Lord Teach Us to Pray

And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread.‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

Matt 6:13“… but deliver us from evil...

There is nothing more important that we could discuss this morning than prayer. Prayer is to the Christian and by extension to the church, as necessary as oxygen is to the body.

“Prayer is the way you defeat the devil, reach the lost, restore a backslider, strengthen the saints, send missionaries out, cure the sick, accomplish the impossible, and know the will of God.” ~ David Jeremiah

Prayer is Misunderstood and Neglected

Unfortunately, I think that prayer is also one of the most misunderstood and lease practiced of Christian activities.

Misunderstood, I think because in some ways because prayer comes kind of natural to us as created beings. This can be a problem in that it can be the cause for our neglecting biblical instruction on prayer. If the author of prayer is God, then we need to look to his word if we wish to do it well.

In turn, our misunderstanding of prayer, I’m sure is a big reason for our neglect of it. I believe, that if we, the church would gain a right understanding of what prayer is and who it is we pray to, it would be nothing less than transforming. If you are unhappy with your praying. If you want to grow in this divine art, be encouraged. Know that Jesus can and will teach you to pray.

But, before we get into our text, I want to make some acknowledgements and then a few observations to create a backdrop and establish some context for our message.

Acknowledgements

Having been a board member here at LWF and served with Andy, Pat, Janice and Glenn in that role, I can confidently tell you that each of your board members has God’s interests first and utmost in mind, and your best interests at heart. They don’t seek any recognition but serve with Pastor Randy and faithfully administer the affairs of this church. Each of them gives of their time to meet a as board to pray for and steward the ministry of Living Waters. Let’s acknowledge these men and women for their service.

We also need to acknowledge how abundantly blessed we are to have Randy Beatty as our Pastor. Week after week, he consistently ad fearlessly declares to us the whole counsel of God. He is an anointed and humble servant of God, and worthy of our honour. The greatest famine in our world today, is a famine for the Word of God. But, we at Living Waters are well fed. Let’s show him our appreciation this morning.

You and I need to acknowledge the gift that Gos has given us in the scriptures. Every sermon, if it is a sermon at all, is based on God’s word. In today’s message we’ll look at an actual event that took place some 2000 years ago, which in itself is amazing! But more than that, by the mere turning of a page this morning we were permitted to witness a divine interaction between the Son of God and his most intimate friends. In reading the inspired text we got to hear the very words of God! This “snapshot” in time, this revelation allows us to sit with those disciples at the feet of Christ and learn from him. Could anything else be more wonderful than this?

Observations

It was the example of Jesus prayer life that inspired the request for prayer instruction. We can safely make this assumption because our text tells us that request came immediately after Jesus had finished praying. We also know from the gospel accounts that Jesus prayed often and prayed much. It’s also notable that, as revealed in numerous places in the New Testament, these first century Jews would have grown up witnessing the public prayers of their religious leaders. Yet, after witnessing the prayer life of their rabbi, Christ, they looked to him for instruction - not the Pharisees.

It is possible to learn to pray and Jesus wants us to learn how to pray. If this were not the case Jesus would have refused their request. Instead he does exactly what is asked of him, he teaches. Jesus willingness to teach the disciples gives us the assurance that he is willing to teach us as well.

By praying according to this teaching we will be praying in the same way Jesus himself did. It stands to reason that since Jesus is God the Son and his life was perfect, that his teaching on prayer was perfect and that he himself would have prayed the same way that he taught his followers.

Jesus is not giving us a prayer to be solely memorized and repeated as a religious observance. This is not to suggest that we shouldn’t memorize it and repeat it. Like all scripture is should be studied, meditated on, memorized and taught. But, like most of Christ’s teachings, there are eternal principles to be learned from it that can then be applied. As God is a person, and he looks on the heart, our prayers should come from the heart. In this instructional prayer we are given an example, a pattern for prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s prayer is found in the both the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6 and here in our text in Luke chapter 11. In both accounts the prayer begins the same way. “Father...”.

This relational term, “Father” establish for us the very cornerstone of Christian prayer.

Those early disciples must have been aghast at these words of Christ. At no other time and in no other place were mere men invited to call the Almighty, “Father”. In fact, in John 5:18 we’re told that one of the reasons the Pharisees wanted Jesus dead is because he dared to call God his Father.

The Apostle John marvels at this very thing in 1 John 3:1

1 John 3:1 NASB

See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

To these first followers of Christ, this would have been a foreign concept. These men were born into a religious culture that did everything it could to keep men apart from God, and now Jesus taught them to call Yahweh, Father? In the Lord’s Prayer, the word Father is translated from he Greek word Pater , the same word Jesus used to address God when he was in Gethsemane, on the cross, and in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

This revelation of God being their Father was revolutionary! They had been raised in a time when Jewish Religious establishment was at an all-time low. The Law of Moses which was intended to be a covenant that would bring God and man together, had been perverted to accomplish just the opposite. The religious leaders added thousands of rules to Judaism that were impossible to keep and they inserted themselves between God and the Hebrew people so they could lord over them and extort them for profit.

That’s what Jesus was referring to Matt 23:1-4

Matthew 23:1–4 NASB

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.“And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

In verse 15, Jesus said Matt 23:15

Matthew 23:15 NASB

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Under their leadership, God’s love and mercy were hidden behind religious rules, and a relationship with Yahweh was unfathomable.

