Teach Us to Pray

Let me read Luke 11, 1 through 13 for us.

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place,

and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him,

Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.

And he said to them, when you pray, say,

Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us,

and lead us not into temptation.

And he said to them, which of you who has a friend

will go to him at midnight and say to him,

Friend, lend me three loaves,

for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey,

and I have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within, do not bother me.

The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed.

I cannot get up and give you anything.

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything

because he is his friend,

yet because of his impudence,

he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives,

and the one who seeks, finds,

and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish,

will instead of a fish, give him a serpent?

Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

If you then, who are evil,

know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the heavenly father

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

So this winter and spring,

we're walking through the Gospel of Luke,

and in particular, we're studying this middle section

of Luke's Gospel where Jesus is on his journey

from Galilee up to Jerusalem.

And in this middle section of Luke's Gospel,

this journey narrative,

one of the main themes over and over again

is the theme of discipleship.

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?

And we need that kind of instruction today.

We need to know what it looks like,

what shape it takes,

the heart of being a follower of Jesus.

So that's what we're gonna be considering together

over these coming weeks and few months

as we're looking at Luke's Gospel.

And the specific topic here in our passage today

is the topic of prayer.

Jesus himself has just finished praying,

and one of his disciples, Luke,

doesn't tell us who,

it could have been any of them,

says, Lord, teach us to pray.

Now, I wonder if you've ever found prayer to be hard,

something that doesn't come naturally.

Maybe for you, prayer is just the easiest thing

in the world.

You just have rich hours of prayer end on end.

You don't need any help.

If that's you, this sermon is not gonna be

very helpful for you.

But for the rest of us in the room,

this is gonna be for us.

So you can just zone out,

scribble in your bulletin,

whatever you wanna do.

But if you're like the rest of us,

maybe you found prayer to be frustrating.

Maybe you found prayer to be even boring at times.

Maybe you think of prayer as something

you wish you could do well,

but you struggle to do so.

And then, of course,

there seems to be so much out there about prayer.

I mean, how do you choose?

Where to go?

Who do you turn to for help?

In the first century,

there were various Jewish groups

and they all had their own distinctive prayers

that they used.

Apparently, as this first kind of references,

apparently John the Baptist

even taught his disciples specific prayers to say.

And you know, today too,

there's no shortage of options.

Every religion seems to have its own practices of prayer.

Even within Christianity,

there are hundreds of books about prayer

or collections of prayers.

Where do we start?

Have you ever wished that someone would just teach you

how to really pray?

Well, if that's you,

and I know that's often how I feel too,

you're in good company.

Every honest follower of Jesus at some point

is going to say,

Lord, teach me, teach us to pray.

And the beautiful thing about this passage

is that Jesus does just that.

He teaches us how to pray.

And He does so by addressing

the heart of two of our biggest problems

or two of our biggest difficulties

when it comes to prayer.

He's going to address one of those problems

in verses two through four,

and then He's going to address

the second deeper problem

in the rest of the passage.

And this first difficulty

that He addresses in verses two through four

is the very real difficulty

that oftentimes in prayer,

we just don't know what to say.

What are we actually supposed to be praying for?

How many times have you sat down to pray

and it feels like all that you can really come up with is,

oh Lord, would you bless this person?

And then you look down at your prayer list maybe

and you say, oh Lord,

would you bless that person?

And while you're at it,

would you bless my spouse and bless my kids

and bless my friends and bless my church

and bless that guy I met at the gas station

the other day?

And we don't even know what the word bless means.

What are we even praying about?

And yet we keep saying that

and that's all we say.

That's all we know what to do.

And pretty soon,

if we're brave enough to admit it,

we get pretty bored praying like that, right?

And our mind immediately wanders

to our to-do list for today

and our prayer life lacks all the depth

and profundity that real communion with God

ought to be.

But in these first few verses,

Jesus realizes what a real need that is.

And so rather than launch into a long discourse

about prayer,

it's nature, it's theology,

it's ins and outs.

Jesus says,

when you pray,

say this.

