Prayers for Christ's Disciples Luke 11:1-13

Good morning to all of you this morning. Welcome to the visitors that are here today. We hope we make you feel welcome. And we look forward to honoring the Lord in song as well as listening to the word.

If you have a bulletin, just going over the things for the week. We have our prayer time tonight at 6 p .m. as usual. Join us with that. We have a leadership board meeting this coming Wednesday at 6 p .m. in the fellowship hall.

And the summer Bible study continues Friday, October the 13th at 530. So that would be this Friday once again. And come and join any there. They're going through the book of Hebrews and the biblical counseling course continues.

And they have that the second and fourth Saturday of each month. So the next one is October the 14th at 11 a .m. We are starting the ladies Bible study again, October the 21st. That's not this coming Saturday, but I think the following Saturday at 10 a .m.

They're in the book of First Kings chapter 20. And if you ladies do not have the questions, the study questions, you see Barbara and she'll give you or make sure you have a copy of the study questions.

Also our missionary of the month this month is Jack and Bev McMahon and they serve in New Zealand. They're with under biblical ministries worldwide. They will be here at Faith Bible Church with us on November the 12th, bringing us an update of their ministry.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Thank you heavenly father for your blessings. We thank you heavenly father that you have brought us together this morning to worship you. You've given us life and health and we thank you lord that you are the giver of life.

And all that we have we attribute to you lord and we thank you. Pray that you would be with the services today that we might glorify you in all that is said and done. And as we raise our voices may we honor and glorify you and be with pastor as he brings your word to us and give him the things that you have laid on his heart to share with us lord and help us to apply to our heart the things that we learn today.

We think even of the land of Israel as we hear in the news and all the war that has started there. We hardly know how to pray lord, but we just uphold this whole situation before you and thank you that you are the creator and that you are one who controls.

But we realize that satan desires to destroy constantly. We would just uphold the people there in Israel even both sides lord that you would protect the innocents from all of this carnage and we would thank you.

Be with our missionaries and we pray especially for Jack and Bev McMahon this month in their ministry there in New Zealand. We would pray that you'd continue to help them in their ministry encourage their hearts and we would thank you and pray this in Jesus name amen.

Stand together with me if you would as we sing.

The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6

We are executing for this morning is Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 through 13.

Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 through 13. And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are to pray standing in synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be men. For I say to you they have their reward.

But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut that door pray to to thy father which is in secret and I follow which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathens do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not that ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you are need of before you ask him. After this manner therefore pray our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come that will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever amen.

My father as most of you.

Know was a pastor. My mother played the piano a lot and we had a piano in our living room and she would sit down and play the piano and sing. And when she would be starting to sing in this song that we have for you here my brother and I knew it was time to get out of the house.

When she said I have to tell Jesus all my troubles we says my brother let's let's go to the river. But when I say all of that we do thank the Lord that we can tell the Lord all of our troubles. We talked about in Sunday school a couple of weeks ago about a psalm that was just complaining to the Lord and this is really what this song is.

Jesus Teaches His Disciples to Pray

Luke chapter 11 verses 1 through 13. Luke chapter 11 verses 1 through 13. Now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he sees that one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

So he said to them when you pray say our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

And he said to them which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him and he will answer from within and say do not trouble me the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give to you.

I say to you though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened.

If a son asks for a bread from any father among you will he give him a stone or if he asks for fish will he give him a serpent instead of a fish or if he asks for an egg will he offer him a scorpion. If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to those who ask him.

This is the word of the lord let us pray. Father we're thankful that we can approach you in prayer and we can stand before the very presence of God through your son Jesus who died for our sin so that we may be forgiven and be adopted into your family.

Father we do pray as Victor prayed for Israel we pray for those who are suffering and we pray that you would protect those who are really not in any part of this. Father we most importantly pray that those who do not know you through Jesus Christ would come to a saving faith in Jesus and what he's done on the cross.

