Dr. J. Vernon McGee :: Chapter 1: Is the Lord's Prayer for Today?

CHAPTER 1

Is the Lord’s Prayer for Today?

In the thinking of many through the years and into the present hour, the following glorious petitions fall under the caption of “The Lord’s Prayer:”

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)

But should this really be called “The Lord’s Prayer”? The confusion in title is well illustrated by a conversation between two men who were boasting of their respective knowledge of the Bible. The first man commented to his friend, “Why, you do not even know the Lord’s Prayer.” The friend stated that he certainly did and began to pray, “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.” When he had concluded, the challenger said, “Well, you sure fooled me. I didn’t think you knew it.”

For the want of accurate information, much the same confusion surrounds our use of the title, “The Lord’s Prayer.” Technically speaking, John 17 is the Lord’s Prayer—that is the prayer which He prayed. He could never have prayed the prayer recorded in Matthew 6 and Luke 11 that, to us, has always been known as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

There are many instances which show clearly that this could not have been our Lord’s own prayer. For instance, He could not have used the first word our. Have you taken note of the fact that His relationship to God is different from that which we hold? We call Him Father because of regeneration; He called Him Father because of His place in the Godhead. He was always careful to use the terms, “My Father” and “your Father,” never “our Father.” Also, Luke records, “Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). The Lord Jesus had no sins to confess. As far as we know, He never took an offering into the temple for Himself—He was the sinless One. He said, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46).

Therefore, strictly speaking, this is “The Disciples’ Prayer.” But with this differentiation drawn, and for the sake of ease of writing, we shall use the accustomed title, “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Now the charge is often made against those of us who are conservative and premillennial that we slight the Lord’s Prayer, do not reverence it, and that we ignore it altogether. A further charge is made that we strike it out of our Bibles and consequently never use it in our public services at all. This charge is obviously untrue. I believe that the Lord’s Prayer has a real message for us, and I trust that studying it will give us a new appreciation and reverence for this prayer.

I have a notion that the Lord’s Prayer is used many times and in many places today simply because it is something with which to begin a service. Those with elaborate rituals and extended liturgy always include this prayer. It has been used by the most unlikely groups at the most inopportune times. For instance, it is a matter of record that at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago a strange thing occurred at the opening of the World’s Congress of Religion. There were present Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, in fact, representatives of all religions of the world. And they all stood and in unison repeated the Lord’s Prayer!

Let us consider the mechanics of this prayer. It was given as a model to the disciples in response to their request for Jesus to teach them how to pray. Every born again child of God has a longing to have fellowship with God. Beloved, it is the mark of a regenerated person that, having come to the knowledge of God, he prays! You may remember that when Ananias of Damascus was sent over to see Saul of Tarsus he was told, “You’ll know him—for behold, he is praying” (see Acts 9:11).

There are two characteristics that stand out in the Lord’s Prayer. May I mention them, for they are so important. First of all there is the simplicity of it, and then its brevity. Simplicity and brevity ought always to characterize genuine prayer.

Looking more closely into its structure, we find that there are also two major divisions in this prayer. There is that part of it which deals with the glory of God: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And then there is that other division which deals with the wants of men: “Give us this day our daily bread.” We will look closer at these petitions in a later chapter.

Now although it was given by our Lord as a model of prayer, this prayer is never repeated in the Book of Acts. As far as we know, the apostolic church never used the Lord’s Prayer. As a matter of rich spiritual exercise you will find it profitable to compare this prayer to Paul’s prayers in the Epistle to the Ephesians. I think you will find that Paul moved to a higher spiritual realm in his praying.

There is something else that we need to note: The Lord’s Prayer is included in the Sermon on the Mount. Every person who comes to the Sermon on the Mount ought to do so in a very thoughtful manner, for here we have two extreme positions today. There are those (usually liberals) who say, “The Sermon on the Mount is all the religion I need.” A graduate of a seminary in New York City once told me, “All I need today is the Sermon on the Mount. You can take the rest of the Bible and destroy it so far as I am concerned.” Unfortunately, there are a great many people who feel that way. Then there is another group that feels this prayer has no meaning for us today and may as well be taken out of the Bible.

This whole difficulty has arisen largely because of a misunderstanding of the interpretation versus the application of Scripture—two vastly different things between which we must draw a sharp distinction. The Sermon on the Mount may not have an interpretation for us, but we can find great riches in its application.

