This is the model prayer. It is not simply one form of prayer intended to supersede all others, or to take its place among prayers of a different character. It is the type and pattern of all prayer. "After this manner therefore pray ye." Let us note its leading characteristics.
I. IN FORM IT IS BRIEF, CLEAR, AND SIMPLE. This is offered in contrast to the vain repetitions of the heathen. It is not the length of a prayer, but the reality of it, that finds acceptance with God. He does not need to be urged with piteous entreaties, the frantic shrieks, leaping, and gashing with knives that the dervishes of Baal resorted to. He is close at hand; he is always ready to hear; he knows what we need. Some prayers are sermons preached to God. We have neither to inform God as though he were ignorant, nor to persuade him as though he were reluctant to help. We have simply to make him the confidant of our hearts' desires.
II. IT IS ADDRESSED TO THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. The "Pater noster" has its key-note struck in its two opening words.
1. God's fatherly nature. The character of our prayer depends on our conception of God. Christ delighted to set before us the picture of God as our Father. Here is the basis of faith. All confidence is justified by this great face.
2. Our relation to God. He is not merely the "All-Father." He is "our Father;" this personal appropriation of God is necessary for the most real prayer.
III. IT HONORS THE HOLINESS OF GOD. God loathes adulation, but he accepts adoration. High-sounding titles and elaborate ascriptions of praise mar the simplicity of genuine worship. It is enough to address God as "our Father." Still we must remember that he is in heaven. The familiarity of love must not forget the reverence due to holiness. The essence of prayer is worship.
IV. IT SEEKS THE GLORY OF GOD. Thoughts of God come first - that his Name may be treated with reverence; that his kingdom may come, his will be done. Many prayers are too narrow, selfish, and worldly. The model prayer fills our minds and hearts with large thoughts of God and his kingdom. If we have the Christian spirit in us, these thoughts will lie very near to our hearts; if that spirit is developed and enlarged, they will be predominant, so that we shall more eagerly wish for the coming of the kingdom and the doing of God's will than for the satisfaction of our personal desires. But, alas! few of us have reached that standard.
V. IT TRUSTS GOD'S DALLY CARE. Now we come down to the personal prayer. It begins with a most simple, universal want - daily bread.
1. Bodily food. This comes from God, who makes the corn grow, and finds us the providential means of a livelihood. Christ recognizes the need of common earthly things; God supplies them.
2. Necessaries. Merely "bread."
3. The moment's need. "Daily" bread. We can leave the morrow.
VI. IT CONFESSES SIN AND ASKS FORGIVENESS. This is of universal application. The saint must confess sin as well as the sinner. This is of daily necessity. We sin daily. But this recognizes God's forgiving grace - to cover all sin. Yet it is conditioned by our forgiving spirit.
VII. IT CRAVES DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL. If possible we would be spared temptation. If we must be tempted, we pray to be saved from the power of the evil one. Our Father is our great Deliverer. in view of darkest dangers we cry for his raving help. - W.F.A.
Our Father which art in heaven.
I. IN WHAT SENSE GOD IS A FATHER.
1. With relation to Christ, as the Son of God: so the first Person is called the Father, as He is the fountain of the Deity.
2. With respect to us: for the first Person is not only the Father of Christ, but our Father. We share with Christ in all His relations: as God was His God by covenant, so He is our God.
II. By CREATION God is a Father. To establish the relation of a Father, there must be a communication of life and likeness. A painter that makes an image or picture like himself, he is not the father of it; for though there be likeness, yet no life.
III. What ADVANTAGE have we in prayer from this common interest, or general respect of God's being a Father by virtue of creation?
1. This common relation binds us to pray to Him. All things which God hath made, by a secret instinct they are carried to God for their supply.
2. It draweth common benefits after it. Christ saith where God hath given a life, He will give food.
3. It giveth us confidence in the power of God. The Creator who made you out of-nothing can keep and preserve life when you have nothing.
IV. How WILL GOD PERFORM THE PARTS OF A FATHER?
1. In allowing us full leave to come to Him in all our necessities.
2. In supplying all our wants (Isaiah 49:16).
3. In pitying our miseries. Many times we forget the duty of children, but God will not forget the mercy of a Father.
4. In disciplining us, and treating us with much indulgence, wisdom, and care. A father takes a great deal of pains in forming his child, fashioning its manners and behaviour: so God doth with His children.