Father we pray that the Jews would come to worship the true messiah and also even the people of Hamas and the other regions that they may hear their gospel and that they also would save be saved because we know that only lasting peace come through comes from Jesus Christ.

We ask that your spirit would work in all of our hearts to transform us through your word in Jesus name amen. As you may know from the songs we've sang just now the theme of this message is on prayer and prayer is one of the most either misunderstood or least practiced parts of Christianity.

The first thing we need to know about prayer is when we do pray we do commune with our heavenly father. We get to enter into his throne room in a spiritual sense that he hears us it's not a voicemail that you do experience God's presence when you pray in Jesus name through the power of the holy spirit.

The prayer that we read here is actually that of a communal prayer this is the type of prayer that we rarely talk about. This is not an individual prayer and the reason why we know this is because of all the first person plural pronouns right.

Teach us how to pray right forgive us our sins right our and we this type of prayer this prayer is meant to be prayed together as disciples of Christ as brothers and sisters in Christ. Now this is not to say we don't pray individually individual prayers are of really all throughout the bible many of the psalms that we've read together are individual prayers when you see I right here we have a communal prayer and this is how we commune connect with the God of heaven our father in heaven through the holy spirit because Jesus has reconciled us through his sacrifice on the cross.

The only reason why we can approach God as our father is because he Jesus made us his children we are blood-bought children of God and in fact this church does pray communally too so if you do want to join us it's every Sunday at 6 p .m in the fellowship hall fellowship room and we do try to follow the model of the Lord's prayer that we see right we start with uh following God's name uh setting apart God's name making uh making sure it's honored and it and then what we say reflect his glory and then we do petition for what we do need daily.

Now for some of you who might be reading a different version of the bible than KJV or NKJV there are textual differences uh in the passage of Luke that's mainly because some of the earlier manuscripts don't contain certain words that uh King James version or the new King James version used the manuscripts they use different manuscripts to translate however I do want to point out that uh the meaning does not change really sure there are a few words missing here and there but the meaning does not change.

Jesus disciples are to pray very God-centered prayer and they they're always petitioning right all of these uh points of each verse in the prayer uh it's a petition it's a request to God. Also Matthew and Luke's versions there are some differences too and that's because both Matthew and Luke give us uh their angle of Jesus prayer right Matthew and Luke are different authors and think of them as uh really different documentaries you get the same story but you get different angles uh in fact it's it's totally possible that Jesus taught on prayer more than just on one occasion and it didn't have to be all the same word for word.

In fact uh all the new testament uh gospels right they show different angles and they do uh pick and choose what they want to portray uh because that's what authors do when they write biographies. Now I do want to point out a danger of praying uh there is a danger of praying there's a danger of praying and using it as a magic spell right it's as if as because you said these particular words in a particular order we expect God to answer the prayers.

Right. Um it's kind of like I followed the formula therefore I need to I expect this result um that is not how we pray when we pray as brothers and sisters in Christ we pray to our Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit and the reason why we do that is because we have a relationship with the Father.

Prayer is one of the main ways in which we experience God's love and relationship. So it cannot be a formula the moment we make it a formula it becomes idolatry. It's it becomes the means by which we try to control God.

Right God because I prayed this at this hour this long however long an hour uh this many times throughout the week you have to answer it. God cannot be controlled or manipulated by his creator created beings.

That's why I do want to warn us we have to look at prayer in terms of how we connect with God how we experience his presence how we encounter God. And this lesson on prayer is really important this morning because our culture happens to be really self-sufficient and prayer requires us to actually humble ourselves.

Prayer when we go to God with petitions we have to first acknowledge that we can't do it ourselves. We can't do this on our own strength. And that also means we need to um learn from Jesus what it looks like to pray not in a self-centered way but in a God-centered way.

So the main point of this text is that we can boldly pray to the Father by depending on him because he generally generously gives his spirit to his own. We can boldly pray to the Father by depending on him because he generously gives his spirit to his own.

