The Lord's Prayer

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.

Just to begin, before we can even get into the instruction of prayer, we see something that's extremely important regarding discipleship. Disciples want to learn. Disciples are teachable. Disciples ask, I want more instruction. Disciples ask, I want to actually grow. I want to know more. I want to practice better. Here, it's teach us to pray. And there's something that's wonderful here that we see about discipleship. One, a disciple is teachable. A disciple wants to grow, a desire to learn, an instruction humility. There's something helpful here that we do need to learn how to pray. It's not something that comes naturally to most Christians. A desire to pray, I hope, is there because of the Lord's renewal in our hearts, but actually learning how to pray. There's an intimidation. I know this because of Wednesday night. You can hear the intimidation of, I'm afraid of praying publicly. I'm afraid of saying something wrong. I'm afraid that I don't know what to say. Again, this is why it's really amazing. how regularly God isn't just telling us the truth to receive, but he's actually telling us how to respond in prayer. There's intentional of God's design to commune with us. These are words, these are ways that we speak back to God. There's a couple of ways we learn to pray. The first way to learn to pray is to know how to find the prayers in scripture and then just pray them back to God. The most simple, clear way to know how to pray is to memorize the verses today. Right there, verses two to four. And learn how to recite them and personalize them. But we could go to so many other, you've got 150 Psalms. Psalms of prayer that lead us to ask for forgiveness, psalms of praise, psalms of thanksgiving, psalms of contrition, psalms of worry and anxiety. How long, oh Lord, will you forgive me, forgive me? How long? The Lord is inviting us to speak to him. When we learn to pray together, we intentionally have led prayers on Sunday morning and we intentionally pray together on Wednesday night. That is one of the ways we are seeking to instruct one another We learn from scripture. We learn by praying with others. We learn by praying for others. Now we look at the instruction. Are we teachable? Are we willing to learn? Are we willing to be challenged on what it means to pray? Now we'll see the instruction. And I was talking to my children earlier. It was actually interesting when I asked, what does it mean to pray? One of them said, well, the instruction is you're supposed to close your eyes and fold your hands. That actually is not instructed. Might be helpful to keep the distraction down and, you know, the wandering hands. But this morning, we're looking at Jesus instruction. Those things might just be practically helpful for children. To whom do we pray? This is important because we are regularly asking something from someone. Is God the one to whom we're regularly asking? Are we regularly going to God and asking him for what only he can provide? Notice the first words here. Jesus says,

when you pray, say this, Father, hallowed be your name.

