The Lord's Prayer
Notes
Transcript
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer
Pray then like this: “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.
Pray Like This
Pray Like This
What are these word we just said together?
You know them.
I know them.
They were first spoken two millenia ago in Aramaic.
And are spoken every day, in almost every language, all around the world.
In every tradition, every expression, of Jesus followers you will hear these words spoken. They are a unifying prayer that we are all praying together - whether we fully realize the power of what we are asking for or not.
THIS IS A PRAYER:
So - most importantly - our text today is a prayer.
It is meant to be prayed.
So as we move through the words today we’ll be taking time to meditate on them and pray them back to Jesus
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
As we start into our prayer today we center ourselves on who we are talking to.
A prayer is more than personal meditation or mindfullness. A prayer is a communication between God and us. And so, knowing WHO we are talking to makes a big difference for us in what we can expect the outcomes of our prayer to be.
Jesus highlights two aspects of the God we are praying to:
First, he calls Him “Father” (pater) . One who imparts life - and is committed to it.
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
As we come to God we are coming to a Heavenly Father who created us and He did it with purpose. There is nothing about you that was not known by God and loved by God. His breath gives you life. His careful and loving intention continues to mould and shape you throughout life.
He is never absent.
He is never careless.
He enjoys you. He wants to spend time with you.
His intention is to form you to be like Him and share fellowship with Him forever.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Even when we feel the sting of the consequences of sin. When God nudges us to repentance and allows us to suffer consequences that seem painful He is Fathering us - leading us back to what is Good.
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
So....as we pray…you are coming to the source of your life. The loving guide, leader, Father, protector…not a distant God for whom you are a tiny spec of humanity…but one who knows you intimately. Loves you completely.
OUR FATHER, IN HEAVEN....
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME.
“Hallowed” is a strange word. It is related to the word “Holy”. Which indicates a difference, a set apartness that is a part of the nature of God.
If we were praying only to a Father we might expect love, kindness, comfort, empathy - even sometimes rebuke and correction but, as with our earthly Fathers - even the best of them have limitations in how they can impact our lives for the good -though they put every good intention into doing so.
But not God. He is HOLY. He there are no limitations for Him. He is in a category all of His own.
When scriptures describe glimpses of God - often in prophetic visions - we get a tiny window into His “otherness”
And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.
And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.
Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Ezekiel records this vision as: “the appearance…of the likeness…of the glory of the LORD.” He isn’t even saying He saw God. He knows that even in this vision God has fed him a thinned out pablum of his Glory so that he can get a glimpse…but that the actual experience of God’s glory would completely overwhelm us.
“the appearance, of the likeness, of the glory of the LORD..”
What is God like?
He is often depicted as on a throne - he is in authority over all Creation. There is no contest.
He is full of light - radiance and beauty and colours that are hard to express.
When he speaks life, order, truth, beauty come into being. There is no magic or effort in conjuring. He speaks and things happen - that simple.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
He is Holy. Greater, more beautiful, more powerful and awe inspiring than we can imagine. The first instinct of everyone who encounters Him is fear and worship.
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
So, God is Holy - that is His nature. But Jesus’ prayer invites us to “Hallow” his name. That means - to make Holy, to actively acknowledge, praise, celebrate His name.
To pray that the Holiness of God that is already an actuality would be seen, recognized, and acknowledged in the world.
Because as humans, prone to sin and self-centeredness we are missing out on the real party in the Universe.
In C.S. Lewis’ famous quote from his book The Weight of Glory he describes how we miss out when don’t see God as Holy.
Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, foolish about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who want to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
There is a reality beyond our mudpies. It is happening right now and we are invited to join.
At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:
the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
HALLOWED BY YOUR NAME
He is both Father and Holy - this prayer is to a God who is both intimate and glorious. As we continue…keep the WHO in your consciousness.
YOUR KINGDOM COME,
YOUR WILL BE DONE,
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
We spent so much time talking about WHO we are praying to because this is what Jesus is inviting us to ask through this prayer.
That this Holy-Father-King would be fully in charge on earth in the way he is in Heaven.
IMAGE BEARERS GONE WRONG:
Humans were created as “image bearers of God”. We have some likeness to Him - but certainly not to the fullness of Him. We were created with the earth for the purpose of being ambassadors - stewarding it - leading it on His behalf.
When image bearers are aligned with God - the goodness of God’s Kingdom flows through the earth.
When image bearers rebel against God and decide to rule as best serves themselves…creation falls apart.
We have creative ability - we can move, think, shift our environment, collaborate and
Our scope of knowledge and eternal consequences is limited - so if we do not submit and entrust ourselves to God we act in ways that serve us in the moment.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
When we pray “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” we are submitting ourselves first to His reign. Trusting that The King will provide what we need - we do not have to compete with one another for it.
We are also invoking and invisioning the completion of the process Jesus started - the transformation of image bearers into Kingdom people - living in the world in Kingdom ways - demonstrating the life of God to those who do not yet know him.
And because God wants to reclaim the image bearers for His Kingdom he is wooing us for a time - to give us a chance to return to Him.