Proper God-Dependent Petitions

First we pray together with proper God-dependent petitions. We pray together with proper God-dependent petitions. So similar to the last two passages Jesus instruction on how his disciples commune with God occurs in an unknown location at an unknown time.

Right last two passages was about first right how to love your neighbor as just Jesus disciples. The second one which directly followed was how to love God with all your heart mind soul and strength. And Mary showed that to us.

Right by choosing to stand choosing to sit before Jesus feet to learn and hear from him. Now we get another lesson on discipleship. Now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased that one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

The context here is that Jesus finished praying and at that moment one of his disciples requests that he teach them. He teaches them how to pray as well. Now remember prayer is actually a theme in the gospel.

According to Luke before any significant or major development in Jesus earthly ministry we see him praying. We see him depending on God. We see him spending time with God. We see him encountering his father.

Right. Jesus prayed before his baptism. Jesus prayed before choosing the 12 apostles. Jesus prayed before Peter's messianic confession. Jesus prayed before the mountain of transfiguration. All these major themes are developed around the context of prayer.

And today as the disciple that the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. We see that Jesus himself is praying. And the reason here is that the John the Baptist John the Baptist disciples also taught his disciples how to pray.

So therefore Jesus disciples would like to know how do we pray as your disciple. Now it may be odd for us to pray communally. It may be odd to hear other people pray out loud in front of others. Yet the disciples desired to learn a communal prayer that would group them as Jesus followers.

Right that would set them apart as Jesus disciples. And this common prayer would have given Jesus disciples a sense of identity and community a distinct sense as disciples of Christ. And from verses two to four Jesus teaches them how to pray.

And what's surprising is this prayer is composed of mainly petitions requests. They're all requests toward God the father. And second. The structure of the prayer starts with the person we're addressing God our heavenly father.

And our focus will be on him first and foremost and his nature who he is. Then it actually eventually branches out to us. But this prayer starts with the most important person the father. Now first and foremost Jesus prayer addresses God the father.

Father here means right the first person of the trinity God. And when we pray we're talking about God the father. And it is important to note that in the Bible we we we do see and hear about many of the divine titles.

Right. Jesus however chose the most familial and intimate of the titles father as followers of Christ. When we pray we approach the king of all creation the creator God the God almighty the Lord of hosts.

However Jesus chooses the most intimate title of all our father his father. And what that means is as children of the father. No reservations required no appointments are made. You can approach God because you are his child.

Your privilege of standing before God's presence does not depend on what you do but who you are because of who he is and ultimately because of what Jesus has done to make you his. You can approach God because you are his children.

And in Christ God has become utterly accessible to you because you've been adopted into his family. It's not because you are good enough. It's not because you of your merits your awards rewards. It's that you are his children sons and daughters of God because Jesus died for your sin and rose from the dead.

That's it. And you have the privilege of going before the father at any time anywhere with anyone who belonged to his because you are first and foremost his children. Now the rest of verse two focuses on that God our father hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It starts with who God is and expands to his plan and his will for the whole created realm. Hallowed be your name sounds very old-fashioned but not many words can fully grasp this meaning. Right this weightiness and seriousness.

A wooden translation would be holy be your name. Right. Holy be your name. May God's name be holy lest we can disrespect God because we call him our father. Because it is very familial our first petition is that God's name be holy.

God's name is who he is. It's his nature it's his character. And what this means is may his name be set apart. Let his name be set apart. Let his name be treated with greater honor and fear and reverence than any other name.

Let him be treated as utterly other. After all when we approach the father we are in fact approaching the holy God. He is not like us his glory is unmatched by anything in all creation. Now this request is crucial because our tendency is to often deify non-gods and de-God the true God but make by making God in our own image which both are called idolatry.

The first prayer request prevents such a tendency. When we truly see God is holy we cannot dare to view or treat God as anything else. With this prayer we approach the true God not a figment of our imagination not the God we hope exists but the God who actually exists.

