Systematic and Biblical Theology in the Lord s Prayer Stage 2 1 of Sermon Preparation for Matthew 6:9-13 Matt Capps Introduction Most of us have heard sermons, talks, or Bible studies, that seem to imply or focus on our defective practices of prayer including how disciplined we are, how lazy, and how lacking resolve. The effect is to make us feel both guilt and discouragement. A terrible legalism seems to surround the subject of prayer. We are cajoled with examples of great saints like Luther or Spurgeon who, it is said, regarded two hours a day in prayer as the norm [but] legalism and emotional blackmail are not the way [to motivate prayer]. 2 The practice of prayer, the power of prayer, the imperatives of prayer, and the potential for prayer seem to dominate most books and teachings on prayer. But focusing on the pragmatics rather than beauty of prayer misses the point. I believe that what motivates prayer is knowing the one to whom we pray. The more aware we become of the one to whom we pray, the more we are drawn to seek his face; the more we seek his face, the more aware we become of the inexhaustible riches of his grace 3. 4 Prayer is simply speaking to God. And in the Lord s Prayer Jesus gives us a model of how to speak to God. The simplicity and brevity of [the Lord s Prayer] is striking, a standing rebuke against all attempts to develop techniques and discover the secret of prayer. 5 Note: I do not think it is a distortion to note that most people, even Christians, think about prayer in terms of what we do and what we need to do. It has become popular to believe, or have this idea, that anything we ask for, if we have enough faith, will be granted. Faith seems to be something that we squeeze out of ourselves like toothpaste out of a tube. 6 Theological Truths in the Lord s Prayer 1. The Address a. Our Father 1 Stage 1 examined the immediate contextual and exegetical material. Stage 2 looks at the passage from the perspective of Systematic and Biblical Theology. Stage 3 will be the filtering of my study homiletically in preparation for preaching. 2 Graeme Goldsworthy, A Biblical-Theological Perspective on Prayer, SBTSJT, 14-15. 3 Edmund P. Clowney, A Biblical Theology of Prayer, beginningwithmoses.org. 4 2 Corinthians 3:18. 5 Eugene H. Peterson, Prayer, DTIB, 617. 6 Graeme Goldsworthy, A Biblical-Theological Perspective on Prayer, SBTSJT, 17.
The foundational presupposition of all prayer is that God reveals himself personally and by means of language. Prayer rises as man s answer to God s address. God speaks to man, and then man responds to God. Both before and after the fall of man, God must address man first, if we are to address him within the bounds of reality because of our rebellion we have no right to access God, and no desire to approach him. 7 To call upon God requires that one must first know God s name. It is God who takes initiative by making his name known. 8 In revealing his name to men, particularly sinful men, God shows the wonder of his grace. He makes himself accessible, opens the door to prayer, and provides a bond that calls to fellowship. That God is known by name implies that he may be personally addressed by his people. 9 Biblical prayer s effectiveness is not based on some formula or by the eloquence of the one praying. Whether formal or informal it addresses God as a person. He alone can enable us to speak freely with him. God has not left us orphaned. 10 Christ gives us access to the father in prayer, and also comes to us in his Spirit to reveal himself as father.. Calling God father is not a common feature in the worship of Israel in the Old Testament. God was called father metaphorically to illustrate his character and actions towards his people, Israel is also called God s Son in the same sense. Jesus is shown to be the one true son who fulfills and upholds what Israel could not, thus he and he alone can be identified as the Son of God in humanity. Therefore, Jesus and only Jesus has the right to truly (not just metaphorically) call God his Father. b. In Heaven In the scripture heaven simply refers to the expanse that is perceived as being above the earth, the sky and heavenly bodies. God is often spoken of being in heaven which highlights his transcendence. From his position of transcendence he acts upon the world as one who is distinct from it God rains fire down from heaven in judgment, but also rains bread from heaven to sustain his people in the wilderness. 11 Beyond that, in the Old Testament God tabernacled with his people in the wilderness and in Jerusalem to show his presence among them (the temple symbolized the abiding dwelling of God). God is distinct and beyond our world, but also chooses to dwell among his people. Prayer is steeped in awareness, often awe filled awareness of the presence of God. 7 Romans 3:11, 23; 5:12. 8 Edmund P. Clowney, A Biblical Theology of Prayer, beginningwithmoses.org. 9 E.P. Clowney, Prayer, NDBT, 691. 10 John 14:18. 11 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 90.
