Introduction

• Is there anything more maddening in the faith than prayer
• We talk about it a lot, claim it’s benefits but very few of us are actually doing it on an ongoing basis if statistics are to be believed
• If I were to ask any of you directly about your prayer life, how would you feel got hi
  • Confident
  • Apprehensive
• The fact of the matter is that prayer is the first fruits of the spiritual life
  • Having a prayer life can make the difference in a crisis like you wouldn’t believe
    • One of my earliest elders in the Church was a man named Jim.
      • He got possessed by prayer, really got into it
        • He had a habit of beginning the morning in prayer and then concluding it as well, praying little short prayers as the day went on.
      • Then, Jim got diagnosed with cancer
        • He told me that what helped him tremendously face the cancer that would ultimately take his life was his prayer life.
          • He once told me about being in a hospital and “Feeling” all the prayers that were being lifted up for him.
        • You don’t want to miss this blessing of what I’ll call a robust prayer life.
      • At the prompting of his disciples in Luke, Jesus teaches on prayer.
        • You can’t really call it the Lord’s Prayer, although that is more rightfully what happens in John 17, where it is a longer, more fulsome prayer.
          • But Jesus does it here and teaches his disciples how to pray.

Return to the Scriptures

• From the Sermon on the Mount
• The most explicit teaching on how to be a Christian in the entire New Testament
  • It’s a great starting point, really for any discussion on the Christian faith.
• Here Jesus is in a section where he is talking about traditional Jewish piety, it rested primarily on three things
  • Prayer
  • Fasting
  • Almsgiving
    • These were the things that Jewish people did to demonstrate their faith
  • But things had gotten out of whack
    • Prayer and fasting and almsgiving had become production numbers, ways by which people demonstrated their faith not because of it’s genuineness but rather they did it for recognition.
      • Some of our prayer lives may be along that vein if we’re not careful
        • We can do it for show, that’s all I mean and not really for the spiritual connection and communion that prayer offers us.
      • Sometimes we can see this done and it can be maddening
        • I was at a church that paraded members forward, each of them telling exactly how much they were giving to a capital campaign
          • IT showed a lack of fluency with the Bible, if you asked me but they didn’t and did it anyway.
        • People can still pray rather disingenuously.
      • Jesus central concern is that people are praying for the RIGHT reason and that they’re doing it well.
        • To that end, he’s going to literally “Show” us how to pray right in front of us, so to speak.
          • HE’s telling them how to NOT to act
            • Not to make almsgiving, fasting or prayer performative acts
              • They need to be done from the right heart.
            • From the right heart
              • This is important and what Jesus is gting at here, our spiritual life is to deepen our ties to God, nothing else and that if we’re doing something else, we’re missing out on the real McCoy.
                • Jesus understands the pride and the vanity that dwells in all of our hearts and He also realizes that just because you’re a religious person doesn’t mean you’re free from these things.
                  • In fact, if you know the Gospels, you know that actually religious people are especially prone to these things.
                  • What better way to pursue vain glory than to look spiritually impressive to other people
                • Some people like to look spiritually impressive, that’s for sure but that’s not what Jesus wants
                • Jewish prayers took place three times a day at the temple
                  • This practice may have come from Daniel, it may have come from the psalms that council prayer at morning, noon and night.
                    • Jesus was counseling for additional prayer which would make sense
                  • Don’t be like the hypocrites
                    • These were not actually what we think of as hypocrites but actors, Jesus was saying don’t be an actor.
                      • They’re just playing a part
                      • “Hypocrites profess to believe one thing but actually live a completely different way. If you are a well-known vegetarian who eats bacon every night, that would be a hypocrite. If you are an opponent of big tobacco and you smoke a pack of cigarettes every day. If you’re a champion of family values who sleeps around with mistresses, those are hypocrites. They pretend to be what they are not. And specifically, their pretense is for applause and esteem. That’s usually what we think of, part of hypocrisy, is “I want other people to think better of me than I really am
                        • We should go beyond that in our prayers
                      • Are we acting in our prayers or are we genuinely conversing with God?
                    • But then Jesus turns to how we are to pray
                      • In private
                        • We saw this movie; the war room and it was all about prayer
                          • One woman had a prayer closet she went into and people could feel the aura of the place so deeply baked in prayer to God.
                            • Hers was a private, quiet practice just like Jesus commends
                          • Obviously, Jesus isn’t saying don’t’ ever pray in public but our primary prayer life should be apart from one for show, so to speak.

