Lord's Prayer

Passage: John 17

A friend of mine used to say, “Its fun to hear, but its more fun to overhear.”

That’s what John 17 is, it is a God-given, Holy Spirit inspired opportunity to eavesdrop on a conversation, a conversation like no other, between two members of the Godhead.

This other Lord’s Prayer, the so called High Priestly prayer of Jesus, stands alone among the prayers of the Bible.  There is nothing else like it.  We know Jesus prayed often, we hear a few very brief prayers of His like in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross.  This is the only long prayer of His the Holy Spirit recorded in Scripture.  We have lots of sermons, parables, teachings and conversations, but only this prayer.  It is the longest prayer in the NT.

The prayer is about 625 words, it takes less than four minutes to read it, but it takes a lifetime to fully comprehend and plumb the depths.  If the great English pastor Martyn Lloyd Jones is any gauge, he preached 50 sermons on this one chapter.  It is safe to say there are words, phrases, thoughts, expressions, ideas in this prayer that no one has yet fully unfolded.

Passage: Matthew 6:9-13; Ephesians 3:20-21;  I Chronicles 29:10-11

Six months ago, I said the Lord’s Prayer is like a rich chocolate or a fine wine or a beautiful sunset, sometimes it needs to be savored.  I said we would take our time and savor this prayer, drawing out all its sweet fruit.  We would take hold of this diamond and slowly turn it until each facet reveals the beauty within.  Too often we say this prayer quickly and unthinkingly.  I said we would slow down and search out Jesus’ meaning in each phrase.

We have done that, we spent 14 weeks going through each petition of this great prayer.  We have learned some things, have gained a deeper appreciation and knowledge of this prayer.  And yet there is still so much more here for us.  The more we know and learn about prayer the more we feel like novices in this business of talking to God.  I have resigned myself to always feeling that way, to always feeling like a rookie, like I’m still in first grade.

All of us are only students in this life and so we must always be learning and practicing.  One of the most profitable things we can do is read and study the prayers written in Scripture.  I have often commended to you the prayers of Paul and I urge you again to read his prayers and meditate on what he asked for and what he didn’t ask for.

Have you ever wondered if God hears your prayers and if He answers?  Do you ever think your prayers aren’t good enough to get through?  Well I have good news.  This last phrase in the Lord’s Prayer should forever change your thinking.

Passage: Matthew 6:13; Matthew 10:28; Ephesians 6:12; Hebrews 3:12

I have been on several battle fields where there are generals and infantry men, soldiers, heavy artillery.  There was a clear enemy and there were allied forces in an all-out attack.

The place is the oncology unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital where they do battle against cancer.  Doctors and nurses and specialist have been rallied, family and friends and churches are praying.  Powerful weapons have been brought in, powerful machines to look inside and identify the enemy, power medicines to kill the enemy.  There’s hope of victory.  In the battle against cancer you don’t want an oncologist who’s a pacifist and you don’t want parents or patients who are in total denial.

And yet on another battle front that is exactly what we find, pacifists and people in total denial.  A battle is raging all around us and yet we are oblivious to the danger.  When the battle is for our bodies and our health we are proactive and aggressive, yet when the battle is for our souls we are lulled to sleep by the enemy, we are complacent and nonchalant.  Why do we listen to the wake up call from the oncologist’s biopsy report but we don’t wake up to the call of the Holy Spirit?

Ephesians 6:10-13 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

To the average America Christian this comes off as a bit over the top maybe, certainly not a petition to take too seriously or to take too far.

Most of us go through our daily routines blissfully unaware of the danger that surrounds us.  We are so comfortable in our free, comfortable, peaceful country we don’t sense the danger around us.  And we are naïve about the danger that is within us.

Jesus teaches us we are in danger, our daily lives are in danger and we need daily prayer for protection from evil and the evil one.  We are liable at all times to fall, to be led astray, to be deceived.

When we pray “deliver us from evil” we are asking a lot.  There are three sources of evil, the evil within our hearts, the evil around us in the world, and the Evil One.  When I pray this prayer for myself and my family and this flock, I pray against all three, the world, the flesh, the devil.