It's like when a child's learning

to write their letters for the first time

and the teacher sort of puts their hand

over the child's hand

and then helps them move the pencil across the page.

Jesus is here putting his hand over our hand

to help us begin forming the words of prayer.

It's an incredible picture of Jesus

as a good teacher

with kindness and tenderness.

When you pray,

say this.

And of course,

what we have in these verses

is what's come to be called

the Lord's Prayer.

There's another version of this same prayer

in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Matthew's version is a little longer

and it's probably the more familiar of the two,

but in substance,

they're really the same.

And you'll have to remember

that during his ministry,

Jesus was constantly traveling

from city to city,

teaching his disciples

and teaching various crowds.

And as like any traveling teacher of the day

or today,

he likely taught this prayer

on numerous occasions

with slight variations from time to time.

So it shouldn't throw us off

or surprise us too much

that we have at least two versions of this

recorded in the Gospels.

Jesus probably taught this on numerous occasions.

But when we come to the Lord's Prayer,

I think there are two dangers

that we want to avoid

as we approach this prayer

that Jesus teaches us.

On the one hand,

we want to avoid the danger

of just empty repetition.

You know,

even if you didn't grow up in the church,

you might be able to recite the Lord's Prayer

or at least parts of it will sound familiar.

You know,

even as I was reading the text,

you were probably like,

wait a second,

this kind of sounds familiar.

Where did I hear this before?

I know one guy

whose high school football team

would all recite it together

before their games.

I don't know what they thought

that was going to do

before a football game,

but they did it anyway.

It's just become sort of part

of our cultural wallpaper,

the Lord's Prayer.

So there's a danger

that the Lord's Prayer

just becomes something

that's sort of religiously sounding

that we just sort of repeat and recite

and we don't really pause

to make the prayer our own

or to say the words

with understanding

and with meaning

and with the kind of passion

and depth

that we're meant to pray it.

But the other danger

is that we swing the pendulum

all the way to the other side

and we never have any reference

to the Lord's Prayer at all

in our praying.

We just ignore it

or we avoid it.

As if Jesus had said,

when you pray,

say whatever comes to mind.

Well, that can't be

the right way either, right?

So rather,

putting both of these extremes aside,

what we see in the Lord's Prayer

is that Jesus is actually

giving us a rich pattern

to follow and to internalize,

a pattern that should deeply shape

and form our own praying.

Think of an athlete

learning their sport.

Some drills they will do

over and over and over

and over again

so that in a real game situation

it becomes second nature

so that when they need

to improvise,

the fundamentals are in place

to actually respond

to the new challenges

of the game

with grace and with skill.

Music is another good example.

A jazz musician

will spend a lot of time

learning every single note

in a Coltrane song,

playing it just like he played it.

Not because they're going to play

that exact same notes

in their own performance

but so that when they come

to play their own song,

they've deeply internalized

the principles

of how to improvise

from the best

and they actually have

the skill to do it.

And prayer is a lot like that.

It's a learned experience.

And it can be helpful

to actually pray

and repray

the Lord's Prayer

word for word

either together

when we gather

or individually

in our own times of prayer

so that it can sink

into our hearts

so that our times

then of spontaneous prayer

are formed

and fashioned

by the profundity

and the power

of what Jesus

is teaching us here.

So the Lord's Prayer

rather than something

we just mindlessly recite

or just we ignore

altogether

ought to be the scaffolding,

the structure,

the deep sort of pattern

of our praying.

So let's take a few moments

then and consider

this prayer together.

Of course,

it would take more

than just one sermon

to uncover all the riches

of the Lord's Prayer,

but I hope I can just highlight

some things this morning

that will help us

to kind of make this prayer

our own

in the coming weeks

and months.

The first thing to notice

is that the prayer

falls into two halves,

doesn't it?

And you see that

the first half,

the first part,

is centered on God.

It's about God's name

and God's kingdom.

And in Matthew's version,

he adds God's will.

And then the second part

considers our need.

Give us.

Forgive us.