But, their new Rabbi, Yeshua of Nazareth, had a different message for them. When you pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph, you may address him as your Father. And because Jesus was God in the flesh, he had the authority to teach them this.

He, the true Son of God, would fulfill the law of Moses by living a perfect, sinless life, and then die on their behalf so they too could become the children of God the Father, and the brothers and sisters of Christ.

The Apostle Paul confirms this in

Galatians 4:4–7 NASB

But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

How does God being our Father impact my prayer life?

Father’s love their children

Father’s love to provide for their children

Father’s are the protectors of their children

Father’s desire to be close to their children

Fathers know their children

Father’s forgive their children

Father’s listen to their children

Father’s speak to their children

… and we could go on, but you get the point. When we pray, we are not approaching an angry tyrant who desires to punish us. When we pray, we connect with a loving Father who desires to reveal himself to us and commune with us. For the first followers of Christ, and for us, this makes all the difference.

The prayer warrior E.M. Bounds said,

Prayer is the contact of a living soul with God. In prayer, God stoops to kiss man, to bless man, and to aid in everything that God can devise or man can need. Prayer fills man’s emptiness with God’s fullness. It fills man’s poverty with God’s riches. It puts away man’s weakness with God’s strength. it banishes man’s littleness with God’s greatness. Prayer is God’s plan to supply man’s great and continual need with God’s great and continual abundance.

and therefore he said

“Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed.”

The Prodigal

In Luke 15 we have the story know as the Prodigal Son. In this brilliant short story, we get a picture of God the Father from Jesus perspective. Let’s read it.

Luke 15:11–12 NASB

And He said, “A certain man had two sons;and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them.

Luke 15:13–14 NASB

“And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.“Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need.

Luke 15:15–16 NASB

“And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.“And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

Luke 15:17–18 NASB

“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;

Luke 15:19–20 NASB

“I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’“And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.

Luke 15:21–22 NASB

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;

Luke 15:23–24 NASB

and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry;for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:25–26 NASB

“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.“And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be.

Luke 15:27–28 NASB

“And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’“But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him.

Luke 15:29–30 NASB

“But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends;but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

Luke 15:31–32 NASB

“And he said to him, ‘My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.‘But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

Here are some things I want to point out in this story in light of our subject this morning.

The heart of the Father

His love for his children

His generosity to his children

His mercy towards his children

His forgiveness towards his children

The joy and pleasure he took in his children

The wrong attitudes held by the sons

The Prodigal son thought that the world was more appealing than communion with his father. He probably thought that his father’s instruction and discipline were just rules to keep him from enjoying life. He learned the hard way that these were further expressions of his father’s love and meant to protect and bless him.

The older son thought that he had to earn his father’s favour and because he had served his father that he deserved place of sonship. He didn’t realize that Everything that had was already his.

This parable expands on what Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer. When we come to our Father, he has already seen us coming long before we even get there and he comes to meet us. Not to scold or turn us away, but to embrace us and welcome us. He celebrates us and he says, “All that is mine is yours”.

In Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

I have a question for you this morning. Is this the God that you pray to? This Father who runs to embrace you and kiss you? The Father who clothes you in his righteousness and celebrates your home coming?

If not, can you see how different your prayer life would be if you did?

Jesus asks his disciples a question right after he teaches them the Lord’s Prayer and it’s found in verses 11-13 in the same chapter as our text.

Luke 11:11–13 NASB

“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?“Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

I will finish with a couple of portions from two books by A.W. Tozer

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The truth is that God is the most winsome of all beings and His service is one of unspeakable pleasure. He is all love, and those who trust Him need never know anything but that love. He is just, indeed, and He will not condone sin; but through the blood of the everlasting covenant He is able to act toward us exactly as if we had never sinned. Toward the trusting sons of men His mercy will always triumph over justice. Fellowship with God is delightful beyond all telling. He communes with His redeemed ones in an easy, uninhibited fellowship that is restful and healing to the soul. He is not sensitive nor selfish nor temperamental. What He is today we shall find Him tomorrow and the next day and the next year. He is not hard to please, though He may be hard to satisfy. He expects of us only what He has Himself first supplied. He is quick to mark every simple effort to please Him, and just as quick to overlook imperfections when He knows we meant to do His will. He loves us for ourselves and values our love more than galaxies of newly created worlds. Unfortunately, many Christians cannot get free from their perverted notions of God, and these notions poison their hearts and destroy their inward freedom. These friends serve God grimly, as the elder brother did, doing what is right without enthusiasm and without joy, and seem altogether unable to understand the buoyant, spirited celebration when the prodigal comes home. Their idea of God rules out the possibility of His being happy in His people, and they attribute the singing and shouting to sheer fanaticism. Unhappy souls, these, doomed to go heavily on their melancholy way, grimly determined to do right if the heavens fall and to be in the winning side in the day of judgment.

How good it would be if we could learn that God is easy to live with. He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this He does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is. Some of us are religiously jumpy and self-conscious because we know that God sees our every thought and is acquainted with all our ways. We need not be. God is the sum of all patience and the essence of kindly good will. We please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections, and believing that He understands everything and loves us still.