공동체와 양육

Our Father : The Lord's Prayer Part 1 (Matt 6:5~9)

2017.01.08Mike Lee

Jesus teaches us to pray with our focus on God alone, not on the approval of others. Because God is our Father, we can come to him as his children, and because his name is holy, we approach him with reverence.

Pray to God, not to be seen by people (5-8)

Jesus is not condemning public prayer, but asking whom we are really praying to and why. The hypocrites prayed to be seen, and so they forfeited the reward of the Father. Prayer should be communion between us and God alone, not a performance for people. Jesus also warns against empty phrases and mindless repetition, as the Gentiles did. Long words or many minutes do not make prayer effective. Rather, we should move from publicity toward privacy and keep our prayers simple.

Our Father invites us into an intimate relationship (9)

Jesus begins with the words 'Our Father,' so we must know whom we are addressing. For some, a father was a close friend; for others, a father was distant or abusive. In God we can start over with a healthy and intimate relationship. Jesus chose Father, the most intimate name for God, and he gives us the right to call him that. Because our Father already knows what we need before we ask, we can come to him at any time, like a child sitting at his father's feet.

The holiness of God's name calls us to reverence

When we hallow God's name, we recognize how meaningful God is in our lives. The Jews considered God's name so sacred that they could not say or write it. Christians do not fear God in the way the wizarding world feared Voldemort. We revere him and put him in his rightful place on the throne as King of kings and Lord of lords. With the Father, the fear is ended. Using the names of God in prayer, such as Jehovah Jireh, helps us see how holy he is.

Apply to Life

  • Let us spend more time in private prayer than in public prayer.
  • Let us keep our prayers simple and sincere, not repeated without thought.
  • Let us lift up prayers for the people we meet, seeing each encounter as a divine encounter.
  • Let us come to God as our Father, trusting that he already knows our needs.
  • Let us reverence God's holy name and put him in his rightful place in our lives.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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