Lead us.

So there's God

and then there's us.

And I think there's

a good lesson here.

Too often our prayers

simply begin and end

with our own

personal material needs.

But Jesus is teaching us here

that first and foremost,

prayer ought to be

God-centered.

We should pray

for God's name,

Jesus says.

God's name is

God's revealed character,

who he's revealed himself

to be,

his nature.

Jesus says we should pray

that God's name

would be hallowed,

which is a really strange word.

But it means to be set apart

or acknowledged as holy.

In other words,

we pray that God

would be seen

and known

and honored

and loved

as the God

he really is.

That he would get

all the praise

and glory

and reverence

he deserves.

That's what it means

to pray that God's name

would be hallowed.

And Jesus says

we should pray

for God's kingdom

to come.

That his reign

of justice and grace

would rule in our hearts

and our churches

and our communities

and our families

and our neighbors

that we would know him

and trust him

and serve him

as king overall.

You know,

if we spend more time

praying for God's name

to be exalted

and for God's kingdom

to come,

we'd probably

spend a lot less time

being upset

when it came to the status

of our own name

and our own kingdom,

wouldn't we?

Maybe I'm not getting

the credit

I think I deserve.

Maybe my plans

and dreams

and agendas

aren't working out

the way I planned.

But you know,

the more we pray

for God's name

to be exalted

and God's kingdom

to come,

the more and more

our hearts

will come to rest

in the fact

that my real good

and my real joy

and my real purpose

isn't ultimately found

in the exaltation

of my own reputation

or my own agenda,

but in the advance

of God's name.

And God's agenda.

So first,

the Lord's Prayer

teaches us

to be God-centered

in our prayers,

but second,

right along with that,

it teaches us

to bring all,

absolutely all

of our needs to God,

to hold nothing back.

Jesus teaches us

to pray openly

and honestly

for provision

and for pardon

and for protection here.

I actually stole that

from Pastor Greg

as we were talking

about this passage

earlier this week.

Isn't that nice?

Provision,

pardon,

and protection.

So let's look

at provision.

Give us each day

our daily bread,

Jesus says.

That is,

whatever is needful

for our physical

and material well-being.

God cares about those things

and he wants you

to ask him

to provide them

so that he can

demonstrate his goodness

and his all-sufficiency.

mercy.

But then Jesus also teaches us

to pray for pardon.

Forgive us our sins.

Now because of Jesus'

finished work on the cross,

everyone who places

their trust in Christ

is completely justified

before God.

So this request for pardon

isn't saying that

believers can lose

their salvation

along the track

so they have to keep

going back to God

to get their justification renewed.

No, that's not what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is saying,

rather,

he's showing us the need,

he's saying that

we need to be daily

going back

to his finished work

that has justified us.

Whatever sins

have been revealed

in our life that day,

we need to bring them anew,

put them under the cross

so that we can know

the assurance

and the power

of his forgiveness.

We go back

to an already

complete forgiveness

again and again,

which then flows out,

Jesus points here,

flows out into a life

of forgiving others.

He says,

for we ourselves

forgive everyone

who is indebted to us.

One writer put it this way,

believers are not simply

objects of forgiveness,

they're conduits

of forgiveness.

Jesus,

extending to others

what God in grace

has freely extended to them.

In other words,

as we pray for God

to forgive our sins

in the same breath,

we pray for our own hearts

that we would forgive others

in the same way.

So there's provision,

there's pardon,

and then there's protection.

Lead us not into temptation.

And with this request,

ultimately,

Jesus is teaching us

to be humble.

To acknowledge our need

for God every moment

to keep us free from sin.

We acknowledge with this prayer

that we are not

spiritual superstars.

That we can't make it

on our own.

That we need God's help

to live holy lives

and to withstand the tests

to our faith

that come every day.

So with these three requests,

we're really meant

to bring every area

of our lives

to God in prayer.

Now the last thing

I want to point out

about the Lord's Prayer

is not just that

it's very God-centered,

that it involves

all of our needs

and all of our requests,

but it's also

a corporate prayer.