Passage: Matthew 6:13; ICorinthians 10:12-13; I Peter 5:8

Some years ago my youngest son and I went fishing up on Silver Lake with Lamar.  We had a great time and caught a bunch of fish.  Most of you know Lamar has a well-deserved reputation as a great fisherman.  In the fish world he is a master tempter.  He doesn’t just throw a hook out in the water and wait to see what happens.  He has spent years learning which lures are the best for tempting which fish.

This petition in the Lord’s Prayer is a sober reminder from Jesus we live in a world that is like a big pond and there are millions of lures hanging in the water all around us and there is a master tempter who has mastered the art of lures, knowing just which ones will be most effective against each one of us.

This present life is a spiritual minefield with dangers all around us.  Do you believe that?  Do you think about life that way?  Are you aware every step we take at home, at school, at work, in the world is a step into the presence of temptation?  There is no moment in your life that is not a moment for temptation, an opportunity for sin, for unbelief, lack of faith or disobedience, lack of love.

We are in the midst of a spiritual battle with spiritual forces arrayed against us, real enemies who hate us and these enemies are led by a very great leader, Satan.

Jesus is teaching us that amid such a battle with such a great foe we dare not to trust ourselves or go into battle alone and ill-equipped.  We must begin each day with this daily prayer, “Father, have mercy on us, keep us safe in the midst of all unseen dangers, deceptions and temptations.”

Passage: Matthew 6:12, 14-15

Last year we reflected on our great debt of sin against God.  This week we find out we all have debts with each other.  Not only are we in debt with others but others have debts with us.

In the providence of God, we come to this text two weeks before we take communion, the sign of our forgiveness with God and each other.

This particular petition of the Lord’s Prayer stands out from the rest in two ways.  First, it’s the only petition with an addendum, with a promise attached.  Second, it’s the only petition Jesus expands on immediately after the prayer in verses 14-15.  There is something serious at stake here.

This is a matter of special importance.  In fact it lies at the center of the gospel and at the center of our heart’s greatest need.  When Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses, the very first one says the entire life of a Christian is a life of repentance.  This is how you become and stay a Christian.

We are dealing here with one of the most practical and relevant matters to face us in Scripture.  This text as much as any in Scripture affects us and our life together as a community.  In fact our very existence as a church depends on this.  If we can’t forgive then we can’t stay in fellowship.

If we can’t treat each other the way God treats us then something is seriously amiss here.

If we can’t forgive one another then we need to go out front and scratch off some words on our sign, words like Christian and church and even Reformed.  If we can’t forgive, we are not reformed according to the Word, we are not Christian according to the example of Christ and we are not Church according to our calling to be a community of believers who have been called out of the world into a fellowship of the forgiven to be salt and light in a fallen world.  The world will know we are Christians by our love and where does love shine more than when we freely forgive each other our sins.

For two thousand years the Church has prayed this prayer, two thousand years, sometimes every week, some even every day, and then it is forgotten and not done.  We ask God to forgive us as we forgive others, and then we don’t forgive others.

Instead we keep track of others sins and failures.  We are judgmental, quick to point out others debts, but are unaware of our own.  When was the last time spouses, parents, friends, co-workers, church members offered or received forgiveness?

Remember when Peter asked Jesus how often shall my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him?  As many as seven times!?  Do you remember Jesus’ answer?

Passage: Matthew 6:9-10; Daniel 4:34b-35

We have been looking at the petitions in this great prayer that Jesus taught us so that we can pray more fruitfully and effectively.  What Jesus teaches us in this prayer is truly remarkable.  Prayer is asking, and this is our invitation to ask for big things, sweeping things, life changing things.

We have been away from it for two months and since I didn’t preach on the second petition, I am returning to it as a good overarching petition and refresher on the Lord’s Prayer.

When we pray the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we find ourselves praying for something we are unfamiliar with, kings and kingdoms are not part of our experience or vocabulary.  Let’s take a closer look at this business of kings and kingdoms.

