Adult Sunday School Lesson - 9:45am 10/23/11

Praying As God's People

Matthew 6:5-15

1. The Right And Wrong Ways to Pray (Matthew 6:5-8)
1. Pray to be heard by god alone (Matthew 6:5-6)
1. Jesus warns against using prayer to display one's righteousness to men
2. Jesus warned against being a hypocrite (an actor under an assumed character) in prayer. Hypocrites prayed not because they were pious but because they wanted others to think them pious.
3. What results from a hypocrites prayer? They have their reward; the praise of men only. They receive nothing further from Jesus.
4. Jesus teaches us that we're to pray in secret (vs 6). He is not condemning all public prayer though. His point is that secret prayer is more likely to be sincere prayer and less likely to tempt us to spiritual pride.
5. Jesus will reward openly what he hears in secret. 
2. Pray straightforwardly (Matthew 6:7-8)
1. Jesus instructs us to avoid vain repetitions (stammering, babbling). Ironically, the model prayer is often used in this way (vs 7).
2. We have no reason to pray in this way because God already knows what we have need of. As a result, one may say, "why pray at all?" Our prayer is worship. When we pray we declare our utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. When we pray we show that we recognise our need and are trusting Him to meet it.
3. Jesus is not condemning long persistent prayers (Luke 18:1). Nor is He discouraging all repetition (Matthew 26:39-44). He is stating clearly that God has no reason that we should "inform" Him of our need as if He is not aware.
2. The Model Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)
1. Reverence and submission (Matthew 6:9-10)
1. Jesus is not giving us a "prayer book" to repeat verbatim. He is merely including all the elements that God honours.
2. Our Father-Our prayer is the prayer of one who is spiritually the children of God through the atoning work of Jesus as our Saviour.
3. Which Art in Heaven-this sets God apart from all others.
4. Hallowed Be Thy Name-this refers to more than just His name. It includes the whole of His character.
5. We should pray for the coming of His kingdom in power and glory. His will not be done in a complete manner until He returns. We are to perform God's will whilst on earth as he gives us power to do so through prayer.
2. Petition for daily needs (Matthew 6:11)
1. Although God is holier and mightier than all He is extremely concerned for our daily needs 
2. Our prayer then should be that Jesus provide for our needs not our luxuries. 
3. Petition for deliverance from sin (Matthew 6:12-13)
1. A praying disciple duly recognises the holiness of God and the complete unworthiness of self. We must plead for His grace to remove this barrier to prayer.
2. We should be proactive and pray that God would not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. We will never offer up this portion of the model prayer unless we realise we are weak and likely to fall given the right circumstances.
3. Unforgiveness Blocks Our Prayers (Matthew 6:14-15)
1. The importance of forgiveness 
2. How can we expect God to honour our requests for forgiveness if we harbour an unforgiving attitude in our hearts toward others?
3. God has given us a wonderful avenue of access to Him and He delights in our sincere prayers. We must approach Him with a pure, humble heart.