Lord, Teach Me How to Pray - Luke 6

All right, so we're going to start off

with our kind of our our guiding

philosophy, our our key quotes for this

series, which is the fact that the late

Tim Keller said, "Prayer is the key to

everything a Christian should do and

be."

Honestly, prayer is one of the weirdest

things that Christians do if you really

think about it. I mean, we we kind of

bow our heads and we we pray to some

being that we can't physically see, but

we know for a fact that prayer changes

everything. Prayer changes your your

chemical makeup. It changes your brain

scans. It changes your biology. It

changes your health. It changes the

world around you. It can change your job

and your relationships and your all the

situations you find yourself in. Like,

prayer literally changes everything

in our lives. And prayer reveals what's

really going on in our hearts. You get

pretty honest when you pray. Prayer

exposes what we truly love. Prayer

deepens our relationship with this this

God, this creator, and his son Jesus.

Prayer gives us strength when everything

falls apart. So, in many ways, prayer

determines the outcome of your life. So,

if prayer is that important, I want us

to become experts at it. And that's

exactly what this series is all about.

We're just trying to become experts in

prayer. And so, for the rest of the

summer, we're going to look at the

a series that I'm calling "Lord, Teach

Me to Pray." And this is named after

Jesus' answer to disciples' simple

request when they looked at Jesus and

they said, "Hey, teach us to pray.

You pray all the time. We want to pray

like you. We want to know how to

communicate with God." And so, he

answers that request by giving them this

model prayer that we call the Lord's

Prayer. Now, here's what makes the

Lord's Prayer so fascinating. It's

short. It's easy to memorize. It It's

simple, but it is loaded with complex

theology. It's just loaded with meaning.

In fact, Jesus assumes that you know a

good chunk of the Bible when he teaches

you the model prayer. Because he's

referencing things in a simple way that

are very complex

in the scriptures. And so each week

we're going to take a little phrase from

the Lord's Prayer, which is found in

Matthew chapter 6, if you want to go

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

look at it. We're going to take a little

phrase and we're going to travel to

another part of scripture

to help us understand the theology

behind what Jesus is teaching us in that

little phrase in the Lord's Prayer. So

this week we're going to ask the

question, why did Jesus include "Thy

kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer?

All right, I've been a yard seller for

like 30 years. And one thing I've

noticed that at most yard sales,

they typically have a fitness section.

You know what I'm talking about? Like

there's usually like a shake weight or

an ab roller or ankle weights or

resistance bands or some medieval

torture device that promises to give you

a six-pack of abs if you just do it six

minutes a day. And I always like to look

at the people at the yard sale and I'm

like I just imagine they were watching

these infomercials and they're like,

"That's it. That's the thing. That new

New Year, new me. This is going to

change my life. I got to buy this this

product." And now it's on a a folding

table for sale for $3 at a yard sale,

you know?

And some of you are laughing

because you know that's you.

Maybe you haven't sold yours yet, but

you know you got the shake weight in the

closet somewhere. Like your your

treadmill has become a very expensive

coat rack in your side room. You know

who you are.

But but that's who we are as people.

There's nothing wrong with that. We just

tell ourselves all the time.

If I can get that promotion or if they

would just see me at work or if I can

just buy that house in that nice

neighborhood or if I can just retire at

this age or if I can just get people to

to give me

what I want then everything is going to

be different. And that's what Jesus is

talking about here. He's talking about

the two different kingdoms, the kingdom

of the world and the kingdom of God. And

in the kingdom of the world that it

promises you power and comfort and

success and recognition. And sometimes

you actually get those things but the

kingdom of the world is always going to

lead you into a lie. It's going to leave

you wanting more. But the kingdom of God

is the only kingdom that actually

delivers on every single thing that it

promises. It's the only kingdom that you

can be a part of that will truly satisfy

every desire of the human soul. So what

is this kingdom? Let's look at Luke

Luke 6:20

chapter 6 verse 20 for that answer.

Luke chapter 6 verse 20.

Luke 6:20

Then looking up at his disciples, Jesus

said, "Blessed are you who are poor

because the kingdom of God is yours."

