On Our Knees

Matthew 6:9-13

July 20, 2025 • Mount Pleasant UMC

One of my favorite cartoons shows a pastor, apparently in his office, kneeling in prayer. As the pastor prays, the heavens are opened and God is reaching down. It’s a moment of true spiritual connection, and just at that moment, on the other side of the cartoon, someone opens the door and says, “Oh, good, you’re not busy.” We might laugh, but we only laugh because it’s painfully true. Increasingly today, people see prayer as having very little value, or maybe even as a waste of time. Whenever tragedy hits, we hear politicians, preachers and pundits all saying, “We don’t want your prayers. We want you to do something.” The prevailing idea today is that prayer doesn’t accomplish anything. Increasingly, even for Christians, prayer is considered a foolish endeavor.

We seem to forget that prayer was an integral and important part of Jesus’ life. If prayer is wasted time, why is it the only thing his disciples directly asked Jesus to teach them? Without a doubt, Jesus taught them many things over the three years they were together, but only once did they come to him and say, “Lord, teach us…” That’s in Luke 11, after the disciples had noticed Jesus once again praying and realized how important it was in his life. So they say, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). And he didn’t say, “Oh, don’t worry about it, prayer isn’t really all that useful anyway.” No, for Jesus, prayer is where you start.

This morning we are wrapping up our VBS sermon series, “Live It Out,” because guess what? Tomorrow evening we start Vacation Bible School right here in this very room. Over the last three weeks we’ve been sharing some of the themes and Bible stories that the kids are going to hear this week because these messages, this challenge to live like Jesus is not just for kids. It’s for all of us. So far (you can follow along on the directional sign over here), we’ve talked about the need to love one another, be kind to one another and forgive one another. This morning, that brings us to loving like Jesus by praying for one another.

Jesus apparently taught this prayer at least a couple of times, once to his disciples only and another time to a larger group during his famous “Sermon on the Mount.” I mean, as a good preacher, he wouldn’t let good material go to waste by only using it once. Plus, he had many people to teach and he couldn’t just post a sermon online. We should expect to hear the same teaching multiple times. So anyway, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples are in Galilee, and if you come with me sometime to the Holy Land, we will go to a small hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee where, according to tradition, this sermon about life in the kingdom was preached. Prayer was a normal topic for a rabbi to cover. It was a practice of every good rabbi and since the goal of a disciple was to become like his rabbi in every way, then a good disciple would want to know how his rabbi prayed so that he could then emulate that life of prayer. Jesus’ prayer, the one he gives his disciples on this day and in Luke 11 (and probably on other occasions as well) is rooted in the prayers of Judaism. It’s not something that would have been radically different from what these disciples had heard growing up in synagogue. As one commentator puts it, this prayer is full of “common words at work in the prayer of [Jesus’] contemporaries” (cf. McKnight, Matthew, pg. 95).

That should remind us we don’t have to be novel in our prayers. God is not expecting us to reinvent the wheel. We try so hard to come up with something new or something that catches people’s attention. I know there are lots of models and outlines and acronyms that try to teach us unique and supposedly “powerful” ways to pray, but I guess I’m just simple enough to think that maybe Jesus’ model prayer is better than anything we can come up with. Its emphasis is simplicity (McKnight 95), not complexity. Jesus has already said that we don’t get God’s attention with more words; that, in fact, is what the pagans do. “When you pray,” Jesus says, “do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (6:7). It’s not a mark of true spirituality to be able to pray long-winded prayers. If anything, Jesus seems to say that using a lot of words indicates the opposite. (Hey, I didn’t say it; Jesus did.) The Father already knows what you need (6:8), so don’t go on and on. Just ask. Just say what you mean and mean what you say. Simplicity (Card, Matthew: The Gospel of Identity, pg. 63).

There are those who say Jesus never intended us to pray this prayer like it’s written, and yet, here in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “This, then, is how you should pray…” (6:9). And when he teaches it over in Luke’s Gospel, he says, “When you pray, say…” (11:2). He never says, “Use words like these.” Or, “Here’s a few suggestions.” He says, “When you pray, pray this.” And that’s why Christians for centuries have found comfort, peace, hope and solace in these words. You can pray a line, for instance, and then sit and wait and see what God brings to mind. Then, after a time, pray another line and do the same thing (cf. McKnight 95-96). And so on until you reach the “amen.” There are a lot of things we pray for, but we only know for certain that we are praying what Jesus wants us to pray when we root our prayer life in this prayer he gave us. Pray, then, like this, Jesus says.

