I would ask you now to turn in your Bible to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6, and we'll be reading verses 9 through 13. Matthew 6, verses 9 through 13. Hear now the word of God. In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. May the Lord bless this reading of his holy word. Amen. Is the Lord's prayer Christian? Is the Lord's prayer Christian? This question was posed to U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark in the recent case of Mullen v. Sussex County, Delaware. According to the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, who in a sense instigated this lawsuit, the Lord's Prayer is explicitly Christian, and therefore it is unconstitutional for Sussex County to begin its local civic meetings by reciting the Lord's Prayer. According to Sussex County officials, the Lord's Prayer is not explicitly Christian, and therefore would accommodate citizens of various religious faiths. This was their defense in Mullin versus Sussex County. Well, in May, Judge Stark ruled that the Lord's Prayer, believe it or not, is Christian and thus he ruled that it is unconstitutional to be recited in a civic meeting. And then in September, all of this in 2012, Sussex County agreed to permanently discontinue reciting the Lord's Prayer at these public meetings. Now we could say a lot about everything that that I've just recounted to you, but one thing that we need to emphasize is that the Lord's Prayer is Christian. There should be no doubt about that fact. Judge Stark, whatever else he said that was right or wrong is correct, that the Lord's Prayer is explicitly Christian. And we can sympathize, in a sense, with the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, because the Lord's Prayer in addition to being Christian, is really subversive of their agenda. The Lord's Prayer would not have us to seek the kind of strict separation of church and state, the sort of godless government that that group promotes. And so, of course, they should fear and oppose the Lord's Prayer, because they have adopted secularism. But the real question that comes out of this is, are we as Christ's disciples, as zealous in embracing and applying the Lord's Prayer as Christ's enemies in the secular world are in opposing the Lord's Prayer. Because if we're not as zealous to embrace it and apply it as they are to oppose it, then at the end of the day, the secularists have a better theology than we do. So we need to consider the Lord's Prayer in great detail. This is not only Christian, but it is very significant for the Christian life and for the Christian church. But before we can consider the meaning of the Lord's Prayer, we need to first consider its purpose. Now, oftentimes if my wife gets the mail before I do, I'll find in the afternoon at some point she'll hand me a stack of things and the first thing I do, I look at them very briefly and then I say, what's this for? Or what's this? And so before we know the meaning of the Lord's Prayer, we want to understand what is this prayer? What is its purpose? Why am I being handed a stack of papers? What are these things? Well, there are six things that we can observe about the purpose of the Lord's Prayer. First, the Lord's Prayer is a prayer for disciples. It's a prayer for disciples. This comes out explicitly in Luke chapter 11, where we see, in a sense, a parallel. It's not necessarily the same occasion. Jesus is not necessarily in the same situation, but he does recite the essence of the Lord's Prayer in Luke chapter 11. And so it's somewhat parallel in terms of the content. And in verse 1 of that chapter, it says, now it came to pass, as Jesus was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. It was understood that a rabbi, a master, would teach his disciples how to pray. And so this is a prayer that Jesus gives to us as his disciples. It's a prayer for disciples. Now the question might be asked, should we teach our children to pray the Lord's Prayer? Because after all, the Lord's Prayer begins our father. And we can't presume or assume that every single covenant child is necessarily elect or saved or regenerate at that moment. So some have said, well, maybe we shouldn't teach them the Lord's Prayer. But our children are disciples. The Great Commission defines disciples as those who are taught everything that Christ has commanded. Our children have been brought into the church. They are being taught. They are learners of the great Master. And so, they have every right to be taught this prayer. In Ezekiel 16, 20, and 21, it speaks to us of the fatherhood of God with respect to covenant children. Children that are born into the church, born to Christian parents. Moreover, this is the Lord condemning his people for child sacrifice. He says, moreover, you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and these you sacrificed to them, that is the idols, to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter that you have slain my children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire? So God relates to his church as a father. He said to Pharaoh, Israel is my firstborn son. Paul in Romans 9 says that Israel's privilege as the covenant people included