Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
We had some cold weather this week.
This isn’t my kind of weather.
I prefer a temperature around 92. We’re nowhere near that right now.
When we moved from Ohio, I sold the snow shovel.
I don’t miss it.
so I remind myself it could be worse.
And it was worse in Toronto.
One of the viral videos of the winter storms up north this week was a guy who showed up at his favorite cafe for a sandwich at lunch.
The security cameras capture this guy trudging up to the door in knee deep snow.
Only to find out that the restaurant was closed.
He fell to his knees in disappointment.
And then trudged off.
The restaurant is now offering a free meal to the unknown snow trekker.
That guy falling to his knees in disappointment because his favorite restaurant is closed in the middle of a snowstorm is what many of us feel like when it comes to prayer.
You ever been there?
You bare your soul to God only to find him “not open”.
Throw up your hands in exasperation and wonder “what’s the point?”
Not only is he not open, you’re still cold, you’re still frozen, you are still in your crisis and there is no food on the way.
Between now and lent we are beginning a series on what we call the Lord’s Prayer.
We frequently pray the Lord’s Prayer together here.
but what does it all mean?
Why do we do that?
Last year we began a series on Luther’s Catechism.
It was Luther’s instruction on how we are to approach God and life.
Help for our relationship with God.
Help for our living with other human beings.
Help for life.
Catechism is simply a fancy word for instruction.
Instruction in an orderly manner.
Luther’s catechism follows the story of the Bible.
It starts off with the 10 Commandments.
What does God expect from us?
How are we to live?
How does God view us when we break those commands?
We looked at this and found out, yes the commands are helpful for life, but in the end, these commands condemn us.
We don’t measure up.
We never keep the commands the way they are supposed to be kept, in fact, it’s impossible to fully keep every single command all of the time.
The law, the commands, tell us what we’ve done wrong.
The commands produce guilt.
And it never stops.
We need hope in that situation.
And so we need Jesus.
And the gospel.
Christ’s life, death and resurrection for us.
There is hope for us in what Jesus has done for us.
We are sinners, but we are also God’s children.
This hope is found in the Apostles’ Creed.
In the Creed that we confess here as our faith we are shown the love and grace of God who dies for our salvation.
The gospel is the answer for those 10 commandments that leave us condemned.
It is the grand resolution for our broken relationship with God.
Jesus, the Promised One of the Old Testament, and very God himself, comes and saves us from our sin.
We celebrated that arrival at Christmas time.
There is a third piece to the Lord’s Prayer.
If the Law shows us our need for Christ and the Creed proclaims what Christ has done for us in forgiving us and making it right, then what happens when I’m tempted to break the commands again?
What happens when life gets difficult?
Where do I turn?
We turn to God, the only one who can help us in things that matter most.
And Jesus gave us the template for asking God.
We call it the Lord’s Prayer, we read it moments ago.
One of the things we are going to emphasize over the coming weeks as we work our way through the Lord’s Prayer is that there is no part of life that isn’t covered in the prayer.
The prayer is for all of life.
Whether it’s your relationship to God or your colleagues at work or some crisis in your life, it’s all covered here.
This prayer is in the middle of what we call the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus is teaching and preaching the gospel.
He’s drawing crowds.
The crowds show up and he spends time listening to them, meeting their needs, and then teaching them.
These crowds are curious about this Jesus, this new rabbi who claims that the kingdom of God has drawn near.
They’ve been waiting for God to bring his kingdom again to Israel for a very long time.
And now this guy shows up claiming that he is doing just that, bringing in God’s kingdom.
This kingdom in the Person of Jesus is Good News for those who believe his message.
This crowd though, is full of sickness and disease and hurt and pain and suffering and oppression.
Then need help for all of life.
And Jesus gives them a prayer that is aimed at giving voice to their cries for help.
In anything and everything.
Jesus says as much before he even starts:
Matthew 6:9 “You should pray like this:”
You have needs?
Pray like this.
You need help for anything?
Pray like this.
There are some obvious and some not so obvious assumptions being made in the statement.
The first is that
Prayer is a cry for help.
Jesus says we should pray.
Prayer presumes an unequal relationship between the parties involved.
One of the parties cannot accomplish whatever is being asked.
If I ask you for $50, typically, what does that mean?
It could mean all sorts of things, but among them it can mean that I don’t have $50, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking.
There’s a disparity between the parties in prayer: the finite human being is expressing a need to someone greater than himself.
This means, then, that prayer is a cry for help.
But this presumption that we should pray and this instruction to pray suggests this:
God is in a position to help.
Prayer is a cry for help to the One who can help.
The prayer starts off with “our father.”
Who is it that are most dependent on their fathers for help?
Children.
And that is precisely what Jesus has made us.
Children.
This crowd has needs.
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