5. In providing able guardians for His children. None so attended as God's children are. They have a guard of angels to watch over them.
6. In laying up an inheritance for them.
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I. That we should in our prayers consider and acknowledge the universality of God's power and goodness.
II. That we should not in our conceit proudly and vainly appropriate or engross the regard of God unto ourselves, but remember that our brethren have an equal share with us therein.
III. That in all our devotions we should be mindful of those common bands which knit us together as men and Christians.
(1)The band of nature and humanity;(2)The more strict ties of common faith and hope; of(3)manifold relations unto God that made us, and(4)our Saviour that redeemed us, and the(5)Holy Spirit that animateth us and combineth us in spiritual union.IV. That we should bear such hearty goodwill and charitable affection toward others as not only to seek and desire our own private and particular good, but that of all men.
(1)Especially of all good Christians who, in a peculiar manner, are(2)God's children and (b) our brethren.()
I. The Divine Fatherhood.II. Christian sonship.
III. Human brotherhood. What great lessons in such little compass.
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1. In prayer we address One who sustains the relationship of Father to us.2. In prayer we direct our thoughts to One who is above us.
3. In prayer we confess that we form members of one family.
4. In prayer we depend upon and confide in God as children.
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I. The CHARACTER in which God is represented as approachable in prayer. The common Parent of all men, the bountiful supplier of their wants, His people's covenant God and Father in Christ.II. The PRIVILEGE which this title imports, Relationship, access, protection, direction, expectations.
III. The DUTY connected with this privilege. To pray to Him, to glorify Him, reverence, trust, submit, love Him, and look for His coming.
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I. THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD.II. The Fatherhood of God by CREATION.
III. The Fatherhood of God by REDEMPTION.
IV. The BLESSINGS INVOLVED in the Divine Fatherhood.
1. Love.
2. Sustenance.
3. Protection.
4. Education.
5. Discipline.
6. Consolation.
7. Intercourse.
8. Inheritance.
V. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD in the Divine Fatherhood. We pray for others; we share in the prayers of others. This brotherhood extends to the various conditions of social life. It embraces nations. What a bond to our otherwise dissevered humanity is this word " our."
VI. The MAJESTY of the Father. These were added that there may not be anything earthly in our conception of the heavenly majesty of God. "In heaven": —
(1)It is suggestive of dignity;(2)power;(3)knowledge;(4)purity;(5)mystery;(6)constancy;(7)nearness.VII. PRACTICAL LESSONS:
1. Filial confidence.
2. Reverence.
3. Gratitude.
4. Resemblance.
5. Assurance.
6. Hope.
7. Prayerfulness.
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In our nature are quenchless affections. These call for something more than God the Creator, the Ruler.1. We should recognize that God is our Father, in order that we may have right views of religion.
2. It is important to realize the truth of God's paternity, because of its consolations.
3. This truth furnishes us with the profoundest motives to obedience.
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I. From the title FATHER we know that God is a Person.II. OUR Father belongs to God as the Father of all mankind.
III. God is our Father through Jesus Christ.
IV. In teaching us to pray "Our:Father," Jesus would remind us of our brotherhood.
1. The fellowship that knits together God's elect.
2. It is a word of love that takes in all men.
V. Which art in heaven, means Father in perfection.
1. Perfection of love.
2. Perfection of help.
3. Perfection of nearness and observation.
4. Perfection of homeliness.
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1. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him the Father of all who believe in the Saviour.2. Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren, Head of the Church, the centre of union. In Him we say "Our Father."
3. Jesus has opened to us heaven; and, risen with Christ, we seek the things which are above, we pray to our Father in heaven.
4. "We say Our Father, because the Holy Ghost is given unto us, as the Spirit of adoption.
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I. The FILIAL spirit.1. It rests upon the Fatherhood of God as the source of all blessings.
2. It is a childlike .spirit, earnest, unsuspicious, submits to discipline in faith.
3. As a spirit of dignity and perfection.
4. A spirit of separation from the world.
II. The BROTHERLY spirit.
III. The HEAVENLY spirit. All spiritual blessings are treasured up for us in :heaven. Our storehouse can never fail.
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1. Power.2. Authority.
3. Omnipresence.
4. Wisdom unsearchable.
5. Mercy unspeakable.
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1. A revelation.2. When faith says "Father," love says "Our."
