I don’t Wanna!

Have you ever had something in your life that you know needs to be done, but if you are honest you would really prefer it not to happen?

This past week we had this happen in our family. I think everyone knows we have 3 kids 5 and under and most days they are pretty cute.

But Liam and Finns room is almost a lost cause. (show picture)

And usually we make it a point to clean there room specifically every few days, but I think we let it go a just a few days longer and it got to this…

And we caught ourselves in this place where we would really prefer to just ignore it, but it needed to be done.

Finn had this happen this past week. If you know Finn he is our care free child.

but he went to the dentist for Finns first tooth checkup.

I have never wresstled with a crocidle, but man let me tell you this was pretty close.

Becaause this kid did not want his teeth cleaned

But you know I think about some bigger things that have happened the past, (in my life specifically) and they are things maybe I would have preferred not to happen, but they were either nesasarry or it was something I still wish did not happen, but it really shaped me.

I think about mistake that I have made, and how I would love to not admit that I make mistakes and burry it deep down, but realizing no I really need to make thi right.

I think about times where my plans seem to be falling apart, and I still look back and go I would not want to relive that, but it forced me to trust God.

And I am sure this list could keep going…

But the reason I bring all of this up is because we are continuing the Lord Prayer in this sermon series we have been in called “upside down.”

And last week you we covered the first ssection which is verses 9-10

And if you were here last week we unpacked a ton, but the theme was essentially This is prayer for God’s desire to come on earth as it is in heaven, and then for that to be done by us (you might remember me using the phrase “that when we follow Christ we play a role in upholding the Holiness of God’s name by how we live”

So all of that to say is these next few lines in this prayer shift to pray for these things that if we are honest we would probably prefer not to pray or deal with.

And we will be unpacking this but Jesus prays for God to provide , for us to forgive and for us to trust God to deliver us.

Because if we are honest we would probably prefer not to be in a place where all we can do is rely on God to provide

I would prefer not to be in a place where I have to forgive someone, because thats hard

I would prefer not to be in a place where I am tested

And so all of this (I know this is a long introduction), but all of this to say lets dive in.

We are starting in verse 11 and it jut says:

Matthew 6:11 NIV

11 Give us today our daily bread.

So this line i really simple isn’t it? Give us today our daily bread.

And if you were an Israelite at this time you would have immediately recalled a story in the Old Testement where the Israelites escaped slavery and were wondering in the wilderness, and they get to this place where there was not a ton of food to go around,

and they got to the point where they turned to Mosses and said Mosses, did you lead us here to die?! We would have rather been slave in Eygpt then die starving in the wilderness

And its in this place that God provides this thing called Manna for the Israelites, and it was this white flakey (almost like a bread that would appear in the morning)

And the Israelites would collect a days worth in the morning, and God told them do not collect any more then what you need.

And this went on for 40 years…

And so for 40 years the Israelites had to trust that God would provide them with food, and if he did not they would have a big issue, but He did.

And so bringing this back to what Jesus is saying, He is having us shift our primary trust in us being provided for away from our job, or away from our money, away from things that give us security and placing our primary trust in Jesus to provide,

And I need to be clear saving up financially is good, you want to retire, you want to have an emergency fund in your bank account.

In fact there are aa ton of proverbs talking about preparing for the future when you are in these places of abundance.

But the issue is regardless of how big of a security net you have things can still go completely sideways and things can fall apart, and if your ultimate security is the emergency fund, it can be hard,

But here Jesus is saying even when all of that is stripped away my ssecurity is in the moment by moment trust in Jesus providing.

And while this is hard there is something freeing here, because I have used this Illustration recently, but think about when you came into the church this morning.

How did you sit in your chair? you jusst sat right? You did not inspect or or make sure it was sturdy.

I mean could you imagine the anxiety if you thought every chair would break.

And heres the thing, because when we are trusting God, its this beautiful freedom of I can sit and I can trust Him in the moment.

And lets move to the next verse, look at verse 12. It says:

Matthew 6:12 NIV

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

So Jesus says forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are in debt to us.

