Sermon: Rooted in the Sermon on the Mount – Prayers We Avoid – Mt 6.9–13 (2/8/26)
Introduction
Scripture
Turn to Matthew 6.
Why another message on prayer?
In business, there are often just a few small decisions that can make a massive difference in the bottom line.
In the business world they are often called high-ROI decisions.
The change itself may be simple…
But the results can be night and day.
An effective business person figures out those key changes and focuses attention there.
There is a similar kind of decision you can make in your spiritual life.
For many of us, prayer is the most anemic part of our walk with the Lord.
And because the baseline is so low, even a modest improvement can produce a dramatic difference.
If we could strengthen our prayer lives by just 10%, it might:
Revolutionize our spiritual vitality...
Sharpen our spiritual wisdom...
Multiply our spiritual strength...
A small adjustment in prayer could spark renewal in:
Our lives...
Our families...
Our church...
And beyond...
So why listen to another message on prayer?
Because prayer may be the simplest, most overlooked, and highest-impact way for a Christian to strengthen their walk with the Lord.
So, let's do it.
One more prayer message.
Build on last Sunday's message.
At the end of this sermon, we can all be at least 10% more faithful and focused in prayer!
Review and Goal...
Last week...
Last week we took a very practical, hands-on look at the Lord's Prayer.
We learned several ways we could lean on the Lord's Prayer...
We could embrace the Lord's Prayer as a model that trains us to pray.
We could pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day to help extend our God-focus throughout the day.
We could speak the Lord’s Prayer as comfort and encouragement in hardship.
We could use the Lord's Prayer to teach our children and grandchildren about the Lord.
Goal for this message...
The Lord's Prayer is made up of six petitions.
I want to look closely at each petition.
We will find treasure in these verses!
And then I want to show you four things Jesus commands us to pray in these verses that YOU ARE NOT PRAYING FOR!
Scripture
Background...
Lord's Prayer is found here in Matthew 6 and also at the beginning of Luke 11.
Luke 11.1 | He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” (CSB)
Luke 11.2 | He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say, Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. (CSB)
Luke 11.3 | Give us each day our daily bread. (CSB)
Luke 11.4 | And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.” (CSB)
Why does it seem like a line from the Lord’s Prayer is missing in some modern translations?
When many people recite the Lord's Prayer they end it by saying...
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
(That is called the doxology.)
But you may have noticed those words are not in the CSB, which is the Bible translation I use when preaching.
Those words are not in modern translation of the Bible that rely on the earliest Greek manuscripts.
If you look closely in a paper Bible, you will see those words in a footnote.
Is that a big deal?
No.
It is fine if you include those words and fine if you do not.
Many people memorized the Lord's Prayer from the King James Version or the New King James Version of the Bible.
Those words are included in those versions.
Why the difference?
Without getting into the weeds of textual analysis...
When the early church recited the Lord's Prayer together they would add a tag line to end the prayer.
Sort of like how many times today we add "In Jesus's name we pray" at the end of our prayers.
We see this in the Didache, a late first century manual for living out the Christian life that we talked about last week.
Over time (5th century), this add-on made its way into one branch of ancient Greek-language manuscripts.
As scholars have studied earlier and earlier Greek manuscripts, they’ve concluded with a high degree of confidence...
While the doxology is a perfectly biblical and historically meaningful way to end the Lord’s Prayer...
It was not part of Matthew’s original text.
Matthew 6.9 | Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.(CSB)
Our Father...
These two words teach us so much!
A. Prayer is limited to those who have been adopted into the Father's family.
God is not everyone's FATHER in the sense that he loves and cares for them like his children.
We should celebrate that he calls us his sons and daughters!
We should celebrate that he wants us to approach him as our father.
We should celebrate that he promises to treat us as his children.
GOSPEL
B. We should direct our prayers to our Father.
There are examples in the New Testament where Christians direct their prayers to Jesus or sort-of to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 7.59 | “They were stoning Stephen as he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’” (CSB)
2 Corinthians 13.13 | “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (CSB)
The normative pattern for prayer in the New Testament is...
Pray to the Father...
John 16.23 | “Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” (CSB)
Pray through the Son...
Hebrews 7.25 | “He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.” (CSB)
Pray by the Holy Spirit...
Ephesians 6.18 | Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. (CSB)
The most important part of this is that we are not to direct prayers to any other than the Triune God.
We are not to pray to...
Angels
Mary
Saints
Any of those kinds of prayers are completely foreign to biblical Christianity.
In heaven...
These words speak to God's authority.
He is IN HEAVEN.
Heaven is Scripture's shorthand for God's sovereign rule.
Psalm 115.3 | Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases. (CSB)
Daniel 4.35 | All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”(CSB)
Isaiah 66.1 | “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” (CSB)
God who loves us like a Father also rules like a King.
These words remind us that God rules from above our circumstances.
When crisis comes, you will often hear people say, "God is not meeting in emergency session."
That is true...
But THE REASON MATTERS.
God is not reacting to events on earth...
He reigns over them from heaven!
Look at this description of how the Lord handles crisis...
Psalm 2.1 | Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? (CSB)
Psalm 2.2 | The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his Anointed One: (CSB)
Psalm 2.3 | “Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.” (CSB)
Psalm 2.4 | “The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.” (CSB)
He is not...
He is not panicked...
He is not surprised...
He is not overwhelmed...
He is not tired...
He is not stressed out...
He is not nervous...
He does not fear...
When we pray IN HEAVEN...
We are lifting our eyes above our frantic lives...
We are recognizing and honoring God as the one who rules from above it all.
Your name be honored as holy...
Or as many of us first memorized this...
Hallowed be your name...
This is the first PETITION in the Lord's Prayer.
The first ASK...