“like a grain of mustard seed…the smallest of all seeds…when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants.” Matt 13:31-32
“…like leaven that a woman hid in the bread until it was all leavened.” Matt 13:33
“like wheat growing alongside weeds - seperated only at the harvest” Matt 13:24-30
So right now the Kingdom of God and the world co-exist and we are navigating the tension of both. But soon - the Kingdom will come fully.
Revelation 21:1–5 (ESV)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
I am so conscious today that even in this congregation this has been a week of mourning, crying, pain…these are the moments where our hearts feel the disconnect of existing in a world where death is present when we have been made for eternity.
This prayer leads us in those moments back to God’s desire to restore everything.
So - when we grieve over the loss of a sweet child we are praying for a time when death is extinguished:
THY KINGDOM COME!
When we are sick or in pain and afraid we are praying for a time when sickness is no more:
THY KINGDOM COME!
When we are harmed and offended by injustice on a scope we have no power to repair we are longing:
THY KINGDOM COME!
When war and death and outrage overpower reason we are praying for a time where all are at peace:
THY KINGDOM COME!
And these aren’t just words. This isn’t just wishful thinking. The Kingdom of God on earth is God’s plan and desire and it will come to pass and you will see it one day.
JESUS- LIVED IN BOTH KINGDOMS:
Imagine the perspective of Jesus as he teaches his disciples to pray. He is the only person who has lived in both Kingdoms. He knows what it is to be in the glorious presence of the Most High God and the hope of what that would mean.
But in the moment He is teaching his disciples he is also enfleshed. He knows what is it to live in a body, under the hot sun, in a time of political oppression and violence, in poverty and want. He knows what pain and suffering and grief are. He celebrates but he also weeps and gets angry.
So as he paints a vision for them of how to pray for the coming Kingdom of God he also teaches them to pray through life in the present.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
Daily bread - this is a reference to the story of God giving Manna in the wilderness to his people. If you’ll remember they were in a desert - a place where there was nothing. They could not create or cultivate what they needed even to barely survive.
They were fearful of dying of starvation and God met their need by providing manna.
He could have created an oasis or a farm for them to have abundance to draw from so they wouldn’t fear starvation but in that season he chose to teach them trust.
He provided manna - each day - enough for each day and no more.
So that they would learn that day but day God had what they needed. But also that apart from Him they would be lost.
As we pray “GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD”
We trust our needs to God. We release worry. We ask clearly for what we need.
Do you ever pray prayers where you’re kind of laying down your master plan for God?
Entrust to him the process as well as the outcome.
GIVE US TODAY.....OUR DAILY BREAD
Provide our food, our shelter, our wellness, fresh hope, our peace, strength for the day - whatever is the present need. Ask your Father. He is eager to provide for you.
(Spend time asking.....)
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE HAVE ALSO FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS
Perhaps the height of trust is being able to release others in forgiveness. To voluntarily let God do the justice, instead of enacting justive in our own way.
But God draws a connection between the way He forgave us and the way we are to forgive others:
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Remember the parable Jesus told about a man with a large debt that was forgiven who then refused to forgive a very small debt someone else owed to Him? This is the picture God gives us of our own grudges in comparison to what we owe Him.
To recieve forgiveness from God is to overflow with forgiveness to others - and because we don’t always “feel” like forgiving Jesus’ has added this to his prayer - to keep us every mindful, day by day, that whether we feel like it or not forgiveness is the oxygen of our life with God.
We breathe in His forgiveness and we breath it out onto others - entrusting all wrath to God who is wiser and who knows each individual heart and can bring good judgment in a way we never could.
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE ALSO FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS.
(Who do you need to forgive)
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
The vulnerability of living in a world inhabited by evil and sin is difficult. Jesus invites us to pray for protection from these things. That as we pray this prayer day by day we are acknowledging the very real dangers to our soul all around us and asking God to exert his power to protect us.
1 Peter 5:5–11 (ESV)
... Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
There is an enemy actively trying to harm the movement of the Kingdom of God. And you will come under fire sometimes because you are a child of God and carry the Kingdom power in you through the Holy Spirit.
The humility to recognize your vulnerability and to ask God for help is like your super hero cape. You do not have the personal power to overcome evil - but God does.
Scripture urges us to “Flee from temptation” do not assume you are master of it. Run away!
And call on God who can fight for you.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL
(Prayers - where are you experiencing temptation.....FLEE!
Resist the devil....
As I read Ephesians 6 please close your eyes and in your mind’s eye put on the armour of God
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
CONCLUSION:
There is a lot loaded into this one prayer!
Father - Holy
Kingdom Come!
Provision
Protection
Resisting Evil
This prayer is the heart cry of the Kingdom life on earth.
It is designed in the fashion of a “fixed hour prayer” which means it is meant to be memorized and prayed stratiegically.
I want to invite you to begin that now.
Set yourself an alarm!!!
Sometimes you will pray this and you’ll be sleepy the words will roll off your back forgettably --- but they will still reach heaven translated with power by the Holy SPirit.
Sometimes you will pray this prayer like a warrior , or sometimes it will lead to personal conviction.
But I want to invite you to trust what Jesus entrusted to us…and make it a practice in your daily life.
When we seek Him where he tells us he will be found…we will find him.
(WORSHIP/PRAY/SING in prayer)
