Awe for Prayerless days

Good morning, everyone. My name's James. Nice to see you this morning.

I'm the kind of person that has large, crazy, and sometimes over-the-top and very big harebrained schemes.

And my wife is very good to me. She often brings me down to earth,

no, you can't do that. That's just a little bit silly, that idea. No, that's not practical.

And it was just over four years ago that I had another of these crazy, large, harebrained schemes.

I'd seen a post on Facebook that there was this guy called Sam Lowe leaving St. Paul's Chatswood.

And I thought, we used to be at St. Paul's Chatswood. Wouldn't that be...

I wonder, I wonder if I got in contact with Steve, I wonder if they're looking to replace Sam.

So I got in contact with Steve, had a conversation with him over a lovely lunch nearby in Chatswood.

And now we've been here for four years.

I took this idea to my wife going, I wonder how my wife's going to respond to this large, crazy, harebrained scheme.

You know, what if we did this big thing and moved from one side of Sydney to the other side of Sydney?

I wonder what would happen if we took our kids out of school and moved them to another school.

Very big change.

And my wife on this occasion said, yeah, let's do that.

That's a great idea.

Let's go.

And Sam was very excited.

Thank you, sister.

But sometimes I think, you know, sometimes I keep my crazy harebrained schemes inside

because I've learned to just tone down a little.

But I wonder if we do the same thing with God.

What kind of requests do we bring him?

Do we only bring him small and manageable requests because I don't know about those big ones?

Maybe he's not going to answer those.

And if we do, if we only bring small things to God, what does it say about our view of him?

What does it say about our relationship with God if we only bring him small things?

I wonder if the way we view God impacts the way we pray.

If I only have a small view of God, I'm only going to bring him small requests.

God, you know, help me find a parking spot.

God, please help the rain to stop.

Maybe that's a big prayer, actually, in this season.

But I wonder if we have a big, grand, and incredible view of God, we will pray prayers in line with that.

Last week, we started a series seeking to restore our awe of God as we head towards Easter.

And we saw the value of regularly gathering the week-in-week-out rhythm that God has designed for us

as we are people who consume things all week to come back and be people who consume Jesus in the Lord's Supper as part of that,

but are dependent upon God.

And the challenge for us today is to consider how we view God and how we pray prayers in line with that.

As we seek to restore our awe of God, I think it's important for us to get our prayer right.

And we're going to do that today by looking at the last hours of Jesus' life as he is in the Garden of Gethsemane

and comparing Jesus' prayer with the disciples' prayer or even the lack of prayer.

So let me start by doing that.

Let me pray for us and we're going to have a look at the Bible.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much that we do indeed have the privilege of being able to talk to you.

Thank you for your word to us this morning.

Help us to know how big and awesome you are and help us to pray in line with that.

Amen.

Firstly, this morning, we're going to have a look at the disciples' prayer.

So have your Bibles open.

We're in Matthew 25.

Is it 25?

26, Flora.

Thank you, dear sister.

Matthew 26.

Matthew 26, verse 36.

Matthew 26:36

And so Jesus is facing the last painful hours before his crucifixion.

He knows he's about to be arrested.

He knows he's about to have a mock trial and then be executed.

And so he goes to pray.

Matthew 26, verse 36.

Matthew 26:36

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane.

And he said to them, sit here while I go over there and pray.

And he took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him.

And he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

And then he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Stay here and keep watch with me.

Jesus is overwhelmed with emotions.

He's sorrowful.

And he asks his disciples to help him.

This is the Jesus who has raised the dead, who has healed people.

He calls God Father and he asks his three closest friends, Peter, James and John, to stay with him, to help him, to keep watch, to be alert, to bear this burden in some way with him.

But the heartbreaking truth is that they can't.

Verse 39.

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.

Yet not as I will, but as you will.

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.

Couldn't you men watch with me for one hour?

He asked Peter.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

This is painful to read.

The disciples can't stay awake.

It's another aspect of the sad story of betrayal of everyone departing Jesus.

Even in these last moments, they're betraying him.

He asks them to watch and pray so they wouldn't be tempted.

Jesus is telling them to do the exact same thing that he is doing.

Jesus is praying, I don't want to be tempted.

I don't want to sin.

I've got this crucifixion coming up.

God, help me.

And he's saying to his disciples, don't be tempted.

Jesus is praying to God that he would obey God.

That he would not fail God.

And he's wanting his disciples to do the same thing.

To pray in line with that.

But they fail.

They fail three times.

Again in verse 33.

And again in verse 45.

Their flesh has let them down.

They've struggled physically to watch and be alert.

It says in verse 43 that they were sleeping because their eyes were heavy.

They were physically tired.

It kept them from doing what Jesus was doing, praying.

I'm sure we've all had that feeling of having heavy eyes.

