The Disciple's Prayer

Scripture Reading

We know it as the Lord’s Prayer.

Probably most if not all of us on this call know it by heart.

John included it at the end of our congregational prayer.

Many know it by heart, even if they don’t attend a church.

We find it in Matthew 6 and Luke 11.

We will read from Matthew 6.

Matthew 6:9–15 NKJV

9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The Disciples Prayer

Slide

It seems fitting to end the week of prayer by taking time to consider the Lord’s Prayer.

The prayer is given in response to a request from His disciples.

Luke tells us,

Luke 11:1 NKJV

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

“Lord, teach us to pray”!

Emphasis

So this is Our Prayer.

This is the Disciples Prayer.

Jesus gave it to us.

As a model for prayer, for life, and for discipleship.

The first two verses focus on who God is and His character.

These are things we need to always remember about our God.

This prayer may also help us to unlearn some things we think we know about God.

Our Father

Slide

The pray starts with “Our Father”

The Greek is Pa-tray-a.

The Aramaic is Abba.

The English Father or Daddy.

It is difficult for us to get the sense of just how shocking this would have sounded to His disciple.

In a culture where the teaching about the name of God, Yahweh , prohibited its full usage with often appreciations used.

Especially by the common man or woman.

This would have totally shocked the disciples.

Jesus right from the start of His ministry was trying to get His disciples to unlearn, many untruths about the Lord.

Meeting the Queen

Has anyone here met the Queen?

Caerphilly Mountain. School boy. Lined the side of the roads to wave to her. Our eyes met for a second. I am sure she must remember me. I remember it.

We all know that there is protocol when meeting the Queen in person,

The how to manual reads,

On presentation to The Queen, the correct formal address is 'Your Majesty' and subsequently 'Ma'am,' pronounced with a short 'a,' as in 'jam'.

Now imagine if we did all that, and meet the Queen, but she says to us,

Call me mummy, you are part of my family now.

Pause

Isn’t that rude and disrespectful ?

Or does it reflect how God see us?

His intimacy and a relationship with His disciples

God is saying to all of us, call me Daddy, we read “Our Father”

The presence of the Father

Many of us have a more intimate relationship with our smart devices than with God or with other people.

God is saying to us, I am your Father.

I am present with you.

I am close to you.

I am listening to you.

Our Father

Our Father in heaven

Our Father, in Heaven

Jesus will often says things that can seem polar opposite to our finite and puny human brains.

Our Father, Our Daddy is also “Our Father in heaven”.

Isn’t that mysterious?

Have you heard a child took about there Dad?

My Dad is a firefighter, my Dad fixes things, My Dad...

I don’t know much about science.

We live on earth.

Our earth is part of the Solar System

Our Solar system is just a tiny part of the a galaxy called the Milky Way, which it is estamted contains over 2 billion stars..

Our Milky Way is just one Galaxy out of what is believed to be over one hundred billions Galaxies

Isaiah 40:25–26 NKJV

25 “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

Our Dad, Our Father, is the creator of the earth, the heavens and all the host within them

Beat that!

Science vs Bible

The Atheist says, In the beginning… blank

We say,

John 1:1–3 NKJV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

That is faith.

Hallowed be your Name

Slide

Hallowed be Your Name

Name is about character and authority.

That is why all our prayers say, “in Jesus’ name”.

We pray to our Father.

We pray to our Heavenly Father who holds all things together, the King of the Cosmos,

We pray to our Holy Father.

The ultimate fulfilment of this petition is linked to His kingdom.

God’s Kingdom

Slide

Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven

Listen, we need to look at earth’s history and the future, and our history and our future, through the lens that Jesus is King.

There are two things here, the Father’s presence and the Father’s resilience

1) Presence

Jesus is saying Our Father is present in this world.

His kingdom is not visible yet, but He is present.

We are His kingdom as this time.

We live by faith, and not sight, at this time.

The Lord is present in all the chaos and the sin.

He is not going anywhere.

He is working out His purposes.

Someone says at the bus stop, can you believe the mess we are in today.

Yes, it is bad, getting worse.

Yes those politicians are in it for themselves

It’s not them, It wasn’t always like this?

What do you mean?

Well I am glad you asked!

2) Resilience

Jesus is resilient in the face of this world.

The Father is resilient in the face of this world.

The Lord wants His disciples to be resilient as well!

Jesus says, I assure you, that the Kingdom will fully come, that is a promise.

Jesus will return, the new age will begin and God’s kingdom will be visible to all.

One author says,

Daily Help November 10

At all times we should commit our all to Jesus’ faithful hand; then, though life may hang on a thread, and adversities may multiply as the sands of the sea, our soul shall dwell at ease, and delight itself in quiet resting-places.

