7/25/10
9th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 11:1-13
Teach us to pray.
This morning I want to talk to you about prayer. Praying to God is critical, not just to our spiritual life, but to our earthly life too. Prayer is critical, for when we pray we are talking with God pouring out to him all of our hurts, desires, and joys. And in our praying we are giving him honor and glory. Our time of prayer with God is much like the time that Adam and Eve spent with God in the Garden of Eden before they sinned against him.
We all know prayer is important, but too often meaningful prayer is neglected because we sinful people think that we can handle our lives quite alone from God. We, deep down, just don’t want him sticking his nose in our lives. Just like Adam and Eve after they had sinned against God we are trying to hide from God because we have turned his wonderful invitation to pray into law and law strikes us and so we are afraid.
Sometimes we don’t pray because we are too ashamed to pray, or we are afraid that we don’t have the right words or know the right formula to pray. I could go on and on, for we quite often fail at prayer and deserve God’s wrath, but because of Jesus saving act on the cross we will not receive God’s wrath, for we are loved.
As I think back to my childhood I remember that my family was a family of prayer, especially my mother. We prayed in the morning, at mealtimes, and at bedtime. I was taught as a young child to pray to God the Father, in the name of Jesus, and according to God’s will. That has followed me through my life, although at times in my life I have neglected my prayer life. I have at different times in life changed the way I pray, although the basic prayer to the Father in the name of Jesus and according to his will has not changed. For the last 6 years I have been using the ACTS prayer, a prayer that I recommend to everyone to try. You start off with adoration of God, then confession of sins, then giving him thanksgiving, then you ask God to bend you according to his will. You then finish with prayers for healing and such.
Before we can pray it is important to know why God wants us to pray. Besides the obvious answer that God tells us to pray we read in verse 9 of our Gospel, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you.” In other words God wants us to pray, so that he can answer our prayers.
When we pray we are, as I mentioned earlier, are walking and talking with God just like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. And because that is where we are with God in our prayers Satan knowing that praying is good for us, as it strengthens us in our relationship with God does everything he can to divert us from prayer.
He tells us, “You don’t have time. God is too busy with real problems. He more than likely will not give you what you are praying for anyway, so why bother; take care of it yourself. You can do it. And in listening to him we don’t pray and thus are pulled away from the God that loves us so much that he came to be one of us and die in our place.
And because the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh is telling us those things I would suspect that the percentage of Christians that actually spend time in meaningful prayer can get pretty small at times. God knows the troubles we face in praying. That is why Jesus gave us what we call the “Lord’s prayer.” For in this prayer we are not required to be anything that we are not already; sinful weak human beings who are in need of God’s help.
It is perfect prayer for us because it contains all the elements of prayer needed to live in a right relationship with God. We need to have an example of prayer, for we are told in God’s Holy Word in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know what to pray for. We need Jesus’ prayer, a prayer that he might have prayed himself in his times of trial.
It starts with, “Father, hallowed by your name.” We pray in the name of the Father because to pray to “God” is an abstract thought. Father on the other hand is a concrete term, for we all have fathers many of which might not have been or are good examples of God the Father. That is why Jesus gives us the two examples of earthly fathers who even in their sinfulness still want to give good things to their children. Jesus tells us if that is how our earthly fathers are imagine what our heavenly father is like in his perfect love.
God the Father is a father that will not hurt us, or put us down, or neglect us. He can be trusted to love us even when we don’t live lives he wants us to live. He is perfect in all he does and because he is God he will keep his promises. No broken promises with our heavenly Father.
The next part of the prayer is, “hallowed be your name” which does not mean that we are praying that his name be made holy, for it is holy already because God the Father is holy. What we are praying for here is that his name be made holy in our midst. In other words we are praying that with his help we will live in a right relationship with God, such as not using his name in a sinful manner, studying his words to us, and living the type of lives he wants us to live.
The third part of the Lord’s prayer is. “Your Kingdom come.” God’s kingdom will certainly come whether we pray or not. We are told that in God’s Word. In fact, for those in his church, it has already come. We are praying in this part of the prayer that the sin in us and the world would come to an end, so that we would lead holy and pious lives.
The next part of the prayer is, “Give us each day our daily bread.” In this part of the prayer we are asking God to give us what is sufficient and necessary for today, not tomorrow or the next day, or the next, but what is needed for today. God who outside of time knows all things thus he knows what each person needs and he will give each person what is best for them each day. In praying this part of the prayer we are saying that we trust God’s promises to care for us, as he sees fit.
