Matthew 6

The Lords Prayer

Matthew 6:9-10

carries the risk of upsetting, or offending, audiences

Digital Cinema Media, 2015. (use)

Thoughts and prayers: A useless phrase uttered in times of sorrow or tragedies. Requires the bare minimum of effort because they are too lazy to get involved and actually do something physical to help with the situation at hand but want to come across as if they actually care.

Dikodomy, 2016. Urban Dictionary: Thoughts and prayers. (use)

It has much in a little, and it is requisite that we acquaint ourselves with the sense and meaning of it, for it is used acceptably no further than it is used with understanding and without vain repetition. [Matthew 6:9-15].

Henry, M., 1706. Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible (complete). (use)

It [the Lords Prayer] is simple enough to be memorised by small children and yet profound enough to sustain a whole lifetime of prayer.

Welby, J. & Sentamu, J. 2018. The Lord’s Prayer | The Church of England. (use)

Matthew 6:9

This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honoured; (use)

We can start by praying for them [refugees], confident that the God who reigns sovereign over all people has ordained prayer as a means by which we can participate with him in the accomplishment of his purposes in the world. [pg. 223]

Platt, D., 2017. Counter Culture: Following Christ in an Anti-christian Age. (use)

* An personal instruction to pray * To an identified holy God * With a known location * With a certainty of success

But to who, Father.

The claim of the gospel

Luke 3:34,38

...the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,... ...the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (use)

Matthew 3:17

Then a voice said from heaven, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased." (use)

God Father of All

Job 12:10

It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power. (use)

Malachi 2:10

Don't we all have the same father? Didn't the same God create us all? Then why do we break our promises to one another, and why do we despise the covenant that God made with our ancestors? (use)

Acts 17:29

Since we are God's children, we should not suppose that his nature is anything like an image of gold or silver or stone, shaped by human art and skill. (use)

You may have your own personal idea of God, but does God have his own personal idea of you? Because that's what matters. Whether he's an old man with a white beard sitting in the sky, or a life force, or a disinterested prime mover, or a clockmaker, or a woman, or a nebulous moral force, or nothing at all, what counts is what he, she, it or nothing thinks of you rather than you of them.

Barnes, J. 2008. Nothing to be Frightened of. Jonathan Cape Ltd. (use)

An Ancient Title

Exodus 4:22

Then you must tell him that I, the LORD , say, "Israel is my firstborn son". (use)

2 Samuel 7:14

I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him as a father punishes his son. (use)

Isaiah 64:8

But you are our father, LORD . We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us, (use)

Isaiah 9:6

A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, "Wonderful Counsellor", "Mighty God", "Eternal Father", "Prince of Peace". (use)

Psalm 89:26

He [David] will say to me, ‘You are my father and my God; you are my protector and saviour.’ (use)

May your name be holy

Psalm 51:4-5

I have sinned against you — only against you — and done what you consider evil. So you are right in judging me; you are justified in condemning me. I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful. (use)

Ezekiel 36:22-23

Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the Sovereign LORD, have for them: what I am going to do is not for the sake of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have disgraced in every country where you have gone. When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great name — the name you disgraced among them — then they will know that I am the LORD. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy. (use)

Habakkuk 1:13

But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are? (use)

Thus, the necessity for the atonement of Christ finds its genesis, in the first instance, in the character of God. Because He is holy and righteous, He cannot excuse sin. Rather, He must pass judgment on it. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Therefore, He must punish sinners—or provide a way to atone for their sin.

Sproul, R.C., 2007. The Truth of the Cross. (use)

Romans 5:8

But God has shown us how much he loves us — it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! (use)

A Personal Invitation

It is not the horizontal ties, within this fellowship, that we opt to be bound by that bring us into Gods family. But rather, our cry as destitute dependents to the head of the family for forgiveness, restoration and all things. And having cried out we discover a place has been long set, forgiveness granted and a father awaiting our arrival.

Unknown (use)

Galatians 3:26

It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. (use)

Romans 8:15

For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, "Father! my Father!" (use)

And when Jesus named the one he loved and served as "Father," that word declared authoritative love, care, direction, provision and protection - fatherhood to perfection, as we might say.

Packer, J.I., 2013. Taking God Seriously. IVP. (use)

1 Peter 1:17

You call him Father, when you pray to God, who judges all people by the same standard, according to what each one has done; so then, spend the rest of your lives here on earth in reverence for him. (use)

In the Cross, Christ not only bridged the gap between God and us, but there we find the answers to life’s deepest questions. There we discover our true identity: forgiven sinners who now belong to God. There we discover our true destiny: a glorious eternity with God in Heaven. There we discover our true purpose: to love God and serve Him with all our might. [pg.43 Billy Graham]

Graham, B., Lucado, M., Lotz, A.G., Omartian, S., 2007. Blessings of the cross. J. Countryman. (use)

Driven by the fame Of his Father’s name.

Piper, J., 2013. The Calvinist. (use)

Matthew 6:10

may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (use)

A kingdom to come

Acts 1:6-7

When the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?" Jesus said to them, "The times and occasions are set by my Father's own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be. (use)

Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach his message: "Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near!" (use)

Matthew 21:31

Which one of the two did what his father wanted?" "The elder one," they answered. So Jesus said to them, "I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you. (use)

Luke 17:20-21

Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, "The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’; because the Kingdom of God is within you." (use)

Matthew 25:34

Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. ' (use)

Luke 12:31

Instead, be concerned with his Kingdom, and he will provide you with these things [eat and drink]. (use)

 In a dark confused world the kingdom of God may yet reign in the hearts of men.

Martin Luther King Jr., 1964. Nobel Lecture: The Quest for Peace and Justice. (use)

Revelation 21:3-7

Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children. And he said, "It is done! I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it. Then the one who sits on the throne said, "And now I make all things new!" He also said to me, "Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted." I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: "Now God's home is with human beings! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared." (use)

A will to be done

Isaiah 46:10

From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do. (use)

A new and better age will not be inaugurated until the Second Coming of Christ, who is the only one capable of cleaning up the mess. No amount of human effort can hasten that day, or ultimately save a doomed world. For this reason, social activism was deemed irrelevant to the most essential task: the work of preparing oneself, and helping others prepare, for final judgment.

Gerson, M., 2018. Trump and the Evangelical Temptation. (use)

Ephesians 2:10

God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do. (use)

Romans 14:23

But if they have doubts about what they eat, God condemns them when they eat it, because their action is not based on faith. And anything that is not based on faith is sin. (use)

Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of good intention.

Westminster Divines,. 1646. The Westminster Confession of Faith. (use)

Man is immortal till his work is done

Whitefield, G. (use)

On earth as it is in heaven

Ephesians 1:19-23

...and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next. God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere. (use)

Hebrews 7:25

And so he is able, now and always, to save those who come to God through him, because he lives for ever to plead with God for them. (use)

Hebrews 8:1

The whole point of what we are saying is that we have such a High Priest, who sits at the right of the throne of the Divine Majesty in heaven. (use)

Romans 8:26

In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. (use)

Romans 8:34

Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right-hand side of God, pleading with him for us! (use)