And you probably caught this but there is some financial language here because we all know debt, is when you owe something right?

imagine if I came up to Reg and I said, hey reg I really need to borrow, $3, I get paid tomorrow, and I will pay you back.

Well fast forward 3 months from now, and Reg still does not have my money, and I have kind of forgotten about it and moved on, but Reg has not.

Every-time he comes to church he thinks about his three dollars

Everytime he drives by our house he gets angry because he remembers the 3 dollars

When he goes to bed he lays awake and night thinking about his 3 dollars

And while this is a financial word, in this context it has a much larger meaning, because when someone wrongs us, its easy to view them as well they better make this right and when they do they have paid of their debt,

But this passage uses this word “forgive” and whats interesting is forgiveness in the Bibles original laanguage is actually a financial word as well.

And it is litterly translated as “to release” or “Let go”

or my favorite is “to set free from obligation”

And so this is not I have completely forgotten about the thing you did.

Its not Reg going okay when Brendan comes and ask to borrow $100, I have forgiven him so sure, Ill let him have it,

If someone hurts you, there may need to be some precautions

But its him going “you know what I am going to not allow this thing to consume me anymore”

And I am going to forgive Him.

And I have kind of made this light hearted, but this is a really hard thing to do.

Because people can say some really hurtful things

They can do some hurtful things

and this might take days or even years of making a choice to forgive,

And can I be honest the only reason we can do it is because if we have been reconciled with God, then we are called to be reconciled with others.

As God has forgiven or released our debts we are called to release others.

(possibly insert example of charelston shooting talking about mother forgiving)

Lets look at this last area in verse 13 because it says:

Matthew 6:13 NIV

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

So here Jesus says lead us not into temptation and sometimes we think of temptation as like if you started a diet today and I know this and so after the potluck I am standing by the food table going “doesn’t this look amazing!”

You want extra gravy on the mash potatoes?!

You definitely grab some desert, maybe take a few.

But this is actually not what the Bible is trying to tell us that God is doing, but the word temptation is actually probably more acurately translated as test.

And so if you look at what a test was in the Bible is was typically a difficult experiances in a persons life that ended up being formitive for them

We talked about the Israelites in the Wilderness, whether they were fleeing from the Egyptians, or trusting God for Manna, these were probably super stressful times, but they were probably also extreamly formitive

Some of us know the story of Job in the Bible, if you do not (if you do not this is the very abbreviated version) but say this is Jobs life (hold a piece of paper) this is what happened (crumble the paper)

His life is destroyed, He losses his wealth, His health is bad, He even looses his children.

and the whole book is Him wrestleing with God and it gets to a place where he still probably wishes none of this happened but it formed him

This even happens multiple times to Jesus, one example is where it says the Spirit Led him into the wilderness and after fasting for 40 days He is hungry and thirsty, and Satan comes to him to tempt Him in a place where he is already weak, but it shows his identiy, because He does not cave in

You know I listened to a podcast and it was a women sharing how sshe has cancer, and she has done all of the options, but unless a mircle happens she will not be alive in 6 months.

And she was sharing how she has been really wrestling with God

And sshe hass quessstioned Him; “why me?”

She has wrestled with bitterness.

She has questioned if He wass there

But he said while this has been the hardet point of my life and while I wish this never happened and wish it would go away, I cannot express how much this has shaped me.

And I want to point out something in this prayer because I was listening to a scholar discuss this passage and they said the best translaation would be “lead us not into the test, but if you do deliver us from the evil one”

So even Jesus is not praying put me through the test, but He is praying God please do not do that, but if I have to will you help me resist satan, and seek you through the test.

and so let me bring everything together here as we get ready to close, because I imagine maybe in some of our lives we are in a place where we are going yeah I am going through the test right now.

Maybe we are in a place where we are wrestling with forgiving someone

Maybe we are in this place where we are just having to trust God to provide each day because everything else has gone out the window.

Can I just say I know these things are tough, and I would actually encourage you to mourn some of these things, maybe this morning there is even a little bit of wrestling we need to do with God.

But what would it look like for in these moments where we are put to the test, that these are moments that shape us,

What does it look like for us to pray deliver us from the evil one.

Because Gods in the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. and He is our security.

Lets pray.