But then, Jesus teaches us how to pray and it begins with a doozy

Our Father

• There are some great words in our Bible]
  • Surely, they are all great but some add poignancy and meaning,
• That we get to say, Our Father is a big stinking deal!
• God isn’t some omnipotent terror
  • True omnipotence is frightening, it would be hard to love
• We don’t’ have that
• We, collectively, have a Father, HE’s, OUR FATHER.
• Life can be tough, it has it’s scrapes and pains, that’s for sure.
• Isn’t it satisfying to know that at the end of it is a parent who cares about us.
  • We have a Father
    • Which is to day we aren’t orphans, aren’t abandoned to be on our own
      • In fact, what does Jesus say, that he’ll never leave us or forsake us
    • Having God as a father means something
      • It means that, at the end of the day, you are LOVED with a cosmic love that transcends even your ability to understand it all
        • How do you know?
          • The Cross
            • The Cross shows us that God loved us so much that he gave his only son. That whosoever believes in him will not perish but will instead have eternal life.
            • Jesus came, took flesh and willingly laid down his life to atone for our sin.
          • When we pray, we pray to the Father of Jesus, to our Father as well.
        • Our Father means we have someone to call upon when times are bad.
          • I’ll never forget my dad spending time with me when I was sick as a child
            • I was a very sick child as it would turn out and one of my earliest memories was being in an oxygen tent with my little stuffed cat toy
              • I was terrified but there, in the room, was my Dad and that made it all right
                • MY earthly dad is gone now, but I have a heavenly father that is now with me in those situations
              • Who art in heaven
                • OUR father isn’t here entirely, that’s why he can’t be caught.
                • HE’s in heaven which is a different reality than we’re in presently.
                • There is God’s space (heaven0 and our space (earth)
                  • When some say, “there’s no evidence of god” I say hogwash to begin with but I also want to point out, God isn’t here, he’s in heaven
                    • NOT the heavens, not way out in space, a different dimension maybe is a better way to think about it.
                      • That means God isn’t exposed to time and circumstance as we are
                        • God can’t be caught like some big fish because he’s in heaven and we aren’t presently.
                      • We can  divide up the prayer into three main sections.
                        • The first is addressing God properly,  speaking properly to God.
                        • The second section are three petitions of God-centered worship. “Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come and your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” Three petitions of God-centered worship.
                        • Then come three petitions of human-centered needs — “Our daily bread, our sins, our temptations.”
                          • Calling God “Father” was shocking for the Jews don’t forget that.
                            • They had such a reverence for God they wouldn’t even dare to say his name, they said it wrong intentionally
                              • God’s name had that kind of power they believed
                                • To call him “Father” they thought cheapened that reverence and so they ultimately accuse Jesus of blasphemy for it.
                              • Hallowed be thy name
                                • Show the proper respect towards God
                              • Your Kingdom Come, What We’re Praying For:When we pray “Your kingdom come,” we’re asking for:
                                • God’s reign to advance in our hearts and lives
                                • God’s rule to spread throughout the world
                                • The final consummation when “every knee will bow” (Philippians 2:10)
                                • Justice, peace, and righteousness to prevail over sin and evil
                              • Your Will be Done
                                • “Your Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven”
                                • God’s Will:This refers to God’s desires, purposes, and plans for creation. In heaven, God’s will is perfectly and immediately obeyed without resistance or delay.
                                • The Contrast:
                                • In Heaven: God’s will is done completely, joyfully, and without opposition
                                • On Earth: God’s will face resistance from sin, rebellion, and human selfishness
                                • What We’re Praying For:
                                • That earth would mirror heaven in obedience to God
                                • That we would align our personal will with God’s will
                                • That God’s purposes would be accomplished in our world
                                • That barriers to God’s will (sin, injustice, suffering) would be removed

The Three Petitions for Us

• Give us this day our daily bread
  • Manna in the wilderness
  • We remember that it’s ultimately God who feeds and nourishes us