Sermons and Sermon Outlines

The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus’ teaching for His disciples about prayer – both foundational to all Christian praying and also connected with all biblical prayers – eg “Hallowed be Your name” is deeply connected with all OT prayers of praise and adoration of God our King
Yet Jesus’ prayer is uniquely our Christian family prayer:
1. FATHER – this is at the very centre of the prayer – a word that speaks about a relationship of “Father” with “children” – this is Jesus’ prayer for those who belong to His eternal family
2. Father in heaven – not only an “address” word (i.e. about where God lives) but also a “distance” word (i.e. distinguishing His place from ours) – yet through Jesus’ teaching, we learn how God in “heaven” desires to be connected with His people on “earth” through our praying
3. Our/us – praying both for those we know but also for “all the saints” (Eph.6:18) – and also praying for our own personal needs
Jesus’ prayer focuses upon six requests – this teaches us that at the very heart of Christian prayer is God’s invitation to present our requests to God – “asking” is a positive word in our Christian prayer language – in this way God reveals Himself as our Father who delights us His children His good and abundant gifts
Jesus’ prayer is divided into two sections – giving Christian prayer a definite order of priority:

Core request	God’s character	Stance	Attitude	Commentary
May Your name be exalted	Holiness, glory and honour	Worshippers	Reverential worship	God’s name = His character and reputation: who He is, how He acts
May Your Kingdom come	Sovereignty and omnipotence	Citizens	Wholehearted loyalty	God’s Kingdom = His absolute reign now and in the future over all
May Your will be done on earth	Righteousness	Servants	Restful submission	God’s will = His good, pleasing and perfect will
Give us our daily bread	Goodness	Sons / children	Childlike dependency	Daily bread = both our physical, emotional and spiritual needs, eg daily help of God’s Spirit
Forgive us our sins	Grace	Sinners	Honest humility	Our sins = all sin known and unknown including the sins of the heart – based upon our willingness to forgive others
Save us from the tempter	Might	Overcomers	Persevering hope	The evil one = we are in a constant fight with the powers of the kingdom of darkness for which we need God’s divine help and intervention

Conclusion

Prayer is first and foremost about God and His plans and purposes, not primarily about ourselves and our desires and needs
Praying Jesus’ prayer blesses many including ourselves – the sense of privilege that God gives to us to share with Him in His work
So then, what if we don’t pray this prayer?
1. God will continue to work His wonders through the prayers of others – He won’t be frustrated in the accomplishment of His eternal plans
2. However, we will suffer loss and deprive ourselves of the overflowing joy and thanksgiving through sharing in our Father’s plans and work through our prayers
Our response:
1. Be faithful in prayer (Rom.12:12c) – keep constant in making these requests to Father
2. Be full of faith in prayer (Matt.21:22) – keep constant in faith, believing in God that He is answering these prayers in ways that far exceed our farthest imaginations

Graham Roberts

Hornsby, NSW, Australia

May 28, 2007