The Lord's Prayer: Promise
Matthew 6.14-15
Introduction
Martin Luther, when we hear the name many things come to mind. The Protestant Reformation initiated on October 31, 1517; Justification by faith alone; the namesake of the denomination known as Lutheranism, which is the home of many faithful Christians even 500 years later. What we may not think is, guy who needed a haircut. But like most of us, Martin Luther did need to regularly get a haircut and he found a barber named Peter Beskendorf.
One day while giving Luther a haircut, Peter asked him advice on prayer. Luther then wrote, “A Simple Way to Pray for Master Peter the Barber.” In it Luther wrote,
So, as a diligent and good barber, you must keep your thoughts, sense, and eyes precisely on the hair and scissors or razor and not forget where you trimmed or shaved, for, if you want to talk a lot or become distracted thinking about something else, you might well cut someone’s nose or mouth or even his throat.
Luther’s advice was that prayer was like every other skill or art, it takes time and diligence. Luther spent the rest of the book using the Lord’s Prayer as the tool to teach his barber about prayer. Luther himself prayed the Lord’s Prayer every morning and evening, making it his own, with his particular praises and petitions.
We’ve spent the last eight weeks studying the most important prayer in the history of the world. It is the prayer that the Lord Jesus gave us to pray. No words in the history of the world have been spoken by more people that the Lord’s Prayer. We’ve moved through the prayer and this morning we will finish our series by looking at one problem and two promises. The problem is in the footnotes and the promises are in the text.
Problem
Since we started this series on the Lord’s Prayer a number of you have approached me with the same question: why haven’t we been reading the end of the prayer? Why do we end with deliver us from evil? If you’ve been following along with an ESV Bible, you’ll notice that’s where the prayer ends. If you have a KJV or maybe another version, it may include the famous doxology: for your is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen. Why do some translations include this doxology and others don’t?
The issue is what scholars call a textual variant. If you were to look at a Greek New Testament like the NA27 or UBS, you’d notice that the text ends at deliver us from evil. There’s a footnote that gives further explanation. The text of the Lord’s Prayer that we’ve studied thus far has the strongest oldest textual witness. The Alexandrian manuscripts and the oldest Western manuscripts we have end at deliver us from evil.
Later texts, especially the Byzantine in the textus receptus tradition include for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen. Even later texts read for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit forever amen. Patristic commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer like Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian suggest that this doxology was added for liturgical use in the church. Deliver us from evil is kind of an abrupt end, so the doxology was added to bring liturgical closure.
So what does this mean? It means that Matthew probably didn’t originally write it because Jesus probably didn’t originally say it. On the other hand there’s nothing theologically inaccurate in the doxology. To say for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, and even to add, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit forever amen is theologically correct. Scripture in general and the Lord’s Prayer specifically speak extensively about the kingdom, power, and glory of the holy Trinity. So in summary, it’s not wrong to add the doxology to your prayer especially when a local church recites the Lord’s Prayer together, but it’s not a part of the original text.
Promises
Now that the problem is solved, let’s think about the promises. In the two Scriptural versions of the Lord’s Prayer Jesus follows the prayer with two pericopes about promises. These promises are intrinsically tied to prayer. The first is found in Luke 11, which Joe read in our call to worship. The second is found in Matthew 6.14-15, which we read a moment ago.
The Holy Spirit
In the Gospel according to Luke Christ follows the Lord’s Prayer with a parable about the importance of perseverance in prayer. He tells the story of a neighbor knocking on your door at midnight. He’s freaking out because he’s got company coming and there’s nothing to eat. Your whole family’s asleep so initially you ignore him but he won’t quit. Jesus says that even if you don’t help him out of friendship, at least you help him so that he’ll leave and you can sleep.
How much more do father’s love to help their own children. Unless you’re a psychopath, if your kid asks for a fish, you’re not going to give him a serpent. What father would give his child a scorpion if they asked for an egg? Jesus says if people like us, evil, fallen, sinful people, will give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father in heaven do? Remember in Greek the Lord’s Prayer begins with the word Πάτερ, father. It serves as the umbrella under which we pray. We’re praying to our Father in heaven.