So the word kingdom in Greek is basileia

which means royal power. It's culture

instituted by a king and I know on this

side of the pond we don't know a whole

lot about what it's like to to live

under a king and so I think the best

illustration that we could use here is

maybe like a sports team with a with a

coach. Like a coach that takes over a

struggling team. For example, my West

Virginia Mountaineers. Sometimes they

win and sometimes they lose. And

normally in those seasons of winning

they have a head coach that comes in and

doesn't just change the playbook. This

guy will come in and he will change the

culture of the team. He come in and

he'll change the the priorities of the

team. Like you got the same type of

athletes, the same jerseys, the same

stadium. Everything's the same except

for this one leader that comes in and

institutes a new philosophy that allows

players to not only become unified, but

also to exceed expectations. They

actually perform better than what we

ever thought they could because of the

culture that this coach has brought into

this team. And that's what great leaders

do in your place of business,

your school, or even on your own team.

You know those leaders that come in and

just change everything. Like the climate

of the room changes when they walk into

it. And so Jesus is saying the kingdom

of God is just like that. When you come

under God's sovereign rule, you're

moving into

relationship with him where you become a

citizen of his kingdom. And so his

culture, his priorities, his values are

now influencing yours. And in essence,

you're becoming what you were always

created to be.

Like God knew you before you were born.

He fashioned you.

He created you. And he designed you to

be a part of his kingdom. Unfortunately,

sin separates you from that. And so when

you allow Jesus to forgive you of that

sin and you you become adopted into

God's family, you are also being adopted

into God's kingdom. And we're not just

talking about a kingdom that exists in

the future when Jesus comes back, we're

talking about a kingdom that exists

right now in this world. You were

created to be a part of God's kingdom.

But what happens when your kingdom

crumbles? What happens if you you don't

become a part of God's kingdom? Well,

that's what Jesus is referencing here.

He He teaches by contrast, which I like.

He He shows pros and cons, which really

makes sense in my brain. So, I

appreciate the fact that Jesus talks

about the blessings and then he goes

right into the woes. What what are the

the woes of living in the kingdom of the

world? So, look at verse 24 now.

He says, "Woe to you who are rich, for

you have received your comfort. Woe to

you who are now full,

for you will be hungry.

Woe to you who are now laughing, for you

will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all

people speak well of you,

for this is the way their ancestors used

to treat the false prophets."

So, we have

power and comfort and success and human

approval.

And Jesus is telling us that these

things make terrible kings.

However, they are the rulers of the

kingdom of the world.

So, there is nothing wrong with having

power

or comfort or success.

The Bible says that that the root of all

evil is not money, it's the love of

money.

So, there's nothing wrong with having

wealth. There's nothing wrong with

having power. There's nothing wrong with

having comfort. There's nothing wrong

with having success. The key to

understanding this teaching uh comes

from the word laughing in this text. The

word laughing actually literally

translates to gloating. So, what we have

here are rich, powerful, comfortable uh

what influencers, people in the world

who are gloating about it. The word

gloating means you take pleasure in

other people's failure as you look at

your success. So, so other people have

failed in areas you have succeeded, and

now you're looking at them and you're

laughing, you're gloating about your

success. And these people aren't using

their wealth, their power, and their

influence to make the world a better

place. They're not trying to end

poverty. They're just trying to

accumulate more and more for themselves

as they push other people down. And and

so, they spend their time and their

energy trying to amass trying trying to

amass as much comfort and money and

wealth as possible. They they actually

serve these things and they make

everyone around them serve these things.

That is the kingdom of the world and

when Jesus looks at the kingdom of the

world, he says, "Woe to you."

Or another translation would be I'm so

sorry for you.

Jesus isn't being mean, he's saying

I'm so sorry for you.

Because if you live primarily

for wealth or if you live primarily for

comfort or if you live primarily

for recognition, Jesus says, "I am so

sorry for you."

Why is he sorry? Well, he tells us.

He says this is because this is the only

blessing you're ever going to get.

The deeper blessings, the lasting

blessings, the eternal blessings, the

joy that comes to people on earth and

the enjoyment of heaven forever, these

things are not going to be yours.

Because you don't worship Jesus, you

worship wealth and he says, "I'm so

sorry for you because this world has

tricked you. This world has duped you.

This world has lied to you. This world

has convinced you that these are the

things that you need to be satisfied."

