Luke 11:1-13
Key Verse 11:2
“He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.”’”
Last week we heard a very encouraging message on Psalm 103 from Dr. Todd Beal. Psalm 103 has always been one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Today we are blessed again to study another wonderful passage where Jesus very succinctly answers the question “Lord, teach us to pray.” Have you ever asked a similar question? People ask: “What should I pray for?” From this passage Jesus teaches what all of us should pray for. This is a short prayer but it speaks volumes in its meaning. As for me I pray it every morning. I pray it in my mind as I brush my teeth. Then I pray it again when I get in my car to go to work. Even throughout the day I find myself praying different parts of this prayer. “Father, Hallowed be your name.” Or “Father, your kingdom come.” “Our Father, give us this day our daily bread.” Unfortunately sometimes we find ourselves in a very ritualistic manner praying this prayer with no thought or heart behind it. Today we want to spend this time to think deeply why Jesus gave these prayer topics to his disciples to pray about. Let us rekindle a personal devotion to this special prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray.
Part 1. Father, Hallowed be Your Name.
Look at verse 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.’” Here we find the history or the inspiration why Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus taught it in response to one of his disciple’s sincere question: “Lord, teach us to pray.” To the ears of Jesus this was a fantastic question. “Lord, teach us to pray?” All my life it has been constantly impressed on me: “No question is a bad question.” Then when I ask a question to someone they respond with irritation “What? you don’t know that! How do you think a public school teacher would respond to this question? “Teacher, how do you pray?” Under the anti-Jesus atmosphere in many of our schools maybe such a question would cause teachers to tremble. “You are not allowed to ask that question! That is not a good question.” This is why I thank God for Jesus. I too want to know how to pray but I don’t think I could have ever found the answer in school. Jesus didn’t make his disciple feel he was asking a question he already should have known. Jesus answers his question succinctly even giving him his own personal prayer to pray. We will see it is a prayer all people on earth should daily pray. Let us now listen carefully to Jesus’ answer to the question: “Lord, teach us to pray.
Look at verse 2. “He said to them, ‘When you pray say “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.’” As we begin to think about Jesus’ teaching on prayer we first notice Jesus wants his people to address the Almighty God as “Father” with a capital “F”. If you or I wanted to talk with President Bush I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty, for most of us it would be virtually impossible to talk with him. However, for two young ladies in this land named Barbara and Jenna Bush, they can talk to him 24 hours a day. Why is this? It is because President Bush is their father. According to Jesus, for those who follow him and believe in him God becomes their Heavenly Father. Jesus wants us to address God Almighty as Father when we come to him in prayer. Addressing God as Father in prayer lets us know we have 24 hour-a-day access to God. One young man was sharing with me some of his struggles and personal problems going on in his life. I asked, “Did you try to pray about them?” He responded: “God is much to busy with more important matters than to be concerned with my problems.” I know my earthly father while he was alive was never too busy to offer me counsel and any other kind of help when I came to him with an issue or problem. I certainly believe my Heavenly Father is even more accessible, available and willing to help when I come to him in prayer. When we call God the Creator: “Our Heavenly Father, this means we can confidently come to him in prayer and be sure he will listen and answer our prayers in the best possible way.
Jesus wants us to consider God our Heavenly Father. He next teaches we should pray: “Father, hallowed be your name.” To hallow something means to make something holy.” When we pray, Jesus wants us to be very sensitive to the fact the Heavenly Father we pray to is holy. This is an extremely important detail about our Heavenly Father we must constantly be mindful of when we pray Him. Often I have heard tough acting macho men address God in heaven as “The Man up stairs.” Yes, God is our Heavenly Father, but he is way different than any kind of man you or I have ever met. As applied to what Jesus is teaching here the heavenly Father we pray to is perfectly holy. What man do you think is perfectly holy? It may sound cool calling God: “The man upstairs” but I believe it is being very irreverent to God’s holiness. God is fearfully holy. He is the judge of all men and nations. Yes, we have open access to God as our Father through Jesus, but we must remember when we come to him he is the most holy God.