But notice that Jesus doesn’t say ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened…for literally anything you want. No! He’s promising these things within the context of the Lord’s Prayer. What’s more, Jesus specifically says, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Everyone who asks for the Holy Spirit will receive this good gift.
And Jesus’ emphasis is to be as persistent as that rude neighbor. Don’t stop asking your Father for daily bread, forgiveness of debts, to be kept from temptation and deliverance from evil. Be as persistent as a rude neighbor and know that your Father in heaven wants to give you good gifts even more than you want to give your own children. Believer, if you will daily adorn your prayers the way Christ taught you to – adoration, submission, petition, confession, aspiration – your Father will fill you with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide you, teach you, and most importantly, point you back to the Christ who taught you to pray.
Forgiveness
Matthew gives a similar promise from a different perspective. He promises that if you forgive others your Father in heaven will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive you. Let’s begin with what this doesn’t mean and move to what it does mean.
It doesn’t mean that God forgives us on the basis of how we forgive others. We explored this in detail in the sermon forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors so you can go to the church website and check that sermon out for more info. But as orthodox Protestant Reformed Christians, that theology is antithetical to everything we believe. The overwhelming witness of the Scripture is justification by faith alone. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ.
So what does it mean? Jesus is using stark language to warn us. If you won’t forgive someone then it may be a sign that you’re not forgiven. It’s possible that you wont forgive because you don’t have a new heart. If you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit, then you don’t have forgiveness of sins from God. If you’ve experienced God’s forgiveness, you will extend forgiveness.
Notice the emphasis that Jesus places on forgiveness in Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. It gets the longest petition in the actual prayer and then he gives further commentary after the prayer. That’s because it is at the heart of what Christ came to do. The Gospels have been called passion narratives with extended introductions and there’s truth there. Jesus came to die so that we might obtain the forgiveness of sin. “On that cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live.”
Colossians 2.13-14 says,
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
This is at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer because this is at the heart of the gospel. To receive forgiveness is to receive the Holy Spirit. And so if you haven’t done that, if you’re still dead in your sin, the call of the Lord’s Prayer is the call of the gospel, repent and believe! Ask God to forgive your debts; beg him for the Holy Spirit. Like a rude neighbor who is pounding on the door at midnight and wont leave until he gets bread, pound on the door of heaven and beg your Father for the bread of life. And because he is you Father in heaven will he not give you the Holy Spirit? Does he not rejoice to forgive your sins? For us Christians, it’s a reminder that as Luther said, we are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone. Because we’ve received forgiveness, we must extend forgiveness. And if that is a struggle for you, ask your Father to guide you by his Spirit.
Conclusion
We began this series eight weeks ago thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Today marks two months since New Year’s; how many people are still keeping their resolutions? So many make New Year’s plans but what we need is a prayer. And that’s what Jesus has given us in the Lord’s Prayer. I want to conclude the series by giving you three practical tips from NT Wright on how to use the Lord’s Prayer to enrich your prayer life.
(1) Use the Lord’s Prayer as the scaffolding on which you build your prayers. For example, start with Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. And then spend a few minutes in adoration of God. Praise him for who he is. Then move to your kingdom come and pray for submission to God’s will. Pray for specific people that need salvation. Move through the petitions in that way adding your own specific praises and petitions.
(2) A more meditative approach is to repeat the prayer over and over again slowly in the pattern of your breathing. This spiritual discipline helps the Lord’s Prayer to become second nature. It can help you block out other distractions and anxieties. It also has the benefit of embedding the prayer in your heart and mind; like muscle memory for your soul. For those who live such busy lives, this can be a helpful intentional forced slow down. Next time you’re driving, switch the music or podcast off and give it a try!
Finally, (3) use the petitions of the prayer to structure your week. On Sunday pray Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, and whenever you pray that day praise God. On Monday pray, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, spend that day praying about God’s kingdom and will. And move through the week thus.
These are just suggestions for those, like Master Peter the Barber, who have a hard time praying. The important thing is that we pray. It is a spiritual discipline and a means of grace. Let’s end this series by reciting the Lord’s Prayer together with the doxology.
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 also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever
Amen.