David Jeremiah - Prayer, Pagans and Pretenders
The daughter of an atheist once told a friend that she had been raised without any religion. «I don’t believe in God, » she said. And then a little wistfully she added, «But the other day I came across an old German book that contained a prayer, and if the God of that prayer exists, then I think I might be able to believe in him». Her friend asked, «What was the prayer»? And she replied slowly, «Our Father who art in heaven».
The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most powerful evidences of God’s existence. Such a prayer could not have been conceived unless God was real, unless he had revealed himself and made it possible for us to know him. This prayer, recorded in Matthew 6, is one of many prayers of the Lord Jesus. In fact, we know of at least 20 prayers that Jesus prayed. Luke 3 tells us that Jesus prayed at his baptism. Later, when crowds began pressing him in Capernaum, he seemed to be aware of the danger of a misplaced devotion. He arose, and a great while before dawn, he prayed. Before selecting his 12 apostles, Jesus spent the whole night in prayer.
Then there is his high priestly prayer, which is recorded in John 17. And of course, the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he surrendered to the Father’s will, saying, «Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done». But the most well-known prayer associated with Jesus’s name is the one we call the Lord’s Prayer.
What a privilege it is to take a few moments today to learn from the Lord’s Prayer, not just how to pray, but how to live in harmony with the will of God. I find it interesting that the disciples never went to Jesus and said, «Lord, teach us to preach, » or «Teach us to lead». They felt the same need that we feel: «Lord, teach us to pray». The Lord’s Prayer begins with some preliminary instructions about prayer. Before he gives the prayer in Matthew 6, he lays out a couple of requirements. When Jesus said, «After this manner, pray, » he first wanted to teach us something important about the prayer itself.
First thing that you learn when you read these preliminary instructions is that you should never pray like the hypocrites. That’s what he says. The first warning he gives us is that our prayers must not be hypocritical. I think that’s so interesting in light of what I’ve observed in many prayer meetings that I’ve attended. He even uses the word «hypocrite» in his teachings. Matthew 6:5: «And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward».
Hypocrites are more interested in the position than in piety. In Jesus’s day, Jewish Pharisees were committed to praying at set hours: 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 9 o’clock, and 12 o’clock. Wherever they were when the hour struck, they would stop and pray out loud. Some of the Pharisees even planned their schedules to ensure that they were in the most public places when it was time to pray. At 12 o’clock, they would find themselves in the city center, and at just the right moment, they would lift their hands and begin praying aloud. And the crowd would look on and say, «Now, that must be a really spiritual person».
Jesus said, don’t pray like that. Hypocritical praying is more concerned with position than with piety, more concerned with the people who are watching than the God you hope is listening. This doesn’t mean that public praying is wrong. Some groups have taken these words of our Lord and have used them to forbid group praying. That’s just not what it means. After all, the Gospels show Jesus praying publicly on several occasions. And the book of Acts, which is the history of the early church, records many examples of believers praying together. There is a place for public prayers, but they must be genuine, and they must never take the place of our private praying.
One of the most sobering truths in studying the Lord’s Prayer is this: no one can try to impress people and at the same time truly connect with God. It’s not possible. Jesus warns us upfront, prayer isn’t about impressing others. If we pray for recognition, that’s the only reward we’ll ever get. Jesus gives a second warning: Not only should we avoid praying like hypocrites, but we must also avoid praying like the heathen. He actually says that. «And when you pray, » verse 7, «do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words». You might ask, «Do the heathen pray»? Oh, yes. And Jesus describes one of their key mistakes: vain repetition.
This is the idea that we must repeat the same words over and over, almost like a spiritual mantra to get God’s attention. And if we’re honest, even as Bible-believing Christians, we can sometimes fall into this habit. Jesus warns us not to approach God with rote prayers, but with real prayers, prayers that come from relationship, not from routine. It’s striking that before giving the Lord’s Prayer, one of the most frequently repeated prayers in history, Jesus specifically warns against vain repetition. In Luke’s account of the Pharisees and the tax collector, there’s an intriguing phrase: «The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself».
Think about that. Have you ever heard someone pray with themselves? Maybe God is just listening in as a secondary thought. Jesus warns us that prayer must not be like that. In some cultures, people write their prayers on paper and place them in prayer wheels, believing that each turn of the wheel offers the prayer up to heaven. The more spins, the more prayers. That’s vain repetition. You see, prayer is all about God wanting our hearts. That’s why Jesus gives these warnings. Don’t pray like the hypocrites. Don’t pray like the heathen. That’s what the scripture says.
