Sunday, August 28, 2022

SERMON: THE LORD'S PRAYER: INTRODUCTION

 


Naylor Community Christian Church

 

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13

 

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

 “‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from the evil one.’

 

-- this morning we're going to be starting a series on the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples -- the prayer that we know best as "The Lord's Prayer,” although this prayer was clearly not a prayer that He prayed, but a prayer that He gave to us as a model for us to use in our personal prayer lives

-- this prayer is found in two places in the Bible -- here in Matthew 6 and then we see a parallel passage in Luke 11-- we're going to be looking at the two passages together in order to learn as much as possible about this prayer and how we are supposed to apply and use this prayer in our lives today

-- while most of us know this prayer from the King James Version, we’ll be studying it here in the NIV, so that we can get a slightly different perspective and hopefully get a little deeper understanding from hearing it and looking at it from a more modern translation

 

-- as we begin this series, let me share with you a story about Charles Haddon Spurgeon and his thoughts on the power of prayer in the life of a Christian and in our churches

-- Spurgeon is known as the greatest preacher that England ever produced -- through his ministry, England experienced a great revival and thousands of people came to Christ and experienced God's hand working in a mighty way in their land and in their lives -- as such, people would travel from great distances to hear Spurgeon share from God’s word and speak on the Bible

-- one day, a group of American evangelists had occasion to visit Spurgeon in England and attend a worship service with him -- after the service, they met him at the door of the sanctuary as they were leaving and commented on what a great sermon he had preached and how much they had enjoyed the service

-- he asked them if they would like a tour of his church -- they were ecstatic and, of course, took Spurgeon up on his offer -- Spurgeon left another minister at the door to say goodbye to the parishioners and began to lead this group of evangelists from America through his church

-- Spurgeon showed them through the main sanctuary, pointing out the pulpit and choir areas, as well as some other features of the facility -- as they were finishing their tour, he asked them, "Before you go, would you like to see our power plant?" -- they weren't really interested in seeing the power plant, but it was Spurgeon, so they followed

-- he led them into the basement and opened a door -- the room was filled with people on their knees, praying and interceding before God for the ministry of the church and for their pastor -- Spurgeon turned to the American evangelists and said, "This is the powerhouse of our church -- if anything happened in the service today, it was not because of anything I did but because of what went on in this room this morning."

 

II.  The Decline of Prayer

-- there is an important lesson there that we have forgotten in our churches in America today -- by and large, the church in America is in decline -- all of the major mainline denominations have steadily lost members over the past 20-30 years -- we have seen major splits within denominations on social and cultural issues -- and concerning the pandemic and the other serious issues plaguing our society today, the church has been mostly silent

-- yes, there have been minor pockets of revival in some churches and in some denominations -- especially among the younger generations -- but by and large, we are not experiencing power in our churches and we are not seeing God moving through our land as He has in the past

-- there are a lot of reasons for why this is happening -- but I believe that the main reason for the decline in the church today is because we have forsaken prayer -- we have forsaken our communication and relationship with the Father -- and we’re seeing the results of a church that is missing its source of power -- it’s as the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: our churches today have a form of godliness, but we lack the power to truly be witnesses of Christ in our world today -- all because we have eliminated prayer from our churches and our lives

-- and when we do pray, our prayers are brief and generic and void of true intimacy and power -- we have become too hurried in our lives to take time to pray as we are taught in the Bible -- we have become a people who are accustomed to getting what we want right now, and we do not want to wait for anything, including the hand of the Father in our lives -- our desire for instant news, instant weather, instant food, and instant entertainment has carried over into our spiritual lives

-- we might throw up a quick "McPrayer" or so, but we rarely take time and pour out our hearts before God asking for His blessings or His power to come upon our lives and our churches -- we may sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer" but there aren't many of us who are going to the Lord in prayer for more than just a few minutes a day or right before a meal

 

-- secondly, we have forgotten the power and the purpose of prayer -- we tend to treat prayer as an afterthought -- like a spiritual spare tire -- something that we throw in our trunk and don't think about, just pulling it out from time to time as a last-ditch effort when emergencies crop up


-- I once heard about a church administrative council meeting where a large argument came up -- the people were divided about an issue and both sides were getting angrier by the minute -- finally, someone spoke up and said, "I think we need to take a moment and pray." -- another member dropped his head in his hands and said, "Oh no, has it come to that?"