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Scripture Texts: Matthew 6:12; Psalm 139:23-24

We come this evening to the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer and the second horizontal or God-dependent petition (we called the first three God-centered).  This is the only petition with an addendum.  It’s a petition with a promise, we are asking something and we are saying we will do something.  We will take up the second part next year.

We know from the previous petition Jesus meant this to be a daily prayer.  Jesus teaches us to pray daily for ourselves for three things, for our daily provision, for our daily pardon and for our daily protection from daily dangers.  The first shows concern for our bodies and the second two show concern for our souls.  Our souls daily need deliverance from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin.

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Scripture Texts: Matthew 6:11, 25-34

The people in the first century marveled and were amazed at Jesus’ teaching. They said it was different from any of the teaching of their teachers and the rabbis.  When we ask Jesus a question or ask Him to teach us something we had better be prepared for something completely different, something we have never heard before.

The Lord’s Prayer is like that.  It’s huge.  It’s galactic in size and scope.  This prayer is like the Himalayas and each petition is a mountain of divine insight into holy things.

If this prayer is the Himalayas then the first petition is Mt. Everest.  Jesus starts out teaching us to ask “the most important person in the universe to do the most important act in the universe” (John Piper), which is to make His name hallowed, to make His name great and honored, revered and respected and only spoken highly of.

Two of the ways for God to be most hallowed are for His kingdom to come, both in our hearts and in our history, and for His revealed will to be obeyed and for His secret will to be accepted.

Jesus is giving us a vision for prayer that transforms our prayers.  Most of our prayers are like asking for mud pies and Jesus wants us to pray for chocolate and truffles.  Too many of our prayers are stuck in a rut and Jesus wants us to soar.  Too often our prayers are stall bread and He is holding out fresh manna straight from heaven.

This is true even when we come to the second set of three petitions, the three petitions that deal with the stuff of life and our personal needs.  As normal or routine as these petitions seem to us over all the years of use, they are anything but normal and routine.  Familiarity may have bred some contempt or casualness, but there is nothing casual here.  Even this first petition has profound implications about God and our lives.

Many say the prayer shifts from being God-ward to man-ward, or from vertical to horizontal.  I think it’s better to say that it shifts from being God-centered to being God-dependent, the focus is always on our Father who is in heaven.

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Scripture Texts: Matthew 6:9-10; John 4:34; 5:19, 30-31

Have you ever had to deal with a strong-willed child?  How many of you were that strong-willed child?  Any body here want to confess to still being a strong-will child?

It’s worse than you think.  We actually live on a strong-willed planet.  All our trouble started with the words, “I will…”  Listen to this description of Satan in Isaiah 14:

Isaiah 14:12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! …
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

Five times he says, “I will.”  Someone has said the definition of hell is, “My will be done.”

We live on a strong-willed planet filled with seven billion strong-willed people who are all saying, “I will…” or “My will be done.”

Jesus teaches us another way to pray.  And the prayer He teaches us is so radical it rocks our world and turns everything upside down.  He says, the definition of heaven is, “Thy will be done.”  “What?  Not my will be done?  Wait a minute, that isn’t what I bargained for.  Isn’t this my life and don’t I know what’s best?  Doesn’t my happiness hinge on me getting what I want?”

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Scripture Texts: Matthew 6:9; Ezekiel 36:22-23

Today is Reformation Sunday, the Sunday before October 31, the day credited with marking the beginning of the Reformation in 1517.  On this occasion we celebrate the providential goodness of God for the history and heritage that is ours because of His great grace.

This evening I want to focus our attention on one of the great and central pillars of what it means to be Reformational and Reformed people.  The glory of God, to God alone be the glory.  And in the providence of God in our evening sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer we come this evening to the petition that points us to the glory of God, hallowed or holy be thy name.

Jesus was asked by the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  How Jesus answers that request is insightful.  In a few brief words He lays out what is absolutely essential to prayer.  Where He starts and what He includes are important.  So important, that if we grasp its importance and meaning it will transform our prayer lives and all our lives.  Jesus is lifting us up out of the poverty of our own hearts into the richness of His will for us in prayer.  This especially applies to our text this evening.