It's to treat God as God. We live in a culture where God's name is just used in vain. Used in vain means uh as nothing. It's treated as nothing. We use it as an exclamation if something goes wrong. Right.

But for Jesus disciples we treat God's name as holy. We represent him as holy. Now after reminding ourselves of God's identity and nature Jesus tells us we ought to pray for God's rule and authority. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

First thing to notice is it's it's not my kingdom and my will be done. The priority here is God's authority and God's plan of history. It is the request for the full culmination and realization of the holy God's righteousness and rule over all things.

Because we do live in this state of his kingdom is here but not yet. It's not fully realized. And some of you might have woken up this morning with that longing is it fully here. Yet is Jesus coming back today.

And that's because right now the world is constantly rebelling against God's sovereign rule. It calls good evil and evil good. It wants to decide for itself what's good or what's been set. It wants to redefine truth.

It tries to even redefine genders. But we when we pray this we pray that God's rule would be over all the earth not human ideologies. And this is in fact a prayer of the complete eradication of evil. Again it's not dependent on us but it's dependent on who God is and what he is capable of doing his authority and his rule.

And positively it is a request that every tongue confesses and every knee bows before the Lord Jesus Christ. And these two requests really calibrate our minds and hearts to focus on God's rule and God's redemptive plan not my rule and my plan.

It is not about what's desirable for me but what God has planned for his world. It's about his kingdom not my kingdom. And only after viewing God as holy and submitting to his perfect will and authority we are then to pray for our daily bread.

Give us day by day our daily bread. And this is important because we need to note that we did not start out our prayer with the daily bread but only after renewing our minds to see the one true God who is holy and ruling over all things.

And when our will is aligned with his will we ask for the daily bread. Our daily bread is our daily provision. Right. This is our daily need what we need for the day. It doesn't have to be specifically bread.

It's what we need what we need God to provide for us that we can live without. This is not our daily desire although God is gracious to provide us with more than what we need so often. And that's because bread was the staple food in the ancient middle east they baked bread ahead of time to have for the day.

And when we can clear see clearly see who God is we can correctly and in a faithful manner ask for his daily provisions. Because oftentimes when we don't get to see who God truly is and what he is truly capable of doing we're hesitant to ask for what we truly need.

But the opposite is also true when our minds are not centered on God's will we ask for unnecessary things even sinful things. We must focus on who God is and what he's capable of doing before asking for what we need.

Now after we pray for our personal needs we branch out to the restoration of relationships and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Now when God forgives our sins he judicially right it's a court term judicially does not hold it against us.

He does not keep a record of your sin for the future day. He does not bring it up to you remind you when he's angry at you right. He does not silently hold any grudges against you because Christ has fully suffered his wrath God's wrath on the cross.

God mercifully and justly forgives you in every way possible as I might have said before there is no leftover wrath for you because he poured it out on Christ already. When life is going hard when things seem to be just going wrong that's not karma.

But that's also not punishment from God. Because God has no leftover punishment for you. God might use your suffering as a way to disciple you discipline you. But it's not a punishment because that's all been poured out on Christ.

God's forgiveness is complete it's whole it's permanent. Now for those of you who have experienced Christ's forgiveness we forgive those who wrong us. Our restored relationship with God the Father organically affects our other relationships with other people.

And this is why you can't have true peace among nations among people without Christ. True lasting peace only comes through Christ. Now I would like to note something important about forgiveness that's often misunderstood.

It's important to note that forgiveness does not always lead to reconciliation with the other person. It takes one to forgive but two to reconcile. If the other person cannot honestly face the truth cannot honestly confess the wrong done reconciliation is not possible.

Yet forgiveness is possible for those who have been forgiven by God through Christ. First forgiveness does not mean forgive and forget right but rather forgive and surrender the person and the outcome to God.