 

-- another indicator of how we have forgotten the power and the purpose of prayer is evident in the derision we see in our culture today concerning the phrase we often use when consoling someone in the aftermath of sickness or death or a disaster, “you are in our thoughts and prayers”

-- I’m sure you’ve seen the backlash and the mockery of our culture today for those of us who use such a phrase today -- after one of the recent school shootings, political cartoons and memes were published that showed what our culture thinks of prayer today -- one cartoon showed a trash truck with a sign on the side that said, “Thoughts and Prayers” -- another showed a van pulling up and opening its doors to show nothing inside -- the caption read, “Great, the first truckload of your thoughts and prayers just arrived”

-- and, honestly, this derision is warranted when all we offer are empty prayers and nothing more -- when the response of the church to school shootings or natural disasters or other events is simply a glib, “We’ll pray for you”

-- the point of the critics is that action is needed to prevent future shootings or disasters, and their point is well made -- but it dismisses the reality of the power and purpose of prayer in the world today -- true prayer touches the heart of the Creator -- true prayer moves the heart of God -- and while we may not see His hand moving in observable ways, we know that prayer changes things -- that prayer causes God to act and to move in our lives

-- how many school shootings have been averted because of “thoughts and prayers?” -- how many lives have been saved because God moved in response to the prayers of the faithful? -- we cannot know this side of heaven -- but we have to know that true prayer -- prayers offered in faith and from the heart -- changes things, regardless of what the culture might say

 

-- John Wesley once said, "Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth -- God does nothing but in answer to prayer."

-- If we want to experience God's power in our lives and see God bring about a revival in our church and in our land like He did in so many cities and nations in the Bible and throughout history, then we need to get serious about prayer in our lives and in our churches today --we need to be on our face before God asking Him to once again work in our midst -- asking Him to restore us spiritually -- asking Him to grow His church and to reverse the membership declines that we are seeing in our country today

 

-- finally, I think we have forgotten the importance that Christ placed on prayer -- Jesus was a great man of prayer -- throughout the gospels, we see a picture of Him putting an emphasis on prayer -- before and after major events in His life and ministry, Jesus sought the Father through prayer -- when He got overwhelmed with the crowds, Luke tells us in 5:16, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" -- it was normal for Jesus to go to a solitary place and spend the night in prayer -- seeking God's face -- seeking God's guidance -- seeking God's presence -- Jesus saw the necessity and power of prayer, even in His life

-- but we tend to look at prayer as a minor part of our spiritual lives and our worship services -- we might open our meetings in prayers and we might have prayers in our services, but rarely do we gather and pray for the programs and ministries going on in the church

-- just consider this -- how many of us spent time in prayer this morning prior to this service? -- how many of us spent time asking God to move in our service today -- to reach down and touch our lives -- to be present with us in our worship and our fellowship? -- how many of you are in prayer for this church -- this community of faith -- outside of our time together here on Sundays? -- probably not very many

-- if we're honest with ourselves, we'd have to admit that we are not putting the importance on prayer as we should -- prayer should surround and bathe everything that we do in our churches and in our lives

-- God commands us to pray  -- He expects us to pray -- in addition to the example of Christ, throughout the Bible God commands us to: "Pray without ceasing” --  “continue in prayer” --  “in everything by prayer, let your request be made known unto God” --  “pray always, pray and not faint”  -- “men should pray everywhere” -- “praying always, with all prayer and supplication." -- and of course, "humble yourselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from your wicked ways."