This first instruction is so loaded. I believe if you were there with the disciples, you'd be scratching your head because this is the first time anyone in the Jewish religion has been instructed or invited to call God Father. We take this for granted because we've been living 2,000 years after Christ, but this is a new way of talking to God. There's something wonderfully new about the new covenant. One of the incredible new aspects of the new covenant we enjoy is that we get to call God Father, because he's adopted us as his sons. In the Old Testament, God regularly said, I am with you, I am for you. He gave us a covenant name. I am your God, you are my people. And he likened himself to a father, he likened us to a son. But in the New Testament, we see the reality of adoption. Because the real father sent his real son, that eternal triune relationship. That son became like us in every way, so that when he died, he died for our sins, and he not only gives us his righteousness, he shares with us his inheritance as a son. Brothers and sisters, this doctrine is at the foundation of this invitation to pray. The Holy Spirit inside tells us we're sons of God, according to Romans 8. The Holy Spirit inside even communicates and intercedes on our behalf to the Father. It's by the Spirit that we get to call God Father because we've been adopted in the Son. If you want to know more about this particular doctrine, Galatians 3, Romans 8. But the reality change that Christ brings so that we can come to the God creator, the covenant making and keeping God, we get to call him Father. In the garden, Adam did not call God Father. He knew him as God. He knew him as a God who walked with him. He knew him as a God who he could approach and talk with, but I do not believe he called him Father. If we think about what sin does, sin brought two specific problems for Adam and us, death and distance. Jesus came so we'd be forgiven. We can live forever now if we believe in him and are forgiven, but the distance, he was moved out of the garden. Further and further, we move away from God and our sin. This invitation to call God Father is one of the ways in which God reveals to us how close he is coming to us. how he wants to draw us near, how he wants to bring us into his presence. There's a family aspect to it. I like to use the illustration. When I first started seeing Lisa, I visited her parents for the first time, and I could see in a distance the kitchen. I dared not enter the kitchen, but I could see that refrigerator open and all the meats and cheeses. It was a delight to the eyes. But I dare not go and open the fridge because I'm a visitor. I'm just not going to go in the kitchen and open the refrigerator. So I send her to go make me a sandwich. But soon after we're married, I go and I open that fridge like I belong there. Because I do. There's a difference. If you want to come to my house and make yourself a sandwich, please do so. But no, it's kind of weird. That's the difference between being part of the family. Friends, when God calls us a Father, He's inviting us into His very presence. He's inviting us into a loving relationship where He gives us everything good. But notice, we don't want to be casual. There's a warning about being casual. The nearness that God invites us into knowing Him and loving Him by calling Him Father, hallowed be His name. He's the Holy God. He's the almighty God. He's the glorious God. This is not a casual relationship. What makes this invitation that we get to call him Father so amazing is that he's such a great, mighty, glorious God that says, come to me. You can be my children. We don't want to pretend this is casual. No, the invitation to call him Father is real, but it's the real glory that makes that so amazing. Now to think about who, I wanna look down here at the bottom and if you look at verses five to eight and 11 to 13, there's two examples that Jesus gives for prayer. The first is one of a friend and the other is a father. Verse five,

and he said to them, which of you has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lay me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him, And he'll answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut, my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is a friend, yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Now this picture of friend is an interesting story. There's actually three friends involved. There's a guy who came too late to stay with friend one, This friend goes and asks another friend, I have a guest. And hospitality in this culture is very important, more important even here in the South. It would be expected you would provide for this traveler everything they would want or need. And so he doesn't have the bread, so he goes to another friend. Friend, would you please give me three loaves? Well, it's important, it's midnight. This is out of order. It's out of order. Don't come to my house at midnight asking for bread. That abounds. And this home, here we have probably a single room home. The issue with the kids sleeping is real. The kids are there. To get up and provide bread would be to wake up the whole family. It would be a disturbance of the whole night. The friend is truly saying, the door's shut. We're closed for business. We're all asleep. There's nothing wrong with that. But notice verse eight is so provocative. I tell you, that guy, he's gonna get up and he's gonna provide bread, but it's not because he's a friend. He's gonna get up because of his impudence, his insistence. The word there is the same word we would have for immodesty. Out of social norms. Because he is so persistent, borderline annoying. Because he's gonna keep asking. That friend will give him the good thing. Now let's go down to the second. Picture,

what father among you, if his son asked for a fish, who instead give him a serpent, or asked for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

What kind of father would take a request for a good thing and give a dangerous thing?

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more?

Oh, underline that if you underline your scriptures. Both of these analogies are how much more.

How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

The key principle of the verse, don't stop asking. Don't stop asking. God is never inconvenienced. There's never a wrong time to pray. God's ear is always bent down towards His people. If we, not because we're friends with somebody, but just because we're annoyed, will give somebody something just to get rid of them, how much more who God, who's never annoyed, who's never burdened, who never has a problem, who always has an abundance of generosity and good gifts to give, how much more will he give? But we have to ask. Do we persevere in asking? Do we keep asking? The second is pointing out his goodness, and with a contrast. We're evil. We're born sinners. We are sinners and we do sinful things, but we know that when a child asks for something good, like a piece of bread, we're not gonna give him a snake. How much more is God able to give what's good? Do we ask him? Friends, a memory verse to just Keep in our minds,

he who did not spare his own son, what good thing will he withhold?