And I think we overlook

this a lot.

Jesus says it's about us

and our.

Give us.

Forgive us.

Lead us.

This prayer isn't just

for our private,

personal requests.

It's meant to be prayed

together as the church.

This is the church's prayer

that Jesus taught us.

You know,

isn't it amazing

that though cultural practices

of prayer change

from place and place

and time to time,

you could go

to almost any Christian church

of any time

and any place

and you'd find them

praying these words.

Isn't that a beautiful thing?

So yes,

from time to time,

honoring the corporate nature

of this prayer

might mean actually

repraying these actual words

together in unison

during a church service

or during a prayer gathering.

But more than that,

it will mean praying

the substances

of these requests

with one another

and for one another.

Take any of these

five petitions

that Luke lists here

and consider

what would it mean

for us to pray this

as a church?

For example,

how might we be praying

as a church

for God's name,

for his revealed character

to be seen as holy

in us

and among us

and around us,

through us?

Well,

one way would be

for our love

to grow for one another

more and more.

Jesus said

that the world

would know

we are his disciples

by our love

for one another.

God is love,

John says

in his first epistle.

No one has ever seen God.

If we love one another,

God abides in us

and his love

is perfected in us.

We might pray,

God,

make your name

great among us

by empowering us

to be a loving church.

Help us to reflect

your self-giving love

that you displayed

on the cross.

You loved us

when we didn't love you.

We were your enemies

and you died for us,

so help us to love

one another

even when it seems

like we are not

being loved in return.

And may our city

see this love

that we share,

this supernatural love,

and may they know

how great

and how holy you are.

Father,

hallowed be your name.

And each one

of the petitions

could be expanded

like that

in infinite ways

as we take this prayer

and make it our own,

not just personally,

but corporately.

You see,

the Lord's prayer

is beautiful

in its simplicity,

isn't it?

It's so straightforward.

We don't have to heap up

lots and lots of phrases

to pray how Jesus taught us,

and yet this prayer

is utterly profound.

Each one of these petitions

is like a mountain range

that you can scale

and climb

and explore.

And the more time

you spend praying

and meditating

on one of these great summits,

the better perspective

you get of all the others,

like climbing one mountain

and then getting

an even better view

of the mountain range

on the other side

of the valley.

Each one of these prayers

should become our own.

So friends,

when you encounter

the difficulty

of not knowing

what to say in prayer

and how many of us

have been there,

take up this prayer

Jesus has taught us.

Pray it

and make it your own.

Say it in your own words.

Fill out the petitions

with the details

of your own life,

with the details

of the life

of our church.

See how other prayers

in scripture

expand on the same themes.

I've been spending

some time reading

the Psalms lately

and it's striking

how many of the petitions

in the Psalms

in one way or another

can be connected

to the Lord's prayer.

This is the Lord himself

teaching us to pray.

How could we not

make it the heartbeat

of our own prayer life?

Surely Jesus knew

what he was doing

when he taught us

this prayer as a pattern

for our own.

But there's another problem,

isn't there?

On the one hand,

prayer is hard

because often we don't

know what to say,

but there's a deeper

difficulty that we encounter.

We often struggle

to pray

because, well,

we don't think

it'll make any difference.

Right?

God doesn't seem

to answer,

so we stop asking.

Have you been there?

wondering what use

is it to pray?

And I think

this problem

really gets

to the heart

of prayer.

We need words

to say,

yes,

we need Jesus

to put his hand

over ours,

as it were,

and to help us

form the words,

but just as much,

we need Jesus

to teach our hearts,

to speak to our hearts,

to encourage us

to pray

when we've grown tired

or weary

or even cynical.

And to do that,

Jesus tells a story.

Imagine at midnight,

he says,

you hear a knock

on the door.

A friend

has just arrived

to your home

on a journey.

He's traveled

through the middle

of the night

as so many travelers

would in Jesus' day

to avoid the burning heat

of the Middle Eastern sun.

