At long last, we have come to a passage we have been looking forward to ever since we began the Sermon on the Mount. Having come to Matthew 6:9 means, we have come to the Lord’s Prayer. Without a doubt this is the most famous prayer in history. Ever since these words were first uttered they have been deeply woven into the fabric of Christian experience. If we took a poll and asked what the top three most important practices are for a Christian, most everybody would include prayer in the list. And this is right, to the Christian prayer is like breathing. It is a matter of first importance. Yet prayer is also a matter most of us feel bad about. Most Christians carry a measure of guilt around their prayer life, for not doing it when we know we should, or for being bad at it when we feel we should be better at it by now, or for simply avoiding learning more about it. We all know we need to grow in our prayer life. But how do we do so? Thankfully, Jesus helps us greatly in the Lord’s Prayer.
Some introductory matters are in order as we come to the Lord’s Prayer.
First, I think of history. For most of Church History Christians only had one plan and one method of discipleship. From the newest of converts to the most mature saints, all Christians would be trained in three chief articles of our faith: the Apostles Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. These three formed the bedrock of all Christian doctrine and practice. This was the norm from the early Church up until 1700-1800’s. That the modern Church has by and large abandoned this discipleship method doesn’t speak too well of us. We think we know better how to grow, yet all along it is these foundational matters that have fed the life of the Church ever since its beginning. Indeed, we have much to learn from our brothers and sisters of ages past.
Second, I think of intentions. Reading the Lord’s Prayer makes me want to ask, what is Jesus’ intention here? Does Jesus intend this prayer to be a formula, where we say these exact words every single time we pray? Or does He intend it to be a kind of pattern to guide us and expand upon in prayer? While many fall on one side or the other here, I think both answers are correct. These words can truly be an exact formula for us, to memorize, to repeat, to say again and again. In this sense the Lord’s Prayer is similar to the Psalms and prayer books like The Valley of Vision where we have already written prayers for our benefit. One benefit of this is that you never need to guess if your prayer is pleasing to the Lord or not, because the Lord Himself gave us these words. But these words in the Lord’s Prayer are so intentionally well ordered that they reveal to us a true pattern which should be present in all our prayer. It begins with adoration, moves to God’s glory, and concludes with man’s good. So whether we say it exactly or use it as a guide, the Lord’s prayer is an excellent summary of all praying.
Third, I think of the wonder and the danger of the Lord’s Prayer. On one hand the wonder of these words is hard to fathom. This is the Master Himself teaching us, and everyone wants to learn from a master. Think about that. If you wanted to master a certain skill and you could ask anyone, all of us would choose a teacher who we thought was the best. If you want to learn how to shoot a basketball, you ask Michael Jordan. If you want to learn how to throw a baseball, you ask Nolan Ryan. If you wanted to learn about physics, you ask Einstein. If you wanted to learn to play the piano, you ask Johann Sebastian Bach. And on, and on. How much more important is the discipline and the delight of prayer? Here we don’t have a pastor teaching us, we don’t have a missionary teaching us, we don’t even have a famous theologian of old teaching us. Here the Lord teaches us Himself saying “Pray then like this…” The wonder of this is truly hard to fathom.
But on the other hand, these words are dangerously familiar. Many Christians have heard these words so much that they’ve lost their wonder. If you grew up in a tradition that is more liturgical (Catholic, Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc.) you’ve likely heard this prayer every single week during worship.[1] Many of you here have come up in environments like that, and you hated it, and for that reason alone the Lord’s Prayer leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Or perhaps you came up in a non-liturgical setting that didn’t recite these words at all, but you’ve read these words yourself time and time again in your own study. Either way, the danger is in the old adage, familiarity breeds contempt. Yet is not that old adage familiar as well? Let’s critique it for a moment. There are loads of things we do every time we gather for worship. We sing, we pray, we hear sermons, we come to the Lord’s Table, we give offerings, we hear about missions, we sing the doxology, and more. While we can do these things badly and while church leaders can lead through these things poorly, usually a problem with familiarity regarding things we do in the Christian life doesn’t reveal a problem with those things, but a problem with us.