The next part of the prayer, “forgive our sins.” is just what it says. It is not that he has not already forgiven us. He did that when he died on the cross. It is a done deal. What we are praying for here, is that we would have a repentant heart, so that we would receive that forgiveness.
The next part, “for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” There have been thousands of words written about this part of the prayer, as Biblical scholars try to figure out just exactly what the statement means. I think it is best to just take it, as it is. To forgive comes with being a disciple of Jesus. I am not saying it is going to be easy because for most of us it is not easy. We will struggle with forgiving others until the day we die. It is not easy, on our own, but with God all things that give him honor and glory are possible. You think you can’t forgive then start meditating on the Word of God so that you will have a better understanding of the wonderful forgiveness of God. This understanding of God’s free gift of forgiveness for the sake of Jesus will lead you be more forgiving, for you will know that you have been forgiven.
The final part of the Lord’s Prayer is, as Saint Luke recorded it, “And lead us not into temptation.” This part of the prayer has puzzled scholars for centuries. It seems that because we are praying that he will not lead us into temptation God must at times lead us into temptation. The problem with that understanding it that it goes against all that we know about God. Why would he lead us into temptation?
I think Martin Luther has the best explanation for the meaning of this petition. In his Large Catechism he writes after several pages of discussion that it means, “Let me not fall into temptation.” This is a much clearer understanding because we deal with temptation every day. If it is not our own sinful mind, it is those of the world, and if it is not either one of those, it is the devil that tempts us.
Temptations are a part of our life. That is why we pray that God would give us the power to resist so that we will not fall into temptation.
As you can see the Lord’s Prayer is a perfect prayer for us fallen sinners who struggle daily with praying, as we should. We daily sin in not acknowledging God as our good Father. We fail, sometimes miserably in not living lives where his name would be seen by others as being remotely holy. We really struggle in trusting God to provide for us, even though he has promised to do so. We certainly don’t always forgive others, as he has forgiven us. And we flirt with temptation when we go places and do things that God would not want us go or do.
When it gets right down to it, left on our own, we really are poor miserable sinners who God loves and redeems all without any worthiness on our part. The Lord’s Prayer is Jesus prayer, the disciple’s prayer, our prayer. Amen.
9th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 11:1-13
Teach us to pray.
This morning I want to talk to you about prayer. Praying to God is critical, not just to our spiritual life, but to our earthly life too. Prayer is critical, for when we pray we are talking with God pouring out to him all of our hurts, desires, and joys. And in our praying we are giving him honor and glory. Our time of prayer with God is much like the time that Adam and Eve spent with God in the Garden of Eden before they sinned against him.
We all know prayer is important, but too often meaningful prayer is neglected because we sinful people think that we can handle our lives quite alone from God. We, deep down, just don’t want him sticking his nose in our lives. Just like Adam and Eve after they had sinned against God we are trying to hide from God because we have turned his wonderful invitation to pray into law and law strikes us and so we are afraid.
Sometimes we don’t pray because we are too ashamed to pray, or we are afraid that we don’t have the right words or know the right formula to pray. I could go on and on, for we quite often fail at prayer and deserve God’s wrath, but because of Jesus saving act on the cross we will not receive God’s wrath, for we are loved.
As I think back to my childhood I remember that my family was a family of prayer, especially my mother. We prayed in the morning, at mealtimes, and at bedtime. I was taught as a young child to pray to God the Father, in the name of Jesus, and according to God’s will. That has followed me through my life, although at times in my life I have neglected my prayer life. I have at different times in life changed the way I pray, although the basic prayer to the Father in the name of Jesus and according to his will has not changed. For the last 6 years I have been using the ACTS prayer, a prayer that I recommend to everyone to try. You start off with adoration of God, then confession of sins, then giving him thanksgiving, then you ask God to bend you according to his will. You then finish with prayers for healing and such.
Before we can pray it is important to know why God wants us to pray. Besides the obvious answer that God tells us to pray we read in verse 9 of our Gospel, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you.” In other words God wants us to pray, so that he can answer our prayers.
When we pray we are, as I mentioned earlier, are walking and talking with God just like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. And because that is where we are with God in our prayers Satan knowing that praying is good for us, as it strengthens us in our relationship with God does everything he can to divert us from prayer.
He tells us, “You don’t have time. God is too busy with real problems. He more than likely will not give you what you are praying for anyway, so why bother; take care of it yourself. You can do it. And in listening to him we don’t pray and thus are pulled away from the God that loves us so much that he came to be one of us and die in our place.