that corporate sense of adoption. And so our children have every right to pray to God as father. Herman Witzius says this, I think adds some insight. He says, thus it is the duty of parents to instruct and habituate their children from their earliest childhood to prayer. And he's speaking here of the Lord's Prayer. and not to wait till they can discover in them the marks of regeneration. For who knows at what time and by what means the spirit will first exert his saving influence. So by teaching our children to pray to God as father, we are in a sense leading them to him that they might embrace him as their father through saving faith. Secondly, the Lord's prayer is both a pattern for prayer and an actual prayer. It's both a pattern and a structure for prayer and an actual prayer that can be prayed verbatim. In Matthew 6, verse 9, which we read, Jesus says, in this manner therefore pray, our Father in heaven. So in Matthew's account, It is stressed that the Lord's Prayer is a directory for prayer. It teaches us how to pray, not necessarily verbatim, but giving us that structure and that pattern for prayer. But then in Luke 11, verse 2, the fact that the Lord's Prayer is an actual prayer is emphasized. So he said to them, when you pray, say, our Father in heaven. So it is legitimate, especially for those who are just learning to pray, to pray the Lord's Prayer. This is a prayer that has the stamp of approval of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is something that God's children, when they pray it with faith and with knowledge and with understanding, can have every right to pray. The third aspect of the purpose of the Lord's Prayer, the Lord's Prayer is our special rule for the duty of prayer. In terms of it being a pattern, it is our special rule for prayer. John Calvin writes this, no man will pray a rite unless his lips and heart shall be directed by the heavenly master. For that purpose, he has laid down this rule by which we must frame our prayers if we desire to have them accounted lawful and approved by God. This is the special rule of prayer, says Calvin, and we ought to have our prayers directed in accordance with the pattern of the Lord's prayer. Puritan Thomas Watson says this, the Ten Commandments are the rule of our life and the sum of our faith and the Lord's Prayer is the pattern of our prayer. As God prescribed Moses a pattern of the tabernacle, so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer. This short prayer, he goes on, is a system or body of divinity. So, with the same significance that we give to the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, that elevated emphasis that we have, we teach it to our children so that they can know it, more so even than other passages in the Bible. In the same sense, the Lord's Prayer is elevated. It is our special rule. And Thomas Watson says that it really summarizes the key points of our theology. This is doctrine for life. And it's significant that one of the most significant doctrinal passages of Scripture comes in the form of a prayer. That should tell us something about the spirituality that we ought to see in the New Covenant. Well, just as the Ten Commandments are elevated, so the Lord's Prayer has been more scrutinized and more influential throughout church history than really any other passage. It forms the core of virtually every Christian catechism that's ever been composed, especially those coming out of the Reformation. This is something that the church has historically believed that every Christian should memorize, every Christian should know and have upon their heart when they pray. I think it can be said that historic Christianity would not be historic Christianity without the Lord's Prayer. Well, fourthly, The Lord's Prayer is not our only rule for the duty of prayer. It's our special rule, but it's not our only rule for prayer. It's not the only thing in Scripture that guides us. For instance, in John 16, 23, Jesus says, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. The Lord's Prayer doesn't say anything explicitly about praying in Jesus' name, does it? And yet, Jesus commands us elsewhere to pray in his name. So we're to elevate the Lord's Prayer, but we're not to exclude these other passages that should inform our prayer life. Philippians 4 verse 6 as well says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. There's nothing in the Lord's Prayer that explicitly points to thanksgiving, and yet we see throughout the rest of the Bible an emphasis on thanking God in prayer. So the Lord's Prayer is not our only rule. It's our special rule, but we need to take into account the various other portions of scripture. And I think this emphasizes the fact that although the Lord's Prayer is an actual prayer, The emphasis of Scripture is that the Lord's Prayer is a pattern. It's primarily a pattern. And that's why we need to be looking at these other passages. In terms of the purpose of the Lord's Prayer, fifthly, we see that the Lord's Prayer should inform our individual prayers. The Lord's Prayer should inform our individual prayers. In Luke 11, verse 1, we see that The Lord's prayer is given just after Jesus spent time in secret