This past week, I had a chance to complete some work on a project that I have entitled, “A 40 Day Journey of Discovering Inner Peace.” It is my attempt to create a 6-week experience for people desiring inner peace. I will be providing information and invitations to join this experience next week. I hope that we can start the 6-week journey beginning April 26.
My approach in creating this experience is not novel or innovative. It is Biblical. The Biblical development of a life of inner peace focuses on doing those things that build our spiritual life. The goal of our spiritual life is to become spiritual mature. The goal of spiritual maturity is not my idea. That comes from the Bible as well. The Apostle Paul expressed the idea of spiritual maturity leading to inner peace this way, “11 Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Paul said God’s desire is that we work together to attain “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Paul meant most simply that God’s desire is that we would become fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
Paul observed that if we reach for the goal of being fully alive, fully like Christ, “14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15). Being fully alive in Christ removes the anxiousness of the world and replaces that anxiousness with a profound inner peace. To have inner peace is a gift from God.
One of the key disciplines in becoming fully alive, fully like Christ is prayer. And so, I would like us to take a couple of weeks to talk about prayer. I would like us to come through a conversation about “What is prayer?” and “What is prayer for?”
Now, prayer is something that most of us became acquainted with as children. I can recall as a child being faithful in saying the same prayer every night before going to bed. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my Soul to keep; If I should die before I 'wake, I pray the Lord my Soul to take. Amen.” I grew up in New England where apparently scaring kids into believing they might not make it through the night was considered good parenting. The softer version of that prayer goes something like this, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep, thy angels watch me through the night, and keep me safe till morning's light. Amen.”
Praying as a child, with whatever words were used, was and is an important spiritual exercise, much like learning to crawl is an important exercise to our physical development. Learning to pray at a young age helps us understand the idea that God is available to us and that in God there is comfort. As we physically develop, we do not want to forget how to crawl, but we want to mature and be able to walk and run. So, too it should be in our spiritual life. We remember the important lessons of our childhood prayers and develop into greater spiritual maturity as we come to understand what it means to walk this life like Jesus.
Jesus’ disciples wanted to know how to pray more fully and completely like Jesus. Jesus’ disciples saw something in Jesus’ life that was remarkably different, and they correctly attributed part of that difference came from Jesus’ prayer life.
We read earlier today that Jesus told his disciples, “5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:5-8).
Jesus’ teaching on prayer began by correcting practices with which His disciples would have been familiar. The disciples saw the Pharisees pray and the people, likely including Jesus’ disciples, saw the Pharisees as properly religious. But Jesus’ words point to a problem with the behavior of the Pharisees. At certain times of the day, all activities in Jerusalem would stop, and people prayed wherever they happened to be at that moment. Jesus’ words suggest that the Pharisees managed to time their daily activities to be in the public square at the time of prayer. The prayers of the Pharisees then were more of a show for others and not borne from spiritual maturity. Jesus was making the point that our motivation for praying, our goal in praying, matters.
Secondly, Jesus said that repeating the same words over and over in prayer becomes babble. I remember growing up in the Roman Catholic tradition and going to confession with my classmates. We would go into the confessional and in the private and darkness of that confined space, tell the priest what we had done wrong. The priest would then tell us to pray a set number of “Our Fathers” and some many “Hail Mary’s.” We would then exit the confessional, take a place in the pew of the church, and see how fast we could recite the words of those prayers. We all seemed to be able to repeat the required number of prayers and leave in under 60 seconds. We were babbling and our prayers really meant nothing.
Having corrected the view of what the disciples may have witnessed, Jesus said, “9 This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one’” (Matthew 5:9-13).
Jesus’ prayer was a model of how we should pray. Since Jesus was the most spiritual mature person ever, we might ask, “What then is prayer?” and “What is prayer for?”
