Sermon26-31 Mt6 "Pray like This" Guide

Matthew 6:9-15 theme verse Matthew 6:9

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this twenty sixth Sunday of the year 2026, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, on the fourth Sunday of ordinary season after Pentecost, through 1 Tim 2, we looked at variety of public prayer and its three qualifications, yet on this fifth Sunday of Ordinary season after Pentecost, through Mt 6, we would like to think about the Lord’s prayer which our Lord taught us to pray together.

1)    Today’s text comes out from the ”Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew chapters 5–7.

Regarding the theme and structure of the “Sermon on the mountain”, there are many options, yet, I would like explain it modifying the inverse parallel chiastic pattern by Daniel Patte as follows. I mean,

A1 5:3-10 Eight Beatitude – Who is disciple?

  B1 5:11-16 The Calling of Disciple to be Salt & Light

    C1 5:17-20 The Law/Righteousness  More Righteous

      D1 5:21-6:4 Reinterpretation of the Law

        E1 6:5-15 Teaching on the Prayer

      D2 6:16-7:6 Reinterpretation of the Law

        E2 7:7-11 Seek!  The Father will give good things

    C2 7:12 Golden Rule

  B2 7:13-20 The Calling of Disciple to Narrow Gate

A2 7:21-27 Who is Disciple? – Those who do His Will

The overall theme is the authoritative teaching of Jesus Christ that the righteousness of His disciples should surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

And in order to do that, after defining His disciples as those who receive the Beatitudes and live according to the will of the Father, becoming good trees after being regenerated, His disciples have to enter through the narrow gate and walk hard path to be the light and salt of the world for His glory through their good deeds as their righteous deed surpasses that of the Pharisees and the scribes.

Yet, Jesus said that the enabler for all this life is the grace of God which His disciples can receive through prayer.

2)    Among them, today’s text is about the famous ‘Lord’s Prayer’ which was provided as a model.

I mean, before He taught it, He first said, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you”, and also “Do not keep repeating the same words as the Gentiles do.” And then, He said, “Pray like this,” and taught us the “Lord’s Prayer,” which appears in today’s text.

Therefore, this prayer, as we often recite, is not a set of prayer, but rather was given as a model prayer.

And the structure is that:

In verse 9, it begins with addressing of “Our Father in heaven!” And then from the second half of verse 9 to verse 10, He taught us three petitions for God, while in verses 11-13, He taught us to pray three petitions for us. And finally it ends with doxology in verse 13, In the last half of verse 13, the doxology is written as “For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.”

Yet, this doxology was not in the early manuscripts and was added into later manuscripts for use in worship. Therefore, today we would like to learn few things by looking at the Lord's Prayer together.

3)    First, our Lord instructed us to begin the prayer with the addressing, "Our Father in heaven!"

I think this addressing encapsulates the essence of the Christian faith very well, I mean, it serves as our confession that the omniscient, omnipotent, and transcendent God the Creator and the Sovereign Ruler of the universe is our Father.

And the phrase "in heaven" signifies God’s infinite greatness, transcendence, and oneness and highlights that the One to whom we pray is the transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Absolute Being who accomplishes all His will with His Sovereignty.

Furthermore, the phrase "Our Father" declares that this Absolute God is indeed our Father so that as Romans 8:15 says, the believers who receive the Spirit of adoption can cry out, "Abba, Father." This tells us that prayer is rooted in the relationship between God and His children.

Thus, through this addressing, "Our Father in heaven”, we Christians can approach the throne of grace with boldness (Hebrews 4:16) to receive His grace as we have faith and trust in God who created and meticulously governs the universe, safely protects and tenderly cares for His children by His power.

4)    And the following the addressing, three petitions are directed to lift up for God, praying, "Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In order words, the Lord taught us to pray for God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will.

Regarding the petition "Hallowed be Thy name," since the word "name" signifies identity, character, and power, this petition acknowledges God as the One to be revered and worshipped and whose name has to be treated with holiness. Yet, this is not a request for God’s name itself to become holy, since He is holy already, but rather a prayer that God’s holiness be confessed and honored throughout all creations. This aligns with the praise in Philippians 2:10–11, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

And then, the petition ”Thy kingdom come" flows from the first petition as when God’s name is honored, His sovereign rule is established. Thus, this is a prayer for the expansion of God’s kingdom, in other words, His reign will be done within each individual, within the church community, and throughout the entire world.

Then the third petition articulates the content of the first two more specifically by praying ”Thy will be done" which expresses not only a longing for complete obedience to God’s will but also a plea to actively participate in God’s will through obedience. It represents a pray for living in His will after acknowledging it, turning away from the first sin, in which, after human ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and started to judge good and evil according to their own will rather than God’s, thereby which resulted in corrupting not only themselves but all of creation.