 

-- prayer should not be an afterthought or a minor part of our lives -- it should be the most important thing that we do -- just as Jesus demonstrated with His life -- just as Spurgeon showed the American evangelists -- prayer should be the powerhouse in our lives and in our churches

-- if we are going to see anything happen in this church and in this community, then we are going to have to get more serious about prayer -- prayer for our churches, our pastors, our communities, and our country

-- we spend so much more time on Facebook and social media than we do in prayer to the One who can actually change things for the better


-- so, we are going to spend the next several weeks talking about prayer, specifically the Lord's prayer, in the hopes that it might help us recognize the importance of prayer in our spiritual lives and that it might waken a desire in our life to become more dedicated in our prayer life

-- let's look now at some background information on the Lord's Prayer as we begin this study together

 

III.  The Lord’s Prayer: Background and Context

-- as I said, the Lord's Prayer is found in two places in our Bible -- Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4

-- the passage in Matthew 6 is the one that we traditionally recite in our Protestant churches -- Matthew places this prayer in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus taught His disciples on a variety of kingdom issues -- within the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer is found within a series of teachings by Christ on prayer and fasting

-- Luke places this prayer right after the episode with Mary and Martha -- when Jesus visited Martha's house and she came and complained because her sister Mary sat listening to Jesus teach rather than helping with the household chores -- immediately after this, Luke tells us that Jesus' disciples came to Him after He finished praying and asked Him to teach them to pray -- Jesus gave them this prayer in response to their request

-- if you think about it, who better to teach us to pray than Christ -- not only did He exemplify a life of prayer, but He is the One that we are praying to -- Jesus knew exactly what He wanted us to say -- He knew exactly how He wanted us to say it -- if for no other reason than that, we should study this prayer simply because God Himself gave us this model prayer and told us to pray to Him in this manner

 

-- Matthew's version of the prayer is longer than the version of the prayer recorded in Luke's gospel -- in Matthew, the prayer includes an invocation and seven petitions to God -- the first three petitions ask for God's glorification and the last four petitions request divine help and guidance 

-- depending on the translation that you use, Matthew's version may also include a doxology, a closing statement of praise to God, such as we find in the Lord’s Prayer from the familiar King James Version of it -- although most of the early New Testament manuscripts do not include this doxology

-- Luke's version of the prayer is more abbreviated -- it is shorter, with an invocation and only five petitions to God -- flip over to Luke 11 and let's read Luke's version together

 

Luke 11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

 

2 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 Forgive us our sins,

    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.’”

 

-- a little different from what we normally pray, isn't it? -- when you read this version it just doesn't seem complete, does it?

 

-- so, why do we have two versions of this prayer in our Bibles? -- well, it appears, based on the context and background of the two passages, that Jesus gave this prayer to His disciples on two different occasions -- the first at the sermon on the mount and the second in a more private setting

-- but, more importantly, having these two different versions in the Bible shows that Jesus did not design this prayer to be prayed as a liturgical recitation -- in other words, Jesus did not give us this prayer to pray back to Him word for word as it is written -- if that had been the case, it would be exactly the same in both Matthew and Luke's gospels


-- instead, this prayer is a given to us as a model of how to pray -- a guide for us to use and modify for our own personal use and personal need

-- as Eduard Schweizer said, "the Lord's Prayer is an aid to prayer -- a guide to be followed without being bound to this or that precise wording"

-- the pattern is the same in both versions, and this is how we should approach using this prayer in our time with the Lord --first, we offer up our praise and thanksgiving to God and then we pray about our needs -- finally, we close by praising God again in recognition of His having heard this prayer and His desire to meet us at the point of our need

 

            -- this prayer model from Jesus teaches us that right prayer begins with worship -- it puts the interests of God and the Kingdom of God before our personal, human interests -- it accepts beforehand the Father's will and sovereignty -- His right as our Lord and Creator to either grant or withhold answers to our prayers -- and then it presents petitions for our present need only, leaving the future to the Father's care and love (Scofield)

 

-- if you would, look at Matthew 6:5 and let’s look at some additional teachings from Jesus about how to pray that come right before He gives us the model of the Lord’s Prayer

 

Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 

-- this prayer that Jesus gave us was different from the prayers traditionally prayed by the Jewish people -- their prayers were more liturgical -- they had specific prayers that they prayed every single day and prayers that were recited word for word during festivals and worship ceremonies -- their prayers were primarily restricted to praise and adoration and very seldom included petitions to God to work in their personal lives