He says, "I'm so sorry for you because

you've got everything that you've ever

wanted, but you're going to find out in

the end that it was not enough."

You you thought you were winning, but

you're actually losing.

Uh last year they had the Bassmaster

tournament in Elizabeth City and I

watched it on TV and I got kind of

obsessed with it. So, I've been watching

these tournaments throughout the year

now and uh it's pretty interesting

because these dudes go out and they

catch a big old bass and they they get

their scale out, they weigh it, and they

tell the cameraman how much it weighs.

And so they put it on the leaderboard.

But what happens is that's the

unofficial weight. And so, you know, I'm

in the boat, I'm like, "Uh, 4 lb? I'm

probably going to say it's like 6 lb,

right?" And and I think that's what

these guys are doing, too. Cuz on the

leaderboard during the tournament,

they'll be up at the top. And then they

have this thing called the official

weigh-in,

where you got to give your fish to the

guy that's actually in charge of

weighing the fish. And these people that

thought they were winning, sometimes it

flips. And now they're losing.

And I just think about that in relation

to how the world treats us.

There's people out there that think

they're winning because they have the

comfort and the wealth and the

recognition and all the things that the

world says are the most valuable things

that you can have.

And they're going to learn a hard truth

one day that all those things pale in

comparison to the kingdom of God. See,

the kingdom of the world says, "This is

what normal people chase after.

Popularity and wealth and all that

stuff." That And and if you get it, you

win. Yay!

But they don't compare to the glory of

knowing Jesus.

>> [snorts]

>> Being saved by him. Being forgiven by

him. Being adopted into the family of

God. The Bible says the treasures of the

world are nothing when viewed in

comparison to the rich inheritance that

waits for you as a child of God.

The kingdom of God is so much

better.

So then Jesus, in contrast, he he lists

out, "Hey, here's the blessings. So

these are the woes. This is what it's

like to to live for the kingdom of the

world. And yeah, you might get

everything you ever wanted in life, but

you can't take it with you. And so

you're missing out on heaven because of

it." But then he says, "There's these

blessings that come with being in the

kingdom of God." So let's focus on

those. They start in verse 20 again.

Looking up at his disciples, Jesus said,

"Blessed are you who are poor, because

the kingdom of God is yours.

Blessed are you who are hungry now,

because you will be filled.

Blessed are you you who weep now,

because you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you,

when they exclude you, when they insult

you, and slander your name as evil

because of the Son of Man."

So,

let me get this straight. The the poor,

the hungry,

the grieving, and the excluded are

actually the people that are receiving

the blessings of the king.

That doesn't make a lot of sense at

first glance, does it?

That's That's kind of a radical

departure from what we've all been grown

up

being taught.

So,

first question I asked myself is, should

I be seeking poverty? Should I be

seeking grief? Should I be seeking

exclusion?

The answer to that, according to

scripture, is no.

No, we seek fulfillment, we seek joy,

and we seek acceptance. Jesus says, "If

you've seen me, then you've seen the

Father." because Jesus is God in the

flesh. So, if you've seen Jesus and what

he's all about, then you know exactly

what God's all about. And Jesus is all

about bringing love. Jesus is all about

bringing peace. Jesus is all about

bringing comfort and blessing. Jesus

stomped the head of our enemy into the

ground him in the lake of fire bound

forever, because he loved us so much.

Jesus brings blessing, not curses. John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, Jesus came not to judge, but

to give life. And James chapter 1, it

James 1 · chapter mention

tells us that God is not the author of

evil. He doesn't create poverty or grief

or division. But friends, we live in a

world where that's going to be some of

our reality. And so for a season, we

have to face these things. But here's

the thing, God does not leave you that

way.

I I tell people all the time, don't

judge a story before it's over. Don't

watch half a movie and then go write a

review about the movie. Don't leave

after act two in a play. There's still

more to come. He says, "Blessed are the

sorrowful, they will laugh."

Say they will with me. They will.

They will.

Blessed are the sorrowful, they will

laugh. Blessed are the excluded, they

will be accepted into the kingdom of

God. Blessed are the hungry,

what's the words? They will be fed.

That's not the end of their story. Yeah,

they're hungry now, but they're not

going to be hungry forever. They will be

fed. They will laugh. They will be

accepted into the kingdom of God. So

Jesus Jesus meets us in our our times of

suffering and he produces good.