Hopefully, you know, whether it's been watching a movie late at night, I've definitely had this experience of micro sleeps happen while I'm driving.

That's a terrifying one.

You know, open the window, get some cold air.

My wife's always asking me, why are you slapping yourself in the face?

Oh, no reason.

Or even praying late at night.

You know, trying to get through your prayers at night.

And just your eyes, you're just going to sleep.

You know, those moments driving, they're pretty bad moments.

But this is a really terrible moment.

Jesus has bared his soul to his three closest friends.

My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death.

And they didn't have the ability to read the importance of this situation.

They didn't understand what was about to happen.

Even though Jesus has told his disciples that he's going to the Father,

that they're going to all for the way,

they didn't heed his warning.

I wonder if it's because their view of themselves is still too big at this point.

The disciples are still full of pride.

Peter, in particular, his view of himself is too big.

Only in the verses before what was read,

Jesus says to him, you are going to fall away.

And Peter says, no, I'm going to go with you even if it means I die.

And then when Jesus is being arrested,

Peter tries to fix the problem.

He tries to save Jesus by pulling out a sword and cutting off a servant's ear.

Peter still thinks he's in control.

Even though Jesus has told him, you're going to fall away,

and then I'm going to be the one that saves you,

his view of himself is still too great.

And his view of God is too small.

And so he's too self-sufficient, too self-confident.

And where does God fit?

Well, Peter has heavy eyes.

A right view of ourselves leads to a right view of God.

When we know who we are,

then we can have awe of God.

When we know how small and humble we really are,

it's so much easier to understand how big God is.

We can't be in awe of God when we think that we are self-sufficient,

that we have self-control,

that when we are in control of things.

It's one of those things that happens in movies.

There's this very common trope that happens in movies,

that there's this arrogant character,

and they think they know everything,

and you're just like,

oh, I really want to see this person be knocked down a couple of pegs.

They're going around saying they know everything.

Peter needs to learn this lesson of humility

to be able to understand what God is doing.

The disciples' lack of prayer here indicates their view of themselves,

their view of their situation,

and their view of God.

They're still acting self-sufficiently,

and they're not dependent yet on God's grace.

And they will be.

Jesus will restore Peter,

but that happens later.

And so we're going to compare the disciples' prayer,

or lack of prayer,

with Jesus' prayer.

And we very briefly looked at Jesus' prayer,

but we're going to spend some more time looking at that now.

So we're going to go back to verse 37.

Back to 37, we're going to look at Jesus' prayer.

Verse 37,

He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him.

Then he said to them,

my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Stay here and keep watch.

Jesus knows what's about to happen.

He is sorrowful,

and his posture says that.

Verse 39,

He fell on his face to the ground and prayed,

my Father,

if it is possible,

may this cup be taken from me.

Yet not as I will,

but as you will.

He falls on his face,

sorrowful,

while his disciples are lying down sleeping.

And he implores God three times,

take this cup away from me,

yet not as I will,

but as you will.

So what does this tell us about Jesus' view of God?

Well, two things, I think, in particular.

It's both very personal,

and it's also full of awe.

It's personal because Jesus,

even as he's about to die,

still calls God his Father.

Jesus prays very intimate prayers to God.

It's one of the key reasons that the Jewish leaders

want to kill him,

because he continues to call God his Father.

And so they want to kill him for that.

And yet he prays prayers that are full of awe to God.

He has the right view.

He knows who God is,

and he is going to obey him.

He knows how powerful and sovereign God is,

so much so that Jesus can pray big, radical requests.

Jesus can pray,

if it's possible,

take this cup away from me.

God, if it's possible,

bring salvation another way.

God, I know you are the one who saves.

I know that you are both just and generous.

I know you are full of grace.

Is it possible that there's another way

that you can work out salvation?

Jesus has such a high view of God,

he can actually say to God,

is there another way?

You can't bring that kind of prayer to God

if you have a small view of him.

Jesus can only say,

not my will, but your will,

because he has a very large view of God,

of God's love and compassion,

his holiness and his sovereignty.

That even though this is going to be

incredibly difficult for Jesus,

he knows that God is good.

Knowing the awesome God means

Jesus prays differently to the disciples.

Knowing his grace and wisdom

and power and love

means he can ask for big things.

God, is it possible

that we can do this another way?

But if not,

I'm going to submit to you

and I will obey.

Because Jesus has been raised from the dead,

because he has given us his spirit,

because he has brought us into his family,

we can pray big, radical prayers too.

We can pray,

God, I know you are generous.

God, I know you are the one

who brings salvation.

Will you save my friend?

Don't let them die without knowing you.

God, I know you are powerful

and wise and sovereign,

and it seems impossible,

but I know that you are in control.

God, bring an end to COVID.

But also, God, not my will, but yours.

Our third point this morning,

prayer and awe.