Now, notice the pattern for prayer. When you begin to study its meaning, you discover some profound theology. Look carefully at the prayer, and notice the emphasis on God in the first three petitions: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. Then observe the second half of the prayer, which highlights the poverty of man. Let me rephrase it so you see the contrast. Us, give us daily bread. Us, forgive us our debts. Us, lead us not into temptation. Us, deliver us from evil. The first part of the prayer is, thy, thy, thy. The second part of the prayer is, us, us, us. God has all the glory, all the power, all the majesty. We, on the other hand, have all the needs, all the wants, and all the poverty. Isn’t it a privilege to come to a prayer where you can say, Lord, I’m empty, but, O God, you’re full. You are my source. You are the one I come to.
Samuel Zwemer once wrote: «Every possible desire of the praying heart is here. This prayer contains a whole world of spiritual requirements, and it combines in simple language every divine promise, every human sorrow and want, and every Christian aspiration for the good of others. This prayer is everything we need for a life of prayer». For a season, I used the Lord’s Prayer as the outline for my prayer every day. Let me show you how it works, why it’s a powerful way to pray. The prayer begins, first of all, with praise. «Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name».
The Bible tells us to enter into his presence with thanksgiving. Jesus said, «Hallowed be thy name». That means we begin by honoring, worshiping, and praising God. How easy it is to rush into God’s presence with a long list of needs. We start asking before we have even acknowledged who he is. But God invites us to begin with praise. Take the names of God, open the Psalms, find words that exalt him. Here’s why this matters. If you start your prayer focused on your needs, you may not have confidence in your prayers. But if you begin by seeing God as he is, high and lifted up, full of power and majesty, you know that your prayers are being offered to someone who can hear you and answer you and help you. Make God big in your prayers. Begin with praise. «Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name». And then, after praise comes priorities. «Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven».
What would happen if God’s will were done on earth as it is in heaven? In heaven, his will is done perfectly and completely. This is where we surrender. We lay our priorities before him and align them with his. I remind myself almost every day of my priorities. I want to give them to you. Here’s what they are. And if you know anything about me and have watched what’s happened here over the years, you probably will see that these priorities are what have guided my life. First of all, I am a person before God. I must take care of that relationship. Secondly, I’m a partner to my wife. She’s the most important person on this earth to me. Only God gets ahead of Donna.
Thirdly, I’m a parent with my children. I need to tell you that when you do what I do and what some of you guys do who have responsible positions that demand a lot of your time and attention, if you’re not careful, you can sacrifice your children on the altar of your success, and it is a very poor choice if you do that. When I was first beginning to be a pastor back in Fort Wayne, I was trying to build the church I had started there with seven families. One of my favorite sayings to everybody was, «Sure, I got to work every day and every night. I’m the gross national product. Don’t you know that? There’s nobody but me. If I don’t do it, nobody’s going to do it».
So I worked many hours. I would get up early and study, make appointments with people, and I would eat supper and then immediately leave and go visit, and I visited every night. In many ways, it was a wonderful time. I led many people to Jesus Christ, and the church grew, but in that particular time, I was out of sync with God. I would come home, and after we would eat, my wife would say to me, «Are you gonna be gone again tonight»? And then I would give her my little Gross National Product speech and tell her if I didn’t go, there was nobody else to go. And if I didn’t go, this church would never grow. And she would say, okay. But she had two little children that she had fought with all day long, and she was hoping for a little help at night.
This went on until it got out of control, and one day, I don’t know if your wife has ever said this to you, but Donna said to me, «Honey, we need to talk». Yikes, yikes. And so, we sat down in the kitchen, and she gave me this speech. I’ll never forget it. She said, «I don’t know what to do». She said, «I love you, I love this church, and I love these children, but I can’t do this by myself. And I feel so awkward saying anything to you about it because I feel like I’m getting in between you and what you think God wants you to do. So I finally figured out what to do, and here it is. I am never going to say anything to you again about how you spend your time. I’m going to let you and God figure that out».
And it broke my heart. That’s part of this list of priorities. Once again, I’m a person before God, I’m a partner to my wife, and I’m a parent to my children. And then I’m a pastor to the church. And I remember telling the church one Sunday, «You guys are number four». And I had many of them write me little notes and say, «Pastor, don’t ever change that, because if we’re not number four, you’ve got nothing to give us». Because this is God’s priorities. And so, thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. What would happen if you prayed, «Lord, let your will be done in my relationships with you and my spouse and my children and my calling»?
