We continue our series in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) by studying the Lord's Prayer.
The Six petitions
- God’s name to be hallowed
- God’s kingdom come
- God’s will be done
- Ask for our daily needs
- Ask for forgiveness of sins
- Ask for help to overcome temptation
1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
Thomas Merton: Surrender your poverty and acknowledge your nothingness to the Father. Whether you understand it or not, God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, dwells in you, calls you, saves you and offers you an understanding and compassion which are like nothing you have ever found in a book or heard in a sermon.
Homoousion: 100% man & 100% God, both at the same time
Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Matt Chandler: When there is an idol in your heart, we in the end do not want an all knowing, all powerful God, loving God of the universe who gives as He sees fit –instead we want a divine waitress to fetch us what we want.
Reflection Questions
Jesus teaches us to pray “Our Father.” Our is a transformational part of this prayer. When we pray “our” we are taking on not only our personal needs but the needs of the community at large. Spend some time praying to “Our Father” for the needs of our community.
The story of the gospel (life, death and resurrection of Christ) is not about you. It is about Christ. It is about the endless pursuit and love of the Father. Without the Father, we are headed for wrath. With the Father, we have life eternal. Spend some time relishing the Good Father.
Idolatry seems ancient but it is a big deal. Idolatry is putting something other than God into you heart and wanting that thing. What’s in your heart? What have your closed your hand on and restricted God from challenging? Will you allow God to remove that thing from your heart?