In the Old Testament the tabernacle/temple became the meeting place between God and man. In Jesus we have a greater temple who dwells within us by his spirit and serves as our high priest in heaven as a mediator between God and man. 12 2. The Ascription c. Hallowed be Your Name The word hallow simply means to make holy or to honor as holy (it is the verb form of holy). In the context of this prayer Jesus is simply acknowledging the character of God. Goldsworthy puts it well: If God has promised through the prophets that his name be hallowed and glorified with the coming of the kingdom, and if Jesus declares that this kingdom is now at hand, then the prayer response of the believer is at once and the same time as expression of fact (your name is indeed hallowed now), a longing for this fulfillment (Oh, that your name would be hallowed in the world), and a respectful demand that the promise be delivered (bring glory to your name). 13 Clowney notes that prayer involves a response that has no parallel in human experience. Personal relations on the human are always partial. We sustain roles that can express only partially our own personhood. In relation to God, however, we are naked. Our masks are gone, pretence is useless: the relationship is not partial, but total. All that we are stands in front of a holy God. 3. General Petitions d. Your Kingdom Come. As Jesus began His ministry he declared that the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. 14 Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God. This kingdom is both the rule of God and the realm in which he rules. In the Old Testament this kingdom was revealed as God dwelling with his people in the land he gave them. But as we move into the New Testament, the people, and even the land find its true fulfillment in the person of Jesus. The rule of God is through Jesus and its location is where Jesus it. 15 For Jesus embodies kingdom reality in that he is both God and man in right relationship, he is the Lord who rules but also the obedient subject of God s rule. 12 Hebrews. 13 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 91-92. 14 Mark 1:15. 15 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 92.
The primary prayer of God s people under the Old Covenant is answered: God comes in person. The great prayers for deliverance, for restoration that brings us to God and God to us, are also answered [in Christ]. 16 The Kingdom comes to the present time through the gospel as the Spirit brings people into faith union with the King. The King will also appear in the end of the age to bring in the kingdom universally. Therefore we can assert two things concerning the coming of the kingdom. 1. The Salvation of God s People through His King. 2. Judgment of all who reject His Rule. To pray your kingdom come is to express as identification with the purposes of God in the gospel. We are asserting and at the same time requesting that this great saving goal of God would come to pass. e. Your Will be Done. In a sense, accessing God in prayer implies that we seek to know and do God s will. The background to the coming of King Jesus is the clear declaration of God that his purposes will not be thwarted. God s will is to save a people for himself, and to bring in his kingdom in which his will is perfectly done. This petition responds to the revealed plan and purpose of God God graciously involves us in the working out of his will as his Spirit enables and moves up to pray for that will to be done. 17 When we pray and act according to God s will we humbly trust in the promises of God that these things are indeed going to be. Sometimes in our weakness, we do not know how to pray according to God s will. In our need, the indwelling Holy Spirit is our helper. He prays according to the will of God, for he knows that will. He prays with us as well as for us. He makes our groaning his groaning. 18 As we pray for the means to the end (food, safety, needs, healing), we must be prepared for God s gracious no while we trust in his will. Remember, we have already reached the ultimate goal by our union with the risen and glorified Jesus. It is not faith to demand something that God has not revealed as his will for us. 19 The bible is clear that God s will for us to be conformed to the image of Christ. 20 The detailed path that accomplished this good work is not shown to us in advance, but we can trust that the one who is bringing us to that goal is faithful. Praying does not always mean being sure that the very 16 E.P. Clowney, Prayer, NDBT, 694. 17 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 94. 18 E.P. Clowney, Prayer, NDBT, 695. 19 Graeme Goldsworthy, A Biblical-Theological Perspective on Prayer, SBTSJT, 20. 20 Romans 8:29.
thing we ask for will happen. But it does always mean that because of Jesus we trust God to hear us and help us in the way that seems best to him. 21 f. On Earth as it is in Heaven. This is a plea for the renewal of the earth and all that is in it. Its is a longing for the day promised by God through his prophets in the Old Testament when God finally acts to bring about the new heaven and new earth. In prayer we, as God s people, fix our eyes on the hope of glory. We look to the day when dwell our resurrected bodies, in a renewed universe. As we see in Revelation 21:1-5. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Note: The Already-Not Yet Aspects of the Prayer The Gospel works in the present world as an already-not yet. The kingdom has come in Jesus Christ since he was the God-man, the perfect expression of God in relation to humanity and the world. Now that same kingdom, or rule of God, grows throughout the world through the proclamation of the gospel. This kingdom will never be perfectly here in the people of God because we are not yet fully delivered from our sinful nature. We press towards that goal of sanctification, but it is never perfected in this life. Finally, at the return of Jesus, the kingdom will be fully and perfectly manifested in the world. 22 4. Specific Petitions g. Give us this day our daily bread. To pray for daily bread is a simple recognition that we are physical beings that God has made to be sustained by physical means. We acknowledge the fact that everything we have, our life and our sustenance, is due to the unmerited gift and kindness of God. In Romans 1 we see that failure to honor God and give him thanks is an expression of human wickedness. 21 John Piper, What Jesus Demands of the World, 109. 22 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 95.
