Pray as Jesus Taught (Matthew 6:9-13)

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Pray as Jesus Taught (Matthew 6:9-13)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, March 30, 2025

I heard about this man that was walking on the beach. God said, “Son, you’ve been so faithful, I’m going to grant you one special wish.” He was so excited, he said “God, I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii but I’m afraid to fly, so my wish is that you would build me a bridge across the ocean”. God said, “Son, that’s totally impossible! Think of the logistics of that. Now, take some time and wish again!”.

He said, “Okay God, I’ve been married four times. All my ex-wives say I’m so insensitive. So, my wish is that I’d be able to understand a woman. I wanna know why they think like they think, why they feel like they feel.” There was a long pause, God said, “Do you want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge?”

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” That may be the prayer that you learned when you were a child. When I was in preschool, I learned: “God is great, God is good, God we thank you for this food, Amen.” We might have learned these prayers because we grew up in homes or had extended family to teach us to pray. Others may not have had that privilege:

In the passage we will examine, Jesus teaches the disciples to pray. For the last several weeks, we have been discussing the letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. Why? We have been in the season of Lent. Lent is a period of preparation for Easter, and Easter is about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Typically, during Lent, Christians focus on repentance. What is the theme of those letters? Repentance. A theme is staying close to Jesus. Today, we will shift to prayer. For the next two Sundays, I want to focus on praying like Jesus. Today, we use the memorable, Lord’s Prayer. Next Sunday, we will use John 17 and Jesus’s High Priestly prayer.

Jesus teaches the disciples a meaningful order for prayer.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13 and read this passage with me.

Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)

9 Pray then like this:

                  “Our Father in heaven,

                  hallowed be your name.

         10       Your kingdom come,

                  your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

         11       Give us this day our daily bread,

         12       and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

         13       And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

My theme today is: Pray like Jesus.

  1. Context:
    • This passage is also found in Luke 11.
    • In Luke 11:1, it says that Jesus was praying in a certain place and then the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.
    • Actions speak louder than words. The disciples saw Jesus’ actions. They saw Jesus praying often, and they saw the miracles that He did. In Luke 9:28ff, they saw the transfiguration. In Luke 9:12ff, they saw Jesus feed 5000. In Luke 8:40ff and 49-56, they saw Jesus heal Jairus’ daughter. In Luke 8:43ff, they saw Jesus heal a woman with an issue of blood simply because she touched His garment. In Luke 8:22ff, they saw Jesus still the sea. In Luke 4:31ff, they saw or heard about Jesus casting out demons in Capernaum. They had also seen Jesus praying a lot: in Mark 1:35, after Jesus had healed many people He retreated to a secluded place to pray. The disciples likely connected prayer with the miracles. So, they ask Jesus to teach them to pray.
    • The question is: In the context of Jesus’ life, is the passage in Luke the same as the passage in Matthew? That is possible. It is also possible that Jesus taught this more than once. This was important to Jesus.
  2. Let’s look at the passage.
    1. Notice in verse 9 that Jesus says, “Pray then in this way.” This is important. Jesus didn’t say, “Pray these words.” No, Jesus was giving a pattern, an order for our prayers.
    2. For us to grasp the significance of this we must look at the verses preceding this passage.
    3. Jesus started teaching about prayer in verse 5. Notice in verse 7 Jesus said do not use “meaningless repetition as the gentiles do.” The key word is “meaningless.”
    4. There is nothing wrong with occasionally reciting this prayer in corporate worship, but we must be careful of meaningless repetition. That is exactly what Jesus was going against. He taught them this order of prayer.
    5. Greek prayers piled up as many titles of the deity addressed as possible, hoping to secure his or her attention. Pagan prayers typically reminded the deity of favors done or sacrifices offered, attempting to get a response from the god on contractual grounds.[1]
    6. Jesus doesn’t condemn long prayers but wants meaningful verbiage.[2]
    7. What I want to communicate is that Jesus taught the disciples a meaningful order for prayer.
  3. Jesus teaches His disciples to start prayer with a worshipful petition.
    1. In the Greek “be Holy” is the same word.
    2. When we are praying as Jesus taught us to pray, we are not simply saying “Lord, Your name is Holy.” We are saying, “Let Your name be holy.” There is a simple difference. The difference is that we are asking God’s name to be revered as holy. The name of the Lord is who He is.
    3. We are asking God’s name to be set apart, sanctified, sacred. This is worship as we are ascribing to God what He is. He is holy.
    4. This is also a petition.
    5. In verse 10, we are praying for God’s Kingdom to come. In verse 10, I see the focus on God. I notice a repeated personal pronoun “you,” or “your” in the English.
    6. Do we realize what we are saying when we use this prayer. This is a powerful line. God’s Kingdom= submission.
    7. “Your Kingdom come.”
    8. “Your will be done.” (second person)
    9. This means that our prayers must not be about us but about God. It starts with God.
    10. Later, forgiveness, daily bread, deliverance from evil, lead us not into temptation, are about us, but still under God.
    11. In this prayer, we are praying for God’s Kingdom to come about. This is a strong prayer. We are praying for His Reign.
    12. This means that we must submit to His rule!
    13. Thomas Watson, a seventeenth century writer, put it in a frightening way, but it’s obviously true. He said when you pray, “Thy will be done,” Jesus is telling you to pray two things. You are praying that you might do diligently all he commands and that you also might submit patiently to all he inflicts. Two things. You’re not only saying, “Oh Lord, may I do diligently all you command.” You’re also saying, “Oh Lord, may I submit patiently to all you inflict.”[3]
    14. Are we ready for the Kingdom to come? Do we mean this request?
    15. God reigns in Heaven; we are asking for God’s reign and will to come about on earth (Heb 1:3; 8:1; 1 Peter 3:22).
    16. So, meaningful prayer starts with a worshipful petition. Meaningful prayer ascribes to God the attributes that He has and we request that He maintains His holiness. Meaningful prayer asks for the Lord’s will not my own. Meaningful prayer asks for His kingdom to come about. Meaningful prayer implies submission to His will and kingdom.
  4. Meaningful prayer includes daily needs.
    1. Verse 11 shows us the second category of meaningful prayer. Meaningful prayer includes requests for our daily needs. Give us this day our daily bread.
    2. Richard Foster, who wrote Celebration of Disciplines, says that this shows that we are allowed to make personal requests in our prayers. If we need a babysitter today, pray for that. If we need help shoveling snow, pray for that. But we pray for what we need, not what we want.
    3. We may have many needs. We could also request for other people’s needs.
    4. A mentor of mine was laid off from work back in the 1970’s. One Sunday they were on their way to church, and it was their day to tithe. His wife asked him if they should tithe their last few dollars. He (Dave) said, “yes, that is the Lord’s money.” They went to church and gave that money in the offering plate. They didn’t tell anyone about their needs. The next day was their daughter’s birthday. That night the wife, Sharon, made a list of what they could use to make a birthday cake. The next day all the items on the list were at their front door.
    5. It is good to ask for our daily needs. God could have dropped those items from Heaven, or He might have led someone to drop them off during the night. God answers prayer.
    6. This may also be able to be translated: “Give us this day our bread for tomorrow.” According to Dr. Stamps, a professor of worship Theology, this had the idea of a servant during the New Testament times receiving bread for the following day from the master. The master would leave this under his bed early in the morning. This was not discovered until the 19th
    7. So, meaningful prayer includes the request for needs.