Look again at the first part of Jesus prayer: “Father, hallowed be your name.” As I study these words and compare them to the world around me I see this is a prayer topic Jesus wants us to have. All around me at work are men who use the name God and Jesus irreverently. They do not use these names to bless and honor. They use them to express their anger, frustration and to curse other people. It seems to me many people do not have a problem with this but the Holy God has a big problem with this. Jesus has given it as a top prayer topic. “Father, hallowed be your name.” Instead of just cringing every time we hear people dishonor God’s name we must pray God may help them to hallow his name. We shouldn’t judge but we should pray for them. For those who don’t believe in the hallowedness of God we must pray: “Father, hallowed be your name in their lives.” Through our prayer for them God will give them sensitivity to the holiness of God and lead them to personal repentance and a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Next Jesus told them to pray: “Your Kingdom Come.” In this prayer topic Jesus reveals it is the ambition of God to expand the Kingdom of God. We know it is the ambition of men to expand their influence, power and control. Asian history, European history, Middle East History and the America’s history is nothing more than a history of one kingdom trying to overtake another kingdom. However, from God’s spiritual view point there are only two kingdoms in this world. These are the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. As for us we either are living as citizens of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Satan. There is no spiritual neutral ground such as Switzerland we can go and live in. For this reason we should be very thankful Jesus gave us as a prayer topic: “Father, your Kingdom Come.” When we sincerely pray this prayer we are clearly marking ourselves as citizens who are supporting God’s spiritual war against Satan’s Kingdom. In Joshua 2:17 Rahab the prostitute helped the Hebrew spies who had come to Jericho to spy out the cities future destruction. She asked the spies to give her a sure sign she and her family would be spared from God’s coming destruction upon the city. The spies told her to hang a scarlet cord from the window she would let them down from. They told her if they saw that scarlet cord from her window then all in her house would be spared. We can compare our praying: Father, your Kingdom come to that scarlet cord. It is a sure sign we have and still are helping the Kingdom of God to come and destroy the Kingdom of Satan. We will not always be praying; “Father your Kingdom Come”. One day it will fully come. But until it fully comes we must daily pray; “Father, your Kingdom Come.”
Part 2. Give us this day our daily bread.
Jesus taught we should first pray the prayer topics that God our heavenly Father is concerned with. Next Jesus gives three prayer topics that concern our own needs. First, let us think about the words “us” and “our” as we pray for these prayer topics that concern our own needs. Notice Jesus didn’t use the words “us” and “our” as we pray for God’s prayer topics. There is only one God. In contrast as we pray for our prayer topics Jesus uses the plural form “us” and “our.” “Give us our daily bread. Forgive us our sins and lead us not into temptation.” We see Jesus wants to use our praying not only to bless myself but also to bless those around us. When I was going to University of Maryland often I would find myself praying for a test, a final exam or a class grade. In those times of prayer the Spirit of God convicted me I shouldn’t just pray for an “A” for myself. I should pray everyone in the class should also be given an “A”. There is this one famous neurosurgeon named Dr. Ben Carson. He called his hands “gifted hands”. He saw the life saving work he could do for others with his hands as a gift from God to help others. We can say the Lord’s prayer is a gift from Jesus to us. When we pray it with sincerity our lives can become a blessing to the people around us.
Let us look specifically at the needs Jesus teaches we should daily pray for. Look at verse 3: “Give us each day our daily bread.” Daily bread refers to those physical necessities of life. For most people this usually refers to food, clothing and shelter. This prayer applies both to rich people and poor people. I remember reading a testimony of an old grandmother who had to raise her daughter’s children. She had many bills to pay but the problem was her bank account was empty. Nevertheless, she didn’t resign herself not to pay her bills. Instead she would place each bill in front of her and pray to her heavenly Father for the money to pay them. In this way every month through prayer to her Heavenly Father this old woman very responsibly paid her bills. Additionally she set an excellent example for her grandchildren to follow. Some people have no sense of problem they should pay for rent or for their food or clothing. Some look to the government for welfare checks, or for other people to pay their rent or provide their food. Jesus wants us to look to our Heavenly Father in prayer to provide all we need. I’ve talk to some young men who live with their girl friends. I tell them they should marry because the Bible doesn’t approve of a man and woman living together if they’re not married. They say “it doesn’t matter. We love each other; that’s all that counts, beside right now we cannot afford to get married.” When I married I was making about $5.00 an hour. Realistically paying rent was way beyond my budget. Nevertheless I would bring my rent prayer topic to God every month. Praise my Heavenly Father’s faithfulness! Every single month he would provide the money for me to pay my rent. By the grace of God though I was making minimum wage because I prayed for my bills I was never a burden to even one person. Jesus doesn’t want us to be a burden to people. He wants us to be a blessing. If we are poor, the way we can be a blessing is to pray; “Father, give us this day our daily bread.”