5)    Then three petitions for us are followed, as the Lord asks us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Here, the petition, “Give us today our daily bread,” is a prayer that encompasses all of our physical and spiritual needs. The Greek word translated as ‘daily’ here is ‘ἐπιούσιος, epiousios, which means 1) ‘necessary for existence,’ 2) ‘for today,’ 3) ‘for the future.’ (or for the following day)', and 4) 'for the future', according to the BDAG dictionary.

And the prayer for "daily bread" acknowledges that we depend on God's provision for our daily livelihood, just as God fed the Israelites with manna and quail when they were in the wilderness and is a plea for the provision of daily food, not only physical but also spiritual needs.

And the Lord then tells us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” In this prayer, the Lord said not that if we forgive when we first believe, we will be forgiven based on our merit. Rather this petition is that as in the parable of the unforgiving servant of Matthew 18:21-35, we as the forgiven, are asked to forgive the others so that we may enjoy continuously intimate fellowship with God. So, the reason why the Lord once again emphasizes forgiveness in verses 14 and 15 is that this life of forgiveness ultimately leads to intimate fellowship with God.

And finally, the Lord told us to pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” As we can see in Luke 22:31-32 where the Lord says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail,” we, Christians need continuous protection from temptation and evil while living on this earth. And also we have to know that in order to avoid falling into temptation like this, we have to obey to the Lord’s guidance so that we have to remember that this prayer is a prayer asking for the Lord's guidance and asking Him to help us obey the Lord's guidance.

In this way, this short Lord's Prayer has deep spiritual meaning, so that we have to pray, while thinking about these spiritual meaning.

6)    Therefore, in a small church in Uruguay, the following '7 Commandments of True Confession' are written in the wall to enlighten believers who recite the Lord's Prayer mechanically. It says that:

“Do not call ”our Father in heaven" when you are so immersed in the world.

Do not say, “Hallowed be thy name” when you want to only exalt your own name.

Do not confess, “Thy will be done,” when you only want your will to be done.

And do not ask, “Give me my daily bread,” when you are greedy.

Do not say, “Forgive us our sins,” while hating others.

Do not pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” while looking for opportunities to sin.

And finally, do not confess “Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory” when you live with a hypocritical heart.”

7)    By the way, if we look at the Lord’s prayer, the word "our" is repeated consistently. I mean, after addressing God as "Our Father in heaven," the subsequent petitions pray for our daily bread, for forgiving our sins, and for delivering us from temptation and evil.

The reason the Lord's Prayer contains no "I" but is built entirely on ”we" is that it is a prayer that is not a prayer for one's own personal prosperity, rather after setting aside the self and transcending individual well-being, is a prayer to embrace and intercede for our neighbors and the community.

Then, there is one more point to consider here. I mean, if the Lord's Prayer is indeed a prayer for our neighbors and the community, then who do you think ”we" here in our prayer? Some might think of one’s family, others of one’s church, one’s local community, one’s nation, or even the entire humanity.

Therefore, ultimately, we can know that the concept of ”we" that we hold in mind when we pray defines the scope and horizon of our prayers as we recite the Lord's Prayer.

8)    Today, we have meditated on the Lord’s Prayer which our Lord Himself taught us to pray. And we became to know that even though it is brief, yet we became to know that it encapsulates the essence of the Christian faith, blending petitions for God, I mean, praying for His name, His kingdom, and His will, also with petitions for ourselves, I mean, asking for our daily physical and spiritual needs, asking for right relationships with our neighbors and God, and also asking for divine guidance through which we can lead not into temptation and we can be delivered from evil. And also we became to know that the Lord’s prayer is not merely as a prayer for the individual, but as a prayer for the community. As such we became to know that the horizon of our prayers can expand depending on whom we envision when we say "us."

Therefore, as we lift up holy hands in prayer throughout this year, I hope that we may bring glory to God and see His reign established and His will be fulfilled among us and upon this earth, while being provided our needs enjoying intimate fellowship with God and living in obedience to His guidance.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the Lord’s prayer is not merely a simple prayer for children to memorize and recite, rather, it beautifully encapsulates the essence of the Christian faith and embodies profound petitions for both God and ourselves. So after reflecting our life of prayer and checking whether we are praying the Lord’s prayer after contemplating these deep spiritual meaning, when we pray the Lord’s prayer, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also, we became to know that we have to realize that the Lord’s prayer is not intended soly for the individual, but is a prayer for ‘us’, encompassing our neighbors and the community. So after reflecting our Lord’s prayer and checking whether we truly keep the community in minds, I hope we can share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.