Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Today’s passage asks the same type of question about the topic of prayer.

This purpose of this passage is to instruct the follower of Jesus Christ on how to communicate to God in prayer.

I want us to center our attention on 3 key elements to Effective prayer: Identity, Intimacy and Humility.

I. Prayer seeks Intimacy with God (v 1-2)

A. Our Model for Prayer

In Luke’s gospel alone, we see Jesus pray:

(Luke 4) Before his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus fasted for 40 days.

OT practice was to include fasting and prayer together.

(Luke 6) Before he called the 12 disciples, he prayed all night to God

(Luke 9) He prayed all night Before Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah

(Luke 9) Before the transfiguration where Peter, James and John witnessed the glory of God visiably shine from within him

(Luke 11) Before He teaches on prayer

(Luke 22) Before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion in

(Luke 23) Jesus agonizes in prayers all night Upon the cross, Jesus prays to the Father

There is no greater example in all of history than to see with our spiritual eyes that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, exemplify the necessity of prayer in his life.

He modeled it for his disciples, not just as a good lesson, but because it was pertinent to His earthly ministry.

Notice the word “before” in this list.

Major moments in Jesus earthly ministry were met with heart and mind already prepared with prayer.

This should teach all of God’s people that the start of every day and the preparation for every hard moment in your life should start with prayer.

Prayer is preparation for the transformed soul.

Just as the Scripture instructs our hearts towards what God desires from his people, prayer prepares our heart for intimacy with the God as we walk through our day resting in Him.

Song: “Lord I need you, Oh I need you, every hour I need You, my one defense, my righteousness, O Lord I need you”

Jesus modeled prayer not just to show us what we should do, but he as both fully God and fully man, He was dependent upon intimacy with His father as he accomplished his earthly ministry in the world.

He went off to pray to commune with him in perfect fellowship.

We don’t know what was said in those prayers.

But the prayer of Jesus on the in the garden of Gethsemane and the upon the cross shows us a deep fellowship, an eternal fellowship in the Godhead on full display.

B. Our Position in Prayer

Have you ever been to a loud concert and tried to carry on a conversation with someone?

You are screaming, they are screaming but neither of you are hearing anything the other person is saying.

It is pointless!

Our capacity with prayer starts with God’s saving power over us.

Unbelievers who pray to God for things they need are offering up wasted words because the Bible describes them as enemies of God.

They pray to God in moments of despair but their sin has created a separation between them and God.

As Jesus responds to the questions of the disciples to teach them to pray, we must first note that disciples or followers of Jesus can be taught to pray because God has first intervened in their lives and changed their hearts.

That separation due to the nature of sin has been removed by the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

The desire to learn to pray by the disciples come from a heart that by faith was believing in the Lord Jesus as the only Son of God who saves sinners.

If a person rejects Jesus as the only source of salvation, then their sins will not be received (although the Father is not limited in hearing their prayers).

Sin has not afforded them a hearing ear before the Father to bring any pleadings or requests before His name.

If you are a criminal, you have no rights to request anything from the judge outside of what the law states.

If your prison cell living conditions need improvement, you are not afforded a remodel.

If you would prefer steak and potatoes for dinner instead of the meager prison food, tough!

You are a criminal.

But what if the son or daughter of the judge request something from him.

Help in living expenses.

The foundation of that request is love.

He is happy to grant such a request.

Jesus establishes that prayer begins the capacity to call God our Father.

We can only call him Father when we are his children and our adoption as sons and daughter come through Christ’s work on the cross.

Likewise our prayer should be directed to the Father as Jesus teaches his disciples in v 2, his attention in prayer is dependency upon God to work and intercede.

As the church, we now understand the other activity of the Godhead that make prayer work.

Our Aim then in prayer is have intimacy with the Father.

Our confidence to enter into the presence of his holiness is not about what we accomplished because we know that sin separates us from God.

But because of Christ, the Son of God, that separation is restored to intimacy with God when we place our faith and trust in Him.

C. Our Pillars for Prayer

With that intimacy comes and knowledge and understanding of who God is.

This looks back to our study and meditation of the word of God for the word of God leads us to pray faithfully with God.

Jesus instructs prayer to be an

1. Intimacy with a Holy God

hallowed be your name.

The term hallowed means sanctified, holy or reverenced.

God wants His children to glorify and reverence his name and to pray in such a way is to understand who God is.

His name communicates His character and His revelation.

In the OT, the Jews would not utter with their lips the name of God because of His holiness.

The scribes even had separate pens to write the term Elohim, for God or YHWH for Lord.

This is proper reverence in understanding the honor that God deserves.

Of course, in understanding these Hebrew titles for God, we understand his character and activity in the world.

This lends to our prayer life being informed and reassured of the God we are praying to.

His name means something.

Jesus, whose name means Savior, calls his disciples here to understand and reverence the name of God .

When we pray in such a way, we are giving glory to the God who has revealed himself to us and thus our prayer are about his glory instead of ours.

Practically, this might look like spending time giving thanks to God each morning for a different aspect of his character or work in the world.

Psalm 57:11 (ESV)11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!

Let your glory be over all the earth!

1. Intimacy with a Holy God

2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King

Your kingdom come.

Likewise, Jesus wants ours will and plans dashed to pieces if they do not flow out of God’s kingdom and work in the world in which we live.

Therefore, instead of praying about our plans for the day, we should tailor our outlook for the day around God’s kingdom.

What does He want his people to accomplish in their day?

Lord, help me to honor you this morning at my meeting, when the worldly jokes fly across the room.

Lord, help me to be bold to share Christ with the repair man, or show grace to incite my angry neighbor over for coffee.

This is centering your prayers around God’s kingdom and all His plans instead of your plans.

As you do this, you will see your prayers broaden to the lost across the globe, the church across the globe and the gospel penetrating the far reaches of the world.

You will pray for the gospel penetrating Capitol Hill and global politics as you pray for your leaders.

1. Intimacy with a Holy God

2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King

3. Intimacy with our Gracious Provider

Give us each day our daily bread

While understanding God’s character, you can pray that his provision rests in His faithfulness and not your strength.

That provision is “daily bread each day” and not in a stockpile of sustenance because He wants us to develop a manna-dependent reliance upon Him in every way.

“Living pay check to pay check” is such a derogatory statement in a society built upon the pillars of commerce and prosperity, but it is not an unbiblical idea.

Instead of considering it unhealthy for the family, reflect upon it as as statement, that with each paycheck God gives you, you have what you need.

We could say Israel lived each day, Manna to Manna.

1. Intimacy with a Holy God

2. Intimacy with our Sovereign King

3. Intimacy with our Gracious Provider

4. Intimacy with our Forgiving Savior

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us

Fifthly, Jesus focuses on grace for the covering of indebtedness.