Lord's Prayer: Introduction

Before we dive into our sermon for today, and in fact a whole new sermon series, I wanted to put a final cap on the book of 1 Corinthians that we finished last week.

I’ve nothing to add to the series, really, but I did see a photo this past week that made me laugh, from a New Testament professor who was starting a class on the letters of Paul. He said you can basically summarize all of Paul’s letters like this:

(SLIDE)

Grace.

I thank God for you.

Hold fast to the gospel.

For the love of everything holy, stop being stupid.

Timothy says “hi.”

He has a point. Most of Paul’s letters follow that basic outline.

Although I would add one more line to that.

I would add to that list, “I’m praying for you.”

Because the Apostle Paul believed in prayer. His letters are filled with prayer as he lifts up the various congregations to whom he’s writing.

Here are some examples of Paul’s prayers from various letters:

(SLIDE)

“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.”—2 Thessalonians 1:11 (NIV)

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”—Colossians 1:9-10 (NIV)

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”—Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

And in fact, one of my favorite passages in Paul’s letters is a prayer that he offers in the book of Ephesians:

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”—Ephesians 3:14-19 (NIV)

Paul believed in prayer. And notice what he’s praying for in these passages…he’s praying that his fellow believers will become more and more aware of how much God loves them and more and more in tune with his plan for their lives.

Paul clearly believed that prayer was an indispensable part of the Christian life.

He not only prays for his fellow Christians, he also asks them to pray for him.

Just a couple of chapters later in Ephesians he writes:

Paul was committed to prayer. He asked for prayer…and he made time for prayer.

Prayer was a central part of his relationship with others, and his relationship with God.

Of course, in that commitment he was modelling himself after his Saviour, Jesus, who also made frequent time for prayer, as Luke tells us in chapter 5 of his gospel:

(SLIDE)

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”—Luke 5:16 (NIV)

Jesus—the Son of God himself—understood the importance of regular…personal…intimate prayer time with God.

Think about that for a second.

Because if it was that important to him…then surely it should be just as important for us.

Which is why for the next few weeks we’re going to focus on the subject of prayer…specifically the prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples.

The Lord’s Prayer.

Because this prayer that Jesus gives us is not just a meaningful prayer to recite…it’s also a purposeful model for prayer that can guide us in every conversation we have with God.

Because that’s really what prayer is…is a conversation with God.

And it’s been an important part of faith since the very beginning.

Earlier we heard a passage from the psalms…a whole book that is basically prayer.

It starts off with the words,

(SLIDE)

“Hear me, O Lord, and answer me…”

Hear me…and answer me.

The psalmist sees prayer as both speaking to God…and listening to God.

Hear me…as I pour out my heart to you.

Answer me…and I will listen with the ears of faith and trust.

A conversation.

But not an easy one, is it?

In fact, in my nearly 30 years as a pastor…prayer is often one subject that I’ve found people often struggle with.

And if I’m honest, I’ve found myself struggling with it as well.

We all do…we all wonder exactly how we should pray: what we should say, how we should say it…and we can get lost in the confusion and uncertainty.

Maybe that’s why Jesus’ disciples as him straight up in our gospel passage from Luke: Lord, would you please teach us to pray?

Now it was an expected practice in Jesus’ day that a rabbi would teach his disciples how to pray, like John the Baptist had clearly taught his disciples.

But I wonder if the disciple who presents this request to Jesus is responding to tradition…or if maybe there’s something more behind the question.

Maybe he’s also responding to the example he sees in Jesus.

Maybe what he’s seen in the way Jesus relates to God has intrigued him.

Something apparent in Jesus’ devotion to prayer leads him to ask for guidance for their prayer life as his followers.

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

And of course Jesus then gives him and the disciples, and us, the prayer we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Of course, what we heard from Luke’s gospel seems a little different than what we typically say together in worship:

(SLIDE)

“‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.”—Luke 11:2-4

Pretty short and sweet actually.

The version in Matthew’s gospel is longer, and includes some of the language we’re used to that’s missing here.

Although it’s generally accepted that the closing language…“For thine is the kingdom…” and so forth, is a later addition.

Most scholars think of it as kind of a doxology a closing statement that’s perfectly appropriate even though it probably wasn’t part of the original text.

And of course we have that always sticky issue of sins and debts and trespasses…we’ll address that in a few weeks.

But regardless of the version you choose the general sense of the prayer remains the same.