He's arrived

at your doorstep

at midnight,

but you have nothing

to set before your friend.

Not even a few loaves

of bread

for a single meal.

And of course,

hospitality meant

everything in Jesus' day.

It would have been

massively embarrassing,

not just for you,

but for your whole village

to leave a guest

unprovided for.

That would have been

like a big social no-no.

Hugely embarrassing

not to provide

for your guest.

But you're all out.

And of course,

the next batches

of bread

won't be baked

until the morning.

And unfortunately,

there are no 7-Elevens

who are open 24-7

in the first century,

so you are out of luck.

You are not going

to get some hostess cakes

to sort of set

before your friend.

What do you do?

Well,

the only thing

anyone would do

in your shoes,

you quickly head outside,

go to your neighbor's door,

and you start knocking.

Ah,

open up.

I need to borrow

some food.

Lord,

somebody just arrived.

They didn't text me beforehand,

and I don't have anything

to give to them.

And then Jesus says,

imagine this answer

comes from within.

From your neighbor's

small,

one-room peasant home

just like yours,

you hear him call out,

ah,

really?

Come on.

I finally got the kids

to sleep.

I am not going

to get up

and give you

any bread.

It is not going

to happen.

There ain't no way.

I already locked the door.

Do you know how hard

it is to unlock

the door?

I'm sleeping.

I cannot get up

and help you.

Go knock

on someone else's door.

But then Jesus says

this.

He says to this group

of first century people

exactly what they know

he's going to say.

they all know

that that neighbor

might not get up

and give you bread

on account of your friendship

but because it's

so embarrassing

to have you knocking

on his door

late at night

and because all

the neighbors can hear

and because the reality

is in your village

nobody wants to be

that guy

who refused

to give a few

loaves of bread

to someone in need

so he could show

the all-important thing

of hospitality.

In other words,

because your lazy neighbor

wants to save face,

Jesus says

you know he's going

to get up

and give you

whatever you need.

The social pressure

is just going

to be too great

and he's going

to do it.

And I think

Jesus' audience

would have kind

of chuckled

as he told them

this parable

just as you

and I do today

as we think

about this grumpy

neighbor complaining

that he doesn't

want to wake up

the kids

and yet still

rolling out of bed

because he's embarrassed

by the racket

being made

and not wanting

to come across

as stingy

and inhospitable.

Many in Jesus'

audience might have

actually been that guy

on an occasion or two.

Who had a knock

on their door

and had to get up

and give the bread.

And the point

Jesus wants us

to see is this.

Even if your grumpy

neighbor,

if even your grumpy

neighbor will get

out of bed

and give you

what you need,

if even he's

going to get up

and respond

and answer your request,

how much more

will your generous

heavenly father

who neither slumbers

nor sleeps,

who knows every request

before you even ask,

how much more

is he going to hear

every request you make

and give you

exactly what you need?

So ask,

Jesus says,

and seek

and knock

and don't give up.

And then he switches

the metaphor

and says,

if earthly fathers

know how to give

good gifts

to their children,

how much more

your heavenly father?

Ask and it'll be

given to you.

Seek and you'll find.

Knock and it'll be

open to you.

Now of course,

ask and it will

be given to you.

Doesn't mean that

God will give us

absolutely anything

and everything

we ask for.

Our heavenly father

is so much

infinitely wiser

than us

and has infinitely

better plans

than we could imagine.

The divine story

that he is telling

might not go

according to

our timeline.

The divine story

that God's telling

in our lives

might not follow

our plot arc

that we would have

scripted.

But that doesn't

mean

that God's

sovereignty

and love

and wisdom

and patience

are all working

for your good.

Indeed,

for your greatest

and highest good.

You see,

what Jesus

is trying to

drive home

in the second half

of the passage

is the unimaginable

reality contained

in that single

word

with which

the Lord prayer

begins,

Father.

You don't get it,

do you?

He says.

God

is now

your father.

Jesus is inviting

us to experience

the same

intimacy

that he has

as the eternal

son of God

with God the father.

He's saying,

you now

step into that

because I've come.

