The Lord's Prayer

Jesus Teaches About Giving

¹“Be careful! When you do good things, don’t do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:1 (NCV)

²“When you give to the poor, don’t be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets in the synagogues and on the streets so that people will see them and honor them. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward.

Matthew 6:2 (NCV)

³So when you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know what you are doing.

Matthew 6:3 (NCV)

⁴Your giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

Jesus Teaches About Prayer

Matthew 6:4 (NCV)

⁵“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward.

Matthew 6:5 (NCV)

⁶When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

Matthew 6:6 (NCV)

⁷“And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words.

Matthew 6:7 (NCV)

⁸Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:8 (NCV)

⁹So when you pray, you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name always be kept holy.

Matthew 6:9 (NCV)

¹⁰ May your kingdom come

and what you want be done,

here on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10 (NCV)

¹¹ Give us the food we need for each day.

Matthew 6:11 (NCV)

¹² Forgive us for our sins,

just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.

Matthew 6:12 (NCV)

¹³ And do not cause us to be tempted,

but save us from the Evil One.’

Matthew 6:13 (NCV)

¹⁴Yes, if you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also forgive you for your sins.

Matthew 6:14 (NCV)

¹⁵But if you don’t forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.

Jesus Teaches About Worship

Matthew 6:15 (NCV)

¹⁶“When you give up eating,^ don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They make their faces look sad to show people they are giving up eating. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward.

Matthew 6:16 (NCV)

¹⁷So when you give up eating, comb your hair and wash your face.

Matthew 6:17 (NCV)

¹⁸Then people will not know that you are giving up eating, but your Father, whom you cannot see, will see you. Your Father sees what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

God Is More Important than Money

Matthew 6:18 (NCV)

¹⁹“Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them.

Matthew 6:19 (NCV)

²⁰But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them.

Matthew 6:20 (NCV)

²¹Your heart will be where your treasure is.

Matthew 6:21 (NCV)

²²“The eye is a light for the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

Matthew 6:22 (NCV)

²³But if your eyes are evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, then you have the worst darkness.

Matthew 6:23 (NCV)

²⁴“No one can serve two masters. The person will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.

Don’t Worry

Matthew 6:24 (NCV)

²⁵“So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.

Matthew 6:25 (NCV)

²⁶Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds.

Matthew 6:26 (NCV)

²⁷You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.

Matthew 6:27 (NCV)

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves.

Matthew 6:28 (NCV)

²⁹But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.

Matthew 6:29 (NCV)

³⁰God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don’t have so little faith!

Matthew 6:30 (NCV)

³¹Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’

Matthew 6:31 (NCV)

³²The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them.

Matthew 6:32 (NCV)

³³The thing you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you.

Matthew 6:33 (NCV)

³⁴So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34 (NCV)

SITUATION:

After teaching about happiness and honoring the Law, Jesus taught about giving, praying, and worshiping.

OBSERVATION:

The Lord’s Prayer; a model prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer.

INSPIRATION:

When David says, “I will live in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6), he’s not saying he wants to get away from people. He’s saying that he yearns to be in God’s presence, wherever he is.

David longs to be in God’s house.

I know what you’re thinking: Sure, Max, but he was David. He was the poet and the prince and giant-killer. He didn’t have carpools and diapers and a boss who breathes deadlines like a dragon breathes fire. I’d love to live in God’s house, too, but for the time being, I’m stuck in the real world.

Forgive me, but I beg to differ. You aren’t stuck in the real world. Just the opposite, you are one step away from the house of God. Wherever you are. Whatever time it is. Whether in the office on Thursday or a soccer practice on Saturday, you are only a decision away from the presence of your Father. You need never leave the house of God. You don’t need change your zip code or your neighborhood; all you need to change is your perception.

When your car is stuck in traffic, you can step into the chapel. When the gust of temptation unbalances your stride, step behind the wall of his strength. When the employees belittle you, take a seat in the porch swing next to your Father; he’ll comfort you. Remember, this is no house of stone. You won’t find it on a map. You won’t find it described in a realtor journal.

But you will find it in your Bible. You’ve seen the blueprint before. You’ve read the names of the rooms and recited the layout. You’re familiar with the design, but chances are you never considered it to be a house plan. You viewed the verses as a prayer.

Indeed they are. The Lord’s Prayer. It would be difficult to find someone who hasn’t quoted the prayer or read the words…

Children memorize it. Parishioners recite it. Students study it… but I want to challenge us to do something different I want us to live in it… to view it as the floor plan to our spiritual house. In these verses Christ has provided more than a model for prayer, he has provided a model for living. These words do more than tell us what to say to God; they tell us how to exist with God. These words describe a grand house in which God’s children were intended to live…with him, forever. (From The Great House of God by Max Lucado).

APPLICATION:

Take each section of the Lord’s Prayer and recast it in your own words. Consider what it means to you to have a Father in heaven. What aspects of God’s kingdom can you help to build this week? Who do you need to forgive today? What “food” do you need for today? Live in the Lord’s Prayer today!

EXPLORATION:

Jesus’ Example – Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12, 9:28-29.