You do not need a lengthy or eloquent prayer to turn God’s gaze. You already have his attention. You are his child! Of course he will listen! The way we pray, including the way we pray the Lord’s Prayer, reveals whether or not we believe God is our loving father.

You’re probably familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, you might feel like you’ve heard it a million times.

You might pray it as a family or during worship at church. Many pastors have preached through this passage, and most of the church’s historic catechisms analyze this prayer in detail.

But we rarely consider the context of the Lord’s Prayer. Because of the frequency with which this prayer is recited, the Lord’s Prayer might be the passage of Scripture most often removed from its context.

But context matters. The Bible is not a collection of independent stories, proverbs, and prayers. Each book was written by an author with a purpose. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is, we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages take on different or deeper meanings than we’ve always assumed.

The Sermon on the Mount

As recorded by Matthew, the Lord’s Prayer falls in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. (Peter has written about this portion of Matthew’s Gospel recently here and here.)

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 also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9–13)

This sermon is for Jesus’s disciples (Matt 5:1), and in chapter six Jesus is teaching about spiritual practices and values. For a watching world, these are crucial aspects of life that denote one of Jesus’s followers.

Private Religious Practices

In Matthew 6:1–18, Jesus is concerned with the disciples’ religion. And Jesus contrasts the children of God with the hypocrites and Gentiles. The overarching command is this: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 6:1).

When you give to the poor, don’t draw attention to yourself like the hypocrites. Rather, give to the poor in secret. (Matthew 6:2–4)

When you pray, don’t draw attention to yourself like the hypocrites. Rather, pray to your Father in secret. (Matthew 6:5–6)

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