Berean Break
Feb. 22, 2004 broadcast
Disciple’s Prayer (part 2 of 2)
by George Sinkie

[review: Disciple’s Prayer - part 1]
     Greetings on this Lord’s Day morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and it is such a privilege to share this time with you.  Last week we began to look at the prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples, as an example of how to pray.  On today’s program, we are going to continue to look at that prayer.  Before we go on into our study today, let’s go to God in prayer.

Great and Loving God in heaven, We thank You for this day in our lives, And we praise and glorify You name.  We thank You for Your word, That gives us everything we need to be right with You.  Help us to reject the man-made creeds and catechisms of this world.  Dear Lord, as we study prayer this morning, Help us to learn to pray more as You want us to.  In Jesus’ Name, we pray!!  AMEN !!

     To review very briefly, we saw that this was not a prayer that Jesus wanted us to say over and over and over and over again, as so many well-meaning but misguided people do today.  This was a model of how to pray, not what to say.  We also considered how the prayer starts out with giving reverence to God.  Each time we pray we need to understand to whom we are talking.  Then we saw how this prayer does not apply today in the asking for the kingdom to come.  There are so many false religions that teach that Jesus failed to set up the kingdom and will one day return to earth to set up that kingdom.  But the Scriptures teach that the kingdom was set up in the first century, that Jesus began to reign and is reigning now and will continue reigning until He comes again to destroy this earth.  If you would like to receive a copy of last week’s program, simply send us a request, they are offered free of charge.
     Now let’s continue on, to see more on how to pray.  We are ready to look at verses 11-13, so let’s read Matthew 6:11-13,

  11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
  12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
  13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.]’

     The next thing that Jesus mentions in His model of prayer is petitioning God for our daily needs.  It is significant to noted that He mentions simple our “daily bread.”  First of all, we need to understand that bread was often used as a term referring to food, not just exclusively of what we think of as bread.  It is true that bread made up a majority of their diet but they did eat many other foods as well.  Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that they were dependent upon God on a daily basis.  Living for God and being reliant upon God is a daily thing for the disciple.  In Luke 9:23, Jesus shows the daily aspect of being a disciple.

  23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

     James also gives us warning about thinking too far into the future, in James 4:13-17.

  13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
  14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
  15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.”
  16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
  17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.

     When we become concerned about the bread for tomorrow and the day after that and next week and next month our faith God is going to suffer.  Jesus goes on in the Sermon on the Mount to address this problem.  Read with me Matthew 6:31-34

  31 Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’
  32 For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
  33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
  34 Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

     Knowing that God is there on a daily basis is a comfort to those who are His disciples.  Jesus next turns His attention to the disciples need for relationship.  In verse 12, He considers both the disciples relationship with other people and also his relationship with God.

  12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’

     Disciples need to have God’s forgiveness just like everyone else.  I have encountered religious groups that claim to be Christian and yet they teach that Christians do NOT sin.  The Scriptures are very clear that to say this is to lie.  Listen to God’s teaching through John, in 1 John 1:8-10

  8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
  9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

     Jesus teaches here in Matthew 6:12, as He does in so many other places that we are extended the same kind of mercy by God as we give to other people.  It is important that we do not misunderstand this to teach that we design our own plan for forgiveness.  Someone may look at this verse and say that they forgive every one of every thing without that offending person doing any thing, and therefore God will forgive me of doing any thing without me having to do any thing.  This is not what this verse is saying at all.  God has given His plan of salvation, now under the New Covenant - that we believe, repent confess and be immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins - and if we do not obey His will we cannot have our sins taken away by the blood of Jesus.  Jesus is dealing with the feelings that we have for other people.  Peter discussed this with Jesus and we have Jesus teaching recorded for us in Matthew 18:21-35

  21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?”
  22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
  23 For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
  24 And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents.
  25 But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.
  26 The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’
  27 And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
  28 But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’
  29 So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’
  30 He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
  31 So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
  32 Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me.
  33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’
  34 And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
  35 So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.

     The final verse of this prayer is Matthew 6:13

  13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.]’

     Jesus has dealt with the reverence we should show God, the kingdom of God which has now come into existence, the need for the sustaining of this physical body, and the effect our relationship with other people has on our relationship with God.  Now He looks at the life the disciple is to live before God.  As Jesus points out God is not to lead us into temptation.  Back in the book of James, God says very plainly that temptation is not from Him.  Read James 1:13-15

  13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
  14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
  15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

     Jesus also includes a petition to God for deliverance from evil and God does provide that way.  Paul writes of this in 1 Corinthians 10:13

  13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.

     This prayer is a wonderful example of “how to pray” but we should never fall into a trap of simply saying these words.

[review: Disciple’s Prayer - part 1]



      © George Sinkie; used by permission.
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      This article’s presentation in Exploring God's Word ©2004 David G. Churchill.
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