In the Old Testament when Israel was exiled and journeyed to the Promised Land they longed for a land flowing with milk and honey could be sustained only insofar as they were faithful to the covenant. They had to learn that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from he mouth of the Lord. (Deut. 8:3) Jesus teaching to pray give us this day our daily bread stands in continuity with the whole teaching of the Old Testament about the physical creation and of the covenant regarding the provision of the promised land. In prayer the creature addresses the creator. Prayer therefore requires dependence, but it also requires access, the possibility of communication between creature and creator. In fact, Jesus himself became the bread of life 23. It no coincidence that Christians share in the symbolic meal of the Lord s Supper in which be proclaim the Lord s death until he comes. 24 Our 25 daily bread is a reminder to us that we are dependant entirely on the grace of God for our continued existence. We receive the good things of the earth as gifts from his hand. But we are thereby duty bound to seek the welfare of others and the preservation of good things on earth. 26 h. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Throughout the Bible we see the emphasis on reconciliation to God through the sacrificial means he provides. In this prayer we are asking for what God has already promised, and provided, to those who turn to him. We reflect how we have been forgiven in how we treat others. If we receive such mercy, we must show mercy. This aspect of as we have also forgiven our debtors indirectly speaks of the dimension of repentance in receiving mercy and forgiveness. To show mercy and forgiveness to those who offend us stems from the conviction that nothing that others can do to offend us can compare with our sin against God. 27 In fact, to withhold forgiveness from someone else when we ourselves have been forgiven and accepted by God is almost a blasphemous placing ourselves before God. i. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Some people read this passage and take it as one being seduced into doing wrong things. But there is also a notion of testing that emphasizes the need for steadfastness in the face of a variety of pressures to forsake trust in the Lord. The accuser attacks people at the vulnerability of their sinfulness. How throws doubt on the acceptability of the people before God. 23 John 6:25-40. 24 1 Corinthians 11:26. 25 Pagans have made their stomachs their Gods. 26 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 100. 27 Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, 101.
There are two great assumptions in this petition: our trust in God and our distrust of ourselves. We pray because we know that God can control temptation and that God s power directs our lives. 28 These words in the Lord s prayer, this final petition, acknowledges the inability of the people of God to persevere without the grace of God. 29 Therefore, we pray for God to sustain us through such testing so that it will not overcome us, while at the same time acknowledging that he has promised to do so. In the context of the gospel this petition is one that looks to our acceptance with God on the basis of the finished work of Christ. The first son of God, Adam, was tested in the garden and failed the test. As a result he and all his descendants were exiled from the presence and acceptance of God. The other son of God, the nation of Israel, was given gracious opportunities to live as a redeemed people in God s land. But this son also failed and was exiled into the wilderness. But finally, a true son came, Jesus Christ. Jesus walked into the wilderness and was exiled of his own accord to over come where all had failed. He overcame Satan in the wilderness and destroyed the power of sin on the cross. Jesus overcame the devil when he was tempted for us, and he teaches us to pray for deliverance from the evil one. He did this so that when we are united to him in faith we are accounted as withstanding the test in Jesus and are ushered back into the presence and acceptance of God. How Does This Apply To Always Pray and Not Loose Heart Our persistence in prayer shows both our confidence in God is our only hope and that he will act in the best way and the best time in response to our persistent pleas. The Lord s Prayer puts in the position of greatest importance the prayer for God s name to be glorified, God s kingdom to advance and triumph, and God s will to be accomplished on earth the way its happening in heaven. This means that God intends to use human prayers to accomplish his most ultimate and universal purposes. 30 28 Edmund P. Clowney, A Biblical Theology of Prayer, beginningwithmoses.org. 29 John 16:33. 30 John Piper, What Jesus Demands of the World, 112.