Romans 8.32. Again, based upon the very fact that the father has sent his son while we're sinners to save us from our sin, to make us sons. He'll give us all that's good? He's given us the best. What good thing will he withhold? He is a good friend, even more so, he is a good father. We get to pray to the Father, who is worthy of all praise, who has all good gifts. Now let's look and ask, what should we pray for? Who do we pray to? It's the Father. We pray to the Father in the name of the Son, by the Spirit. Now what do we pray for? There's really five parts. We see the five parts, praise, providence, Provision, pardon, protection. Praise, providence, provision, pardon, protection. It's important here. Before the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday, we recite the Lord's Prayer. And here in Matthew and Luke, that last part of what we recite isn't present. Anybody notice that? The words,

thine is the kingdom, power, and glory forever and ever. Amen.

That's not present here. We don't believe Jesus said that in this particular teaching of the text. Why don't we do it? That is first seen in what we call the Didache. That is at least a second century document, if not a first century document. That's on the teaching for the church. It was added not because they believed Jesus' prayer was insufficient or needed help. It's because the church has regularly patterned its prayers by ending with a doxology or a benediction. And so we continue that tradition of ending the prayer with that particular benediction or doxology, praising him. It is not part of the prayer Jesus taught, but we do believe it's a helpful way of ending our own prayer with a helpful doxology slash benediction. All right, what does it mean to praise him? Again, we're here just in verse two. Father, hallowed be your name. We come to God with praise. We come to God with a reverence. We get to call him Father, but the focus here is hallowed. There's a saintliness, there's a holiness, there's a highness to his name. We come to God not to feel bigger, We come to God to actually really reflect upon who we are as creatures. There's a proper humility, not humiliation, a proper humility here. His name is great. His name is hallowed. There's a wonderful way in which we come with reverence, and there's a proper way in which we are put in a place of our smallness, and then invited up to be able to call him who's so great, Father. We get to lift our hearts up to the great God who's loving and glorious. This is hard for some because some come from families without fathers or bad fathers. Let me assure you, while your father was designed and created by God to reflect his goodness, trust the father who has given you a son. Trust the father from whom every good and perfect gift comes. This father is good. He has all power and he uses all that power for the benefit and goodness of his children. It is shameful that there are fathers who have deflected from that wonderful invitation to call him father. Do not let that father detract from you learning who your true and who a real father is. and fathers, what a challenge. Do not allow your role to detract from your children being able to recognize the goodness of what it means to call God Father. Do we reflect the same kind of patience, love, kindness, presence, and care for our children that we receive from our Father. Fathers, do we reflect the love of the Father in patience, love, kindness, presence, and care? The second part of this prayer. Providence, your kingdom come. This follows naturally from the praise of God. We pray for his will to be done. We pray for his kingdom. We want God's desires to be executed and intended here in this world. His kingdom, it's God's rule over his people, and it's God's people properly submitting to his rule. It's God's people praying and praising God. His kingdom, he's a king, he has rule, and it's good. We're too accustomed to assuming all authority's bad and to distrust it, to not be eager to submit to authority. No, but God is good. He has all authority and uses it for the good of others. We see him as the great potentate, the ruler of all time. He's ruling now. Yes, this world is full of chaos. We can look back, the confusion and fear, frustration that we've had with COVID. In the midst of all that, God was opening his arms. Come to me. Be still my soul, we can pray in the midst of that kind of fear and frustration. We can know he's good. Even in the middle of a war and the rumor of war and how fearful we are that this war could affect even more people in more places. There is no kingdom where God is not in control of where the boundaries are. Jesus told us there will continually be wars until he comes again. And Jesus continually tells us he is always with his people. We're praying for Christ in the midst of this chaos to bring peace. We're praying for pastors and churches to preach him boldly, to bring the real kind of peace that the world needs. What does it mean for the kingdom to come? What does it mean to pray for this? It means we're asking God, help me submit to your good rule. Lord, help me submit to your good rule. We can go back to chapter 10. God's rule has rules, laws.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Are we prayerfully asking God to help us love him more in obedience and to love our neighbor as ourselves? Are we gonna go back to the last passage we just looked at, but one thing is necessary, are we gonna prioritize our lives around the one communion with God that is only important, only necessary? His rule. It means we're seeking to adopt new order. The third thing we see, provision. The praise, the providence, the provision. And it is amazing as we look at this prayer, his praise and our needs come together. We need to not separate these two as if they're two dichotomies. No, God's glory and his praise and his giving himself over, God brings those together.