And because the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh is telling us those things I would suspect that the percentage of Christians that actually spend time in meaningful prayer can get pretty small at times. God knows the troubles we face in praying. That is why Jesus gave us what we call the “Lord’s prayer.” For in this prayer we are not required to be anything that we are not already; sinful weak human beings who are in need of God’s help.
It is perfect prayer for us because it contains all the elements of prayer needed to live in a right relationship with God. We need to have an example of prayer, for we are told in God’s Holy Word in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know what to pray for. We need Jesus’ prayer, a prayer that he might have prayed himself in his times of trial.
It starts with, “Father, hallowed by your name.” We pray in the name of the Father because to pray to “God” is an abstract thought. Father on the other hand is a concrete term, for we all have fathers many of which might not have been or are good examples of God the Father. That is why Jesus gives us the two examples of earthly fathers who even in their sinfulness still want to give good things to their children. Jesus tells us if that is how our earthly fathers are imagine what our heavenly father is like in his perfect love.
God the Father is a father that will not hurt us, or put us down, or neglect us. He can be trusted to love us even when we don’t live lives he wants us to live. He is perfect in all he does and because he is God he will keep his promises. No broken promises with our heavenly Father.
The next part of the prayer is, “hallowed be your name” which does not mean that we are praying that his name be made holy, for it is holy already because God the Father is holy. What we are praying for here is that his name be made holy in our midst. In other words we are praying that with his help we will live in a right relationship with God, such as not using his name in a sinful manner, studying his words to us, and living the type of lives he wants us to live.
The third part of the Lord’s prayer is. “Your Kingdom come.” God’s kingdom will certainly come whether we pray or not. We are told that in God’s Word. In fact, for those in his church, it has already come. We are praying in this part of the prayer that the sin in us and the world would come to an end, so that we would lead holy and pious lives.
The next part of the prayer is, “Give us each day our daily bread.” In this part of the prayer we are asking God to give us what is sufficient and necessary for today, not tomorrow or the next day, or the next, but what is needed for today. God who outside of time knows all things thus he knows what each person needs and he will give each person what is best for them each day. In praying this part of the prayer we are saying that we trust God’s promises to care for us, as he sees fit.
The next part of the prayer, “forgive our sins.” is just what it says. It is not that he has not already forgiven us. He did that when he died on the cross. It is a done deal. What we are praying for here, is that we would have a repentant heart, so that we would receive that forgiveness.
The next part, “for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” There have been thousands of words written about this part of the prayer, as Biblical scholars try to figure out just exactly what the statement means. I think it is best to just take it, as it is. To forgive comes with being a disciple of Jesus. I am not saying it is going to be easy because for most of us it is not easy. We will struggle with forgiving others until the day we die. It is not easy, on our own, but with God all things that give him honor and glory are possible. You think you can’t forgive then start meditating on the Word of God so that you will have a better understanding of the wonderful forgiveness of God. This understanding of God’s free gift of forgiveness for the sake of Jesus will lead you be more forgiving, for you will know that you have been forgiven.
The final part of the Lord’s Prayer is, as Saint Luke recorded it, “And lead us not into temptation.” This part of the prayer has puzzled scholars for centuries. It seems that because we are praying that he will not lead us into temptation God must at times lead us into temptation. The problem with that understanding it that it goes against all that we know about God. Why would he lead us into temptation?
I think Martin Luther has the best explanation for the meaning of this petition. In his Large Catechism he writes after several pages of discussion that it means, “Let me not fall into temptation.” This is a much clearer understanding because we deal with temptation every day. If it is not our own sinful mind, it is those of the world, and if it is not either one of those, it is the devil that tempts us.
Temptations are a part of our life. That is why we pray that God would give us the power to resist so that we will not fall into temptation.
As you can see the Lord’s Prayer is a perfect prayer for us fallen sinners who struggle daily with praying, as we should. We daily sin in not acknowledging God as our good Father. We fail, sometimes miserably in not living lives where his name would be seen by others as being remotely holy. We really struggle in trusting God to provide for us, even though he has promised to do so. We certainly don’t always forgive others, as he has forgiven us. And we flirt with temptation when we go places and do things that God would not want us go or do.
When it gets right down to it, left on our own, we really are poor miserable sinners who God loves and redeems all without any worthiness on our part. The Lord’s Prayer is Jesus prayer, the disciple’s prayer, our prayer. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:59 PM
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