Let us look one more time at verse 3. We notice Jesus did not teach we should pray for our yearly or even monthly bread but our daily bread. Proverbs 30:7-9 explain why: “Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die; Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” The writer of these verses in Proverbs only wanted God to give him his daily bread. In this way he would never disown God by having more than he needed. Nor would he dishonor God by stealing if he did not have enough. For educated people with well-paying jobs our danger is that in the future we may both disown and dishonor God by having too much. We pray: "God, I need a car to get to work." He provides a car. Then we pray, “I need a job.” He provides a job. Then we pray, “I need a wife or husband.” He provides a wife or husband. Then we pray, “I need a house” and God provides a house. Finally we get all we need and for some at this point they disown God. Worst for others God’s provision is not enough. They use their high position God had given them to dishonor God by stealing even more wealth of others for themselves. Enron, World Com and other companies have all been liquidated because their CEO’s couldn’t be thankful for their hundreds of thousand a year wage. They had to have more. The greed of these few caused a huge number of people to lose their jobs. I’m sure if those CEOs had prayed daily: “Father, give us this day our daily bread” those businesses would still be alive and thriving. Praying this prayer would have given them God’s Spirit to use their job not to serve their own greed but to serve the needs of those who worked under them. Whether we are materially rich or materially poor we all daily need to pray: “Father, gives us this day our daily bread.”
Secondly Jesus in verse 4 taught we should daily pray: “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” God wants us to daily come to him and ask his forgiveness even when we don’t feel we need his forgiveness. If you don’t think you’re a sinner read what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5 about lust and anger. Some people sin in thoughts others sin in deed. Either way Jesus teaches both are in danger of the fires of hell. Jesus taught: “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Sin is a very serious matter in the eyes of God. This is why daily we must sincerely come to our Heavenly Father and pray: “Father forgive us our sins. Thankfully God who takes sin seriously is also very forgiving. When we seek his forgiveness as Dr. Todd revealed last week in Psalm 103 God removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.
Look again at verse 4b: “for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” If we are to serve this entire verse correctly we see the forgiveness we seek from God in prayer is conditional. It is based on the condition we forgive everyone who has sinned against us. Not just most of those who sin against us but everyone. We all probably have a story about someone who has sinned incredibly egregiously against us. Nevertheless, we need to ask our Heavenly Father’s help to empower us to forgive them. Not only so we can receive God’s forgiveness but also so we don’t become disfigured by the unforgiving. Holding daily to unforgiving and bitterness is like drinking a mixture of cancer and poison every day. Our unforgiving doesn’t hurt or destroy the other person who sinned against us. It just disfigures and destroys us. This is why Jesus taught we should pray; “Father forgive our sins as we forgive everyone who sin against us.”
Third, Jesus taught we should pray: “And lead us not into temptation.” Who here believes in the Bible teaching that the first man and woman who had never sinned were eventually led into temptation by the serpent? If that first couple fell into temptation and they daily fellowship with God in the cool of the day, how much more easily is it for us to fall into temptation? The Bible warns in 1Cor 10:12: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” One of he easiest ways to fall into temptation is to think we will not fall into temptation. On the other hand we should not resign ourselves and say: “There is nothing I can do, I might as well enjoy being tempted.” Jesus teaches exactly what we should do to overcome temptation. He tells us we should pray daily; “Lead us not into temptation.” When we pray this prayer our Heavenly Father gives us self-control. He helps our mind and the path we travel to avoid falling into temptation. As parents or as bible teachers we see how vulnerable our children or bible students are. Jesus’ prayer shows our hands are not bound in helping them avoid temptations. We can pray our heavenly Father will lead them not into temptation. My daughter went to Korea this summer. My number one prayer topic for her was God would lead her not into temptation. In her journey report she shared how she studied the Bible with one shepherdess. Every time she asked the shepherdess if she could go somewhere or do this or that, she would respond to my daughter “Let me first pray about it.” This was a bit frustrating for Sarah, but as for me her father that shepherdess was God answering my prayer.