Lord, give us each day our daily bread.

This one is going to be a little hard for us to capture because we don't live day to day having to go get the things to make the bread, making the bread, and then consuming the bread we ate. Culturally, we're a little bit further away. There may be some who live paycheck to paycheck. We've probably all lived at some point paycheck to paycheck. There's a dependency, a regular need and an asking, but the real dependency, not to go to the grocery store. We might have had a little bit of this dependency depending on how much we stocked up during COVID. Realizing that we might not have all the things all the time at our disposal just to go buy. We live with a lot of luxuries. Right now, though, there's a way in which we can pray this prayer. One, there's a regular dependency. When we have food, we give thanks to God. We recognize whatever we have good, it came from Him. There's other ways we can pray this prayer, though. When we're sick, give us this day the daily energy, the healing I need. One night this week, I didn't sleep at all. I found myself praying, Lord, give me the sleep I need right now. I need it. I need rest. I'm exhausted. Give us work. Give us job. Give us a service. Give us a way to reflect your glory. Give us a ministry. I desire to know my gifts and use my gifts. Give me a ministry. Give us a ministry for your glory. Give us a spouse. Those longing for a spouse or children or a more faithful spouse or more respectful children. Give us wisdom. This is one thing James is very clear. If we ask for wisdom by faith, he gives generously. Know he is good and able to give all the things we know that are good. Are we grumbling or are we grateful? The fourth thing we pray for, we've got praise, providence, provision, now pardon. Notice this one is the only one with a qualifier.

And forgive us our sins,

then the qualifier.

For we ourselves forgive everyone who's indebted to us.

He's worthy of praise. Here's how we come to God. We come to God as sinners in need of forgiveness. Do we pray this? Let's be clear, we pray for God to provide bread daily. Don't be someone who thinks you only ask for forgiveness once. That's a very dangerous way of thinking the Christian life works. As if you only pray to be forgiven once and you never need to be forgiven again. Yes, we believe wholeheartedly in the doctrine of justification. When you pray to Christ that first time, your sins are forever removed and you will never stand before God in judgment. But then we realize your sin, it distances you from God. It keeps you from enjoying fellowship with God. Your sin distances you from other people. If you're not forgiving, if you're not confessing sin regularly, if you're not forgiving sin regularly, is it because you just don't spend time with people? Because if you're with people, you're sinning and they're sinning against you. We pray. Lord, forgive us. And even as a Christian, we walk and we learn more of our sin and we ask for more forgiveness so that we can enjoy that full reconciliation and restoration of our relationship. Are we confessing our sins? Are we rightly coming to God knowing he's a good God who loved us while we were sinners, who forgave us while we were still sinners? Coming knowing he forgives, he's abundant in forgiveness. The qualifier is so helpful here. Four, we ourselves forgive some people who we like. We kind of act like it says that, right? Everyone means everyone. Our forgiveness towards others, our eagerness to forgive others, really reflects how much we understand how much we've sinned against God and received forgiveness. It's likened to debt here. When somebody sins against us, there's a sin debt. And too often we'll flippantly say I forgive you, but then we'll try to find some kind of way of making them pay another way later on. No, when you say I forgive you, you're absorbing a debt. Forgiveness is not cheap. When Christ forgave you, he absorbed your sin and the wrath you deserved. When we forgive others, we're absorbing our judgment, our anger, Our desire for justice. Our desire to make sure they know how much they sinned against us. We too often want to practice cheap grace, cheap forgiveness. Forgiveness is part of reconciliation. Reconciliation has two ingredients. Confession of sin, forgiveness. We have to recognize the importance of confessing sin. I have sinned against you, God. He forgives us. We are reconciled and we get to enjoy a right relationship with God. Same with us as believers. Are we regularly confessing our sin to God, confessing our sin to one another, forgiving one another? Christian, there is nothing more dangerous in the church than someone who does not think they need to apologize or forgive. This is at the core of who we are. Forgiven believers. People who have sinned and are forgiven. I ask you, Christian, when was the last time you confessed sin? Is that really the last time you sinned? When was the last time you forgave someone? Are we keeping up boundaries and distances because we don't pursue reconciliation? If you're not a Christian, this is everything. Christ only helps sinners. The good news is every human being is a sinner. That can be saved by Jesus Christ. We have all sinned against God, we've all sinned against one another. The only cure for sin is that Jesus Christ died so that when we believe in him, our sin is removed from us as far as the east is from the west. The only way to be washed of the guilt and the wrath that's gonna come is by Jesus dying to take that guilt upon himself, suffering the wrath of God. Have you believed in Jesus? Are you holding on to a sin that you still think is comforting or comfortable? Are you still holding on to a sin and not realizing holding on to that sin means you're holding on to judgment? What keeps you from coming to Christ? There is no sin he cannot forgive. There is no sin he will not forgive. Come boldly to your God who invites you. Believe in his son who died for you, who rose again, who will forgive you. The last prayer is for protection.

