately wicked above all things. It’s your heart. That’s the problem. Out of the heart comes all these sins. Adultery, fornication, drunkenness. So we lead ourselves into temptation, not God. God doesn’t lead us into temptation.
So then we come back to the words of Christ and we realize or maybe I should say that I realized what he meant in Matthew 6:13. He’s asked God to lead him period. Because the person that’s been leading us has been leading us into temptation. That is ourselves. Then we should pray that God starts leading us so we are no longer being put into temptation. The assumption you’re making is that you’re already following Jesus. But the truth is when you’re led into temptation, you’re not following Jesus. You’re following yourself. So we’re not asking “stop leading us into temptation”. We’re asking “start leading us so that I’ll stop leading myself into temptation”. He says lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. There’s a request of lead us and there’s a recognition of not into temptation. The recognition is that when Jesus leads you, he never leads you astray.
If you study the life of Christ, you’ll find that what he often asked his disciples and people was that they would follow him. I could give you a ton of examples but I’ll just give you 1 this morning. Matthew 9:9 “9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”. And again this is one of many examples where Jesus walked up to people and said “follow me”. When you say “follow me”, that is a request of letting me be your leader. So Jesus says when you pray and you get to the part about protection, what you should be praying and what you should be saying is God please lead me. Because before that we are leading ourselves and we make wrong decisions. Why don’t you get on your knees and ask God to protect you and guide you.
When we are dealing with temptations, Jesus is the perfect person to pray to. Why? Notice Hebrews 2:18 “18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”. The word “succour” means to aid, help or lead them that are tempted. Because he was tempted and was victorious. He can help you in your temptations. Hebrews 4:15 “15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”. And what is a time of need? There in the context it is temptation. “15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”. He was tempted but the difference was that he was without sin. I’m not saying every specific sin but every temptation you felt, he was tempted the same way yet without sin. “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”. Because here’s the truth. When Jesus is leading you, he will lead you not into temptation and he will deliver you from evil. So just know that when you’re walking into temptation, that’s not Jesus leading you. That’s you leading you. You’re making those decisions. Every man when he’s tempted, don’t say you’re tempted of God. No, you’re drawn away and enticed of your own lust. So what should we do? We should stop and say “I’ve been leading myself Lord. Would you start leading me? Because when you lead me you’ll deliver me from evil.”.
Jesus tells us not to worry so much about your prayer requests. There’s nothing wrong with the prayer requests. “7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”. But just realize that your Heavenly Father already knows what you have need of even before you ask. So we might ask “Well why ask if he already knows what we need?”. Jesus shows and explains to us to remember that our Father is intimate and infinite. Here’s why. You should pray to remember that you’re not building your own kingdom but you’re building his kingdom. You’re not pushing your own agenda but you’re pursuing his agenda. And then when we finally get to the prayer requests, he said “No, I’m not taking prayer requests. I’m teaching you how to pray.”.
Because here’s the truth. You cannot be covetous and greedy while getting on your knees every day and praying “Give us this day our daily bread”. You cannot be covetous and greedy while getting on your knees and praying every day “Give me neither poverty nor riches”. Or let me say it this way. You cannot be those things and pray those things without being a hypocrite. Because here’s the truth. You can’t get on your knees and say “Forgive us our debts” while you’re unwilling to forgive your debtors. You cannot get on your knees and say “and lead us not into temptation” while you’re planning on going into temptation later on that day. And even our requests have more to do with us aligning ourselves to God then God aligning himself to us. So Jesus ends the prayer where he began in verse 13. “13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”. How do we end this model prayer? Here’s how. God is high, holy and lifted up. And my job is to align myself to him and not vice versa.
Let’s pray.