What's the connection here

between our prayer

and our view of God?

Our awe of him.

Well, when our awe is restored,

we pray prayers in line

with our view of God.

If we only have a small

and insignificant view of God,

we'll only have small

and significant prayers.

But when our view of God

is in awe of him,

so will be our prayers.

I wonder if the way to do this

is actually by getting our prayers right

to build a bigger picture of God first.

I wonder if speaking rightly

corrects our view of God.

I think it's almost like how

I'm trying to teach my children respect,

not by saying,

respect people.

None of them are looking at me.

That's fine.

But instead, teaching them,

you know,

you say, please.

You say, thank you.

This is how you do it.

I'm going to teach you

the practice of it,

and you will get respect

for other people.

I wonder what our prayers

are like in this season.

I wonder if we did a quick poll

how our prayers would be.

Are they distracted prayers?

Are they short, quick?

Are they non-existent prayers?

Do we pray quickly at mealtimes,

but not for too long

so the food doesn't get cold?

Do we just bring random

ad hoc requests to God

as we're going throughout the day,

you know,

that, God,

I'd really need a car park

because, you know,

it's school holidays now

and everybody's going to the shops.

God, help me, you know,

kill this mold in my house.

Maybe that's a big prayer too.

Or do we even pray

like the disciples

with heavy eyes,

just with great difficulty?

We need prayer like Jesus,

prayer that has a right view of God

and is very personal.

And so I think, firstly,

I want to come to

how Jesus teaches us

to do this in the Lord's Prayer.

The Lord's Prayer is

a wonderful prayer.

It is so instructive

for how to pray.

And it starts

by getting the address

to God right.

How does it start?

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done.

It's so wonderful

and simple for us.

You can teach this to a child.

This is a prayer

I still pray regularly.

It starts with a posture of awe.

You are a father

and you are in heaven.

You are hallowed,

which means holy.

You are the boss of the world

and your will should be done.

This is such a prayer

that separates us and him.

God, you are so much bigger than me.

I should be following you.

It's a prayer

that is wonderful to use.

I've definitely used it

and it takes me

out of the bad habit

of just praying for immediate needs

and it reminds me

of who my God is.

One of the things

I've done in the past

with the Lord's Prayer

is spend time praying

through each line

and I can preach another sermon

right here on the Lord's Prayer

but I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to put that there.

I think we did recently.

We spent some time

going through the Lord's Prayer

and it was wonderful.

Another structure of prayer

that I've used

is the word acts.

A-C-T-S.

It's a structure.

Adoration,

confession,

thanksgiving

and supplication.

Asking for stuff.

And again,

I think it's really helpful

because it starts

in a place of going,

God, you are awesome.

Let me adore you.

I want to do

what a lot of the Psalms do

and just talk about

how wonderful you are.

And then,

as we've done today,

acknowledge that

I'm not like you

and I need to confess

but I want to say thank you

and then ask for things.

I think it's a helpful structure.

But what would it actually

look like for us

to sit in that first letter

in adoration?

What would it look like

to pray prayers

in line with God's awesomeness?

To pray prayers

reflecting on His grace,

His wisdom,

that He's everywhere,

that He's in sovereign control,

that He has great

and boundless love

and that He's made the world,

that He's eternal.

I wonder

if we spent more time

praying prayers

in line with that.

I wonder how we would

grow as disciples.

I wonder if we were

praying prayers like that.

We might even just be able

to pray prayers

in line with how awesome

God is,

how in control He is.

And then,

when we spend some time

remembering that,

maybe we're not even

going to ask for anything

because we're going to remember

that He's trustworthy

and that,

you know what,

I know God knows

what I need

and so I don't even need

to ask for them.

A little while ago,

one of my kids

asked me a question

that just stopped me

in my tracks.

They asked at breakfast time,

hey dad,

can we have food today?

And I just went,

what do you mean?

I think it was just the way

they worded the question

because we don't ration food

in our household.

My children don't have

to come to me with stamps,

you know,

food rations

or anything like that.

I said,

I was actually just

getting you breakfast,

just give me three seconds,

you can have food.

But I wonder if that's actually

how we bring prayers to God.

God,

I desperately need these things

and God's like,

like I know what you need.

It's actually okay.

You're actually praying

for really simple things.

I've got you.

You don't need to fret

about these things.

And that actually frees us up

to pray for much bigger

radical things.

God knows the things we need,

but I wonder if far too often

we're just praying

for the very small things.

And that is really good.

God wonderfully calls us

to come to him like children

and pray childlike prayers.

But I think one of my issues

has been I think I've gotten stuck

praying those childlike prayers.

So to help me this week

move away for just asking

for those immediate

small picture things,

small prayers,

I've been using

the act structure of prayer,

but to try and spend more time

meditating on God,

I've needed help

because I'm really poor at this.

I don't know where to go.