He promises, Romans 8:28, he promises to

Romans 8:28

bring good from those situations. He

leads us through the valley of the

shadow of death.

Where does he Where do we wind up in

Psalm 23?

Jesus leads you through the valley of

the shadow of death,

so you wind up by

the still waters

and the green pastures.

You don't have to build a house in the

valley of the shadow of death. Why?

Because Jesus is leading you through

that season of your life into the next

season. Your ultimate destination is

going to be by the still waters and the

green pastures.

Suffering in the kingdom of God is not

wasted.

It's not wasted. I I learned a little

bit about trees this week. And I learned

in areas where there's a lot of storms

that the wind actually causes trees to

interpret that as physical stress. And

somehow, these trees are smart enough to

send signals to their roots to grow

larger and stronger, and to spread out

over a greater distance. Because it

feels the stress and it prepares for it.

It grows stronger because of the wind

and the storms. And what a perfect

illustration for those who live in the

kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit will not

allow the storm of your life to break

you. It will only make you stronger.

So, the scripture says you are blessed

during terrible times.

You are blessed during terrible times of

poverty and grief and rejection. How is

that possible?

Well, the way it's possible is because

in those moments

you start to look for help.

You start to look for someone that can

help you, and what you will find is that

your help comes from above. Your help

comes from Jesus. Your help comes from

God. And so, these situations, these

seasons of your life that you're going

through that seem so terrible caused you

to cry out to Jesus for help. And he is

a helper that is always found in times

of trouble. So, Jesus shows up. And not

only does he show up and and help you in

that situation, he forgives you of your

greatest need, which is your sin. He

forgives you of your sin and he adopts

you into God's family. You become a part

of the kingdom of God. But what does

that actually mean?

So, you become a part of this kingdom,

but you got to understand you have some

responsibility in the kingdom. You got

to find your place in the kingdom. You

have a role here. And we see that in

verse 35.

It says, "But love your enemies." I know

that's everybody's favorite

favorite verse in all the Bible.

I don't know why I never see this one

posted online very much. I don't see it

like I don't see a lot of tattoos 6:35.

Love your enemies.

Do what is good.

And lend expecting nothing in return.

Then your reward will be great and you

will be children of the most high for he

is glorious to the ungrateful and evil.

Be merciful just as your father is also

merciful.

People who know they've been rescued

typically become incredible rescuers.

So when you've experienced God's grace,

you you can't look at a people the same

way anymore.

See God met you when you were

spiritually poor. God met you and gave

you comfort when you were hurting.

He he accepted you when you had

absolutely nothing to offer him except a

cross.

And once you receive that type of love,

you you start to want to give it away.

You become the one who helps.

Isn't that incredible? You become the

answer to people's prayers, people who

are going through times of suffering and

grief, people who are feeling unaccepted

and and people who are poor. They cry

out to God and guess what? God sends

you.

You've received from God and now you can

give it all away. You become the one who

helps.

Like the youth on the the mission trip

in Washington D.C.

They're going to go there and they're

going to be the helpers. They're going

to be the answer to someone's prayer as

they serve in that context.

See the kingdom of God creates a a

different kind of community.

The kingdom of the world

it encourages you to to get as much

power and success and recognition as

possible. It's a kingdom built on those

things, but the kingdom of God is built

in a community of grace.

Jesus loved us when there was nothing in

it for him and now we are his children

and we get to do the same thing.

So, Jesus said, "Whatever you do for the

least of these, you have done for me."

He's called us to be his hands and his

feet. Lynn,

if you'd play.

You ever notice that uh

people that give the best advice are

typically people who've been through a

storm?

Uh

especially like with marriage advice,

you know, you go to them for

for counsel. And if it's someone that's

been through a difficult season in their

own marriage, then typically they're

going to give you better advice than

someone who has never struggled in the

same way. Uh the people who have never

really struggled, they tend to give

quick answers. They don't listen very

closely, but the person who's been

through that valley, they're going to

sit down with you, and they're going to

listen, and they're going to relate to

what you are saying to them, and then

they're going to give you advice.

They're going to say, "Look, this is how

God met me in this season of my life,

and this is what he can also do for

you." So, the help that they receive,

they then give back to other people.

