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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
What would you think if I told you that Jesus did not pray The Lord’s Prayer? Rather, He taught His disciples to pray this prayer which has erroneously been dubbed The Lord’s Prayer. In fact, this particular prayer would have been totally inappropriate for Him to have prayed inasmuch as it requests the forgiveness of debts (sins – Luke 11.4) and He was the Sinless One (2 Corinthians 5.21). It would be more accurately called the disciple’s prayer due to the fact that Jesus spoke these words in response to the disciple’s request, “Teach us to pray.” (see Luke 11.1). Our thoughts today and for the next couple of days will briefly look at this most famous of prayers.
In response to the disciples request, Jesus said, “In this manner, therefore, pray: 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 forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6.9-13).
First, note what Jesus did not say. He did not tell his disciple to memorize and repeat the exact words of the prayer. Instead, He instructed them to pray “in this manner.” His instruction had to do with manner and content only; it was not a “magic formula” to be repeated on all occasions and at all times. It is a fact that within the very context of this event, He explicitly told His hearers, “..when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.” (Matthew 6.7). All repetitions are not vain (empty, or meaningless), but some are. When we fail to understand the significance of what we are saying, we are repeating vainly that which has been said before. When we pray The Disciple’s Prayer without understanding or meaning what we are saying, we violate the very prohibition that preceded it!
The very first utterance of the prayer positions mankind in regards to God. “Our Father in heaven” is a phrase which defines who we are in regards to the universe in which we live as well as the nature of God’s existence. He is not earthy; we are. God is not a creation of man’s fertile imagination as some claim; rather, we are His offspring by way of His miraculous creation in the beginning of time. With this in mind, it is difficult to be flippant or anything less than awed as we approach Him in prayer. It is not a time for a show of reverence; it is time for true reverence!
The Psalmist addressed the same question of man’s place in the universe; here is what he had to say: “O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8.1-9).
Indeed, we ought to pray in the manner Jesus and the Psalmist stated. We are His creation and we are allowed to address Him only because of His mercy; believers may come there boldly (Hebrews 4.16), but that certainly doesn’t mean irreverently!
Questions:
1. Why might The Lord’s Prayer more accurately be called The Disciple’s Prayer?
2. What is there in the prayer that implies the relative “position” that man occupies as related to God?
3. According to the Psalmist, is there an “order” or “ranking” of living beings? If yes, are some of them ranked above others? Explain why this might be.
4. Why does boldness not exclude reverence? Why does reverence exclude being flippant or cavalier?
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