Go and read some Psalms

if you're like me.

Go read some Psalms.

They've got wonderful,

wonderful ways to pray to God

and his awesomeness.

But because my brain

is a bit of a wet sieve,

I actually need a structure

of prayer to help me.

And so I've come up

with one this week.

Ali's going to put it

on the screen for me.

It is the word awesome.

And I really like

this graphic as well.

The word is awesome.

And the love heart there

is important.

It's an O,

but it's actually really important

with this acronym.

So the structure for me

this week has been

to meditate on God's,

A, his amazing grace.

Secondly, his wisdom.

Then, that God is everywhere.

Meditate that God is sovereign

and in control.

And then this was the letter

that I spent so long

trying to get this acronym right.

It was very difficult for me.

The O is a love heart.

God's love.

His boundless love.

M is that he is

the maker of all things

and E is that he is eternal.

I've been using this this morning.

I used M this morning.

I got to church

and I spent some time in prayer

and I spent some time meditating

that God is the maker

of all things.

And I found it a really helpful way

to remember how big my God is.

That, you know,

we looked a little while ago,

Psalm 8, God,

it talks about God

making with these fingers.

He intimately made the galaxy,

sun, stars, moon, ants,

my organs.

And then,

and I was,

again,

I was just blown away

by the size of God.

How I want to have

a deeper prayer life.

And I know what will happen

when I pray to an awesome God

who,

let me go through these letters again

if you're writing them down,

who has amazing grace for us.

Who is wise.

He is so wise.

He,

he is everywhere.

He knows everything that's going on.

He is sovereign

and in control of all things.

He loves.

He has boundless love.

He's the maker of all things

and he is eternal.

My desire is that as I pray this,

I'll grow deeper in trust of him,

deeper in knowledge.

And I'll be able to trust him

with the small things I pray

and then like Jesus pray,

radical big prayers.

Jesus' prayer here

is a wonderful balance for us.

A balance of awe

and intimacy.

Jesus obeys God's call

but also calls him father.

I heard a story recently

of a royal,

a king holding court,

making decisions

on people's lives.

There's, you know,

armed security there.

People speaking in hushed tones

around the king.

Countries bringing requests

for aid and allegiance.

When suddenly,

a screaming child runs in,

straight past the security,

straight up to the monarch

and jumps on the king.

Only to be greeted by a hug

and a child

asking the parent,

the king,

what's for lunch?

This is true of God.

We are called to run to him.

We have incredible access

to our wonderful king.

We can come to him

like that child.

We can come to him

and bring all of the requests

because Jesus died on the cross

and was raised to life.

There is no barrier.

But I wonder

if we only bring him

those small things,

those small requests.

We can come to him

like a child

but it doesn't mean

we only need to pray

childlike requests.

We run the risk

of missing out

on how awesome

our God is

and how powerful

and generous he is.

I know there is

at least one person

here today

that has burdens

on their back

that is carrying anxieties.

I know that there are

people here today

struggling.

I know I have been recently.

There's been a burden

on my back

and that's been

my youngest son,

Micah,

who only two days ago

got his first vaccine

because he's only

just recently turned five.

And for me,

hello my son,

he's giving me

a sour look.

For me,

this whole year,

ever since I had

COVID in January,

there's been a weight

on my shoulders.

When are my kids

getting vaccinated?

When are they going

to have that protection?

And then going months

waiting for him

to be five.

There's been this

underlying sense

of uneasiness

and fear

and I don't even

want to think about it.

But our God

wants us

to trust him

in uncertain situations.

our God

wants to heal

broken hearts.

He wants

to see

lives changed.

He wants

to see

addiction

ended

and relationships

healed

and friends

saved.

He wants

to see

relationships

between families

and children

and parents

healed.

We have a God

who wants us

to bring

big prayers

to him.

So let's pray

to this awesome

God right now.

Dear God,

we thank you

that you are

indeed awesome.

We thank you

for your

amazing grace

to us.

That you

would choose

to love us

even though

we are small

and insignificant.

That we don't

deserve anything

good from you.

We thank you

for your wisdom

that you know

everything that is

going on

and you have

a good

plan.

Thank you,

Lord,

that you

are sovereign.

That you

are in control.

Lord,

help us

to trust you.

Lord,

thank you

that you

are loving,

that you

have boundless

love.

God,

we thank you

that you

made us,

that you

know how

we are to be

and that you

know what

the good

life is to

look like

following you.

Help us

to live that

life,

Lord.

And Lord,

we thank you

that you

are eternal

and that you

invite us

to be with

you forever.

God,

grow our

picture of

you and

help us

to pray

big prayers.

Help us

to come to

you with

childlike

faith,

totally

dependent on

you.

but Lord,

help us

to give

you the

burdens

of our

lives

because

we

know

that

you

love

us.

We pray

this in

Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.