The man at the bus stop finally says,

You actually believe that Gensis stuff, yes, If he made it so good why are we in the mess we are in ?

I am glad you asked

Our testimony always ends with His Kingdom will come, and His will will be done.

Biblical View

It is impossible to understand human history without biblical history.

The pivotal event in human history is the cross.

All of our views of history and of this world, have to be in the framework of the cross and the Kingship of Christ.

Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven

Ending of First Section

So ends the first part of the Disciples Prayer, which the focus on Our Father.

Now we move into our personal petitions.

Give us this day our Daily Bread

Slide

Give us this day our Daily Bread

Emphasis

We are human beings.

We are made in the image of God.

We are designed to be what God created for us.

Human beings.

We were created with many possibilities and with boundaries for our good.

There are things we can control

There are many more things we cannot control.

Those I must leave in God’s hands.

I deliberately picked this slide image

It is a picture of a little child who is dressed up as superman but is looking up to the heavens.

The Dying Sister

The new minister told of his first visit to a dying sister in hospital.

“How are you” he said to her.

“I am afraid” she replied.

The minister looked so shocked that the dying lady laughed.

Finally the minister said, “Well that makes two of us. What shall we do?”

The lady replied, “We will see”

Over time the minister got to know the dying lady, and her story.

We all have stories.

They talked about many things.

One time the minister told her the story of the Pastor that went to visit a dying man, and said all the normal platitudes and eventually asked if he could pray. The dying man said, “if it makes you feel better”.

The dying sister and the minister just laughed till there were tears in their eyes.

Please don’t think I am saying don’t pray for people.

But we have to ask sometimes if our prayer for others is being driven more by my uncomfortableness with the situation.

The minister recounts another conversation with the dying lady.

He had visited her and was about to leave when she said, you have never asked to pray for me.

The minister said no.

The dying lady said can you pray for me?

The minister prayed.

After he finished, he turned to her and said are you tired?

The dying lady replied, I think I am ready to sleep now.

That was there last conversation.

We mistake a human beings need for presence and connection with thinking we need to give the answers.

We don’t.

We are tricked into the thinking of becoming like God, knowing....

Often the most honest answer we can say in the face of life is I don’t know, but I am here with you.

I still trust my Father, who is in Heaven, who is Holy, and who’s kingdom is coming.

We are created first and foremost in the image of God as human beings, not superman or superwoman!

Trying to be Superman or Superwoman, trying to be what is God’s alone, will burn us out, and it will burn others out.

The Apostle Paul got it,

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NKJV

9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Message bible

My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

Give us this day our daily bread emphasises that we are human beings first, not human doers.

The Emphasis on Forgiveness

Slide

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

There is much written on the what is the focal point of the Lord’s Prayer.

The chiastic centre if you like.

Most writers tend towards “Give us this day our Daily Bread”.

I am not sure that is right.

When we take in account Jesus words after the “Amen” of the Lord’s prayer, it seems that Jesus put forgiveness at the heart of the Disciple’s Prayer.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Jesus repeats

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

A Forgiving Heart

An unforgiving heart reflects an unregenerate heart.

I know that is a strong statement.

An unforgiving heart reflects heart of stone not a heart of flesh.

Restoration of fellowship with God must be reflected in our forgiveness of others, even when a restored relationship with that person is not possible.

Repeat

If we do not forgive, we will just get bitter.

That ruins the fruit, it is a blight.

Jesus, the Great Physician

One author says,

Daily Help November 13

BEHOLD one of the great Physisician’s mightiest arts; he has power to forgive sin! Before the ransom had been paid, before the blood had been literally sprinkled on the mercy-seat, he had power to forgive sin. Hath he not power to do it now that he hath died?

Jesus is saying here even before He pays the ultimate ransom, that we must forgive others.

Matthew 7:2 NKJV

2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

Always remember to judge others in the light of how Jesus judges you.

You are sensible people, think about these things.

The Amen

Slide

And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

We always need to remember who our battle is against.

It is not flesh and blood.

There is a sense that even our enemies are victims, yet accountable.

I end with this,

Matthew 6:34 NKJV

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Sufficiency for the day is Christ, and our Father.

Sufficiency is not found in thinking we have all the answers or control.

And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.

Your is...

Martin Luther’s wife came downstairs one day dressed in black

Luther asked, who died?

God did she replied

Luther replied, God cannot die

She replied, so why are you acting like he did for these last few weeks.

Emphasis

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.

Remember who our Father is!

That my friends, can set us free for this wondrous, mysterious, even unexpected, life of faith , walking hand in hand with Our Father, our Daddy.

To that I say Amen, Let it be.

Benediction

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen