The Lord’s Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
A father walked by his daughter’s bedroom door which was cracked just enough so that he could see that she was kneeling beside her bed in prayer.
Interested to find out what subjects a child would bring before God, he paused and listened.
He was puzzled though to hear her reciting the alphabet:
“A, B, C, D, E, F, G …”
She just kept repeating it.
He didn’t want to interrupt her, but soon curiosity got the best of him and he broke into her prayer.
“Honey,” he asked, “what are you doing?”
“I’m praying, Daddy,” she replied.
“Well, why are you praying the alphabet?” he asked.
She explained, “I started my prayers, but I wasn’t sure what to pray.
So I decided to just say all the letters of the alphabet and let God put them together however He thinks best.”
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Have you ever felt that way?
You knew you needed to pray, but just weren’t sure how.
You didn’t know the right words.
You didn’t know what was acceptable to God.
In the Luke account, the disciples said to Jesus “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
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Beloved, that is the focus of our message today...
The model of a faithful prayer.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 11 and focus on verses 1 through 4.
Our message this morning is titled, “The Lord’s Prayer”
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This message today will focus on the model for prayer that Jesus gave for His disciples and all those who follow Him.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Question
2) The Praise
And...
3) The Request
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are the Great I Am...
Hallowed be Your name!
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We pray for Your Kingdom to come into full consummation at Your perfect time...
We seek out and desire to see Your will done over our own wills...
We pray for Your will to be done on earth as it is done in Heaven!
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Give us our daily provisions...
Give us the food and drink we need...
Give us the shelter we need.
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Help us to forgive those sin against us...
And for forgive us when we sin against You.
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Protect us from trials and tribulations that would make us stumble...
And save us from the schemes and wicked works of the Enemy.
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
1 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.”
2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Question
1) The Question
Verse 1: 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.”
Beloved, this scene opens up with Jesus praying...
As you may recall, Luke is very intentional to record the frequency of Jesus in prayer...
Before any major event takes place we see that Jesus was praying beforehand...
And from what is recorded in the Gospels we can see that there is a pattern in Jesus prayer life...
He is in constant prayer...
Early in the morning...
Late at night...
Throughout the day...
If Jesus wasn’t teaching or healing someone then He was probably praying!
Luke and the Gospel writers where not the only one’s to notice this...
Jesus’ disciple could not help but see Jesus’ prayer life...
And not only that...
They could tell that Jesus’ prayer was not like the rabbis and religious elite of the day...
His prayers where genuine and authentic...
And the disciples wanted a rich prayer life like Jesus too...
So, they asked Him for a model prayer.
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Now, before we get to the Lord’s Prayer in Luke it should be noted that Jesus present the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew too...
In fact, since Jesus was an itinerant preacher He probably shared it may times.
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In our passage, the disciples ask Jesus for a model prayer...
However, in Matthew, Jesus shares the Lord’s Prayer as part of the Sermon on the Mount.
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Now, before Jesus shared the template prayer, He provided some commentary on what faithful prayer looks like...
So, look with me at Matthew 6:5-8 for anytime we pray, we need to keep this in mind:
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
So, do not desire to be seen by others when you pray...
Yes, we do have corporate prayer where we pray together...
And Yes, we have family prayers...
And maybe prayers as husband and wife...
And there are prayers that we have as part of a prayer group...
All of that is fine...
But do not seek to be the center of attention even in those settings...
And make sure that you have a rich private prayer life like Jesus had.
Go to your room or prayer closet and pray to God!
Share your requests and your praise with the Sovereign One!
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Now, make sure you are not just saying empty words!
Make sure you are not just repeating the same thing over and over again!
Make sure you are not just trying to be fancy with your words!
For the Father already knows what you need before you ask!
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So, just keep it simple and share your heart with God...
And follow the model prayer that Jesus gave in both Luke and Matthew’s Gospels.
And remember, the Lord’s prayer is a model or template...
It is meant to teach us how to pray!
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You see Beloved, rabbis often composed prayers for their disciples to recite...
Yet, having seen Jesus pray many times His disciples saw something different and knew of His love for prayer...
They knew that prayer was not just the reciting of words...
They knew that our words are not just to be repeated thoughtlessly or to be said as some kind of automatic formula.
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So, they were interested in a template for praying...
That is why they ask the Lord to “teach us TO pray” instead of asking to “teach us WHAT to pray.”
When looking at this prayer in the Gospel of Luke and the one recorded in the Gospel of Matthew we see that the Lord’s Prayer is a model...
It is not merely a liturgy.
I love this note from the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke which says:
“The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ also occurs in Matthew 6:9–13, but not exactly in the same words.
In Matthew it occurs as part of the sermon on the mount.
There the Savior uttered it of His own accord, unasked, while He was engaged in teaching a large number of His disciples how to pray (e.g. that they should not pray a vain repetition of words).
But here in Luke the Savior gives the prayer under totally different circumstances.
It is very natural that He should repeat the prayer on two or more different occasions for the instruction of His disciples.
It is also very natural that He should give it substantially, but not exactly, in the same wording, for His view of prayer was that it should not be mechanical—He constantly warned against formalism and verbalism.”
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Please, also note that the Lord’s Prayer is notable for its brevity, simplicity, and comprehensiveness....
And of the petitions made...
The first half is directed towards God...
And other half is directed toward human needs.
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This is what our daily prayers should look like...
Our prayers should be filled with praises and requests!
So next, let’s take a look at the first half of the Lord’s Prayer...
Let’s take a look of what our praise for God should look like...
And this takes us to our next point.
2) The Praise
2) The Praise
Verse 2: And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
Let’s start by looking at the phrase, “when you pray” which literally means whenever you are praying...
So again, Luke saw the Lord’s Prayer as the pattern for all Christian prayer...
And we can conclude that all occasions of prayer should be approached in this manner.
Additionally, the “you” in the original language is plural, indicating that both Matthew and Luke understood this to be a corporate prayer...
Although the model is to be used for our personal prayers too.
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Next, I would like you to consider what Jesus says when sharing the Lord’s Prayer during the Sermon on the mount...
So, look with me at Matthew 6:9 which says:
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Again, we can see that the Lord’s Prayer was meant to be a template for us...
Jesus says “Pray then LIKE this” instead of saying just “Pray this.”
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So, let’s start to look at the content of the prayer itself...
Let’s start with the very first word of the prayer...
And that word is “Father” which of course refers to God the Father.
So, this model prayer assumes that those who follow it have been born into God’s family and may therefore call God, “Father.”
Far from being a title that all people may use for God, the Gospels teach that only the believer has the right and privilege to address God in this manner.
We know this truth from passages such as John 1:12–13 which says:
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Did you see that, Beloved?
Who does the Scripture say have the right to become children of God?
Is it everybody?
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No, not everyone can call God Father...
Only those who were born of the will of God!
Only those who are born-again are children of God!
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You see Beloved, once we were a slave to sin and the devil was our father...
Yet, if you have been born again...
If you surrendered your will and desires to the Lord...
Well, then you are no longer a slave to the world...
You are no longer a slave to sin...
You are no longer a slave to fear!
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As a born-again believer you are now a slave to righteousness...
And that slavery is nothing to fear...
For those who have Jesus as a Master also have been adopted by God and have joined His royal family!
As Romans 8:15 says:
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
So, one of the first key take always from the Lord’s Prayer is that is is a prayer for the followers of Christ!
This prayer is for all who genuinely follow Him!
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Next, the phrase “Hallowed be your name” is to be understood as a request that God’s name would be honored and treated with reverence.
So, it carries the meaning of “let your name be regarded as holy.”
His name includes His reputation and all that is said about Him.
Additionally, it is not so much a petition as an act of worship...
The speaker, by his words, exalts the holiness of God.
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So, this petition and the next which says “Your kingdom come,” look longingly far beyond anything that can take place in the life of an individual, church, denomination, or even in the church universal to that great day when God will receive on earth the same honor he receives in heaven.
As the ESV Study Bible says:
“Your kingdom come has a twofold emphasis:
(1) it is first a prayer that God’s rule and reign would continually advance in people’s hearts and lives until the day Jesus returns and brings the kingdom in perfect fullness;
(2) thus it also refers to the future consummation of the kingdom already realized in part by Jesus’ coming.”
So, although the kingdom has already come in Jesus’ ministry, its final consummation awaits the future.
In other words, to see God’s kingdom triumphant and His rule manifest on earth is to be the believer’s desire and prayer.
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Now, let us again take a look at Matthews account...
Specifically, in Matthew 6:10 which says:
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Now, Luke’s account, as we just discussed, only says “Your kingdom come” yet in Matthew’s account we have the addition of “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
So, this is a reminder that all prayer must willingly submit to God’s purposes, plans, glory, and will!
This is no better pictured for us than by Jesus Himself when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane...
Just look at what Matthew 26:39 records:
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Beloved, I implore you...
Meditate on this truth!
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Jesus did not want to have His flesh ripped apart when He was scourged nearly to death...
Jesus did not want to have thick nails hammered into His hands and feet...
Jesus did not want to rub His recently scourged back an a jagged wooden beam every time He needed to breathe!
Jesus did not want the die by crucifixion!
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And worse than all of that...
Jesu did not want to experience the guilt of every sin He would pay for...
The guilt of the sins of murder, drunkenness, hatred, lust, rape, adultery, thief, blasphemy, etc!
All of it Jesus experienced the guilt of as if He commited these sins Himself...
Yet He was sinless and perfect in every way!
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And worst than all of that...
Truly worst of all...
Jesus was crushed by His own Father!
For He became a curse for us!
For He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!”
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Jesus did not want any of this!
So, He asked the Father to take this cup of wrath away from Him...
But, every believer needs to be so thankful...
For Jesus did not stop their...
He also said “Not as I will, but as You will.”
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So, as difficult as it may be...
We need to baptize all our prayers with the words...
“Not my will, but Your will Father!”
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When you hear the news that your job is going to have layoffs...
Pray for protection...
But don’t forget...
“Not my will, but Your will Father!”
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When you hear the news that you have cancer...
Pray for healing...
But don’t forget...
“Not my will, but Your will Father!”
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When you hear the news that your child is sick and may not make it...
Pray for a miracle...
But don’t forget...
“Not my will, but Your will Father!”
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Beloved, the will of God is a beautiful thing...
Not only do we pray that His will be done...
But we are to do His will as it is revealed in Scripture...
For remember what it says in 1 John 2:17:
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
The ones who will experience eternal life are the ones who live their life in obedience to the will of God
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So, this is the first half of Jesus’ model prayer...
As you can see it focused on God’s greatness and a desire to see the spread of His kingdom and rule...
And as theologian Darrel L. Bock puts it:
“Having established God’s character and authority, Jesus will turn to requests.
Once we reflect on who God is, we can better approach him.”
So, let’s look at the second half of Jesus’ model prayer...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Request
3) The Request
Verses 3-4: 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.”
Let us start by looking at the phrase, “daily bread” which has to do with more than just food...
This phrase includes all of the believer’s physical needs...
So, it is a request for the basic necessities of life...
This is not to be confused for luxuries.
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Additionally, those needs which the Lord supplies are not supplied once for all...
But the request here if that it is supplied day by day...
And that is very important...
For we are to keep going back to God every day for our daily physical needs!
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Let’s be honest Beloved, if God gave us everything we needed in this life in one shot...
It would be very easy for us to get comfortable and forget Him...
So, Jesus is showing us a better way...
A way in which we are keeping God in our life everyday...
For we are leaning on Him for our daily living!
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Next, Jesus says in the prayer, “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”
So, the take away from this phrase is that the hand that reaches out to God for forgiveness cannot withhold forgiveness to others...
Basically, if we desire to be forgiven...
Then we need to forgive others.
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If we want to be forgiven of all our sins...
Then we need forgive all those who have wronged us.
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I know this truth is very hard...
But the reality is that the present tense of the verb used in our passage indicates that the believer is always to be ready and willing to forgive others...
So, this is a continual life-long process...
We need to forgive and keep on forgiving!
It does not matter how often you are sinned against...
For you and I sin against God everyday...
And only by His mercy and grace are we forgiven.
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It does not matter how severe the sin is that is commited against us...
For you and I are guilty of high treason against God...
And only by His mercy and grace are we forgiven.
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Beloved, a forgiven person is to be a forgiving person!
Let me repeat that...
A forgiven person is to be a forgiving person!
As Matthew 6:14-15 says:
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
That is as black and white as it gets...
Any excuse to not forgive someone is not acceptable to God.
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In Jesus’ day the rabbis of the time said one only needed to forgive a person three times...
After that they are no longer require to forgive that person...
Well, the apostle Peter, knowing that Jesus’ standard usually far exceeded the standards for the religious elite’s man-made traditions, wondered if forgiving a person up to seven times would be considered a better standard...
Peter was thinking that should be more than enough for this is more than double what the religious elite taught...
