Page 1 of 5 Silverdale Baptist 5 THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS TO GROW • PRAYER • MATTHEW 6:9-15 • 9/26-27/2020 Leader: The instructions ask you to have someone read the passage three different times. This passage is very familiar to most of us. Hearing it read three times may help someone notice something they had not noticed before. Key Truth Prayer is our God-given means of connecting with the Almighty. Getting Started As your group time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion. In the book, 5 Things Every Christian Needs To Grow, R. C. Sproul points out that Paul compares the relationship between Christ and the church to a marriage relationship in Eph. 5:25-33. Prayer is communicating with God. What would your marriage look like if you talked to your spouse as often as you prayed to God? Prayer is both commanded and practiced throughout the Bible. For us today, prayer is the God- given means of an ongoing relationship with the Father. God delights in the prayers of His people because of His great love for them. Learn Unpack the biblical text to discover what the Scripture says or means about a particular topic. HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ MATTHEW 6:9-15 1. Adoration
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Silverdale Baptist5 THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS TO GROW • PRAYER • MATTHEW 6:9-15 •
9/26-27/2020
Leader: The instructions ask you to have someone read the passage three different times.
This passage is very familiar to most of us. Hearing it read three times may help someone noticesomething they had not noticed before.
Key TruthPrayer is our God-given means of connecting with the Almighty.
Getting StartedAs your group time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion.
In the book, 5 Things Every Christian Needs To Grow, R. C. Sproul points out that Paul comparesthe relationship between Christ and the church to a marriage relationship in Eph. 5:25-33.
Prayer is communicating with God. What would your marriage look like if you talkedto your spouse as often as you prayed to God?
Prayer is both commanded and practiced throughout the Bible. For us today, prayer is the God-given means of an ongoing relationship with the Father. God delights in the prayers of Hispeople because of His great love for them.
LearnUnpack the biblical text to discover what the Scripture says or means about a particular topic.
Why is it important that we are addressing God as Father?
Some translations such as the KJV, NIV, NAS, and ESV use the word hallowed in reference toGod's name in verse 9. Most older adults, who have a great deal of church experience, willrecognize hallowed, especially if they have memorized the Lord's prayer. The word hallowedmeans holy. The CSV translates it as Your name be honored as holy.
2. Surrender
What do we learn about prayer in verse 10?
Whose kingdom is mentioned in verse 10?
Whose will is mentioned in verse 10?
Why is it significant that our kingdom and our will are not mentioned?
HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ MATTHEW 6:9-15
3. Provision
What is the request in verse 11?
What are the implications of requesting "our daily bread"?
HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ PHILIPPIANS 4:6.
How does Phil 4:6 relate to Matt 6:11?
4. Forgiveness
HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ MATTHEW 6:12-15 AND PSALM 66:18.
How does sin affect our prayer life?
If someone offends us, how long should we wait to forgive them?
6:9. By commanding His disciples to pray like this rather than simply “pray this,” Jesusdemonstrated that this prayer was offered as a model rather than a mantra to be recited. Yourname be honored as holy suggests that Jesus expected His disciples to live righteous lives thathonor rather than profane God’s name (5:16; Lev 22:31-32). This is an important precondition forsuccessful prayer.
God is the ideal Father—all-loving, all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful, and always present with us.At the same time, He is in heaven, which tells us He is greater than we can comprehend; so weapproach Him as our Father with due reverence. The first person plural pronoun Our implies thatJesus intended this prayer to be a model for corporate prayer, i.e., a prayer for when disciplesgather as a group. This confirms that Matt. 6:5 was not intended to prohibit disciples frompraying together publicly in the synagogue or other gatherings but instead prohibited prayersthat were motivated by religious showmanship.
The first request is that the Father’s name be honored as holy (v. 9). One’s name in biblicalthought stood for the person. The Father’s covenant name is Yahweh (Exodus 3:14). Thispetition is that God will help all people everywhere to recognize the Lord God Almighty as Herevealed Himself in Jesus Christ and honor Him accordingly (see John 6:44).
6:10. Your kingdom come could be translated “Your reign come.” The kingdom has come in thehearts of all who have submitted to Jesus as Lord. It also is coming as more people yield theirhearts to His reign. The kingdom will not have come fully, though, until Jesus returns andestablishes it absolutely and forever. This petition asks the Father to bring people under Hisreign.
To pray for the Father to see that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven frightens somepeople. They fail to distinguish between what God desires and what He permits. He desires all tobe saved (2 Peter 3:9), but He permits many to turn from Him. He desires all of us to keep Hiscommands, but He permits our disobedience and the destruction it causes. We live, therefore, in
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a world cursed by sin. Even so, the Father weaves even sin’s consequences into a pattern thatultimately will achieve His good will (Romans 8:28). Heaven is the only place free of sin and itspainful effects. We should daily pray for the future consummation of God’s rule in which He willreign fully and completely over the world.
6:11. The prayer’s focus shifts from God’s eternal purposes to our temporal needs. We are torequest what we need to sustain life, such as daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Daily may beunderstood as “for today” or “for tomorrow,” in either case pointing to immediate need. Dailybread was the amount of bread necessary to survive for a day. The request is reminiscent ofProverbs 30:8-9. Jesus wanted His disciples to live in a state of constant dependence on Godand His provision. This prayer reminds us that our Father ultimately is our Provider. As a wisefather, God provides what we need, not necessarily what we want.
6:12. We also are to ask for forgiveness. Debts are sins viewed as obligations to the Father. TheGreek grammar indicates that the disciple prays for forgiveness from God only after having firstexpressed forgiveness to others. We dare not take lightly the rest of the verse: as we also haveforgiven our debtors (see also vv. 14-15). At least two biblical teachings about salvation seem inconflict with the words forgive us . . . as we also have forgiven (v. 12; see also vv. 14-15; 18:21-35). (1) Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-10). That rulesout earning forgiveness by forgiving. (2) Faith in Christ brings forgiveness and eternal security(John 10:27-29).
6:13. The final petition has puzzled many believers—Do not bring us into temptation, but deliverus from the evil one. (“Evil one” also can be translated “evil”; the essential meaning is the same.)We know God is good and does not tempt us to sin (James 1:13), so how are we to understandthis? The overall meaning is obvious: the prayer is for the Father to keep us doing His will ratherthan being led astray by Satan.
6:14–15 God forgives those who are truly repentant. True repentance results in a willingness toforgive others. [1]
[1] Robert H. Stein, “Differences in the Gospels,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blumand Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1510.