So whether you, in this moment, see the wonder of these words or feel cold to these words, whether you currently feel great about your devotion to prayer or terrible at your lack of prayer, it is my prayer that as we slowly walk through the Lord’s Prayer God would not only 1) teach us how to pray, but would 2) increase our desire and eagerness to pray.
Now, coming nearer to the text itself…most Bible readers are puzzled that there are two passages in the gospels called the Lord’s Prayer, the one here before us in Matthew 6 and one in Luke 11. A simple explanation of the two versions of the Lord’s Prayer is that Jesus taught the same things many times, in many places, and didn’t always use the same words.[2] In Luke 11 the disciples ask Jesus how to pray and in response to their question Jesus teaches them the Lord’s Prayer. Here in Matthew 6 Jesus is right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and He’s teaching not just on the right practice of praying, but on the right practice of giving and fasting too, explaining the difference between hypocrisy and sincerity. That’s the difference and similarity between these two versions.
Yet, in both versions of the Lord’s Prayer notice what Jesus doesn’t mention.[3] He doesn’t teach on how long we’re to pray, the time of day we pray, what we should feel as we pray, or what we should do while we pray: stand, sit, kneel, lie down, eyes open, eyes shut, hands folded, or hands held high. Jesus doesn’t teach on any of that here. Rather He teaches about what we should pray. The content of prayer and the posture of our hearts matter more to Jesus than what our bodies are doing while we pray.
Now to the prayer itself. We’ll take it slow, walking through it phrase by phrase. Today we begin looking only to v9a, “Our Father in heaven…” Three words form our three headings today, see first…
“Our…”
Though this little word is only three letters it carries a wagonload of importance for us as to how we understand the practice of prayer. We’re to be a people who pray much by ourselves in secret, as we saw in 6:1-8, but this little word Our moves us beyond ourselves and links us up with others. Not others in general, not just our families, but all other believers who also seek the Lord in prayer. So this one word teaches us to not merely pray for ourselves or to think of ourselves as an isolated individual believer, this word Our teaches us to pray as one member of the large family that is the Church throughout all the ages.
This is how the prayer begins. This small word and short point redirects our attention to pray with, alongside, and for others. That’s the first word to see. Second, see the word that comes next…
“Our Father…”
Here is a hefty encouragement. Jesus teaches us address God in prayer with the word Father. I think this does refer to God the Father, that the Father is to be the One we address in prayer, as opposed to praying to the Son or praying to the Spirit. I’m not one to say we can never pray to the Son or Spirit, but I do think Jesus shows here our main method of prayer is calling out to the Father. This is shown to us all throughout the NT as well. There we find the pattern of prayer is addressing the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Spirit.
Now, that we call God Father is of mammoth importance because it brings to our attention the heavenly affection God has toward His own, which then encourages us as His children to draw near Him in prayer with confidence in His Fatherly goodness.
Addressing God as Father in prayer is probably not something new to you, but it was new, stunningly new, to those who were hearing Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount. In the OT and in Jesus’ own day it was the norm to begin prayer with God’s greatness and majesty using the word Lord. This word Lord is either found in all caps (when the divine name Yahweh was used) or just with the capital L (when the name Adonai was used). What you barely find at all in the OT is prayer beginning by addressing God as Father. In all of the OT God is only referred to as Father 14 times, and in each of those instances God is being called the Father of the nation of Israel.[4] One example of this is Isaiah 64. After confessing their many sins God’s people cry out to Him in Isaiah 64:8-9 saying, “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter, we are all the work of your hand. Be not terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not our sins forever.” This is a good example of how the God’s people, as a nation, would use the word Father in prayer in the Old Covenant.
Everything changed when Jesus came on the scene, because in every prayer of His He only addresses God as Father. He does this in the gospels more than 60 times, and its present in the whole of the NT 245 times. This is so striking a shift one commentator said this one word ‘Father’ marks the essential difference between the Old and the New Testament.[5] Someone might object to this saying, ‘Jesus only referred to God in this way because Jesus is unique being the eternal Son of God, so the word Father is fitting for Him to use.’ This is correct initially. As the eternal Son it is entirely fitting for Him to use the word Father in prayer. But it’s also fitting for every single Christian because God has become our Father through the gospel. Galatians 4:4-7 makes this clear, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” So through the gospel, the enemies of God become precious sons and treasured daughters of God, who prove their adoption by calling out to God as Father in prayer.