But it is an odd ask.
It does not sound like the petitions that will follow...
Give us today our daily bread...
Forgive our debts...
Do not bring us into temptation...
Deliver us from the evil one...
So, how does this petition work?
It does ask God to do something...
But it also implies that the pray-er will do something.
This petition asks God to cause his name (his reputation) to be recognized and revered as holy.
And this petition implies that our lives should reflect the holiness we are asking God to display.
Romans 2.24 | “For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’” (CSB)
To simplify this as much as we can without distorting it...
We are praying:
God, DISPLAY YOUR HOLINESS.
Display it in your people…
So that our lives do not contradict what we claim to believe.
Display it in your church…
So that the gospel is not obscured by compromise or hypocrisy.
Display it in the world…
So that false pictures of who you are are exposed and corrected.
And we are asking God to remind us of how our lives must honor God as holy…
As Christians, our hypocrisy maligns God’s reputation.
When our words and our lives do not match.
As Christians, our unfaithfulness maligns God’s reputation.
In our marriages…
In our integrity…
In our commitments...
As Christians, our casual obedience maligns God’s reputation.
When holiness becomes optional...
When repentance is delayed...
As Christians, our unloving lives malign God’s reputation.
When we speak harshly…
When we act self-righteously…
When we reflect more of the world than of Christ...
Matthew 6.10 | Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (CSB)
Your kingdom come...
This petition forces us to think carefully about what kind of kingdom we are praying for.
A. God already reigns, but not yet in full visibility.
God is already King.
Psalm 103.19 | The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.(CSB)
And yet Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s kingdom to come.
God’s reign is real…
But not yet fully realized on earth.
Scripture speaks of the kingdom as already / not yet.
Luke 17.21 | “The kingdom of God is among you.” (CSB)
Revelation 11.15 | “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” (CSB)
We are longing for the day when heaven’s reality becomes earth’s reality.
GOSPEL
B. This is a prayer for the spread of God’s saving rule.
God’s kingdom is not political or geographical.
It advances as people repent, believe, and submit to King Jesus.
Matthew 4.17 | “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (CSB)
C. This is a dangerous prayer.
God’s kingdom coming means…
Competing kingdoms must fall.
Our autonomy must shrink.
Colossians 1.13 | He has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. (CSB)
Your will be done...
A. God’s will is perfectly obeyed in heaven.
There is no delay, debate, or resistance.
Psalm 103.20 | Bless the Lord… obedient to his command. (CSB)
B. On earth, God’s will is often resisted.
Sin is the refusal of God’s will.
This prayer is not “Bless my plans”…
It is “Align my life with your will.”
Romans 12.2 | …that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (CSB)
C. This petition requires surrender.
It echoes Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.
Matthew 26.39 | “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (CSB)
On earth as it is in heaven...
Heaven is the pattern.
Not perfection…
But direction.
When we pray this, we are asking God to make…
Our lives…
Our homes…
Our church…
Reflect heaven’s obedience.
To summarize this petition:
God, RULE HERE.
God, REPLACE MY WILL WITH YOURS.
God’s kingdom comes with cost…
But God’s reign is always good.
Matthew 6.11 | Give us today our daily bread. (CSB)
God is the source of our needs.
Bring your needs before the Lord.
Matthew 6.12 | And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (CSB)
The framing of sins as debts...
Sin is not merely a personal failure...
We are not "broken."
Sin is an offense against God.
Sin creates a debt.
What this is not about...
This is a place holder for confession...
This necessarily follows forgiveness to its logical conclusion...
If you will not forgive others, you show you do not understand what and how you have been forgiven.
Matthew 6.13 | And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (CSB)
God does not lead people to temptation...
Humbly admits our weakness and vulnerability...
Expresses our desire for holiness...
Recognizes that we have an enemy...
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
What to Pray for That You Are NOT Praying For
I. Lord, get us through this together.
The Lord's Prayer never says "my."
Christianity is not...
Jesus and me...
My quiet time...
My spiritual journey...
Christianity is...
Shared burdens...
Mutual intercession...
Corporate endurance...
The Lord’s Prayer assumes you belong to a PEOPLE before it ever addresses YOUR problems.
Practical...
Pray with others...
Pray for others...
Ask others to pray...
II. Lord, change my mind.
Notice in the LP that "your will be done" comes before "give us bread."
Jesus orders our desires before our requests...
Too often we just want God to...
Bless our plans...
Endorse our instincts...
Rubber-stamp our decisions...
This prayer says:
Interrupt me...
Correct me...
Overrule me...
Diagnostic question...
What attitude, desire, dream would I have to alter for your will to be done?
A changed mind is often the first answered prayer.
III. Lord, keep me dependent.
Why DAILY bread?
God give me enough answered prayer today so that I can gladly serve you...
But don't give me so much that I'm not desperate to come back to you tomorrow.
Remember, the goal is not to just get us through this life...
The goal is not to need Jesus less...
The goal is to teach us how to live depending on the Lord.
IV. Lord, protect me from sin more than suffering.
Did you notice the Lord's Prayer does not include a petition that says...
Lord, protect me from suffering.
Why?
Jesus knows there are things worse than suffering.
So, the Lord’s Prayer treats sin as the greater danger and suffering as the lesser one.
Not saying suffering is good or pain is insignificant or that we should not ask for relief...
Am saying...
Sin is worse than suffering...
Sin corrupts what suffering cannot destroy...
Faithfulness matters more than comfort...
Suffering may wound us, but sin deforms us.
Conclusion
Last week: Pray the Lord's Prayer often and with others and as a catalyst...
This week: Pray something new!
Pray with others...
Pray for God to change your mind...
Pray for God to keep you dependent...
Pray for God to protect you from sin more than suffering...