Request for forgiveness:

      • Verse 12 shows us that a meaningful order of prayer includes a request for forgiveness. Notice that this request implies that we have forgiven others.
      • Richard Foster says that we always must give in order to be able to receive. He says, “It is simply that by the very nature of the created order we must give in order to receive. I cannot, for instance, receive love if I do not give love. People may try to offer me love, but if resentment and vindictiveness fill my heart, their offers will roll off me like water off a duck’s back. If my fists are clenched and my arms folded tightly around myself, I cannot hold anything.”[4]
      • So, we forgive others, and we receive God’s forgiveness.

Deliverance:

        1. In verse 13, Jesus shows that a meaningful order for prayer includes a request not to be led into temptation and deliverance from evil.
        2. God does not tempt (James 1:13).
        3. But God will test us. Richard Foster says: “In praying this we are saying: ‘Lord, may there be nothing in me that will force you to put me to the test in order to reveal what is in my heart.’”[5] The Lord can also intervene so that satan doesn’t tempt us.
        4. But God can strengthen us through tests:
        5. Tim Keller shares: When coal goes under pressure, it turns into a diamond. When your tests come upon you, if you respond with honesty, if you respond with compassion, if you respond with unselfishness, if you respond with faithfulness, it’ll just turn you into a diamond. It’s not the circumstance, it’s not the difficulties that are your trouble. If you respond to your situation with impatience, with faithlessness, with bitterness, with selfishness, it’ll ruin you. Don’t you see? You won’t be a diamond; you’ll be powde[6]
        6. Deliver us from evil is deliverance from the devil.

So, that is it. That is a meaningful pattern of prayer as opposed to the meaningless repetitions that the others were praying.

  • We must start prayer with worshipful petitions.
  • We must move on to requests for our needs.
  • We must then request forgiveness.
  • We then request deliverance from evil and that the Lord keeps us from the test or temptation.

This meaningful order of prayer implies that prayer is very important. Remember, Jesus taught the disciples to pray and Jesus modeled a prayer life.

As we continue this Lenten season, I exhort you to pray like Jesus taught us to pray.

[1]Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Mt 6:7). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

[2] ver•biage \ˈvər-bē-ij also -bij\ noun

[French, from Middle French verbier to chatter, from verbe speech, from Latin verbum word]

(circa 1721)

1 : a profusion of words usually of little or obscure content 〈such a tangled maze of evasive verbiage as a typical party platform —Marcia Davenport〉

2 : manner of expressing oneself in words : diction 〈sportswriters guarded their verbiage so jealously —Raymond Sokolov〉

Merriam-Webster, I. (1996, c1993). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (10th ed.). Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.

[3] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[4] Richard Foster’s book on Prayer page 186-187

[5] Richard Foster on prayer page 189

[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

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