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Scripture Texts: Matthew 6:9; John 5:17-23

Imagine a church member helping with a VBS in an inner city neighborhood sharing the gospel with some children and talking about God being our heavenly father.  And a child looking perplexed asks, “You mean God is someone who comes home on Friday nights drunk, hits mom, yells at us, takes our money and leaves?”

Imagine a woman growing up with deep emotional and physical scars of abuse and neglect from her father, reads the Bible about God as Father and Jesus as Son of Man and misunderstands what that means and exchanges the truth for lies about who God is and what He is like.

Imagine seminaries in our country telling the students not to use Father and “he” when referring to God in their papers and not to use “man or mankind” when referring to people.

Imagine denominations writing study papers recommending pastors change the Trinitarian formula from “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” to:

“Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer”

“Speaker, Word and Breath”

“Lover, Beloved and Love”

“Rainbow, Ark and Dove”

“Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-Giving Womb”

Imagine hymns and hymnals being re-written with more politically-correct gender-inclusive language.  Imagine the publishers of the Bible making new translations like the NRSV, TNIV and the NLB changing the words used for God and Jesus, and man and Jews.

Now let’s stop imagining and wake up to reality.  To call God Father is a controversial concept in today’s culture and in today’s church.

When I was at Calvin Seminary a couple of years after coming here, I heard a couple of professors referring to God as God.  I began to notice whenever they referred to God they always referred to God as God.  Now you are thinking, so what?  That’s a good thing right?  The clue something else was up was when I heard the words “God’s self.”  It sounds like this in a sentence.  “When God wanted to reveal God’s self to us how did God describe God’s self to us?”

What’s going on here is a very intentional and careful avoidance of any masculine pronouns for God, like he or himself.  Many of the religious institutions in our country have adopted gender-neutral inclusive language in their writing and their speaking, both with regard to God and with regard to humans.

It’s an epidemic and it has been going on for 50 plus years and gaining ground.  It was creeping into my seminary when I was there 40 years ago.  The young pastors coming out of seminary today are being trained and taught to abandon masculine language when referring to God or to people.

The TNIV, Today’s NIV is an intentionally gender-neutral, inclusive language version of the Bible.

Let me give you just two examples of how much the TNIV changes many texts, the first regarding people and the second regarding Jesus.

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Scripture Texts: Matthew 6:9, 31-34; John 5:17-23

This evening we turn our attention to one of the greatest prayers ever prayed, to that prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer.  The Master of all prayer teaches us, “When you pray, pray like this…”

This prayer is like a rich chocolate or a fine wine or a beautiful sunset, sometimes it needs to be savored.  We are going to do just that.  We will take our time and savor this prayer, drawing out all its sweet fruit.  We will take a hold of this diamond and slowly turn it until each facet reveals more of the beauty within.  Too often we say this prayer quickly and unthinkingly.  So we are going to slow down and search out Jesus’ meaning in each phrase.

Did Jesus mean to say pray this prayer or to pray like this or after this manner?  I think the answer is both.  This is a divinely inspired and divinely written prayer from the lips of Jesus.  To pray this prayer is to pray within God’s will.  It will always be spiritually fruitful to pray this prayer.  Not as mindless mantra of course or as a meaningless repetition of words, not insincerely or disengaged, or as some guilt-induced fulfillment of some religious duty.  But when your heart and mind are actively engaged in this prayer, it is a powerful prayer.

Jesus teaches us in just a few brief words how we can focus on life’s greatest priorities.  In fact that may be the first lesson of this prayer, that it doesn’t take very many words to get right to the heart of the very most important requests.  This prayer is a great outline to follow with the extra benefit that it will break us from many bad habits in prayer: repetition, small mindedness, self-centeredness, churchy clichés, and boredom.

This is a wonderful prayer when you feel dry, empty, stuck.  This is a way to prime the pump, and as you pray each clause, you can begin to expand on them in your own heartfelt words.

There are six great concerns covered in this simple prayer: the worship of the Father, the kingdom of the Father, the will of the Father, the provision and sustenance of the Father, the forgiveness and grace of the Father and the protection of the Father.

This evening we will focus on just that, the opening address in the words “Our Father” And consider four lessons Jesus teaches us about God.

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