It’s a model for us, it covers all the bases, for lack of a better term.

It acknowledges God for who he is, it seeks his purposes above all else, it points to his mercy and forgiveness as well as his provision and protection.

It guides us and it challenges us.

And it changes us.

Because when you read and study the prayer in depth…as we’re going to do over the next few weeks…you find that in this prayer we’re asking for change—

Each of these petitions is a plea to God to bring about change in us and in our world.

Bring your kingdom here, provide for our needs, forgive us our sins, help us forgive others, protect us in times of temptation…

This is powerful transformational language.

And sometimes I worry that we forget that, I know I do.

It’s so easy to make prayer a perfunctory thing, an obligation…a duty…another check on our Christian “to-do” list.

But prayer is so much more than that.

Prayer is foundational for Christian transformation…Christian mission…Christian identity…every part of our walk as followers of Jesus.

We encounter that truth all throughout the New Testament, as we saw in those examples from Paul earlier. Here are some more to add to those:

(SLIDE)

Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Colossians 4:2: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

The life of the early church was saturated with prayer.

And today it’s like we can’t wait to get past it and get to the quote-unquote “important stuff.”

[FIRST PRES: TWO SERMONS NO PRAYER]

Christians can’t function as Christians, and the church can’t be the church, without a solid foundation of prayer.

Prayer develops our relationship with God, it’s part of loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

It’s a pretty basic truth, isn’t it: if you love someone…you communicate with them.

You have conversations as part of that relationship.

And as I said, prayer is a conversation with God: we don’t just talk, we listen to the Holy Spirit and receive truth and guidance from him.

It makes me think of a great phrase from one of the early Christian leaders named Benedict, who encouraged people to listen “with the ears of the heart.”

When you’re hearing from someone you love, and who loves you, it stirs us and changes us and moves us in ways that are hard to measure.

Prayer is serious business.

Jesus makes that clear in our passage.

Not only does he give an example of prayer, he also gives illustrations of prayer in action.

Examples that teach us two important principles we need to hold on to as we seek to be a praying people.

The first is persistence.

He uses that story of going to a friend at midnight and boldly asking him for help with some hospitality.

And even when the friend refuses…to be persistent in the request.

Followed then by those familiar words:

(SLIDE)

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” –Luke 11:9-10

Those are not one-time events Jesus is talking about, one potential translation of this text would be better put: keep asking…keep seeking…keep knocking.

That may seem like a tall order, but I think what it says to us is that we don’t just drop off our requests to God like spiritual dry cleaning,

Prayer is a posture…a stance…an attitude of seeking to be connected to God more than just a few moments each day.

Be persistent, Jesus says.

And then he shares another illustration, this time from family life.

(SLIDE--MESSAGE)

“Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”—Luke 10:10-13 (MSG)

I think Jesus is saying here that we’re not only supposed to be persistent, we’re called to be expectant in our prayer.

And that’s…that’s a big one.

I think we struggle with that.

I think we often come to God with kind of an apologetic approach, like we’re somehow bothering him with our requests, and we’re kind of doubtful he wants to do anything for us.

Now obviously if what we’re praying for is ridiculous (SPORTS) I think God has every right to let those requests fade away.

But that’s not the kind of prayer Jesus is talking about here.

He’s talking about the kind of prayer that resonates with who God is and the life God calls us to live.

When we pray out of that place…we need to remember that God delights in listening and answering.

God is not stingy with his children.

Especially, as Jesus points out, when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

That ongoing connection through the Spirit…it’s something God wants us to have, so he doesn’t hold back when we ask.

So be persistent, Jesus says, and be expectant.

That’s the posture I would hope for all of us as we begin this series on the Lord’s Prayer.

We’re going to be persistent…diving in deep to learn what it means to speak to God as well as listen to God.

It’s not always easy to think about prayer. But it’s so important.

I’m reminded of something Samuel Chadwick, the great Methodist preacher from England, once said:

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”—Samuel Chadwick

Prayer makes a difference. So we’re going to be persistent in it.

And we’re going to be expectant.

I believe God can use this prayer to change us…to make us more like Jesus…and to take us further in this new adventure he’s called you and me to pursue together.

And maybe…maybe it begins for us with the same question the disciple asked Jesus.

“Lord…teach us to pray.”

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks as we explore his answer together.

(TRANSITION TO PRAYER)