Yet, look at what Jesus says in Matthew 18:21–35:
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
So, refusing to forgive others reveals a heart that grossly underestimates the gravity of its own sin and need of God’s forgiveness.
As the Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke says:
“[This] clearly implies that we cannot ask or claim God’s forgiveness for ourselves while refusing it to others.
Believers are not simply objects of forgiveness;
They are also conduits of forgiveness, extending to others what God in grace has freely extended to them.”
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The final petition in Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer is a request for spiritual protection...
It is a desire to avoid falling into the situation where one needs forgiveness.
So, regarding the phrase, “Lead us not into temptation,” we need to understand that the word translated “temptation” can indicate either temptation or testing.
Based on the context, the meaning here most likely carries the sense, “Allow us to be spared from difficult circumstances that would tempt us to sin.”
Now, as James 1:13 says:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
So, we know that God never directly tempts believers...
However, He does sometimes lead them into situations that “test” them...
Just look at the lives of Job and Peter as an example.
In fact, trials and hardships will inevitably come to believers’ lives, and believers should “count it all joy” when trials come, for they are strengthened by them.
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So, this petition is both a confession of weakness and a prayer for faithfulness.
In other words, Jesus advises his disciples to ask God for the favor of being excused from further testing.
In this way, believers are to recognize and acknowledge their lack of what might pass as heroic faith and their need for divine care...
Therefore, the wise disciple knows that the only way to avoid falling into sin is to follow where God leads and to be dependent upon Him and His protection.
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Furthermore, I want you to keep 1 Corinthians 10:13 in mind to give you some comfort, Beloved:
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
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God is so faithful...
Anyone who is His will never be tempted beyond one’s ability...
God always provides the way of escape...
For He wants to see you and I endure!
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Not only that, Beloved...
We also have a High Priest who sympathizes with us...
We have a High Priest who in every respect has been tempted as we have been..
The only difference is that He never once sinned!
And that fact should give us confidence...
Or as Hebrews 4:15–16 puts it:
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
What an amazing truth...
That we, as His elect, will receive mercy and find grace in our time of need!
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this story told by a Grandpa who learned a valuable lesson:
The story goes...
My wife and I were trying to show our grandchildren the importance of thanking God for everything that He had blessed us with.
We encouraged them to speak to God whenever they needed to know what they should do.
Michael, our 4 year old grandson, enjoyed holding our hands, and with head bowed, he would close his eyes and listen as my wife or I led in prayer.
One evening as we were preparing to eat the evening meal, I asked that we all join hands and bow our heads as I led in prayer.
To my surprise, Michael asked if he could say the prayer.
I responded by asking him, “Michael, do you know how to ask God to bless our meal?”
To which he nodded with enthusiasm that he did.
So we all bowed our heads and I gave Michael permission to begin.
Instead of hearing words of a prayer, I heard nothing, and was about to ask Michael to begin again, when my ears caught a very faint sound coming from the direction of his bowed head.
I listened, I strained, yet I could not make out any intelligible words.
Finally, a very hardy “Amen” was uttered from Michael, and he looked up with an expectant expression that looked for an affirmation from his grandparents that he had done a very good job.
Before I could say anything, to Michael, my wife instructed him that we would say the prayer again, because she could not hear a single word of anything that he had said.
After all, we wanted to teach them how to talk to the Father, and they needed to know how to do so.
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What happened next drove home the lesson my wife and I had been attempting to teach.
Michael’s facial expression changed from one of joy to one of puzzlement, and then he quickly added, “But Granny, I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to God!”
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As we continue to meditate on the principles we have learned from the Lord’s Prayer...
Let us be mindful that we are talking to God...
Prayer is not supposed to be some kind of spectacle...
We are not to use our public prayers to draw out praise for ourselves...
All honor and glory belong to God alone.
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When you pray...
Honor Him...
Thank Him...
Acknowledge His Kingdom and will...
Seek Him for daily provisions...
Ask for the forgiveness of your sins...
Request protection from temptations...
And pray for success in times of testing.
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In you own life, make sure you have time daily for private prayer with God...
And when you pray in a cooperate setting...
Remember who you are talking to and who is the focus.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Please, give them new eyes to see...
Give them new ears to hear...
Give them new hearts to feel...
And Give them new minds to understand.
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Remind us of how great You are...
Remind us to look to the coming of Your Kingdom...
Remind us of the beauty of Your will...
Remind us of our dependence on You...
Remind us to continue to forgive others...
Remind us seek your protection always.
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