prayer. Now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. It seems to be the case that Jesus was in a certain place removed from his disciples and he came back to them. And perhaps they noticed the glow of his face, as it were, having communed with his father, and they said, we need to learn to pray. We need to have a secret prayer life like the Lord Jesus. And so they asked him to teach them to pray, and he gave them the Lord's Prayer. Sixthly and finally, in terms of the purpose of this prayer, the Lord's Prayer should inform our corporate and public prayers. It's not just for secret prayer, but the Lord's Prayer should inform our prayers at prayer meeting, or at a Bible study, or in corporate worship, and things like this. It's significant not just for secret prayer, but for public prayer. This is more subtly communicated, but it is there in our text in Matthew chapter 6. I'm going to read some verses in Matthew 6 from the King James Version because you'll see the difference between the singular and the plural pronouns, and it brings out, I think, an emphasis that we need to be aware of. But thou, verse six, but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. There's an emphasis on the singular, on secret, personal, private prayer. Then in verse seven, you see a transition. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye our Father which art in heaven. There's an emphasis on the plural. Now that doesn't mean it's only plural. It's only for corporate prayer. And you'll notice last week I focused in verse seven on secret prayer. The plural here indicates that what is included in these verses applies to both secret and corporate prayer. And this transition to the plural shows us that the Lord's Prayer should inform our corporate prayers. Well, we've seen the purpose of the Lord's Prayer. Now let's delve into the prayer itself. It begins with a preface. There are three things that we can observe here about the preface to the Lord's Prayer. The first is quite obvious. We address God as Father. This is really significant for New Testament Christianity. It's something that was revealed in the Old Testament. But now as we come to the New Testament with God's Son walking the earth and ministering and ultimately dying and being raised again, there is an increased emphasis upon God as our Father. And in terms of prayer, Jesus repeatedly speaks of God as being our father, as he's trying to draw us into prayer, because nothing welcomes us into the closet, as it were. Nothing welcomes us into corporate prayer, even, than the thought that God is my father. Fathers, I want you to think about the first time that you laid eyes on your son or daughter. The first time that you saw your child, the joy and the delight that you had, that wonderful experience and just watching that child move around and make noises and holding that child in your arms. Parents, think about how excited you were to hear your child's first words. Your child has now begun to communicate what's on their mind. It may just be a syllable or just one barely discernible word, and yet you say, my child is speaking to me. What a joy. What a delight. When we come to pray to the Father, that is His mind toward us. That is His attitude toward us. He welcomes us. Whatever words we say, even if it's a broken prayer, even if it's not very eloquent, our Father hears that and He is all the more excited to hear us pray and to see our face as we bow before Him and seek His face. Secondly, in the preface to the Lord's Prayer, we address God as Heavenly Father. He's not just the Father who condescends to us, who is with us in the secret place, who is merciful and compassionate and imminent. present, near, but he is also the Father in heaven. He is the heavenly Father, he is just, he is holy, he is transcendent, he is far above us. As the heavens are above the earth, so, he says, are my thoughts above your thoughts and my ways above your ways. He is our Father in heaven. And just as children must honor and reverence their earthly father, so we need to be coming to our heavenly father with holy and childlike fear and reverence and honor for his holy name. He says in Isaiah 66, one and two, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. And then he says, but on this one will I look. on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word." The Father wants children who come to him trembling at his transcendence. Thirdly, as we look at the preface to the Lord's Prayer, we see that the Lord Jesus tells us to address God as our Heavenly Father. God is our Father, God is our Heavenly Father, God is our Heavenly Father, not just my Heavenly Father. So in private prayer, be conscious of others. Be conscious of your brothers and sisters in the family of God, fellow children of God, be conscious of their needs. Be conscious of your own attitude toward them. From the very beginning of prayer, Jesus says you need to be thinking about the other members of the family of God. The first word of the Lord's prayer is our. You can't even begin to pray to the Father in a right way without at the same time having an attitude of love toward your brethren. without having an attitude that