As I said, this is a simple prayer. There are basically two kinds of requests here. The first are what we can call the “God-ward” prayers; these occupy the first half of the prayer. Here’s the point: God-ward prayers are not tacked on at the end; they are where we start. God-ward prayers focus us and give us right perspective. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (6:9-10). The first three things we ask for in the Lord’s prayer have nothing to do with us. God’s name be hollowed, or made holy, set apart. God’s kingdom is the one we want. God’s will is what we wish was done. Do you see how all of this reorients us? From the start, we’re reminded first of all that without God involved, there’s nothing we can do that is worth doing. And second, anything we do that is outside what he wants and wills is a waste of time. God, we want you to be at the center. Your kingdom, your will, not our own. Jesus, of course, lived this out in front his disciples at the most important moment in history. When they went with him to the garden of Gethsemane, we’re told he was weary and burdened. He knew the cross was before him, and he didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to do it. Could the Son actually have gone against the will of the Father? Theologians debate questions like that but what we know actually happened is that Jesus went to prayer, he wrestled with the Father, and in that darkness of that night he came to this conclusion: “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Your kingdom. Your will. God-ward prayers are where we start.

The second half of Jesus’ model prayer, then, are the human-ward requests. After our perspective has been oriented correctly, then we are ready to ask for what we need. “Need” is an important word there, because it’s so easy to get off onto all sorts of “wants.” “Lord, give me this, give me that,” but Jesus’ model focuses on the essentials, the basics. “Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (9:11-13). Bread—nothing more basic than that, is there? When I was growing up, no matter what we were having for dinner, you could always count on there being bread, butter and jelly on the table. Bread is the “staff of life,” so it is said. But I don’t think Jesus is telling us to pray for sourdough or whole wheat or gluten-free. In the prayer, bread is a symbol of our most basic needs. Give us what we need, not necessarily what we want, but what we need. Daily bread. And forgive us—as we forgive others. We talked about this last week. In fact, after the prayer, Jesus feels the need to give a little more instruction about this particular request, probably because he knows we need the extra instruction. Forgiveness is always a challenge, and Jesus has the audacity to say that if we don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive us (cf. 6:14-15). Again, I didn’t say that; Jesus did. I wish he hadn’t, but he did. That’s how seriously he takes the practice of forgiveness. I’ve said before it’s not that God can’t forgive us, but that our own attitude, our unforgiveness, stands in the way of us receiving what God wants to give. Forgive us, and then comes the request for protection from temptation and the work of the evil one. I generally think of this request in this way: “You don’t need to lead me into temptation, Lord, because I can find it all by myself.” But, again, Jesus’ prayer is not just about asking protection for me; it’s about us. “Lead us not…deliver us.” Keep your church safe, Lord, from anything that threatens it, whether temptation or a direct attack from the evil one. Be with us, Lord.

If we really listen to the words of this prayer, I think we have to conclude that this is a far cry from the things we normally ask for. And yet, this is what Jesus tells us to pray. This is “what those who love God pray when facing God, and what those who love others pray when thinking about others” (McKnight 95). I think it’s safe to say that if this is what Jesus prays about, then these are the important things in God’s kingdom. This is what matters.

But wait, I pretend to hear you say, where’s the rest of the prayer? When we pray it in worship, and when my parents taught it to me, it ended this way: “But thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.” And yes, in the King James Version and some other earlier translations, you will find those words, and we do use them in worship, because that’s what they were added for. But those words are not in the earliest existing texts of Matthew that we have; they were likely added later because they had become common in praying this prayer in worship. I kind of like the fact that the prayer doesn't actually end. Jesus doesn’t give it a formal, “In my name, amen.” Instead, it’s almost as if this prayer is part of an ongoing conversation that is always taking place between the body of Christ on earth and throne of God in heaven. Almost like it never stops.

And I think that points out something else we need to understand, something sort of behind the text, but assumed in the first century world. Jesus doesn’t say, “If you pray.” Or “if you have the time.” He says, “When you pray” (6:5; Luke 11:2). Jesus assumes we will be a praying people. In Jesus’ day, “prayer was not a matter of personal observance, an option that some chose and others did not” (Card 62). It was expected. If you were going to be faithful to God, you were a praying person. And still today, if we are going to be followers of Jesus, we will pray for one another. It’s not an option. It’s not a suggestion. It’s something that, for the believer, should be life and breath. Prayer, at its most basic, is simply conversation with God, and if you’re in a relationship with anyone, shouldn’t you be in conversation with them? You can’t get to know or relate to or connect with someone you don’t talk to. Conversation between people is not optional; it’s the lifeblood of any relationship. And even moreso with God. Now, to those who might complain that prayer doesn’t do anything, I suggest that they might be right. Prayer isn’t magic. Prayer doesn't do anything. When I see the bumper stickers (and apologies if you have one of these) that say, “Prayer changes things,” Cathy will tell you I shake my head and say, “No, prayer changes people so people can change things.” God uses conversation (prayer) to mold and shape our hearts to be more like him. He sends us out, then, to make a difference for his kingdom in the world. Prayer doesn’t change anything; God changes things through his people, you and me. So, yes, prayer isn’t the only thing we do, but it should be the first thing we do in every situation. We get on our knees and we turn to the one who loves us more than we can imagine and who can do more than we can.

