Title: Pray like this (Matthew 6:5-15)
At the end of each worship service or Wednesday and other church gatherings, we recite the prayer the Lord has taught us. As a result, the Lord's Prayer is often thought of as if it is used at the end of a worship service or meeting, and is simply memorized without thinking about its meaning.
When Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer, it was not given in the order of the closing of the meeting, but as a prayer that Christians can use as an example when praying. So we can personally pray with this prayer, and we can pray to God based on this prayer.
Today, we are going to look at the contents of prayer that the Lord has taught us.
Before thinking about the content of prayer, first, in verse 5, he told us not to pray like hypocrites. Who are the people who eat out? They are, as it is often said, show people who, for some purpose, show themselves as different from who they are, like actors.
The motive for these hypocrites to pray was to show them to others. He was interested in having people acknowledge him as pious and praise him. So, people who eat out liked to pray in places where there are as many people as possible. One such place is the synagogue, a place for public prayer, and if someone is praying every time you go to pray, that person will soon be known as a person who prays a lot and will be respected.
Also, a place frequented by many people is at the entrance of a major road, and people who eat out liked to stand there and pray. When you see a person praying on a big street, you will think that he is a person of good faith. For the prayers of hypocrites like this, Jesus said that people will be rewarded. I prayed consciously of people, so if people recognize me, that will be the end of it.
Verse 6 tells us to go into the closet, close the door, and pray to God who sees everything without being conscious of people at all. This, of course, does not mean that you should never pray in a crowd.
Although Jesus prayed alone, he also prayed in the presence of people, and the early believers gathered together to pray. The reason Jesus emphasized secrecy is only so that the motive of prayer is God alone, not people's approval or praise.
Also, in verse 7, when we pray, we are told not to use babble like the Gentiles. A characteristic of the prayers of the Gentiles is babbling, that is, saying a lot without thinking. It refers to a prayer that has a different heart and makes fun of only the lips. The Gentiles thought that the answer would be different depending on the amount of talking or the amount of time they prayed.
Saying not to gossip does not mean denying prayer itself over and over again. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed earnestly for the same prayer subject three times so that his sweat would become drops of blood (Matthew 26:44). The same goes for praying earnestly. When Jesus tells us not to keep repeating ourselves, we should always remember and pray that it is God who hears our prayers.
Verse 8 says that God knows everything we need. Just because you talk a lot doesn't mean that God knows and listens to you. You might ask, there is no need to pray if we already know everything we need before we pray. But God knows it all, but He wants us to pray and fellowship. If I do not pray, I cannot experience that God hears my prayers. Prayer is an opportunity to learn how much God loves us, how powerful He is, and how He is in control of all things, and it is an opportunity to show it to others. Prayer is not an opportunity to reveal our problems to God or to persuade God, but an opportunity to make it clear that we hope and expect God for ourselves and for others, thinking about His promises.
If we look at the prayer the Lord taught us, it consists of six types of supplication. The first three are prayers to the name of God, the kingdom of God, and the will of God; the other three are, give us our daily bread, forgive us our sins, and lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. It is a prayer called Hajime.
Today we are going to look at the first three.
First, he told us to pray, 'Hallowed be the name of God.' Usually, when you call someone by name, you immediately think of the whole person. So, to pray for God's name to be sanctified is to pray for God to be sanctified and glorified.
But God himself is holy and glorious. Then God's need to be considered holy does not need to be glorified. But the Bible speaks of God continuing to be considered holy. In John 17, Jesus glorified God by obeying what God told him to do. Because of Jesus' obedience, God's love, God's faithfulness, God's goodness, and God's power were revealed to the world. In particular, when Jesus died on the cross, it was revealed to the world that God the Father loves and saves sinners. In this way, God's name was glorified holy.