seeks to cultivate unity and reconciliation with your brethren. That's the emphasis that Jesus gives here, our Father in heaven. This applies also to corporate prayer. In corporate prayer, you need not simply be conscious of others, but at the very least, be conscious It's very easy for us when we're at a prayer meeting, or we're in corporate worship, or we're in family worship, and somebody's praying for our mind to wander. We're not even listening to them. And they might begin by saying, our father, but really, none of the other children in the family of God are paying attention. I don't think there's a single person in this room that hasn't struggled with this. But it's something that we need to focus on. It's something that Jesus says, beware of this. If somebody else is praying, pray with them. And insofar as they pray in accordance with God's revealed will, you need to be amening that in your heart, if not with your lips. Pray as a family. Be conscious in corporate prayer of the prayers of others. Well, we've looked at the preface. Our third heading this morning, final heading, is we're going to look at the first three petitions. There are six petitions in the Lord's Prayer, but the first three are very significant for us. We need to pay close attention to them, and then, Lord willing, next week we'll consider petitions four through six, and then the conclusion to the Lord's Prayer as well. But petitions one through three, what are these petitions all about? John Calvin writes this, this form of prayer consists, as I have said, of six petitions. The first three, it ought to be known, relate to the glory of God without any regard to ourselves. And the remaining three relate to those things which are necessary for our salvation. As the law of God is divided into two tables of which the former contains the duties of piety and the latter the duties of charity, so in prayer Christ enjoins us to consider and seek the glory of God and at the same time permits us to consult our own interests." So just like the Ten Commandments begins with The first four petitions, which speak of the glory of God and our duties toward God, and then the final six petitions speak of the love that we're to have for our neighbor. In the same way, the Lord's Prayer begins with three petitions that speak of God's glory and God's kingdom, and then follows it up with three petitions that focus upon our needs. So as we look at petitions one through three, we're looking at those petitions that emphasize God's glory and God's kingdom. These are supremely God-centered petitions. I want you to notice that there is an order of priority within the overall structure of this prayer. There is an order of importance. It's not by accident that the emphasis on God's glory and God's kingdom comes first. It comes first because it is of first importance. God's glory should always have the top priority. We should always begin our prayers by focusing upon those petitions which exalt God. And after that, indeed flowing from that, subservient to that, we come and we ask for things relating to our personal needs. You'll recall the famous verse from Matthew 6, verse 33. Notice also the order of priority and of causality within this prayer, indeed within these first three petitions. There's an order of priority or importance and an order of causality or effect in these first three petitions. Look at petition number one. Hallowed be your name. This shows us that in terms of the glory of God, First in priority, first in importance, comes His holiness. This is the pinnacle of His glory. When His glory filled the temple in Isaiah 6, the angels said, holy, holy, holy. God's holy name, His holy attributes, His holiness comes first in priority and first in causality. This is the foundation of His kingdom. This is the basis of all morality, that men would reverence and fear the living God. Well, next we see petition two, your kingdom come. This is second in priority, second in importance. This is subservient to God's glory. Why do we want to see the kingdom come and advance? For God's glory. It's also second in causality or effect. How does the kingdom advance? How does the kingdom come in great power on this earth? Well, God's kingdom is a holy temple. It's built by the Holy Spirit, it's inhabited by a holy nation, and it moves forward, it progresses flowing from a sense of God's holiness, from a sense of reverence, from piety. It is only flowing out of the fear of God and of piety that we see the kingdom advancing. And that's why in Psalm 110, when Christ's enemies are said to be progressively put under his feet and the kingdom advances victoriously, it is emphasized As it says in our old Red Psalter, a willing people in thy day of power shall come to thee, thy youth arrayed in holiness like morning dew shall be. So as the people of God, as the Church, as the Kingdom moves forward, it is characterized by holiness. Without holiness, no man will see the Lord, and without holiness, no man will ever have success in advancing the kingdom of God. Well, the third petition says, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This speaks of widespread obedience to God's word in society, in the