God

is the

God

of God

as their

ministry

that his

followers

now

also have

God

as their

father.

Now,

I know

that your

earthly father

may have done

nothing

but bring pain

and heartache

in your life.

Lots of us

can attest to that

in this room.

But don't you see

that is not

how God

relates to

his children.

children.

He's the

perfect father

who holds

nothing back

in his love

toward you.

Think about

the mission

of Jesus

itself

that climaxes

in his death

and resurrection.

The heart

of compassion

that Jesus

constantly shows

the way in which

he's willing

to absorb

the shame

of the people

around them

and give them

his honor.

All of that

is Jesus

carrying out

and expressing

the father's

love for you.

And as Paul

says in Romans

8.32,

he who did

not spare

his own son

but gave

him up

for us all,

how will

he not also

with him

graciously

give us

all things?

You see,

friends,

the cross

is the

undeniable

sign

that our

father

loves us

and will

always be

loving to

us

in all

things.

And the

supreme

gift

of the

father

as Jesus

highlights

in Luke

11 here

is the

Holy Spirit.

You see,

because of

what Jesus

has done,

we not

only share

Jesus'

status

as sons

and daughters

of the

father,

but wonder

of wonders,

we become

partakers

of the

divine

nature.

not just

a new

status,

but a

whole new

nature.

The sharing

of God's

own

life with

us

through the

Holy Spirit.

The same

Holy Spirit

that indwelt

Jesus throughout

his ministry

now dwells

in us.

You know,

in prayer,

you may not

always get

what you

ask for,

but in

this kind

of prayer

that Jesus

teaches us,

you will

always get

more and

more of

God

himself.

So when

you ask,

Jesus says,

ask

confidently.

Ask,

seek,

knock,

for the

follower of

Jesus'

prayer always,

always makes

a difference.

Because you

see,

in Jesus,

we don't

pray to

some distant

God,

we don't

pray to

some far

off deity,

we pray to

the holy,

loving,

triune God,

our heavenly

Father,

who sent

his Son to

atone for

our sins,

and who

sends his

Spirit to

make us

partakers of

the new

creation,

to put

something in

us that

is so

powerful and

rich and

new that

connects us to

the age to

come,

and that will

draw us

there,

whether we

realize it or

not.

So this is

what it looks

like to pray

as followers

of Jesus.

Confident that

God is our

Father through

the work of

Jesus,

we can take

up these

bold petitions,

may your name

be hallowed,

may your kingdom

come,

give us what we

need,

forgive us when

we've fallen

short,

lead us in

your paths of

righteousness,

and we can

ask with

expectant trust

that our

heavenly Father

not only hears,

but he answers,

answers,

and he answers

with a readiness

and an abundance

that flows over

even to the

giving of his

very own self

and the person

of the Holy

Spirit.

So friends,

this week and

this season

in our life as a

church,

may we commit

to a renewed

practice of

prayer.

Where is your

difficulty?

Is it because you

don't know what to

say?

Is it because you

don't know what

difference it will

make?

Do you see what

Jesus is teaching

you here?

You can take up

this Lord's Prayer

as your own,

and you can expect

a fresh outpouring

of his Spirit

as the result.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

God, in the quiet

of this moment,

we confess that

Lord, prayer

is difficult

for us.

Lord, we

confess that

oftentimes it's

not just the

busyness of our

schedules that

gets in the way.

Lord, it's not

just the crowding

of our

responsibilities.

It's not just

our distractedness

that keeps us

from prayer,

but we confess,

Father, that it's

a deep unbelief

in your goodness

and your

willingness to

hear us.

It's a deep

doubt that you

really do respond

to us as a

father responds

to his children.

Father, as we

gather around

this table again

and take the

Lord's Supper,

would we taste

and see afresh

with the eyes

of our hearts

that you are

exceedingly,

wonderfully good.

And that if you

have indeed

given us your

Son, how will

you not also

graciously in

your own time

give us all

good things?

Father, we pray

this in the name

of Jesus.

Amen.