3. Contrast between earth and heaven.
4. We can speak to our Father in heaven, and yet be audible.
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I. The views here furnished of the CHARACTER OF GOD.1. The title "Father" belongs to God essentially: as part of His nature He must be the Parent of all being. We are indebted to Him not only for life, but for likeness; He made .'us partakers of a spiritual nature.
II. The affections and EMOTIONS these views of the Divine character are fitted to inspire.
1. Admiring gratitude.
2. Confidence and trust.
3. Submission.
4. Contentment.
5. Reverent awe.
6. Purity and elevation in our desires.
7. We should remember that our inheritance is "in heaven."
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1. Christ confirms the fact of God's Paternity.2. Christ was also the personal and visible representation of the Father.
3. Christ also reveals the Paternal character of God.
4. Christ also revealed the Paternal heart of God.Father: —
1. It is the language of the believing heart.
2. It is the language of filial love.
3. It is the language of the spirit of adoption in prayer.
4. The filial spirit exhibited not less in times of trial than in seasons of communion.
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The catholic spirit of the Lord's Prayer. The Paternal relation involves the fraternal; no engagement so uniting as prayer. Considerations for fraternal union: —1. The equality of love with which the Father regards all His family.
2. The same spirit of adoption dwells alike in all the children of God.
3. That our Father is bringing us all to one parental and eternal home.
4. This topic belongs essentially to practical Christianity.
5. How uniting this truth upon the family institution.
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In ascribing locality to God we must not forget that He is everywhere. How appropriate heaven as the dwelling-place of God.1. Heaven is a glorious place.
2. It is a holy place.
3. It is a happy place.
4. It is a prepared place.Practical lessons:
1. We are instructed to look up, the whole soul should be in the ascent.
2. To seek heavenly blessings.
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Prayer a most exalted privilege — connected with the richest blessings; but is liable to abuse.1. Christ admonishes His disciples to avoid the ostentatious formalities of the Pharisees.
2. To avoid the vain tautologies of the heathen.This is to be our model prayer: —
1. Simplicity.
2. Brevity.
I. The FATHERHOOD of God.
1. By an act of creation.
2. By an act of adoption.
3. God is in heaven.
II. The BROTHERHOOD of men.
1. The whole human race constitutes one family. They belong to different classes, climes, ages; all sprung from one Father.
2. All Christians constitute one family.
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1. It confers noble privileges (1 John 3:1; Romans 13:7; Psalm 113:5; 1 Samuel 2:8).2. Such a name and title we could never have dared to take upon us had not God permitted.
3. This is no barren title (Romans 1:21; Isaiah 49:14, 15; Isaiah 63:16).
4. This first word of the Lord's Prayer is designed to give us access with confidence to God (Ephesians 3:12; Psalm 81:10).
5. This sonship has its duties.
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It is recorded of Alexander the Great that to one who bore his name he gave this admonition, "Remember thy name is Alexander;" implying that such a remembrance would keep him from doing anything that would stain and tarnish, and so render him unworthy to hold it.Luther was one day catechising some country people in a village in Saxony. When one of the men had repeated these words, "I believe in God the Father Almighty," Luther asked him what was the meaning of "Almighty"? The countryman honestly replied, "I do not know." "Nor do I know," said the catechist, "nor do all the learned men in the world know; however, you may safely believe that God is your Father, and that He is both able and willing to save and protect yourself and all your neighbours."You never say Father, to a force; Father, to a law; Father, to a mist; Father, to a mile, nor to infinite millions of miles in a line; "Father " is not the name for Thought apart from the Thinker, nor for Friendship apart from the Friend; nor for a Link, though the first link in a long chain of grand phenomena. If we mean more than a figurative father, we mean by that word a living Person.()
It was a law among the Romans that no one should approach the Emperor's tent at night, under penalty of death. One night, however, a soldier was found near the royal tent, holding in his hand a petition which he meant to present to his master and thereupon he was sentenced to death. But the Emperor, hearing voices, and asking what was amiss, and hearing that a soldier had intruded within the forbidden bounds to present a petition, and that they were about to deal with him according to the law, said — "If the petition be for himself, let him die; but if for another, spare his life." It was found that it was for two of his fellow-soldiers that he had come to intercede, who had been taken asleep while they were posted on the watch. The Emperor, well pleased, commanded that he should escape death, and that they also should escape punishment.It is related of Cicero when he was banished from Italy, end of Demosthenes when he was banished from Athens, that they wept every time they looked towards their own country, so great was their love for their fatherland, and so keen their desire to return thither: so should our soul long after our home above.I. The RESIDENCE of God. Heaven is the seat of His government; the region of holiness and enjoyment; the abode of angels and saints.II. His STUPENDOUS CONCERNS. Arranging all the affairs of the universe; receiving the homage of the celestial inhabitants (Revelation 4:2); issuing His commands and executing His threatenings; attending to the supplication of His people; protecting His Church" (Zechariah 2:5).
III. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUBJECT UPON OUR MIND. Humility, reverence, spiritual desires, confidence, expectation, joy.
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"in heaven," showeth us: —(1) Prayer is an act of the heart, not of the lips. It is not the sound of the voice which can enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, but sighs and groans of the Spirit .... The commerce and communion of spirits is not hindered by local distance.(2) The work of prayer is to lift up the heart to God; to withdraw the heart from all created things, that we may converse with God " in heaven."()
I. Our Saviour, to oppose narrowness of opinion, requires us to pray to our Father which art in heaven, showing by this, that our petitions have equal access to Him from all places.II. This acknowledgment of our Father in heaven, shows His great kindness in suffering us to approach Him. Though distant in station, and unprofitable in our service.
III. By calling God our Father we express the greatness of those blessings we have received; and by professing this our Father to be in heaven, we own the great dignity of the person that hath conferred them upon us; and the sense of both these together will naturally prepare our hope, reverence, and attention, to send up the following prayer.
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Hallowed be Thy name.
(1)Upon us, by the righteous executions and judgments of His providence;(2)By us, in our thoughts, words, and actions; in our hearts, and life. Not only when we speak of the name of God, but when we think of it;(3)When in straits, difficulties, and dangers;(4)When we speak of the Lord with reverence;(5)In our actions;(6)In our worship;(7)In ordinary conversation. Let this be your care, and let these be your directions in hallowing and sanctifying the Lord's name.1. Be holy.
2. Study His name if ye would sanctify it.
3. Submit to His providence without murmuring.
4. Live to public ends. Allure others, and recommend God to them.
5. Be fully sensible when God's name is dishonoured by yourselves and others; not enduring the least profanation of it.
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As to the substance of this particular, we may consider, that sanctity implying —I. A Discrimination;
II. A distance;
III. An exaltment in nature or use of the thing which is denominated thereby.
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I. THE OBJECTS of the petition. The name of God denotes His titles, perfections, etc. To hallow His name denotes — A reverential acknowledgment of God; profound veneration for His Being, attributes, ordinances, word, etc.; sanctification of Him in thought, word, and action; the diffusion of His name through the world; removal of the causes which prevent His name from being hallowed.II. THE SINS DEPRECATED. A thoughtless and irreverent use of His name; appeals to God in common conversation; perjury.
III. The grounds on which this petition rests. God is jealous of the glory of His name; He has commanded it to be reverenced; punishment is annexed to a violation of that command.
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1. This prayer is a confession of our ignorance.2. It is a supplication for knowledge.
3. It is an acknowledgment of our sin.
4. It is an entreaty for holiness in ourselves.
5. It ought to be increasingly comprehensive.
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I. The PLACE of this petition.II. The MEANING of the petition.
III. What is involved in this petition.
1. Honour to Jesus, as revealing the name of the Father.
2. Appropriate thoughts of God.
3. Suitable emotions towards God.
4. Reverential use of the name.
5. Confession of the name.
6. Private and public worship of the name.
7. Observance of special institutions: sacraments.
8. Subjection to the name.
9. Making known the name.
IV. REASONS for offering this petition.
1. The welfare of the world.
2. For the good of ourselves.
3. For the glory of God.
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I. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THE NAME OF THE FATHER.1. His name is the expression of Himself through the language of nature.