When we forgive it is not our endorsement of evil done to us right. So it's not oh it's okay that you beat me up right. It's okay that you stole my retirement fund right. That's not what it is. Forgiveness is actually forfeiting the right to personal vengeance so that God would take care of them.

Whether the offender is saved in which his sin is paid for by Christ on the cross or the offender will have a very torturous exit interview with Jesus. That's forgiveness. Forgiveness is you don't hold on to it.

That's not your job. Let God handle it. When I first started pastoring here there was an unexpected guest who came and he was deeply troubled and he came and he actually said I don't usually go to church.

I've never been to this church but the reason why I came was something in me really said I need to come here. And during Sunday school we were talking about suffering and how a good God and powerful God could allow suffering.

And after the Sunday school he came up to me and shared that lesson was so relevant to my life. And I naturally asked why what happened. And he shared that that week he lost his wife because a gunman a lunatic just got into the bus that his wife and the two kids were on and shot his wife and the wife was protecting the kids and one of his kids his daughter got shot in the head yet lived.

And he had hard time finding making a sense of that how could this happen. And he he was holding on to this anger. And and apparently people have been saying like forgive and forgive and forgive just let it go.

But I told him forgiveness is not letting go. It's not forgetting. Forgiveness is you surrendering that right to personal vengeance to God. Let God handle that he's much better at it. He has the full capacity and he does it rightly.

He does it justly. I don't know what happened to this guy. I've never seen him ever again ever after that day. But that's what forgiveness is. For some of you who might have experienced a tremendous pain caused by another human being forgiveness is not is is not a stamp of approval.

Forgiveness is letting God handle that person and the outcome. It's that God would take care of take care of them. And now because the holy God is your father you surrender the person and the outcome to God.

We give up the right to judge that person even in our minds. Don't even let that person take up any space in your mind. You know that your heavenly father knows right. You know that the holy God does not approve of the person's sin and wickedness done to you.

You have to view it in terms of how God views that sin. And he is not okay with it. He hates sin more than you. You can. You can be assured that God will handle this. You know that the holy God missed none of it because no sin just slips by his omniscient.

He knows all things. In fact the most loving thing to do to an abuser is to stop letting them sin against God by continuing to abuse you. For Christians I recommend keep the distance until there's solid evidences to show that there's a heart transformation.

Do not trust them. If it takes years so be it if it takes decades so be it. The most loving thing to do for Christians after forgiving a reconciliation might not be possible. The most loving thing to do is don't be a doormat.

And in fact you may never find closure on earth. For some reason we desire closure desire desire some resolution. But it may not happen on earth. But you are guaranteed one on the judgment day. So surrender the outcome to God.

Surrender the person to God. Surrender any right any expectation of reconciliation to God he can handle it. And lastly we ask God for future protection and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

Now after we go to God acknowledge who he is how holy he is and how he's capable of providing and how is he is capable of restoring. We finally go to how he's capable of protecting. We fully depend on God for protection.

We lean on God's strength to deliver us deliver us from sin and temptation. And even Satan. God is the one who rescues us from the overwhelming temptations and trials. He is the one who lifts our heads up.

When our flesh is weak it is not on our own strength. We're not saved just so that you walk the path of sanctification by yourself. When we're saved we constantly rely and trust in God's redeeming and gracious deliverance.

Now from beginning to end of this communal prayer the focus really is on God. For Christ's disciples our prayers are centered around who God is and what he does. Now this is not to say that you you don't pray for nice things.

But when we do pray let the focus be on God. And when the focus is on God those nice things that we thought we needed don't seem so necessary but rather you're just so overwhelmingly grateful for God who is in your life whom you can talk to you can go to and you can fellowship with at any time through Jesus Christ.

Boldly Asking the Father for What We Need

Now in what manner do we approach our heavenly father. When we boldly pray to the father he will generously give us what we need through the spirit. When we boldly pray to the father he will generously give us what we need through the spirit lest we think that our father is unapproachable because of his holiness.

