Lord, teach us to pray....Matthew 6:5-15...God focused and gospel infused

 


The disciples wanted to pray like Jesus.  They have heard Him pray; they have watched Him pray; they have seen Him go away by Himself to pray; and they have been in His presence when He taught on prayer.  Disciples sound and act like their rabbi so the disciples want to pray like Jesus prays so He starts with an address like He would do, "Our Father..."

The "Father" part signifies a relationship with Him that only comes through the redemption action of His begotten and beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  The "our" part signifies other relationships with those who also call God their Father.  I am in relationship with God and also in relationship with the family of God.

I have always looked at the Lord's Prayer through the lens of personalizing it.  What do I need today from the Lord?  What sins do I need to forgive as I have been forgiven by Him?  What tests and temptations require me to resist with Scripture as Jesus did in the desert?  The Lord's Prayer is heavy on forgiveness so I imagine as a Christian I am going to be doing this a lot.  I need to be forgiven and I need to forgive.

Our forgiving of others is optional but when we chose not to forgive we are not acting like the One who forgave us.  We start to forfeit the washing of our feet from Jesus when we withhold forgiveness.  We need to go back to that staple VBS verse that we all memorized.  Ephesians 4:32 (LSB)

Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, 

graciously forgiving each other,

just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.

A last note to document some phrases the church is working through to keep us gospel centered in our efforts.  3 m's and 3 c's!

  • Our Message:  Jesus, the Christ
  • Our Motive:  Love, showing charity
  • Our Method:  Discipleship, a life-transforming community
  • We share the message that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.
  • We display the motive of love because He first loved us and the world will know we are Jesus' disciples if we love one another.
  • We participate in the method because we are part of God's household now being built up together and going to make disciples by baptizing, teaching and obeying what He has commanded of us.

Adam


A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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