earth, that God would be obeyed on earth even as the angels faithfully obey in heaven. The significance of this being the third petition is that it comes third in priority and it is third in effect. Ultimately, piety leads to the kingdom advancing, and then flowing out of that comes widespread obedience to God in society and in the political sphere. As the kingdom advances, then the nations are discipled. And we get into real problems when we start to reverse this, when we fail to see the order that is set forth here in the Lord's Prayer. We have to always remember, piety, church, society. That's the order of importance, that's the order of effect in how these things come to fruition in the world. Piety, church, society, that's the order of these petitions. Well, sadly, our priorities as Christians often conflict with God's priorities, don't they? We often fail to get this order correct. In fact, we reverse these three petitions. Our first petition very often in the church is, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Civic righteousness. Societal obedience to God. God's law for politics and society becomes the chief emphasis. It's first in priority. And it comes to us and we think this is the first step in terms of the causation of these dominoes. We need to first hone in on politics. The kingdom becomes a political action group subservient to social reform. The hallowing of God's name through prayer and worship and the keeping of the Sabbath and these various duties of piety takes a back seat to public issues of the second table. High taxes, abortion, and homosexual marriage, and health care, and all of these things that are important. The Bible speaks to these issues, but we wrongly place this at the head rather than as flowing out of these other things. Our second petition, of course, is the same, Your Kingdom Come, but it takes on a much different feel, doesn't it, when it comes after this idea of applying God's Word to society. Because the church has now been built on the foundation of politics rather than on the bedrock of piety. So what happens is it doesn't have a firm foundation in it, so it begins to crumble very easily. It's a very shaky foundation. And the duties of holiness, which are not any longer the foundation of the kingdom, they take a backseat to the church. And so holiness is really reduced in order to accommodate church growth. Well, thirdly, the priorities that we often have, we have petition number three, hallowed be your name. Rather than piety driving the bus, piety is in the back seat. Whatever is left after we've sought social reform and church growth is now given to piety and to the hallowing of God's name. It's really like planting a tree upside down, if you think about it. Boys and girls, if you took a tree and planted it upside down so that the roots were up in the air, the roots would not have the ability to gain the nutrients that the tree needs and to get the water out of the soil up to cause the branches to bear fruit. And that's what happens when we reverse the priorities that we find here in the Lord's Prayer. We need to build upon the roots of piety and communion with God, and that will cause the church to advance, and that advance of the gospel in the world will then begin to redeem society and to cause men to obey the Lord in all areas of life. So we always need to remember, piety, church, society. My friends, if nothing else, I hope this morning you've begun to see the great balance that we find in the Lord's Prayer. It is supremely balanced, it brings balance to our theology, it brings balance to our churches, it brings balance to our walk with the Lord and our prayer life. It tells us how to pray in secret as God's children, but it also reminds us that we're part of a family. It points to God's tenderness toward us as a father, but it also points to his transcendence as a heavenly father. It calls us to desire God's law implemented in society, God's will obeyed throughout the earth. But it shows us that this is only to come as an outgrowth of vigorous piety and churchmanship. This is Christianity. This balance that we see here, this is truly the reformed faith. And as a congregation, this must be our vision. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we have this prayer because you gave your son to us to teach us to be our rabbi, that we might be his disciples. We pray that your spirit would enable us to make good use of this prayer, to meditate upon it, to be shaped by it, that not only our prayers would begin to reflect this pattern, but that our congregation would be reflecting these priorities. Father, grant us Grant us that we might be a faithful congregation and that we might see a widespread spirit of reverence and awe. A widespread spirit of piety and the fear of your holy name. And that that would revive us. And that we would then see your spirit working to convince and convert sinners here and throughout Southeast Michigan, and that your gospel would ride forth victoriously as the sword that proceeds from the mouth of King Jesus. And that as that gospel goes forth, that the nations would tremble and submit to the will and word of King Jesus. We ask this in his name, amen.