This week's lesson came from Matthew 6:1-18 (Story 93 in The Gospel Story Bible) where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray The Lord's Prayer. Make the most of your family worship time by downloading this week's Family Worship Guide and review the teaching notes below.

Give in secret—This passage seems to contradict the one that came a chapter before. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus taught we should not keep our light hidden under a basket. Now we are instructed to keep our acts of righteousness secret. This isn’t really a contradiction. In this passage, Jesus is speaking against the way the hypocrites lived (Matthew 6:5), parading their good works for all to see. They wanted to look good in front of others. Outwardly they displayed their good works, but inwardly they were full of sin. The real difference is about what is going on inside your heart. It is fine to tell others about Jesus and all that he is doing in your life to reach them with the gospel message, but it is not good to boast about your faith for the sake of looking good before men.

Pray in secret—Jesus continues to warn against hypocrisy using the illustration of prayer. He is not prohibiting public prayer. Rather, he is speaking against those who, when praying, draw attention to themselves. Their focus is on themselves, not God. Their concern, rather than being communion with God, is the praise of their fellow man.

Jesus goes on to teach his disciples how to pray. The first half of the Lord’s Prayer is all about giving God the glory due his name. This stands in stark contrast to the self-glorifying prayer of the hypocrite. Jesus then introduces his hearers to the amazing truth that God is our Father in heaven. God is personal—he is our Father. He has a name, a kingdom, and a will. After celebrating the glory of God and his person, the prayer continues by requesting help from God for daily living. What an amazing truth! Jesus encourages us to ask God for help.

Fast in secret—Jesus continues his warning against hypocrisy by using a third illustration of fasting. Good works, prayer, and fasting, each brings a reward. Even though all we do is by God’s grace, God promises to reward us for the good works he enables us to do! But if we do our good works to receive praise from men, that praise will be our only reward. 

How does today’s Bible story fit into God’s greater plan of redemption?

When Jesus prayed for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done, he was praying for his own sacrificial death to be accomplished because that was how the Father planned to save sinful man. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for the cup of suffering to pass, but only if it was the will of his Father. Jesus came as a servant, lived a sinless life, and then gave up his life so that we could be delivered from temptation and evil. Apart from the work of Christ, the Lord’s Prayer would be meaningless.

Forgiveness would not be possible if it were not for Jesus’ death on the cross. God can forgive us only because Jesus took the penalty we deserved for our sin. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness. The Lord’s Prayer would be meaningless if Jesus had not died on the cross to make forgiveness possible.

Forgiveness marks our lives as Christians. The Lord’s Prayer assumes those who seek God’s forgiveness have already forgiven those who have sinned against them. Jesus concludes the Lord’s Prayer by explaining that forgiving others is a requirement to receiving forgiveness. This does not mean that we can earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others; rather, this is one of many indicators of true conversion. If we understand our sinfulness and the tremendous suffering Jesus endured to make a way for our forgiveness, we will gladly forgive others.

Our sin against God is worse than any crime committed against us. If, however, we do not understand the priceless gift of God’s forgiveness, we won’t have a basis to forgive the debt of others against us. There is always a cost to forgiveness. Jesus endured the Father’s wrath for our sin. He bore the cost of our sin in a justifying, redeeming way. Of course, we cannot do that. For us, the cost of forgiveness has to do with choosing not to seek, demand, or subtly exact some kind of payment for the sin committed against us. The cost of forgiveness for us is in releasing the debt we are owed by others. Genuine forgiveness costs us the “right” to seek repayment for sin, or somehow to try to “get even.” Such forgiveness is only possible as we understand how great a debt of sin we have been forgiven in the gospel. It is simply unthinkable for ones who have been forgiven so great a debt of sin against a holy God to exact payment from others for their sins.