Lead us not into temptation.

This correlates with the previous prayer. We ask for forgiveness and then we ask to not be tempted anymore. We say forgive me with the intention I'm going to stop. Confession and repentance go hand in hand. I see it as sin, I wanna be forgiven of it as sin, and I wanna get away from that sin. Do we ask God? Give us protection. Are we seeking to protect sin or are we looking to be protected from sin? Augustine, in his book, The Confessions, shares a prayer of his. Give me chastity, just not yet. What a fantastically honest prayer. That's before he was a Christian, he prayed this. He's acknowledging that he was recognizing to God before he's a Christian, this is how I wanted to live. Give me chastity, just not yet. I recognize there's something good, but I just want to enjoy it a little bit longer. I'll obey more faithfully when I can confess that sin another time. Well, that's not a model prayer. That's a warning of how we live. Lord, lead me not into temptation today. So how do we pray? We get to pray to our Father. We get to praise Him. We get to ask for His kingdom to come, His providence. We get to pray for His provision. He's always going to give all the good gifts to His people. We ask for pardon, forgive us, Lord, restore our relationship, and then, Lord, help us to live for You. I want to go back here to the verses 5 to 13. and ask the question, how do we pray? I believe 5 to 13 is really about how, really focusing on the idea of faith. Notice the friend, his faith is going to keep him asking. There's the insistence, he's gonna keep asking, and then the friend's gonna give, not because the friend's a friend, because he's just annoyed. Again, the father there is presented the last. He's so good. How is God not going to give good gifts? He's generous, he's not stingy. If you actually look at those two stories, the teaching in the middle is what we really need to focus on. I tell you, verse nine, there's three commands. Ask, seek, knock. I don't believe those are three different kinds of prayer. I believe they actually are all informing each other and really escalating. Ask, seek, knock.

Ask, it'll be given to you. Seek, you will find. Knock, it will be opened to you.

These are commands, Christian. God is commanding us. We're invited in to call him Father. We're commanded, ask him of his good things, he will give it. Are we asking? Are we seeking? Now, I want us to see that the command has a promise. Ask, and you'll get it. Seek, and you'll find it. Knock, it'll be opened. Verse 10,

for everyone who asks, receives, and one who seeks, finds, and one who knocks, it'll be opened.