Jesus, who glorified God in this way, told us to pray to glorify God in the same way. If a person follows the word of God and is different from the people of the world in sincerity, serving others with love, and living a morally pure and clean life, when it is revealed that that person is a believer in God, the name of God may be sanctified because of that person. Will be. On the other hand, if a person lives immorally, evilly, and harms others, he is criticized and ridiculed by others, and when it is revealed that the person is a believer in God, the ridicule he received is received by God, and the name of God This will be defiled and the glory of God will be obscured.
But today, people are very interested in their name. It feels good when your name appears in newspapers or TV magazines, or when people often call you and praise you. So, he wants his name to be known and his name to be recognized and remembered by people. At the same time, if there is any damage to one's own honor or one's name, he cannot tolerate it well, and moreover, he wants not to trample on other people's names for the sake of his own name and not to defile God's name, no matter what happens. God's name and God's glory, but when you have a relationship with your own name, your name becomes more important.
The prayer "Hallowed be your name" is a wish to pursue God's name instead of my own, and it is a prayer containing the determination to pursue God's glory rather than my own.
Second, He told us to pray, 'Thy kingdom come.'
The kingdom of God is the kingdom that God rules. This kingdom is in contrast to the kingdom of the world, the kingdom of the world is not eternal, but the kingdom of God is eternal.
Jesus came into this world for the kingdom of God. Anyone who serves Jesus Christ as Lord and King has become a people of the kingdom of God. So, although the kingdom of God has already come to this world, the kingdom of God has not yet been completed, and the kingdom of God will be completed when Jesus returns.
Therefore, praying for the coming of the kingdom of God can be divided into three categories.
First, I can pray for myself to be completely ruled by God as the people of God's kingdom. This is because, as God's people, I often care more about my dominion and influence than about God's rule. Because he secretly rules himself as a king and tries to manipulate people to his liking. We must pray and live so that God will rule and reign in every area of our church, home, business, and individual life.
Second, we want more people in this world to be ruled by God. We need to pray that the number of people who serve Jesus primarily as King will increase. And third, it can be said to be a prayer that hopes for the second coming of Jesus. When Jesus returns, the kingdom of God will be complete.
Third, He said, 'Pray for God's will to be done'.
When I pray this prayer, I can't help thinking about what God's will is, and many pious scholars say that there is no greater will of God than that the kingdom of God be accomplished on this earth.
In fact, it can be said that the greatest will of God is to expand the kingdom of God through God's salvation.
Jesus also said: ?쏧 came down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that I will not lose any of those who have given me, but will raise them up on the last day??(John 6: 38,39) Jesus loved people to accomplish this will. And he died on the cross.
Just as Jesus lived to fulfill God's will, so we must seek God's will and live. Like Jesus, seeing people according to God's will, loving people, serving people, and sharing the gospel with others is to live.
However, it is very difficult for us to seek God's will and live. You can see it in the prayer Jesus prayed. ?쏛bba, Father, all things are possible with you; remove this cup from me. But not as I will, but as you will??(Mark 14:36) Why did you not pray for God?셲 will to be done in the first place? ? Because there is pain. Because of this suffering, it is difficult to seek God's will and live according to God's will even though we know God's will. Also, in order to seek God's will, we have to give up our will, but people want to assert themselves.
Henri Nouwen, a professor at Harvard University, began to take a serious look at his life. People saw him as a successful man, but he heard the inner voice that such success was putting his soul at risk. So I prayed to God. 'Lord, if you show me the path you want me to go, I will follow it.' As he prayed and meditated on the Word, he came to know God's will. At the age of 50, he left his influential Harvard University professorship and moved to a community for the disabled. He is living a happier life in the presence of God than when he was there in the position of the world's most intelligent person. Also, his influence has grown even greater than in the past.
It is easy to pray the prayer Jesus taught, but it is not easy to pray knowing its meaning. The more difficult thing is to live by that prayer. But let us pray this prayer with sincerity and sincerity whenever we have the opportunity.
And let's live by this prayer. (Organization: Deacon Kang Mi-ra)