The Heidelberg Catechism also displays this wonderfully. In question 120 it asks, “Why has Christ commanded us to address God as Our Father? Answer: To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer that childlike reverence and trust toward God which should be basic to our prayer: God has become our Father through Christ and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in faith than our fathers would refuse us earthly things.” Or as Jesus said in Matthew 7, “…which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Church, how blessed we are, once outsiders and strangers now children seated at His table, having the privilege of addressing God as Father, enjoying the benefits of being in His house, and knowing that a great inheritance awaits us?!
But I know this is hard for some people to hear that God is Father because the word Father is not always a good word for everyone, nor is the word home. Some of you have had horrible homes with horrible fathers who showed no love, no care, no protection, who left and abandoned you, hurt and abused you. If that’s your story, I know the Fatherhood of God can be hard. But I’d also say that you’re in a prime position to enjoy and love the Fatherhood of God more than others, because once you come to Christ and come into the family you’ll immediately know the great difference between all earthly fathers and God our Father. He is perfect. He will never wound, abuse, or abandon. In His loving arms none go astray, and none are lost, for He holds and keeps us forever.
So, when Jesus begins the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father…” he sets a pattern for all of us in our own praying. But God is not just “Our Father”, see the rest of this first phrase, He’s…
“Our Father in Heaven…”
Here also is hefty encouragement. God is omnipresent, yes, so He is truly everywhere. But He is present in heaven in a special sense. For heaven, not earth, is where His throne is.[6] Heaven is a high and exalted place, so at the very beginning of all our prayer we ought to remember the God we’re praying to is Himself high and exalted, infinitely above us, far greater than us, so much so that though all our problems might seem large to us, everything in our lives is small to God. Ecclesiastes 5:2 states this well, “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.” Curious, isn’t it? Prayer itself is a discipline that requires words. Yet, the One to whom we pray in heaven is so great, that our words must be few. What does this mean?
Well, if the word Father fills us up with thoughts of the love and kindness of God, the words in heaven fill us up with thoughts of the greatness and majesty of God. Yes, God is our Father in the gospel and we are at home in Him…but our Father is almighty in strength, terrible in splendor, and brighter than a million suns.
We must not fall off to either side here. The Jews of Jesus day always began their prayer with God’s sovereign greatness and not His love, while much of the modern Church makes the opposite error, always beginning their prayer with God’s love and not His greatness.[7] Knowing He is Our Father invites us to draw near to Him in prayer, but knowing He is Our Father in heaven reminds us that when we draw near to Him and pour out our hearts to Him in prayer He’s actually able to do the things we ask of Him. Truly, no one is stronger than the Lord.
Conclusion:
So let’s sum up. To pray beginning with the word Our we remember we’re not alone, but part of a vast family, and should pray not just for ourselves but for all in His house. When we pray addressing God as Our Father we’re reminded of God’s care and love for His children, seen most clearly in the gospel of His Son, our Lord Jesus. And yet praying to God as Our Father in heaven reminds us God is far above us all seated in the place of authority and rule and might.
This is how we pray. What a gift this Lord’s Prayer is to us!
Be encouraged Church.
“God in His almightiness is looking at you with a holy love and knows your every need. He hears your every sigh and loves you with an everlasting love. He desires nothing so much as your blessing, your happiness, your joy…Remember…He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask of think. As Our Father in heaven He is much more anxious to bless you than you are to be blessed. There is no limit to His almighty power. He can bless you with all the blessings of heaven. He has put them all in Christ, and put you into Christ. So your life can be enriched with all the glory and riches of the grace of God.”[8]
[1] Perhaps non-liturgical churches have even made an overcorrection here, avoiding this prayer altogether because some traditions use it so much.
[2] Kevin DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer: Learning from Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022) 13.
[3] DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer, 14.
[4] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount – The Message of the Kingdom: PTW (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001) 158.
[5] Hughes, 159.
[6] A.W. Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1953) 161.
[7] Hughes, 162.
[8] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grands Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1971) 2:56.