To make clear this point, let us turn to the Book of Joshua where we read, “…Arise, go over this Jordan…” (Joshua 1:2). Now, how many of us have ever been over the Jordan River? If you have not, you certainly have failed to keep that part of Scripture, for it very clearly states—and there is no misunderstanding so literal a statement—“Arise, go over this Jordan.” But you and I understand that this was written for another people and another day. So we understand that it has an interpretation specifically for Joshua and the children of Israel relative to crossing the Jordan River into the promised land. But, beloved, it also has a very wonderful application for us. We can take it today as a commandment for our own heart and soul. We are to understand that the River Jordan is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He wants us as believers to leave the wilderness and its manna and cross over onto resurrection ground. For “if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). We are to cross over the Jordan into the promised land—the place of blessing.

So, you see, there was an interpretation for the children of Israel, but there is an application for all believers. When there is an interpretation that is not directly for you and me, there is always an application that extends to us.

Now the Sermon on the Mount was given to people who were under the Law; they were certainly not under grace. It was a manifesto of the King; it was the law of the kingdom. But the church, which is under grace, will be the bride of Christ—she will reign with Him someday, and it has been the custom of a queen never to despise the law of the kingdom. The queen must still measure up to the laws of the kingdom.

Today, there are too many people declaring themselves as conservative in their theology, and therefore a part of the body of Christ, who live lives that despise the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, the law of the kingdom. What a sad commentary it is on the cause we represent! If those same people would go to the top of the mountain, the scene of the Sermon on the Mount, and listen to the King, they could not look lightly upon sin. When an elderly gentleman who could not hear well was asked a question as to his ethics, not quite understanding, he replied, “I have traded my Essex for a Hudson.” And I fear that many today have traded in their ethics for something else. We have such low standards, and we need desperately to get back to some good, old-fashioned virtues of common honesty and integrity. If you and I are to reign with Him, dare we despise these things?

When we stand in the revealing light of the Sermon on the Mount, how great is the need to reverence it. It is not a cover for sin—it condemns us. It is not a savior, for there is no mention of salvation, faith, or grace. It is a judge that looks at us as sinners and causes us to flee to the Savior for refuge. Law is justice, not mercy. When, in sorrow, I consider where I stand under the justice of that law, I can turn with rejoicing to the mercy of His grace, for it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…” (Titus 3:5).

Let us not despise the law of our King that shall one day prevail on this earth; rather, let us look at the gem nestled in the very heart of this great Sermon on the Mount. Seen in its proper perspective, the Lord’s Prayer will have a new meaning for you. It is a guide to prayer; we ought to reverence it and we ought to stand in awe and wonder before it. We dare not repeat it carelessly in a church service, for the time may appear when the praying of it will become the cry of our hearts.

But our question is, “Is the Lord’s Prayer for today?” I think the key to the answer is in the Gospel of Luke. There he writes that the disciples went to the Lord Jesus and said, “Teach us to pray” (see Luke 11:1). So He gave them this model prayer. Then He gave them a parable that, in my judgment, holds the placement of the Lord’s Prayer for us in this day. This parable is about a man who, having unexpected guests arrive during the night, knocked on the door of his neighbor and asked that he loan him a loaf of bread to feed his guests. The neighbor replied that the family was asleep and he did not wish to have the household disturbed, so the man would have to wait until the morning. But the man continued knocking until the neighbor got out of bed and let him have the bread, not because of feelings of friendship but because of the importunity of the person knocking. (See Luke 11:5-8.)

In taking this parable as the key, we must remember that Luke gives us parables by contrast. The point, simply stated, is this: Do you think God slumbers? He does not: “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). Do you feel that you have to bang on the door to get Him to hear you? He is ready to hear and answer the prayers of those who come to Him. But He also says that, like this man, you are to go persistently and knock on the door:

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9)

If you can pray the Lord’s Prayer as that man, standing at the door of his neighbor at midnight—knocking to gain something in the time of emergency—then I say to you, use the Lord’s Prayer. But do not make it a vain repetition. It was given to avoid vain repetition. When it becomes the cry of the human heart, then that person can say, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” knowing that God does not slumber and that He wants to hear and answer prayer. Have you prayed like that to God recently? Have you gone to Him persistently, knocking at midnight?

Ask…seek…knock, and it will be opened to you!