Jesus shares two parables to depict how we approach the father in heaven and how we are received by him how he answers the prayers. The first parable is from verses five to eight. Verse five to six set the background for the parable.

Which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him friend lend me three loaves. Now in the first century Israel it was common to prepare food or daily food in advance because there was no really grocery store where you could just go at any time and food was scarcer.

Right. It wasn't that you could just buy in bulk and even storing the food was a problem too if you had a lot. Hence the figure in the parable has to go to his friend to borrow three loaves. Whatever he had was not enough to host the guest.

Now the reason for this untimely visit is introduced in verse six. For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him. Another thing to note in the Middle Eastern culture even today is that hospitality is crucial.

It was key. It was unthinkable to turn your guests away hungry. If you have Middle Eastern friends if they ever invite you to a meal you will go home filled. They will provide for you. Now because of this cultural reason it was unthinkable to turn away his friend.

Hence although uncomfortable and even cringy right this person goes to his friend friend's house at midnight to get some bread. And some of you might even shudder at this idea of calling someone from this church at 10 o 'clock p .m. like oh no he could be sleeping.

It's so late all right now verse 7 shows the friend's inconvenience. And he will answer from within and say do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you.

The friend is clearly inconvenienced by this request. In fact it's not just a friend. It's the whole family who will be impacted by this. After all houses back then were much smaller and a family would actually share the same room with their kids.

And getting out of the bed to open the lock which would have made a loud sound. It would wake the whole family up. That's the problem with this friend. It's not that he doesn't have extra bread. He does.

It's just it's extremely inconvenient to do provide for that now. Finally verse 8 gives us the punchline. When you read a parable you gotta look for the punchline. What is the point. So what. What is jesus driving at.

I say to you though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend. Yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. The punchline is that the request is finally answered.

Not because of the depth of their friendship. Oh yes. We've grown up together. Oh yeah. We've known each other for decades. Of course anything for a friend. That's not the reason why the first friend receives his three lows.

Rather it's the audacity of his friend to ask for bread at midnight. The exhortation for christ's disciples is that they must approach god with the same boldness and even almost shamelessness as this friend.

Did you get to go to god with all sorts of requests. And when and what that means in the parable we are that persistent shameless neighbor who knocks on the door at midnight for bread. And that's how we ought to pray.

It's with this boldness. And you boldly go to god with all your requests. Now of course one common error in reading this parable is to think that god the father is that friend behind the door. Right. As if praying to god is like wringing a few water droplets out of a dry towel.

Right as if god begrudgingly answers your prayers. Right. He just looks down and sighs and says it's him again. However that is not god's heart at all the point of a human friend would be answering. And giving of the bread to the shameless friend is actually to show how much more would god give because he is more gracious than this person.

Right. In fact jesus actually shows god the father's compassionate disposition toward his children from verses 9 to 13. Lest we think that's god's posture god's attitude his heart when we come to him for prayers.

With prayers he shows us in the next parable how god truly receives us. First jesus commands us to boldly make your requests known to god. So i say to you ask. And it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock. And it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it will be opened. Note the three actions of requesting are fully met with god's responses.

In fact these passive verbs right will be given to you will be open to you actually signify something called the divine passive. What that means is when the verbs are passive and the subject is not explicitly said if the context allows for god being the subject we read god as the subject of these passive verbs.

So when it says it will be given to you it is god who's doing the act of giving. When it says it will be open to you it is god who opens the door when we knock. God opens when we ask. God gives. That's the generous god that we worship.

And this is not to say that god is your personal genie and he is bound to answer whatever you utter with your mouths right. But rather the holy god is the gracious father who compassionately gives us what we truly need.

God is more than willing to give you what you need. And therefore jesus says go just ask him. Don't be timid don't be hesitant. He's able to give to you what you truly need. And to illustrate this truth jesus gives us this uh the scenarios in the following two verses.