-- prayers like these are great ways to commune with God -- but, a problem with liturgical prayers like this is that they tend to become rote repetitions -- they just become something that we say and that we don't really think about it -- and praying like this can cause us to forget what and why we are praying in the first place

 

-- in the sermon on the mount -- before Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer -- He warned us about our attitude in prayer and what our prayer life should look like

-- Jesus condemned hypocrisy in prayer -- it was common for the Pharisees and other religious leaders to make a show of prayer -- to stop on the street and to pray loudly towards heaven so that those passing by would see them praying and would praise them for their holiness

-- Jesus told us not to pray like this -- He said to not pray in public with the goal of seeking to gain the approval of man and not God -- and He told us not to pray with rote repetition of words and lots of words like the Gentiles, because the quantity of words was not what was important

-- praying like this is more to draw praise from man than it is to commune with the Father -- praying like this is for show and nothing more

-- I see this a lot when prayers are given in public settings, whether as invocations or as a prayer before special occasions, like retirements or anniversaries or other gatherings

-- time and time again, I hear the person leading the prayer and it sounds like they are giving a speech to the audience rather than to God -- they are not praying to God as Jesus taught, but praying to the crowd

-- I’m sure you’ve heard prayers like this before, too

 

-- Jesus says here that this is not how we are to pray -- and immediately after saying this, Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer as a model for us to follow when we prayed with the Father -- in doing so, He reminded us of the underlying purpose in prayer, which is to commune with our God and Creator -- to talk with Him -- to work on our relationship with Him -- to recognize Him in our lives and in all that is going on in our lives

-- in our prayers, we should praise Him and thank Him for what He has done and then tell Him what we need, recognizing that He and He alone is able to meet those needs -- our prayers should be personal and not merely mouthed dogmatic repetitions that are simply recited without meaning or understanding -- and our prayers should be directed to God, and not to a human audience

 

-- that is why this prayer that Jesus gave us here was a radical shift in the understanding of prayer -- instead of giving His disciples another prayer that they were to pray word for word like the rest of the prayers they had learned, Jesus gave them a model for prayer that was personal and relationship-based

-- we are told to come before God and to speak with Him because we are in a relationship with Him -- He is not an impersonal power but a personal God -- a God who knows us and loves us and cares about us and who wants us to talk with Him on a daily basis

-- we’re not trying to say the right words like in a magic spell so that God does what we want -- we’re not trying to find the right formula to get God to serve us or give us our heart’s desire -- no, we pray because we should be desiring a close relationship with God -- we pray because we want God and not what He can give us -- we pray in recognition of God as our Father and our Lord and our Creator

-- We need to recognize that prayer like this puts us into a close relationship with God -- It results in us turning ourselves over to God -- body, mind, and soul -- Prayer not only moves God to work in our lives, but prayer results in changing us, changing our hearts, and conforming our will to that of God

-- prayer like this changes everything

 

IV.  Closing

-- if we want to see a fresh outpouring of God's power and presence in our lives and in our church and in our communities, then we have to change our thinking about prayer and our practice with prayer

-- we have to get serious about prayer -- we must bathe our ministries in prayer -- We must bathe our worship services in prayer -- We must bathe our daily lives in prayer

-- To borrow a phrase from Maxie Dunnam, we must be immersed in prayer to such a point that prayer seeps from our bodies like a spring of refreshing water. 


-- We need to ask God to revive us.  We need to ask God to revive our church.  We need to ask God to revive our community and to heal our nation -- and we need to expect Him to move in response to our prayers

-- as we go through this series on the Lord's prayer, I want to encourage you to commit to becoming more dedicated in your prayer life

-- don't be satisfied with sending up little McPrayers while you're driving to work -- but spend time with God over these next few weeks -- spend time with His Word and spend time talking to Him and praying to Him for the things going on in your life and in this church

-- my hope in this series is that you come to a fresh understanding of the Lord’s prayer and that you use this to grow your prayer life and to grow your relationship with the Father

-- prayer is our avenue to communicate with the Father -- and as we pray, God moves and works in our lives in response to our prayers

-- let's start right now in this refocusing of our prayer life by going to the Father in prayer together as we close this message

-- let’s pray

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