This is the place in the prayer to submit every part of your life to him. First, praise, hallowed be thy name, and then priorities, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So after praise and after priorities comes provision. Isn’t it interesting that it’s number three in the prayer list, but it’s number one on our practice list because we always want what God has and we don’t have up front. And we jump in at that and we don’t praise him, we don’t ask him about our priorities, and we ask him for what we need. Matthew 6:11: «Give us this day our daily bread». How many of you have needs? Some may say, «Are we talking about physical bread or spiritual bread»? And the answer is both. God desires to meet our needs, but notice the order. First we focus on who he is, then we align our lives with his will, and then we bring our needs before him.
Number four, personal relationships. «And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors». Interestingly enough, if you study this prayer, you will discover this is the only part of the prayer that Jesus repeats. In Matthew 6:15 at the end of the prayer, he says: «If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses». Is there someone in your life you haven’t forgiven? Jesus teaches us to pray, «Lord, forgive me in the same way that I forgive others».
That’s a sobering thought. Life is full of relational challenges. Every one of us in this room has them. Friendships, family, work relationships, every day there’s something to bring before God in prayer in the relationship factor. And then we pray for protection. «And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one». Walking through life today is like walking through a minefield. It’s worse now than it’s ever been in my lifetime. But here’s what we pray every morning. «Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one».
We never know what temptation or challenge is ahead. That is why we need to pray for God’s guidance and protection. So it’s praise, priorities, provision, personal relationships, protection, and guess where you end up? Right back where you started. «For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen». God’s prayer is framed in praise. We start with worship, we end with worship, and in between, we bring our needs to God. During World War II, a young soldier lay dying in a hospital. A chaplain came to pray with him, and something in his heart told him to pray the Lord’s Prayer. When he finished, the soldier’s eyes filled with tears. He whispered, «My mother used to pray that prayer with me. Oh, how good it is to hear it again».
The next day, the chaplain returned and the bed was empty. The young soldier had passed away. A nurse told him, «Just an hour after you left, he was still praying out loud and his last words were, 'My Father, my Father. Yes, Mother, he’s my Father, because I’ve accepted him. I’m coming home.'» My friends, you cannot say, «Our Father, » unless he is truly your Father. You only get into God’s family if you accept God’s Son, Jesus Christ. You must be born again. You’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, this prayer doesn’t belong to you yet. You have to start by putting Christ on the throne of your life.
But here’s the good news. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God extends an invitation to you. If you receive Christ, he will become your Lord, and God will become your Father. And then with confidence, you can pray, «My Father in heaven». For those who are already believers, let this prayer remind you of God’s desire for daily fellowship with you. Not with high-sounding words, not with vain repetitions, but with the simplicity of a child speaking to his father. I once heard a story about a pastor who visited a dying man in the hospital. The man had been struggling to pray until someone told him, «Just put a chair beside your bed and imagine God is there and just talk with him».
Pastor later returned and found out that the man had passed away and he went into the room where the man was and found him with his head resting on the chair, where he had been talking with God. That is what prayer is. It’s a conversation. It’s a relationship to a Father in heaven who listens. So open your heart and speak to him, and let the Lord’s Prayer give you an outline. It’s good to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, and we often recite it in church, but that’s not the purpose of the Lord’s teaching. He taught us the Lord’s Prayer to give us an outline so we would know how to organize our prayers.
And I find that many Christians who have been Christians for many years have never thought about that, have never thought even about a prayer being organized. If we don’t organize our prayers and plan them a little bit, they just become sort of a mumbling in some ways. We pray about our children, we pray about our needs, we pray about our relationships, and most of all we praise God for his goodness. Somewhere along the way, all of this will be tested in your life. I used to say that, knowing it would be true, until it happened to me. It’s been tested in my life.
And I’m here to tell you that the God who answers this prayer is a good and gracious and loving God. He never gives us anything that he does not give us the grace to deal with. He never asks us to walk a road that he does not lead us and go with us. God will never ask you to go through anything that he won’t equip you for. He just doesn’t do that. And the Lord’s Prayer is a reminder of that truth. He is your Father. You are his children. I am his child, sons and daughters of Almighty God. And there’s not anything he won’t do for you if you just pray. Pray. The Father’s Prayer is a good place to start.