2. It includes the further expression of Himself through the medium of inspired words.
3. His name is perfectly expressed in the language of the Incarnation.
II. How CAN WE HALLOW IT?
1. In the language of the Old Testament to hallow a thing is to set it apart ceremonially, as a thing sacred.
2. Hallowed be Thy name by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in us.
3. By our trust.
4. In the spirit of our prayers.
5. In our lives.
6. In our language.
7. In Thy Church by the ascription to Thee alone of honours due.
8. In the overthrow of idolatry.
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I. In breathing this prayer we ask THAT GOD WOULD HALLOW HIS OWN NAME, or cause it to be hallowed. It is not the tribute which we pay to mere power and magnitude. Nature appears in forms of greatness; we do not reverence her. Nor do we reverence mere kindness. A full knowledge of God is necessary in order to hallow His name. To avoid superstition. Terror is not reverence. Some view the Divine Being as too good-natured to punish; the guilt of sin is not felt. By this theory God's name is acknowledged, but not hallowed.II. We can also pray THAT WE AND ALL MEN MAY HALLOW THE NAME OF GOD. We should consecrate His name —
1. On our lips.
2. In our lives.
3. In our hearts.
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I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE NAME OF GOD? God has revealed His name —1. In creation.
2. In Israel.
3. In His Law.
4. In the sacrifices.
5. In the names of His servants. Elijah means, Jehovah is my strength.
6. In the face of Jesus.
II. HALLLOWED be Thy name. All the works of God glorify His name. The petition implies —
(1)The desire to know God's name;(2)To treat it as a reality;(3)To rejoice in it;(4)To separate it from our corrupt thoughts and desires;(5)To regard it as inviolable in its unity;(6)That we be manifestations of God.(7)This prayer is universal; there is no health for the nation or family but by the knowledge of God's name.()
This petition takes precedence in the Lord's prayer: all things must resolve themselves into a manifestation of the Divine glory.1. God's name is Holy (Leviticus 22:2).
2. He is jealous of it (Ezekiel 39:25).
3. God notices the hallowing of His name by His people (Matthew 2:5).
4. God has hallowed His own name
(1)in His revealed word;(2)in the Lord Jesus Christ;(3)in His dealings with His saints. How is God's name to be hallowed?We cannot make it more holy, yet may hallow it(1)By a deepening sense of its holiness;(2)By bringing it into the daily exercise of faith;(3)By a meek, submissive spirit, under the discipline of our Father's correcting hand;(4)By a full trust in the name, Person, work of Jesus.()
This prayer directory for the matter and order of our desires.I. What we should INCLUDE in this prayer.
1. Just and worthy apprehensions of the Divine character and attributes.
2. That fresh accessions of glory may be constantly accruing to that name from the Person and work of Christ.
3. That in everything which pertains to God, due regard may be had to the sanctities of His holy nature.
4. To emphasize the utterance of the sacred name by some act of mental worship.
5. A reverent observance of His ordinances.
II. What we may LEARN from this petition.
1. That in all our prayers, regard must be had to certain fixed principles of moral government.
2. The law of subordination according to which we are to frame our desires.
3. He may not allow praise to be given to any other name.
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I. The NAME.II. The HOLY name. Who so worthy of honour:
(1)He is the God of Nature;(2)of Providence;(3)of Grace;(4)of Glory.(5)The redeemed saints in glory honour and venerate Him; the angelic host worship Him.(6)The other Persons in the adorable Trinity honour Him — "He shall glorify Me."III. How can we honour Jesus?
1. By giving Him the first place in our thoughts and affections.
2. By a reverential use of all the appellations by which He is distinguished from all other beings.
3. By solemn and grateful acts of worship.
4. By keeping holy the Sabbath day.
5. By living holily before our fellow men.
6. By praising, and recommending Him to all who dwell around us.
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People
Jesus, SolomonPlaces
GalileeTopics
Hallowed, Heaven, Heavens, Holy, Kept, Manner, Prayer, Sanctified, ThusOutline
1. Giving to the Needy
5. The Lord's Prayer
16. Proper Fasting
19. Store up Treasures in Heaven
25. Do Not Worry
33. but seek God's kingdom.
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Matthew 6:9 1040 God, fatherhood
4018 life, spiritual
5042 name of God, significance
6609 adoption
7923 fellowship, in gospel
8242 ethics, personal
Matthew 6:1-18
5909 motives, importance
Matthew 6:1-21
1660 Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:5-15
2360 Christ, prayers of
Matthew 6:6-9
8136 knowing God, effects
Matthew 6:9-10
1115 God, purpose of
5959 submission
8462 priority, of God
Matthew 6:9-13
8603 prayer, relationship with God
8605 prayer, and God's will
Matthew 6:9-15
8658 Lord's Prayer
Library
The Distracted Mind
Eversley. 1871. Matthew vi. 34. "Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Scholars will tell you that the words "take no thought" do not exactly express our Lord's meaning in this text. That they should rather stand, "Be not anxious about to-morrow." And doubtless they are right on the whole. But the truth is, that we have no word in English which exactly expresses the Greek word which St Matthew …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other SermonsThe Lord's Prayer
Windsor Castle, 1867. Chester Cathedral, 1870. Matthew vi. 9, 10. "After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Let us think for a while on these great words. Let us remember that some day or other they will certainly be fulfilled. Let us remember that Christ would not have bidden us use them, unless He intended that they should be fulfilled. And let us remember, likewise, that …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons
June 16. "Ye Cannot Serve God and Mammon" (Matt. vi. 24).