This is a great prosperity gospel. Name it and claim it in all seriousness. Because God says, if you ask what I want to give you, I'm gonna give it. If you seek what I have for you to find, you're gonna find it. If you're wanting to enter into the place that is open to you, you're welcome to come. The real question is, what kinds of things are we asking and who are we asking? Are we asking God for the things that only God gives? Are we asking God for the things that God says he wants to give? Again, we could wrestle with it. I just need to know how to pray to God. If I could just put the right words in the right order, then maybe I can get exactly what I want. That's called paganism. If I could just present the right sacrifice and say the right thing in just the right way, I can magically manipulate God. That's not what's going on here. God says, I'm a good God. You're invited into my glory, my holiness, my love. If you want more of God, God will give you more of him. If you want a stronger, deeper relationship with God, God is not going to resist you. If you seek him, you will find him. He doesn't resist us. If we ask regularly, if we ask the good God, will he not give us good things? Look at the very last verse here.

If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

The Holy Spirit is kind of a interesting entry point here, right? At some level, we know the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts, and the Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus. Why the Holy Spirit right here? If we're going to live the holy lives that are worthy of the Father, whose name is to be hallowed, we need to trust and depend upon the Holy Spirit. One of the ways we can actually ask, what are we asking for? What are we seeking? What are we knocking? Are we desiring from God the things that need the Spirit? To walk in a worthy, a manner worthy of the name of Christ. To grow in holiness. To grow in godliness. to be more bold and courageous in evangelism, to know him and to see him in all his glory. Are we asking our good God for the good things he promises he will give us if we ask? I have a concern that we're normally asking for things that aren't promised in scripture and we get upset that God doesn't give them. There's another concern that we can be so committed to asking, but we have a different expectation of what God actually does. Are we longing and thinking that the only way God can really reveal himself and is showing us his face and knowing him this personally is some kind of exact idea that we've presented? It's actually amazing. If we go back to the Old Testament, how did Moses get to see God? Partially. Hidden in the clouds of a rock. When Elijah asked, let me know your glory, God whispers, we need to be careful of having some kind of idea that God can only fulfill his answer or his promise a certain way. Come open handed and just pray the prayers of Paul. Ephesians 1, enlighten the eyes of my heart so that I may know you the Lord and the hope that's set before me in Christ. Ephesians 3, pray for the power to know the love of Christ, the breadth, the height, the width, the depth. Colossians 1, pray that we are filled with all the knowledge of his will, wisdom, and understanding to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing the Lord, bearing fruit. 1 Thessalonians 4, pray for the will of God. holiness, with rejoicing, gratitude. Prayer is so intimidating. We're going to a holy God. Prayer is a glorious invitation. He says, call me Father because I've adopted you. And then if we want to know how to pray, pray the words of scripture that are just given to us. This is how we pray. I adopted a philosophy of ministry a few years ago. I used to want to see specific things. So I try to work to make those things happen. And that just led to frustration. New philosophy of ministry. Be faithful. See what God does. It's been amazing. Make your prayer life. Be faithful. Expect God. Not the exact way you think he might answer, but be open-handed. God, I want to see your glory. I want to see your grace. I want to see your love. I want to know it. And be open-handed and step back and be amazed. Be faithful and be expected. Matthew Henry wrote a very helpful commentary on these words. Short little book on prayer. We'll highlight it if we get it in time for Wednesday night. In that little book, he states these words.

Those who live without prayer live without God.

You can't lose your salvation, but it's a weighty call there. The way to commune with God is to hear him, to listen to him, and to talk to him. Are we enjoying a life built around communion with God? Do we take for granted that we can just commune with him? whenever we want, however we want, and not stepping in to that grand presence of his glory who lovingly invites us, the God whose ear is bent down to us to listen, longing to hear us. Are we talking to him? Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you've spoken so clearly to let us know who you are How to be saved. How to order our lives. How to know you and love you. Lord, the words you've given us are so good. They give us life. Lord, you've even blessed us to know how to talk to you. Lord, may we praise you. May we see your kingdom come in our own hearts. May we submit to your rule. Lord, may we trust you that you'll provide every need we have. May we bring these needs to you. Lord, forgive us. Help us see how you have forgiven us for more than we can imagine. And help us, Lord, to practice that forgiveness with others. Lord, help us to grow in godliness. Lead us not to temptation, but into your will. for the glory of your son to walk in a manner worthy of his name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us all stand and sing in response, I asked the Lord that I might grow.