The Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:5-15

I used to say it every Sunday in church. I often heard it sung. It is called the Lord’s prayer and I have no doubt he prayed it. But I agree with Martin Luther that the prayer is not the exact words to be used every time we pray but rather a model or paradigm for our prayers, a guide to help us have a good conversation with God.

Jesus is so smart.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:5–15, ESV)

One secret of great preaching is being able to illuminate the principles from God’s Word with practical examples. Jesus is teaching his disciples that praying can’t be for the purpose of making yourself look good. There is not reward in that. The prayer that is rewarded is the prayer that is conversation for God alone. You can have that kind of conversation in a public prayer, and Jesus often did (Matthew 11:25-27; 14:19; John 11:30-45; John 17). But you must overcome the temptation to sound good to whoever is listening and make sure you sound good to God.

And prayer cannot be intended to manipulate God, though that is a great temptation also. Multiplying words, or using flowery words, or praying with greatly intensified words, or whatever way we try to get God to respond to us is a slap in God’s face, treating Him as if He doesn’t already care for us and want to answer us, treating Him as if He is pliable to our silly devices.

How should we pray then? Jesus gives us an example. It is short. It is to the point. It involves confessing our sins, something most suited to private prayer. And it starts us where we need to start, focusing on God and His plans for the world, not our own. It puts our prayer in the context of God’s big story, the most appropriate context for us to pray.

This is not to say that I cannot pray singular portions of this prayer as needed. If I am in danger I don’t have to go through the whole paradigm before I can ask for help. This isn’t that kind of paradigm. It isn’t a straight jacket of how I need to pray if God is going to answer me. It is a guide for normal conversation with God, helping me make sure my relationship with God is healthy.

If you have a relationship with someone in which you only ask them for things, that isn’t healthy. If you only confess your sins to them, that isn’t healthy. If you only praise them, that isn’t healthy. God wants our whole life and He knows what our whole life needs. That is the genius of this prayer guide from Jesus.