"Ye cannot serve God and Mammon" (Matt. vi. 24). He does not say ye cannot very well serve God and mammon, but ye cannot serve two masters at all. Ye shall be sure to end by serving one. The man who thinks he is serving God a little is deceived; he is not serving God. God will not have his service. The devil will monopolize him before he gets through. A divided heart loses both worlds. Saul tried it. Balaam tried it. Judas tried it, and they all made a desperate failure. Mary had but one choice. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
August 27. "Take no Thought for Your Life" (Matt. vi. 25).
"Take no thought for your life" (Matt. vi. 25). Still the Lord is using the things that are despised. The very names of Nazarene and Christian were once epithets of contempt. No man can have God's highest thought and be popular with his immediate generation. The most abused men are often most used. There are far greater calamities than to be unpopular and misunderstood. There are far worse things than to be found in the minority. Many of God's greatest blessings are lying behind the devil's scarecrows …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
November 21. "Consider the Lilies How they Grow" (Matt. vi. 28).
"Consider the lilies how they grow" (Matt. vi. 28). It is said that a little fellow was found one day by his mother, standing by a tall sunflower, with his feet stuck in the ground. When asked by her, "What in the world are you doing there?" he naively answered, "Why, I am trying to grow to be a man." His mother laughed heartily at the idea of his getting planted in the ground in order to grow, like the sunflower, and then, patting him gently on the head, "Why, Harry, that is not the way to grow. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
June 10. "Your Heavenly Father Knoweth Ye have Need" (Matt. vi. 32).
"Your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need" (Matt. vi. 32). Christ makes no less of our trust for temporal things than He does for spiritual things. He places a good deal of emphasis upon it. Why? Simply because it is harder to trust God for them. In spiritual matters we can fool ourselves, and think that we are trusting when we are not; but we cannot do so about rent and food, and the needs of our body. They must come or our faith fails. It is easy to say that we trust Him in things that are a long …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
February 12. "But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, and all These Things Shall be Added unto You" (Matt. vi. 33).
"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33). For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
Consider the Lilies of the Field
(Preached on Easter Day, 1867.) MATTHEW vi. 26, 28, 29. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? . . . And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. What has this text to do with Easter-day? Let us think …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons
'Thy Kingdom Come'
'Thy kingdom come.--MATT. vi. 10. 'The Lord reigneth, let the earth be glad'; 'The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble,' was the burden of Jewish psalmist and prophet from the first to the last. They have no doubt of His present dominion. Neither man's forgetfulness and man's rebellion, nor all the dark crosses and woes of the world, can disturb their conviction that He is then and for ever the sole Lord. The kingdom is come, then. Yet John the Baptist broke the slumbers of that degenerate people …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Thy Will be Done'
'Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 10. It makes all the difference whether the thought of the name, or that of the will, of God be the prominent one. If men begin with the will, then their religion will be slavish, a dull, sullen resignation, or a painful, weary round of unwelcome duties and reluctant abstainings. The will of an unknown God will be in their thoughts a dark and tyrannous necessity, a mysterious, inscrutable force, which rules by virtue of being stronger, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
The Cry for Bread
'Give us this day our daily bread.'--MATT. vi. 11. What a contrast there is between the two consecutive petitions, Thy will be done, and Give us this day! The one is so comprehensive, the other so narrow; the one loses self in the wide prospect of an obedient world, the other is engrossed with personal wants; the one rises to such a lofty, ideal height, the other is dragged down to the lowest animal wants. And yet this apparent bathos is apparent only, and the fact that so narrow and earthly a petition …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Forgive us Our Debts'
'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.'--MATT. vi. 12. The sequence of the petitions in the second half of the Lord's Prayer suggests that every man who needs to pray for daily bread needs also to pray for daily forgiveness. The supplication for the supply of our bodily needs precedes the others, because it deals with a need which is fundamental indeed, but of less importance than those which prompt the subsequent petitions. God made us to need bread, we have made ourselves to need pardon. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Lead us not into Temptation'
'And lead us not into temptation.'--MATT. vi. 13. The petition of the previous clause has to do with the past, this with the future; the one is the confession of sin, the other the supplication which comes from the consciousness of weakness. The best man needs both. Forgiveness does not break the bonds of evil by which we are held. But forgiveness increases our consciousness of weakness, and in the new desire which comes from it to walk in holiness, we are first rightly aware of the strength and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Deliver us from Evil'