To Jesus Christ these are the most important prayers his disciples should pray daily. Certainly there are many other prayer topics. But according to Jesus Christ these are the basic prayers we should daily come to God and pray to him for.
Now let us think about the attitude we should have when we come to God in prayer. Look at verses 5-8. In this story Jesus places his disciples in a very precarious situation. A special friend of theirs came to visit them at midnight which they hadn’t seen in a long time. The friend was very hungry but the disciple had no food. The only possible place to find food was another friend’s home. But this friend’s house was locked up. He had all his children sleeping in bed. Additionally he flatly told him: “Don’t bother me.” Not withstanding Jesus revealed in the end the man who had the bread open his door and gave all the food the disciples wanted not because of the man’s friendship but the boldness on the part of the man who asked him for bread.
In verses 9, 10 Jesus then follows up to this story with one of the creation laws he has programmed into his creation. He says: “So I say to you: “Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who ask receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened.” Every college student who is about to graduate should be given a short class that teaches them this “Ask, seek and knock law Jesus has programmed into creation... This one young man came to work for my company this summer as an intern. He had just graduated college. My boss placed him under my supervision. They actually gave him to work with me to help reduce my work load. His mission was to work in the field so I could concentrate on programming. I directed him to go and do some work on our equipment which was mounted in telephone closets throughout the building. About a half hour later he came back and told me he couldn’t do anything because the closets were locked. I stopped my programming and went to one of the closets that was locked. I knocked on it and someone opened it for us. This young man wasn’t a dummy, he was a college graduate but I realize college doesn’t teach ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open. Only Jesus Christ teaches this. Could this be why many college students go for long periods of time after graduation and don’t find a job? For God to answer our prayers we have to come to him persistently and boldly mourning, noon and night. This also applies with many other practical life responsibility and daily missions. To the person who believes and boldly puts into practice Jesus’ words: “Ask, seek and knock,” they will be the people who accomplish the mission given to them.
Finally look at verses 11-13: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” We learn from these words of Jesus more personal details about his disciples. First we see some of them were fathers who had sons. Maybe they were like Missionary James Park who has three sons, James, Jacob and David. Or maybe they were like Shepherd Bruce who has two sons, John and David. We know Missionary James would never give a poisonous snake to one of his sons if they had asked their dad to bring home a Big Mac. Nor would Bruce give something dangerous like a scorpion to his sons if they had ask him to bring home a new pair of Nike running shoes. We know Bruce would buy his sons the best running shoes on the market.
Even though we are evil Jesus admits when it comes to our family members we are still able to give good gifts. The question now is, how does this all apply to Jesus teaching “how to pray?” According to Jesus what it means is God our Heavenly Father who is not evil but perfect in holiness and goodness how much more certain is he able to give us a good gift when we ask him. Jesus even specifies the good gift we all should ask God to give us. This is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit. When we ask God for the Holy Spirit he gives his spirit to come and live with in us. In other words we have the God himself living in us. Galatians 5:22 teaches us the fruit of the spirit is love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Are you an impatient person? Don’t just pray that God would give you patience. Pray your heavenly Father would give you the Holy Spirit. Or are we sometimes a mean, unforgiving person? We should not pray that God would give us only a gentle and loving heart. We should pray God the Father will give us the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit in us no evil spirit can live within us. Sometime we read about special people God used to changed history for the good. We try to emulate them and become discouraged because we can be nothing like them. We forget it is the Spirit in the person that enabled them to do what they did. If we want to become better people we must boldly come to God our Heavenly Father and ask him for his Holy Spirit. Daily we should ask our heavenly Father for his Spirit. Then we must be ready to listen to the Spirit and be sensitive to the guiding of the Spirit. God in his Spirit still wants to walk and work among the people of this world. Let us pray that God may use our lives as vessels for His Holy Spirit to live in and to minister to the people around us.
Next week a new semester will begin. Let us remember these prayer topics Jesus Christ taught we need to pray as we pray for our Bible students. I pray God may hallow his name through our prayer. I pray God may bless many people through our prayers this semester.