Our bottom line this week, as I mentioned earlier, is to pray for one another. First pray those God-ward prayers, and then pray for each other to have what we need, to be able to forgive, and to be kept safe. There is no higher honor or privilege than to be able to pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. You can, of course, and should pray anywhere and everywhere, but we do have a prayer meeting every Saturday morning in the chapel down the hall at 10:30 a.m. It’s not early, so you can sleep in and still make it. Everyone is welcome, and you can pray out loud or you can pray silently, but we’re simply trying to follow the direction of the Bible when it says, “Pray for one another” (James 5:16). And there’s also a prayer community in our church app. Right on the front page, when you first open it, there are two panels you can click on. Maybe you’ve seen them but not paid much attention. One says, “Submit prayer requests,” and when you click it you can do what it says. We try not to make this too complicated! The request goes to our prayer leaders and, if you give permission, it is sent out to the whole prayer team. Now, please don’t submit a prayer request for someone else unless you have their permission. Not everyone wants their stuff shared. Now, you can also join the prayer team by clicking on the second tile that says “Join our prayer team.” But don’t join the prayer team just because you want to know the details of everyone’s life. Don’t join the prayer team unless you’re actually going to pray because the people who send in requests are counting on you.

You know, I keep coming back to Jesus saying, “When you pray.” To the fact that, in his world, a prayer-less believer was an oxymoron—such a person simply did not exist. That makes me wonder: where does prayer fit in your life as a follower of Jesus? Seems to me there are generally three types of people when it comes to prayer. There are those who pray primarily “emergency prayers.” Prayer becomes vitally important when a crisis hits, but as long as everything is going smoothly, we don’t think too much about God. Then something bad comes along and it’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” time. There is nothing wrong with emergency prayers; we all have prayed them. A child is sick, a friend gets cancer, a national crisis hits and suddenly we’re all in emergency prayer mode, beating on the doors of heaven. But let’s come back to prayer as conversation. When if the only time I talked to Cathy was when I had a crisis? Well, I could probably create a crisis every day, but that’s not my point. What kind of relationship would exist if the only communication we had was crisis communication? Is that a relationship that will go the distance? How would you feel if that’s the only time someone talked to you? So how do you think God feels if we only come to him with emergencies and ignore him on other days?

The second group of people I think of are those who use what I call “rote prayers.” Now, there is nothing wrong with praying written prayers or prayers of saints long past, or even prayers you find in a devotional. I find such prayers very helpful from time to time; sometimes others have prayed what I need to say when I can’t find the words. The question I have when we use those is are we reading them or praying them? Do those prayers spark conversation or are we just ticking a box? Also in the category of “rote prayers” are what I might call civic prayers, the kind you pray at the beginning and ending of a meeting, in a broader setting, the kind you use in places where God is generally not welcome but we want to have veneer of respectability. Rote prayers will not sustain a relationship either.

And then there’s the third type of praying person, which is the kind I think Jesus had in mind with this prayer. This is the “pray continually” person, the person for whom the conversation never ends. You may go about your day, grocery shopping or caring for children or doing your job or drinking your coffee, but the conversation with God in your heart and mind never really ends. This is the kind of praying Jesus longs for us to experience. You know maybe you have that friend that you don’t see for a while, but when you do get together, it’s like the conversation never stopped. You can pick up right where you left off. That’s what I’m talking about. Maybe you have a time of devotion and Scripture reading in the morning, and then sometime in the middle of day, you check in with God and have a brief conversation. Someone shares a need with you in the early afternoon, and you lift that up to God. You pray over a meal at dinner, and you go to sleep not with the news on your mind but with the savior. The conversation never ends. “Pray continually,” Paul said (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and I kind of think that’s what Jesus also had in mind with this prayer. Pray for one another—always, continually, forever. So what do you say? Let’s pray.