'But deliver us from evil.'--MATT. vi. 13. The two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining silently in its steadfast blue, and a troubled earth beneath, where storms sweep, and changes come, and tears are ever being shed. The one is so tranquil, the other so full of woe and want. What a dark picture of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half! Hunger and sin and temptation, and wider still, that tragic word which includes them all--evil. Forgiveness and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Thine is the Kingdom'
'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.' MATT. vi. 13. There is no reason to suppose that this doxology was spoken by Christ. It does not occur in any of the oldest and most authoritative manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel. It does not seem to have been known to the earliest Christian writers. Long association has for us intertwined the words inextricably with our Lord's Prayer, and it is a wound to reverential feeling to strike out what so many generations have used in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Hearts and Treasures
'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'--MATT. vi. 21. 'Your treasure' is probably not the same as your neighbour's. It is yours, whether you possess it or not, because you love it. For what our Lord means here by 'treasure' is not merely money, or material good, but whatever each man thinks best, that which he most eagerly strives to attain, that which he most dreads to lose, that which, if he has, he thinks he will be blessed, that which, if he has it not, he knows he is discontented. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Solitary Prayer
'Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret,'--MATT. vi. 6. An old heathen who had come to a certain extent under the influence of Christ, called prayer 'the flight of the solitary to the Solitary.' There is a deep truth in that, though not all the truth. Prayer is not only the most intensely individual act that a man can perform, but it is also the highest social act. Christ came not to carry solitary souls by a solitary pathway to heaven, but …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
The Structure of the Lord's Prayer
'After this manner therefore pray ye.'--MATT. vi. 9. 'After this manner' may or may not imply that Christ meant this prayer to be a form, but He certainly meant it for a model. And they who drink in its spirit, and pray, seeking God's glory before their own satisfaction, and, while trustfully asking from His hand their daily bread, rise quickly to implore the supply of their spiritual hunger, do pray after this manner,' whether they use these words or no. All begins with the recognition of the Fatherhood …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Our Father'
'Our Father which art in heaven.'--Matt. vi. 9. The words of Christ, like the works of God, are inexhaustible. Their depth is concealed beneath an apparent simplicity which the child and the savage can understand. But as we gaze upon them and try to fathom all their meaning, they open as the skies above us do when we look steadily into their blue chambers, or as the sea at our feet does when we bend over to pierce its clear obscure. The poorest and weakest learns from them the lesson of divine love …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
'Hallowed be Thy Name'
'Hallowed be Thy name.'--Matt. vi. 9. Name is character so far as revealed. I. What is meaning of Petition? Hallowed means to make holy; or to show as holy; or to regard as holy. The second of these is God's hallowing of His Name. The third is men's. The prayer asks that God would so act as to show the holiness of His character, and that men, one and all, may see the holiness of His character. i.e. Hallowed by divine self-revelation. Hallowed by human recognition. Hallowed by human adoration and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Trumpets and Street Corners
'Take heed that ye do nob your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; 4. That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Fasting
'Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.'--MATT. vi. 16-18. Fasting has gone out of fashion now, but in Christ's time it went along …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Two Kinds of Treasure
'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 19-20. The connection with the previous part is twofold. The warning against hypocritical fastings and formalism leads to the warning against worldly-mindedness and avarice. For what worldly-mindedness is greater than that which prostitutes even religious acts to worldly advantage, and is laying up treasure of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Anxious Care
'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 25. Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life.'--Matt. vi. 24-25. Foresight and foreboding are two very different things. It is not that the one is the exaggeration of the other, but the one is opposed to the other. The more a man looks forward in the exercise of foresight, the less he does so in the exercise of foreboding. And the more he is tortured by anxious thoughts about a possible future, the less clear vision has he of a likely future, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
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