Grace has this crazy way of uh of

turning receivers

into givers.

But ultimately, everything Jesus teaches

in these verses is about him.

It points back to what Jesus did for us.

Uh the poor are blessed. Do you know

why? Because Jesus became poor.

The hungry are blessed. Do you know why?

Because Jesus was hungry.

The The grieving are blessed because

Jesus wept.

The rejected are blessed because Jesus

was rejected.

Think of it this way. Jesus left the

riches of his home in heaven, and he

came and entered the brokenness of our

world, and experienced all of the

rejection and sorrow and grief and

ridicule and suffering that any of us

will ever experience. Not because he

deserved it,

not because we deserved it,

but because he loved us.

On that cross, Jesus experienced the

ultimate rejection from his father.

Jesus was cast out so that we could be

brought in. He was treated as an enemy

so that we could become children of God.

He took our sin in exchange for his

righteousness.

That's the great reversal of the gospel.

So, when you pray, "Thy kingdom come,"

that's the kingdom you're talking about.

This this upside-down kingdom that

really

doesn't make any sense, where God would

send his perfect son to the cross

so that he could have a relationship

with you, an imperfect person.

See, Jesus gets what we deserve so that

we can get what he deserves. Our guilt

for his grace, our condemnation for his

acceptance, our poverty for his riches,

our death for his life.

And and that's why Christians move

toward the poor. That's why Christians

move toward the hurting and the grieving

and the rejection.

Or the rejected, because we we don't

serve God to earn his love. We've

already received it perfectly. He cannot

love us any more, and there's nothing

that we can do to earn less of his love.

We are perfectly loved, and so now we

can walk in the contexts where people

are feeling the the brokenness and

rejection that this world often gives.

See, the compassion that we give is

simply the compassion that we received

from Jesus. The grace that we extend is

simply the grace that we've been shown.

The kingdom of God is this upside-down

kingdom, and that's the kingdom that

Jesus is inviting you into today.

Every act of mercy that you give to

someone is just because you received

mercy

yourself.

We love him because he first loved us.

So, this is what praying thy kingdom

come means.

It It means that you want everyone

around you to experience what it's like

to live in the perfect

kingdom of God.

So, let's pray for that today.

Father, I look around this room and I

see so many people that have

already given their lives to you. They

They serve you. They love you.

They come to church. They read their

Bible. They pray. They give. They They

look for opportunities to share the

gospel and

so, I thank you for that, Lord. I thank

you that

we have received so much blessing from

you, but it's my prayer this morning

that

as we pray thy kingdom come, we'll

realize that it's not just about making

our world better for us. It's about

making the world better for you.

Lord, that it's an opportunity to

pray

that other people that have not

experienced what it's like to be a child

of the king

will get that experience. Lord, this is

a a phrase that motivates our

evangelism.

It's the phrase that allows us to have

the courage to not just have shallow,

fake conversations with people all the

time, but to to get in the weeds a

little bit and to talk about things that

actually matter. Things that could be a

little bit uncomfortable at first.

Eternal things.

Lord, as we move toward the poor and the

broken and the rejected, knowing that we

ourselves were spiritually that way at

one point and even physically that way

at one point.

As we move toward them with the

compassion that we received from you. I

pray that you would open the doors for

these conversations, that you would open

their eyes and their heart to the the

beauty of the gospel, that they would

see past all the the lies of the kingdom

of the world.

Lord, help us to be sorry for them

because they've been lied to. Help us to

bring them to want to bring them the

truth so they can switch their

citizenship from a a kingdom that that

offers temporary

uh pleasures into a kingdom that offers

eternal blessing.

God, help us to be motivated by the fact

that we know there's going to be a day

where all that poverty and all that

rejection and all that guilt and shame

and hurting and suffering, all those

things are going to be wiped away

forever. And help us to just desire and

want for our friends and our family and

our neighbors and our co-workers to be

there with us. And if it means having a

difficult conversation, Lord, give us

the courage and the spirit to have that

conversation sooner than later.

So, we don't know what tomorrow

promises.

Lord, thank you for what you've done

here today. Thank you for this beautiful

model prayer. Thank you for teaching us

how to pray so that we can really

connect with you

>> [music]

>> and enjoy a personal relationship with

our creator.