We get some insight into the intent of a spiritual mature prayer in the opening line. Jesus began with a petition to God. “Hallowed be your name.” Jesus was acknowledging that God’s name must be hallowed. The word hallowed means to separate from something from that which is profane, irreverent, disrespectful, or secular. Jesus began the prayer both acknowledging that God’s name must stand separate to be holy and asking God to make God’s name separate and pure.
Jesus’ disciples might have recognized the concept of God making his name hallowed through the words of the Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel. In Chapter 36 of Ezekiel, God said, “22 “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. 23 I will show the holiness of my great name [I will hallow My name], which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy [I will hallow My name] through you before their eyes” (Ezekiel 36:22-23).
Jesus began his prayer, the model of our prayer, by acknowledging and asking God to show how God’s name is separate, holy, and apart from everything else. The name of God here meaning everything God stands for and is about is holy and hallowed. When we pray maturely, we begin by asking God to make his presence in this world felt and to bring us with him, planting our feet on higher ground.
Jesus then said, pray “thy kingdom come.” This is another petition, a request of God. Lord, come and make your kingdom, the one in which you directly rule over the lands, a reality in my lifetime. That is what Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray would happen. Jesus petitioned God further and said God let “your will be done on earth as your will is done in heaven.” In heaven, God’s will is a joy for all to follow. Following God’s will leads to worship and peace. Jesus was telling his disciples, petition God, ask him to make that sort of kingdom happen on earth just like it is happening today in heaven. The psalmist expressed that sort of living this way, “1 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” When we pray maturely, we ask God to bring that kingdom of joy, peace, and unity found in heaven to earth - now.
Jesus’ petitions to God were occupying that higher ground and yet Jesus knew that until God acted on those petitions, we have smaller needs as well. Jesus said, pray this way, “11 Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 5:11). Lord, give us what we need to sustain ourselves in the present while we await your kingdom and your will to be done on earth. Make provision for us God so that in our maturing in faith and spirit our bodies will remain healthy. Let your provision for us God be evidence that your name is to be hallowed by all. It is alright to pray for sufficient provision for the body.
Jesus then told his disciples to pray for provision for their soul. Jesus said, God, “12 And forgive us our debts,” forgive our sins that drain our souls of life. But we are not to ask for forgiveness shallowly or without regard to our own behavior. So Jesus said ask for forgiven because you “have already forgiven your debtors, those who have sinned against you.” This is the prayer of the spiritually mature. Jesus noted this point in verses 14-15, “14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). God’s name is not hallowed if he forgives us without repentance or if we withhold forgiveness from another. We must forgive so that our prayers mean something. We want our prayers to hallow God’s name and not make God’s name or grace seem hollow.
Finally, Jesus said, “13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). This is a petition, a request of God, that we stay close to him so that we, on our own, do not falter by the temptations that are before us. Please Lord, don’t let me stumble.
Jesus’ model prayer is a communication between those who believe in God and God himself in which the believer asks. The believer asks God for things big and small but always for the purpose of making God’s name holy in this world. We know the latter to be true. We find Jesus again speaking of prayer to his disciples. Jesus was soon to be arrested and crucified. Jesus told his disciples, “13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). Jesus, though he would be separated from his disciples, continued to remind them that to ask, to pray, was to seek glory for God. The product of every answered prayer is that God is glorified. When we pray for healing and healing comes, God is glorified. When we pray for provision and we receive, God’s name is hallowed. When we pray for calmness, and we receive, God’s name is to be seen as holy.
Why and how do we know such a connection between us and God exists that our prayers mean something and are heard? Jesus showed us that connection at the Passover meal. Jesus said, “26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28). Jesus was creating a life sustaining bond between the believer and God using his body and his blood as a seal of the covenant between the us and God. The believer was free to petition God and bring glory to the name of God.
Participating in the Lord’s Prayer and Lord’s Supper hallows the name of God by making God evident in the world. Participating in the Lord’s Prayer and Lord’s Supper develops us within and without, becoming more fully alive like Christ. Participating in the Lord’s Prayer and Lord’s Supper brings us a profound sense of inner peace.
Come, let’s pray and come to the table of peace.